Vaccinating against the Ibrox virus

Whatever happens in the matches against Servette FC Sevco is guaranteed some variant of European football this season.

The only thing to be decided is the extent of the revenue that will flow into the Ibrox coffers.

It is vital, but not existential, that Sevco reach the premier UEFA competition this season.

Failure to do so will put further financial distance between them and their far richer city rivals.

The last time the original Rangers had the chance of Champions League money, they shouldn’t have.

Because of the Discounted Options Scheme, which remunerated Tore André Flo and Ronald de Boer (Wee Tax Case), Rangers FC  had overdue payables to a taxing authority.

Consequently, had it been accurately reported to Nyon at the time, the Ibrox club should not have been granted a licence to play in UEFA competitions in season 2011-2012.

The extent to which that is an open and shut case is indicated by the degree of silence emanating from the Stenography Corps on the subject.

If you want to know the forensic facts, then read this.

It’s all there.

Because of the tactical genius of Super Salary, the original Rangers never got into the Group Stages in their final season of existence.

That torpedoed Craig Whyte’s cunning plan to keep Rangers on an even keel as he awaited the Big Tax Case ruling from the First Tier Tribunal.

That would have allowed him to be blameless when he pushed the insolvency button.

When Mr McCoist failed in Malmo, the Suave Billionaire blinked.

You know the rest.

The Wee Tax Case was entirely separate from the decade-long operation of the Employee Benefit Trust scheme (EBTs), which was malfeasance on such a scale as to be impossible to unravel in the aftermath.

Some believed it was feasible to strip the EBT-funded titles from a club that had already died.

However, in the end, it was just noise.

The grown-up approach was to vaccinate European football against the Ibrox virus.

When it comes to the domestic sphere, the chaps in the Blue Room still have friends in low places, but that doesn’t reach Nyon.

The fact that Juventus have been sanctioned under UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations (FFP) should tell even the casual observer that the folk in Switzerland are serious about creating a level playing field.

Andrea Traverso of UEFA has a granular understanding of what was allowed to operate out of Ibrox for ten years.

Now that he and his colleagues have added the new Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR) to their governance armoury, it becomes increasingly difficult for anyone, even the brethren in the Blue Room, to play fast and loose with the rules.

A key point is the extent to which the domestic associations have been sidelined in the new ordinances.

Moreover, the Serious Professional tried to impart that crucial point to his employers while he was still working for the basket of assets.

If Sevco is forced to be on a level financial playing field with Celtic, then their future is being simply the second best.

The Champions League qualifying matches will decide the extent of the gap this season.

Moreover, it starts all over again in twelve months, with the Blue Room brethren having to work out once more how they conjure up monies to match the Parkhead outfit.