Four months are nearly upon the "Rangers In Crisis" drama that has sucked the footballing life out of the Scottish sporting world. The copy it has given interested parties has been truly endless, however one thing that has evolved is a unification of the entire Scottish footballing community against Rangers football club.
Perhaps Alex Salmond was predicting something we didn't see back in February this year when he said that Scottish football "needs" Rangers, as this saga has shown that Scottish people outside the gates of Ibrox can be united akin to a model of an independent Scotland. Fans of clubs up and down the country have been following every day developments on their respective football forums. Threads have grown in ferocity and what has happened, mostly in the last month or so, is a hardening of opinion: Rangers must be punished for their sporting misdemeanors.
What are these crimes? I would like to extricate firstly points that would lead any football fan under attack to point a lazy, accusative finger, as in western Scotland shouts of "bigot" is common. The case with Rangers has gone far beyond the British flag, William of Orange, or the Queen. These are all symbols and shields for a Rangers supporter to hide himself behind, or in extreme cases hit you over the head with.
Rangers' most serious crime is "financial doping". We have seen slips, reveals, glimpses of what has occurred. Last month the BBC justified itself with the Marc Daly documentary "Rangers: The Men Who Sold The Jersey". After what has been years of chipping away - most notably by "Rangers Tax Case" - the brick covering Rangers' financial operation has been turned over, leaving all the lice to scuttle away in fright. What has so shocked every football supporter in the country is the level of abuse of the Employee Benefit Trust scheme under David Murray, and the proof that over seventy Rangers players had contracts not registered with the SFA.
To put this into perspective, Rangers fielded unregistered players. These players undoubtedly helped or inspired the team to win cups and medals ahead of teams who registered contracts correctly. Put simply, the players with dual contracts should not have been playing on the pitch. The HMRC case against Rangers, which relates specifically to this serious issue, has yet to arrive, but it will be an obvious catalyst for the footballing authorities to rightfully strip the club of their "victories".
In the late 1970s David Frost sat down with Richard Nixon and discussed the latter's political crimes. Rangers' current state reminds me of this event and of the state of mind Nixon was in when he was the president and the years after Watergate and his resignation. In the interview Nixon seemingly shirks discussion about his antics in Vietnam and somehow manages to turn the colossally vile act of war atrocities into a puff piece. A soundbite that arrogantly said to the world that he would put people to death and it was necessary.
In a footballing sense Rangers are doing this now. They have broken the law but they have been put in the media spotlight as "the victor" (when they were winning trophies in the noughties), as if they've been the only club in the land to win cups. They have of course reached this level of "presidency" because of what Walter Smith once called "a Protestant superiority complex" eating into the club. This is key in understanding the make up of the Rangers. It's a complex that feeds directly and clinically into the minds of a majority of their supporters. The reason? Not one person - owner, director, manager, player or supporter from the club - has come out and apologized for what they're doing to the game.
In fact the opposite has happened, and is likely to happen in an aggressive manner once further sanctions are imposed. After the SFA imposed a twelve month transfer ban on the club as punishment for only one year's worth refusal to pay tax (costing the taxpayer up to £14 million), a raft of supporters marched to Hampden. The week leading up to this march saw ugly and unprecedented threats and saber rattling, which came to a head when Ally McCoist ungraciously demanded the names of the panel who adjudicated on the transfer embargo. The names were rooted out and the three men were threatened by the Rangers supporters.
When the American businessman Bill Miller put in an offer for the club, and saw the grave situation of the Rangers' books, he suggested a "newco" path for the club. This again chided with the fans and through banners at matches, along with abusive emails, Bill walked away. The reason it chided is because it shone a light on such a dark quarter of financial murkiness.
A crystal clear indication of such staid hubris is to look at their supporters' forum, Rangers Media. It is a one track record of thuggish abuse towards Catholics and anyone else who throws stones at such a "giant". When the club administrators took the shaky step of contravening the football authority of Scotland last week it was the entire football authority of Scotland who, in their minds, should now resign for the sake of Rangers football club. In general it appears that no one is worth anything to Rangers if Rangers are not winning everything either legally or illegally.
This week a thread appeared on Rangers Media that shows the patient awaiting treatment. Without cross-referencing this attitude of itself with other clubs in world football, it is safe to say that this superiority complex will never go away.
It is of course identifiable for Rangers' supporters to act in such a rash way. Their bitter city rivals have a large support too, who work with them or see them in a street wearing either hoops or royal blue. Mixed with the speakeasy attitude of the average Glaswegian tongue the best form of defense is attack. However what Rangers are presenting us with this year has now traveled beyond the Glasgow boundaries and it is this factor that could be, after years of trying, weakening the misnomer that is the "Old Firm" tag. This is a crucial leap of suspect faith for Rangers as they seem like a Dad's Army waiting for war.
So where does this leave the brittle state of the average Rangers' fan. In a way you have to empathise with their confusion. The administrators who were appointed under the auspices of Craig Whyte have constructed a media maze in a media frenzy. The process they put up for prospective new owners was at best an assault course with the winner so far - Charles Green - managing to finish first. But are his intentions that of a man wanting to save Rangers? Sheffield United fans wouldn't agree, as when he was their owner in the late 1990s a mood of repression hung over Brammal Lane. The fact that Green is only loaning Rangers a small amount to put forward to creditors does not ring the bell of best starts.
With all of this burdening them it is no wonder that they put out the bunting in the hope that we will be distracted by it.
