ian1964 10,721 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 By IAIN KING CHARLES GREEN is facing his most difficult journey yet as the new Mr Rangers, a trip called dignity. Watching cancer-stricken Light Blues legend Sandy Jardineâ??s emotional address to over 44,000 Gers fans before last Saturdayâ??s 3-1 win over East Stirlingshire should have been an education for the man who would be king of Govan. Jardine spoke of his battle for life, of the inspiration he was taking from the touching tribute the fans now pay in every game by applauding through the second minute to honour the no2 jersey he wore with such distinction in his days as Sandy in royal blue. Anyone who believes Jardine would have backed the bile-filled gesture to offer Celticâ??s Champions League rivals Juventus training rights at Murray Park is sadly mistaken. That crass, classless stunt was for me the lowest ebb of Greenâ??s tumultuous 10 months at the helm of a footballing giant he somehow managed to wrest control of for just £5.5million. His business acumen has to be admired, God spare me from more whining from Paul Murray and his Blue Knights cohorts about how they were stiffed and beaten to the punch. Give me a break. They had an eternity to get the deal done and couldnâ??t do it. Douglas Park sat for months in the shadows like a Bond villain pouring scorn on others and spinning some grand Machiavellian plot that would eventually unravel in his eleventh hour bid alongside Clyde Blowers tycoon Jim McColl and former Gers boss Walter Smith. As their club begins a grinding countdown to the clinching of the Third Division title â??The Rangers Menâ? must look themselves in the mirror and admit they failed when it mattered most. Green got it done and in time he will surely reap the rewards for that as the money machine that is the blue half of the Old Firm slowly rumbles back into life clad in a new Puma shirt with Blackthorn emblazoned across the chest. For now, though, the Rangers chief executive would do well to keep those who helped bankroll Nine in a row and the Sir David Murray glory years with their corporate largesse in his inner circle. They couldnâ??t find a way to finance the deal they all craved but they understand Rangers, they know that cheap shot grandstanding like the Juventus nonsense simply stokes the fires that can all too quickly ignite in the bitterly divided football city of Glasgow. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell and manager Neil Lennon have done well to keep their counsel on Gersâ?? tawdry behaviour ahead of the first leg of the last 16 of the Champions League against La Vecchia Signora. Privately, the truth is they were seething and in my eyes they had every right to be. A line was crossed and it is a lesson Green must learn. These sporting behemoths co-exist in our small land on a diet of grimacing emnity and grudging respect. If the blunt Yorkshireman continues down this line of fanning the flames of hatred and constantly trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator the next Old Firm game will be Apocalypse Now. Light the light blue touchpaper and retire. Forget football, weâ??d be as well watching them stage the Call of Duty derby armed to the teeth. Picture the scene should a still weakened second-rate Rangers draw the Hoops in the Cup at Celtic Park early next season in front of a baying home crowd with the Juve wind-up still fresh in their minds. Right now the Gers defence of Argyriou, Hegarty, Cribari and Wallace would get slaughtered at the hands of a side good enough to beat Barcelona. It would be as former owner Murray so eloquently put it in his broadside at the SPLâ??s title-stripping fiasco â??the bayoneting of the wounded.â? Gers are murdered 5-0 and the home fans waiting too long for this game in any case gloat for fun fuelled by the fury caused by that training ground affront. The supporters spill out into the streets, Saturday nightâ??s alright for fighting, Charles retires to his plush bolthole and pulls up the drawbridge. Get the picture? Donâ??t get me wrong on my first meeting with Green in the inner sanctum of Ibrox I liked the man, he is straight-talking, magnificently politically incorrect and engaging company. He as good as said then he was the Rangers equivalent of Fergus McCann. Here to save a club and make a few bob. Like so many I have seen and interviewed over the last two decades he now wears the blazer with pride and he has had a chip on both shoulders sewn in at Slaterâ??s. Heâ??s got Rangersitis. Thatâ??s no crime, this mad, mental football city holds two institutions different from any other clubs in the world. They get under the skin of those who become involved in them and stay there. I get that. What I donâ??t get is Greenâ??s insistence this week that he just wants Rangers to be left alone to rebuild. Stop screaming that you want to leave for England every two minutes then. Butt out of a league reconstruction row that has got nothing to do with you. As an associate member of the SFL you donâ??t even have a VOTE. Take your punishment on the chin, come back clean with your head held high. Thatâ??s what you promised before the bombast started. Listen, on balance Green has been good for the Light Blues. After a start full of suspicions as the air of treachery hung around the place following the reign of Craig Whyte he has galvanised the club. His Barnum and Bailey schtick has lifted a crestfallen support and brought gates of 49,000 through the doors to watch Third Division slayings. It wouldnâ??t happen anywhere else. Yet as you watched Celtic slide bravely out of Europe in Turin on Wednesday night you wondered what those who matter on the continent thought of their bitterest rivals after that pathetic Juventus caper. Not much Iâ??d wager. With power comes responsibility Charles, remember that. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/scottishnews/4830359/King-Green-should-show-more-dignity.html#ixzz2N1hzma49 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 850 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Has there been a more bitter article written of late? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotter 0 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 "Sliding bravely out of Europe" No laughing at the back. Away and shite Iain. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggordy 0 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 I thought I'd entered an alternative universe when I first read that! Is there a PR job going at the Dome perchance? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Ally 0 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 CHARLES GREEN is facing his most difficult journey yet as the new Mr Rangers, a trip called dignity. Watching cancer-stricken Light Blues legend Sandy Jardine’s emotional address to over 44,000 Gers fans before last Saturday’s 3-1 win over East Stirlingshire should have been an education for the man who would be king of Govan. Jardine spoke of his battle for life, of the inspiration he was taking from the touching tribute the fans now pay in every game by applauding through the second minute to honour the no2 jersey he wore with such distinction in his days as Sandy in royal blue. Anyone who believes Jardine would have backed the bile-filled gesture to offer Celtic’s Champions League rivals Juventus training rights at Murray Park is sadly mistaken. That crass, classless stunt was for me the lowest ebb of Green’s tumultuous 10 months at the helm of a footballing giant he somehow managed to wrest control of for just £5.5million. As much as I read. The last part quoted killed it for me. That makes Green undignified? A simple gesture that no doubt occurs hundreds of times a year across the continent. King's argument makes him seem like a simpleton of epic proportions. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 What a dick, Green has to show more dignity, but Lennon & Liewell did well to restrain themselves from our tawdry behaviour. Away and throw shite at yourself King ya sorry excuse for a journalist. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Using Sandy's illness to have a go at Green is low. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,744 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Add him to the persona-non-grata list of Spiers, Keevins, Thomson and Co.. At some stage, this cabal of bile-spewers is complete and the respective newspapers and radio stations will have to send new people to commentate on all things Rangers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juancornetto 1 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Head of Sport at The Sun...the modern day equivalent of Head Deckchair Shuffler on the Titanic. What a fucking clown. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Ally 0 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 He's the head of their sports dept. Didn't know that. An even more embarrassing childish rant then. I think and hope most readers will realise this is undignified and embarrassing for King and the Sun and not Green. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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