I have been away in Holland for a week and return to more grim headlines regarding the future of my football club, Glasgow Rangers. The tax bill they may owe the HMRC seems to be a major factor that no one from the club or the media can quite judge or predict what the outcome will be. Chairman Craig Whyte has said whatever happens Rangers will not go out of business but as time has went on under Whyte Rangers seem to be a lesser power with no real leader and when a ship is under attack you need a strong captain!

So if Rangers, Scotland’s most decorated club were to be forced into administration and go under where does that leave all the fans? Some have pointed at Airdrie United who were once Clydebank, but were bought over by a former Airdrie fan who then changed the name and location so Airdrie fans could have a club once more.

Would I support a Rangers United?

No I wouldn’t. I am proud of my football teams history the titles players like John Greig, Willie Henderson, Davie Cooper, Richard Gough and Brian Laudrup won. Football is not all about the present or the future; none of my previous strips had the word ‘United’ emblazoned across it.

Why would Rangers go into to administration or liquidation? Simple because they would not want to pay their creditors, it would be totally down to business. Now I know football is now a business more than a sport but by going into liquidation and then ending up ‘Rangers United’ or even still Rangers but with the ability to lay off staff with a cut-price redundancy package and not pay creditors their due money, just like Motherwell and Portsmouth before them. But for me this would be a cheat, not a Rangers I want to be associated with, Whyte would still be in charge and as I pointed out a lot of innocent people could lose their job through the fault of a previous regime that over spent chasing a dream that was out of their reach.

Craig Whyte must have known that these troubles lay ahead and his handling of the club has so far been extremely suspect. The transfer policy has been slow and certain purchases and re-signings have been poor as there is no resale value. His handling of the media banning journalists left, right and centre is nothing short of a baby throwing their toys out of their pram. He has come out and told Gers fans to expect tough times ahead.

As a faithful Rangers fan I don’t mind tough times as long as my club is still there and the same establishment they have been since my grandfather supported them. But we need to do things the right way.

Rather than laying of hundreds of staff and not paying creditors who then may have to lay off some of their own staff. I would rather we all accepted our fate, rolled up our sleeves and deal with our problems like a truly great club.

Tough decisions would have to be made. Top players such as Nikica Jelavic, Allan McGregor and Steven Davis may have to be sold off and replaced with cheaper options or how about this unique concept playing our younger players more? Gregg Wylde and Jamie Ness have proven that these players can be relied upon more at SPL level. I honestly would prefer to finish third, fourth or any other position rather than cheat our fans and tradition by using legal loopholes to save money in spite of others. As a club Rangers have only themselves to blame and now we must swallow our medicine. Rangers fans in the whole were not questioning Sir David Murray when he was spending mega money bringing in Dutch Internationals, Tore Andre Flo or Paul Gascoigne, not one voice did I hear pipe up and ask ‘Will we still have the cash in ten or fifteen years?’ No we all followed the dream.

Another way to possibly generate more money is by selling the naming rights to Ibrox. Now some may say but what about your ideas of tradition? Well lets face it we will all still call it Ibrox anyway, even if it has Sony, Visa or Ford in front of the name. I would rather sell the name of the stadium than make money by not paying legitimate creditors.

Lets look at the signing policy over the summer as I have already mentioned Rangers brought in players like Carlos Bocanegra, Juan Ortiz and David Healy, these player do not represent any resale value. Rangers should have copied Celtic’s transfer policy. Celtic has a great scouting system that looks at various undervalued leagues or countries with great TV audiences and merchandise income possibilities like the Asian market. Rangers have three U.S players now and should hopefully grow in the Northern American market. Buy young/cheap sell big and quickly. Also look at a link up with a top four EPL side, a large Serie A team or one of the big two in La Liga. Loan signings are often overlooked by the Old Firm and more should be made in my opinion.

Now lets say Rangers do go out of business where does that leave me? Without a football club essentially. As I have stated beforehand ‘Rangers United’ would never be my team or take a place in my heart. My love and affection for my team has been over twenty-years in the making and I cant just dedicate my heart to another club I love football, I like watching various leagues and enjoy being a neutral. Yes I would still have Scotland but major competitions have failed to materialise for so long now with my country and games don’t come around every week. No one would fill the void left by Rangers, so I think I would end up being a footballing ghost drifting from game to game enjoying them all immensely but always searching for a new affinity to takeover my love but that would never happen. Memories or nine in a row, Old Firm victories, surprising Euro results cant be reproduced. After all I am Glaswegian, I support Rangers for family connections and although some aspects disappoint me about them but I still adore my team. Ibrox is my footballing home and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life renting out other peoples dream homes.

For all those Celtic fans smirking at the prospect of Gers going under… First off I get it, Rangers supporters would be acting in the same way, but with each as competitors we are not as strong as an entity. Celtic would survive but I am not sure they would be as strong.

I would like to thank @Toffeecrunch on twiter for providing the inspiration to this article with a wee conversation we had on it.

Posted on September 14th, 2011 by scott
Filed under: Article