Are They "Ready" Yet?

There is a storm brewing on Edmiston Drive but the forecasters are being slow to react. Yesterday evening there was talk, speculation, a sense of triumph - call it what you will - over on Celtic's most followed fans' forum, Kerrydale Street. It was over some speculation that Ranger's current chairman, Craig Whyte, was battening down the hatches in preparation for a fall out with the Rangers support. 

Talk was rife that, at last, The Daily Record - long held as a second fanzine for the Teddy Bears - was going to do a hatchet job on the serious problems within the club. The main talk was that Whyte mortgaged four years' worth of season ticket sales but has run up a debt against this. Ranger's on pitch failures in Europe this season has proved to be a considerable financial stumbling block in what can be considered a stupid venture. In addition to this Rangers fans have had to deal with the ignominy of having their star player, Nikica Jelavic, move down south in what has been essentially a fire sale of a transfer.

And of course, dare we mention the spectre of Hector The Taxman, who wants close to £50 million of unpaid tax. 

For sure the financing of the club is looking very dark. It is mooted that the club will soon be liquidated or less seriously put into administration. For nearly a year since the club was taken out of David Murray's hands for £1 it has remained static, only showing some signs of creeping slowly into the abyss that poorly run clubs fall foul of. 

So how has this been covered in the media? With a club the size of Rangers, with the history that it has foisted upon football (good and bad) you'd expect constant attention to the issue. However today this has not been so. The BBC, for example, have only shown signs of interest in the story late on Tuesday evening. Unsurprisingly it was covered by Chick Young, a known Rangers supporter, and had a degree of sympathy and none of the clinical incision that would have undoubtedly taken control if the problems were Celtic's. Paranoid, us? In December the BBC Football website was chronic in its coverage of accusations of sectarian chanting on a Celtic away day in Europe. Hardly was this a case of complete financial mismanagement on a scale that even Peter Ridsdale would applaud, but these are the times we live with.

Whatever talk of a "cracked crest", Rangers look like a weakened side on and off the pitch. It will be both interesting and depressing to factor in the level of media attention and scrutiny they will receive before the receivers come knocking at their doors.