Danny 0 Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Cast your mind back 12 months. We'd just won the league, had a promising core group of players to build around, had the Emirates glamour cup to look forward to, a CL group campaign to anticipate, and while we didn't expect a great deal of activity in the transfer market, we felt reasonably confident with the players and manager we had that we could win the SPL and perhaps scrape through to the last 16 of the CL as long as we got the likes of Sevilla and Stuttgart. There was a wee bit of optimism around the place - yes, we were heavily in debt, and yes, SDM's backseat stance as chairman was a bit irritating given his pro active approach in years gone by, but there was a bit of hope nonetheless. None of us expected the world, but we had things to look forward to. 3 events later that year dramatically shifted the landscape - first of all SDM quitting completely as chairman in Auguest and effectively having nothing more to do with the club outwith majority shareholding - end of an era and one actually welcomed by many, including yours truly, but as it transpired, we had been given a chairman closer to John McLelland in his distanced approach, with it becoming apparent that Martin Bain truly ran the club. Second was the ritual humiliations we suffered in the CL. We knew we did not have a world class squad, but there had been the hope that we could emulate our brilliant foray into Europe in 2007/2008 with maybe a giant killing act here or there and the gathering of a few crucial points away from home. On the contrary, we struggled to pick up 2 points on the road, and were clinically dispatched at Ibrox by all who visited us. Third was Walter announcing the bank owned the club, and that we were basically in a black hole. An abyss, and we badly needed a new owner. Despite all these seismic shifts in the landscape, Walter's threadbare squad managed to own the SPL regardless, and there's not a bear who isn't delighted at that - an astonishing achievement given the limitations. But here we are, 10 months after SDM gave up with the club and left it in the hands of Bain, 8 months after Walter illustrated the dire straits we were in, and 6 months after we lost our last CL game to Sevilla in Spain; and we are STILL waiting for certainty. Don't get me wrong, I am glad we're not a Gretna or a Portsmouth, but for any team to go almost 2 years without a single purchased signing, in any league in the world, is absolutely unheard of. The longer nothing happens, the edgier we all get. We get drip fed teases by the likes of Ellis who tells us he hopes to take over the club within 3 weeks, but not only do we hear nothing since then, but he manages to disclose certain intentions which were unknown to the management staff. This is not how we do things, nor should it be. Then there's Dave King who's been linked to us for years it seems, been portrayed as a knight in shining armour, a born and bred bluenose - he's had ample chance to put his money where his mouth is but again, nothing tangible happens. Half of me hopes, naively, that we will finally have new owners this summer and can stop worrying about where our future lies, how our debt will be cleared. But why does a bigger half of me think it's all a great big pile of stinking piss, full of empty promises and complete fabrication. All the while our valuable playing assets don't know if they're coming or going, our management staff have no idea what's round the corner, and certain individuals clearly get tired of the stalemate and decide to move on. Rangers need to get sorted. The more this stuff stays in the rumour mill, the more nothing happens. I fear for us in the CL next season in a much harder group if we go in with the squad we currently have minus some individuals, because if you thought last year was tragic, this one would be an atrocity. Someone bloody buy us, now! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Flying Hippo Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 It's not the Champions League i'm worried about. Anything more than 6 defeats out of 6 is a bonus. It's the SPL. I honestly believe that we could be out of the title race before a ball has even been kicked. You cannot win a 38 game title with a squad of about 13 senior players. Not when your biggest rivals has a squad of almost 30. I've never felt doom and gloom like this before, and we're champions ffs! It's so bad that even Kirk Broadfoot signing a new contract or something similarly banal would put a massive smile on my face 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbr 1,247 Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 It's not the Champions League i'm worried about. Anything more than 6 defeats out of 6 is a bonus. It's the SPL. I honestly believe that we could be out of the title race before a ball has even been kicked. You cannot win a 38 game title with a squad of about 13 senior players. Not when your biggest rivals has a squad of almost 30. I've never felt doom and gloom like this before, and we're champions ffs! It's so bad that even Kirk Broadfoot signing a new contract or something similarly banal would put a massive smile on my face Even worse is the situation we face next year when the bulk of the remaining players are out of contract totally free to walk away , now that is scarey 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Flying Hippo Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Even worse is the situation we face next year when the bulk of the remaining players are out of contract totally free to walk away , now that is scarey No new owner in the next 18 months and Rangers playing squad will be 90% made up of boys under the age of 20, of that there's virtually no doubt. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,150 Posted May 14, 2010 Share Posted May 14, 2010 Yeah, good post Danny and your feelings are probably shared by many fans. Uncertainty describes the situation as succinctly as anything else and the fact it could have been used last summer - and probably beyond then is probably typical of the short-term planning that blights our club. The problem is no-one knows the true intentions of any of the main players: be it Ellis, who is the real mystery man; King, who seems as confused as the rest of us; or even Murray, who is the picture of innocence in his white suit on his new Corstorphine mansion's decking. Who me?! As such anything that does come out is merely uninformed speculation which is unhelpful as fans clamour for good news to relieve our stress. Meanwhile, those of us who have just shelled out another �£400+ for season tickets, wonder just what we've paid for next season! It would make for quite the satirical comedy if Chris Morris was interested. I'm not sure many of us are laughing though... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabashcannonball 0 Posted May 14, 2010 Share Posted May 14, 2010 Uncertainty is the refuge of hope. Henri Frederic Amiel 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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