pozbaird

It wasn't that long ago Neil Doncaster stood on the steps of Hampden and told us that unless we adopted a ten team SPL Scottish football would face armageddon. Depending on how things go, Neil Doncaster might stand on the steps of Hampden and tell us that unless we adopt the 'new' Rangers straight into the SPL, Scottish football will face armageddon? Excuse my cynicsm. No matter how they dress that one up - it'll still smell of shite, just like the 10 team SPL or die story smelled of shite. I'm not denying the grey suits might do it. Rules? Fcuk the rules... Not denying that at all. If they do? The game is surely a bogey. Time to set up a two-team SPL involving Celtic and Rangers United 2013 playing each other 36 times a season (all live on Sky), and the rest of us can simply crawl back under our rocks.

If the suits did collude to allow Rangers 2013 United straight into the SPL by cheating and ripping up the rule book - the reaction from supporters, sorry, 'customers' to this development would make the reaction to Doncaster's 'a ten team SPL is the only way' speech seem tame in comparison. A lot of water to flow under the bridge yet.

Cathkin.

They've given us 4 points already this season. 'Pleasing' indeed.

Say it panned out as you suggest. Instead of the Scottish football authorities fast-tracking 'NewCo Rangers' straight back into the SPL to keep Sky TV interested, maybe Sky TV would find it interesting to cover the adventures of NewCo Rangers on TV as they start life at the bottom of the pile and undoubtably rise quickly through the leagues. Think about it. NewCo Rangers, papped to the bottom of the pile, would be playing away in tiny venues with very low capacities. Teams in Divs 3, 2, and then 1 would benefit from sell-outs when NewCo Rangers came to town, and if Sky TV covered every NewCo Rangers away game live, it would allow NewCo Rangers fans who couldn't get tickets to these tiny away grounds to watch their team. Sky might find this more attractive TV than run-of-the-mill SPL fodder. Maybe they could do a docu-soap to run along their live NewCo Rangers games, like 'The Osbournes'.... cameras following the supporters to far flung glamourous locales like Methil and Peterhead. Behind-the-scenes coverage... a whole world of possibilities. If they put NewCo Rangers kits having Irn Bru patches sewn on the sleeves on live TV - I'd pay £15 to see it on pay-per-view no worries.

I wonder if Rangers themselves are thinking 'we'll get away with this because it's only 49 million and Vodafone got away with 4.2 billion'... I remember clearly the one and only time Strathclyde's finest done me for speeding. There were guys in big Mercs' and BMWs going faster than me through the Clyde tunnel and overtaking me - but I got done. Outrageous decision by plod when others were so clearly getting away with it. A previous poster also said that football clubs are different and there's no point in HMRC liquidating them because they are guaranteed to generate profit. From HMRCs point of view, they may well generate profit, but what does that matter if they don't pay their taxes? We can twist it any way we want. The fact is that Leeds United or Vodafone being b*****ds before them is no case for Rangers being let off. Spiers, out of all the talking heads on TV seems to be the one speaking clearly and objectively on the matter. He sees HMRC playing hard ball with Rangers specifically because of football clubs in the past getting away with murder. Maybe the line in the sand is now being drawn, and Rangers will be the ones to be hauled out in front of the class, given six of the best and made an example of. Time will tell. Whatever happens, the ordinary staff members who will be shafted get my sympathy. I have no sympathy for Rangers supporters who lapped up the Murray glory years and are now wanting the same man burned at the stake for his acts of folly. You can't have it both ways.

I've been spectacularly wrong before. I thought Mo Camara was an inspired signing following Hartegate.... then I saw him playing. I could be spectacularly wrong again in my assertion that the shameless cheating cnuts are teetering on the edge of the shite barrel - but, as always, will come out smelling of roses. It's what past experience of Leeds, Motherwell, Portsmouth, Livvy, Dundee... insert name of a hundred clubs here, tells us. This isn't real. This is football... Rangers are an institution. Mind you, so were Woolworths.

My stated intention in starting this thread was to generate some debate and to try and get away from the 'LOL fest' - been pretty successful, lots of good contributions! Hope you get a good night's kip. Look on the bright side, William Hill have installed Rangers as favourites for next season's Ramsdens Challenge Cup.

