WHEN The ‘Rangers’ lost to Stirling Albion in 2012 in the fourth tier of Scottish football the Stirling Albion fans had a brilliant banner. It said, referring to the new club’s claim to have 140 years of unbroken history, MORE LIKE 140 DAYS.
The continuity myth was by the winter or 2102 well underway and the liquidation deniers in the Ibrox support were more than happy to swallow it all just as Charles Green was posting out his share issue prospectuses. How did that end up for the Bears?
The myth was no more than an attempt to rally support for the self-fooling notion that upon liquidation Rangers survived. There is no corporate, legal or ethical reasoning for such a claim. Charles Green, with his share issue on the table, was happy to let the Bears believe this fantasy and the MSM by this stage was less keen to point out the uncomfortable facts. And that the Stirling banner – more like 140 days – was just brilliant!
How easily the Ibrox support were prepared to airbrush out all that had happened, all they had read and heard from the media and from their former legends at their fallen football club.
We’re thinking about stuff like this…
“140 years of history is formally ended” The Herald.
“As a result of appalling mismanagement, Rangers fans “no longer boast an unbroken line to the past…The emotional ties will remain forever but historical strings are severed. ” Daily Record.
“The current worst-case scenario has Rangers being liquidated and a new club rising from the ashes but being made to start anew from the fourth tier of Scottish football.” The Observer.
“Rangers will exit either through an agreement with their creditors – a Company Voluntary Arrangement – or by liquidation. The latter represents a break with 140 years of history” Richard Wilson, Evening Times.
“It’s more than two weeks since owner Craig Whyte plunged Rangers into administration — putting 140 years of history and tradition at risk” Andy Devlin, The Sun.
“Last night Group 9 Sports released a statement on their website indicating that, if successful, they’d aim to emerge from administration by setting up Rangers as a new company. Kennedy will not stand back and allow the club’s 140 years of history to be wiped out. And he insisted any such move could put Rangers out of existence completely.” Keith Jackson, Daily Record.
“Administrators Duff and Phelps raised the possibility over the weekend of the current club being liquidated, meaning a new club could be formed to inherit Rangers’ assets” STV News.
Ally McCoist will accept the end of 140 years of unbroken existence for Rangers, providing a new version of one of the world’s most famous clubs emerges in strength.” Roddy Forsyth, Daily Telegraph.
“Liquidation is no good for Rangers. It will end 140 years of history.” Sky Sports.
“Some Rangers fans believe the club’s history, which would end with liquidation, must be protected but there is a shameful part of that history which they should want to forget and any newco should make it clear a new beginning means exactly that. A new club open to all from the very beginning.” Jim Traynor, Daily Record.
“A new club would be banned from Europe for three years and the Scottish Premier League clubs are meeting today to discuss points and financial penalties for such a club”. Daily Record.
“Brian Kennedy and his Blue Knights have gone on the offensive and claimed their crusade to save Rangers is the only one on the table that will guarantee to safeguard 140 years of history AND AVOID LIQUIDATION.” Scott Burns, Daily Express.
“Without Rangers the league would be knackered. I know a lot of supporters are saying they should be liquidated and come back as a new club in division three.” Stuart McCall in The Sun.
“Charles Green attended the SPL meeting and has a £5.5m deal in place to form a new club should the CVA fail.” David Friel, The Sun.
“The liquidator overseeing the current club’s extinction”…“Whether Rangers, as a new club formed by Green, are accepted into the SPL, and on what terms, is to be determined by the clubs.” David Conn, The Guardian.
“Rangers in crisis: the final whistle sounds on Rangers’ 140 years of history” Daily Telegraph.
“The formation of Rangers in March 1872 was a walk in the park – its death in June 2012 a shambolic slide into the abyss…However, as a result of appalling mismanagement they no longer boast an unbroken line to the past. The emotional ties will remain forever but historical strings are severed. In time, they may weave a new history that might start with the Third Division title in 2013.” Gary Ralston, Daily Record.
“The really sickening thing about all of this is it was avoidable. All it would have taken for that was for someone to be honest. Pay your dues; give the taxman what he is owed. Instead Rangers have died.” Richard Gough in The Sun.
“They’ll slip into liquidation within the next couple of weeks with a new company emerging but 140 years of history, triumph and tears, will have ended. No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out Rangers, as we know them died. They were closed and a newco must start from scratch.” Jim Traynor, Daily Record.
“…the reality is that in technical terms, the doors are closed on the history of Rangers…There will be plenty of pedants who feel the old Rangers are now gone, and technically they are right.” Kevin Drinkell in Daily Record.
“I wanted to be able to confirm that, yes, their derbies really WERE the greatest game on earth, rather than tell the truth that they were bile-flecked re-enactments of centuries-old religious wars. It’s a cause of genuine sadness that this has never come to pass, so maybe that’s one of the things new owner Charles Green could look at as he rebuilds a new club from the rubble of liquidation” Bill Leckie, The Sun.
“Air of unreality as 140 years of history is formally ended in less than nine minutes…The Rangers creditors drifted in through Exit 50 at Ibrox Stadium just before 10am and by 10.09am they were on their way out. In those few minutes 140 years of history had been rubbed out”. Teddy Jamieson and Richard Wilson, The Herald.
