Tuesday 3 July 2012

The Rangers Saga

Since all the dodgy business with Rangers earlier this year, I've kept my mouth shut for as long as possible. But in a subject where nobody in Scotland can come up with a conclusion, It's a little hard not to get involved. 

My view is simple. 
"The Rangers" are a Newco, and a newco cannot skip divisions & must apply to the SFL accordingly. "The Rangers" is not the same as Rangers Football club, even though the assets are the same.

Let me explain further.
Forget about Rangers, imagine this was a brand new team into the Scottish pyramid with a built stadium, a squad of players & a big fanbase. Let's say for example they had played in the junior leagues for a number of years.
A space opens up in the Scottish system & clubs apply.
Now if I remember correctly, Annan Athletic gained admission into the SFL on the basis of the standard of their facilities. Therefore, using this same system, The Rangers would be allowed to join the SFL. Murray Park & Ibrox outweighs the other candidates.
That's fair.

What people are forgetting is that Rangers are gone, and this is a new club. How can a new club which have never even played an official game be allowed into the top tier of Scottish football? It is ridiculous!

Rangers, The Rangers, Sevco, whatever you may call it fans may argue about the money, but that is just snacks at desperation as they cannot really see from both sides of the barrel. Remember that the Rangers fans are victims in all of this too.

Scottish clubs & SPL clubs in particular are run off a drip feed the old firm have produced over the years. Admittedly the old firm have taken most of the money, but how come clubs become totally dependant on the old firm, Celtic & Rangers are almost like a mother figure!
At this point I admire the few debt free clubs in Scotland with chairman not prepared to spend money they don't have. It really is that simple!

Raith Rovers Turnbull Hutton gave an interesting point of view that I can't argue with. He said: "If one of the old firm clubs had a bad season and were to be relegated, would the SPL change the relegation rules to prevent this from happening"
Daft it may seem, but think about it for a moment, he's probably right.

Now I'm delighted that the supporters are getting a say ahead of all the money men that have almost completely destroyed our national game. Once all the money has gone, the supporters remain & as Jock Stein famously said: Football is nothing without supporters.
Now there are fans in Scotland that are desperate to have a kick at Rangers when they are down, but there is also many, particularly in the SFL I've noticed, who speak perfect sense when it comes to what should happen to the Newco.
Why should a new company get priority over these clubs?
And if you believe that The Rangers, and Rangers are the same club, then I ask why you feel the club should get away with cheating and effectively gaining an unfair advantage over everyone in the past 20 years.

Yes Scottish football loves an old firm game, it's one of the biggest derbys in football altogether, but enough is enough. 
For how much longer could we have survived when all the other clubs are getting slowly into more debt. It's going to catch up with us anyway! As so many keep saying, we can ruin our game now by demoting Rangers, but we will ruin the game if we don't.
If you can't win anyway just play by the rules, and everything will sort itself out in time.
We may have to sacrifice the quality we have left in our game, but if we as a nation can get rid of the "punt it" mentality and focus more on the technical side of the game, then we can get money from producing players and bring our game slowly back to size.
Not to mention the benefit this will have on the national team of course. 
It may take 20 years, but what have we got to lose? As if we are sitting in a pretty position now anyway, nothing we do is a risk anymore.

We need change & fast, or face being the new league of San Marino.
I am one of the many fans who have lost patience in the people in charge of our game, who bottle the big decisions and pamper the old firm at any opportunity. There are 42 senior clubs in Scotland, some say this is too many, but whilst there are 42 all should be treated the same.
I can't actually believe we are willing to give Rangers special treatment, It's nice to know that at least the fans speak sense!