THE SFA's commercial director, David Kells, has told the Old Firm not to lose sleep over the future of their shirt sponsorship contracts.

THE SFA's commercial director, David Kells, has told the Old Firm not to lose sleep over the future of their shirt sponsorship contracts.

Carling have denied they are preparing to pull the plug on their association with the Glasgow clubs when the current deal ends in 18 months.

However, despite an economic downturn with businesses tightening their belts, Kells believes that the Old Firm will always be a significant draw for sponsors - and as such will have their pick of deals.

Kells was commercial director at Celtic when the joint-NTL sponsorship deal was brokered with the Old Firm and the cable company, and he believes that if Carling were to withdraw that there would be others lining up.

"Percentage-wise, Celtic and Rangers command more coverage than possibly any other team in Britain," he said.

"If you look at the English media, they have loads of football and Premiership coverage, but they also devote a lot of columns to rugby and cricket too. There are also a lot of teams who are a big draw.

"In Scotland, football is the sport.

"Other sports do not get an awful lot of time or space devoted to them and the Old Firm get the bulk of the coverage.

"In addition to that, the exposure they get on BBC, Setanta and Sky TV is also huge.

"I think that regardless of what happens with Carling - and I have no idea what their plans are - that the Old Firm will be a big draw for someone, regardless of the current climate."

And while the Scottish Cup had to endure a season without a sponsor last term after Tennent's withdrew, Kells believes that the Old Firm won't need to prepare for a season without a shirt sponsor.

"There was a lot of scepticism when it was announced that AIG wouldn't be renewing their contract with Manchester United, but already there have been stories and reports that they are well on their way to signing up with someone else," he said.

"We ourselves at the SFA had a similar thing when Tennent's announced the end of their 19-year association with the Scottish Cup.

"We had a year with nothing and then we were able to agree a deal to sponsor what has now become the Homecoming Scottish Cup.

"It all depends on expectations, but clubs are very resilient.

"For example, this season there were a few clubs in England who actually went into the season without a sponsorship deal whereas in Scotland we didn't have any teams who didn't have a deal.

"Even the teams we know of just now who are coming to the end of deals seem to have something lined up already.

"There have also been fresh sponsorship deals out in place for the Carling and Scottish Cups and football remains a very attractive proposition to sponsors across the board."

This could be the last season that the winners of the SPL go directly into the group stage of the Champions League and exposure over an expansive area.

Kells believes the European stage will help to encourage potential interested parties.

"The Old Firm are hugely attractive," he said.

"At least one of these teams, if not both, will feature in the Champions League next season which gets blanket exposure across Europe and I would expect that Celtic and Rangers will remain a hugely attractive proposition to potential sponsors."