Spectre of Celtic and wincing at financial realities

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I winced slightly reading that Deliotte’s suggested Celtic were a ‘top 40’ club in terms of turnover.  The days we featured in their annual Top 20 report are long gone, lost in the raft of TV deals which flooded into England, France and elsewhere.

This is a problem for Celtic but at least we have a decent shot at Champions League income each year.  Others in Scottish football have been left to wither on the vine (phrase of the week), as the likes of AFC Bournemouth cherry-pick their talent.

Celtic need a solution to help them compete with their peer-group of European heavy-weights but the solution has to accommodate the other top Premiership clubs.  Dundee United have the ability to produce remarkable talent, if only they had the TV deal to allow them to retain it long enough to build a team.  The same could be said for Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Inverness and Ross County.

Scottish football would benefit enormously by federating with a neighbour.

You would think after administration and liquidation those who look to Ibrox for their football fix would, to adopt a popular phrase around those parts, have suffered enough from financial ‘ambition’.  Not a bit of it, it seems.  Not when the spectre of “being battered” by Celtic looms like an enormous green and white tidal wave.

For the last 12 years of its existence, Dave King was one of the non-executive directors of Rangers, paid to ensure that financial controls and risk management [role of non-execs defined by government 2003 Higgs Report]were in place.  I am not being glib or shameless when I say he did a remarkable job.

With Newco appearing to be in some financial distress, King told the Daily Mail he opposes planned cutbacks: ‘If we cut the club back to a level that’s just enough to win the League One or the Championship then that’s fine. But the gap between ourselves and Celtic when we get to the Premiership will be obvious.

“But I don’t feel the club should respond by cutting the costs to the point of saying ‘we only have to do what is necessary to beat East Fife or whoever.

“Because if you do that Celtic will build up to 10-in-a-row and we could be so far behind them that even when we are back in the Premiership we are  not in a position to catch up.

“We cannot risk going to Celtic Park and being battered 6-0.”

Those trying to keep Newco Rangers afloat will not welcome suggestions that current shareholders don’t have the “appetite or willingness to invest”, a few months before they will ask fans to buy season tickets.

Learn your lesson, there is no shame in losing 6-0 to Celtic, this is sport, bad results can happen, but there is enormous shame in failing to live within your means.

I’m off to contemplate 10-in-a-row for a while. To hyphenate or not?
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  1. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS .........FC not PLC on

    Mike Conroy

     

     

    Signed from Port Glasgow on the Monday.

     

     

    Played and scored in a 4-1 defeat to Hibs on the Saturday.

     

     

    We were rank that season. If you were even halfway fit,you played.

     

     

    Offski,have fun!

  2. sixoclockatthechapel

     

    23:20 on

     

    24 January, 2014

     

     

    That’ll have been the night they signed the t-shirts. November 2006.

  3. Burghbhoy

     

     

    Watched Jimmy Lumsden as a kid at Kilbowie. He was a great player. He fed Davie Cooper on the wing and Cooper worked magic.

  4. sixoclockatthechapel on

    Emusanorphan-Would guess so.They didn’t sign one for me though-perhaps they didn’t like my singing the Celtic Song as they were belting out Galway Girl!

  5. DD

     

     

    Aye , ma faither thought he was great, only lasted a few games , became a coach wi us.

     

     

    Did MacAvennie not sign Friday night and play Saturday v Hibs?

  6. JimmyQuinnsBits

     

     

    I had a listen.

     

     

    And I think that it is very good.

     

     

    I’m not a musician, but I make my living from arranging words. You’ve strung some lyrics together that will resonate with most folk, and that, as you will know, is the trick. Human empathy in music

     

     

    I think you are on to something, I really enjoyed it.

     

     

    You have my admiration and support

     

     

    TJ

  7. Cowiebhoy supporting the Celtic to 3 in a row on

    Night Bhoys and Ghirls, got Sunday to wait for

     

     

    Hail Hail

  8. TTT

     

     

    Joe did. Do you remember the Frankie and Josie show at Greenock, when they destroyed Morton together? Loved that game!

  9. BIG-CUP-WINNERS on

    Burghley

     

     

    That’d be correct about Macca.

     

    I remember being on the Downcraig CSC bus on the way back from the Dortmund on the M1 and seeing a newspaper headline that we he was signing. The Hibs game was a 1-1 draw.

  10. Night night all. Fermers never get late nights. Great night on here tonight, but missed most of it. See yawl in the mo. :-))

     

     

    Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.

  11. bognorbhoy oscar in my thoughts/ support the dam 5 on

    JimmyQuinnsBits

     

     

    Very nice and just the right time of night don’t worry about the

     

    singing it works

     

    HH

  12. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    Tommy,

     

     

    many thanks… it’s messin about, sometimes music is the only thing that keeps me going… it won’t go anywhere, but it fires me

     

     

    What do you do? With words?

  13. JimmyQuinnsbits – who says it wont go anywhere?

     

     

    Let me tell you this – your key stanza is on my fridge for my wife to wake up to.

     

     

    We’ve been chatting recently about being more present, which is completely different to living for the moment, and your lyrics encapsulate that perfectly.

     

     

    But to answer your question, I do some speech writing, I’m on my first novel, but I’ll always be a social worker, and I believe that it’s words that move people to action….

     

     

    Don’t hide your light, you never know who is listening…I was tonight.

     

     

    Take care mate….

     

     

    TJ

  14. TTT

     

     

    Blaw and wine were partaken that day. :) Remember wee Josie destroying the left back at oor end and giving Frankie a constant supply.

  15. bognorbhoy oscar in my thoughts/ support the dam 5 on

    JimmyQuinnsBits

     

    Again nice one Will follow your soundcloud

     

     

    Hail Hail

     

    Goodnight Tims

  16. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    Tommy Joad

     

    23:56 on

     

    24 January, 2014

     

     

    Tommy, appreciated

     

     

    I know what’s wrong with it, but I can’t fix it…. a metaphor for life

     

     

    I know, listening to real artists, how it is. I’m happy singing to the void ;)

  17. We are getting an invite to another league, Paul has been hinting at this for months, I have posted this before!

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