Stenography warning

The Ibrox shambles has, I will readily concede, been wonderful theatre these past six years.

Some of it has been beautifully sequenced and carefully choreographed.

However the most important parts of the script must sometimes be ad-libbed and ipso facto unrehearsed.

The journalists have been central to the unfolding of this saga.

This week expect that all of their questions have been agreed beforehand.

The answers will have been parsed and rehearsed in advance.

It will be theatre masquerading as journalism for the ‘benefit’ of The People.

When a reporter comes to close quarters with a person of interest to the story it should be like a genuine sporting contest.

The journalist against a powerful interviewee can be viewed in the same way as the striker against the defender in a match.

They are on opposite sides of an agreed conflict and they both know that and accept it.

It should be a title fight instead what will be served up is another a succulent portion of WWF.

That the ‘saviour’ of Sevco should be someone with 41 convictions for tax offences is just too ironically delicious.

Of course The People have travelled so far on their ‘journey’, since when they first drank David Murray’s Kool-Aid, that they will not register a single tremor of concern or a scintilla embarrassment.

It is of no consequence to them that they are reduced to relying on a glib and shameless messiah.

If Mr King can bankroll a team that the home crowd at Ibrox consider to be Rangers then all will be well.

What The People want from mainstream journalists this week is breathless cheerleading for a brave new dawn.

In fact a lot of reportage regarding Mr King wouldn’t be out of place if it had emanated from Golden Dawn and that is not his fault dear reader.

If the stenographers want to gush and fawn to win his favour then he would be a fool to spurn their grovelling advances.

Yet there are genuine interrogatives of Public Interest that should be put to Mr King apropos his plans for Sevco.

His wealth may indeed be off the radar, but we cannot be sure.

Moreover we do not know how much of his net worth he is willing to sink into a loss making business that, currently, has no credit line from a bank.

These are real questions, but that is just probably all Greek to the hacks.

Mr King has also been rather coy about how much he intends to bring into Sevco from other investors.

That is what journalists should have been pressing him on with tough, precise questions anytime they got the opportunity.

If they had then it would have become rapidly apparent that perhaps the emperor has no clues.

However the poor dears have been starved of that succulent lamb for so long…

Mr King said in his recent presser that he did not intend to pay back the monies owed by Rangers International Football Club (RIFC) to Sports Direct.

The details of that loan makes it very clear that Big Mike has his finger over the kill switch at RIFC no matter who is sitting in the Blue Room until he is paid back.

That debt means that Mr King is not really in charge of the destiny of Sevco and if he knows what is good for him he will continue to honour the merchandising deal.

The South African based entrepreneur has also stated the possibility that the new regime at Sevco might “attach” monies that had been borrowed from Sports Direct.

Oh dear.

Of course this week we will witness, once more, the pitiable credulity of The People.

It has been one of the few constants in this saga.

Because they need to believe they are vulnerable to anyone who will press the correct tribal buttons.

When Sir David Murray was under financial pressure his ‘quintessentially British club’ wheeze worked for a while with the Ibrox crowd.

When The People looked at Craig Whyte sauntering down Edmiston Drive in triumph they perhaps saw an image that harked back to an imagined past of stern, but scrupulously honest shipyard owners.

Then Charlie made them tea as they queued and told them they were great.

Mr Super told The People that it was Charlie that was great and the Bears promptly ignored Mr Bomber.

It is a matter of public record that Mr Green and Mr McCoist have earned millions from their labours at Sevco since 2012.

They could not have done that without The People or the Stenographers.

For the avoidance of doubt Mr Mike Ashley really is a billionaire with wealth off the radar.

As I have written here on more than one occasion Big Mike does not want to stand on the bridge of HMS Sevco.

However he definitely does want to have all the lucrative trade routes that the three year old leaky rust bucket has access to.

However, if the dignified crew stages a further mutiny and does not allow lawful commerce on the high seas then Admiral Ashley has the ability and the iron will to simply scuttle the vessel.

That storyline concludes with the wreck on the bottom many leagues below the surface.

Of course if Captain King is on the bridge he is much more likely to neutralise any discontent below decks.

However as long as Big Mike is owed that money then the good ship Sevco is part of the Sports Direct line.

David Somers jumping ship does not alter the material reality of that.

Meanwhile the stenographers are predicting calm blue seas at Ibrox, but the storm clouds have not cleared.

There really should be a full scale Stenography Warning on the Sevco coast line this week.

For the avoidance of doubt I do not expect The People to believe me.

After all they haven’t heeded a single weather warning of mine since I started this craic in 2009.

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