First, Remember: This Was a Crime Against More Than Just Celtic
Often forgotten about, but a salient point nonetheless; this campaign is not just about Celtic and Celtic fans.
There’s more at stake here than just the cash that Celtic would have gotten from playing in the Champions League in season 2011-12.
Let’s start with this.
Had Rangers not been given a licence, Kilmarnock would have qualified to play in Europe that year.
That ought to mean something to their supporters, as their club hasn’t qualified for Europe since. In fact, they’ve not come close to their fifth place finish of that season. Indeed, it was the last time they finished in the top six.
They are currently battling in the relegation play-off zone.
Would Kilmarnock have benefited from a European run?
Would it have changed the trajectory of their club?
Difficult to say, but it couldn’t have hurt them.
On top of that, our other European qualifiers would all have moved up a round in their respective competitions. Would that have made a big difference to them? We’ll never know, but Hearts and Dundee Utd definitely deserve answers to these questions as much as Celtic and Kilmarnock fans do.
As much as anything else, what happened here was a clear and flagrant violation of the rules of our game. No European license should have been awarded when the Wee Tax Case remained unpaid, and to say the SFA knew nothing about it is like a joke.
Everyone knew that bill was due, and everyone knew it had to be paid.
And when I say everyone, I mean everyone …. and there’s evidence which proves it.