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If The SFA Grants Ibrox The Use Of Hampden, The Full Details Must Be Made Known.

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Let’s be clear on this; having sacked a member of their own staff over whatever is going on over there, the Ibrox club has accepted that it is entirely responsible for the mess that it currently finds itself in. This is not something they can blame on anyone else, and as such the rest of Scottish football should not have to suffer for it.

They need a solution, and it’s up to them to come up with one.

If they rent out Murrayfield that’s between them and the SRU, and they can hide the full costs of that until their accounts come out sometime next year, when everything will be made known. The SRU is fully entitled to bleed them out. This is not a mess of their making either.

Reports initially suggested that the use of Hampden was out of the question as it’s having the pitch re-laid. Someone at the governing body made sure to rush to John McGarry of The Daily Mail and assure him that they were not ruling out giving Ibrox the use of the ground. This still seems like a stretch, but I read with great interest McGarry’s suggestion that they might have to reconcile Queen’s Park’s schedule to make sure that it’s feasible.

Queens Park have already been told that they can’t use the ground until 15 September; is this a steer towards the Ibrox issues over-running that date or a suggestion that a special effort will be made for the Ibrox club which wouldn’t have been made for them?

We’ll see in the fulness of time, but this not like the use of Murrayfield.

This is a much bigger deal than that, and this is not something that is none of the rest of the game’s business.

Hampden is a Scottish football asset, and its revenues feed into those of the SFA as a whole … and those revenues are shared with the rest of the game.

The SFA is supposed to seek best value, and the highest possible price, for the use of the National Stadium for other than SFA run games.

If an SPFL club wants to rent out the national stadium, and especially if they need to because they made a mess of a project at their own ground, there should be no question of them getting it on the cheap. This is especially true in the event that European club football is going to be played there.

Nobody owes Ibrox any favours here.

They’ve screwed up in their own house, and Scottish football has surely picked up enough of the bill for their messes.

If the SFA are willing to do a rush-job on the pitch, doubtless piling up problems for later in the season, just so they can low-ball Murrayfield and get the business, that’s one thing … the clubs, via the executive, should scrutinise that before any agreement is in place, but I’m sure that common sense would prevail and it wouldn’t be an issue.

Offering Hampden at a deep discount and far under what the SRU would charge just to “help out”, and especially if the other clubs don’t get to know the details or raise their objections, rejects the common good to promote the interests of one member at the expense of the rest.

It’s denying the rest of their clubs their cut on a more favourable deal.

I mean, if Murrayfield’s terms aren’t acceptable to the board over there, it’s not as if Ibrox has other options to explore here.

The one club stadium in Scotland which could accommodate them won’t, and that’s the reality of the position they are in and the SFA has a responsibility to the rest of its member clubs to take full advantage of that and squeeze them a little.

I repeat, and I cannot stress enough, that this is a self-inflicted wound and nobody is obligated to step in and help them out.

Dundee was sanctioned for their impact on the fixture list, and this could potentially involve many more games than their pitch problems did and this should be highlighted over and over again in light of Ibrox’s petulant foot stamping over that affair.

They are very good at pontificating over there when it comes to other clubs, and their preposterous decision to demand compensation for that will not have engendered sympathy. That they are being hoist on their own petard is richly amusing.

We all know that there is no way that the as-yet unpublished fixture list isn’t going to be altered to make this work.

Those moves are already in motion behind the scenes.

The contrast with how Dundee was treated should not go unremarked on.

Bad enough, then, that other clubs will have to make compromises to accommodate Ibrox’s latest nonsense without us giving them some sort of sweet-heart deal for the use of Hampden too, where their fans will doubtless gather to chant F-the-SFA regardless.

As I said, if they come to an agreement with Murrayfield then that’s their own affair, and it might well be that the SFA is advertising Hampden’s availability to get them a better contract from Scottish Rugby by implying that they might well have somewhere else to go; that’s a legitimate tactic and we’d have nothing to complain about if they got away with it.

But if Hampden really is being readied for their use, then that is very much our business, and nobody should let the governing body forget that.

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25 comments

  • John Copeland says:

    If the rumours are true and the entire ancient crumbling structure needs a major facelift , then all I can say is good luck with reopening at the end of August ! Not a snowballs chance in hell will that time period be accurate ….oh ,imagine if the Hummel/ Elite Sports case goes against theRangers anytime soon too ? It’ll be dum de dum dum ….dum de dum dum duuummmmm !

  • Jim M says:

    After their persistence to go after Dundee, didn’t realise karma would come round so quickly, definitely no favours for sevco no way ! , they screwed the taxpayer, countless companies, league sponsors, well now the boot is on the other foot let’s give it to them big time , Eh sevco karmas a bitch , like McDonald’s, I’m loving it .

  • Maurice MacLeod says:

    Bang on ?

  • scousebhoy says:

    its a certainty ibrox will be involved in deciding the fixture list with sevco sky and the rest doing their usual to help them out. if they end up going to murrayfield then that will only create problems for hibs and hearts with one of them at home every weekend.

    • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

      Problems for Hearts and Hibs now Scousebhoy to go with their hatred of Dundee, Dundee United, Aberdeen, The unseen Fenian hands of Celtic and fuck only knows who else apart from probably Falkirk and their fellow new club Airdrie United…

      They truly are some ‘peepil’ indeed for sure !

  • Charlie says:

    Excellent point James !
    There should be complete transparency on this inevitable bale out .
    …. But there won’t be and you know it !

