I read an article today which I found breath-taking. It was on one of those horrific clickbait sites which regurgitates every transfer rumour ten or twelve times, no matter how ridiculous. This was a Sevco related one, and had been clearly written by a Sevco fan.
I will not link to it; instead I’ll give you the line from it that I found most difficult to credit as having been written by someone with even a speck of actual intelligence.
“Following the signings of Ianis Hagi and Calvin Bassey, and with Steven Gerrard confirming that the club is working on potential new, it appears that Glasgow Rangers are in a secure financial position. However, other clubs in Scotland could only dream of being in such a state.”
That would not at all have looked out of place on Ibrox Noise, the most delusional fan site on the planet, one that makes even Mark Dingwall’s notorious sewer seem populated by intelligent and reasonable people. The rest of the article is, if anything, worse; it is a collection of tweets from Sevco fans who are revelling in what they imagine to be the suffering of the rest of Scottish football as they carry on as if none of the global health crisis were happening.
These Peepul are in for the shock of a lifetime.
The first half of this summer – the half where the club tries to hoover up as much of their money as it can – will be characterised by bluster and confidence and egotism. The fans will be fed stories about how everything is glorious and fine. The second half of the summer will be a desperate rush to sell at least one top earner.
And you know what? It’s probably going to take more than one to balance the books and save them from serious peril. Because they won’t get for their players what they imagine they will. They will probably have to part company with a couple of them.
Let’s take Morelos for example; he’s the most obvious one, the one they think they will get Tierney style money for. That was never remotely likely though. They will be extremely fortunate to get more than £8 million for him, and I know they’d take that in a second.
Tavernier will be lucky to fetch them £4 million. Barisic, who they place great store in getting a fortune for, will be around £6 million if they hold out to the last knockings, which they won’t realistically be able to do. I don’t’ see them getting more than that.
The second half of the summer will be even more desperate if they crash out of Europe early; in fact, things are already pretty grim for them on that front as even a Group Stage run would not earn them the kind of money it has in previous years if fans aren’t allowed in the grounds; we’ll face the same situation in the Champions League, but the money overall is better there.
An early knockout from Europe will be devastating to Sevco nonetheless, and will plunge them into the worst crisis in their eight-year history. Even without it, they’ve bought themselves a few months on season ticket money from their mug fans … after that, when the cupboard is bare, what exactly is the plan for getting through the season?
They haven’t a clue. That club is operating on bluster and bullshit, and when you read ridiculous articles like the one I’ve talked about here, you realise that their fans have swallowed it whole as per usual. The idea that their finances are stable is a proven nonsense.
Quite how anyone with the slightest functioning brain capacity can believe that I don’t know, but a lot of them do.
What a shock they are all in for.
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