Speculation is rife tonight that Sevco is preparing for administration. The reports are so widespread that the bookies have stopped taking bets on the club being relegated, based on what they are calling “substantial and irregular” betting patterns.
Administration, if it comes, does so with a 15 point deduction which would leave them eight clear of the drop-zone, and consequences which will take years to erase. The reputational damage will be severe. European football will be suspended, and denied to them, for at least a year with all the attendant effects on the so-called “business plan.”
The SFA will find itself under monumental pressure to explain why the club was allowed to get in this mess.
People are going to say that this is all just speculation. Sevco fans on Twitter are blaming us, “Lawwell’s little lapdogs” and such like. Dear God, are these people totally stone stupid or what? How difficult is it to understand the basic facts of financial reality? Clubs spending more than they earn cannot sustain themselves. A club kept alive by director loans dies when the directors stop giving them those. Everything at Ibrox is up in the air.
A club with fans this stupid does not deserve to survive.
They are mired in scandal, and financial peril. Where do their fans think this ends? Where do they think the swirl of rumours and info is coming from? I can tell them; at least some of the stuff that appears on here has origins inside Ibrox. Phil and Johnjames have excellent sources at the club. Wars are being waged inside the walls and people on every side of those wars is leaking all over the place. In case their fans haven’t twigged, the media never writes those stories … it’s only natural so much of the info out there ends up on sites like this one.
But beyond inside info, beyond being plugged into the rumour factory, we can do the basic math that apparently they and the national newspapers can’t.
We can count. We know how the world works. If your credit card runs out of money, if your bank accounts are empty, if no-one will lend you money or give you charity then you’re in trouble and this club has been surviving on fumes since King and his people took over with their nonsensical promises.
Tomorrow I’m going to tell you why the administration rumours are more than rumours; for the dim-witted in their support I’ll take a look at the myriad problems over there and the ways they are coming to a head but for now note that the club’s reputation is being smashed to smithereens by these stories coming on the heels of the Jamie Murphy fiasco and the only word out of Ibrox’s rapid response media operation is to post pictures of the team in Florida.
I expected a flat-out denial within a half hour of those stories appearing. It may well be that there’s one up before I even finish posting but severe damage has already been done and they’ve been extremely slow to counter the rumours. They are not remotely well run far less an organisation which conducts itself with professionalism and decorum.
Remember what I’ve written here before; clubs do not need to have significant debts before administration is the only option they have. Administration happens when clubs can no longer pay the bills as they come due. Without director loans Sevco would have passed that point 18 months ago or before. If they are finally there I will not be remotely surprised.
It is not just possible, it is certain. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.