Speaking in plain English

[Frankie 8,182]

As usual, it was interesting to read Tom Englishâ??s thoughts in todayâ??s Scotland on Sunday. His column discussing the forthcoming boycott of Tannadice and our stance with regard to the events of the last year or two seems to be the direct result of some discussion on Radio Scotland the previous evening. Rangers clearly remain the most important topic in Scottish football.

 

Moving on, at the risk of the readers thinking Iâ??m about to tell a politically incorrect joke I actually think English (of proud Irish stock) is one of the better contributors to the flawed Scottish media (as is his Scotsman employer) so his assertion that the Rangers family want to â??paint the club as innocentâ?? was rather disappointing.

 

First of all, I think itâ??s important to explain why I find English that little bit more credible than others. While I donâ??t always agree with his opinion (in fact I disagree a lot) at least heâ??s prepared to share his public platform with supporters. Be it on Scotsman web-chats, Twitter or on radio phone-ins, the guy is happy to engage with people and I think this does influence his commentary â?? possibly a bit more than heâ??d care to admit. For that he deserves some credit. As a result Iâ??d hope heâ??ll read this article and absorb its comments.

 

Thus, letâ??s get one thing straight â?? we do not paint our club, ourselves or key club figures as innocent. Indeed, throughout this saga, our fans have been clear in their want for a full investigation into what happened at Rangers. This very site has called for an independent judicial inquiry into the behaviour of Craig Whyte, Lloyds Banking Group, MIH and others for a long time now. We do so again here as one of the few ways our national sport can move forward is by having everything in the open and discussed by informed neutrals. As a first step, letâ??s hope BDO are supported in the difficult job they have over the coming months.

 

Clearly, with MIH (currently) absolved of any blame in their risky EBT schemes of the last 10 years, the issue basically comes down to the sale of the club. With huge (and apparently inaccurate) media coverage surrounding the EBT schemes, thereâ??s also no doubt this sale was pushed through because of the uncertainty surrounding tax tribunals. Equally the lack of due diligence into Craig Whyteâ??s plans by MIH, LBG and the integrity stalwarts at the SFA/SPL also contributed â?? as did the eagerness of our fans to ignore the warnings about Whyte. A broad brush is required at the point of sale then. No-one is innocent.

 

Moving quickly on and itâ??s is obvious to all that Craig Whyte caused the club to fall into administration and the company that owned the club to be liquidated. His behaviour â?? along with those that worked with him â?? was shameful. To not pay PAYE/NI and to lie his way from one crisis to the next means heâ??ll be the most hated figure in Rangersâ?? continuing history. However, our fans are still entitled to ask why HMRC and the football authorities were absent in their protection of our club. We can also ask why Hearts (or Vladimir Romanov if weâ??re consistent) seem to conduct their financial affairs with scant regard for the rules. Some may also want to explore the tax avoidance schemes of other clubs. Rangers were and are not alone in looking to minimise their tax obligations.

 

From this point, events moved quickly. Whyte was running out of excuses/money and eventually the club was rightly called to account. The club per se may not have been able to stop Whyteâ??s criminal(?) activities but neither could it not be punished. And it has been; as have our fans; clearly the most loyal in Scottish football. Weâ??re in the Third Division, weâ??re without European football, weâ??ve lost several expensive players; our reputation is tarnished forever and weâ??re light years behind our greatest rivals as they (to their credit) do well in Europe.

 

Yet still some want to push harder. The SPL appear desperate to strip our club of honours legitimately (according to the FTTT) won on the field. The SFA have done nothing â?? nothing â?? to aid the recovery of our club. The media demand â??contritionâ?? from our support whilst some SPL clubs take umbrage when we refuse to finance their own failing operations.

 

All the above isnâ??t rocket science and the timeline is easy to follow. The people responsible for what happened are easy to spot and we all hope will answer for their crimes â?? no more so than Rangers support. However, many others have contributed to what happened so itâ??s no surprise that our fans want to highlight their hypocrisy where appropriate.

 

In fact, if weâ??re to speak in plain English, then those with an access to public platforms should be looking to examine the whole sorry picture instead of empirically wanting to blame those that have already been punished. If weâ??re to reconstruct and improve Scottish football then let us be prepared to scratch more than the surface of what was a complex sequence of events with many guilty parties.

 

Tom English is more than capable of doing that so should be leading from the front in ensuring the whole sorry episode is explained while not jumping on bandwagons wanting to continue with the ridiculous conclusion that Rangers Football Club and its fans are to blame for everything wrong with our national game.

 

Sometimes, just sometimes, Rangers fans are actually worth listening to.

[Blue Moon 1,118]

Superb article, Frankie, says it all.

[DUDE 0]

Spot on mate.

[26th of foot 5,857]

I think it's about access to the debate.

 

This is a road well travelled by the Herald 10-12 years past. There was a period of almost 4 years when the Herald's triumvirite of Douglas-Home, McKenna, and McAlpine deliberately denied Rangers supporters access to the debate. Numerous subjective columns reference Rangers appeared across the paper, front page to last. Despite many, including myself penning contributions to the debate, we were denied access to the correspondence pages.

