Poor Rangers - Naw Poor Becks More LIke

RANGERSGATE having turned into Groundhog Day, I have nothing more to add to the ever-growing pile of manure which we hae been wading through for weeks. David Green, Craig Murray, Charles Whyte, enough tears, both real and crocodile have been shed - and many more have still to be shed. Much, much more has still to come out I feel.

So, to other matters, starting with the Team GB squads for the forth-coming London Olympics. The Women's squad has been revealed, and it includes two Scots, Kim Little and Ifeoma Dieke. Congratulations to the two girls and I actually think the Team GB women, based as they are on the England Women's side so well-coached by Hope Powell, has an outside chance of a medal; the two Scots lassies certainly add something to that mix.

That said, I have never deviated from my belief that in insisting on an all-UK selection criteria, rather than the England-only compromise worked out by the four Home Nations FAs, the BOA has done British football no favours.

The selections, with Little and Dieke in the Women's squad and - reportedly but as yet unconfirmed - Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy in the Men's squad, clearly breach FIFA statute 8, paragraph 3. I don't believe anything Sepp Blatter says, so can still see this breach of rules coming back to haunt the UK associations.

FIFA and in particular UEFA might not want to see all four FAs forcibly amalgamated into one UKFA, but, they sure as Hell want to get their hands on at least three of the four permanent UK seats on IFAB and any rule breaches they can use towards that end, they will.

The Team GB Men's squad, managed by Stuart Pearce, will be, by all accounts, the last England Under-21 squad, plus Micah Richards and the two Welsh veterans. Fair enough, that squad did well - however, while most of their contemporaries on the continent have moved-on, some, like the Germans - Ozil and Co becoming established full internationalists, most of the England squad are still struggling to get regular games in the Premiership, because of the big English clubs' need to spend big on foreign players. Also, the FA hasn't taken the Olympic Games challenge seriously; they put England's Euro 2012 campaign first for a start.

English football is, with each passing year, becoming more and more EPL-obsessed, the big clubs don't want the Olympics as a distraction, so they have never bought-into London 2012.

The last time the UK entered a team in the Olympics was in the qualifying rounds towards Munich 1972. Bill Currie of Albion Rovers was, by the way, the last Scot to play for Team GB, when he featured in the first leg of the final qualifier, against Bulgaria. Team GB won that one 1-0, but - fielding an all-English squad - lost the second leg, in Sofia, 5-0.

That 1972 campaign, like the 2012 one and all the rest, was an English-run operation. The FA has always been football's voice on the BOA. Every other sport - even curling, which is only played at two ice rinks in England - started a "British" governing body to run the Olympic Games teams. The SFA has never bought-into the Olympics, it was always left to Queen's Park to liase with the AFA, the SFA "blazers" have never held Olympian ideals - maybe if they had, they wouldn't be sitting on so-many unsold tickets for the games at Hampden.

The 2012 Men's team has been ill-prepared and badly organised. That 1972 squad played TEN warm-up games prior to the Bulgarian double-header. (Sporting trivia piece here - a certain Martin O'Neill, then an 18-year-old, won his first Northern Ireland amateur cap in one of the ten warm-up games). The 2012 squad will play ONE game, in Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium, just before the Games. realistically, they have little chance of medalling, and when they don't, the wrath of all England will descend on poor old Psycho. Why - well he boobed badly, didn't he - HE LEFT OUT BECKHAM.

How could he, didn't he realise the London Olympics were being organised purely to suit Brand Beckham - the fool (Pearce - Beckham's foolishness has long since been established).

The Daily Telegraph's website, that forum of all things middle English, has seen over 600 postings on Beckham's absence, since it leaked out this week. Only one has mentioned the lack of preparation, the harum-scarum way it has all been (dis)organised - the rest are either for or against Beckham.

And you thought Rangersgate was the only show in town?

Scotland and England, two neighbouring nations, separated by radically different views on football.

Rules Are Meant To Be Broken - But - There Are Limits

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.

