Dignity FC, My Arse

The Centenary Scottish Cup Final in 1973 was the first Old Firm game I saw. Until then I hadn’t even heard of Rangers. All I cared about was Celtic. I was never told to hate anyone. I didn’t know anything about Catholics and Protestants even though I went to a different school from the other boys in my street.

Apparently, even though I'd attended the semi-final against Dundee, dad wasn’t allowed to take me to Rangers games because of the level of drink and violence that accompanied the fixture. And with dad being an alcoholic, mum feared I’d get lost in the crowd or hit on the head with a flying bottle whilst on the front line of any carnage.

So Dad and I settled down in the living room; he on his chair by the fireplace with a bottle of J&B whisky and lucky scarf, and me, hair cut like Kenny Dalglish, wearing that year’s Celtic top, drinking a glass of limeade. The TV was black and white but that didn’t matter, I never knew anything different, and the hoops were instantly recognisable. It was working and the picture was steady.

You’ll find more detailed reports of the actual game elsewhere but here is a six year old’s memories of how the drama played out.

Kenny Dalglish ran through and slotted the opener past Peter McCloy to put Celtic one up as Archie McPherson shouted, “Must be!”. Dad and I jumped around the living room. I’ll always remember Kenny’s face as he ran away arms aloft, looking like it was the first goal he’d ever scored in his life.

Many years later I saw him score his last goal for Scotland against Spain. That same smile filled his face as much as the dust covered everyone on the terraces as they too jumped for joy at what was, even by Kenny’s standards, a special goal. For me, Dalglish’s face whenever he scored a goal was what football was all about. Sheer unadulterated joy.

But I digress.

Back in 1973 Rangers scored twice to give themselves a 2-1 lead. Dad assured me all was not lost, we were the best team in the country and one of the best in Europe. And when George Connelly equalised from the spot we both knew there was only going to be one winner.

Unfortunately, we were wrong.

Tom Forsyth scored one of his only two goals ever for Rangers that day. It was a goal remembered by all who witnessed it and many more who will have seen replays through the years. He didn’t beat several men and chip the goalkeeper. He didn’t lash out and thunder a thirty five yarder into the top corner. He didn’t rise above the Celtic defence to bullet a header past Ally Hunter.

The ball hit one post, rolled along the line and hit the other post. Tom Forsyth swung a leg at it, almost missed the ball and just caught it with the studs on the bottom of his boot. Three-two Rangers. It was one of those goals you don’t need YouTube to refresh your memory.

Dad was gutted. I was gutted. He went all quiet. I went all quiet. He switched the TV off. I grabbed my ball and headed down to the patch of green at the bottom of my street.

I dribbled up and down the thin layer of grass, commentating like Archie McPherson, and screaming, “Dalglish…Must be!” as I slotted the ball past the imaginary Peter McCloy. As I turned to receive the adulation from the imaginary thousands watching from the imaginary terraces I noticed a man crossing the road towards me.

The first thing I noticed was how his football top seemed to be at least one size too small. I wasn’t an expert but was pretty sure belly buttons were usually covered up. As he neared he tripped on the kerb but, although stumbling, managed to stay upright.

I gathered my ball and stood with my left foot on top of it.

“Awright, wee man,” he said when he reached me. “Whit wiz the score th-day?”

I found it surprising that someone wearing a Rangers top wouldn’t have watched the game live on TV like I did, but maybe he had been working and missed the game. I answered politely, “Rangers won 3-2.”

“Really?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

“Aye, it wiz a great game. Ye should’ve seen it. It wiz on the telly.”

“Ah’m sure it wiz. Geez a hit ay yir baw.”

I rolled my ball over to him.

“Did ye see Tam Forsyth’s goal?” he asked as he tried to keep the ball up but couldn’t get past three before losing control.

“Aye. Ah seen it. The baw rolled alang the line and…” I wondered how he knew Forsyth had scored a goal if he hadn’t seen the game or knew the score.

“Wiz it as good as this?” he asked, before chipping my ball up and blootering it miles away.

“Whit did ye dae that fur? That’s no fair.”

He started laughing. “Fuck off, ya wee Fenian bastard. Get back tae yir ain country if ye don’t like it here. We arra peepil!””

I just looked and wondered what he could possibly mean. I was born in and had only ever lived in Scotland.

