The Rangers Cancer

There is no doubt we have all enjoyed the audio clips of various parties involved in the ongoing saga that masquerades as a football club in Govan. Listening to secretly recorded shady back room deals being conducted provided a satisfying level of voyeuristic titillation. It was easy to abdicate ourselves from any dissonance regarding the morality of being a fly-on-the-wall due to the general perception all the main protagonists were, how one might say, as bad as one another. There was a sense of just-desserts as bright lights were shone on the dark arts practised by Charles Green during his quest to grab control of the sick patient that was Rangers Football Club. There was also a good case for these revelations being in the public interest as they untangled, or attempted to untangle, the many twists and knots involved in the Rangers takeover. Rightly or wrongly I have no problem with this.

What I do have a problem with is the use of covert video and audio to assassinate a man by highlighting his health issues. This tactic is the lowest of the low and, if justice is to be done, should backfire dramatically on the perpetrators. What other illnesses do these people think are okay to ridicule in order to achieve goals? Imagine the outcry if others followed their lead. It is unimaginable Peter Lawwell releasing secretly recorded conversations with Neil Lennon discussing depression. I thought about listing a few other possible examples here to highlight the utterly despicable and sordid nature of this type of tactic but, to be quite frank, I didn't have the stomach for it.

Some, especially those in the press, may be surprised at how low these people will go to achieve their goals. Journalists like Tom English, Graham Spiers and Hugh Keevins, having led somewhat sheltered lives, are so far out of their depth they're in danger of drowning in the pit of excrement that, so far, they've been unwilling to dip anything other than the odd toe. 

And don't these people know it. It is too easy for them. They discovered Scotland is nothing more than a tiny backwater state being run from top to bottom by amateurs and they are running amok. 

Maybe one day they will all end up in court in some sort of Mexican Stand-Off. For now, though, the battle is being fought in the court of public opinion. A dirty war is being waged for the hearts and minds of Rangers fans. Due to more leaks than a dodgy drain prominent Rangers bloggers are being spoon fed information on a daily basis by opposing factions. A civil war is in the pipeline. How civil that war will be remains to be seen. But to those lending their weight behind individuals who are prepared to use someone's illness as a means of attack I say take a look at yourself in the mirror. Do you see the dignity of your forefathers staring back at you?

And to the many decent Rangers fans out there, (yes, there are many, including friends of mine) I urge you to reject those who plan to gain, or regain, control of your club using despicable tactics. Is this really the type of person you want steering the ship? These people have no values other than monetary. Sure, they have a win at all costs attitude, but do you subscribe to that strategy? Do you wish to support those who trample others and prey on illness? 

The club had a chance to start afresh last year, and many thought that was actually what happened. Everyone now knows, or suspects, that isn't the case. Considering the latest tactics of those seeking total control of Rangers there's a touch of irony in how ex-chairman Alastair Johnston describes those now inside the tent. 'There is a cancer spreading throughout the club.'

Having lost two family members to cancer in recent years I know only too well of its destructive nature. Luckily, though, for Rangers fans, the cancer spreading throughout their club can be cured. But it won't be easy.

Neither city investors or those who hijacked the club a year ago are going to volunteer to walk away without a hefty pay day. If you're one of the few Rangers fans who still believe lofty statements such as, 'I only want what's best for the club' you have my sympathy but also my disdain. There has been more than enough evidence in the public domain to drag you away from that Utopian view.

Ridding your club of the cancer that Alastair Johnston refers to is going to cost a lot of money. Do you have the money to buy out these investors? Do you know anyone who has both the money and the desire to get involved? More importantly, perhaps, do you know any Rangers men with both the money and desire to get involved?

Wealthy Rangers men had the opportunity to get the club on the cheap last year but none stepped forward with what now seems a paltry amount. It will cost a lot more for a lot less this year.

If the answer to any of the above is yes then there may well be a chance to rescue the situation before it gets any worse. But if the answer to all of the above is no then it's only going to get worse. 

Plenty of noise is made about whether or not Rangers is the same club that has existed for 140 years. I'm not going to run over old ground here today listing all the reasons for and against each theory. Those different reasons, as you all know, could fill a series of books. 

Let's just focus on one. The transfer of SFA licence. And to keep it even simpler let's not dwell on the secret contents of the mythical five way agreement. 

One of the basic arguments of the 'same club' camp is the transfer of the licence from Oldco to Newco. It's not an argument I subscribe to but let's run with it for now.

In theory, that licence can be transferred among various parties from here to eternity yet the club will remain the same

If it's that easy to keep 140 years of history then why not transfer that licence again?

That licence is, in effect, more important to Rangers Football Club and its continued unbroken existence than Ibrox Stadium, Murray Park, the players and management combined.

If Rangers fans are happy to have anyone in the boardroom so long as they put a winning team on the park then I'm sure they'll welcome those who think it okay to attack opponents in whatever manner the choose. 

If dignity and a certain level of class are considered key traits then fans must do whatever possible to cure the Ibrox boardroom of the cancer to which Alastair Johnston refers.

Time and time again residents of the Ibrox boardroom have brought the game into disrepute, and the impotence of the SFA has encouraged the culprits to become increasingly bolder.

The Scottish football authorities and the majority of Rangers fans have been taken for one massive ride by those who have sought to capitalise for their own benefit. They, like the old-boy network of Scottish journalists, were totally unprepared for the level of skulduggery  others are prepared to stoop in order to get what they want. 

How long can this go on before someone has the balls to say enough is enough and kicks the lot of them out of the game? 

Rangers fans and bloggers continue to sit back and complain about when is it all going to stop. What can we do is a question I hear them say often. It's out of our hands.

Well, they can get up off their backsides and lobby the SFA to revoke the club's licence for bringing the game into disrepute. 

They can ask for that membership licence to be transferred to them. That same licence that carries with it 140 years of history, allegedly. 

The cancer running through their club will be left holding a holding company, or several holding companies, such is the labyrinth of deceit.

If the stadium-less, fan-operated Rangers has to play at Fleshers Haugh to begin with then what a symbolic gesture that would be. A return to the roots of what the club is supposed to be all about. 

An opportunity to start afresh was missed last year in the rush to keep the club playing football at any cost. Charles Green then spent the next few months ingratiating himself to certain elements of the fan base. Most have now seen through his shallowness.

Last week new Chief Executive Craig Mather said he was attracted to Rangers because his parents were Church of England. Why on earth would he say that?

Is it just me who's feeling a sense of déjà vu?   

Another chance to start afresh is fast approaching. Have the Rangers fans the stomach to fight the cancer running through their club?