Traynor - Dead Men Talking

[ian1964 10,447]

STEWART Regan and Neil Doncaster will walk up the Hampden steps today like condemned men trudging towards the gallows.

 

The leaders of the SFA and SPL know their time could be short. One call for a vote of no confidence in SFA chief Regan has already been rejected but there is no doubt clubs and fans are blaming the two leaders for much of the chaos.

 

If they are to turn this tide of disapproval theyâ??ll have to prevent a whispering campaign becoming a clamour for their removal. If theyâ??re smart theyâ??ll start today by doing the right thing.

 

Regan could begin by apologising for having tried to manipulate clubs into voting Rangers (we can drop all the newco stuff now because they will be called Rangers) into the First Division. Apparently he used Hibernianâ??s Rod Petrie to help spread the word. Go figure.

 

Anyway, while SPL chairmen listened, the lower-league clubs, when it was their turn to be advised, didnâ??t. They withstood the pressure and decided the Ibrox club must begin at the very bottom.

 

Fair enough but there will be casualties as broadcasters and corporate partners queue up to renegotiate their deals now that Rangers wonâ??t be seen at the top level for at least three years.

 

From the beginning it was my view that Rangers should be sent to the bottom tier for the mismanagement and non-payment of taxes which helped tip them over, but the release of figures showing the potential carnage that might be visited upon a handful of clubs changed everything.

 

Integrity, if that really ever was one of the main drivers in this sorry tale of crime and punishment, had to be combined with reality. A compromise solution should have come into play because the stakes were so high.

 

Even if you wanted to allow for exaggeration or a degree of scaremongering by knocking several million off the £16m the authorities insist will be lost to the game annually during Rangersâ?? top-flight absence, the risks in refusing to accommodate them in Division One were too high.

 

The SFL should have grabbed the opportunity to become the architects of a new way by giving the SPL what they desired â?? Rangers in the First â?? in return for radical and intelligent changes to the gameâ??s structure and culture.

 

Having said that, let me also stress that had Rangers not been punished there should have been no thought of compromise. But the fact is they have taken a kicking and I donâ??t think we, as a nation, have been shown in a complimentary light.

 

Many fans were driven only by a need to make sure fair play applied and they are blameless but thereâ??s little doubt old scores were being settled by others. There was a nastiness about the way some fans, and clubs, lined up to have a go.

 

It was a pack mentality which made us appear brutal and cruel, and yet there are still some who donâ??t believe Rangers have suffered enough. Regan might be one of them because the SFA continue to insist Charles Green and his investors agree to accept responsibility and punishment without appeal for any as yet undiscovered â??crimesâ? which previous owners may have committed.

 

They are to agree never to return to court to contest sanctions and are being ordered to give up a number of trophies won in the EBT years.

 

What was once a raft of sanctions has become a barge almost too wide to navigate up the Clyde yet around the end of April, when Bill Miller was close to buying Rangers, his â??incubatorâ? club was to be allowed into the SPL. His people believed that was all but agreed and while sanctions were attached they were â??softâ? in comparison to the ones the SFA and SPL are still trying to staple on to Greenâ??s concern.

 

Petrie was involved in the talks with Millerâ??s people before the American backed out so perhaps the Hibs chief, who has been a go-between for Regan and Green, could explain what has changed. Who decided the punishments had to be tougher? Regan? Doncaster? Petrie himself? Or was it someone else?

 

Frankly, it shouldnâ??t matter because itâ??s time Green stood up for his club and told Regan, Doncaster and Petrie where to stick further sanctions. Shouldnâ??t be too difficult for a Yorkshireman and he might also make it clear the only thing the SFA boss should be handing out now is Rangersâ?? association membership so they can get on with the business of starting over in Division Three.

 

If Rangers werenâ??t important to the gameâ??s finances clubs wouldnâ??t be fearing closure without them so, if heâ??s smart, Green will use this to his advantage by making his own demands which reflect the wishes of Rangers fans. Especially if he wants to move those season tickets.

