IT IS now getting so murky in the on-going soap opera that is Rangersgate, that we will shortly have to upgrade the floodlights. This latest move, the supposed SFL document outlining the stark choices facing their clubs because of "the Rangers problem" has hardly helped shed light on what is going on.
I honestly don't know, but I do know devious deals are being concocted in back rooms at Hampden and elsewhere; and I suspect the final outcome will not be good for Scottish football.
End game, is, obviously keeping the Rangers "brand", tainted, battered, despised though that "brand" is, in the forefront of Scottish football. WHY? Even without the still-to-be-proved minor details of "the cheating years", let's be honest, do we, in 21st century Scotland, still want "Ra Peepul" swaggering through our streets, chanting their 17th century slogans in support of a club which really deserves to die, if only on the grounds of euthenasia.
I particularly liked the not-so-veiled threat in the document, which I would paraphrase as: Let Rangers into SFL 1, or we start SPL 2. OK, suppose it comes down to SPL 2.
# Will this be a 10-club or a 12-club division of the SPL?
This is crucial, since if it is to be a 12-club league, and assuming Charles Green's Rangers (CGR) is in as of right - where do we get the other 11 clubs from? Obviously, the hope is that those SPL-compliant clubs in the SFL First Division will move up: Dundee or Dunfermline (the loser in the fight to be "Club12"), Falkirk, Hamilton Accies, Livingston, Morton, Partick Thistle and Raith Rovers all meet the SPL criteria and can move up. That's 8 of the necessary 12 clubs sorted. Where do we get the other four from?
If we look in SFL Division Two, we find one club - Airdrie United, who meet the SPL's 6000-seat ground criteria, so it would appear, they are in. On then to SFL Division Three, where we find another two clubs, Clyde and Queen's Park, who have 6000 shiny seats, ready to be filled. Right, let's count again: 1 (CGR) + 7 + 1 + 2 = 11. We are still one club short.
So, SPL 2 cannot be a 12-club league, unless the SPL is willing to waive their own rules. I would suggest, having listened to their fans and kept Rangers out of the SPL - the clubs would not have the absolute gall to hurriedly re-write these same rules to let them back in, for all the gold in Sky's account.
So, it will have to be either a two division set-up of 12 + 10, or two 10-club divisions. SPL protocols would have to be met, a fresh fixture list drawn-up, all in less than four weeks - dream on.
I must admit, I am starting to have some sympathy for Charles Green. OK, he has scored a series of media own goals - but, the media's part in the whole Rangersgate saga has hardly been our finest moment. He has been guilty of a lack of clarity, of playing fast and loose with what we perceive to be the facts of some aspects of the case, he has almost certainly told a few porkies along the way.
However, his claim to the (tainted) legacy of Rangers FC may be flimsy, his motives may be subject to question, but, he's the guy in possession. He currently has the keys to Ibrox, he put his money in to the club, while good, solid "Rangers Men" stood off. IF Rangers are so-important to Scottish football, he's the guy Scottish football has to deal with.
I have been saying for weeks, this case is too-big, too-murky, there are so-many unanswered questions, too-many ifs, buts and maybes. The forces of law and order are involved; civil litigation is a certainty, criminal investigations are on-going and criminal court action seems certain to follow.
The 2012-13 Scottish season CANNOT start with any team purporting to be a continuation of Rangers FC involved. To allow CGR in is to risk the entire future of Scottish football.
By all means, if Mr Green meets the "fit and proper person" test - a test which ought to be made under stricter conditions than the nod and a wink which got Craig Whyte in, then the SFA must give his version of "Rangers" associate membership of their body. IF the Rangers "brand" is so-welcome that it has to be got back in i the guise of CGR, then promise Mr Green a place in the re-vamped unitary body which will run league football in Scotland, in 2013-14 - BUT, this is on the proviso that all the unanswered questions have been answered and that there is no legal impediment. We then have a season in which to play football, while sorting things out in a more-feasible time scale.
In the meantime, if Mr Green and his associates have to be playing football, with those players who remain from last season's Rangers; and let's be clear, he needs to find some source of income to keep things ticking over, then given SFL 3 will be one team short this season, CGR could play friendlies every week against the "idle" team. That might keep enough of "Ra Peepul" off the streets to lessen civil disorder in Scotland, and would be good for the mainly young players left.
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