Clan Rangers - the 21st Century McGregors

THIS is my 300th post. When I started this blog it was simply on the basis that, I felt I had some worthwhile thoughts to put forward on the state of Scottish football. I have seen plenty after all; my first visit to Hampden for a national cup final was in 1956, my first action with the Tartan Army was a year later. I have seen the likes of George Young, Eric Caldow, Jim Baxter, Denis Law, the Lisbon Lions, Billy Bremner, Jardine and McGrain, Graeme Souness etc play for Scotland; Tom Finney, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Kevin Keegan, Paul Gascoigne for England; George Best, John Charles, Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Maradona, de Stefano, Puskas, Zidane strut their stuff. I have had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing quite a few of these legends - I think I have some knowledge which I can contribute to man's appreciation of the place football holds in this nation.

But, as I pen this 300th post - I am depressed; that depression is down to a single thing, the seemingly endless saga of Rangersgate. What are we going to do with a constituency which, even though it has no clear leader, no definite structure and no apparent goal (other than to continue to believe that We Are The People) we must call Clan Rangers.

When the 18th century powers-that-be got on the case of Rob Roy, the McGregor name was banned. The 21st century powers-that-be are on the Rangers case, but the name isn't banned and those red white and blue symbols, not to mention the tartan can still be seen. Indeed, later this morning Charles Green, the man who would be clan chief and his estate factor - known to all as "Ally" will be eagerly waiting to see how many loyal clansmen and contracted mercenaries turn up at Castle Murray, to prepare for the new season of looting and pillaging.

Except, the ptb, "the blazers" across at Castle Hampden and their allies, "the wigs" from their fortress in Parliament House in Edinburgh are insisting that Clan Rangers has died and that the mercenaries are free to sell their skills elsewhere.

Clan Rangers don't have anywhere to play in the new season, they certainly cannot loot and pillage in the lands of the SPL - where there is a belief that over the past decade and a half, Clan Rangers have been breaking the ancient rules. This belief remains unproven, but in any case, they have failed, over the past year and more, to pay their due taxes to the Queen and that, for a clan which places great store on its loyalty to the crown, is beyond the pale.

It is a mess. At least, the wigs are moving - Lord Hodge having asked the court-appointed estate managers, Duff & Phelps to clear-up one or two points, whilst even more powerful bailiffs, BDO, are waiting in the wings to go in and clarify other matters.

Sadly, the blazers at Castle Hampden are apparently running around like headless chickens. They seem to be relishing this rare opportunity to give the previously all-powerful Clan Rangers a right good kicking; but, not so bad a kicking that they kill them all together. Rules are being flouted and bent, alliances formed, revenge being plotted, but, at the end of the day, for all the ills Clan Rangers have brought down on the other clans over the past 120-odd years, the blazers seem to find comfort in having them around.

This is not a good scenario. Yes, Scottish football requires re-shaping; for sure the lesser clans of the Highland, East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, not forgetting the underclass of that fierce clan known as the SJFA deserve a chance to play in the big leagues. Did not the former High Heid Yin, one-time First Meenister Henry McLeish demand changes to bring this about. The blazers were stalling on that one, until Clan Rangers went wrong and kind of forced their hand.

But, to try to re-shape it during July, so the new, flatter playing field can be opened in early August, is impossible. The various sub-sects of each of the big clans: the SPL and SFL have to meet and agree to the changes; ditto the lesser clans, while God help anyone trying to get the underclass of the SJFA to agree on anything. Change will take longer than the four or five weeks available.

It is surely time for the blazers to pronounce, Clan Rangers are banned for at least one season, while we sort-out the mess their collapse has precipitated. Then, while the Clan Rangers followers will doubtless march around, as is their want, banging their drums, tooting their flutes, parading their colours and declaring: "We Are Still The People", there is a good chance that, long before the end of the year, the wigs have done their work, the Polis have laid their charges and we await due process.

By then, I have no doubt, factor Ally, his worn and wrinkled old retainer Scrotum Jardine and the like will still be around - I have a feeling Charles Green will have retreated, bloodied, to his Yorkshire home.

At this moment in time - we need leadership from Hampden. However, I am not holding my breath. 

Sporting Integrity - Good : But What Happens Now?

WELL, I could see it coming, but I didn't think it would get here as quickly as it did, I refer to yesterday's train of thought among the movers and shakers of the SPL, that: "Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab, those turkeys who turn up every week to watch the pish we put on the park are serious - if we don't kick Rangers oot, they'll stoap comin".

