MANY of the Sellick-minded amongst us are positively wetting themselves at the prospect of Rangers being wound-up, shut-down, liquidated, or whatever. They are revelling in the travails of the Ibrox club. So what, it's natural Scottish behaviour - the boot would be on the other foot were it Celtic which was being pursued by HMRC and sundry other creditors, as it was when only the last-minute arrival of Fergus McCann saved the hoops in the 1990s.
Whilst the on-going Ibrox saga is exercising much of their emotional steam, the thought that the so-called 'Sons of William' might be followed into the history books by their Edinburgh kinsmen the 'Cousins of William', or Heart of Midlothian as they are more-properly known could well be too-much for some of the more delicate members of the Celtic "family".
My reading of the situation is, should the worse come to the worst and both clubs are liquidated, a re-born Rangers will have more chance of immediate re-admittance to the top level of Scottish football than any re-born Hearts.
This is based on nothing more than a knowledge of human nature - Rangers, for all the mis-management of recent seasons, has always been in the tent pissing out, while under Mad Vlad and for all the diplomatic skills exhibited by reigning SFA president Campbell Ogilvie during his time as a Hearts administrator, Hearts have increasingly been seen as being out of the tent, pissing in.
[Just a thought here - Campbell Ogilvie was at Rangers when the seeds of the current problems were sown; he then went to Hearts and things also went pear-shaped; he is now Hampden Honcho - I see a pattern emerging, should we be worrying?
I ask this since Scotland's international independence is in danger from the Olympic football mess. Might we all have to vote for independence to save the fitba team in 2014?]
Right, back on-message. For all their arrogance and dominance over so-many years, Rangers have always been seen as a Scottish institution, albeit one with strong Unionist leanings. Hearts, under Romanov, have been the outsiders - even more than the "Irish" club which has consistently played the outsider card for 124 years. Some within Hampden might well bend a few rules, tweak a few strings to keep some kind of Rangers presence in the SPL - they would not, I feel, be so accommodating towards Hearts.
And, chief amongst those will be Celtic - for the simple reason: for as long as the Old Firm stick together, they can bend the rest of the SPL and Scottish football to their will. SPL rules allow two clubs, if they stick together, to hold the other ten to ransom when it comes to the big decisions.
Without Rangers, Celtic would have nobody they could trust absolutely and would be vulnerable to the other ten tweaking the rules, which currently it is alleged, gives the big two too big a share of the money.
The Old Firm, because they have, for more than a century, been a football firm which sticks together in times of danger to themselves, separately or in conjunction, will act in the best interests of the Old Firm. So, if calamity hits Rangers, the men who have to rebuild will know, they have supportive friends across the city - in the boardroom if not in the cheap seats. Hearts don't have that security blanket tucked away somewhere.
Should Craig Whyte fail, and remember, while his will be the hand on the tiller - the real skipper who had steered the ship towards the rocks, got off in his life raft a year ago, somebody will come alongside and throw a tow rope - Hearts will be allowed to sink.
In reality, both clubs should be allowed to sink - but, there's more salvage value in Rangers, so look for them to be saved.
The Sellik-minded sometimes refer to Ibrox as: "the Scrapyard" - there's money in scrap, remember.
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