Once again, the media astonishes with the utter garbage it churns out.
Yesterday, Gavin Berry at the Daily Record published a piece about how the Ibrox club almost signed Raúl Tamudo, who went on to become a legendary striker in Spain. The tone of the article suggested they were unlucky not to get him, as he supposedly failed a medical after the club had agreed to the move—portraying it as some kind of tragedy.
Some of their fan sites took up the story, to turn it into some sort of Sliding Doors moment when the world could have looked different had the deal gone through.
I love it when the club across the city clings to these stories of the past. It’s almost an admission that the present is bleak, tomorrow will be worse, and the day after that will likely be no better. So what can they do but look backwards in a desperate attempt to boost morale?
However, there are two glaring issues with this story. First, they are looking back on the history of Rangers, not their current club. The second point is connected to the first; the tale is plucked from the days when an Ibrox club allegedly “could” spend £10 million on a player, an era that ultimately led to their downfall. That’s why Rangers no longer exists.
It was the Advocaat era, when their EBT scheme was at its peak. To discuss this signing as though it would have changed their history … that’s astonishing.
If I were one of their fans or one of their media sycophants, I’d be doing everything in my power to overlook that era. I’d want it buried and forgotten. But they don’t. Time and again, they grasp at these straws, looking back fondly at the years that sealed their doom. It’s astonishing how they cling to that era as if it were some kind of comfort blanket.
Those weren’t years of “living the dream” or “shooting for the stars.” Those were the years of supreme folly, of high-risk behaviour. Years when the club was cheating the taxman and the taxpayer, practically begging for consequences to catch up with them.
If this had been Celtic, I’d look on those years with despair, perhaps even shame.
I certainly wouldn’t be glorifying them. I’d be acutely aware of two things: first, that it must have been obvious even then that the madness of those years would come at a price. And second, that none of it was funded by David Murray himself.
One of the most prescient things I ever wrote was my 2009 article “The End of Rangers” for the ETims website. I wasn’t speculating; I was simply examining the economic landscape at the time. Murray International was in dire straits, and the financial crash of 2008 had devastated the global economy. It was clear the era of easy money was over.
Murray’s empire was built on shaky ground. His metals business was in decline due to the EU’s expansion, which brought with it competition from countries with rich natural resources. His real estate investments were also crumbling in the wake of the housing market collapse. Anyone with half a brain could see that Rangers, which had become dependent on Murray’s money—money that was dependent on the banks—was heading for disaster.
None of us knew at the time that Rangers had already embarked on the insane EBT scheme, desperately trying to conceal it from the Exchequer. Nor did we know the tax authorities were already onto them and pressing for repayment.
Raúl Tamudo, had he signed, would have been an EBT recipient. He would have come with a side letter, just like so many of Advocaat’s other signings.
Gavin Berry, as a mainstream journalist, knows this timeline. He knows that virtually all of Advocaat’s big-name signings were EBT players. He also knows that when the Tamudo deal fell through, they forked out £12 million for Tore André Flo—a transfer driven more by ego than by any rational assessment of the player’s abilities.
But here’s the thing: even if Tamudo had signed, nothing would have changed.
Do they really think his presence would have stopped Martin O’Neill’s Celtic team from winning the treble? Of course not. Would it have made the following years any less turbulent? Absolutely not. The idea that this signing could have changed their history is ludicrous. Their future was already written the moment Campbell Ogilvie signed off on the first Discounted Options Scheme and then hid it from the authorities.
By that point, they were already on the brink. When the financial crash of 2008 hit, it sent them into a full-scale nosedive from which there was no recovery. The years that Murray spent trying to win trophies through a tax scam sealed their fate. Between that and the banking crisis, it wouldn’t have mattered how many goals Tamudo scored or how many trophies they might have won—because their ultimate downfall was already inevitable.
That was not the “sliding doors” moment that Berry and a few Ibrox fan sites seem to think it was. The consequences for Ibrox were already set in motion. That wasn’t a time when the club could build something lasting—their foundation was rotten, and the whole structure was destined to collapse.
These people are pining for a fantasy. They yearn for a future that could never have existed.
i sent this sorry excuse of a journalist an e mail yesterday reminding him that the (LAVISH} spending ? of other peoples money eventually led to them going out of business . on another point why did they change the name of murray park ?. is it because they know deep down that he was the root cause of their demise ?.
