Steve Speaks… but is it enough?
Chairman Steve Brown finally spoke up on the Rangers saga yesterday – he’s obviously been reading the Weareperth.co.uk forum, and getting worried by the views of a number of the fans.
Speaking to STV (link here with video) he said
“I can relate to that,” he told STV. “I’ve been a supporter, am still a supporter and I’ve been on supporters’ buses, trains and on the terraces.
“If I’ve got a vote then I certainly will not let Rangers in without sanctions. That will not happen.”
“The feeling from the people I’ve spoken to from within the chairman’s ranks is that they won’t let Rangers in with a ‘get out free card’,” “That won’t happen.
“I think Rangers themselves and the majority of supporters accept that they’re going to have to get some form of punishment. That’s wholly accepted throughout the game. It has to happen.”
Stevie speaks out…. but I think he missed the point…
The headlines of course paint this as ‘No to Newco Rangers’, but It doesn’t read like that to me. The fans aren’t after a new company Rangers in the SPL with sanctions. Infact,whether a new company has sanctions are not, to me, is beside the point. There shouldn’t be a New Company Rangers PERIOD admitted to the SPL. Whether you ‘fine’ them 75% of their prize money, or give them transfer embargo’s or whatever, they still shouldn’t be there, and to allow them to enter, at the expense of say Dundee in division one, would be a travesty. (i think i’m going to be sick – I just stood up for Dundee… f***…)
Weareperth.co.uk has been full of threads and comments about this. And the message is overwhelmingly clear. People do not want to renew season tickets until this mess is sorted out. Celtic have ‘extended’ their deadline for season ticket renewals for another week. Saints are yet to even announce their season ticket package. The polls across the board in Scottish football (one poll/2nd poll/3rd poll) indicate between 25 – 40% of supporters will simply stop attending games. This is a FAR bigger impact than will be felt than without Rangers in the league.
The message that doesn’t seem to be getting across to the chairman though, is that fans don’t want punishment for Rangers. They simply want the moral thing to be done. A club that can’t pay its bills should be bankrupted and removed from the league, and a club that lives within its means should take its place. For as much as I can’t stand Dundee, they took their punishment in their last administration. They culled their entire squad. They accepted a transfer embargo and they agreed a deal with their creditors. The fans rallied round to the cause and raised enough money to keep them going. They deserve their place in the SPL a lot more than Rangers do.
I congratulate Stevie for coming out. Saints are now on the Rangers Media boycott list as a result (woohoo… can we just ban them instead?), but I fear he has somewhat missed the point and is now going to attract the wrath not only of the Ibrox unwashed, but also the genuine Saints fans, who in the middle of a financial crisis were already giving serious consideration to not renewing their season books…
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This, for me, highlights the importance of Rangers to Scottish football, whether you love them or hate them. And although they do support the teams like St.Johnstone, both them, and Celtic, have ruined Scottish Football. For years, they have taken the best players of Hearts, Dundee United, Aberdeen, Hibs and recently they attempted to do the same to St Johnstone. When they tried to prize Francisco Sandaza away. Think of Hibs with Scott Brown, Steven Fletcher, Derek Riordan (before Celtic ruined his career), Stephen Dobbie, Kenny Miller, what part of a Hibs team like that versus a Rangers team would be so dis-appealing like it is for many today. Celtic and Rangers have caused enough damage, don’t take one of them away and cause catastrophic damage!
PS. if you found any of my opinions interesting, feel free to comment on my blog regarding the Scottish national team