This is about Scottish football but I take a while to get there. And I don’t think you’re going to like it, but something has been bothering me with all this news about Greece, there’s been a little dissonance.
Greece has come through seven years of devastating poverty and economic turmoil, the like of which has not been seen anywhere else in Europe, and within weeks it could get a lot worse.
Many Greeks with economically portable skills emigrated. Those left, the old, the infirm, the unskilled, and those who don’t want to abandon their family or country, have been left to deal with the consequences of a debt which dwarves their earning capacity.
Greece joined the euro and overnight were able to borrow money at cheaper rates than ever before. They borrowed and invested, but poor governments and lax taxation systems left them vulnerable. When the crash came, Greece was hopelessly unable to pay its debts, largely owned to German and French banks.
Back in 2008 the world’s banking system was on the verge of collapse. It is not an exaggeration to say that our economies, jobs, welfare systems, public services and more, were in jeopardy. Governments took steps to keep the banks afloat, but Greece owned money beyond their borders.
If they still had the capacity to issue their own currency, they would have defaulted, offered their creditors 10 lepta to the drachma, and quickly moved on. Prices would have skyrocketed overnight, many people would have been priced out of the basics, but tourists would have flooded in, as would new employers, to take advantage of the newly cheap Greek labour.
But since 2002 Greece has been using the euro. They could not print euros after the crash so had to come to a deal with their creditors, and that meant paying all their debts, in particular to the German banks who loaned them money, at an appropriate interest rate, years earlier.
It was appalling. Greece was not blameless, no European governments – or ultimately their electorates – were, but they were boxed into a corner and forced into a deal. Foreign banks, who were well-placed to weigh-up the commercial risk of their Greek loans, were beneficiaries of the squeeze put on some of Europe’s poorest people.
In January this year Greece elected a radical government. Syriza were voted in on a ticket to renegotiate the terms of what the world calls the ‘bailout’.
The bailout is an affront to the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank. The world’s governments needed to protect their banks to prevent complete collapse, but the deal imposed on Greek citizens is pernicious and disproportionate.
A game of brinksmanship is going on between Greece and their lenders, the Troika. Syriza are mandated for one thing and one thing only, renegotiate the current deal. I admire their resolve and hope the Troika accommodate their request for change, but the consequence of a failure to find an agreement is enormous, the like of which we have never seen in a modern economy. Those sitting at the Syriza side of the table know they may be marching their citizens off the edge of a cliff.
What’s this got to do with Scottish football?
For the Troika, read Mike Ashley, he was the lender of last resort, he was also the beneficiary of the loans. In fact, he loaned Newco money he’d already made from them. Those loans came with pernicious conditions. The profits he’ll earn from seven years merchandise rights are spectacular – and they will come from what I could argue is the most impoverished football club in Europe. Mike is the ugly face of capitalism (and there are pretty faces).
The analogy is not perfect. Rangers spectacularly defaulted. Newco’s early years have been more painful than they necessarily could have been, largely as a consequence of an organised group of Real Rangers Men who were determined to grab control of Newco’s assets for as cheap a price as possible. But if you are an unskilled Greek living on handouts, or an easily-led Rangers fan, who just wanted to watch his team, you were not the architect of your own misery.
Alexis Tsipras is no Dave King, he is an engaging leader and is not a criminal, but if he leads Greece into an abyss, he will be guilty of one of the classic failures of leadership – telling people what they want to hear in order to gain power, without any way of delivering on the promises made.
King may be doing the same. He strikes me as a man intent on recreating Jonestown in Govan. Unlike Tsipras, who appears to be making progress with his creditors, King has inspired division and boycott. I can’t picture him now without scenes from Jonestown flashing through my mind.
While I know I’m stretching the analogy between Greece and Rangers, there are many who have lost their livelihood, or football club, through the fault of more powerful men, who were paid to look out for their interests.
Mike Ashley is a figure of fun for us but be sure, he is not our ally. Our enemy’s enemy is not our friend. He’s just another in a long line of naked opportunists we were wise enough to avoid.
