What’s Football Got to do With It?

24
What’s Football Got to do With It?
Just prior to the summer of 2009, Rangers, having just won the league, had a great deal to look forward to. With direct entry to the Champions League group stage assured thanks to the SPL title along with the many millions that achievement brought into the club’s coffers, plus confirmed participation in the Emirates stadium friendly summer tournament also featuring Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, and Atletico Madrid, things were looking fairly positive at Ibrox. Walter Smith’s side had recovered nicely from the dire Paul le Guen debacle and were progressing well. Indeed, the side went on to win the following two league championships, and Four in a Row was looking a distinct possibility, especially given new ownership and the blistering domestic start to the season 2011/2012 under new manager Ally McCoist.
This is the face of Ally we prefer.
Sadly, 3 years on from that summer of anticipation, barely 36 months, and the normal Rangers supporter no longer finds themselves discussing summer budget, transfer targets, pre-season friendlies and potential formations. The utter debacle from administration onwards, which has been debated to the ends of the earth, has left Rangers supporters violated, betrayed, frustrated, and denied the ability to enjoy football in the way most football fans take for granted.
Sometimes it is said the close season is a boring time for fans – with no competitive club football, supporters are left to read the tabloids conveying the latest transfer speculation, or match report from last night’s friendly, be it a glamour match against some elite European club, or a trip to a third division German side’s ground. Every nuance of said game is nitpicked upon by fans eager to discuss where weaknesses lie, what the manager should do differently come the start of the new campaign. As dull as this may be, one thing it definitely is not is stressful. Regrettably, since February 14th, everything Rangers has been one acute anxiety after another, with good news at a priceless premium.
Rangers fans have been categorically crushed by those who run the club, past and present, and the ability to anticipate a new season has been mercilessly extracted.
The USA played two friendly matches recently, one against a miserable Scotland, another against the new generation of Brazilian superstar. The majority of fans watching these games were able to focus on the football, thinking about the players from their clubs and how they would perform for their country. Milan supporters would have watched the Brazil friendly and noted Onyewu, the American international, who used to play in defence for their club, Pato, the late substitute for the Samba superstars who scored a stunning goal but who has struggled badly with injury for the Rossoneri, and Thiago Silva, arguably the best defender around right now who scored a fine header for his country and wore the captain’s armband and has assured Milan fans he is going nowhere.
Rangers fans would have spotted two of their American stars, Bocanegra and Edu having outings, but sadly, the fragile existence of their club coupled with the sanctions being threatened against them meant appreciating the football side of the equation was effectively irrelevant. 5 goals past Allan McGregor in the Scotland friendly seemed to sum up the battering Ibrox has taken.
Expression sums it up.
Supporters are no longer able to discuss football, but instead have no option but to converse about the SFA, SPL, Stewart Regan, Neil Doncaster, HMRC, BTC, sanctions, administration, Duff & Phelps, Craig Whyte, and Charles Green, to name a few. Formations, Steven Davis’ form, Kyle Lafferty’s personality, Ally McCoist’s tactics, David Healy’s absence from the first team – issues which might occasionally merit a brief discussion but inevitably the conversation returns back to the kind of subject football fans should never have to worry about.
Super Ally had a great deal of pressure going into this season, given the stunning act he had to follow, but rather than managing a football club, he has managed a storm. And as anyone knows, people can be controlled slightly more than the weather can. Rather than explaining a football selection, Ally has had to rally the troops in the face of this miserable debacle. And the most dire part of it is it never seems to abate. From one horror to another, more time has been spent in offices, courts and boardrooms dealing with administrative matters than the simple premise of arranging a summer pre-season match.
Never have so many supporters wanted a period in a club’s history to be behind them quite as much as this. Other clubs have suffered badly too, Portsmouth, Leeds, Juventus; but the latter two survived and while Leeds are not the Premier League side they once were, they still exist for supporters to cheer on. Juventus were relegated 5 years ago for so-called ‘Calciopoli’, but today they are Italian champions and will be in the Champions League next season. 
One day we hope to be here again.
But Rangers? The club cannot plan for next week never mind next season. With yet more time being devoted to what sanctions the SPL can carry out on the club, the next blow seems imminent.
If only it was about the football again.

