We may not have been tax-dodgers but 2 years ago we were heading for the rocks with the previous administration throwing good money after bad and heading for an almighty crash. If it hadn't been for the take-over we could be struggling in L2 instead of celebrating a fabulous season. Amazing. I've also got a feeling Rangers will come up smelling of roses, one way or another.
Not certain about that FHB, not without a lot of money behind them which doesn't appear to be materialising at the moment. The ban on signings will hit McCoist hard until it is lifted, the little money the administrators allow them runs out when the season ends and both HMRC and the Scottish FA are playing hardball for their own ends. HMRC cannot be seen to be letting off a big scalp with obvious tax evasion and the SFA want to break up the control that the old firm have over the SPL. Rangers will survive but will be a weakened force for a few years, a little like Olympic Marseille after their troubles in the 90's. It was the tax evasion that has stuck in so many peoples throats and god forbid that any over rated tax advisor leads our club down a "tax loop hole" route like happened with Rangers. The tax advisors who come up with these schemes often can't see beyond the end of their noses. Some years ago one of these so called professionals tried to sell a company I was working for one of these schemes telling us that it had been put to tax counsel and "2 of the 3 tax counsel from whom opinion had been sought, thought it was sound". If the fact that one tax counsel thought it wouldn't work didn't set alarms ringing I don't know what would, most of those guys sell opinion to pay for their next lunch.
I don't know the ins and out's of it - but my dads entire side of the family (die hard Rangers fans), aren't very optimistic for the future. The ban on signing players seems to be the beginning of a storm. The point which stood out in SVC's post is that the SPL will be happier to break up the old firm as this could make for a more competitive (lucrative) league.
Rangers should have done what Vodafone did, take the head of Inland Revenue for a few slap-up lunches, and Lo and Behold an £11billion tax bill is magically waived.
Scotch football without Rangers will die, why would Celtic fans (without Rangers around) go to Celtic Park to see a walkover every week? Other SPL teams will have a massive hit on attendances without the big games against Celtic/Rangers, TV revenue will fall without the weekly Rangers game to show. Football north of the boarder could end up like that in Rep/Northern Ireland where a lot of fans travel to England to watch their adopted club (Manure, Citeh, RS, Toffees or the Massive Club). Forcing Rangers into liquidation (with a 12 month player ban) could see a terminal decline in the SPL
I am something of an oddity in that I am a Scottish person (NB. "scotch" is a drink, not a nationality - pedants of the world unite!) who has no affiliation to either of the old firm. So I can be reasonably objective in all this. Billy is quite right to draw the there but for the grace etc comparison. We were a hair's breadth from catastrophe and I doubt that the establishment would have tried to save us in the way that I suspect they ultimately will for Rangers (for all the reasons others have stated above). To me, the tax case is a very expensive red herring. It is certainly the straw that broke the camel's back, but Rangers woes go back 30 years to the previous owner spending zillions that the market which is the Scottish game could not sustain. I suspect he was assuming that rangers and celtic would by now be playing in England or in some European super league. Even without the dodgy tax situation, the whole pile of cards would have come down at some point. Now all the worthies on the SFA are queuing up to get their own back. I am surprised however at the sustained and vitriolic nature of their vengeance. The Government will step in eventually I suspect. The Scottish league with a severely weakens rangers will die a slow lingering death. It is doing so already.
It might reasonably be argued that were Rangers to be brought out of administration, any 12 month ban on transfers would amount to a restraint on trade which would be an anti competitive act by the SFA and thus be overturned. If the ban were linked to some other event such as administration it could be seen as fair, but an arbitrary time frame unconnected to any other act is indeed anti competitive in the purest sense of the word.
The huge support which The Old Firm gets is based on sectarianism, and I like to think that without the old firm fans would start to support their local team, instead of the one which matches their religion. Fair enough to support Rangers or Celtic if that happens to be your local team, but a large part of their support travels from all over Scotland or Ireland. Recently Rangers fans raised money by selling Union Jacks, whereas at Celtic games you will see Irish flags.
And that is the reason why a part of me hopes they go to the wall and drag Celtic with them. Having studied at Glasgow university for 4 years I saw at first hand just what all this means. Having now lived in England for the thick end of 30 years I just think it's all bit pathetic. The world has moved on in that time and, in fairness, so have a great number of old firm fans. But to think that the sectarian thing has gone away would be to stick one's head in the sand. All of that said, I think that Scottish football without the old firm would wither and die. Apart from the old firm, interest has steadily declined, as has the overall standard, in the last two decades to the point where I actually think its now a minority interest sport.
I must admit to being shocked a few years ago when I went to Kilmarnock to find that the sports shops were full of Old Firm shirts and hardly any Killie ones. When I was at school EVERYONE supported Kilmarnock it went without saying. One other difference then was that all boys used to play football every spare moment, no computers then, which I suppose is part of the loss of interest you refer to. Mind you there were still coach-loads of old firm fans leaving every saturday, as there were all over Scotland.
One of my best mates (he died about 15 years ago) was a man of Fife, he supported Arsenal then Charlton (he lived in Croydon and I converted him from the Croydon Club) in England and Rangers then (to a much lesser extent) Hearts in Scotland. When I asked him why he said that "In Scotland you support either Rangers or Celtic, it's in the blood" I just can't see the vast majority of Rangers supporters moving to another club. RE: Scotch I thought Scotch Tape was a tape from Scotland not a tape made from an alcoholic beverage?
I obviously didn't know your mate, but in most cases it's the religion which dictates whether it's Rangers or Celtic. I really don't think Scottish football would die without the old firm, it couldn't get worse than it is now. At the end of the day it's down to the fans, if they keep supporting 2 clubs for sectarian reasons it will not improve. And I'm sure Rangers will survive in one form or another. They have a terrific stadium which isn't going to disappear, and I expect it to be used.
RE: Scotch I thought Scotch Tape was a tape from Scotland not a tape made from an alcoholic beverage?[/QUOTE] Scotch tape is used by Scottish people to seal their glasses containing Scitch Whisky while they go to the loo to prevent someone taking a fly sip Incidentally, in Australia, Scotch tape is known as Durex. that conjures up a very nasty image indeed........
I think what Billy is saying is that (in Scotland) if your family history is Protestant then you support Rangers and if you are from a catholic family you support Celtic. Very few people, in England or Scotland, are practicing religionists
Indeed. Although when I lived in Glasgow I went to went to watch the team that were not the side who represented my parents' religion (in addition to supporting Kilmarnock). Purely on the grounds that they played the better football at the time. But then again, I admit to being odd!
When Jock Stein was manager we all loved Celtic because of the way they played. I guess Neil Lennon has the opposite effect.
Although on a human level I have a lot of sympathy for Lennon and the things he has had to put up with, he is not an easy person to like.
