Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Celtic, which visits Manchester United today in a match dubbed the ``Battle of Britain,'' would increase sales more than 50 percent by regularly playing English teams, said Dermot Desmond, the club's biggest shareholder.

With 91 league titles between them, Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers dominate Scottish soccer and have expressed a desire to play in England's Premiership, the world's richest league.

Television revenue alone for Celtic would rise to more than 32 million pounds ($60 million) with a mid-table finish south of the border from about 2.5 million pounds currently, Desmond said. The Irishman, worth about 867 million pounds according to FourFourTwo magazine, owns more than 40 percent of Celtic, which had sales of 57.8 million pounds in the year through June 2006.

``Rangers and Celtic have finished first or second nearly every year for the last 30-odd years,'' Desmond said in an interview. ``Their financial capacity and fan capacity dwarf anything else in Scotland.''

Celtic was the 16th richest club in revenue for the 2004- 2005 season with 62.6 million pounds, accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche LLP said in February. Real Madrid led with 186.2 million pounds, while eight English clubs, the most of any league, were in the top 20. Rangers said sales totaled 61.2 million pounds for the year through June 2006.

The wealth of the Premier League stems largely from its contract with British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. A three-year agreement signed with Sky and Setanta Sports starting next season is worth 1.7 billion pounds, a 67 percent rise on the previous deal under which Sky had exclusive live rights.

Good Enough

Desmond said Celtic would consider playing in the second- tier English Championship and fighting its way into the top flight by gaining promotion. Celtic or Rangers have won the Scottish title every year since 1985.

``We don't think it's our right to walk into any league,'' Desmond said. ``We think we're good enough to play in the Premiership, and hopefully our results in the Champions League will justify that.''

England's Premier League said there were no plans for the Scottish duo to make the move, adding that most soccer authorities were against it.

``It's pretty much a dead issue,'' Dan Johnson said in an interview. ``A few years back it was perennially floated around.''

`On Fire'

Celtic's Champions League game against Manchester United, a clash of former European Cup winners, comes a season after the Scottish side was ousted in the second qualifying round by Artmedia Bratislava. Celtic's revenue fell 7.7 percent in fiscal 2006 because the club failed to reach the group stages.

Manchester United, the eight-time Premier League champion, currently leads in England with maximum points from four matches, while Celtic holds a one-point advantage in Scotland as the two prepare to meet for the first time in a competitive match.

Portugal's Benfica and Denmark's FC Copenhagen, a tournament newcomer, are also in Group F. The top two teams advance to the first knockout round comprising 16 sides.

``We are playing against a team who have won all their games so far and are on fire,'' said Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, who played under United boss Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen and then in Manchester. ``We are going to need a bit of luck, but I have never known anybody to go to Old Trafford who haven't needed a bit of luck.''

Ferguson, a Scot, said he held no grudge against the Celtic coach. Ferguson wrote in his autobiography seven years ago that Strachan ``could not be trusted an inch.'' United plans bypass the perceived rivalry between the two nations.

``We have to dismiss the whole Scotland-England thing,'' Ferguson said. ``If we go down that road, we will only make it harder for ourselves because you can get caught up in the emotion of the occasion.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Ravi Ubha in London rubha@bloomberg.net; Richard Jordan in London r.jordan@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 12, 2006 22:59 EDT