There is a theme that comes up on the Ibrox fan forums, over and over again, and which makes me laugh every time I see it.
It’s when some old timer comes on and talks about all the things he’s seen and all the glory he’s celebrated, and then says how sorry he feels for the younger generation who have seen Celtic pull away from them, winning trebles.
What makes me laugh about it is that he and those in his age group refuse to accept a horrible truth; their “success” is exactly what doomed the club in the first place, because it was not built on solid foundations. Their high living was all about the moment, and it was perfectly clear to many people (including their own former director Hugh Adam) that they were enjoying those days at the expense of the future fans who’d have to pay for them.
(If you want to explain our need to tackle global warning, use the Rangers-Sevco analogy. See if it has cut-through. It certainly simplifies a complex issue.)
Recently, I’ve listened to a few of their podcasts to see what it is that they talk about there. Right now it’s like a chorus of Bob Dylan’s “Everything is broken.”
The frustration is there. The anger. But beneath it all is a layer of hurt and pain which, I am going to be honest, is sort of joyous. The hate is there too, but it’s deeper down than you usually find it. This is a support which has fully embraced victimhood now, and the constant over there is a wailing chorus of “why us?” Why have they been “unlucky” enough to get so many spiv owners? What did they do to deserve such incompetence?
How can it be that they don’t get it yet? Whenever you get gullible people with open wallets just begging to be told comforting lies you will get charlatans and crooks and confidence scammers hovering around them like flies around a turd.
All Whyte had to do was get some pliable hack to spin a fiction about his being a billionaire and they blessed his coronation. That made it easier for David Murray to take his quid and give him the keys. When that led to the death of one club all Charles Green had to do to launch the next one was tell them it was bigotry and hate that “sent them down” and he was off and running and they lined up to pay up. Then came King, and he had the easiest time of all.
Yes, their club is in a state right now and they are howling for fresh leadership, but until their mindset changes they would be trading one problem for another. It’s in a state because easily led fans believe obvious rubbish and allow people to get control who are either in out and for the quick buck or grossly out of their depth.
This current crisis has it roots in previous ones, because too many of them value bluff and bluster and bullshit to the telling of hard truths, and that means whatever comes out of this is in all likelihood setting up more trouble down the line.
But there is one thing they are no longer kidding themselves on about and that is how much trouble they are actually in here, and how big a mess their directors have made of things.
They look at the situation with the stadium and they wonder what other shoe might be about to drop, because if the club can’t get something like that right how can they trust that it’s not falling down in other areas? So, there is more scrutiny of the signing policy. More attention being paid to the sponsorship deals. Finally, they are wondering if the Castore deal is all it’s cracked up to be and on and on and on. Few like what they see in any department.
This is years, literally years, of chickens coming home to roost, and the only thing that is keeping the lid on the pressure cooker is, as usual, the inept, glacial pace of our own board and its inability to close deals quickly.
If we were visibly flexing our muscle and putting our best foot forward the volcano over there would be just about ready to blow.
At some point during the window, we have to get our act together, and then we might really see a meltdown over there. But you know, our board relies on being able to stay one step ahead of their utter shambles of a club, and some of us worry that the bigger mess they are in the less our own thinks they have to try.
At some point, they have to get their own act together and then our club will need to seriously up its game, a task that I think is beyond the people in charge of it. Until then though, they are a prime time example of dysfunctionality and constant crisis.
At last, at long last, their own fans are walking around with their eyes open.
That they are crying them out and acting the victim part at the same time is just another source of amusement.
I still say it will take another ‘2012’ event before they really wise up and by then it will be far too late. The costs of this refurbishment, the extra costs of relocating, the lost Hospitality revenue, matchday revenue, the annual budgeted overspend of 10million and the hidden costs of rectifying what is really wrong with the Copland stand could be the precursor of a Liquidity event.
We all know that their Balance sheet is over-inflated with confetti shares and that the liabilities of the Club grossly exceed the true value of any assets they have. You only have to look at the losses, over £100 million since they crawled out the grave 12 years ago. The’ve been technically insolvent for most of that time and relying on obfuscation in paying bills and Directors and others coughing up to clear the debts. All that did was screwed their Balance sheet. It’s odds on that they have been lying to EUFA regarding their financial situation.
If it goes belly up in the foreseeable future then there is no coming back this time. Their backers do not have ‘wealth of the radar.
The appetite for financially supporting an entity that, built on delusion, unreasonable, expectations, the continual need for ‘ Other People’s Money’ and the inability to be truly honest with its supporter base will have backers finally saying “ thank Fuck” and bowing out.
Can’t come soon enough. Maybe then Scottish Society will really start to grow up.
The new rules can see them and others become bankrupt and come back again as the same club over and over. They will never go away only start again in the lowest rung.
Magnificent post yet again from you SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS !
I was critical of you regarding the COVID thing and taking jabs. I hope you have learned from that. But, we move on and I have been reading you now for ages. Mate, we are on the same page. Please keep unearthing, laughing and sharing. It is absolutely brilliant! HH!!!
Another fantastic piece James…
It’s truly incredible just how gullible that they are –
Was talking to one yesterday in the pub and everything is beautifully rosy in the garden in his eyes, they’ve signed players and early and we’ve signed none (well he’s not lying there I guess) but still they say it’ll be different ‘this time’ – ‘this season’ and on he rabbled…
But there again ya never can tell –
After all Poker Pete is still in the building…
And Lord Lucan-Nicholson (well I think he is supposed to be anyway) !
Class words as usual James, I wonder if they are
In such a state that Lawwell and the rest of
his cronies just think we can turn up regardless of squad depth etc etc and turn them over anyway. Maybe that’s why we haven’t bothered to splash the cash on new signings. A major risk to take but they think we are a business and not a football team with thousands of supporters around the world paying a lot of money to follow the team everywhere and anywhere. It’s all about the balance sheet not about us fans. Never has been and sadly never will be until these guys are all gone from the board.
What rangers podcasts do you guys listen to for the best entertainment?
The taste of their tears is delicious , long may their suffering continue ?
Wonder how the sevco AGM figures will look this year , if their fans are crying now wait till it’s put out in front of them, in black and white, the hard truth, the realisation that they have many, many , torturous years of this to look forward to .
Typically great article.
I think unless and until we get Celtic supporters on the Board, or at least we unite our support and give it a loud and clear voice, with polar opposite views to the current Board, then we’ll suffer every transfer window as we’re now doing.
This Board, and others before it, has tried to get blood outa stone over and over, missed clear opportunities to sign talent, and last but not least it has cost us scores of millions in projects as they sniff around poundshops and deliver the crap that poundshops sell.
False economy from the sickening bean-counter, An Idiot Like No Other!
I think you summed it up with our board want to stay one step ahead of the other mob. Unfortunately one step ahead of them requires taking several steps back.
The failures in this transfer window & many previously are there to see & the acceptance is proof they are not interested in progressing beyond Scottish champions season by season.