Rangers Administration: The Bigger Picture
The day many Rangers fans have been dreading for months, possibly years, arrived on Tuesday at 2.55PM, writes Stephen Temlett.
Like many people I turned the television on and saw the golden bar on Sky Sports News – “Rangers go into administration”.
Even the most optimistic Bear must have seen it coming. Every Rangers fan knew it was coming, they just didn’t know when.
The Glasgow club now face a ten point deduction. Betting company Paddy Power have paid out on Celtic winning the league.
It’s time for everyone in the game to look into the future. What happens next in a football sense?
Before we go any further the word “if” has to feature heavily. There are so many ifs surrounding this whole situation. If there is an immediate fire sale of players, if the Club is shut down for good, if the SPL can continue.
The consequences will be felt in every tier of the Scottish game; a very few positively, a majority negatively.
The fans.
This surely has to be the hardest time to be a Rangers fan. All you have done is support your side loyally through thick and thin, given up your weekends, your free time and your hard earned money. Then your team goes into administration. It must feel like someone has run up to you, punched you in the gut and taken your wallet.
Saying that, looking forward into the weekend Rangers are at home to Kilmarnock and it will be interesting to see the crowd reaction. I am expecting a full house on Saturday at Ibrox as fans try their best to back their team and show support. Already there are plans in place for supporters to arrive an hour early on Saturday greet the team off the bus, get into the stadium to sing songs, wave flags, scarves, banners and cheer on their heroes to show solidarity as they try to complete the impossible – winning the league. The best thing for the fans to do is back the team and give 100% support; something the Ibrox faithful are famous for.
However there will be a number of supporters who will be angry at this proud club being dragged through this ordeal and will seek answers. A protest would be a possibility but in times like this, as Portsmouth have shown time and time again, fan unity which backs the team works better than attacking the board.
It must be a hard time for season ticket holders, too. For years the renewal forms have been getting dispatched earlier and earlier and it won’t be long until those letters will be getting sent out for next season. What would you do? Buy a ticket when there’s a chance the club might not be around. Will the team be recognisable from last year? Will they be competitive? Is it even worth buying? All these questions will be in season ticket holders mind’s in the upcoming months. Not to mention Rangers are depending on season ticket sales through their Ticketus deal.
If Rangers ceased to exist the only real positive might be found in local teams. Supporters from outside of Glasgow who travel to Ibrox might instead turn to their nearest team and start to attend their games instead. This benefits the local side in question but like I said there are only a few positives to this whole situation.
The players and staff at Rangers.
The next few weeks are crucial for Rangers. In the event of Rangers needing to sell players the likes of Allan McGregor, Steve Davis and Maurice Edu will probably be the first to go. Other players will follow as the team becomes a shadow of its formal self. And it would be hard to criticise the players wanting to leave. Rangers are hardly offering a secure job at the minute. Other staff will be let go too as the club looks to reduce the wage bill.
The rest of the League and European football.
Neil Lennon and Celtic’s Chief Executive Peter Lawell have came out and said they do not need Rangers to survive. In my opinion that is garbage. Here’s a few reasons why:
Sky, ESPN and other television deals and Celtic fans.
Sky’s deal with the S.P.L to show games is based on one game – the Old Firm. You can say what you like about that but Sky are primarily interested in Celtic vs Rangers. Now if Rangers went under that game is no longer there. Sky won’t offer another multi-million contract to watch Celtic win the league by 40 points every year. An argument says the league will be more competitive without Rangers. Again – garbage. It will only be competitive in the sense that second place will be up for grabs. There is no team out there that can genuinely keep up with Celtic for an entire season. It will become very stale very quickly.
Celtic fans in turn will soon be bored by the monotony of winning constantly, if that’s possible, and might soon find themselves becoming bored and turning away. If you’re a Celtic fan and you’re laughing at this situation stop and take a minute to think about the consequences. The highlight of the season has to be an Old Firm match. Imagine missing out on that game, the atmosphere and the spectacle.
The rest of the S.P.L depend on Rangers, too. For a large majority of teams the Old Firm is their meal ticket. Without Rangers playing their side that is a huge amount of income they will be losing out on. Almost every team are recording financial losses and the loss of a home tie against Rangers would be even more crippling.
As well as this there will be a big effect on a European scale in Scottish football. While Rangers crashed and burned this year in Europe the co-efficient could take a further hammering without one half of the Old Firm. Instead of the Old Firm you might have Celtic and Motherwell who, with no disprespect, won't progress as far in Europe.
I’ve spoken to some Rangers fans who feel “more galvanised” now that this news is out. At first I didn’t agree with them. But I can understand now. The last few months have given the fans absolutely no clarity whatsoever. Now, though, there should be more details about the situation and more communication between the board and the fans. Maybe.
The squabbling between the two boards, past and present, has disintegrated into nothing more than schoolboy whinging. "Aww it's his fault." "Naw it's his". They are both as bad as each other. In the last 24 hours administrators have discovered £9 million in unpaid tax. From last MAY. What chance have Rangers got of winning the tax bill now. Rangers' only defence was that it was the previous regime who evaded tax and that Whyte's board are running the club by the books. Now with this news that even more tax is being unpaid, what chance do they have?
Regardless of your opinion on the subject if you have sympathy with the champions, or none whatsoever, just take a minute to think about the S.P.L without Rangers. For some people this article will have no bearing on their opinion whatsoever. The next few months will no doubt drag on, as this whole saga has from the beginning, but all we can do is wait.
Comments
All it needs is for 500 people who proeviously followed Rangers to follow their local SPL side for a season and that more than makes up for losing the Rangers support (10% of those who go to Ibrox). They bring 1600 to St Mirren each game - better to have 500 people for 19 games who spend at each game that 1600 for a single game - and our police costs would be reduced.
Agree on the Sky comments - £ would be lost and significant sums too - the answer is to cut your cloth to suit.
RSS feed for comments to this post