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If King did meet Ashley on the qt, what happened to all that transparency that was floating around the EGM?
Rather than refresh, I’m treating every “refresh” like a New Article. Works fine.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Caffe freddo time but no Greek crisis live on the wee beach bar’s tele –
Tourists in the bar now have something else to watch and be scared by – – live coverage of the chaos caused by the French ferry workers strike at Calais and the desperate attempts being made by wannabe migrants to take advantage of the situation.
Mike Ashley naked n opportunistic?
*shudders*
South Of Tunis
Strange …………………..i’m watching the turk news and it leads with more arrests in italian footy LOL
TT & TBB, re getting out of dodge there has been rumours of joining the MLS. I am intrigued by this and in the hope the blog debates it I shall start a list of pros and cons. Anyone feel free to add at your pleasure
Pros,,,home games remain in Glasgow
Bigger league based on fans through the doors and TV revenue
Increased hype and marketing would dramatically increase merchandise revenue
Bigger profile would benefit in terms of signings
Should easily have the best and most numerous away fans due to expats and spouses
Actually seeing the team live and on TV should increase fan base
They would take us, cross border teams already in mls
US based CSCs should see an upturn in members
More money in the warchest
Away facility’s much better than european ( beer and food plus merchandise stalls)
Good for Scottish teams in terms of chances of silverware
No more honest mistakes
Cons,,,away game times ( would expect evening games meaning lunchtime in UK)
Home games probably evenings to accommodate TV viewers in US
No more champions league but have shot at equivalent
Opens us up to corporate takeover once potential is realised
European based players might not be keen on the travel
Regular away support left high and dry
UK based players would wilt in the heat
I honestly think at this time it’s the only league that we have a chance of joining,,epl nah,,,Atlantic league preferable but doesn’t look like happening. It would be a change and is that not what a lot of us want? Don’t shoot me down just curious to know if this would generate support among the fans.
Hail Hail
Mahe ….
I have to be honest and say that I would rather Celtic stayed in Scotland and cleaned up its own league.
However, if they were to join another league, at least with the MLS, I would get to see them a bit more often.
But, with the salary cap issues, and the logistics, I just dont see this as too likely.
And I am not certain that Celtic would run away with the league. It is improving all the time. And even if we win now, eventually, even the best teams lose focus when they are always winning.
Monaghan 1900
Hilarious being called peasants by the Huns
They make Greece look like Saudi Arabia
burgas hoops.
Arrests in Italian football no longer count as news.. Every arrest is merely one more confirmation.
I’m back on – yippee
Weefra I’ll try that :-)
I’ve checked my internet connection with various other websites, all working Tic-e-te-boo, only freezing up on CQN
Hail Hail
Yip Weefra that works instantly ?
Tic article, and go back in
Any ideas IT bhoys
cowiebhoy
Me too, no problems with twitter, email ot FB, just CQN. Hope that works for you. :-)
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Mahe..,
In a word no.
South Of Tunis
Ha…………. the turks must have bought the italian book of cheating off them as this mob were all caught & jailed earlier this year.
Although the news was very brief on local TV.
cowiebhoy
:-))))) Meant to ask, how’s the family, I hope they are all well. :-)
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
And neither the Turks or Italians could hold a match to the SFA
Mike,,I agree with what you say but not always winning it never crossed my mind. No divine right to win anything and if the competition gets better then so should we.logistically a change in wage structure would be necessary but is that a bad thing if its across the board in the whole league. I think it levels the playing field,,much better than a man city type team waltzing in with billions. Hail Hail
The Battered Bunnet
16:16 on 23 June, 2015
‘Dunno the details of the Feruz story, but assuming he’s being transferred, not loaned, and accepting that our decisions influence our experiences and vice versa… it rather evidences that the decision he made to take the Chelsea money at 16 years old was absolutely the right one.’
###
Not necessarilly.
