Rangers fans are noting Europa League rivals Lyon and their struggles in Ligue 1, with the French cracks close to a demotion to Ligue 2 after entering financial ruin.
The French giants are around £422M in debt with absolutely no way to pay it back, and with Rangers’ recent loss to the Les Gones (ironic nickname we have to say) still fresh in the memory, naturally there’s been speculation over the implication of any action on Lyon upon Rangers.
Bottom line is the Parc Olympique Lyonnais side are in serious deep trouble, and are certain to be relegated and banned from transfers.
They spent more than they have, and are now up to their eyes in debt.
There are a few Rangers angles on this, and Ibrox Noise will talk you through them:
Firstly, we don’t want any club to suffer – any… club. We know we’re in the minority here on Ibrox Noise after the bitter majority reaction to Inverness’ plight, happily wanting the club to fold, but we don’t share that. So that includes Lyon, even if they have mismanaged their funds.
Secondly, we’re well aware of what happened to our own club, so there’s a catch 22 here of action against Lyon benefiting Rangers, which our supporters would want to see, while we as a fanbase were outraged over Scottish football doing the same thing to us. Can’t really have it both ways. That’s hypocrisy.
Thirdly, regardless of emotion, is anything likely to benefit Rangers? Well we can’t say no – Lyon are under the rules of UEFA regarding the Europa League, not the SPFL or SFA. What they say goes, and if UEFA throw Lyon out of the competition it’s likely all their league matches will be changed to a 3-0 loss, which would give Rangers an extra 3 points as well. There is some speculation any punishment will only be meted next season, but time will tell what will be done, and when.
So what’s the outcome?
At Ibrox Noise, we know how much we suffered as a club and fanbase, and sadly most of our fans didn’t learn a thing from that and just want other clubs to go through the same thing – the bitterness is depressing, albeit fractionally understandable.
Call us pacifists on this site if you want, but we’re not wanting other clubs to go under.
We do hope Lyon will survive this, and learn how to live within their means in future. But that is a tonne of debt for sure…