Starting again from the bottom of the pile seems fair game to me and it's what rangers should have been seeking all along. The grounds of these clubs won't be able to cope with the impact of all the away supporters who will follow rangers so the third division won't be able to benefit fully from rangers being in that division. Im pretty sure the rangers fans will never forget the spl teams who voted them out.
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A realistic evaluation...
So, youve just been dropped into Division Three, lost most of your players (with more surely to leave now) and the ones that remain are on wages unsustainable on the revenues that can be generated at that level of football - What do you do?
They have taken upon a club that was run unsustainably and have been placed in a situation where they shall be unsustainable once more. While Rangers will have a substantially higher level of income than any other club in the division, it will be lower by far than ever before.
The players who remain have to leave the club. Even the youth wages Rangers pay are far higher than the average wage in the rest of the division and it is hard to believe that any senior players can be afforded by the club.
One may compare them to Gretna. While Gretna were bankrolled by Brooks Mileson at a loss (and could be) by utilising senior journeymen (Deuchar et al) to go up the leagues, NewCo cannot run at a loss - were they to go into debt, they would not be given much leeway and they do not have a willing benefactor to take up the slack (the men behind Rangers NewCo may be wealthy, but they have shown themselves to be unwilling to commit even their identities to being associated with the club, never mind their money).
One could compare them to Leeds. However Leeds actually made money in losing their stars. Rangers simply walked out of the door as fast as they could.
One could compare them to Portsmouth. Except Portsmouth have the goodwill of most of football (aside from the guy at Fratton Park who has that bloody bell - he can get lost) behind them and no shortage of people queueing to try and help the club.
We have turned from a situation where Charles Greens unique interpretation of TUPE has gone to one where all players must go at all costs.
They have two weeks before the season starts, in which they have to sell as many season tickets as they can or resolve to simply sell tickets at the gate and just try half-season tickets.
That is not a recipe to make money, that is a recipe to lose money.
There is then the ominous spectre of BDO, who have so far remained silent. They have the power to overturn the sale to Sevco should they so wish. Its an unlikely scenario growing more improbable by the day as Rangers NewCo are shown to be unprofitable.
The question Im wondering isnt How will Rangers do? its Will Rangers even play?
Make no mistake, it is not affordable to keep any senior players on the books - the only players the club can afford in the short term are youth players and any journeymen they can find. Even then, there will have to be wage cuts. Anyone expecting Rangers to waltz through Division Three are mistaken. The very players that are all Rangers can afford right now are the very players who havent played for the first team before, who may have been out on loan in the Third last year.
When it comes to affordable players right now, Rangers have 1 keeper, 2 defenders, 2 midfielders and 1 striker on their books. I would even describe Kirk Broadfoot as an unnecessary luxury that Rangers will simply be unable to afford. They need, in the space of the next 14 days, to offload every player but those six and get cheap replacements to the tune of 10-15 players.
I hope you get the idea of how big a task is on Ally McCoists hands. The most effective tactic may, in fact, to actually abide by TUPE law and simply release everyone from their employ. After all, they are building an almost entirely new team, they may as well build an actually entirely new team.
Assuming Rangers are ready to play in 2 weeks, they will be poor. They have had no pre-season whatsoever, as everyone cancelled their friendlies. They will be strangers. When they line up for the first match as Rangers NewCo, they will lose. They could keep their best youth talents and they will still lose. It is improbable that they will be up and running at anything resembling their potential before October, by which time they could be out of two cups and well behind in the league, if one other team excels throughout the season.
And, more importantly, by which time the fans will have lost patience. Crowds will have plummeted (and will hardly be raised by Rangers slowly matching expectations) and the players, coaching staff and board wont just be under fire, there will be a full on napalm attack from fans.
Which poses a real question - what do Sevco do? That things have gotten this close to the beginning of the season make it unlikely they will be able to field a competitive side due to the mass recruitment drive required. It will be difficult, even, for them to field a full bench on the first day of the season.
Not just difficult. Improbable.
There are then policing costs, which will be just as high (if not, considering feelings in the fanbase, higher) than they were in the SPL.
There are ground maintenance costs which, as Ibrox (if we take Hampden out of the equation as Queens Park dont maintain it) is by far the biggest ground in the division AND the one requiring the most maintenance, will be just as high as they were in the SPL.
There are training costs. Murray Park didnt magically shrink in size - they will be maintaining a training facility built for Europe on much reduced revenues.
Let me be clear with the picture I am painting. Not only do I firmly believe that Rangers will be unable to field a competitive team on the first day of the season, I firmly believe that there isnt much hope (unless Rangers fans match or surpass their ability to delve into their pockets as last season) of Rangers NewCo breaking even to the extent that a second liquidation is an inevitability.
