The reaction of the Ibrox klanbase to the news that Manchester City might be in trouble for financial malfeasance is too contrived for a novel.
Given that is exactly what I am doing at the moment, then forgive a writer’s sideways look at this shitshow.
Apart from Hogmanay, Scotland’s undeniable cultural gift to the world is an evening of maudlin navel gazing called the “Burns Supper”.
I suspect no one at these tartan events dare mention that the chap in question happily took a job on a Caribbean slave plantation in 1786.
He had even booked his passage, and it was only the upturn in his fortunes as a writer that prevented him from boarding the ship bound for Jamaica.
I certainly cannot write here how Burns described his new job to a friend in a letter.
Six years later, in 1792, he would write “the slave’s lament”.
If any of ye want to know the reality of this part of Scotland’s story, then this anthology edited by Professor Tom Devine is essential reading.
The chapter dealing with Scottish imperialism and slave trading BEFORE the 1707 marriage to fellow colonisers England is particularly illuminating.
Professor Devine was entirely correct, in my opinion, to refer to Uster as “Scotland’s first colony”.
Well, as these words blink to life in Dún na nGall I can reassure you, dear reader, that it never caused any lasting trouble!
A line of Scotland’s national Bard, which is universally famous, is his lament about a lack of self-awareness.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us.
To see oursels as ithers see us!
That is what I thought when I read these comments:
Despite the foregoing, the English club are deserving of due process.
By the tribal nature of football, many have them convicted already and are ghoulishly discussing the harshest possible punishments.
Of course, they do things differently in Fair Caledonia.
There is a Favoured Franchise convention.
Essentially the events of 2012 proved that even after it was revealed that the original Rangers had cheated the game for a decade to gain a sporting advantage, it was still no biggie.
There was a rush to make sure that a Rangers, any Rangers, in fact, would play in the top flight the following season.
When fans of other SPL clubs scuppered that, a Plan B was hatched.
The phoenix club could start in the second tier of Scottish football.
A huge debt of gratitude is owed to the late great Turnbull Hutton for stepping forward and acting with good authority.
As for the original Rangers, they just owed huge debts.
Those myriad arrears were built up because they fielded a team they otherwise could not have afforded.
It was the dictionary definition of a sporting advantage.
Yet the local football authorities did not want the Ibrox brand to suffer any meaningful penalty long-term for their cheating.
Did I mention the “favoured franchise”?
The difference in England is that Manchester City does not carry the cultural heft of the Ibrox brand in Scotland.
Consequently, they will be dealt with fairly and impartially by a governing body that is fit for purpose.
The featured image, a Tweet by journalist Martyn Zeigler yesterday, would be unthinkable on Planet Fitba, apropos any Ibrox club.
Now, back to the Word Mines for this Irishman.
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I see the Daily Mirror is peddling the myth that Rangers were relegated in 2012. No doubt others will follow if they have not done so already.
The players who were signed, and rewarded with EBTs were not registered properly (i.e. side letters re remuneration). There is no good reason not to strip the EBT titles. See Queens Park for a recent example of how other clubs are treated for fielding ineligible players.
Strip them of their titles….and Man City too.
Love the examples from the Klan forums, notably “People should temper the talk about stripping titles” why would that concern them??? Perhaps they fear some new kind of re-investigation into years of cheating north of the border which the SFA and stenography corps turned a blind eye to. Hope the Man City story leads to the can of worms being reopened and put under the spotlight once again.
No chance that the SFA will suddenly step up. A part of me has always thought that it would lead to mutual self destruction – me thinks they all know where the bodies are buried.
Any resulting fine for Manchester City would be akin to removing a limestone block from the great pyramid to try and weaken it’s structure ! Not going to happen … A futile settlement because of the wealth of the club .