People throughout Scottish football are starting to wake up to the stark reality that Rangers may not manage promotion to the Premiership this season, the ramifications of which are potentially cataclysmic for the game. Hearts’ nine point lead at the top of the Championship means that Rangers may very likely have to look to the play-offs for their chance of promotion, a prospect which will undoubtedly send a chill down the spine of Gers supporters. The dogfights of the play-offs are uncharted territories for Rangers and, given the club’s woeful cup record in recent years, there is little to be confident about should Rangers be in that situation.
The pressure on Ally McCoist is intense as polls show the massive percentage of the Rangers support want him out the door and there is a mounting mood of anger towards the former darling of the fans. Internet forums are muttering about protests to get McCoist sacked and there is paper talk about replacements being lined up.
The nightmare scenario is real. There is a real possibility that Scotland’s biggest club will not make it out of the Championship at the first time of asking and the repercussions could be disastrous for not only Rangers but Scottish football in general. Even Peter Lawwell has acknowledged the hole in Celtic’s revenues that not playing Rangers regularly has brought about. Of course, he managed to get in that Celtic could be bigger than Manchester United and Barcelona in the same breath. Just obviously not without The Rangers…
I know that chairmen of other Premiership clubs are soiling their pants at the thought of Rangers not making it back to the top tier this season. Football in Scotland simply must have the Old Firm, something which Gordon Strachan paid lip service to recently.
Peter Lawwell may yet have to eat his words at Celtic’s AGM when he promised the faithful fru and fru there will be no leg-up for Glasgow’s bigger team. Big Peter knows his audience and knows what they like to hear. But he also knows the cold hard truth that without Rangers in the top tier, all of Scottish football suffers greatly. That leg-up in the form of reconstruction or what Strachan called “manipulation” may yet have to happen – for the sake of Scottish football, if not sporting integrity.
Oh dear. not even 9am and the bold Lochrie has already pwned young Jiffy 