But this wont be a liquidation like the last one. This wont be one with a prelude of interest, a subtext of skullduggery, accusations and allegations flying about, with false hopes, new dawns and fan power.
This will be a liquidation of finality. This will be a club at which it is not possible to turn a profit dying because they are simply not financially viable.
This will be the end of Rangers in any form. They will be dead, buried and locked out of a league system that they fought to preserve.
Financial Armageddon? You bet, but not for who you think.
So what do Rangers do?
The only, and I mean ONLY, option they have is to lobby as hard as they can for SPL2 to be instituted in the next fortnight. This will not be lobbying, this will be based on open threats to leave the league, a refusal to play.
Rangers are worth more with Ibrox demolished and built on for housing than they are a Division Three club - unless they can rig the system so they get back into the SPL within a season (and, in all seriousness, in their financial state, they will be lucky to last a season) then the only option left for Sevco is to raze the property to the ground and build on the ashes.
And, if youre a Rangers fan, would you really want to bet against Charles Green doing exactly that?Last edited by mik25; 14 July, 2012, 10:24.Comment
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It's not going to be as easy as sevco think to get promotion from div 3, Elgin have just released a statement: for every 1p Sevco FC spend they will spend 2p........
"I did not need any persuasion to play for such a great club, the Hibs result is still one of the first I look for"
Sir Matt BusbyComment
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I can't wait until they get promoted to Division 2 and they visit Coatbridge and Albion Rovers pump them.Comment
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ST MIRREN
ST MIRREN chairman Stewart Gilmour last night branded the SFL clubs? decision to send Rangers into the Third Division as ?catastrophic? for the Paisley side and predicted five top-tier outfits could be in administration within weeks. This is horrific news for St Mirren Football Club," Gilmour told the Paisley Daily Express.
"The consequences are terrible - catastrophic even. The St Mirren board will meet in the days after the SPL meeting (on Monday) and decide what is the best way forward but we are already looking at major redundancies.
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And who is to blame?
If Rangers had paid their taxes and played fair then none of this would have happened.
Murray and Whyte may just have killed off Scottish football as we know it but as long as they enjoyed their tainted titles then that's ok.Comment
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The people who run the game are to blame the SFA/SPL couldn't run a bath they allowed this to happen and they only have themselves to blame.
The blaming Rangers routine is wearing very thin now and only used by bitter fans towards them and that will always be the way for small minded people.
At the end of the day the way football has been allowed to run is rotten to the core, and if what has happened with Rangers and others learn from it then that can only be a good thing.
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Gotta agree, the lets blame Rangers for the state of Scottish Football is becoming boring, I'd suggest SFA, SPL, SFL and that the rest of the clubs take a good hard look at themselves first, Rangers have been found Guilty, Punished and demoted to the Scottish D3 league, I suppose that's not enough for some on here.
You know it reminds me of another 2 other things that actually have the same topic but I'm not going to mention it after reading posts elsewhere on the forum.Comment
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Not in Scotland, could someone please explain why it's OK for SPL clubs to reject Rangers from joining their league,but it's not OK for the SFL to let them join their 3rd division.
Seems like the SPL want to hold their heads high but the SFL clubs should take a bribe or listen to threats.Comment
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Yeah its getting boring now - the lets jump up and down on rangers heads attitude From the minority of rangers haters on the forum and the trolls of the rangers threads said these things wouldn't happen and the spl would carry on as normal - looks like they are maybe wrong - AGAIN !
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Being realistic here, who the hell gonna watch the SPL now, the only thing that was worth watching was the old firm derby.Comment
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Blame has to be apportioned and not to blame sevco 5088 would defy logic. The world will not end if teams in scottish football go to the wall. It will be because they were hopeless at running a business in the first place and due to their mismanagement. Then maybe those that are left can pay footballers what they deserve. So we won't get sky money and we won't be in europe but they will be playing for their jerseys again. They have all been overpaid for long enough. For too long people have been living outwith their means now it's time to sort it.
Logic - A reasoned thought or argument, as distinguished from irrationality.Comment
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offcourse the club formally known as rangers are to blame they abused tax loopholes, then refused to pay their taxbill. they used money they didnt have running up huge bills to win trophies again with money they didnt have,
if you take out credit cards and buy stuff you cant afford you cant say its the banks fault for giving me the card... you have the responsibility to live within their means, all these gers fans who loved the for every fiver they spend stuff its coming back to haunt them now.
ENjoy Division 3:-)Comment
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