After plans to reconstruct Scottish football advanced, Rangers Chief Executive Charles Green has thrown his weight against the move and will recommend the club pursues competition outside of Scotland. Would it be such a bad thing if Green and Rangers left?
Will he be waving bye soon? (via sportinglife.com)
By Anton Horan – @AntonH79
Whilst acknowledging it would be sad for many to see a huge Scottish institution like Rangers leave Scottish football I can’t help but feel the game as a whole may be better off without the club and, more particularly, the club’s Chief Executive Charles Green.
The outspoken Mr Green has filled the ears of Rangers fans and indeed the whole of Scotland with sensationalist paranoid buffoonery and rhetoric since he walked through the door at Ibrox and, for me, a shorter tenure in our game would benefit all concerned. For those of you who don’t know, Mr Green has threatened that he, and his club, will leave Scottish football if the latest league reconstruction plans are given the green light.
Of course it will have financial implications for all clubs, not least of all Rangers, who may struggle to find a competition to play in. However, the financial burden already being borne by those in Scotland’s top flight following Rangers’ dismissal from the SPL has resulted in heightened financial restraint which means they are already coping with a lack of Rangers in that league. The loss of Rangers would perhaps be more keenly felt in the Third Division where the newly formed club have been plying their trade in recent times; clubs in that division having enjoyed bumper crowds when the well supported Glasgow club rolls into town.
However, rather than get bogged down with the rights and wrongs of it all and risk becoming embroiled in further tit-for-tat exchanges through the press, perhaps we should see this as an opportunity for all parties to move on. Mr Green and Rangers can get away from the Scottish football scene which has, as he would put it, punished his club for doing no wrong. And the rest can simply get on with the job of playing football and rebuilding the Scottish football brand. Indeed, football has been the big loser since this sorry episode started at the beginning of 2012. Mr Green has, to some extent, been a man of his word since his arrival at Rangers. This would be a good time to continue in that vein.
In addition, Rangers’ leaving Scottish football would spell the end of the dull, tiring ‘old firm’ rhetoric being spewed out by many Scottish football journalists and perhaps challenge them to come up with something a little different. Who knows, maybe they will come up with something positive about the game.
Should Green and Rangers go? Tweet us @talkingbaws or comment below. Watch out for Rob Boulton’s blog tomorrow.
icey
/ 01/10/2013Scottish football is only going 1-way, down the tubes. I’m not even convinced it will exist in 20 years time, and if it does, in what state? And how does it compare to the Premiership in 20 years time?
Rangers have been one of Europes biggest and finest clubs for 141 years that hold world records including 54 top level titles & more recently the best attendances for 4th tier league match.
A club of it’s size, standing & history needs a suitable platform. The penny is starting to drop in Europe, Russie & Ukraine have joined forces because they know otherwise their domestic leagues will decline in comparison to the bigger leagues in Europe and the riches they bring. Holland & Belgium are looking to merge, as are Scandinavian leagues.
In the long term, Rangers need to join England even if it means blue square level, or become apart of an Atlantic league, because thats the difference between being oen of Europes biggest clubs again in 20 years or rotting away to nothing with the rest of Scottish football.
barcabuster
/ 01/10/2013Green can throw his weight against restructure plans all he likes. He will not alter the facts. The facts are that it has nothing to do with him! Simples! They have no vote, and have not been invited to talks. As such, his views and opinions are irrelevant! He can tear up his contract with the SFA/SFL any time he likes(or have it done for him). Either do it, or button it!
Andrew from Paisley
/ 01/10/2013I, like many thousands of Scottish football supporters, would be glad to see the back of the football club who play at Ibrox Park. Their behaviour since Mr Charles started the new club has been actually worse than the old entity.
The new club, with all their vile threats and self entitlement, is still in denial of what happened to RFC.
Just go.
Gerard James Higgins
/ 01/10/2013Once again green says what the fans want to hear but he can’t deliver. TRFC will go bust if they are stuck in the bottom tier of Scottish football for another year. He must keep the share price as high as possible for maximum return on his 5 million 1p shares which he is now selling at 90p plus.
Stephen C
/ 01/10/2013Is Green the Rangers version of Hearts Vladamir Romanov? The guy is actually embarrassing and I struggle to understand how the fans and Walter Smith have got into bed with him. Fergus McCann was open and honest from day 1, I will be at Celtic for five years and sell it for a profit. This is what green will do, but he doesn’t have the guts to say it.
According to Green Rangers will never play in the Spl while he is charge, now they’re looking at where they’ll go? – he should consider the Scottish junior game!
Rangers are currently in the 4th league in Scotland, if/when they win their current league they go to the third league in Scotland, under the new proposals they still go to the 3rd league in Scotland and with the play off they could reach the top league quicker than the current route. Green may go down in history as the man responsible for saving Rangers and killing them off a few seasons later.
Catenaccio Conquered
/ 01/10/2013Rangers risk crumbling into nothingness if they leave the SPL. While it could have some large rewards for the club, if say they were permitted to join English Football, the prior option seems far more likely. But at the moment, it seems to be simply empty threats in the midst of the Scottish league re-construction. Let’s just see how this new system pans out before making any judgements..
justshatered
/ 01/10/2013‘The Rangers’ couldn’t get into the EPL or indeed the lower leagues when they were top of the pile. Who would want them now?
A newly formed club with a questionable business plan that is hardly making friends anywhere.
It would be interesting to ask how fans think ‘The Rangers’ would fare in any other league considering the players they currently have?
How much would fans be willing to pay for the priviledge of watching ‘The Rangers’ play, say Scunthorpe, as it looks as if the clubs overall wage bill and running costs will swallow up the share issue cash by this time next year.
icey
/ 01/10/2013‘The Rangers’ have always been ‘The Rangers’, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/TheRangersFCLogo1959.jpg
Ian Templeman
/ 01/10/2013As a Scot involved in the National League system in England, I need to point something out. I’m Media Officer for the North West Counties Football League – Step 5 and 6 in the English Non-League Pyramid – and can assure everyone that Rangers don’t have a prayer of playing in a league outside Scotland while at the same time playing games at Ibrox.
We as a league have had applications from Welsh clubs in recent years, as our geographic area area borders Wales (we cover Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Staffordshire). These were referred to the FA, who bombed them out completely. Aside of long standing affiliations (e.g. Cardiff City, Swansea City) the FA have stated that there is no way they will sanction an application to join the English League system from a club based in another country. We also had an enquiry from Northern Ireland last year, and when we refrred that to the FA, the answer was along the lines of “same answer applies as for clubs based in Wales”.
If people want to watse time speculating where Rangers might play that is entirely up to them, but as someone involved in the English system, I can assure you it sure isn’t going to be in an English League – unless they head down the M74 and set up a new base down here!