Sevco have today applied for planning permission to turn a disused carpark near Ibrox into a … crypt. This is not a joke. The Evening Times is running with this story and it once again falls into the realms of “you could not make this up.”
They’re calling it a “memorial garden” which, on the surface of it is a lovely idea, and a nice tribute to those who died in the Ibrox Disaster, which is one of the central ideas behind it … but as ever they have other ideas as well and one is particularly morbid … and I am tempted to suggest that someone inside the club smells money in it.
The Evening Times describes it thus;
“The city football club have submitted plans to Glasgow City Council to build a memorial wall which would contain a section for the interment of the mortal ashes of Rangers FC supporters.”
Uuuugh! Sounds charming, right?
We get a hotel. This is what their fans get.
But not to worry; it will have “an interactive pod with an Android tablet and charging points for smartphone devices.”
The plans are described as “ambitious”; it amounts to putting up a wall and building a fence round it.
Look, I think it’s a good idea in principle.
I see why some of their fans will appreciate it.
I am not knocking the central concept.
The Ibrox Disaster was one of the worst events in the history of Scottish football … a place where their fans can pay their respects is a nice idea. But this idea about allowing fans to have their “mortal ashes” there is just ghastly and cheapens the thing.
The question is whether a place there will be cheap.
Did someone in marketing suggest this?
“Honestly, you wait and see … it’ll pay for itself …”
So will a hotel, of course. They’re more expensive to build though.
When you see what Celtic has done in developing the area surrounding the ground, you had to wonder if Sevco would find money in the mattress for something, anything, to brighten up the area around their own crumbling ruin.
How fitting that it’s a graveyard for rich fans.
Like I said, you couldn’t make this up.