MARK WARBURTON believes Rangers and Celtic will one day head south of the border and join the English leagues.

Parkhead majority shareholder Dermot Desmond this week rekindled the debate about the Glasgow giants leaving Scottish football when he floated the idea of a British league.

In February, the English Premier League clinched a £5.14billion television rights package and the huge success of the EPL brand has often been seen as a major stumbling block to any hopes Rangers or Celtic had of a switch.

When asked if he could see a move to England happening, boss Warburton said: "Yes. But there is a lot of things to be worked out beforehand. But I think one day it will happen.

“I think the people will want it because of the draw of Celtic and Rangers and their supports.

“All the obvious things. But I think there are many, many avenues that have to be worked out first.

"It would need people far more clever than I am to work that one about. But I don't think you would go into a league straight away.

“Whether you would go into a cup competition first... I don't know.

“I am not sure how they would do that. It's just my opinion.

“But I think sooner or later it has to be given some serious focus."

The TV deal struck earlier this year is set to kick in next year and will run for three seasons as the money in the Premier League continues to escalate.

But Warburton believes the status quo can only remain in place for so long – and that could pave the way for Rangers and Celtic to quit the Scottish game.

He said: "For me what dominates English football is the TV money.

“We have spoken about the quality of the product and so therefore you always want to keep it fresh.

“If you keep things stale, all you are going to do is lose viewers and clients etc.

“I would imagine it would be seen as keeping it fresh with something new and new additions who are big clubs with big fan bases. Sometimes you turn on Monday night football and it's Club X v Club Y - does it really appeal to the average man in the street?

“Suddenly you would get Man Utd v Rangers or Arsenal v Celtic... So I would imagine that would be one aspect."

The levels of finance available to Rangers and Celtic are dwarfed by even lower ranking Premier League outfits as they are overshadowed in terms of transfer fees and wages.

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But the implications of a switch south would be considerable for both sides and put them on a more level playing field with other major clubs in Europe.

Former Brentford boss Warburton said: "Certainly [they could compete] in terms of fanbase, that goes without saying.

“But don't forget the clubs down south have had TV money for a while now and the ones in the Premier League have had it for a while now too, as you can see with the squad of players. So that's a big thing to recognise."