He turned and walked away, bursting into song. “Hullo…hullo…we are The Billy Boys…hullo…hullo…you’ll tell us by our noise…we’re up to our knees in Fenian blood…surrender or you’ll die…”

In tears, I ran for my ball in the opposite direction, fearing for my life.

That day sticks in my memory as the day I discovered Rangers the football team and their supporters.  My age of innocence was at an end. I had discovered what my being a Catholic in the West of Scotland meant to those who considered themselves to be the natives and rightful heirs to the mountains, glens and lochs of Scotland.

That bigoted sense of entitlement and superiority has never been far from the surface of Scottish society over the decades of my life. It was reinforced during the David Murray years at Ibrox as he used the bank and taxpayer's money to buy success in the domestic game. They were a big fish in a small pond and weren’t shy about letting the small fish know that they needed the big fish or the small fish would die.

Now the people who run that small pond have been backed into a corner.

Tuesday the 29^th May 2012 will be remembered as the day the big fish finally got too big for their own good.

 An SFA panel opted to conjure a twelve month transfer ban from thin air instead of handing Rangers a tougher punishment, but Rangers didn’t appreciate the SFA were actually doing them a favour by not expelling them in the first place. They claimed they were hard done to.

The SFA’s rule that a disciplinary panel can punish clubs with any punishment they deem fit proved too ambiguous for the Court of Session in Edinburgh. They are probably correct. The SFA have been caught with their pants down.

So now FIFA are getting involved.

Do the SFA now bow to Rangers or FIFA?

There can only be one answer, especially if the SFA want to keep their independence and not become part of a British FA.

At least one year’s suspension of SFA membership has to be considered. Don’t be surprised if the SFA again bend over backwards to help Rangers and end up handing down a suspended one year’s suspension…even though it’s not in their list of punishments.

But what if FIFA pushes for more?

What if Rangers get expelled?

No doubt Rangers fans will see this as the perfect opportunity to apply to join elsewhere: i.e. England. Unfortunately for them they have a better chance of starting their own league in the British Virgin Islands than being accepted into England. At least they can still wave their Union Jacks there and not have to pay any tax.

So, there you have it. My first full memory of a game will live with me forever, even though it ended in defeat. My last memory of an Old Firm game will also live with me forever and, thankfully, it ended with a victory.

Did I seek out any six year olds wearing Rangers tops, blooter their ball away and shout sectarian abuse at them? No, of course not. I haven't led the life of a saint but I have more dignity and respect for others regardless of their race, socio-economic status, health issues or religion in my little finger than Rangers and their imperialist supporters ever had, or will ever have.


Maybe, just maybe, when they rise like a phoenix from the ashes they will be shed of their 'we are the people' sense of entitlement and show a degree of humility and respect to all corners of Scottish society. But don't hold your breath.

Who Owns Newco Rangers?

Friday 11^th May could prove to be one of the most significant days in the history of Rangers Football Club (RFC). The much-heralded Blue Knights (TBK), with Brian Kennedy (BK) now fully on board, once again withdrew their bid for the club. However, this time, rather than go quietly and let Duff and Phelps (D&P) continue to follow whatever crazy-paving path it is the administrators are following, TBK held a highly emotive press conference to publicly question the motives of D&P.

During this press conference they continually emphasised that time was running out for saving the club through a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

Later, D&P hit back at TBK’s claims about the size of their bid saying they had to do what was in the creditor’s best interests, and their bid wasn’t acceptable to them.

A new consortium led by Charles Green was lauded by D&P as being in the advanced stages of negotiation and looks like being the new preferred bidder.

The fans and TBK fear this new consortium is another Bill Miller…or Bill Ng…or worse still, another Craig Whyte (CW).

And then tonight TBK release another press release and full details of their offer for everyone to read and make their own minds up.

It is now an open civil war between TBK and D&P.

Another of the much reported obstacles to TBK gaining control of the club was the reluctance of majority shareholder CW to hand over his shares if Paul Murray (PM) was going to be a director. This smacks of a spoilt brat child saying it’s my ball and he’s not playing.

So no matter how damning yesterday’s SFA Report into CW’s disastrous tenure of the club, he still sits in his castle dictating the future of RFC.

We’re now hearing from many sources as every second passes by that RFC is heading for liquidation.

We’re also hearing that RFC will return in one shape or form as a newco. In fact, there can be no doubt that Rangers will return as a newco in one form or another.

But who will control this newco RFC?

Why should CW, or anyone else for that matter, have a say on who is in charge of newco Rangers?

