“I say you are [The Messiah] Lord, and I should know. I’ve followed a few.” This line is from The Life of Brian; John Cleese character insists he knows who The Messiah is, more than anyone, because he’s “followed a few”. Monty Python cut to the chase, some people never learn from following false messiahs. Never more true that at Ibrox.
A generation there lived through David Murray’s messianic reign. A messiah was the way to make life good, so after Murray, they followed a series of chancers with no loss of faith. From the outside, it looks like a manifestation of religious practice.
Conversely, Celtic’s Fergus McCann, who gave Murray his first bloody nose, was anything but a messiah. He lacked all such tendencies, delivered what he promised and left with the league trophy in the boardroom and a cold draft. Fergus set the Celtic support up for clinical analysis, or cynical analysis from some.
What do we know about the new messiahs at Ibrox? They are not “Rangers fans”, they are straightforward investors, here for the return. Nothing wrong with that, but it does mean no one should fantasise about investment beyond an achievable level of return.
We know they are restricted by Uefa’s Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR). Newco are superstar money losers. The last year we have information on (2023-24), they lost over £17m. They need to reach the Champions League on a regular basis, buy players cheap and sell at significant profits, or cut costs. Reports from the US suggest they want to develop their own youth talent; a few weeks on the ground will dissuade them of that.
Money will not be the change factor many think it will be. The proposed £20m share issue looks like the right size to keep the lights on until the end of next season. What will change is the professionalism of the club. Celtic have delivered vastly better commercial deals throughout this century, for no reason other than they are well run and Oldco/Newco were shambolic.
Recruitment will improve, there will be no more Michael Beale summers, instead, expect Newco to follow Celtic’s model: find value markets, get close to them, buy and showcase in European competition. A few seasons of good management, solid recruitment and stable finances, and they will be a vastly improved operation.
Getting it right is not easy, no matter what you read in the comments section. Clever and experienced people try and fail more often than they succeed. You need to be prepared for failure and in Glasgow, than means be especially prepared.
Dave King’s comment this week deserves a response: ““[The new investors] are coming in with a commitment not to win a league title, but to make Rangers [sic.] the dominant force in Scotland. That is what this project is about. It’s not about winning one or two titles. It’s about the next ten, 20 years and I think that’s why I’m excited about it, because I think they are the right people.”
Dave should know if they are the right people, he’s followed a few. If you think US investors are in Glasgow to dominate Scottish football you really need to revise your meds. They are here to achieve a return on capital, thoughts of being the top dog in town is frankly demeaning to them. Suggesting they have talked about being here for 20 years, jeez!
They will (eventually) present a greater challenge than Celtic have faced since peak Murray Madness. The gap in resources, experience and even the platform we start next season on is significant, but that does not guarantee anything. There is always work to do.
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Got my tickets for the Newcastle game this morning.
See you at the corner soon!
Happy Wednesday eve!
HH
Russell Martin to Sevco
Fabrizio Romano saying done deal !!BADA BING!!
Was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin’ cotton and my brother was balin’ hay
And at dinnertime we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door y’all remember to wipe your feet
And then she said I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Hope so Bada, if Ibrox Noise is anything to go by, they hate him already 👏👏👍
Paul67 Delighted you included the last line
Nothing is given we need to go get it
Positive noise from BR on this summer he is looking to maintain improve the hunger
They cannot be ridiculed forever but let’s make sure we ridicule them when we can
67ECW
Good article Paul. Thumbs up.
People are entitled to feel a bit let down. Many were expecting a juicy steak and have just been served a beef pot noodle! From FF
Good article Paul, pretty much sums up the chat on here yesterday.
If it is to be Martin that takes the job that’s a whole different brand of football they’ll be playing
Pre season ticket renewal = Gerrard, Ancelotti (Real Madrid assistance as if. lol) etc
All the season ticket money in = here have Russell Martin
Above also from FF
I was wondering if it isn’t a punt on a restructure of European football.
Are US investors in Leeds Utd any closer to the chatter on environment change than PL, who is Vice Chairman of the European Club Association and a Board member of the UEFA/ECA joint venture?
Or will/is such change coming from outside the tent?
Really don’t get the fascination around this club, although it’s maybe not surprising that they have people putting money into them when they attract so much attention from supporters of OTHER clubs!
Anceloti left disappointed
Sadness is when you were hoping for a manager whose name ended in a vowel
BSR 😂😂😂
bournesouprecipe on 3rd June 2025 9:24 am
Got it in one 👍
Wow – well done!
Re-post:
Hot Smoked on 3rd June 2025 12:00 pm
I just read about Russell Martin on Wikipedia ( I know) and I have to say he seems to be a decent guy……totally unsuited to Sevco.
Greenpinata on 3rd June 2025 12:38 pm
Sadness is when you were hoping for a manager whose name ended in a vowel
……………………………………………
clever funny!
Martin is a believer in possession football and has attempted to establish that at each club he has managed. He will try it at Sevco and the Bears will not like it.