Charlie Green was trying to gain favour with the Orcs by re-writing the official history with David Murray correctly cast as the bad guy and started a process of renaming it, suggesting naming it after Davie Cooper or Moses McNeil (neither of whom had ever been there, of course!) even though blaming Murray for the demise of Rangers never quite stuck with the Orcs due to his influence over tabloid media messengers (we’re not dealing with the intelligentsia, remember!) and the pervasive power of nostalgia for happier times, but it became referred to as ‘Rangers Training Center’ or just ‘Auchenhowie’ during the early period of the banter years. It then became the Hummel Training Centre during their period clothing them, with Castore not taking over that sponsorship possibly due to being a two men and a dog operation at the start.
I’ve always preferred one of its unofficial titles – ‘the conveyor belt of talent’, which I think accurately captures the hubris of the last couple of decades of Rangers….
You see the story they done yesterday on how Schmeichel vandalised the Ross County penalty box
Ha ha still spewing about Kuhn’s winner
Aah – The old ‘IF’ and ‘COULD’ and ‘WOULD’ brigade are back to the fore once again then…
To this particular Scummy –
“If yer old Auntie had balls she could’ve been your uncle – But she doesn’t so she isn’t”
Another DESPERADO on the loose with his crayons then…
Loving his brutal, brutal agony and torture…
Thank You Sevco for torturing him –
And Thank You James for flagging up his torture…
It’s very beautiful indeed !
Sure they yearn for a future but more’s to the point, they yearn for a past. A liquidated Murray led past of a club that cheated their glorious queen’s taxes, got found out and shut its doors in 2012 as it died.
They’ll mask the truth even from themselves for as long as they don’t have to face it, as long as the corrupt authorities, press and media continue to allow it.
That allows them continuation. The lie they’re allowed to tell themselves, that’s allowed to exist even in the face of the absolute death halt.
But unlike the image of continuity; nothing is still nothing
Let’s also no forget, the first 5 titles of their ‘9 in a row’ were practically assured because we were a club in a downward spiral and headin inevitably towards admin until Fergus arrived. They were spendin all sorts of big money for players. The fact is, ibrox theirselves were eventually administrated as a result of spendin all this money, in tryin tae emulate Celtics past European success. It failed spectacularly. It really is that simple !
FFS…Get it right.
Bad enough that the Meedjia continues to gloss over it and the ‘deludemol infused knuckledraggers’ live in the alternate reality of eternal forgetfulness.
We must never lose sight, adopt incorrect terminology or allow their status to be unchallenged.
Rangers were not Administrated.
They entered Administration and because they could not get a ‘Rescue Plan’ the Club entire, not bits and pieces of it, was LIQUIDATED. The ‘ Coup de grace’ was brought down on them. They ceased to exist.
It’s in the Legal Records. On Court documents, easily accessible to all.
The rest of the World has moved on caring nought for what they think or believe.
Once we pass their ridiculous TitlesTally, (War years, Hun players masquerading as Shipyard workers competed and won titles in two separate League. Also Shared a Title they didn’t deserve with Dumbarton I think it was), once we pass that Tally then they are no longer the most ‘ Successful Club in the World’ which is a factually inaccurate claim and ridiculous to boot. Their ‘Wurld’ ends at that point. Only when they accept their true history as, 2012 till now, will they ever begin to move on as a NEW CLUB.
Two points SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS !
1) – Though they themselves say it – They are not the most successful club in the world…
(A) – That accolade belongs to Al Ahay of Egypt…
(B) – They are dead and their bastard child only has three trophies to its name in it’s 12 years and 72 days old
History…
2) – The Second World War Records don’t count one little iota for The Draft Dodgers however I’m surprised that they never claimed them and that The SFA and The SFL didn’t cave in and cede to their demands !
@ SFA……. Apologies if ah made the wrong terminology. OK ‘liquidated’ then. Happy now ? Great. Fuckin calm down.
I’ve always said that our first 9 in a row was achieved when they were still good enough to reach a European final and win one ( admittedly sub standard final). Also when they rave on about stopping the second 9 in a row , I say ,but we’ve done it twice ,so what’s the issue. Roll on the next 9 or even 10 in a row!
Sorry James, never heard of him. Goggled him, icon for Espanyol. Tells it own story. 13 caps so I think he would have fitted well with the old club?