Surely he and his type have had their chance(s).

He may have a piece of paper in his hand saying he owns X amount of shares. So what? Neville Chamberlain also had a piece of paper in his hand…which proved as worthless as the…eh…paper it was written on.

No single person has ever owned RFC.

David Murray (DM) may well have been majority shareholder for many years and ran the club like he owned it, but he didn’t own it.

RFC, like every other club, is owned by the fans.

Players, managers, directors and so-called owners come and go depending on many factors. The one thing they all have in common, though, is financial reward in terms of wages.

Fans pay for the privilege of being fans. They pay the wages of those mentioned above. This is a lifetime commitment, not one they choose to walk away from when the going gets tough.

Of course, some fans also come and go, usually depending on success or failure; but part-time glory hunters aren’t real fans.

All fans would like their club to be run by the fans for the fans but, alas, this is rarely possible. Many smaller teams don’t have the fan base to make fan co-operatives financially viable. And most clubs don’t offer fans the chance to have a say.

But RFC aren’t a wee club with a tiny fan base. They are a huge club with a massive fan base around the world. It appears to be only D&P and CW who are standing in the way of fan ownership. Why is that?

Within weeks a newco RFC will apply for membership of the SPL.

This move will force the other SPL chairmen to vote on whether or not to allow newco RFC entry into their exclusive invitational league. We all know these clubs don’t want to lose out on TV money. We also know they want to include sanctions that enable them to grab RFC’s share of TV money over the following years. So, unbelievably, these clubs want to profit out of RFC’s misery.

But who will officially own, according to a piece of paper, this newco RFC applying to the SPL?

At the time of writing no-one knows.

Who should own this newco RFC?

According to RFC fans they should own it.

And so they should. The only issue is how to go about it. We’ll come to that shortly.

First, many RFC fans would now rather start again in Division Three than take further sanctions from clubs wanting nothing more than financial gain.

The moral argument around the country is any newco should start in Division Three.

Like I said earlier, an application for a newco RFC to gain entry into the SPL will be made some time. They also need to apply to the SFA for a footballing licence.

What would the SFA do if two applications for a newco RFC arrived on their desk on the same day?

One from Joe Bloggs and his consortium based in the British Virgin Islands or Timbuktu, and one from a co-operative of RFC fans groups, RFC legends and wealthy local businessmen whose allegiance to RFC has been visible over the years.

Of course, the Joe Bloggs consortium will probably have Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park to back up their application. But what chances of success if they have no fans?

The co-operative will have to arrange to play games at Hampden or elsewhere to begin with, but with the backing of the fans they will be around for the long haul.

If the SFA allowed Joe Bloggs into the league and parachuted them straight into the SPL then the game in Scotland can be proved to be corrupt and run for the benefit of finance rather than sporting integrity.

Actions like this may end with a British Football Association instead of individual FA’s for each home country.

If the SFA allow the co-operative to begin in Division Three newco RFC will start with a clean slate. The SFA are seen to be protecting the integrity of the game at the expense of the biggest club, bringing with it much kudos from UEFA and FIFA. Expect to see many more SFA officials climbing the UEFA corporate ladder.

As for Joe Bloggs owning Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park, what is he going to do with them? He can’t use them for any other purpose than what the planning permission allows. This inhibits his ability to sell them on for a profit if he doesn’t have a football team or league to play in.

There is only one answer: sell or lease them to newco RFC for a nominal sum.

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog I highlighted how everyone connected with the club is saying time is running out fast. Unless a deal is closed in the next few days a newco RFC is a certainty as it looks like it’s too late for a CVA. In fact, it’s probably a certainty now, but my mother always said ‘never say never’ so I will hedge my bets until the day comes.

Newco RFC will either be someone handpicked by D&P and CW, or it will be run by the fans for the fans.

RFC fans can sit and wait and see how it pans out, or they can mobilise and apply directly to the SFA for a licence to compete in Division Three.

Ibrox Stadium isn’t needed to play in Division Three, and neither are players on £25,000 per week.

A newco RFC with a clean slate will attract many investors. Many, many more investors than a newco RFC run by Joe Bloggs without the backing of the fans.

Put the ball in the SFA’s court. Let them decide whether the future of the game in Scotland is about dodgy investors wanting to make a fast buck or about the lifeblood of the game: fans forking out hard earned money. Let them decide whether the business practices of Rupert Murdoch dictate who plays in our leagues or whether we who gave the game of football to the world still lead by example.