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24 COMMENTS

    • dont know what you are laughing about? every club has its scandals as celtic know that between 1974-97 they hid a child abuse scandal that got 2 men charged and 1 jailed, far worse scandal than rangers , are you still laughing fool

  1. yes,a sad time for us all,I have never witnessed anything so traumatic in all my 60 years as a Rangers supporter,just how long does it take to read and check the Rangers books,certainly not three months,I have allways had the belief that Duff and Phelps(working on behalf of Craig White)have been stalling to the point of running out of time,to ensure Rangers go into liquidation,therefore paying no creditors,as C White has allready had his fraudulent millions from the club,but what ever the truth,Ihate to say it, but I think Rangers are finished,as you all know, Fifa and his dog want a pound of flesh,or Scotland and all the clubs who qualified for Europe will suffer,so it is a catch 22 senario.

  2. rangers have cheated scottish football for years , now they turn to bullyboy tactics when will it all end grow up. pay your debts and take the punishishment you all know rangers are guilty of all the crimes

  3. ooooo aaaaaaaa samaras

    ooooo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa up the samaras

    tick tock tick tock

    GBNL & LTPS

  4. about the football? nae chance when its the govan mob

    ITS ALL ABOUT THE CHEATING…..PAY YER TAXES !!!!!

  5. well i think stay positive me as rangers fan i pray and hope we can get over this as soon as poss i feel sorry for ally mccoits and the players well done ally for your season of year as manager and by god m8 you kept it together
    WE WANT WALK AWAY AND RANGERS LIVE ON
    BUT THE PUNISHMENTS ARE NOW COMMING A JOKE NOW YA GET RID OF 1 AND ANOTHER KEEPS APPEARING
    WE WILL FOLLOW FOLLOW WE WILL FOLLOW RANGERS ALL THE WAY THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE READY TO KICK US DOWN BUT HEY WE WILL GET BACK UP AND FIGHT TILL THE END

    • Of course they keep coming and by the way this is not the end but only the beginning (NFL).
      Each crime comitted will be looked at on it's own merit and should be punished as such.

      If you steal a car and get caught = 5 months @HM Pleasure.
      If you steal the car to rob a bank = 5 years plus the 5 months.
      If you steal a car to rob a bank then murder the bank clerk. = 15 years plus the 5 years plus the 5 months.
      Any rangers supporter i speak to wants only the 5 months for all their crimes.
      SSH

  6. Shows how much of a joke they are for going to court…. They put the whole of the SPL in jeopardy now. No more throwing the dummy out of the pram when FIFA hit them a boot.

  7. The irony is – It was the money from the fighting fund that allowed the appeal to go to the court of session, which in turn will lead to SFA membership suspension.

  8. sad time my ass, a whole generation have grown up thinking RFC,s sucsess was because they were the best & i really do feel sorry for them but as many other older fans of other teams will have asked themselves……..How The Flock can they afford to spend 12m on flo???

    well the truth is outing bears, in my younger days i watched the berlin wall get taken down wondering why they were all so happy, looks like the honest team supporters are about to find out.

    Cheers,
    Woodside Don

  9. why is there so many celtic fans on a rangers page? just shows theyre more obsessed about rangers than their own team

  10. i deffo would agree with you celtic fans are obessed with us cause we simply the best better than all the rest

  11. Your bitternes, intollerance & and biggotrey/racism has finally been exposed beyond the boundary of 'Proddy Scotland'.
    Learn that we are all the same, we are all the peeple together!
    Pick another team to support, RFC are RIP.
    Yer welcome as since 1888 at Celtic Park.
    Just leave the toilets as you found them please?

    • if you dont like PRODDY SCOTLAND as you put it you can always shove off and i agree with the post about child abuse thats worse than any tax case KIDS LIFES WERE AFFECTED AND NOW THEIR ADULTS THEYLL STILL HAVE MEMORIES WHATS HAPPENED TO THEM BUT ..SWEEP SWEEP THE CELTIC FAMILY WAY AND BACK TO THE PRODDY THING YOUVE JUST GOT TO LOOK AT THE CATHOLIC AREAS IN SCOTLAND ALL DUMPS SAYS IT ALL EH ANDI REALLY LAUGH AT SOME OF THE UNWASHED COMMENTS ABOUT PAYING BILLS MAKES YOU WONDER WHY SO MANY OF THEM ARE IN PRISON EH

  12. I was gettin bored wi all this rangers stuff, …. then I thought about it and, said, Nah…………..I Just Cant Get enough!!!!! lololol rangers till July!!!

  13. I see the plastic micky wan eyes soon found this new blog. All I can say is Poppy Day Shame and support for terrorists.

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