Perhaps if he’d stayed with us and been brought on more slowly he would have been a better player with a longer shelf life.
Who knows?
Same goes for Liam Miller.
I didn’t see a lot of Liam Miller except for the game where he was outstanding against Anderlecht.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think he ever got near that performance either before or afterwards.
Strange one.
Weefra,
all good thanks, and recovery coming along just fine
Lionroars
From this morning, Parma article, superb, no idea who it reminded me off :-)))
J Titor
Have you mislaid one of your low level time travelling crew?,
someone speaking in riddles down Govan way that he has rejoined a 3 year old club 5 years after leaving,
good to see you drop in again
By the way, even though I said that Feruz’s career had “stalled”, I don’t believe that a loan move or transfer to MK Don’s doesn’t a define failure. He’s 19 and has had a few years playing for a youth team with great facilities and coaching. If he moves on and plays every week he might prove to be every bit the player we hoped he was.
Chelsea don’t exactly have a track record of giving young guys a chance. Let’s not forget that England internationalists Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand were told they were surplus to requirements.
cowiebhoy
Sh@t, forgot about your ankle thingy, so glad your recovering well. I’m well recovered and hoping for a full discharge, (not that type) on my next appointment. :-))
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Paul67
You say your analogy is not perfect? I disgree.
Indeed I would extend the comparison.
I have posted previously that the events at Ibrox over the last few years were a microcosm of the unbridled greed chaos of the financial markets.
Banks being central to events in both areas
Banks were bailed out with public money due to being considered ‘too big to fail’…
Leading to a policy of ‘austerity’ for taxpayers. However the bonuses in the City and Wall St continued… There are similarities to Ibrox….No?
You are correct 2008 was very serious… But it has not been addressed. All that has been done is kick the can down the road. Make no mistake the crisis of 2008 will revisit us……Just as clearly as 2012 will revisit Ibrox.
We must beware of our trip to Iceland. The only country aware enough and with the cajones to arrest those responsible for financial fraud and robbery. Bankers and politicians.
FinanceAnalogies CSC
Ernie
“Who knows” as you say. Decisions impacting experience. Experience impacting decisions.
It’s unlikely the quality of coaching at Chelsea was any lower than at Celtic, and certainly the required standard is compatible at that age group.
I wouldn’t think there is much qualitative difference between the two academies, albeit Chelsea will have more players of the required standard.
The boy has a few years yet to make it, but if, like 95% of his cohort, he doesn’t, he’s still got a load of money in the bank. Something he wouldn’t have had he stayed at Celtic.
As career risks go, his was pretty well underwritten.
MAKING YOUR BED AND LYING ON IT
Paul is correct in drawing the analogy between the plight of Greece and that of the cave- dwellers of Govan.
Greeks and Gers Bearing Gifts.
During the ‘good times’ both the Greeks and the Gers sought to abdicate their responsibilities to the tax regimes of their respective ‘administrations/associations’, and played ‘fast and loose’ with their tax affairs.
Failure of successive Greek administrations to deal with their disproportionate number of self-employed citizens who resented handing over anything but the bare minimum to the government for the good of the country and their less fortunate countrymen, yet enjoyed high state pensions due the vote-winning tactics of all Greek political parties.
Likewise the Gers, who spirited tax revenues away from the government and into the pockets of players, whom they otherwise could not have afforded to employ, through a morally corrupt EBT scheme. Their reward was high competition success at the expense of other clubs, most notably Celtic, who played by the fiscal rules.
Global Crash spells Disaster
The global crash of 2008 brought both entities to their knees. The Greeks who had ‘fiddled the books’ prior to joining the Euro under their financial guru, Miranda Xafa and a corrupt government, and the Gers who had pursued their ‘ten in a row’ dream under their own guru, David Murray and a corrupt banking sector.
“It would be cheaper to send everyone by taxi” former minister Stefanos Manos, said publicly, at a time when the Greek railway had more employees than passengers.