“Union reps at PFA Scotland believe the new club has no hold over anyone who doesn’t want their contract to transfer across from the now defunct Rangers.” Robert Grieve, The Sun.
“We wish the new Rangers Football Club every good fortune” Walter Smith on BBC.
“And I believe concern over the new club’s finances has prompted Brian Kennedy to make a £5.6million bid for a controlling interest.” Jim Traynor, Daily Record.
“The uncertainty surrounding the new club, especially in terms of what league they’re going to play in, has been a major factor in my decision (to leave) …I have concerns about who is in charge of the new club…Will I ever come back and support the new club? I haven’t thought about it.” Steven Naismith in Daily Record.
“With the new club unlikely to gain enough votes to allow them entry into the SPL by fellow clubs at the League’s AGM on July 4 uncertainty over their future is growing amongst players.” Sky Sports.
“Of course a new club will rise from the ashes of Rangers FC.” Kevin McKenna, The Observer.
“Rangers will not play in the Scottish Premier League this season. SPL chairmen met at Hampden to vote on the new club’s application to replace the old Rangers in the top flight.” BBC.
“It was also revealed the new club had been preparing to apply to the SFL for a couple of weeks and stated the newco Rangers would play in the appropriate division.” The Sun.
“We do not consider that the newco’s allegation of breach of contract will stand up to scrutiny and in the event of the players’ registrations not being issued to a new club, we’ll look to FIFA and/or the Court of Session for a speedy remedy.” PFA Scotland lawyer in Daily Record.
“Rangers chief executive Charles Green says he will not challenge the vote by the Scottish Football League to place his new club in Division Three.” BBC.
“Another unknown is how the footballing authorities – SFA and Uefa – would react to any new club while the old club still had outstanding debts to footballing creditors (other teams) totalling more than £3m. Mr Green’s ambitions for a new club may also be thwarted if liquidators from BDO decide to challenge the asset sale. BBC.
“Green bought Rangers and their assets yesterday for £5.5million, just hours after Smith revealed he was spearheading a group to buy the new club.” Jim Traynor, Daily Record.
“Sevco are still waiting to hear if the new club have been granted SFA membership ahead of their entry into the Third Division.” Paul Hughes, The Sun.
“And IF they are allowed to enter the top division an independent commission will decide if it’s the old club or the new club that has a case to answer over EBTs.” Paul Hughes and Robert McAulay in The Sun.
“No other completely new club would have been allowed to enter the bottom tier. It is also true that no other new club would have been even considered for membership of the SPL.” Ewing Grahame, Daily Telegraph.
“Rangers newco should apply to the SFA for admission and apply direct to the SFL in the same way that any other new club would do.” Stewart Milne, The Sun.
“New club forced to start in Scottish Football League 3” CNN.
“McCoist and Green are committed to opposing any move to have history books rewritten even though they accepted they had to begin again as a new concern after Rangers, the club with history, slipped into liquidation and closed. That should mean the titles aren’t really any of their business. But on the other hand, the SPL refused to hand over £2m, which should have gone to Rangers for finishing second last season, pointing out that the club no longer exists.” Jim Traynor, Daily Record.
“Following the failure of the CVA the club is now following the Premier League and Football Association structure, where the assets of the ‘game’, such as player contracts, are transferred to a new club and the old club liquidated. ” Accountancy Age.
“(Whyte) also added: “What other country in the world would deal with one of their biggest clubs in the way they have and demote them to the Third Division.” Wrong again, Craig. Rangers had to go there because they were a new club starting over. Jim Traynor, Daily Record.
Need we go on? Is that enough?
As the new club prepares of travel across the city on Saturday morning to play their first ever match at Celtic Park, you would struggle to get any of the MSM or Rangers legends such as Walter Smith, Richard Gough or Stuart McCall to repeat what they said in 2012.
Yet when all of these people wrote or said what they did it was uncontroversial.
Everyone knew that liquidation meant the end of the 140 years of Rangers history. The fans even held Give Liquidation the Red Card protects at Ibrox in order to protect this history.
So while everyone in the Scotland is aware of the continuity myth, few are prepared to speak out about it for fear of the consequences. It took letter to Celtic shareholders in June 2016 from Andrea Traverse, Head of Licensing and Financial Fair Play at UEFA to clarify the formal position of UEFA. Here is what he wrote:
“As a consequence of decisions taken in 2012 as well as the administration of the club the events/measures that followed (including the new club/company being ineligible to apply for a licence to participate in UEFA competitions for three seasons), there is no need for UEFA to investigate this matter any further since the club was not granted a licence to participate in the 2012/13 UEFA club competitions, the new club/company entered the fourth tier of Scottish Football and it was not able to play in UEFA competitions for the next three years in any event.
Many thanks for taking note of the above position of UEFA.”
The sad thing is that every single person with an interest in Scottish football knows that the club currently playing out of Ibrox is a new club. To suggest anything else is simply an insult to people’s intelligence.
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WHY WE’RE NOT PLAYING RANGERS...the blow by blow account of the last months of Rangers FC. Read it HERE.
