Mr Desmond made his comments in the context of Celtic’s current £25m share placing.

Asked whether the British and Scottish football associations might object to defections by Celtic and Rangers, he declared: "When the Premier League was established in the early 1990s, it had nothing to do really with the jurisdiction in which it was played.

"It had more to do with the commercial aspirations of a select number of leading clubs and whether the proposition made economic sense for them.

"This will happen inevitably. The ball has already been set rolling and there have been preliminary discussions between the chairmen of a number of clubs about it."

The Celtic boss said he believed Rangers were moving in the same direction - but at a different pace.

Mr Desmond now owns about 20% of Celtic and plans to invest an additional £5m to prevent dilution under the current placement programme.

He insisted he was not ploughing money into the club just "to burn it", and said there were a number of sound financial reasons why other Irish investors should subscribe to the current funding round.

"Celtic and Manchester United are the only clubs in Britain to maintain control over their media rights. That’s our future, and giving those rights away would be like selling the family silver.

"I believe that within a number of years, this club can be generating profits of £6m to £7m from its multi-media activities alone - and that’s even before we leave the Scottish Premier League

"If even 100,000 of Celtic’s worldwide base of supporters paid £120 a year for a virtual season ticket and the facility to watch all matches live on the Internet, that equates to £20m from that revenue source alone.

"Celtic is currently earning £3m for TV rights to the Scottish League; the likes of Leicester City are getting £20m a year at the moment for participation in the Premiership."