FOR many years there has been growing support for the concept of Scottish independence, culminating in the devolution Bills of the late Nineties which saw the establishment of a Scottish Parliament.

With the political wind blowing in their favour, the Scottish Nationalist Party is now the largest in the Scottish Parliament and full Scottish independence is widely considered to be a case of when – and not if.

However, in the past few days it seems that the two most famous and wealthy football teams in Scotland – Glasgow Rangers and Celtic – still harbour hopes of playing their football in the English Leagues as by doing so they would increase their revenue and their footballing status within the sport.

Quite how this would go down in a newly-independent Scotland is difficult to assess, but the timing could hardly be worse.

Martin Birtle, Billingham.