That said, the outbreak of "sporting integrity" has to be welcomed. The alleged major crimes - the legality or otherwise of EBTs, the double contract allegations remain, at present simply allegations, and of course, lest we forget, are nothing to do with the New Rangers, as controlled by Charles Green. These alleged crimes were committed by David Murray's Rangers; Craig Whyte's Rangers allegedly committed other crimes and it was encouraging yesterday also to learn the Crown Office has instructed Strathclyde Police to look into certain matters pertaining to the switch from DMR to CWR. I am sure there are lawyers in Edinburgh and Glasgow licking their lips at the prospect of the fees heading their way.

But - where do we go from here? For a start, we are apparently heading for a major overhaul to the basic building blocks of Scottish Football. The SFA will hope to take-over both the SPL and SFL and integrate the three separate bodies into one Scottish Professional Football League - shouldn't be too-difficult. The SRU has managed to run the game and a league programme for the past 40 years and given the kicks to the head which some SRU "alickadoos" of my acquaintance have suffered - and yes, I handed out my share as a player - and took one or two - if they can do it, why not the SFA.

However, as I have cautioned before, trying to turn SPL and SFL into SPFL and at the same time bring things closer to the overall SFA - whose remit goes beyond merely the senior league game, isn't a week-end's DIY. If they get it wrong, Nick Knowles and his team will not ride to the rescue for a televised special and to rush into change into the back of: at best managerial incompetence, at worst, outright criminality around your biggest club, is asking for trouble.

I still say, Charles Green's Rangers (henceforth known as CGR) should be taken out of the equation; by all means grant that club membership of the SFA, but don't have them playing until all the unanswered questions as regards the administration process and the liquidation process have been answered.

Suppose, for instance, the Polis discover that the sale of DMR to CWR was, in fact illegal. Might they then charge Duff & Phelps with reset for selling-on the assets and the "goodwill" (I know, there hasn't been much goodwill shown) to CGR?

To avert chaos, CGR CANNOT be allowed to play in senior Scottish football in season 2012-13.

What then? Naismith, Whittaker, Aluko and McCabe have joined Wylde and Cellik in walking away. I suspect, since he gets a game there, Fleck will happily stay at Blackpool; McGregor, Davis, Wallace, Goian and the Americans, as current international players, simply cannot afford to transfer to CGR and play in even SFL1. Even Kirk Broadfoot, that alleged untalented clogger, is an SPL-standard player; Sasa Papac has also gone - that's an entire first team who have or will depart.

The SFA, however, has a duty of care to those who are left, the kids, or, as one esteemed posted on the Scotsman's Rumour Mill dubbed them: 'The Apprentice Boys' - what of them. What too of the "Rangers Family", that army of fans who put so much money into the coffers of Scottish football, by their readiness to follow-follow?

Many of these fans might still be replaying fixtures from the 1689-90 season, but, they turn-out, more-often and in greater numbers than any other away support in Scotland - do they simply have to find somewhere else to go on a Saturday?

CGR is not DMR, it isn't even Bill Struth's Rangers, but, like that loyalty which keeps young men from different parts of Scotland joining different batallions of what the British Army and the politicians insist is "the Royal Regiment of Scotland" - maybe so, but to the recruits, following in the footsteps of their fathers, who fought in the Falklands, their grandfathers who fought in Korea, Cyprus and Malaya, their great-grandfathers who fought in World War II and their great-great-grandfathers, who suffered and died in the trenches of the Somme an at Loos, today's kids are not joining 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Scots. They are joining the Royal Scots, the KOSB, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, Highland Light Infantry, the Black Watch, the Highlanders (Camerons, Gordons, Seaforth, Argyll and Sutherland): they are going into the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards or the Scots Guards. The uniforms might change, the banners will be renewed, the names will change - but the thread remains unbroken.

For as long as CGR play in light blue, out of Ibrox, they will be simply "Rangers" - the fans of the other clubs might howl: "Rangers are deid" - they might as well howl at the moon, "Ra Peepul" will never admit that their club has died.