RFC may be the headlines today, but it is the reputation and future of Scottish Football as a whole which is at stake.

The battle for RFC is only just beginning. To win it fans must be in it. It’s not about who the fans choose to back, it’s about who chooses to back the fans. They are and always will be the true owners.

Time for Rangers Supporters Groups to grab initiative.

Now that Bill Miller has walked away where do Rangers go from here?

Duff and Phelps were quickly out with a statement about three other bidders and how a deal can still be done by the end of the season. Problem is no-one believes a word they say anymore. They are living examples of the boy who cried wolf.

Rangers fans in particular seem to be the most vociferous against D&P. They blame D&P for not sorting this out sooner. They blame them for no-one wanting to make an offer which is acceptable to the lengthy list of creditors.

Bill Miller also blamed D&P. He blamed them for not giving him the full picture of Rangers' troubles. Like dodgy second hand car dealers they polished the outside but forgot to mention the car had no engine.

Bill Miller also blamed the fans. He claimed to have received thousands of emails telling him in no uncertain terms where to stick his Yankee ass. There were also a couple of Yank Go Home banners on display at Rangers' last home game...of the season.

Ally McCoist blamed the SFA panel for trying to kill the club off.

Kenny McDowell blamed Craig Whyte for the state of the club's current troubles.

Craig Whyte blamed the David Murray and the old board.

David Murray blamed Craig Whyte for duping him.

Hugh Adam blamed David Murray for adopting dodgy tax strategies.

I could go on and on and on, but you get the picture. There is a lot of finger pointing going on around Ibrox.

And that's not even mentioning the money owed to Ticketus who cleared the club's debt to Lloyds...via Craig Whyte.

Or the big tax case, the small tax case, last year's PAYE and VAT, footballing debts, or all the small local businesses still waiting on their payments for goods and services rendered.

And when the time comes to deal with the double contracts issue there will be a lot more hand wringing, pointing, shouting, blaming, denying, etc.

Ally McCoist is the only one of the above to admit Rangers did wrong and must be punished in some way.

I have a lot of time for Ally. He's a football man, not a businessman. To say he is out of his depth in this debacle is more than an understatement. He is drowning not waving but, like the captain of the Titanic, he will not depart the sinking ship.

His actions last week in calling for the names of the panel to be made public weren't one of his high points, but considering the daily pressures he must be under we should excuse him this time. If only others were so forgiving of Neil Lennon for his misdemeanours, as the pressures he's been under for a longer time are just as, if not more, serious.

I wish them both all the best when this is over.

But when will this be over?

Even the experts can't agree on the answer to that question. Every day brings unexpected twists and turns. No-one can state with authority how the end game will be played out.

The consensus, though, now appears to be that liquidation is inevitable.

Of course, some, like Phil Mac and Rangers Tax Case, have been pointing that out for so long they are almost blue in the face.

Let us assume the team currently known as Glasgow Rangers are going to die.

It needn't be the end.

Here's what I think Rangers fans should do.

The first thing they must do is admit that there is no way back for the current Rangers.

Forget about a CVA. Acknowledge the realities of liquidation. Embrace a newco.

Forget Craig Whyte, Brian Kennedy, Paul Murray, or anyone else who claim to have the club's interests at heart.

Forget about preserving all the history and titles.

Concentrate on the future.

Football is all about the next game, not the last one, or the one before that.

Whereas many Rangers fans believe the SFA to be their enemy, they might turn out to be the best ally for the future.


Rangers supporter groups should form a co-operative and apply to the SFA for a licence to run a football club.


This new debt-free club could start in Division Three and play its games at Hampden.


The same supporters group could lobby the SFA to expel the current Rangers, leaving Craig Whyte, David Murray, Ticketus, D&P, etc to deal with the financial fallout that they are all embroiled in.


Now what is Craig Whyte, or anyone for that matter, going to do with an empty, decaying Ibrox Stadium? It is a Grade B listed building so won't be knocked down. It won't be turned into a Tesco.

Such is the history of the place no-one will touch it.


Craig Whyte or whoever stumps up for it during the liquidation process won't be able to sell it.


When the time is right the new Rangers will be able to buy it back for a nominal fee.


Rangers fans may not like the idea of 'walking away' from their current club, but it is probably the quickest way to get back to winning championships in the future.


If the Blue Knights or anyone else want to invest in the new Rangers then they can apply to the Supporters Co-operative who will decide whether or not they have the club's best interests at heart.


