My last blog entry one week ago
focused on the building optimism at Ibrox, how, thanks to an incredible 2
dropped points in the league and only one defeat all season, coupled with the
renaissance of Templeton and Shiels, manager Ally McCoist had enthused how
there was a real sweeping good feeling blowing through Ibrox. The football was
improving with a settled 4-4-2 being the popular order of the day, and CEO
Graham Wallace appeared to be managing the business with intelligence and
skill.
Literally one week later, we
suffer a horrendous 3-3 shambles at Ibrox v a side we trounced 8-0 earlier in
the season, Stenhousemuir, plus the rather disquieting news that Rangers ‘are
pleased to announce’ a loan from majority shareholders Laxey Partners and the
Easdales, then the nonsense news that once again McCoist has been ‘reassured’
(for the 18th time) there will be no repetition of 2012’s plunge into
administration.
To say this turn of events is
bipolar is putting it mildly.
One week ago things looked
positive again, with good football and an apparent business plan being engaged
by the hierarchy. Fast-forward one week later and it all appears to have gone
to hell again.
Let us have a look at each aspect
in turn.
First off the result on Saturday.
Ok, there is no denying Templeton was refused a stone-wall penalty and his
booking was abject. There is also no question the referee was dire. But there
is no getting away from the simple fact that Stenhousemuir are the first team,
this season, other than Forfar in the League Cup, to really test Rangers’
rearguard. And naturally, like a house of cards made from rice paper, it
crumbled embarrassingly. A ridiculous free header for Stenny’s second goal
showed just why Lee McCulloch is not a defender, and Emilson Cribari is not a
footballer.
For all the promise on the field
in terms of the midfield and attacking third, that central defence is an
embarrassment. Mohsni is a talented defender but prone to moments of madness,
and McCulloch seems to have secured his slot by default. This is not to attack
Jig – he has been a great servant to the club and he is a true gent too, but
even he must know he is a very poor stopper. If Lee McCulloch plays in Rangers’
defence in the semi final (assuming we make it) V an SPL side, we will not make
the final. Our defence is like a balloon – and the needle remains at distance
when the opponent is kept at bay. Give us a better opponent, or let any
opponent at our balloon, and it pops.
The next aspect is that loan.
In simple terms Wallace’s spin earlier
in the season that we had enough cash was just that. I hate to say it folks,
but Stockbridge, after being vilified as the bad guy all this time, was
absolutely spot on by saying we would run out of our own cash by April. He
might not have been Mr Popular, in fact, he was basically made the scapegoat
for Rangers’ financial woes, but he stated:
“[In] April next year, we will have
over a million plus; we will also have an optional unsecured facility provided
should we need it.”
Well clearly we need said
unsecured facility because with the announcement that the club has made a
secured loan of £1.5M from two major shareholders (to be repaid as shares) the
club is in more dire straits financially than Wallace was willing to admit but
most observers, yours truly included, stated. The current loan is secured
against Edmiston House and Albion Car Park, so if Rangers do not convert the
capital into shares (doing so will give Laxey and Easdale even greater power)
those two assets will be lost.
Last but not least aspect is the
calamitous repetition of
“Ally McCoist has been reassured
Rangers will not go into administration again.”
How many more times do Rangers
need to repeat this and fans need to hear it? Whether it is true or not, it is
becoming a broken record. And the worst part is we cannot be sure it is true. How can we be?
Rangers are a high and a low
right now – one minute good news, the next it is bad. After the lull of
post-AGM it honestly felt like I had been wrong to say that would be the start
of the real nightmare.
Now that nightmare feels like a
slow burning furnace, ready to explode any moment.