“For every fiver Celtic spend, we will spend a tenner”, David Murrays war-cry as the Scottish banks opened their strong rooms to accommodate his every whim.
Bust and Bust
Both the Greeks and the Gers have been languishing in the sediment of Europe and Scottish football, respectively, and various ‘saviours’ have come forward, all promising to put them back in their ‘rightful’ places.
The latest left-wing comedians in Greece coming to power on a no austerity ticket, only now having to agree to more austerity, to save them from Armageddon. The glib and shameless liar that is Dave King promising tens of millions of pounds if elected, only to pull the same trick as Charles Green, i.e. use the fans to finance his ‘dream.
SNP – The Tories’ Wooden Horse
There are those in the ‘clique with pique’ on this blog who held up and lauded Tsipras’s manifesto in January, as the path that Scotland would follow under the SNP, and urged, successfully, that most of us should vote SNP for Westminster.
The Tsipras forty-point manifesto was of course, to quote Christine Lagarde, written by a bunch of schoolchildren and stands beside the SNP ‘thick’ White Paper, as examples of the most outlandish works of political and economic propaganda.
You would have thought that the people and the SNP would have learned the Thatcher lesson, vote against Labour and get a right wing, anti working class, anti poor, government.
And yet here we are, SNP ensconced in numbers, in both Holyrood and Westminster, and we are about to witness the destruction of the biggest scheme of wealth distribution to the poorest, i.e. Gordon Brown’s and the Labour government’s Tax Credits, dismantled by the Tories.
These are the Tax Credits that a million households in Scotland could not live without, and most probably claimed, in majority, by those who poured hate and scorn on Labour and chose to vote for the SNP, a party who have NEVER EVER done anything for the poorest in society.
I know some may say that even if all Scotland had voted Labour, we would still have a Tory majority – WRONG – the fear of the SNP and Salmond and their lie of “writing a Labour government’s Queens speech” spooked many Labour voters in England and caused them to turn against Labour, thus delivering a Tory majority.
I say to those convert SNP voters who turned their back on Labour, and were seduced/conned by the one-issue Naked Nationalist Opportunists, and who now stand to lose their child and working tax credits –
YOU MADE YOUR BED !!!!
If Greece goes bust, can they create a holding country?
PeteTheBeat
17:34 on
23 June, 2015
I didn’t see a lot of Liam Miller except for the game where he was outstanding against Anderlecht.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think he ever got near that performance either before or afterwards.
Strange one.
=========================================================
The Ibrox mob were desperate to sign Remi Streete on the basis of ONE sliding tackle in his one and only 45 minutes playing for the team.
Is the blog gubbed again?
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
The Battered Bunnet
16:07 on
23 June, 2015
Cowiebhoy, the freezing’s temporary, caused by the cryo-coolers on J Titor’s flux capacitor.
==============
I think it might be the chrono-interocitor that needed tweaking tomorrow.
cannie even post noo. Wtf is going on with the blog.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
the 1828 post didnae post according to CQN. Twitter and FB win tonight.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Saw the chrono- interocitors at the old burns heowff
They were rubbish
As an Irish public servant I can relate to many greeks post the 2008 crash, anyone who thinks we are recovering over here only needs to go the daily court sessions repossing hundreds of family homes every month(now that the prooerty market is picking up) Leading countres into the “abyss” of self determination free from the corrupt disgusting influence of the EU and its puppets in the national governments would be something I can only dream of but realise will never happen as long as the mainstream media is privately owned by the same animals which are so reliant on profiting from it.
Although I laugh as much as anyone else at how the media is so complicit in the demise of our friends down govan way it also is a fantastic analogy of how we are all being fooled.
The only ones left laughing are the bankers and their cronies
I see radio snyde have started ‘talking up’ sevco, in similar fashion to last season …talk about a waste of time and effort …bless them, they can’t help themselves !!!!!!
petethebeat @ 15 51
1864.
Heard and read great things about it . Got my brother to record it for me. One more for the watch in the winter pile.
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie
Test