Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Desperate people do desperate things.
These are truisms, without a doubt.
When you have nothing you have nothing to lose is another.
Except life itself. Because when you’re a football club with nothing to lose you can at least cling on to the fact you’re still a football club. There are risks beyond not winning trophies, as those who were formerly Rangers supporters should be well aware.
The important word there, of course, is “should.” Because we know that by and large Sevco fans don’t make the distinction between the two clubs. In the heady unreality of their world view, there was no “death of Rangers” at all, simply a set of malicious circumstances amounting to a conspiracy against them. It was, in fact, attempted murder.
Tonight their NewCo will face Inverness away, in what’s shaping up to be a defining encounter. They have already panicked over the appointment of a new boss; a process that was supposed to be undertaken with care and patience is now being rushed.
External funding is being sought right now, because of the reticence of current directors to continue bailing out this ship of fools. There’s little enthusiasm for the idea in the places their negotiators have been dispatched to. Many of these are financial institutions, but not the ones I stood in the shadow of on a recent trip to London; think more what the industry calls “lenders of last resort”, shinier versions of Wonga and others like it.
There are suggestions that not even those companies wanted to deal with them; that’s almost certainly not the case.
Those people will deal with just about anyone, under normal circumstances, as long as they have something that can be offered as collateral. If they told Sevco to beat it then there have to be serious doubts over the stadium and the training ground, perhaps the roof thing which would render the first worthless, or the continuing saga of Sevco5088 and the legal moves to establish actual ownership.
If they are unable to use those assets to secure money from even the most predatory lenders then the trouble over there is much deeper than even observers such as myself, Phil, Paul67 and others is fully aware. An administration might well wind up an extinction event.
March is looming as the do-or-die month for the Sevco board. Bills have to be paid, and rumours stalk the club that current directors are no longer willing or able to pay them. Some have suggested that administration is now being actively discussed inside the boardroom, although just what good it will do at this point I simply don’t know, as I said earlier in the week. If it’s necessary then it’s necessary, but nobody should think it’s a magic wand solution to anything.
On top of this are court cases, a Scottish Cup tie against Hamilton and a match at Celtic Park, a game so feared by those in charge over there that they want someone other than interim manager Graeme Murty in the dugout for when it comes.
All of this has led to fevered speculation on their forums about takeover deals and secret investors. Some of the stories are off-the-wall to say the least, such as the one about Shane McMahon of WWE fame and secretive Chinese consortiums that think buying a wreck of a Scottish football club is a cheaper, and easier, way of gaining an international TV audience than the signings of expensive footballers on huge salaries from around the world.
Then there’s the ubiquitous Red Bull rumour, which has been done to death here and elsewhere.
Behind all of it is fear. Fear of Celtic, fear of our continuing dominance and of a simple truth that dare not speak its name; no-one is coming to “save” them or turn them into our equal. Their choices come down to acceptance or death; there are no others. If they chase us, they will fail and they will die. Carefully building their club to where it might challenge us one day is the task of years, perhaps decades, in which they will have to accept a certain amount of pain.
Right now they are desperate. Right now they think they have nothing to lose. But tonight some of their fans will take the trip to Inverness in that simplest act of all; following their team. Because right now they still have one. Right now it still exists. It might not be the one they used to follow or as influential or have the top quality players, but their experience will be no more or less than that which other fans experience week after week.
Those people accept it, and Sevco fans could too if they weren’t having their heads filled with constant garbage about there being another option.
The coming month might be the toughest yet.
By the time it ends, a lot of them are going to be more familiar with reality than they are now.