So, Scottish football has to find a way of keeping "Ra Peepul" on-side, with the minimum of disruption. How?

With the big-name players, other than Lee McCulloch, going, it is doubtful if the ABs could be competitive in SFL1; but, in any case, as things stand, CGR does not meet the criteria for membership of the SFL as a whole.

Why not therefore, allow CGR to play in the juniors for a season, pending the re-organisation of the senior game?

Of course, IF enough of "Ra Peepul" decided to exercise their right to follow-follow, this could pose problems for the junior clubs CGR visited - but I would suggest,no greater problems than they would pose if visiting some of the smaller "senior" grounds. However, a season in the juniors, with the guarantee of a place in the re-structured SPFL in 2013-14 would do the ABs (the players) the world of good and would in some ways protect the fiscal value of even a discredited "Rangers" brand.

I admit, there are potential problems about this, but, before you dismiss my plan out of hand - come up with something better.

Rangera Are Deid, England Are Out - We Can Come Out Now

I HAD intended, this morning, to ignore Rangers; but, needs must: Will the last person to leave Ibrox and Murray Park please put out the lights and make certain the padlocks are properly secured.

NOW, to England. Like most Scots when a major football competition finals come around, I have a spectating position - on the outside, looking in - and a default supporter's position of ABE, Anyone But England. This was the position when Euro 2012 kicked off.

However, notwithstanding the inane jingoism which I knew we would have to endure from the English-based TV stations, and in particular the excrutiating agony of watching and listening to Messrs Lineker and Tyldesley, I was prepared to give England a chance. I sensed, this time, there was a new realism abroad. The English Barmy Army might not have totally copied the Tartan Army's stance of: We're shite, we know we are, but we're going for the party any way - but there were elements of: we're not as good as we think we are, it will all end in tears, but, we're going for the party any way.

And thus it transpired. Yes, the wilder elements in their media did get a wee bit carried away before the quarter-final; not that they suddenly thought England were any good, more they realised Italy wasn't as good as the usual Italy and might get caught on a bad night. There was a realism - if we do get lucky against Italy, we'll still get gubbed by the Germans.

As it happened, England did get lucky against Italy. On another night it could have been 5-0, or 6-0. They had one real chance - that Johnson scooped shot which Luigi Buffon parried and caught before it hit the ground - just the kind of save he's been making for years. I know, from long experience: when a team has the dominance in possession and chances which Italy had, and doesn't make it count, they sometimes get hit with a sucker punch. But, in this case, England had no punch. That save, mentioned above, was the only one Buffon was called upon to make - until Ashley Cole's woefully mis-hit penalty.

So, England are out - and my first thought takes me back to the legendary quote from the senior SFA figure following out 0-7 hammering from Uruguay in the 1954 World Cup finals: "Ach, once we get back to playing England, the fans will forget all about this one".

The 21st century English version is: "OK old boy, once we get back to the Premiership, the great unwashed will forget all about this".

England sees itself as  the best club in the world: what's that quote, Cecil Rhodes wasn't it: "To be born English is to hold a winning ticket in the lottery of life". To bring it closer to home and paraphrase: "English - We Are The People".

Well, Rhodes is deid, Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe - a basket case amongst basket cases - and as for We Are The People: see the line above.

England, against Italy, were totally out-played, tactically and technically, the only place they were better than the Italians was in the conversion rate from chances - England took 0 chances from the 1 they created, Italy took 0 chances from the 16 or so they created. But, the English press will still try to tell you the Premiership and therefore English football, is the best league in the world. Ayr right.

At least, they qualified - we didn't.

The UK gave football to the world. The English wrote down and organised the laws, Charles Allcock invented international football; the Scots invented the passing game, we were behind the first leagues, we were the first professionals, the first coaches. Then our two nations sat back and let the world over-take us.

England will learn nothing from their defeat in Kiev; they will soldier-on as they always have. We in Scotland have a chance to do something. The closest thing we have to an English club, in playing method and mentality has gone; right now, the SFA and the leagues are doing Corporal Jones impressions - running around in panic, shouting: "Don't panic". We can hopefully emerge with a newer, more-streamlined set-up for our professional game. We just might re-discover our faith in our own players. We could decide to put in place a proper grass-roots development scheme. We might, after so-many years of getting it wrong, get it right.

