CELTIC AND Rangers knocked on the door of G14 for so long that they were there on the doorstep when the whole thing disintegrated.

The only story about G14 that ever seemed to get much coverage in Scotland was whether one or both of the Old Firm might ever be allowed to join it. As it turned out the pressure group came and went with neither of them ever being allowed in, although their ambition outlived it.

G14 was the elite group of heavyweight European clubs established to hold a gun to Uefa's head, its very existence threatening a new self- governing European super league unless the major clubs got their way on issues such as the format of the Champions League. It was set up for an essentially antagonistic purpose but gradually relations softened between G14 and Uefa until last week the former was disbanded altogether.

The Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell, will be at a meeting at Uefa's headquarters in Switzerland tomorrow when some nails will be hammered into the coffin. Instead of G14, the clubs' interests will be served by the European Club Association (ECA), a larger independent body which will be recognised by Fifa and Uefa. Celtic and Rangers will be among around 100 clubs paying a subscription to have a say in its affairs. All of this can seem like dry football politics, but it is significant because the ECA amounts to Fifa and Uefa bringing clubs into the actual governing structure of football for the first time.

So what will this mean for the Old Firm? Last week it was reported G14's demise was "good news" for Celtic and Rangers but that was simplistic. It could be argued that if there was to be any chance of a European super league being born it would have been the G14 which drove it, and without that the Glasgow clubs were destined to permanently compete in the SPL and live with the strait-jacket of its modest broadcasting revenue. In general terms it would be more accurate to suggest that the effect on the Old Firm of G14 disbanding will be neutral.

"We have reconciled ourselves to our future being in Scotland," said Lawwell, revealing a contentment with the status quo not previously evident when Celtic were actively looking for an escape from the Scottish domestic scene. "Our strategy is to succeed domestically, participate in the Champions League regularly and advance in it as much as we can because that's where the revenue and exposure and profile is. We can't compete with the budgets of clubs from the big five European leagues but we look to get a competitive edge elsewhere, whether that's via our coaching, scouting, sports science, the academy or whatever. We have to be clever.

"We don't see the last 16 of the Champions League as any sort of glass ceiling; not in terms of our aspirations. We aspire to get beyond that and the likes of Porto and PSV Eindhoven recent Champions League winners and semi-finalists respectively have shown that it can be done.

"Celtic and Rangers are different from the rest of the big clubs in Europe, they are neither fish nor fowl. The fundamentals - like support and reach - are the same as for Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Manchester United, Arsenal and so on. We are bigger than PSV, Ajax or Feyenoord because we have a global reach." And yet their broadcasting income is, by comparison, negligible and it cripples them in the transfer market.

Over the years the Champions League format was modified and tweaked to the point that most of the major clubs from the bigger leagues were placated by the virtual guarantee of annual and lucrative involvement. As the prospect of breaking away to form a new European Super League dwindled - Celtic and Rangers would have hoped to benefit from any radical redrawing of the football landscape - so the Glasgow clubs began to lobby instead for other changes which would optimise their standing.

Because Champions League income is so disproportionately significant to the likes of Celtic and Rangers, it is stressful to have to negotiate the tightrope of one or even two qualifying rounds to reach the honeyed land of the group stage. Automatic annual entry to the group stage for two Scottish clubs would suit the Old Firm nicely (although that guarantee of extra income would tighten their already strangling grip on the ten other SPL clubs). Recent alterations to the entry format will actually make it more difficult for the SPL runners-up to qualify for the group stage from 2009, but that remains an issue Lawwell and his Rangers counterpart Martin Bain will lobby to change when the ECA is up and running.

"We would maintain that our club is big enough and should be in the Champions League every year, without the threat of any banana skin in terms of qualifiers," said Lawwell. "We are big enough to do that, so anything we can do to increase the certainty of that, we will. Our agenda would be to have a structure in place to be in the Champions League every year, which in effect would mean the top two in Scotland gaining automatic entry every year.

"I think the bottom line is we have established ourselves as a force in European football and are regarded as such within Uefa as we were among the G14 clubs. In the corridors of power there is a regard for our club. We are playing Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League and our fans are saying ach, Barcelona again...' Seven years ago they'd have bitten your hand off for that.

"What does the end of G14 mean for us? It means there has been a recognition from within Uefa that clubs should have a greater say and that this Uefa President Michel Platini is more open. Celtic and Rangers will take normal part in discussions. Time will tell how much more influence the clubs will have on the bigger issues as opposed to what we had under the previous structure.

"The changes announced during the week were good news to the extent that the new president has embraced the clubs more and also they will begin to receive compensation when their players are involved in tournaments - the actual finals rather than the qualifiers - and will be paid out from the tournament revenues."

The level of compensation has yet to be decided but the intention would be that, for example, Celtic would receive a per diem rate to partially cover the wages of Shunsuke Nakamura at a World Cup or Bobo Balde at an African Nations Cup. The idea of someone else paying some of Balde's £28,000-a-week wages for a while would almost justify all those years spent knocking on the G14 door.