Is there any particular reason why Celtic and Rangers have made a habit of having joint sponsership deals in the last few seasons?
Celtic to take on the Slovaks and sign new shirt deal
By James Traynor
Celtic were last night just a matter of seconds away from a nightmare Champions League trip to the Chinese border.
Gordon Strachan's men will instead be away to Slovakia's Artmedia Bratislava in next Wednesday's second qualifying round first leg.
They were spared an 11 hour journey to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almady when Pavol Stano scored in the last minute of extra time to grab Artmedia a 4-1 victory and 4-3 aggregate win.
The tie had finished 2-0 after 90 minutes, reversing the first leg score and although Kairat scored in the first minute of extra time, Artmedia struck twice more.
There was more good news for Celtic, this time on the sponsorship front.
They and Rangers could rake in as much as £20million over the next four years thanks to an extension of their joint deal with Carling.
Full details of the new package will be announced today when Strachan and his Ibrox counterpart Alex McLeish come face to face for the first time since Strachan took over from Martin O'Neill.
The Old Firm signed a three-year deal worth £12m with Carling two years ago but that contract is being renewed to cover the next four years.
If the money - £2m each per year - has not been negotiated upward, they can expect £8m each over the next four years, but the likelihood is they'll have persuaded the drinks giant to hand over more cash.
They could now be expecting as much as £10m each.
By James Traynor
Celtic were last night just a matter of seconds away from a nightmare Champions League trip to the Chinese border.
Gordon Strachan's men will instead be away to Slovakia's Artmedia Bratislava in next Wednesday's second qualifying round first leg.
They were spared an 11 hour journey to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almady when Pavol Stano scored in the last minute of extra time to grab Artmedia a 4-1 victory and 4-3 aggregate win.
The tie had finished 2-0 after 90 minutes, reversing the first leg score and although Kairat scored in the first minute of extra time, Artmedia struck twice more.
There was more good news for Celtic, this time on the sponsorship front.
They and Rangers could rake in as much as £20million over the next four years thanks to an extension of their joint deal with Carling.
Full details of the new package will be announced today when Strachan and his Ibrox counterpart Alex McLeish come face to face for the first time since Strachan took over from Martin O'Neill.
The Old Firm signed a three-year deal worth £12m with Carling two years ago but that contract is being renewed to cover the next four years.
If the money - £2m each per year - has not been negotiated upward, they can expect £8m each over the next four years, but the likelihood is they'll have persuaded the drinks giant to hand over more cash.
They could now be expecting as much as £10m each.