I live in hope, but, I am not holding my breath.

Apres Moi - Le Deluge

MAY you live in interesting times, we are told, is an ancient Chinese curse. Well, we who follow Scottish football are certainly living in interesting times this 2012 close season. It is now all but certain that for the first time in the history of league play in Scotland, the new season will kick-off without a team called 'Rangers' in the top flight. In fact, all the indications are that the name 'Rangers' is about to be consigned to the history books.

A perfect storm of set-backs - long-term mis-management - both financial and in terms of player recruitment and deployment, blatant asset-stripping, tax evasion, non-payment of VAT, non-compliance with football's protocols, not forgetting hubris, has brought Scotland's establishment club face-to-face with their nemesis: HMRC and the forces of the law.

The club, conceived by four oarsmen from the Vale of Leven in 1872, is in the final stages of administration and will shortly (once the paper-work is completed) be liquidated. There is a belief that Charles Green - the last man standing who is making any effort to preserve the club's long heritage - MIGHT be able to keep the name 'Rangers' going; however, there is an equally-strong belief that, sooner or later, 'Rangers' will pass into history.

The hubris of the club's management, some players and the majority of the fans has finally pissed-off the rest of Scottish football to the extent that if the expected death is announced soon, nobody will play Marc Anthony and read the eulegy, while the dance on their grave will be all-ticket.

The fact it is a secret ballot might, in the short-term, save any SPL club which votes to allow Green's version of 'Rangers' to become 'Club 12' and play in that competition next season; but, Scottish football is a large village - the gossips will have their day and it will all come out, perhaps slightly distorted, in the wash.

Plan B - to quietly by-pass all the known protocols and rules and slip 'Rangers' into the SFL's First Division is also meeting opposition, while the reported defections from those players whose contract with Rangers FC (i.a.)  are still valid, means that even that division might be a level too-high for the young players who will be left, once the "name" players have triggered the early-release clauses they had written into their contracts when they negotiated a wage cut in the early days of administration.

It is interesting, by the way, to find young Rhys McCabe, who made a good impression when suddenly thrust into the first team last season, is reportedly wishing to leave. John Fleck, happy to go out on-loan and reportedly happy to remain at Blackpool, Gordon Wylde - walked away, now McCabe walking away. The common thread is, these are ambitious young players who have done well in the Rangers first team, but have been under-used by Walter Smith and Ally McCoist. Am I alone in thinking, the kids don't see themselves being given a chance at the club, even when finances might dictate they are the sensible indeed only alternative to buying-in proven mature talent.

If Scottish football rules were being applied, by the book, then, at best - and it isn't clear if Green's 'Rangers'actually meet them - his 'Rangers' SHOULD start life in the Third Division of the SFL.

So, we can assume that 'Rangers' are indeed, a special case. The authorities therefore ought to either declare that 'Rangers' are just that, or apply their rules strictly, in which case - 'Rangers' are dead.

The current back-lash of fans other than Rangers fans, against the various fudges being proposed, seems to indicate that, yes ideed folks - Rangers are dead.

Le Roi est mort - vive le Roi, therefore.

And that brings another interesting little problem - for Celtic. All these years of claiming to be the outsiders, the Rebels, the one club standing firm against Rangers - the establishment club. What happens now that, with Rangers' death, Celtic have become the establishment club? How will the Celtic Family cope?

One aspect of their life in the football year 1AR (after Rangers) will be no different. Celtic were and are as hated and despised elsewhere in Scotland than Rangers were. To be fair too, Rangers always seemed to consider themselves "above" the petty play-ground squabbling of Scottish football. Celtic FC has always played its part in the management of the game up here. Sir Bob Kelly was a major player in the SFA and SFL, as were the likes of Desmond White and Jack McGinn in the past and as are Peter Lawwell and Eric Riley today. Celtic FC has never been particularly bothered about the opinions of the fans on the terraces, but they have built and maintained friendships and alliances in the boardrooms of Scotland and in Hampden's corridors of powers.

