andy steel

Just watched the two news channels coverage of this interesting day. The difference is vast! STV discussing what has happened, what could happen. BBC shrieking about how the SFA MUSTMUSTMUST punish Rangers for using the courts or we'll be expelled!!! Like the 'Hellenic Federation"!!! Who are about to play in Euro2012...doh! and how the creditors MUSTMUSTMUST get more money becoz 8p in the pound isn't FAIR, not at all... I don't disagree with the last point, actually. But Pacific Quay is just so obvious...to see them thrashing about, desperately trying to insist we be tied to the mast and given another lick o'the cat, is quite pleasurable. Almost as pleasurable as seeing Mark Thomson discussing cuts to their budget at Holyrood today. Having spent months loudly questioning why admin has not led to redundancies at Ibrox, we'll see how keen they are on the concept of job losses now the issue is closer to home.

It's the SFA's move. If they bow to the haters, we cease to be. If they apply a fine, we continue, but the game as a whole pretty much dies. Either way, there's no happy ending to this story.

There's a difference between ignoring things and being utterly impotent to affect them, though. What are we supposed to do about Green, should we have concerns? What will happen will happen and we will be mere onlookers, as was the case, alas, with the sale of our club to Murray and then Whyte.

I don't see what you're getting so upset about. The papers need to fill their pages, which I will then ignore. Low is a tim, who is no doubt relishing this summer of our agony; I certainly enjoyed theirs of years past. As to his schooling of choice, who cares? Would it not be easier to enjoy yourself in your John Muir pilgrimage or whatever you're doing and forget about diddy people in diddy papers? On the other hand, it's not for me to tell you what to do. It seems a bit unnecessarily maschochistic, though.

Fuck knows, mate.

Well, I'm a Scotland fan and a nationalist, and I have no beef with any player who turns out for team GB. A lot of hot air.

As if we give a shit about, or will base any action upon, the views of Aberdeen supporters.

Good to see Yorkston's hypocrisy over Jim McIntyre, as originally highlighted here on gersnet, is being noticed. You gotta love the internet age.

I suppose an accusation of hang wringing is to be expected. It's hard to deny it! But taking on the SFA in the courts, while on principle correct, will in practice lead us into incredibly hot water with UEFA which will continue to swill around our battered little ship for decades to come. They will not forget, and they will not forgive us either. There is a saying that you must pick your battles. Accepting the outrageous, make it up as you go along punishments of the SFA is not pleasant, but fighting it IN THIS WAY can only lead to worse punishment. There is no way to win down this road.

I dunno what a troll is, Danny. Unless we're talking the three billy goats gruff here.

Sure, if you want to. It's a bit samey to last week's though, maybe?

Tho I have to say, anyone who uses his family money to support a football team - be it Barnstead or The Rangers - needs their head looked at.

You have to say, the concept of surrealism seems to have passed the Scots media by. A Hearts director sees fit to hold forth on other clubs and their finances? Salvador Dali, you should have lived to see this day.

I'm interested in your reply. Since I made it clear in my post that ignoring Spiers isn't the same as ignoring bad news, why would you suggest it is?

I don't think it's pathetic. I switch over any time I hear his gulpy voice on the wireless, and change channels should he happen across my screen. Why would you pollute your brain with one word of what he has to say? Ignoring Spiers is hardly the same as burying your head in the sand...one can keep up with the story without paying that turd any attention.

What does the Duff & Phelps strike bit of the headline mean? I thought they had walked out.

No way! Mid to late 90s the place was a morgue.

