simplythebest 0 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 FIORENTINA, one of Italyâ??s grandest teams, suffered similar horrors to Rangers 10 years ago when financial disaster threatened their very existence. The Viola were relegated in 2002 but due to horrendous cash problems they ceased to exist briefly and were then not allowed to play in Serie B. They were effectively saved by businessman Diego Della Vale who renamed the club Fiorentina 1926 Fiorentia as they were plunged into Serie C2 â?? Italyâ??s fourth tier. All of their star players left apart from one â?? the captain Angelo di Livio. In a remarkable display of loyalty and despite offers from Roma and the English Premiership, di Livio chose to stay with the club and vowed to help them back to the top flight. The club manged to win Serie C2 â?? inspired by the former Juventus star - and in May 2003 Delle Vale brought back the original club name and the famous purple colours. A ruling from the Italian authorities allowed them to skip Serie C1 and move into Serie B and they completed their renaissance by winning a play-off game with Perugia in 2004 and sealed their promotion back to Serie A. Di Livio had been through the whole journey and is rightly lauded as a hero by the Viola fans for his remarkable efforts and at the age of 38 he graced the top division in Italy once more. The robust and talented midfield player deserves great credit and his feats are now being emulated by Lee McCulloch at Rangers. After the turmoil and torture of the summer, McCulloch and Lee Wallace are the only recognised regular first team players to remain and fight for the cause. In fairness, the American trio of Mo Edu, Alejandro Bedoya and Carlos Bocanegra did not walk out and neither did Dorin Goian - although they have all left albeit Bocanegra and Goian on loan â?? while John Fleck was transferred to Coventry City. The rest ran for the exit â?? even although many of them had clauses in their contracts which allowed them to leave on reduced transfer fees. They negotiated these clauses when they agreed to take pay-cuts for three months, ranging from 75 per cent down to 25 per cent. Many people â?? PFA Scotland chairman Fraser Wishart in particular â?? continue to claim that these actions save everyoneâ??s jobs at Ibrox. Absolute nonsense. These actions saved playersâ?? jobs. If the players had not taken these pay cuts the administrators Duff & Phelps would have made a considerable number of them redundant. Of course, having negotiated reduced transfer fees a number of these players then welshed on their agreements and exploited Rangersâ?? perilous situation by walking out and signing for other clubs. Look, I know football largely is all about money. Players like Stevie Naismith, Steven Whittaker, Allan McGregor, Kyle Lafferty, Steve Davis and Jamie Ness have to look after themselves. But donâ??t insult the Ranger supporters with patronising statements about how they saved jobs and it broke their hearts to leave. Contrastingly, McCulloch remained to fight in the trenches and having signed a new two-year extension to his contract the captain will hopefully lead Rangers on the journey back to the top flight. If he does so successfully he will assume hero-like status in the same vein that di Livio is revered by the fans of Fiorentina. http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/opinion/item/2576-lee-can-be-hero-like-angelo 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 hmmm while he's right about the players mostly. its not the whole story. they agreed the cuts only if their were no redundancies. the notion d&p would only have cut players is daft. some of those who stayed did so for the same reasons as naisy etc as well. they went where the most cash was. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 ....♫ ♪ Lee Lee Super Lee ♪ ♫... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 hmmm while he's right about the players mostly. its not the whole story. they agreed the cuts only if their were no redundancies. the notion d&p would only have cut players is daft. some of those who stayed did so for the same reasons as naisy etc as well. they went where the most cash was. It's hardly daft, it was those wages that were the problem, not the other staff. They also agreed to the cuts only if they got the reduced release clauses. Not true, Edu had to wait ages to move but he did the right thing and got us a fee. The likes of Goian, Boca and Wallace weren't the highest earners anyway. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 goian said he wasn't going for a pay cut. Angelo Di jigio himself couldn't have go his 20k a week elsewhere. has he taken a pay cut? perhaps. as for other staff it is daft. as much as anything because if we got rid of half the players what would all the coaches etc be doing. its a good tub thumping article but its not the whole story by far. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 goian said he wasn't going for a pay cut. Angelo Di jigio himself couldn't have go his 20k a week elsewhere. has he taken a pay cut? perhaps. as for other staff it is daft. as much as anything because if we got rid of half the players what would all the coaches etc be doing. its a good tub thumping article but its not the whole story by far. We'd just have promoted several youth players, so long as we could put a team out on the park. I'm pretty sure that would have saved the other staff till the end of the season. But the players wouldn't have been able to get clearance play for anyone else that season and in the case of Naismith he was injured, so i'd say it suited them much more to stay at the club for a few more months playing football and still getting a good wage (with the cuts we'd all still dream of having their pay) than they'd ever let on. It tells the story pretty clearly to me, and i'm glad that officials from the club don't hold back on these guys. Surely writes off any chance of any of them returning? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 and what about the youth coaches who's player's were all working in the first team. or the scouts etc. cuts would have been accross the board trust me. d&p told the staff as much. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 and what about the youth coaches who's player's were all working in the first team. or the scouts etc. cuts would have been accross the board trust me. d&p told the staff as much. Even if so, I think the point I made about it suiting them in ways was valid. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Even if so, I think the point I made about it suiting them in ways was valid. I'm not sure huge cuts in wages suits anyone that much. celic and wylde got a wage elsewhere. I think they wanted a deal that covered everyone. they made out of it after a fashion and the club and staff were safe. btw I'm not convinced that many of them are now earning more than at rangers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 I'm not sure huge cuts in wages suits anyone that much. celic and wylde got a wage elsewhere. I think they wanted a deal that covered everyone. they made out of it after a fashion and the club and staff were safe. btw I'm not convinced that many of them are now earning more than at rangers. You'll say nothing against anyone that doesn't suit the anti-Green agenda anyway. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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