Will Rangers take Scottish football down with them?
By Shaughan McGuigan:
Even in a summer full of extraordinary days for the football club formerly known as Rangers, Tuesday was a particularly dark one. It began with Jamie Ness deciding he wanted to take no part in the NewCo, no matter what league they happen to be performing in next season. By the afternoon that had been overtaken by the news that Raith Rovers, along with Falkirk and Livingston would definitely be voting no in allowing the new club to start off their SFL life in the First Division. By the evening however these events were placed into the shadows by the news Allan McGregor and club captain Steven Davis would also be leaving the club.
The drip feed of each new crisis since the scandal began has been replaced with daily crises. Like a clowns car being driven into a circus big top, the club now seems to be constantly just minutes away from a fresh problem. In this circumstance however, unlike the car, this shambles cant be so easily reassembled.
The drip feed of each new crisis since the scandal began has been replaced with daily crises. Like a clowns car being driven into a circus big top, the club now seems to be constantly just minutes away from a fresh problem. In this circumstance however, unlike the car, this shambles cant be so easily reassembled.
Since the story broke about financial mismanagement at Ibrox, the severity of the rule breaking and the distance that Rangers would fall because of it has grown and grown. What began as a ten point deduction has snowballed into the liquidation of the club and the hitherto unimaginable scenario where any new team which may take their place don't know which league they'll be in next season, if indeed they play in one at all.
With each new dilemma some Rangers fans have reacted with incredulity at the perceived injustices that has been placed on the club. The points deduction, the transfer embargo, fines, SPL expulsion, and now clubs arguing that they shouldn't be allowed to leapfrog the bottom two leagues, just doesn't seem right to some Rangers supporters who see it less a punishment and more a witch hunt.
They have a point to a degree. Many fans of the other 41 clubs are less concerned with sporting integrity and more interested in seeing a club that they dislike, or in some cases hate, humiliated. On the opposite side of the fence the scare mongering from Ibrox that Scottish football would die without them is also a story dreamt up out of desperation for self-preservation. Indeed back in October 2009 Walter Smith suggested that Scottish football would actually be in a better state if the Old Firm left altogether to join a European league. It seems a strange u-turn to now suggest that the game in Scotland would wither away in their absence.
What shouldn't be forgotten amongst this sorry tale is that while Rangers elimination from the SPL may hit already cash strapped clubs in the pocket, Rangers duplicitous means of operation has actually helped to contribute to that situation. By avoiding tax and assembling a squad that no-one in Scotland could match, they hoarded trophies and success, success that otherwise would have been spread more evenly amongst other clubs.
When it comes to Scottish football, any of the smaller clubs taking on one half of the old firm has always been a case of David versus Goliath. For the small guy to emerge victorious it needs luck, skill and hard work. It also requires Goliath to play by the rules and for years it appears that Rangers haven't been doing that.
How many goals, saves and tackles have been made over the last 15 seasons by footballers who, under normal circumstances wouldn't have been playing in the blue of Rangers? Would they have won titles and cups without the aid of EBT'S? Of course they would, but certainly not as many.
Not only have the fans of Celtic been denied even more titles, but the supporters of other clubs have been prevented from days in the sun that come around all too infrequently in the Scottish game. Clubs in this country have all been denied shots at glory and the possibility of seeing their team lift silverware due to the owner of a Glasgow giant deciding that using the cash of around 50,000 season ticket holders just wasn't enough of an advantage.
Players too, in a career that is all too short, have been given less chance of collecting winners medals or experiencing the thrill of a cup final. While its hard not to have some sympathy for Rangers and their fans, the selfishness that the owners have shown towards the rest of Scottish football has made it difficult for the majority of other supporters to offer even the smallest olive branch of support.
It's a damning indictment of the situation that the club finds itself in at the moment that no-one is entirely sure what Rangers are even called anymore. NewCo, SevCo, Club 12, The Rangers or whatever it may be known as next week has arrived at this destination not because of the SPL or the SFA. Any punishment they received had no bearing on their liquidation, indeed fans of Dundee, Livingston or even Hamilton, a club once deducted 15 points for failing to fulfil a fixture, could all argue that Rangers got off lightly given the circumstances.
Rangers demise has instead stemmed from greed, mismanagement, egotism and financial chicanery. As the 3 man independent panel that initially ruled on the case explained, the rule breaking was so severe that only match fixing could have been deemed worse.
As for where the new club plays next season, again, playing in Division Three isn't a punishment. Rangers are gone, they no longer exist. So as with Annan, Elgin, Inverness and Ross County, any new club coming into the SFL starts at the bottom, that's simply the rules. If only Rangers had adhered to the rules previously then they, and Scottish football at large, wouldn't be in the mire it currently finds itself in.
Will the game die without Rangers in the top league? Of course not, but it will change and it'll involve into something slightly different. It wont necessarily be better, it wont definitely be worse, but its death is greatly exaggerated.
When it comes to Scottish football, any of the smaller clubs taking on one half of the old firm has always been a case of David versus Goliath. For the small guy to emerge victorious it needs luck, skill and hard work. It also requires Goliath to play by the rules and for years it appears that Rangers haven't been doing that.
How many goals, saves and tackles have been made over the last 15 seasons by footballers who, under normal circumstances wouldn't have been playing in the blue of Rangers? Would they have won titles and cups without the aid of EBT'S? Of course they would, but certainly not as many.
Not only have the fans of Celtic been denied even more titles, but the supporters of other clubs have been prevented from days in the sun that come around all too infrequently in the Scottish game. Clubs in this country have all been denied shots at glory and the possibility of seeing their team lift silverware due to the owner of a Glasgow giant deciding that using the cash of around 50,000 season ticket holders just wasn't enough of an advantage.
Players too, in a career that is all too short, have been given less chance of collecting winners medals or experiencing the thrill of a cup final. While its hard not to have some sympathy for Rangers and their fans, the selfishness that the owners have shown towards the rest of Scottish football has made it difficult for the majority of other supporters to offer even the smallest olive branch of support.
It's a damning indictment of the situation that the club finds itself in at the moment that no-one is entirely sure what Rangers are even called anymore. NewCo, SevCo, Club 12, The Rangers or whatever it may be known as next week has arrived at this destination not because of the SPL or the SFA. Any punishment they received had no bearing on their liquidation, indeed fans of Dundee, Livingston or even Hamilton, a club once deducted 15 points for failing to fulfil a fixture, could all argue that Rangers got off lightly given the circumstances.
Rangers demise has instead stemmed from greed, mismanagement, egotism and financial chicanery. As the 3 man independent panel that initially ruled on the case explained, the rule breaking was so severe that only match fixing could have been deemed worse.
As for where the new club plays next season, again, playing in Division Three isn't a punishment. Rangers are gone, they no longer exist. So as with Annan, Elgin, Inverness and Ross County, any new club coming into the SFL starts at the bottom, that's simply the rules. If only Rangers had adhered to the rules previously then they, and Scottish football at large, wouldn't be in the mire it currently finds itself in.
Will the game die without Rangers in the top league? Of course not, but it will change and it'll involve into something slightly different. It wont necessarily be better, it wont definitely be worse, but its death is greatly exaggerated.