Celtic have to say, clearly: "the Old Firm is dead, and if we have been guilty by association of the crimes alleged to have been committed by 'the Old Firm', then we are sorry". They could start by agreeing to the end of the 11-1 voting rules in the SPL and should voluntarily concede the need for a flatter financial playing field - they will still be the richest club.

But, I would like to see Celtic playing a part in re-drawing the football map of Scotland. We have too-many clubs. We have too-many league divisions in the senior game. We MUST have a properly-constituted pyramid system in place. We must have improved grass roots football and systems to bring through more, better-prepared kids. (Celtic's initiative with St Ninian's HS in Kirkintilloch is a breath of fresh air, not every team could afford a similar scheme, but it is a prototype for the way forward).

A single governing body, one 20-team national league (perhaps divided into two American-style "conferences"), under-pinned by regional leagues, is, I feel, the way forward. We can argue long and loud about the small print - but get this basic formation in place first.We don't have a lot of time.

Man The Lifeboats

I HAVE used this example before, and will doubtless return to it again, but, I feel it is worth repeating as Rangersgate refuses to close, but bangs back and forward in the wind of claim and counter-claim. Accidents almost never occur because of one single event, rather a series of seemingly unrelated incidents come together in sequence to cause the final catastrophe. The best-known example is perhaps the way in which the peripheral events around the simple fact that an ocean-going liner hit a floating "growler" iceberg, led to the cataclysmic Titanic Disaster.

One-hundred years on, Rangers FC is the "Titanic" - and I am prepared to bet, even now as the stern of that great institution rears up out of the choppy waters, about to dive to the ocean bed of history, a century hence our great-grand-children will still be talking about it, in fact, there may even be movies about it.

I can only echo the sentiments of my fellow blogger rangerstaxcase, whoever he or she may be, who wrote about a month ago along the lines of a script outlining Rangersgate would probably have been flung back as "too far-fetched" by every Hollywood studio mogul who read it.

I can think of one immediate reason for this, right now, the entire story lacks the most-essential ingredient, we are holding-out for a hero. If you are a member of the Rangers "family", you are waiting for the true Blue Knight, mounted on his white horse to ride to the rescue. That said, the Rangers "family" come across in a very bad light compared even to the Krays - there has been more in-fighting than fighting for the common cause of Rangers' survival; it's as if the Montagues had said: "stuff the Capulets" and set about killing-off each other, ditto Capulets, Hatfields or McCoys - any of the great feuding families of history. (And that's another aside - Chico, Jabba, "off the radar" Jackson, Kings Darrell and Iain and the rest of us in and outwith the SWFA have hardly threatened Shakespeare with our coverage of events).

Let's look at the lengthy cast of villains. We have to start with Bill Struth, perhaps wrongly, I admit, but I keep coming back to him as the guy who came-up with the notion to so-closely identify the club with the Orange Order and protestant supremacy. It perhaps made sense, given the influx of Ulster Protestants to the West of Scotland after World War I, to pander to their liking for Rangers, as the club best able to put the Roman Catholic club Celtic in their place, but, more than half a century down the line, in a changing, more-inclusive Scotland - that move came back to haunt Rangers with a vengeance.

Then there was Struth's arrogance, which passed-on to his successors. Celtic and Rangers have bestrode the football landscape in the same way as Conservative and Labour have the political landscape; but, just as the Tories are perceived as the "nasty" party, Rangers have been the "nasty" football team - they have more enemies than friends. Look, for instance at the fact that until Campbell Ogilvie, who had long since left Rangers, got the job - no "Rangers man" has been SFA president since Victoria sat on the throne.

David Murray may have ended the club's ultra-protestant recruitment stance, for which act he deserves praise, but, almost 25-years on, Rangers are still "Protestant", while Celtic, who have never had a single-religion recruitment stance, are still, 124 years on from their formation, seen as "Catholic". Maybe that's just another example of the bi-polar tendancies of Scottish society, however.

Then there is Craig Whyte - we may never know where he fits into the story. There is no rationale for his involvement, perhaps he was indeed a "chancer" who saw the opportunity for a fast buck, but soon learned he was out of his depth.

