A Cause - Or A Product

WHEN, back in 1872, the "Gallant Pioneers" pulled their rowing boats out of the Clyde and decided to ditch their oars in favour of kicking a ball about for the club they called 'Rangers FC' they had I am sure, no idea what they were starting.

They sought, perhaps, a healthy, less-arduous means of burning-off their excess energy and this new-fangled association football seemed to fit their bill. Within 25 years or so this club, which was governed by its members, who all more-or-less sought the same things from their membership, had become a business - Rangers Football Club Limited - and things began to change.

The players didn't have to be admitted to membership, they didn't have a say in the governance of the club, that was now down to the businessmen who had bought shares. No longer were decisions taken by a committee, to which members had to be elected by their peers; now money talked and it was possible for people who had never kicked a ball in their lives, far less served the club, to run things. Enter professionalism, and the players became wage slaves, to be hired or fired at the whim of the board, just as happened in real life.

Just over 100 years ago, Rangers FC, the Saturday diversion from the weekday drag of earning a living, became another product. Across the city, the same thing was happening to Celtic FC - the football club which had been started for the most-altruistic of reasons, to provide meals and charity for the desperately poor, hard-pressed, mainly Catholic poor of the East End.

For more than the last century, therefore, the greater part of the existence of both clubs, those original reasons d'etre have become secondary to the pursuit of money - the trophies, the honours and successes may be the driving force for the supporters, but, to the men in power - the Bill Struths and Willie Maleys, the John Lawrences, the Whites, Kellys, Farrells and Devlins - it was mainly about money.

To give credit to Celtic, the guys who have guided that club's destiny have always been able to maintain something of the crusader's spirit - there has always been a sense of "cause" about Celtic.

Perhaps taking advantage of the politics of the time, maybe because they saw a means of making money - perhaps because somebody in a position of power at Ibrox actually believed in it - Rangers did, for some 70-years, have a cause of their own - Protestant supremacy.

Celtic have always been a "Catholic" club - but, it has never been exclusively Catholic. Stein, Gemmell, Evans, McGrain, Dalglish, Larsson, not a Catholic among them.

Rangers, when they went down the route of "Nae Papes" in the 1920s, perhaps sought to replicate the togetherness of the Celtic Family. History has to conclude, they failed. If supporting Celtic was and still is, for many, an act of faith; following Rangers was and to some still is, a far-less-honourable trait.

It is interesting to reflect on more-recent history. The Rangers NPs model began to falter under the intense pressure of Celtic's golden age under Stein. At around the same time that club fell under the "third generation" rule (1st generation makes the break-through, 2nd generation expands it, 3rd loses the fortune) - the club had flourished under John Lawrence, by the time Lawrence Marlborough, JL's grandson took charge, the drive had gone - it was ripe for take-over: enter David Murray.

When the history of the decline and fall of Rangers is written, Murray will get pelters. His management model has failed utterly, leaving chaos in its wake. But, he must, even by the Celtic Family, be given credit for ending the NP rule at Ibrox - pity about the rest.

Shortly after Murray entered the equation, Celtic too fell foul of the "third generation" rule - the Kellys then at the top were not the equal of James and Sir Robert; keeping the "four families" in situ as the Guardians of the Flame had become more-important seemingly than giving the wider Celtic Family something to be proud of.

Enter a wee Scots-Canadian in a bunnet. He took tremendous flak at the time, but he was single-minded, he did what he said on the tin and, when his time comes, if the Celtic Family does not erect a statue to Fergus McCann outside Celtic Park, then it will be a major scandal.

Fergus did his thing, turned the club around and departed, unlike Murray he chose not to out-stay his welcome.

Today, Rangers await the probably arrival of another trans-Atlantic "saviour", tow truck tycoon Bill Miller. The jury is still out on him, and will be for a wee while.

Today, the discussion threads on various newspapers are full of rampant "whitabootery" as the website warriors from both sides echange pleasantries. The big subject is the status of the "newco" Rangers which Miller is suggesting as his vehicle for clearing-up the wreckage of the Murray mis-management and the Whyte whoppers.

Whatever happens, however, IF a Rangers FC emerges from the turmoil to continue playing, it will still be Rangers FC.

Some, mostly from the Celtic Family, will insist it is not Rangers. Well, think on this - HM the Queen is the 17th monarch of the United Kingdom since 1603, she is also the 40th monarch of England since 1066 (not counting the uncrowned claimants such as Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Gray).

The monarchial timeline was broken after King Stephen (of England's) death in 1141 and again following Queen Anne's death in 1704 - then there were the various "family disputes" such as the Wars of the Roses, but, while she cannot produce a direct line of succession going right back to William the Conqueror, nobody disputes that Elizabeth Windsor is The Queen.

So, while some of the Celtic family might cast doubts about the validity, the Rangers FC which Bill Miller or whoever will (perhaps) lead into next season's SPL campaign will be Rangers.

Rolls Royce Cars began in 1904, owned by Messrs Rolls and Royce - since then the company has been - nationalised, de-nationalised and owned by Vickers and is currently owned by Volkswagen, who actually make Bentleys - Rolls Royces are made by BMW. Minis were made by BMC, then British Leyland and today by BMW. Jaguars are now made by an Indian company, rather than Sir William Lyons, who made the first Jaguars.

Aston Martin has had various owners, ditto Land Rover, and so on right across all sectors of business and commerce.

It will not matter, whether Bill Miller owns the club; if Craig Whyte, somehow emerges as the owner or if some as yet unknown Rangers fan scoops a massive Euromillions win and buys it - the Rangers brand, tainted or otherwise, will survive.

For Rangers, unlike Celtic, ceased to be a cause and became a product; and, for as long as products are competitive and someone wants to buy them and thereby keep profits accruing, that product will survive.

Celtic too will survive - since that is both a product and a cause - so we will not run out of things to write about for a long time to come.