If he gets the right players it would be interesting to see their games against us. Rodgers also believes in possession and a game will afoot. Now we know teams thrive on little possession, so they could find difficulties against other SPFL clubs.
As a player, he was on loan at Sevco and played 15 games .
He succeeded our Paul Tisdale as manager at MK Dons in 2019 and then managed Swansea and Southampton. He has won little as a manager. The Championship Play off final is his only achievement.
Agree with pretty much all P67 has said, except that if £20m is ,truly, the football investment budget then even over one year , let alone 2 or 3 , it’s getting you nothing these days , even if you can find an under developed market.
No one’s naive these days and we got very , very lucky with Ange and his (cliche alert) granular inside knowledge of the Japanese leagues and market.
I doubt we, let alone anyone else in the Scottish game , will ever again find another relatively untapped market that will render up players of the quality of Kyogo,Maeda and Hatate for the price we paid for them.
leftclicktic on 3rd June 2025 12:30 pm
People are entitled to feel a bit let down. Many were expecting a juicy steak and have just been served a beef pot noodle! From FF
___________________________________________________________________________
I would have thought it would be a quinoa salad or tofu, never a BEEF pot noodle!
joes11 on 3rd June 2025 1:03 pm
Greenpinata on 3rd June 2025 12:38 pm
Sadness is when you were hoping for a manager whose name ended in a vowel
……………………………………………
clever funny!
______
Russell Martini, preferably shaken a lot😉
He’s a vegan Buddhist, and a member of the Green Party to boot…
Good article and pretty much nails everything.
I’ll take issue with one thing: “They will (eventually) present a greater challenge than Celtic have faced since peak Murray Madness”.
Time will tell, but to paraphrase Mike Tyson, “everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face”.
Financial analysis and playing around with models and spreadsheets is all well and good, but it can be abstract and fail to capture qualitative factore e.g. I really don’t think they have a proper understanding of their customer base and other variables like the SMSM.
Without doubt they will be welcomed with much fanfare and hyperbole, but go another season without a trophy and they’ll quickly find out what they’ve bought in to.
Time is not on their side.
!!Bada Bing!! on 3rd June 2025 1:27 pm
He’s a vegan Buddhist, and a member of the Green Party to boot…
____
Does that make him one of their own🤔😉. There may be trouble ahead 🎵🎵
Without wanting to run down a seemingly decent guy Russel Martin was ridiculed in England for the way his team played in the EPL. After going up via the playoffs Southampton spent £100m but didn’t change their style, they conceded pretty much every week because of basic blunders playing out from the back. He didn’t have the players to play that way, despite adding about twenty players last summer.
Russell Martin may be a decent guy but Snake Mountain does strange things to seemingly normal people. The only decent person recently was Van Bronckhurst and the hun fans hating him for it.
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The Facepainter was a decent guy
Styles of football. How do you counter or limit what PSG did to a grizzled competitive Seria A team in the CL final, they were shredded, looked slower and less fit, couldn’t keep the ball carried no threat and were ultimately hammered. They are the new benchmark hopefully not 1 of our pot1 teams at home if we get through.
Crltic40me
Having been welcomed like a breath of fresh air in his first season Ange was severely criticised for his lack of a plan B and sticking rigidly to his way. Almost relegated – saved by the Europa where he found a plan B
Good afternoon from the Dungloe Bar, Derry City.
An Tearmann, apparently you are still barred from these premises. 🤣🤣
Joes11
A one off, not trying letters or vowels because there were only three letters and not many Celtic players with only three letters in the surname.
The only other one I can think of was big ROY.
Southampton forum
Posted 15 May, 2023
Following a particularly abject, gutless performance where even the Norwich manager didn’t want to show his face, Martin trotted out a series of empty platitudes and clichés. Anyone who had been watching them for a while would have realised how meaningless his words were, wondering about the disconnect between what he was saying and the reality of their performances. So, a lot like some of the rubbish we’ve heard from our club since the weekend. They’ll really like Martin.
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On 01/06/2025 at 20:49, Dr Who? said:
He would do well there, with a top side in that league. I bet they would at least have a top 2 finish and would be better than this season. The style of football suits Celtic more though.
😁
I think I could get Rangers to a top 2 finish
!!Bada Bing!! on 3rd June 2025 1:27 pm
He’s a vegan Buddhist, and a member of the Green Party to boot…
Aye , but what the hordes will want to know is……….
is he a Protestant Buddhist or a Catholic Buddhist …..?
tom english on saturday was led to believe that sevco having cut the wage bill will be near break even for this financial year .
that had me intrigued.
he said he was again led to believe that the 49ers investors would insist on that financial health before doing any deal
so i did some fag packet sums.
they lost 17 million last year . the cash flow propped up hand to mouth by directors loans.
they did cut the wage bill by circa 6 million
but but but.
their turnover will be near the same less prize money and more payoffs to fund.
i am calling it still loss making . maybe to the tune of 10 million.