Add the many "directors" - I would far-rather call them "yes-men" who were involved during the Murray years: Dave King, John McClelland, John Greig, Paul Murray, Alastair Johnson, Martin Bain, Campbell Ogilvie, Walter Smith and so on. They were happy to ride on David Murray's coat tails as he spent £10 for every £5 Celtic spent. They gratefully accepted the offer of an EBT, they enjoyed the champagne celebrations.

Rangers were posting losses for years: did none of them have the balls to say: "Excuse me David, but is this business model sustainable? What are we going to do about curbing the losses and getting into profit? Where is the growth coming from?"

Far less: "Are you sure this EBT malarky is legal, have you fully checked it out? Whose idea was it? Do they know their stuff?"

Did none of them ask: "How come, when we make a share flotation,our "loyal" support will not buy-into it?"

On the football side, did nobody ask the various managers: "Why, if we never give them a chance, do we have so-many young players on our books? Why are we paying top dollar for inferior foreign players? How is it, we are dominating in Scotland but can barely win in Europe? How come we produce so many Under-21 internationalists, but so few of them ever get a chance in the first team? Is this the best use of our football budget?"

Portsmouth are in administration, owing even more money than Rangers would, even with the Big Tax Case decided in HMRC's favour. That club owes the tax man alone some £175 million; there is a creditor's meeting at Fratton Park on Monday, at which a CVA paying £0.2p in the £. This is less than the Rangers deal knocked back by HMRC earlier this month, but, as yet, there are no indications that HMRC are going to knock-back the Portsmouth deal as they did the Rangers one. Why has nobody connected with Rangers picked-up on this?

The administrators from Duff & Phelps have to be added to the list of villains. From the word go, the fact Craig Whyte was so-keen to have them appointed, cast doubts as to their integrity and competence. Nothing they have done since has alleviated these fears, now Lord Hodge's intervention on the matter of a possible conflict of interest is grist to the mill of those who have harboured doubts.

Then there is Charles Green. He may well be another Craig Whyte, with a better spiel than Whyte - he may, on the other hand, have a viable plan, we don't know. But, thus far, he hasn't cut the mustard.

Come on down: the "blazers" inside Hampden, regardless of whether they wear the insignia of the SFA, SPL or SFL. They are, at the very least, guilty by virtue of doing next to nothing. Their lack of leadership has been appalling. They have failed to exercise their duty of care for the good name of Scottish football. As the Rangers family have said - they weren't around to offer help and guidance when the whole thing blew up and, with the clock ticking on the new season, it seems to me their approach is - do nothing and hope it all goes away.

Finally, we have the Rangers fans, and in particular those well-heeled individuals who inhabit the corporate seats, or who have spent large for Ibrox debentures, shares and season tickets. The fans of smaller clubs, seeing these clubs post losses, down-size and try everything to avert the problems of the general downturn in the economy have mobilised: fans buy-outs are being arranged at Motherwell and St Mirren, many smaller clubs are effective fans co-operatives, even Celtic, under Fergus McCann, broadened their share-holding, greatly expanded their season ticket base and got the Celtic family more-involved than was ever dreamed possible during the long reign of the "Four Families".

But at Ibrox, nothing - "We Are The People", "Scotland's Greatest Sporting Institution", "Simply The Best", "No one Likes Us We Don't Care", these were the sound track to the Murray Years.

They revelled in the good times, nine-in-a-row, the UEFA Cup run. But, when things got bad: "Boo-hoo, nobody will help us; we're the victims now: it's a conspiracy against us".

Well, hell mend ye, you brought it largely on yourselves and, when your club really needed you - you failed it.

Rangers are at Death's Door, the life-support mechanism will shortly be switched off. It is difficult to see how any team named "Rangers" can play in Scottish football next season. I fear the club is now further down the exit slip road than Lazarus was. I can see no way back.

Now is the time for the true Rangers fans to get together and do something. They may be able to do no more than start a new team called FC Rangers of Glasgow and build their own history. They could be seen as something other than: "A permanent embarrassment and occasional disgrace".

After all, if four oarsmen from the Vale of Leven, a bunch of previously disunited Manchester United fans and some Wimbledon fans who didn't fancy Milton Keynes - and fair play to them for that, can do it - What is to stop Rapeepul?

Go on guys - you could be heroes, for more than one day.