In the fall out from the SFA's independent tribunal report on Rangers financial shenanigans, one wee point has been nagging away at me. That of the tribunal's horrified, scandalised shrieks about how only match fixing could be worse than non-payment to the taxman. This, coupled with the drip drip of daily piousness from those who feel sporting integrity is beyond price, raises a conflict. What about other offences? And one in particular we're quite used to be accused of? Our old friend, that scourge of Scotland, sectarianism. In recent years, people in Scotland have become used to public figures highlighting this issue on a regular basis. 'The stench of sectarianism' has become a cliche in political life, with aspiring politicos jostling to be seen as tough on this most vital of subjects. That it regularly appears around 12th on a list of things voters feel strongly about is dismissed; a BBC Scotland 'Big Debate' show, in which a show of hands revealed the issue to be of minor interest to the audience, was fascinating for the discomfort it induced in the panel and, indeed, the host. As a Gers man, I would confidently state that the issue barely exists. No professions are barred anyone on grounds of faith outwith those bodies which discriminate in order to maintain a concept of purity; few Rabbis would be non-Jews, for instance. The actions of the two lunatics who sent bombs to Celtic fans has enforced a re-assessment of that view; plainly there's an issue there, but outwith the community of the mentally ill, I see no sign of it in my daily life. For that reason, I find the constant stream of criticism of Rangers FC as being the epicentre around which this miasma of bigotry revolves a little baffling. But not as baffling as sectarianism's sudden plummeting down the leagues of importance in a manner little seen since Gretna imploded some years ago. And even more perplexing is the outbreak of capitalism in that bastion of socialist rebelliousness, celtc fc. Previously noted for combining a self-righteous, puddle deep commitment to the left wing cause with the ability to ignore the presence on their board of bank executives and hideously corrupted politicians, celtc's fans have been curiously silent about the SFA tribunal's decision to label Rangers tax shenanigans as 'second only to match fixing'. What about the sectarianism of over a century? What about the discrimination we've heard so much about? In the blink of an eye, match fixing and tax evasion/avoidance have displaced the traditional No.1 criticism to be leveled at the Govan club. Should the investigation into so called double contracts claim to find proof of further Rangers guilt, that may demote our old chum down to No.5 in the hit parade. It has been relegated, a bit like we might, to another league. Suddenly it seems sectarianism isn't that bad, not as bad as non payment of bills, anyway, to a UK state most celtc fans spend their time berating. If this were otherwise, they would certainly have told us so. I did wait for their usual outrage at having the keystone of their identity insulted in this way, but in vain; it seems that they, too, find financial wrong doings worse still. This sudden outbreak of capitalism amongst the non-Rangers world is worth bearing in mind. The world of Scots football is littered with desperate attempts by people who find themselves in the middle class to remain 'in touch' with their proletarian roots. The embarrassing (and, to those of us who have done real work, insulting) reference to 'putting in a good shift' - at a 90 minute game of fitba, at most twice a week - is an example of this, as is the increasingly desperate use of demotic Glaswegian or regional Scots in radio coverage to indicate horny handed, sons of the soil origin. At least Richard Gough has the good grace not to pretend he is what he is not. The panto like contortions people put themselves through in order to be though 'real' is absolutely toe curling. The challenge put forward just now is that our tax business have affected schools, hospitals and the like. Alas, tax does not work that way; one does not get to pick and choose where one's tax contribution goes. Ibrox tax money may just as well go to the next tranche of nuclear power stations to be built, or the next inflation busting license fee increase to fund cringe inducing local product, or to equip the next squad of troops stationed in Afghanistan or Northern Ireland. The sound of the celtc minded clamouring for monies to go the British state to fund these activities - things they have whined about for decades - is both bewildering and more than a little nauseating. We may choose to remember our critics' sudden concern for the capitalist state. We may choose to remind them of their hypocrisy; and that integrity, to be taken seriously, needs to be applied across the board and not just when it suits you.

It would be massively counterproductive. It will take us years to stagger back to some form of health as it is without adding this process to the mix. Be like a heart attack victim starting a heroin habit.

Surely to God a warrant must be being prepared for Mr Whyte?

I have to assume the several years back you're talking about, when the Copland was a hotbed, was before the Souness era...coz it's been pretty boring ever since then. And even then, between 84-86 (when I started going to the Copland), it was half empty anyway. If we're going to change the deckchairs at Ibrox, I would ask them to bring back the West Enclosure.

You'd fancy FC Copenhagen as at least 50-50 (for us, I mean). The others are a guaranteed exit.

You'd imagine being involved with the shambles on Edmiston Drive would cause them more problems, professionally and economically, than remaining in situ. Only love for the club would lead any professional to touch us with a bargepole atm.

But there's a difference between fighting like hell to minimise further damage to the club and accepting blame where it's due. Any attempt to stand against any and all punishments equates, in the current climate, to refusing to accept responsibility. I don't agree with that nexus; I can accept responsibility and the need for punishment without giving haters everything they've ever dreamed of. I for one will not be performing any ceremony of self-abasement in order to keep a bunch of tims happy.

All beyond me, I'm afraid.