Rangers Still Rule - Where Cash Is Concerned

AM I alone in thinking that the SPL and the anti-Rangers element within Hampden's corridors of power boobed badly in their handling of Rangersgate?

Because, from the way events have unfolded over the past six months, I reckon they boobed badly when they cast Rangers into the outer darkness of the SFL's Third Division; amidst loud and prolonged shouts of "sporting integrity" and so on.

I am not too-good at remembering the source of quotable quotes, even when I do remember the quote. In this instance the epigram which comes to mind is: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer". To the other SPL clubs, Rangers was the enemy, to some, the Great Satan. Even when financially hamstrung, badly managed and wounded and in administration, Rangers still finished second to Celtic last season. Sevco and Charles Green might have bought the husk of the once-mighty Rangers, but that "sale" might not survive the due diligence of BDO.

At the moment, regardless of Green's bluster, Rangers are still technically "in administration". Had the SPL kept them inside the tent, peeing out on the rest of Scottish football, they could have deducted points, they might have been able to place other sanctions in Rangers' way, but the other 11 clubs would have had a modicum of control over the situation.

The way they scurried to re-negotiate with Sky and ESPN, their rush to keep their grubby paws on the TV money which even a tainted Rangers "brand" accrues, demonstrates that, even in level four of the game in Scotland, Rangers are a big, dangerous and, wounded though they are, pitiless beast.

Perhaps now, some of the SPL chairmen, as they face uncomfortable interviews with their bankers, and seeing how Rangers could, at Peterhead on Saturday, prove themselves a bigger draw than most of the SPL, the chairmen realise - as Killie's Michael Johnson does - that commercial interests in football out-weigh "sporting integrity" every time.

Even in SFL3, Rangers are still very big fish.

AS FOR Rangers, hopefully Ally McCoist will call a players' meeting this week and present a reality check to his squad. Winning SFL3, far less SFL 2 and more-so SFL1 isn't going to be the cake-walk they thought it might be.

As the only full-time team in the Division, and with almost a full 11 full-internationalists to pick from, if Rangers do not win the division this season, then McCoist will deserve the sack. But, they, the players, will have to battle. They ought to have superior skills; they will have superior fitness; the question will be - do they want it more?

I have always maintained that the unique challenge which faced Celtic and Rangers teams in the old days - when domestic squads were almost always comprised of 11 Scotsmen - was that every other Scottish team they faced would contain maybe three fans of the team they were actually facing - all keen to go out and beat them; four fans of the other OF side, desperate to beat them; and four of their own fans, equally desperate to show they were a better player than the guy wearing their number in the OF side they were taking on. That was pressure.

McCoist's squad hasn't had that challenge of late, given they are more-used to taking on SPL sides containing more foreign mercenaries than home-Scots. This season, they are back to facing the traditional Scottish make-up of opposition squads: fans of the team they are facing, plus players who belong to either half of the Old Firm tribal mass. Also, the SFL3 players they will face will not be as sharp or as fit - the Rangers players better get used to being hit late in tackles. They will have to adapt.

If I was one of the Rangers coaching staff I would be working on moving the ball quickly, keeping the opposition chasing shadows, then, in the final half hour, using the Rangers' squad's superior fitness and technique to win games. They will have to play to a higher tempo than has been their want in the SPL. Only once they have exhausted their opposition's energy and enthusiasm, will they be able to show their superior skills. This season and the next tow, should they gain promotion, will not be easy.

FINALLY, I cannot help but wonder what might have become of George Burley, or Berti Vogts, had they, as Craig Levein has done this week, initially appeared to have ruled Rangers' players out of Scotland contention while the club was in disgrace, then back-tracked and called-up one of them.

For a start, I don't think Ian Black is "Rangers Class" - that is old Rangers Class - measuring his abilities as a midfield player against the likes of Jim Baxter, Graeme Souness, Ian Durrant or either of the Ferguson brothers - far less "Scotland Class". But, if he was good enough for the national squad as a Hearts player, I don't think three games at a lower level with Rangers has weakened his case for inclusion.

By the same token, Danny Fox has never, for my money, been "Celtic Class" - he didn't last long there don't forget, far-less "Scotland Class". Again, if I had to choose a left back, I'd have gone with Lee Wallace.

And, by the way - for my money, Charlie Mulgrew has, in his international appearances so far, struck me as a perfect example of the old Craig Brown trick. Whenever Bleeper faced strident calls to: "cap so-and-so", he would give the player being talked-up an international call and allow him to play himself out of the reckoning. I think Mulgrew has done that, but Levein is maybe a bit more forgiving than Brown, either that or he has yet to be convinced of Mulgrew's lack of internatinal class.