 

This culminated in Sanjeev Kholi's two page column on changing his allegience from Rangers to ra Sellik. He claimed this occurred whilst standing in the Rangers end at ra Piggery on Mark Walters debut on 2nd January 1988. Apparently he was discusted at his fellow Rangers supporters dressed in monkey suits and pelting Walters with bananas! Surely a false memory? The Editor of the supplement was Charleen Sweeney, she and McKenna and McAlpine protected Kholi in the correspondence pages. They printed one single paragraph letter from a Bear claiming Kholi was mistaken. However, they printed several letters from Yahoos(including both Kholi's brothers) congratulating him on his courage and honesty.

 

BBC Scotland has travelled the same road. Go through all the regular contributors/talking heads on their football output and name the Rangers supporter? Aberdeen is well represented ; Gordon, Grant, Sutherland, Mann, Wullie Miller, and Liam McLeod. Sellik have Kheredine, Chris McLaughlin, John Barnes, Murdo McLeod, Tom English, Tony Higgins, Pat Nevin, Des McKeown, and David Begg. Dundee United have Spence, Kenny McIntyre, Gary Robertson. Hearts have Paul Mitchell, Preston, John Robertson, and Hibs have Craig Paterson. Rob McLean supports Ross County, Cowan is a 'Well fan, Cosgrove is a Saintee, Scott Davie a Raith Rovers supporter. Chic Young strongly claims adherence to St Mirren, and Billy Dodds has publically declared he no longer considers himself a Rangers supporter. That leaves Derek Ferguson as the TOKEN.

 

Look at that list, 30 names and one Rangers supporter mostly contributing from lower division games. Like the Herald it is deliberate in denying Rangers supporters access to the debate. Continually, they claim Rangers are the establishment team; however we are way under represented and if you think the front of the house representation is woeful, you should see the list of Producers and Editors.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

im not so sure frankie i've seen quite a few say in the wake of the ebt case result that we have been unfairly punished. that we shouldnt be where we are and general forgetting of whytes actions.

 

that said its nothing to do with the dundee utd boycott.

[Zappa 0]

Well done Frankie.

[Doc 280]

Articulate as ever Frankie.

 

Let's just hope someone out there is willing to listen.

[forlanssister 3,050]

. That leaves Derek Ferguson as the TOKEN.

 

I take it you didn't hear Ferguson's claim on Radio Scotland on Saturday evening that he "was not a fan of Rangers".

[bossy 0]

First let me say that I agree with your article. Now, let me try to take the discussion a step further.

 

At some point, peace needs to break out in Scottish football. Whether the SFA, SPL, various media figures or others like it or not, Rangers remain one of the key economic motors of Scottish football. Not only have our home gates and season ticket sales held up but we are providing a very real revenue boost to clubs in the third division. Our economic importance is highlighted by the way the SPL and SFA felt the need to blackmail us over TV rights in order to secure an acceptable deal for the SPL.

 

The recent stushie over the Dundee United match, the almost unanimous call from Rangers supporter's organisations for a boycott and the decision of the club to back the support has sent a message to Scottish football that there is a unity of purpose between the Ranger's support and the club. The club's refusal to concede our share of the gate receipts to Dundee United was also a very clear message. Does Scottish football really believe that Charles Green will not follow through on his refusal to sign a future TV deal?

 

Time is not on the side of the SPL. The recent PwC report made their financial weakness clear to all. And that was before Rangers were consigned to the third division. It isn't going to get any better. Hearts are lurching from one financial crisis to another, Aberdeen just had to do a debt for equity swap and, if Celtic's gates are anything to go by, season ticket sales may be down significantly next year. Meanwhile, Rangers are financially healthy, we have a young and affordable squad, season ticket sales have held up and we are about to recapitalise through an IPO.

 

From a financial perspective, Rangers do not need league reconstruction and we have the luxury of time to get things right both on and off the field. The rest of Scottish football and especially the SPL do not have the same luxury.

 

Scottish football have every interest in declaring an end to hostilities. That realisation is beginning to seep through to the Scottish media hence the recent article by Davie Provan and, of course, Jim Traynor has highlighted it multiple times. The recent silence of the SFA plus their refusal to support Dundee United on the gate receipts issue suggests that they may also be moving away from confrontation. But peace needs to be accompanied by concessions and these are usually made by the weaker party.

 

Thee is no doubt that the SPL is now in the weaker position. Rangers simply don't need them and that puts us in what is commonly known as the 'eff you' situation. Economically, the SPL is suffering and trying to paper over the cracks through league reconstruction is going to fail unless Rangers are part of it. They need us more than we need them.

 

Other than a loss of face, there is very little cost to the SPL/SFA in making a few concessions. Lifting a transfer embargo which the Court of Session has already deemed to be illegal would be an easy step. So would putting an end to the SPL tribunal especially after the FTT result. The only really contentious area would be restitution of monies due to Rangers and retained by the SFA/SPL. But I am sure that could be handled through negotiation.

 

The only real question is how long the culture of hate and vindictiveness is going to permeate the SPL and SFA and how much collateral damage will be done to Scottish football before ugly financial reality forces their hand.

[Frankie 8,182]

Good stuff bossy - agree wholeheartedly.

 

The time for recrimination should now be beyond us and the relevant parties should be sorting out the future. The fact we're having to boycott an important away match (and the subsequent reaction from other clubs and supports) suggests we're still some way away from that.