Frightening thoughts.

[Terrymac]

Posted by James Forrest on the Celtic Forum but very, very pertinent to Aberdeen and all Scottish clubs!

 

There are situations so bizarre they defy conventional wisdom. The Rangers situation is one of them. Today in the newspapers, the entire English speaking world will be made aware of the lengths to which Stewart Regan was willing (and perhaps still is) to go to see NewCo Rangers in the SPL again within one year.

 

Understandable, although the means are inexcusable and will almost certainly result in his dismissal from post – which many of us have been calling for now for weeks.

 

There is also a looming battle within the SPL, which in the end may or may not claim the scalp of Neil Doncaster, and that is a must as far as many of us are concerned. The damage that will be inflicted on that league in the next 12 months will be immense. That is now as near certain as anything can be.

 

Commercially, the SPL is dead. It didn’t have to be so, but when it’s chief executive, member clubs chairmen and the head of the SFA are going around telling everyone the game is about to die … who the Hell is going to invest in it? For this reason alone, for talking down the product in a way which would have had Gerald Ratner himself hiding under the bed, these men, perhaps out of fear or stupidity, or just arrogance, have destroyed what they were meant to protect and talked themselves out of their jobs.

 

And for what? This is the most bizarre bit of the story.

 

To save something that is already dead, resurrected and is already on the verge of dying all over again.

 

Yes, you read that right. Already, Rangers NewCo is in grave financial peril, and is unlikely to survive.

 

Based on the information which is already in the public domain, this club should not receive a license to play football at all. Every day brings us closer to another incredible twist in this tale – the near certainty that the Sevco deal will be legally unravelled or will itself suffer a complete internal collapse.

 

On the strength of the information I have seen, I cannot conceive of how the SFA can, or should, allow Sevco to take ANY place in the Scottish football structure. There is talk of the SFL signing a football broadcasting deal on the strength of their involvement in the league – a disastrous move if they do it, because of the very real possibility that the deal will COLLAPSE as a result of the NewCo not being able to complete the season.

 

Ironically, Rangers NewCo is in even graver danger now than than the OldCo was six months ago, when Craig Whyte’s “revolution” collapsed in the aftermath of the January transfer window. There is a 50/50 chance that the NewCo will NOT SURVIVE the turn of the year 2012, and this is not hyperbole but cold fact.

 

The relegation to the Third Division has devastated the club as a commercial investment, for at least the next ten years. There are widespread rumours about ownership of the assets, and of who the financial backers of Charles Green really are, and on what basis he “borrowed” the £5.5 million to buy the club.

 

There is a lot of information out there right now, and the various strands appear to lead in one direction; to Octopus Investments, also known as Ticketus, who’s silence since the rejection of the CVA has been noted in various places. The links between Sevco and Octopus appear to be deeper than first thought, and that means it’s not simply £5.5 million on the line but five, perhaps six times, that much … and all of it is now at risk.

 

Whoever owns New Rangers, perhaps lulled by Duff & Phelps talk about making the club a cash cow, perhaps buying into the Global Rangers Family myth, perhaps because they don’t know their history, believed they were buying a money making machine which had simply been run wrong. They believed implicitly in 40,000 season ticket holders, European income, TV money and a whole lot more … none of which will come to pass, or be realised, for at least the next five years.

 

Instead of spitting out tens and twenties, NewCo Rangers is going to be a financial black hole, sucking in money to feed itself, and giving out nothing in return.

 

NewCo has lost an entire squad of players. its infrastructure has been fundamentally dismantled. The task of rebuilding that shattered club will take at least a decade. Even running at present levels, with the first team squad wage bill cut to the bone, NewCo has significant overheads, consistent with running an enormous footballing institution. Every commercial contract has been smashed to smithereens, but bills still have to be paid. Every income stream has been reduced to the bare minimum, but the rates have to be paid and upkeep on a 50,000 stadium still has to be met – and I hear there are BIG problems there, which will dwarf the £20 million HMRC debt which closed the former company and precipitated this whole crisis.

 

Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster have gambled their careers on saving something which may not be viable anyway. Certainly, their failure makes another administration event at Ibrox a virtual certainty.

 

Clubs in the SFL know all this. This is one of the key reasons for rejecting NewCo as a First Division club. Clyde have spoken out on the subject, as have Annan and Raith. There has even been mention of the situations at Livingston and Gretna, both of whom suffered financial meltdown and were placed in the lowest tier in the game, all the better to limit the damage if those clubs went nuclear and died – as Gretna did, in a full-scale justification of the SFL’s stance on the issue.

 

NewCo’s being placed in the bottom tier had as much to do with protecting the integrity of the SFL brand as it did with sporting fairness, limiting and containing the potential damage which will certainly be done if NewCo collapses mid-season – as I believe is now more than likely.