Drastic times call for drastic measures. It is time to look forward instead of looking back.

What do Rangers and Women have in common?

The answer, if you're on the SPL Board, is we can't live with them, but we can't live without them.

A week has passed since the last blog and, as usual, a lot has almost happened, yet we are no further forward. Rangers are still without an owner. The SPL are still without a pair of balls. Their excuse for adjourning their big meeting and vote today was...the same as last week: not enough information.

This begs the question: what information is it they seek, and why did they expect to have it today after adjourning the meeting last week? Surely they knew before turning up at Hampden today that the information they claim to need wasn't available. So why did it take hours before deciding to adjourn once again? And why have they now put it off until the end of the month?

Are they just afraid to make a decision? Have the threats of boycotts by Rangers supporters, Celtic supporters, their own club's supporters, shareholders, bank managers, TV companies, etc, left them so impotent they're hoping someone the SFA or UEFA steps in and leads the way? Will they then step back up to the plate and say it's not what we would've done but we have to follow the laws set down by those who govern the game...so don't blame us.

Already the Twittersphere is buzzing with rumours. Did Duff and Phelps ask for the vote to be adjourned? Why did they do that? Does this mean the SPL admit newco Rangers without further penalties?

The door has been left open for Bill Miller to get assurances behind closed doors that there will be no more further penalties. I wonder how he is at doing handshakes with his trouser leg rolled up.

Funnily enough, although not really funny, is today's revelations that Bill Miller is a donor to the Republican Party in the USA. In this year's presidential nomination race he gave money to Ron Paul, the most right wing candidate.

Mr Paul has claimed he would have voted against the law which ended racial segregation in the USA.

Mr Paul also described civil rights hero Martin Luther King as a 'pro-communist philanderer' and labelled Martin Luther King Day commemorations as 'Hate Whitey Day'.

Is this the sort of owner that Rangers really want to save their dying club, preserve their history and traditions?

Yes, I'm afraid it probably is.

Why SFA won't let Rangers get away Scot-Free

The moral dilemma for the chairmen of the so-called diddy team is whether to vote for sporting integrity or hard cash. Of  course, it's easy to sit on the moral high ground from a safe distance. My club, Celtic, isn't going to go bust tomorrow if Rangers have to start in the Third Division.
So, I expect the SPL chairmen to admit a newco Rangers as long as they accept loss of points and financial penalties. By doing that the other SPL clubs still get their share of TV money from the Sky deal that has the 'Old Firm must be in the league' clause. They also get their mitts on Rangers' share of the monies. Mm...yummy. Who can blame them for wanting some of that?

So, what can/will the SFA do about that?

They must do something.

Their transfer embargo last week might even have been a proactive shot across the bows.

What they appear to have said is if you vote to keep Rangers in the SPL because of a TV deal then we will do our utmost to ensure Rangers get relegated the following year. This is one of the reasons the vote on potential penalties was postponed yesterday.

My guess is that Rangers will lose their appeal if they are allowed to stay in the SPL, and they will win their appeal if they don't stay in the SPL.

Here's why I think the SFA must be seen to be running the game and protecting sporting integrity.

UEFA and FIFA would dearly love to see the end of four different countries from one tiny country compete in their competitions.

The English FA's recent criticisms of FIFA won't have done the SFA and their Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts much good.

Neither, of course, is the Great Britain team in the Olympics this year.

So, in the year Platini  implements Financial Fair Play, how can the SFA ignore the shenanigans at Ibrox?

With UEFA/FIFA  watching the SFA cannot be seen to be weak at this time. Rangers will drop at least one league.

Mind you, all that doesn't make Neil Lennon a better manager, it just means he might be with us a while longer yet.

Hopefully, Neil will continue to learn. His contrition today about running on to the park after the Semi-final against Hearts is a good sign. The comings and goings of players during the summer will show us more of his vision for Celtic, and the Champions League Qualifiers will show us how far we are along that road.

But as the world witnessed Ferguson and Mancini squaring up last night in Manchester, passions are always going to run high when there is a lot at stake. However, I don't see calls for police enquiries in the English papers today.

And earlier in the season Jose Mourhino poked an opposition coach in the eye. Imagine if Neil Lennon had did that in Scotland. Doesn't bear thinking about.

Strange days ahead in Scotland's Planet Fitba. It might not be much, but it's the best we can dae.