The SPL’s real suicide pact
New Rangers chairman (in both senses of that phrase) Malcolm Murray was fighting fire with petrol at the weekend as he embarked on a charmless offensive aimed at bullying other clubs into admitting the sort-of-new Ibrox club directly into the SPL. Murray (no relation, we think) has quickly rubbed everyone else up the wrong way with a series of boneheaded pronouncements portraying Rangers as victims and displaying not a hint of contrition, and it’s a tough call as to which has been the most crass.
We have a particular fondness for “There is no point in killing the patient while he’s trying to recover. Do that and the whole ward dies”, which shows a disturbing lack of knowledge about how hospitals work, on several levels. But it’s the sentence that came after it, in which Murray claimed that the other SPL clubs rejecting New Rangers would be a “suicide pact”, that’s perhaps the most eye-catching.
Stuart Bathgate has an interesting piece in today’s Scotsman in which he suggests that other SPL fans are now so enraged by both Rangers’ behaviour and their complete lack of apparent regret that they now threaten the previous view (chiefly held, it should be said, by the mainstream media rather than anyone who’d actually examined it closely) that Rangers’s absence would financially damage other clubs.
So many fans might boycott an SPL containing New Rangers, suggests Bathgate, that it would outweigh the number of travelling Ibrox fans lost to the other clubs if they weren’t let in. But there’s a more interesting twist that he fails to pick up on – what happens if the Ibrox side IS let back in, but under the ownership of Charles Green?
Rangers supporters groups are currently advocating a boycott of season ticket purchases for as long as Green refuses to sell out to Walter Smith’s consortium. Many also propose boycotting away games at any clubs who vote against the admission of New Rangers to the SPL, even if the application proves successful. All of which raises the question: just how many Rangers fans are likely to be turning up to ANY games next season?
If Rangers fans are boycotting both home and away games in large numbers, for different reasons, that’s going to add up to the loss of millions of pounds for the league overall. Add in the fact that the club’s presence in the top division seems certain to bring about significant boycotts by supporters of other sides too and SPL games are going to be played in stadia that look like a meeting of the Pollokshields Young Conservative Association held at Hampden Park.
It’s hard to see that prospect as anything but a complete disaster for Neil Doncaster’s organisation. It would be particularly ironic if it was ultimately Rangers fans who signed and sealed a suicide pact with a league which had accepted it as a member.
Very interesting that looking at the fixtures, other than 11th and 18th August that Celtic and Club 12 play home and away at different times.
I suspect the start of season August dates were put in to fool people and show that there was not a link to Celtic and Rangers playing home and away at different times, but as ALL the rest of the games follow that process that tells me that they are planning to let Rangers in.
Otherwise why would they have Celtic away when Club 12 is at home and vice versa?
It might fool the beeb but not anyone who suspects Ogilvie still looking after his old mates.
Apparently also there are numerous occasions when Dundee United and Club 12 both play at home…
EDIT: Just checked for myself, and there are NINE dates when we’re expected to believe that Dundee United and Dundee could be playing at home on the same day.
Remember that both Celtic and Club 12 are at home together on the 11th so that they can cancel their league fixture and play “Glamour” friendlies – something that was meant to be a 1 season deal last time.
Looks like there could be a lot of Sunday games in Dundee this year if things don’t got to plan for the SPL management.
Shambles. Still can’t believe they’ve gotten away with it all so easily.
Stu, surely there is an argument to say that the fabled ‘Club 12’ position would go to Dunfermline instead of Dundee, as they have been more affected by ‘old’ Rangers dubious practices….
I daresay there’s an argument for that, though the consensus of opinion is that it would be Dundee rather than Dunfermline who took up any SPL vacancy. Certainly possible, though.
Swello, that point about friendlies tells us quite a lot. No problem having them on same day if they are not playing!
Rather like the idea of Dundee and Dunfermline playing a winner take all at Tannadice or Muirton Park to see who becomes Club 12.
I was also under the impression that Dunfermline were first in line if Rangers are rightly told to swivel. It would certainly be more in keeping with the history of the league, where clubs have been allowed to avoid relegation due to Div 1 clubs not having good enough grounds. However, I would much prefer it to be Dundee – Dunfermline have had their chance, and you would hope the prospect of derbies with Dundee might be an added incentive for Dundee United to do the right thing.
Incidentally, it should perhaps be noted that in the traditional New Year’s OF match, Celtic will be playing Motherwell rather than Club 12…
Wrong thread, will repost on the next one.
dumfermline finished bottom of the spl, as such, they were relegated. ergo, second place in the sfl, should be assigned club 12 position.
Absolutely…no brainer really, Dunfermline should be in pole position. Any other scenario would reek of manipulation…so nothing new there, then…
If Dunfermline had had the oppurtunity to compete in a league without a team cheating, there is the possibility that they may have avoided relegation.
Had Rangers(IA) paid their tax instead of high wages, they may have finished bottom and taken the place of Dunfermline.