Old Firm will suffer if reconstruction doesn't see Rangers return to top flight

NEARLY a year on from the moral malaise that saw Rangers dumped in Division Three it’s now time for the big season-ticket sale. And the decision to deny Gers entry to the top flight may be about to bite the arse of Peter Lawwell and Charles Green. The Old Firm usually use the media at this time of year to spread rumours of blue-chip signings in a bid to boost sales. It’s the oldest trick in the book but will it wash this time around? In the next few weeks season-book reminders will be sent out and if the punters jump straight in with both feet I’ll be amazed. Why should they?

Although Celtic hit the jackpot with their Champions League run, Lawwell will be well aware new contracts have to be sorted as well as player recruitment. Wages will increase and the TV money in the SPL is a pittance. With qualifiers to be negotiated this summer there is no guarantee Celtic will be back at Europe’s top table so selling season books will be vital.



Over at Ibrox the problem will be second season syndrome. Charles Green faces a hard sell anyway after stories linking him with bogeyman Craig Whyte emerged. But it will be even tougher if he pushes ahead with a rumoured price increase of around 20 percent. That’s bonkers when you see the quality of the current squad. And what will they be paying for? No one knows. It’s unlikely Gers will be catapulted back into the SPL bearing in mind some of the dingbats involved. But what will the format be in the lower leagues? Will clubs vote for 12-12-18 and if so how do you price the season books?

Without Rangers in the top flight, it’s hard to see Celtic fans turning out in numbers for SPL games. Attendances have been down this year as punters are bored of the monotony of a league with no competition. Don’t be kidded that there’s a challenge from the two Highland dancers or the Steelmen from Lanarkshire. Throw in Hearts whose owner is treading water and Hibs who don’t have a pot to piss in and what have you got? Nothing.



According to Kelvin Wilson his second league winner’s medal will taste even sweeter than his first. Get a grip Kelvin. This title scrap has been a foregone conclusion, like being offered a square go by Jimmy Krankie.

Rangers and Green have taken great pleasure about Third Division crowds at Ibrox topping those at Parkhead and other SPL grounds. Fair enough, the Gers fans have backed their club in a time of turmoil but for how long will they keep doing so considering the dross they are paying to watch. If Green is paying some of these second-rate SPL players between four and seven thousand pounds a week then he wants his head examined.

Have Rangers not learnt their lesson? Fran Sandaza was one of those overpaid flops but his contract has now been ripped up after the Spaniard got caught out with the old Eddie Shoestring phone call. Two goals all season meant he was fair game in his employer’s eyes. No morals in it – just money. But Rangers fans should be more alarmed by the kids coming out of Murray Park. They should be sticking out like a sore thumb at this level but the big-money facility has failed to bear fruit for the past decade. In a week when Gazza talked about a young Ian Durrant ripping him to shreds in an Under-21 fixture many moons ago just where is the modern Durrant at Ibrox?

And where is the common sense from those running our game? The moral Muppets who spouted on last year about “sporting integrity” are now preparing for another round of meetings. The summit scheduled for later this month should have been held on April 1 because plenty of fools will be there if the rhetoric of Raith’s Turnbull Hutton and Mike Mulraney of Alloa is anything to go by.

Punishing Rangers last summer was a must but getting them into the top tier within 12 months was also an imperative. Sadly, most of these farmers don’t live in the real world. While SPL chief Neil Doncaster talks about the need for change now, David Longmuir and his SFL cohorts seem more inclined to wait and wither. Doncaster and the SPL must deliver change ASAP and cut loose those SFL members who don’t buy into it.

As if time wasn’t of the essence, the SFA have found it necessary to send out a survey, again pandering rather than producing. Apparently it concluded the national team was “seriously underachieving”. Well, shiver me timbers. It’s not all lost though because according to performance director Mark Wotte we’ll be in great shape by 2022. Preposterous talk, surveys being sent out, governing bodies and chairmen going more ways than Spaghetti Junction. What next? League reconstruction? The 12 -12 -18 failed Swiss model with more splits than a ballerina, an SPL breakaway or just more bickering, posturing and bull****?

As the April fools gather again, just what are they asking you to pay into next season? Answers on a SFA survey please!

by Craig Burley

Sunday Mail

Why will Celtic's wage bill go up? he doesn't seem to give a reason for that. Which big name player were Celtic linked to last year? Can,'t remember that.

If rangers were fast tracked in any way football would be finished in this country, not dying a slow death, finished instantly. The thing I've noticed most over the last year is that our pundits have no idea what supporting a team is all about.

So crowds dip for a few years, was always the way and was this a surprise to anyone? So rangers and Celtic skoosh their leagues, surprise? So football currently doesn't have the same level of interest with the two biggest supported teams in separate leagues, surprise? Crowds were bigger when both teams had players they couldn't really afford? More fans want to see better players, well, fuck me that's a shock.

Nothing that happened this season that was a big surprise cept perhaps rangers taking til November to top their league.

They're using that photo from last season (the Rangers one) again.
Scummy cunts.

they should have used the one from Hampden today heard there was a 5 figure crowd at the game just over 11k

Not bad at all for an away game...

Are we expected to fill everyone's stadiums for them...

therrawbuzzin wrote:They're using that photo from last season (the Rangers one) again.
Scummy cunts.

Maybe they should have used this one

http://i.minus.com/ib2caEpENwdJnK.gif

TheDesertFoxhat wrote:Not bad at all for an away game...

Are we expected to fill everyone's stadiums for them...

25,000 down on the last time you played them

Onyougo wrote:

TheDesertFoxhat wrote:Not bad at all for an away game...

Are we expected to fill everyone's stadiums for them...

25,000 down on the last time you played them

And..??

TheDesertFoxhat wrote:

Onyougo wrote:

TheDesertFoxhat wrote:Not bad at all for an away game...

Are we expected to fill everyone's stadiums for them...

25,000 down on the last time you played them

And..??

They're deserting a sinking ship

If you say so...

11,000

Wasn't the last time you took 10000 to an away game Seville, TEN years ago?

Any time we play at hampden we take way more. Took more to Barcelona in 2004 too, a few pre season games in England probably since then.

When was the last time you played Queens Park at Hampden..??

Cup games are a wee bit different from away games in the third division...

therrawbuzzin wrote:Wasn't the last time you took 10000 to an away game Seville, TEN years ago?

what about April 7 2012 ..more than 10k Celtic fans at Rugby Park ...remember Killie gave Celtic both end stands and half the main stand crowd was over 15K that day