The 20 Premier League clubs in England have agreed to further examine a proposal which would see 10 competitive fixtures hosted in five major cities worldwide over one weekend.

Cities named as potential venues include Dubai, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg and Beijing, and the extra round would begin in January 2010/11.

Games would be in addition to the traditional 38 home and away matches each of the 20 clubs currently play.

However, Dutchman Vennegoor of Hesselink, who is looking forward to travelling to Celtic's game at Aberdeen on Sunday, is no fan of the idea and would not like to see it replicated in the SPL.

He said: "When Celtic play against Rangers you want it to be in Glasgow, not in Dubai.

"If you play for a club, you want to play in that town so if you play for Celtic you want to play your home games in Glasgow.

"Aberdeen is a great place to visit and I always like playing there.

"The Scottish scenery is nice and I will take my camera when I go up there.

"I think it is important for Aberdeen supporters to watch Aberdeen play Celtic in their own town, not somewhere else.

"But you never know, there will be a lot of talking and I know it is about finance."

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was even more condemnatory when asked about the possibility of playing SPL games in another country.

He said: "If I had any enthusiasm for it at all, I would answer your question but I have absolutely none whatsoever.

"I'm sorry, but I have no enthusiasm for that question whatsoever.

"I'm sure that in a lot of places it will be debated further but I haven't given it a second thought to be honest. I'm more worried about my cold."

Asked what his thoughts would have been if he had still been a Premier League player, the former Manchester United and Leeds United midfielder admitted he would have had to bite the bullet.

He said: "Quite simple. I'm a player. I do what the club tell me to do."

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Scottish Premier League secretary Iain Blair described the English plans as "interesting and innovative".

But he also pointed out the likelihood of opposition from abroad, which later emerged after the Japanese FA's vice-president raised concern.

Blair told PA Sport: "Our take is that it's an interesting and innovative step.

"It's something we will want to watch with interest, to see how these plans develop.

"It will not be without its challenges. And it may not be easy convincing varying associations around the world to stage games.

"I'm not sure all associations would welcome foreign encroachment on their territory."

Blair is in frequent contact with the English Premier League's chief executive Richard Scudamore, who announced the ground-breaking project in London.

"I'm guessing Richard's ambition is two-fold," said Blair. "It will be to promote the English game and to generate commercial success.

"That might mean they're less than welcome in some parts of the world."

The SPL do not envisage carrying out a project of such a scale themselves, however there was an approach from Australian agent Lou Sticca in 2004 with a view to staging a match Down Under between Hearts and Celtic.

Rangers and Celtic have seen their overseas pre-season matches well attended, and an all-Old Firm game would attract a large crowd if such a fixture was staged in North America or Asia.

However there could be opposition from Scottish-based supporters if such a game was ever scheduled.

Blair said: "I genuinely think we should think creatively. We meet the Premier League and league chiefs from across Europe on a regular basis, and there is a lot of interaction."

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Rangers manager Walter Smith described the prospect of playing Old Firm matches in other countries as "an interesting concept" - but insisted it would not happen during his time at Ibrox.

He said: "Rangers versus Celtic in Hong Kong, New York or somewhere sunny in January - I'm not quite sure how that will work.

"Maybe in a few years' time once you get into a situation where you can travel from London to Sydney in five hours!

"These things are for the future and we are stuck in the present. We don't even know when we are going to play Celtic right now never mind where.

"It's one of those where we will wait and see but I think I might be long gone before we start seeing games played in other countries.

"But it would be an interesting concept."