THEY were dancing in the streets of Croy (and the other identified Celtic enclaves across Scotland) last night, when the news emerged that HMRC had finally got a "Guilty" verdict over on Rangers in The Big Tax Case.
Cue strident calls for league titles and cups won to be struck from the record, and, of course, as far as the self-confessed "Greatest Fans In The World" are concerned, these trophies and titles should now be added to their club's escutcheon.
Aye Right.
Even if the tainted trophies were to be struck from the record, given precedence in sport, there is no guarantee the record would be adjusted to show Celtic, or any other club for that matter as the new "winners".
As evidence of this, I cite the case of the lovely Sharron Davies, whose once-every-four-years appearances, pool side, in a skimpy halter-neck top, sans bra, is the only reason certain dirty old men of my generation can find for watching Olympic Games swimming.
Big Shazza has a shelf-load of silver and bronze medals from Olympic Games, World Championship and European Championship finals - in which she finished behind swimmers from the Deutsche Democratic Republic (DDR) - the former East Germany. That DDR government and sports officials, over many years indulged in systemic state-sponsored doping is beyond doubt.
Many of those individual athletes singled-out as proven dopers won gold medals, at Shazza's expense. Not a single medal has been withdrawn and given to Sharron.
Given that example, I do not see Celtic, or Aberdeen, or Hearts, or any other club which finished second in any competition to the money-doped Rangers, being retrospectively awarded the prize Rangers' cheating denied them.
Mind you, it might be worth taking a case to the International Sports Court, just to see what happened.
Also, when Rangers went down the road of Employee Benefits Trusts, they were not, as such illegal. I don't know too-much about the minutiae of the matter, but, I am led to believe Rangers' problem stemmed from the way they managed and administered the EBTs - had they made some different decisions, they might well have got away with it, even after HMRC decided they were a no-no.
And, another thing, for those Rangers people who feel their club was and still is being picked-on. Rangers were never HMRC's main target - they are after bigger corporate fish, based in the south - Rangers were the fall guys chosen to be made an example of - it was nothing personal.
Also, can I return to something I have pointed-out several times in the past. I first got to know David Murray and his way of working when he was heavily involved in the Murray International Metals basketball team.
He flung money at the club, imported American players of a standard never before seen in Scotland, his aim, to be a big name in Europe.
This proved beyond him, so, he pulled the plug on MIM, but, not before he had driven one or two smaller Scottish basketball clubs to the wall, after they over-reached themselves in trying to compete with him.
He left Scottish basketball poorer than he found it. Also, his club vanished without trace, falling even faster than it had risen.
The same might have happened to Scottish football, had Rangers not been considered too-big and too-important to be allowed to vanish.
Had Rangers been allowed to disappear, like Third Lanark, or Clydebank/Airdrieonians (delete as per prejudice), or Gretna, it might have been better for Scottish football. But, the truth is, there is too-much money tied-up in the Rangers brand, and, if Rangers went, the bigggest losers would be Celtic - that disappearance could never be allowed to happen.
That is why the Rangers Tribute Act is allowed to play. Money doesn't so-much speak as shout, and, like the "Grey £", the "Pink £" and the several other sub-species of £ sterling now identified, the "Bigotted £" is an important currency, which has to be protected.
The fall-out from this week's Appeal Court decision will not affect the RTA, they will stumble on, because, they have their own financial problems, as was seen by the announcement of their £7.5 million loss. Sorting out the fall-out from the BTC is now a matter for what remains of Murray's once-extensive business empire.
Just as well, because, as PMGB over there in Donegal keeps telling us, such is the financial hole into which the RTA, under its current chairman, the GSAL, that Liquidation 2 might be coming our way, perhaps in 2016.
At least - we have learned some new acronyms since 2010, when it all began.
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