Champions Rangers - Aye Right

AYE RIGHT - the double positive, and, at the same time, just about the most-succinct West of Scotland way of being negative.

 

Aye right will be much uttered tonight, when, as we all expect, Rangers clinch the SPFL's Division One title and are officially designated the best team in the third tier of Scottish football.

 

No less an outcome has been envisaged, since, back in the Spring of 2013, they proved themselves to be the best team in the fourth tier.

 

We now await, in a little over 12 month's time, Rangers' coronation as the best team in the second tier of Scottish football. Or do we?

 

Rangers have never been burdened, like Celtic, by fans' expectations. It was enough for Ra Peepul that Rangers won - games, titles, trophies - mirroring their fans' view of the world: that they were the people and had a divine right to be the best team in Scotland, and since Scotland was the greatest country in the world, (but not great enough to leave the protection of the Crown and the British Army - say No to Independence, maintain the Union ye ken), the best team in the world.

 

Gradually, over more than 50-years of mostly failure in Europe, mirrored by the changing political and economic landscape back in Scotland, these certainties evaporated. But, up until the catastrophic effects of David Murray's manic management opened the door for the wee con man from Motherwell, there was enough success to maintain the illusion.

 

Suddenly, since the liquidation of the former corporate structure, the customers who still bought into the Rangers brand ethos have demanded new ways. The punters realised just winning the lower league titles wouldn't be enough, like their deadly rivals across the city - they wanted victory with style, a strutting panache to the performances.

 

They have been sadly let-down. Perhaps they thought, with by far the strongest squad in their league, Rangers should be winning every game at least 3-0. This hasn't happened and while, all those generations of in-breeding having kicked-in, they still celebrated winning, there has been a degree of flatness in the celebrations.

 

Now, slowly but surely, doubts are creeping in. The whisper has been growing, maybe Super Ally wasn't so super after all. The man who recruited the players, prepared them, laid down the tactics, although his team was stll winning, wasn't convincing the paying customers he could deliver the match-day emotional experience they craved - a Rangers team, winning with style.

 

And, as a new, hard-nosed Chief Executive seems finally to have gotten a grip on the profligate ways of the club, the manager's constant desire for more "better" - ie better-paid - players for the new challenges, seems to be at odds with what looks likely to be a somewhat pared-down Rangers in the second tier, the manager has come under scrutiny.

 

Just this week, the influential Graham Spiers penned a Herald article which, for the first time, opened Ally's managerial record to discussion. Of course, some of Ally's many mates in media circles will surely, in the weeks ahead, rally to his aid.

 

The spin machine will go into overdrive with positive. pro-Ally pieces. But, the fact that "Britney" has joined the likes of old Socrates here in questioning Ally's credentials, can only be bad news. Ally is about to become Aunt "Sally".

 

So-far he has been leading a full-time team, playing against part-timers. Next season, he will, if still in-situ, be pitting his side against other full-time outfits in what will be the most-scompetitive division the Scottish League has seen in the past half-century.

 

If Rangers continue to play the uninspiring, tactics by numbers, style of football which they have put on show this season - I predict disaster.

 

The off-field machinations around share ownership, corporate governance and who owns what about the club have, to a degree, kept attention away from the less-than-stellar football being offered on the park.

 

If the procession of wins dry up in the Championship, the smoke and mirrors in the Blue Room and at the top of the Marble Staircase and elsewhere will not protect the team management from what will surely be a lot more negative headlines.

 

Things are going to get even more interesting around the club.