    • Jimmy says:

      The bad news keeps on rolling for them. Funny as F–k. Long may it continue being bleak for that mob. AS Jim M correctly stated above Karma is a bitch indeed.

  • Dombhoy says:

    Interesting times James.

    I can say that the SRU are not in a good place financially. They lost £10.5M last year and it’s projected to lose a further significant amount this year. There is no way that they give any sort of discount to Rangers for this. Stewarding would be on SRU, pitch costs plus stadium hire. Not cheap.

    As for the SFA, we have a reference point for this of course. The season we used Hampden and were screened over for its use. What ever the inflator would be on that price to now would be the minimum starting position.

    Of course Rangers would have to fess up to when they expect to be back at Ibrox and be honest (ha ha) on the issues. Murrayfield has Autumn Tests starting in 1 Nov for four weeks.

    • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

      I’m hoping with all that info Dombhoy that you’re our former short term CEO Dominic ‘Dom’ McKay !

      • Dombhoy says:

        Ha ha no I’m not

        • Dennis Begley says:

          I would doubt they have any insurance as they pay for nothing, during covid season I believe only celtic and Aberdeen had insurance cover against such an event and as for Bob above the compensation paid to the boys club victims will eventually be known, will be interestin to see which one of the two rangers clubs will pay their victims.

  • bertie basset says:

    James If it is asbestos and it surely looks like it is , sevco would have had an engineering report on the stadium before a brick was lifted , it is common sense that they would have costed the job and investigated the possibility of the asbestos present they could have run with the copeland stand shut down for the season but the loss of revenue would cripple them , my suspicion is that they knew what they were doing and that they have insurance cover in the event that the stadium is out of action , they don’t have a pot to pizz in and are already circling the drain , insurance may be their last resort , maybe i’m wrong , but they are adept at at crookery !!

  • Captain Swing says:

    Fergus never forgave ‘the blazers’ for charging us an exorbitant percentage of gate money to use a mid-rennovation Hampden while Celtic Park began its own transformation in 1994/95, so there is a precedent within living memory as to what they should be charging when they have the prospective tenant over a barrel. I’m not sure if Murrayfield was considered by Celtic at the time but I think it’s own redevelopment was completed in 1994 and so could have potentially been used, but back then may have been considered too far away or too much of a leap for the ‘new’ Celtic, particularly given it was known at the outset that it would be for the whole season.

    Interesting thought: given Murrayfield’s 67,000 capacity, were we to play them there, how many tickets would we get? Murrayfield might be happy to court them but I can’t see Edinburgh Cooncil wanting the ugly mob in semi-permanent residence during August while their biggest earner is in full swing, making the place look like a National Front rally to the Festival crowd……. although the culture vultures might think it’s ‘edgy’ performance art or something!

    • Joe McQuaid says:

      “the culture vultures might find it edgy performance art…” Sublime and deserving of a hat tip ?. Chapeau!

  • Martin says:

    If Hampden becomes available for them before 15th September, Queens Park get priority per their contract from selling it to the SFA.

    If Sevco can’t fulfil fixtures due to their ground, Dundee will make a fuss and hopefully the rest of the club’s will back them.

    If they use Murrayfield (fair enough) they either need to pay to get it VAR ready, or use somewhere else for the UEFA games. Murrayfield also hosts rugby games and there will be clashes.

    Whatever way you look at this, they’re in a dire position here, even ignoring the side where they must deal with the problems in their own stadium. Their best option would actually be Hearts or Kilmarnock ground sharing, and accepting the smaller crowds and the costs. Because they’re looking like a club with very few options, none of them good and all of them expensive right now.

    Hopefully whoever does help them out demands full payment up front and a security deposit, to avoid being shafted.

  • scousebhoy says:

    it is not bravado to tell lies while at the same time claiming to be the most loyal club towards the british establishment . the very establishment that was not paid the money they were due from both ibrox clubs and as for the issue you brought up no outcome will be passed on to any liquidator.

  • JimBhoy says:

    Are the rest of the teams that need to go to murrayfield potentially for a Rangers home tie to be compensated if additional travel required?

    We should offer them Celtic park, we wouldnt have home games on the same day anyhoo, so no fixture re-jig. £1/2m a game and we get all the catering. They cover any damages.

    We get to play them there at their home tie.

    They could face many delays in the project and asbestos findings, including safety sign off. Clemente will probably be punted before they get back to the big hoos.

    • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

      I don’t think Sevco would accept the offer JimBhoy but Celtic should let it be leaked that they offered Sevco anyway (if they ever did of course)…

      It would certainly enrage their hoards for sure –

      As for ‘They cover any damages’ – Jeez oh, they simply would never everyone pay one red cent neither they would…

      And the half a million charge per game probably wouldn’t cover the cost of the damages they’d cause before we kicked the homeless fuckers out !

  • Charlie Green says:

    The recent SNP celebration of “Rangers’ 150 year history” in the council buildings in George Square was paid for by the common fund. Has anyone asked them?

    • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

      Paid for by the common fund for the most common club in Scotland even though they haven’t celebrated their 12th birthday yet…

      ‘Rangers’ 150 year history’ – More Lies for and from Liebrox then…

      I’m an ardent man for Independence for Scotland, always have been, always will be, but I’m not too enamoured with The SNP on this information you’ve furnished me with…

      I’ll still vote for them of course as all the rest, Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat and Reform and BNP are all Butchers Apron loving bastards !

  • Dave Jensen says:

    We played at happen for a full season

  • Dave Jensen says:

    Hampden for a season I meant

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