 

Regan and Doncaster cannot survive this. Not only have they destroyed the credibility of their offices, shattered commercial confidence in the product and lied to, and tried to bully, their own members and the clubs in the SFL, but they have done so to prop up a basket case company which is, in fact, nothing more than a ticking time-bomb which could go off at any moment.

 

The disgrace which covers the corpse of Rangers is now a disgraceful stain on the authorities who run the game, and the final proof that they have left the path of sensible governance and are embarked on the road of madness.

 

NewCo Rangers faces at least ten years on the fringes of the game, and that is a Best Case Scenario. They are a minimum of three years from returning to the top tier, and perhaps as many as a dozen from taking part in European football.

 

The reputation of the game has been tarnished, and that damage is beyond repair until the men at the top of the game itself are gone from office, and with the notable exception of David Longmuir, who has restored some confidence, are in positions which are utterly untenable; Doncaster, Regan and Ogilvie must go and go now, before they do further harm.

 

But there is one other path to consider, one more road to take, and is the toughest choice which will ever be faced by administrators in football, but I believe it has to happen.

 

The SFA must refuse to grant Rangers NewCo a license to play in the Scottish Football League, use what little time is left to open the process and introduce Spartans, or whomever, to take their place, and let something take its course which should have been done on the day Rangers Football Club went into liquidation.

 

The notion of pretending the club which was founded in 1873 still goes on must be put aside and buried. A brand new club must be formed from the ashes of what remains, and Scottish football must go on without that club for a period of at least one year, until the legal, financial and technical issues which surround them have been completely set aside.

 

To those who believe they read a vengeful Celtic fan in these words, let me put you to rights.

 

The club which was Rangers is already no more. The vast and dominating institution which once believed it ruled Scottish football has been destroyed completely. They have suffered a crushing humiliation and the pain has just started. With the level of their squad they will struggle to compete at ANY level at all, and face dark days and nights ahead almost without number.

 

No revenge I could ever have dreamed of was the equal of what has happened already or what is about to come to pass. Only a sadist could dream of something beyond this.

 

It is Scottish football which has suffered most. it is Scottish football which will continue to suffer, as NewCo Rangers lurches from one crisis to another in the next 12 months even as it tries to claw its way back to some kind of competitive place.

 

At the moment, that day is as far off as the day when the Sun becomes a great red giant and consumes the Earth. The present version of Rangers Football Club has NO CHANCE of being a competitive force in the Scottish game – that is a FACT.

 

In order to truly start from scratch that club, and Scottish football itself, must ACCEPT that the old Rangers is DEAD.

 

A period without them is the ONLY way to heal the club itself and the game in Scotland. It is the only way to root out all the corruption, the secret deals, the shady characters, the darkness at the core of the institution. Every source of scandal, every potentially damaging revelation, every dirty fact, must be uncovered, must be laid bare and must be dealt with … or they will come back to haunt not only that club but the game itself.

 

We cannot save something which may live to kill us. We must let it die and burn the body.

 

Then – and ONLY then – should competitive football be played again at Ibrox by a team wearing blue.

 

How many times will that club have to die and be reborn before some kind of balance is restored? How many Extinction Level Events must Scottish football itself endure before stability is brought to this situation, and the game allowed to grow again without this cancer at its heart?

 

The game needs a break from this. Rangers fans need time to take stock and allow this year to pass. The struggle for power at Ibrox needs to be resolved one way or another.

 

None of this can happen whilst we cling to the illusion that this club still lives. Football cannot be played alongside a potential reactor disaster masquerading as old Rangers.

 

A year out gives everyone breathing space and time to take stock. it would be the most momentous – and courageous – decision ever taken in the history of Scottish football.

 

If only we had the men of courage needed to take it.

 

[maverick sheep]

Stop posting shite from tic forums unless you plan on providing soap as well.

[Nellie The Don]

I'm not reading that.

 

The first line alone made me feel nauseous.

 

Go away Terry. I'm sure someone somewhere must need potatos peeled.

[tom_widdows]

Seems other people have a different concept of fear to me

 

 

[glasgow sheep]

I've posted some lengthy copy and pastes but that takes the biscuit (tin)

[tlg1903]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

Very little there that has not been speculated before.

 

One point i would make.

 

No revenge I could ever have dreamed of was the equal of what has happened already or what is about to come to pass. Only a sadist could dream of something beyond this.

 

What has happened to the hun's was never about revenge, only justice.  How can justice be sadistic?

[Andrew]

[tlg1903]

 

 

Brilliant!

