On this day, ten years ago, I published this piece about Craig Whyte and his cunning plan for Rangers.
It is fair to say that it struck a contrarian note.
Of course, this was at the time when the mainstream was still gushing about this “billionaire” who would find Rangers to further financially doped glory.
Moreover, it was a fantasy that was widely believed down Edmiston Drive.
You will note that in the piece, I even mentioned the heresy of the Suave Billionaire borrowing money against future season ticket sales!
I decided to phrase the piece in a satirical way that Mr Whyte was a huge find for the club.
In fairness, everyone at the time took it as satire and saw the clear allegations within it.
At the time, I was told that the PR folk at Ibrox were rather irked at me.
They had not factored into their spin calculations the existence of a named NUJ member in another country digging away about Mr Whyte’s true intentions.
Ah well…
Once Super Salary had contrived to have Rangers ejected from both European competitions, then an insolvency event at Ibrox was a given.
Indeed, only a real billionaire could have prevented that from happening in season 2011-2012.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not deploying hindsight.
I said so at the time.
For newcomers here, this site is fully searchable by month, year, and keyword.
A decade ago, it had already started to become an accidental success, a Samizdat for Planet Fitba as the Stenography Corps gorged on the succulent lamb.
For them, Rangers going bust was a deranged fantasy.
Except that it wasn’t.
What was reported here a decade ago was the inescapable conclusion of thousands of hours of old fashioned journalism with numerous well-placed sources.
Then suddenly, what had been predicted here was on the front pages of the newspapers that employed the succulent lamb munchers.
When the inevitable happened, the chaps on the sports desks scrambled to learn new phrases like “holding company vehicle” and, my particular favourite, “engine room subsidiary”.
A great game of pretending commenced, and Sevco Scotland Limited, set up by Charles of Normandy, was the tribute act for the dead club.
In 2021 that gave the world the Life Of 55.
This Orwellian fabrication has facilitated an uber British fascist subculture to cohere around the Ibrox experience.
During the summer of 2012, the eradication of these fascist rallies from Glasgow life was possible; the then SFA CEO Stewart Regan spoke in one presser of the danger of “civil unrest” if there was no Rangers.
I think I know what he means…
Across the city, the Celtic board and their overpowerful CEO deeply believed in the Old Firm business plan.
They still do.
By their silence in 2012, they colluded in the lie that Rangers had not expired.
Consequently, it is little wonder that the levels of alienation among some of the Hoops support vis-à-vis the people who run the Parkhead club are reminiscent of the “Celts For Change” days.
Any scroll back through the content here will clearly show that this site has been calling out the complicity of the Celtic board for years.
A decade ago, they passionately believed in the Old Firm and wanted Rangers to survive.
When the Ibrox club died in 2012, they were fully behind the pretence that somehow the death had not occurred.
Today, financial doping continues across the city, and the folks in the football governance business seem to be looking the other way.
This can only happen because of the craven obedience of the Fitba Fourth estate and the Old Firm advocates in the Celtic boardroom.
Not a good look…
That is why my work here is not yet done, although I sincerely wish that it was.
That is because the Word Mines are an unforgiving place, dear reader.
Today my publisher asked me to send him a synopsis of 150 words about my next novel.
This is so that he can send out advanced information about my next book to the trade.
Next up is the cover design.
This is when it starts to feel real after several years of living in a novel.
I have a trio of trusted colleagues who have read the draft manuscript, and they are highly enthusiastic about it.
As it’s the sequel to The Squad, it is a spy thriller with some of the same characters.
However, there isn’t anything that this novelist can conjure up that will come close to the craven, corrupt duplicity of the national game in Fair Caledonia.
Stay well.
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Jnr : Did Rangers really die father ?
Senior : You know in a funny way they did Nigel
And oh how we fekin laughed .
I remember when I first started reading you Phil, and RTC too, I was astounding and thrilled! You were suggesting something I had never considered – the death of Rangers – and how wonderful such a thing would be from a “get it right up them” position, but also I was excited at the thought of Scottish society without a Rangers in it. I thought the klanbase would disseminate to the smaller clubs (or to the Cousins of William) and any overt displays of bigotry would be shouted down by decent fans at other clubs (because other clubs actually have decent fans, unlike Rangers/Sevco). We would surely start to move past the hate if its’ focussing lens was removed, no? A generation or two and they’d be a memory as much as Third Lanark are now and Scotland would be a much, much better place to be.
How naive. Little did I understand just how much collective trauma can turn thousands of people insane to the point of denying reality….
10 years on and nothing learned;
at Hampden, or at Ibrox, at 40 other SPFL clubs… or even at Parkhead.
The entire Scottish professional football setup is stupid – and doesn’t deserve our support / money.
No Bob the fight back to placing Sevco in Premier League was led by the ‘Duffy clubs’ fans boycotting season tickets. Then Turnbull Hutton at Rovers for placing in Championship. As Phil says it was Celtic board and the need for Old Firm that enabled Rangers recovery. I am also sure and many responses at the time will back this up that a large number of Celtic fans needed the Old Form thing while the rest of Scottish football is bored with the Old Firm, 10 in a row or 55. It is Celtic that facilitated Old Firm to survive and ultimately Rangers winning the league. I am sure Celtic fans suffer more from WATP anti- Catholicism, anti-Irishness more than anyone else but as Phil says Celtic have done more football wise than anyone to allow it to persist.
There was no recovery or 55.
It’s a sevco invention to empty gullible pockets.