After the Scottish Spring nine years ago, I thought that I would never witness fan power in football ever again.
As regular readers may recall back, then the world-class chaps on the 6th floors at Hampden decided that they needed a Rangers, any Rangers in the topflight.
The fact that there could be a season without an Ibrox club playing in the Scottish Premier League (SPL) was an appalling vista for them.
Even though it had become apparent that the original Ibrox club, then in administration, had been cheating on an industrial scale.
EBTs, side-letters all meant that the rules of the game had been blithely ignored by the Knight of the Realm in the Blue Room.
To cap it all off he sold the club to this guy for a quid.
Of course, all of this could only ever have happened if there was a catastrophic failure of oversight by the governing bodies and a total lack of journalistic scrutiny from the Fitba Fourth estate.
In 2012 there was a cunning plan was to drop the newly created Rangers into the SPL.
I recall the moment when I was told on an Off The Record basis that the No To NewCo campaign was about to be set up.
For the avoidance of doubt, I was hugely enthusiastic about the project and wished it well.
Within the space of a weekend, it had viralled across social media and Arabs, Dons, Jambos, and Hibbees were eagerly signing up.
The proposition to the SPL clubs from their fans was simple:
If you back NewCo Rangers into the SPL, then you can forget about season ticket renewals.
It worked.
The new club would not be parachuted into the SPL.
The dynamic duo at Hampden then came up with a Plan B to have DSevco play in the second tier.
However, they didn’t reckon on this man.
Yesterday I had a lovely warm sense of déjà vu as the plans for the breakaway European Super League collapsed within the space of a single day.
By this morning, all six English clubs and all three Italian clubs have abandoned plans to join a new European Super League, essentially bringing the cynical scheme to an abrupt halt.
You know something is seriously flawed when FIFA and UEFA are on the moral high ground on any issue regarding football governance and sporting integrity.
I had another reason to travel down my own personal memory cul-de-sac when the name “JP Morgan” was mentioned.
There was a time, many decades ago, when I was for a time an economics undergraduate.
Consequently, the name of the American robber baron resonated with me.
Indeed, the man who loved trusts and monopolies would have thoroughly approved of a closed shop league with no regelation.
Therefore, it was entirely fitting that the bank he founded was behind this shitshow and he is the featured image in this piece.
I was discussing the story last night with a comrade who has little interest in association football. It must be a big story of it registered on his radar.
His take was :
“The British Empire was the European Super League of the 19th century. Free trade? Only on their terms.”
Sound fella.
By late last night, several of the English clubs were showing the Dunkirk Spirt and retreating from Europe in panicked disarray.
It fell to Planet Fitba’s national treasure Spencey to lay it on the line.
Hopefully, there is some long-term consequential learning for all of the participants in this ill-fated cynical money grab.
The fact that fans can still exert power in the age of the distant billionaire gave me cause to smile.
Stan Collymore, an ex-Liverpool player, summed it up well.
Now it is back to the Word Mines for your humble correspondent.
Nearly there…
I learned today that my publisher has a troika of editors lined up for this manuscript.
No pressure then!
Please stay safe.
I read your blog avidly, almost never comment , but very much appreciate it.
But this message is to wish you well with your novel. I thoroughly enjoyed The Squad and am looking forward to the new one.
Domhnall.
Interesting to see that now the ESL has been kyboshed that the old “Celtic & Rangers to join British super league” chestnut has appeared again. Surely this is not dissimilar to the ESL so why would people support it?