[manc_don]

Absolute belter

[bloo_toon_red]

As far as I'm concerned it's one down, one to go. Celtic can get to fuck as well.

[Madbadteacher]

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

And take all the weegiemeejie with them

[BigAl]

Terry, take this warning seriously you wannae be Orish fucker......post one more out pouring of Celtic pish like this and you're oot of here......Ban awaits.....C'mon ya cunt make my day

[BigAl]

Decided he isn't actually any fun unlike our ex resident Hun, so boooooooooooooooooooommm off you go ya cunt

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Posted by James Forrest on the Celtic Forum but very, very pertinent to Aberdeen and all Scottish clubs!

 

There are situations so bizarre they defy conventional wisdom. The Rangers situation is one of them. Today in the newspapers, the entire English speaking world will be made aware of the lengths to which Stewart Regan was willing (and perhaps still is) to go to see NewCo Rangers in the SPL again within one year.

 

Understandable, although the means are inexcusable and will almost certainly result in his dismissal from post – which many of us have been calling for now for weeks.

 

There is also a looming battle within the SPL, which in the end may or may not claim the scalp of Neil Doncaster, and that is a must as far as many of us are concerned. The damage that will be inflicted on that league in the next 12 months will be immense. That is now as near certain as anything can be.

 

Commercially, the SPL is dead. It didn’t have to be so, but when it’s chief executive, member clubs chairmen and the head of the SFA are going around telling everyone the game is about to die … who the Hell is going to invest in it? For this reason alone, for talking down the product in a way which would have had Gerald Ratner himself hiding under the bed, these men, perhaps out of fear or stupidity, or just arrogance, have destroyed what they were meant to protect and talked themselves out of their jobs.

 

And for what? This is the most bizarre bit of the story.

 

To save something that is already dead, resurrected and is already on the verge of dying all over again.

 

Yes, you read that right. Already, Rangers NewCo is in grave financial peril, and is unlikely to survive.

 

Based on the information which is already in the public domain, this club should not receive a license to play football at all. Every day brings us closer to another incredible twist in this tale – the near certainty that the Sevco deal will be legally unravelled or will itself suffer a complete internal collapse.

 

On the strength of the information I have seen, I cannot conceive of how the SFA can, or should, allow Sevco to take ANY place in the Scottish football structure. There is talk of the SFL signing a football broadcasting deal on the strength of their involvement in the league – a disastrous move if they do it, because of the very real possibility that the deal will COLLAPSE as a result of the NewCo not being able to complete the season.

 

Ironically, Rangers NewCo is in even graver danger now than than the OldCo was six months ago, when Craig Whyte’s “revolution” collapsed in the aftermath of the January transfer window. There is a 50/50 chance that the NewCo will NOT SURVIVE the turn of the year 2012, and this is not hyperbole but cold fact.

 

The relegation to the Third Division has devastated the club as a commercial investment, for at least the next ten years. There are widespread rumours about ownership of the assets, and of who the financial backers of Charles Green really are, and on what basis he “borrowed” the £5.5 million to buy the club.

 

There is a lot of information out there right now, and the various strands appear to lead in one direction; to Octopus Investments, also known as Ticketus, who’s silence since the rejection of the CVA has been noted in various places. The links between Sevco and Octopus appear to be deeper than first thought, and that means it’s not simply £5.5 million on the line but five, perhaps six times, that much … and all of it is now at risk.

 

Whoever owns New Rangers, perhaps lulled by Duff & Phelps talk about making the club a cash cow, perhaps buying into the Global Rangers Family myth, perhaps because they don’t know their history, believed they were buying a money making machine which had simply been run wrong. They believed implicitly in 40,000 season ticket holders, European income, TV money and a whole lot more … none of which will come to pass, or be realised, for at least the next five years.

 

Instead of spitting out tens and twenties, NewCo Rangers is going to be a financial black hole, sucking in money to feed itself, and giving out nothing in return.

 

NewCo has lost an entire squad of players. its infrastructure has been fundamentally dismantled. The task of rebuilding that shattered club will take at least a decade. Even running at present levels, with the first team squad wage bill cut to the bone, NewCo has significant overheads, consistent with running an enormous footballing institution. Every commercial contract has been smashed to smithereens, but bills still have to be paid. Every income stream has been reduced to the bare minimum, but the rates have to be paid and upkeep on a 50,000 stadium still has to be met – and I hear there are BIG problems there, which will dwarf the £20 million HMRC debt which closed the former company and precipitated this whole crisis.

 

Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster have gambled their careers on saving something which may not be viable anyway. Certainly, their failure makes another administration event at Ibrox a virtual certainty.

