ONE of the joys of being 64, semi-retired and a freelance is - I don't have to toe the party line. I can now write what I like and if I fancy submitting it to a newspaper or magazine, while it is still nice to see my piece in print, it doesn't matter whether or not it gets published.
Thus, I don't have to cow-tow to anyone, I can call a spade a fucking shovel if I like and it doesn't matter a jot. Which is why I'm happy to be on the sidelines when it comes to the seemingly endless speculation which is the Rangers' Tax Case.
Some Celtic-minded bloggers and journalists are becoming somewhat agitated at the moment, as the members of the tax tribunal who heard the case of Rangers FC and their EBT's v Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, a case whose outcome is due to enter the public domain within weeks. As far as these gentlemen are concerned, Rangers were always guilty as charged and they are wetting themselves at the prospect of Rangers being invited to find some £49 million to settle when what they see is the inevitable guilty verdict is revealed.
Now a wee glitch or two has developed. There is the wee rumour that Rangers may perhaps be about to win the case - which of course might well be wishful thinking on the part of some members of what is known as the Lap Top Loyal - in addition, there is a fear amongst the Celtic-minded that preparations are being made for a "new" Rangers to be fast-tracked into the SPL, should the existing Rangers be forced into liquidation by HMRC.
We are increasingly being told that: "Rangers are too big to fail"; that club "Cannot be allowed to go under".
Let me tell you this boys - no company is too big to fail, unless they have a lot of friends in government, in which case common sense goes out of the window. Rangers might be a huge club in Scottish terms and still a pretty big one in European or world terms, but, in the eyes of the government, they are small beer and IF the HMRC case goes against them - that club could fail, and rightly so.
It has been mis-managed for years; this mis-management cannot go on and while it would, for many people, be a crying shame to see Rangers vanish - they are no more immune to the penalties for mis-management than were Third Lanark, Clydebank, Airdrieonians or Gretna.
Professional football is an arm of the entertainment industry - the Alhambra and Empire Theatres used to be the biggest and glossiest in Glasgow, both are now gone. Green's Playhouse was one of the biggest entertainment facilities in Europe - gone too. John Brown's at Clydebank built the world's two greatest ocean-going liners -gone; Harland and Wolff built the Titanic, the most-iconic ship ever built - shut. Ravenscraig was one of Britain's greatest steel mills - gone. Why should Rangers be different from these other icons?
And, if Rangers does go, will it be bad news for Scottish football? I think not. Other clubs will rise, the trophies will be shared around and the loss of an equally-big, if not bigger, rival across town might be good news for Celtic.
Instead of having to buy foreign to stay upsides, they could try breeding and encouraging young Scots. After all, the greatest Celtic and indeed Scottish club side of all time was 100 per cent Scottish - all 11 players and the manager born within 35 miles of the ground and with only two of these bought-in (OK, three if you count the cost of Bertie Auld being repatriated from Birmingham).
Don't give me the old: "These days are past, it couldn't happen today" argument. It could and should happen today and maybe, without the hindrance of having to beat Rangers, Celtic could settle down and make it happen; or maybe Hearts or Aberdeen.
No, should Rangers go under, don't throw a lifeline, let it go.
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