I HAVE WRITTEN this before; I will surely write it again. The top tier in Scottish Football is a classic example of madness being a case of doing the same thing again, in the hope of a different outcome.
Case One – Rangers: Here we are, one week into the new regime and it's a case of same-old, same-old; as the new Head Coach, untried in the unique surroundings of the Scottish Professional Football League, backed by a club management structure manned by people, few of whom have Scottish accents, making the same mistakes as the last several managers.
Real Rangers (1872-1986) employed their first Manager, William Wilton, in 1899. Excluding temporary “Caretaker Managers” he was in turn followed by: Bill Struth, Scot Symon, David White, Willie Waddell, Jock Wallace and John Greig. These seven men won 69 domestic and one European trophy – an average of 10 trophies per manager.
In all they sent out 3564 teams, winning 2260 or 63.73% of the games played.
Big Money Rangers (1986-2012) employed (again excluding caretakers) 5 managers in those 26 years.
These gaffers have sent out 1342 teams, winning 869 or 64.75% of the games played.
Sevco (2012-2025) has employed (again excluding caretakers) 7 Managers in 13 years. These men have sent out 666 teams, winning 432 or 64.86% of these games. These figures are somewhat skewed however, by the seasons spent gatting back to the top flight in Scotland, following liquidation and demotion to League Two, in 2012. The Sevco years have yielded a mere 3 major domestic trophies.
Ally McCoist, Manager during most of the march back, is, statistically (to use an American expression) “Rangers' winningest Manager” with a record of winning 72.46% of the games in which he was in-charge. The club's least successful Manager was another Club Legend – John Greig – who only won 52.08% of his matches as Manager.
What we can read into these figures is, it doesn't appear to matter who is Manager of Rangers, they still win roughly the same percentage of games per season, so, perhaps all those changes of Manager, all that signing of new players and changes of personnel are simply a waste of time and money, in a desperate effort to placate an implacable supporter base who will never be satisfied. Managerial Madness writ large, because, down Edmiston Drive, the more things change, the more they apparently stay the same.
This being a Scottish Fitba blog – we must have balance, so, let's take a look at the other end of the Dear Green Place – along London Road.
Original Celtic – the Four Families Years: From 1888 until 1994, “The Celtic Family” was effectively in the control of “The Four Families” - the Kellys, Grants, McGinns and Whites. They ran things their way and were, particularly when Sir Bob Kelly had, to use a phrase common in Irish muck-shifting circles: “da full shout”, dictatorial in how they oversaw the club. For over 40 years Willie Maley was Manager, to be followed – during World War II – by Jimmy McStay. Because he was only Manager during WWII, his statistics are excluded here.
McStay was succeeded by Jimmy McGrory, widely regarded at the time as the club's greatest-ever player. He was in turn succeeded by former Captain Jock Stein, who was in turn succeeded by Celtic's greatest-ever Captain, Billy McNeill, before, David Hay, Liam Brady and Lou Macari moved into the hot seat.
The Families failed to move with the times and, with Celtic on the verge of bankruptcy, a group of “Rebels” - led by Fergus McCann – stepped-in to rescue the club.
During the reign of the Four Families, Celtic's seven full-time Managers presided over the capture of 70 trophies, accrued over 3986 games, a winning percentage of 61.47%. In compiling these statistics I have included the single season when, while Stein recovered from his injuries in a serious car crash, Assistant Manager Sean Fallon was in-charge, in Stein's figures.
Under the Four Families, even allowing for single tournament successes such as the club's wins in the likes of The Empire Exhibition, St Mungo's Cup and Coronation Cup tournaments, “Hampden in the sun” in 1957 and that magnificent European Cup win a decade later, in the perennial game of “Scottish Fitba Whitabootery” Celtic were always playing catch-up against Rangers.
Then, along came McCann to usher in The Rebel Years (1994-2025). Under McCann and more-so since Dermot Desmond bought the club and installed Peter Lawwell as Chief Executive, Celtic have overtaken Rangers and left them trailing in their wake.
Since 1994, the club has had 11 full-time managers, guiding the team through 1644 games, of which 1114 have been won – a winning percentage of 67.76%. These 11 Managers have accrued 47 trophies and turned around the long-accepted pecking order in Scottish Football.
Celtic's least successful full-time Manager was Lou Macari, the last manager to be appointed by the Families. Three subsequent Gaffers: Martin O'Neill, Ange Postecoglu and Neil Lennon are, in that descending order, the club's statistically most-successful bosses, all with a winning percentage of over 70% - that's how much things have changed since the guys running Celtic stopped repeating past mistakes.
Real Rangers and Family-Owned Celtic each had huge supports, they attracted the best Scottish players and they dominated Scottish Football. Then, things changed and money talked.
Rangers talked loudest: “For every pound they spend, we will spend ten” David Murray boasted, and, for a time it worked. But, he lost the trust of the Edinburgh money men as the financial world changed. The subsequent high heid yins at Ibrox didn't appear to learn from Murray's mistake, while across the city, Peter Lawwell came up with an alternative management strategy.
Now, the pendulum of football power has swung in Celtic's direction, and it is Rangers, under another new ownership, playing catch-up. Once again, the new high heid yins are splashing the cash on non-Scots we have never heard of.
Are they bound to suffer from the Managerial Madness which has bedevilled the club for the last decade and longer – or might they be willing to try something new? It will be interesting to see how things unfold, but, the early signs are uncertain. Truly, we are living in interesting times.
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