The recent trial of Mr Craig Whyte further underlined how Rangers (1872-2012) was a high-wire act in the final years before liquidation.
Once Malmo and Maribor had put an end to their European ambitions for season 2011-2012, then the numbers simply didn’t add up.
The sight of the Ibrox club being out of Europe so early was a great shock to the football world given the brilliant young coach in charge of Rangers at that time.
However, the financial realities were undeniable.
I reported in the autumn and winter of 2011 that Rangers were in deep trouble.
Quite simply, they were running out of cash.
Of course, with Pavlovian predictability, The People sneered and smeared.
Mr Whyte was a billionaire, and all was well they screamed.
I reported the situation at Rangers faithfully at the time, and that can be seen by looking at the blog archive or in the pages of ‘Downfall’.
This high-risk strategy at Rangers wasn’t entirely new.
Under David Murray, the European gamble had become a major part of the plan at Ibrox.
With a failure to achieve Ten In A Row all that was left was a shot at the Big Cup.
The city rivals could always boast of what their club had done in 1967.
David Murray, with the bravado of a riverboat gambler, bets the farm on success in the Champions League.
The Dutchman got whatever he wanted, including a state of the art training facility.
He was also allowed to spend lavishly on players.
In doing so, David Murray allowed Dick Advocaat to, in effect, bankrupt Rangers in the period 1998-2001.
Even so, European success eluded the Ibrox club and they never fully emerged from the debt spiral.
By 2009 the bank was calling the shots.
It must have seemed such a godsend when an award-winning chap told The People that their club were about to be bought by a billionaire!
When the bank did walking away in May 2011, the only thing keeping Rangers afloat was European revenue.
Now Sevco seems to be going the same way.
Given the vagaries of a bouncing ball then the Engine Room Subsidiary could have a highly successful Europa League campaign.
However, crashing out early could make things interesting for the Holding Company vehicle.
That is especially true if they fail to move enough players from the current wage bill.
The “undisclosed fee” for Joe Garner tells a tale in itself.
Now Pedro seems to be working on a football budget that seems predicated on European success.
As with old Rangers, The People are being soothed by an award winning chap that all is rosy in the financial garden.
Dear reader, we’ve been here before.
We’ve been here before…