 

And if Regan is sharp heâ??ll dispense with the courier, Petrie, and blow away all doubts about Rangersâ?? future by stating categorically theyâ??ll be in the Third Division. He should do that first thing today before sprinting to the office of his fellow Englishman, Doncaster, and telling him to wise up as well. Neil has to make sure his SPL clubs veer away from this nonsense of SPL2.

 

These two men must realise that, in the eyes of many clubs and fans, they are damaged goods. They allowed the process of dealing with Rangers to get away from them and donâ??t have much time left to regain control through bringing their squabbling,

panic-stricken members to heel. If they want to remain in office somehow today Regan and Doncaster have to end the chaos.

 

SPL clubs have been talking and meeting all weekend desperately seeking ways of minimising the effects of last Fridayâ??s SFL decision. As well as SPL2 it has also been suggested the top flight might decide to run with only 11 clubs instead of allowing Dunfermline, relegated last season, or Dundee in to make up the dozen. That would be yet another act of folly.

 

There wouldnâ??t be a vacancy for Rangers in the SFL and, if they couldnâ??t join the SPL, the Ibrox club would have nowhere to go. Green would be well within his rights to sell the assets and get himself as far away as possible from this madness which would be even more destructive if Rangers were wiped from the face of the game.

 

With Kilmarnock, Dundee United, Motherwell, and

St Mirren facing closure if their TV payments are slashed the level of panic and fear is understandable, but as they all run around like men on fire they have to remember they charted this course themselves.

 

First, they allowed their fans to decide and then they asked the SFL to make a decision. But now theyâ??re bleating that theyâ??ve somehow been turned over because a deal to put Rangers in the First Division was supposed to have been agreed.

 

Perhaps they need to turn their wrath on the men who gave them that impression in the first place rather than scream at the smaller clubs. If they continue to do that, or attempt to undermine Fridayâ??s vote, theyâ??ll just enrage the SFL further.

 

Ways of coping with the savage cuts which will be made must be found and people need to calm down and keep their heads. Especially Regan and Doncaster.

[GovanAllan 0]

It's only a whispering campaign because everybody is shit scared of Liewell including you ya fat fud.

[Frankie 8,182]

I guess that's about as strong an article against Regan as we'll get.

[Jim1955 12]

No name mentioned but a suggestion that someone other than Regan has been calling the shots. Hmmm, wonder who?

[RANGERRAB 3,299]

They won't go by choice. Who'll push them ?

[26th of foot 5,857]

No name mentioned but a suggestion that someone other than Regan has been calling the shots. Hmmm, wonder who?

 

 

Well, I suspect the arm constantly portruding from Regan's arse belongs to Peter Lawwell.

 

Thirty years past, the Valentine Brothers wrote and recorded the definitive take on Regonomics, 'Moneys too Tight to Mention'. I wonder if Stu' has been conditioned to refrain, 'did the earth move for you Peter'?

[Guest Dutchy]

At least Traynor is calling for a stop to the increasingly detremental punishments, for that reason, it was a fairly decent article.

 

Someone now has to come out and name Lawell as a possible dark force, behind the scenes in this, even if Regan goes, Lawell needs to be investigated as well.

[Guest carter001]

I asked this on another thread but, got no reply. There is a lot of posts about lawell controlling regan etc but, is there any proof of this or is it just assumptions?

 

I'm just wondering if I had missed something that implicated him in this?

 

It would be good if there was something concrete, or even more that just people assuming.

[Guest Dutchy]

Fair enough carter, but at least start with asking some questions about what's been going on behind closed doors. If that doesn't happen, then we'll never get to the truth of it, and they will just continue their sneaky ways.

 

Do you not wonder why one of the SFA's officers have had nothing to say about this momentous event in Scottish football. All I've heard from him has been in his capacity as septic CE, saying more or less the same 'we don't need Rangers' thing!!!

[Zappa 0]

Traynor makes some very good points in that article. I definitely agree with him that Green shouldn't accept the SFA's demands, but it's a dangerous game to play because I don't think Regan will be willing to back down. He's already lost a lot of credibility over this whole shambles and won't want to lose even more.