 

Clubs in the SFL know all this. This is one of the key reasons for rejecting NewCo as a First Division club. Clyde have spoken out on the subject, as have Annan and Raith. There has even been mention of the situations at Livingston and Gretna, both of whom suffered financial meltdown and were placed in the lowest tier in the game, all the better to limit the damage if those clubs went nuclear and died – as Gretna did, in a full-scale justification of the SFL’s stance on the issue.

 

NewCo’s being placed in the bottom tier had as much to do with protecting the integrity of the SFL brand as it did with sporting fairness, limiting and containing the potential damage which will certainly be done if NewCo collapses mid-season – as I believe is now more than likely.

 

Regan and Doncaster cannot survive this. Not only have they destroyed the credibility of their offices, shattered commercial confidence in the product and lied to, and tried to bully, their own members and the clubs in the SFL, but they have done so to prop up a basket case company which is, in fact, nothing more than a ticking time-bomb which could go off at any moment.

 

The disgrace which covers the corpse of Rangers is now a disgraceful stain on the authorities who run the game, and the final proof that they have left the path of sensible governance and are embarked on the road of madness.

 

NewCo Rangers faces at least ten years on the fringes of the game, and that is a Best Case Scenario. They are a minimum of three years from returning to the top tier, and perhaps as many as a dozen from taking part in European football.

 

The reputation of the game has been tarnished, and that damage is beyond repair until the men at the top of the game itself are gone from office, and with the notable exception of David Longmuir, who has restored some confidence, are in positions which are utterly untenable; Doncaster, Regan and Ogilvie must go and go now, before they do further harm.

 

But there is one other path to consider, one more road to take, and is the toughest choice which will ever be faced by administrators in football, but I believe it has to happen.

 

The SFA must refuse to grant Rangers NewCo a license to play in the Scottish Football League, use what little time is left to open the process and introduce Spartans, or whomever, to take their place, and let something take its course which should have been done on the day Rangers Football Club went into liquidation.

 

The notion of pretending the club which was founded in 1873 still goes on must be put aside and buried. A brand new club must be formed from the ashes of what remains, and Scottish football must go on without that club for a period of at least one year, until the legal, financial and technical issues which surround them have been completely set aside.

 

To those who believe they read a vengeful Celtic fan in these words, let me put you to rights.

 

The club which was Rangers is already no more. The vast and dominating institution which once believed it ruled Scottish football has been destroyed completely. They have suffered a crushing humiliation and the pain has just started. With the level of their squad they will struggle to compete at ANY level at all, and face dark days and nights ahead almost without number.

 

No revenge I could ever have dreamed of was the equal of what has happened already or what is about to come to pass. Only a sadist could dream of something beyond this.

 

It is Scottish football which has suffered most. it is Scottish football which will continue to suffer, as NewCo Rangers lurches from one crisis to another in the next 12 months even as it tries to claw its way back to some kind of competitive place.

 

At the moment, that day is as far off as the day when the Sun becomes a great red giant and consumes the Earth. The present version of Rangers Football Club has NO CHANCE of being a competitive force in the Scottish game – that is a FACT.

 

In order to truly start from scratch that club, and Scottish football itself, must ACCEPT that the old Rangers is DEAD.

 

A period without them is the ONLY way to heal the club itself and the game in Scotland. It is the only way to root out all the corruption, the secret deals, the shady characters, the darkness at the core of the institution. Every source of scandal, every potentially damaging revelation, every dirty fact, must be uncovered, must be laid bare and must be dealt with … or they will come back to haunt not only that club but the game itself.

 

We cannot save something which may live to kill us. We must let it die and burn the body.

 

Then – and ONLY then – should competitive football be played again at Ibrox by a team wearing blue.

 

How many times will that club have to die and be reborn before some kind of balance is restored? How many Extinction Level Events must Scottish football itself endure before stability is brought to this situation, and the game allowed to grow again without this cancer at its heart?

 

The game needs a break from this. Rangers fans need time to take stock and allow this year to pass. The struggle for power at Ibrox needs to be resolved one way or another.

 

None of this can happen whilst we cling to the illusion that this club still lives. Football cannot be played alongside a potential reactor disaster masquerading as old Rangers.

 

A year out gives everyone breathing space and time to take stock. it would be the most momentous – and courageous – decision ever taken in the history of Scottish football.

 

If only we had the men of courage needed to take it.

 

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

We got ourselves a "timposter".

[BigAl]

We got ourselves a "timposter".

 

No, we did have

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

No, we did have

 

Have a plus 1.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Actually, considering who it is and the time, have a pro-plus.

[BigAl]

Actually, considering who it is and the time, have a pro-plus.

 

 

You're not that far behind 

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

 

You're not that far behind 

 

It's awrite Al, it's a safe distance!