From my own POV, I don't WANT Rangers to die - but the undeniable truth is that they deserve to, and would do, if they were an engineering firm, a restaurant chain, or any 'normal' business. That's what's sticking in our throats - the fact that if Rangers survive relatively unscathed (given the scale of their self-inflicted financial problems) then as a supporter of a rival club with a BOD who have more integrity in one toenail than Rangers have in their entire boardroom - we'd feel that we were being raped up the arse not once, but twice. Rangers supporters should be ashamed at the custodians of their club, and completely ashamed at Whyte now being in charge of their club and trying to cheat the British taxpayer. I'm willing to bet that every single one of us has every sympathy with shafted suppliers, and any ticket office staff, groundsmen, cleaners, cooks, and any Ibrox/Murray Park staff who work hard and may well find their hard work and loyalty rewarded with redundancy.

As a supporter of a Scottish football club who has run itself properly and paid its way, I care how it pans out - especially if a weasel like Whyte rides into town and manages to make 49 million pounds of our money disappear in a manner Carol Vorderman and Ocean Finance could only dream about.

So, we're looking at a situation whereby no matter the amount of debt, no matter how it was racked up, no matter the setting up of dodgy offshore payment schemes, and no matter how much of a shyster and manipulator the new owner is - administration is his call, deliberately played at the appropriate moment to set himself up nicely and to allow his club to cheat their way out of a crisis built up over many years of buying success and cheating. It's OK though - they're a football club. Not a normal business? Someone please tell me I'm wrong.

So far, responses are going the way I expected. Pretty much along the lines of no matter how it's achieved, Rangers WILL find a way out of this.... I'm genuinely not praying that they bite the dust, no really, but they DESERVE to bite the dust. If it pans out the way many of us seem to think it will - I.E. Rangers carry on following some short term pain, but in the grand scheme of things, having dodged their debts and eventually re-emerge smelling of roses... then why don't we all just say 'fcuk it' and let's see us diddy clubs spend what we don't have, cheat the taxpayer, do whatever it takes to enjoy some success and worry about the consequences later? Anyone think they WON'T dodge the big hammer blow? If so, what will it take for Rangers to actually be the first to fall in a long list of big-name clubs, especially down South, who rack up massive debts and unpaid tax bills - but don't actually bite the dust, they always manage to pull back from the brink. Is it just as simple as HMRC making a stand, digging in their heels and making an example of Rangers, in order to flex their muscles in relation to even bigger EPL club debt? Will they? Can they? Will Scottish politicians and the media, in association with the SPL and SFA be able to stop HMRC from actually killing off Rangers if that's what HMRC try to do?

Firstly, I know there's a multitude of threads running - many of which now only exist for our amusement, posting of 'pleasing' gifs, and general 'let's all laugh and point at Rangers' merriment.... The more I'm hearing though, the more I'm looking towards the actual end game here, and would like to gauge reaction as to where we will be a year, two years, however many years down the line. For as long as i remember I have personally felt disgusted by the way football clubs play fast and loose in a manner no 'normal' business can ever hope to get away with. I see this going the same way as so many clubs before them. They'll dodge the big one by playing the administration card. They won't be the first, they won't be the last. So, what's your prediction for the actual end to this? To my eyes it's all set up with Whyte knowing all along that he would decide when to play the administration joker card to position himself as main creditor. I genuinely believe some sort of deal will grudgingly be accepted by HMRC. There will be pain for Rangers - but they will indeed dodge the big hammer blow. Short term pain, longer term, they'll weasel a way to rise phoenix-like from administration, as I say, like so many morally bankrupt cheating football clubs before them. Thoughts? Hopefully not just of a 'LOL' nature! Really looking to see what you guys seriously see the end of this actually being when the dust settles.

Re: your earlier post about Morton having a plan of action should they win promotion - super stuff. I made my original post asking about your stadium because I did not know the situation. Best wishes for the rest of the campaign, hope Morton come up. The recent 4-3 game was a belter... more of the same on league business, in front of passionate sell-out crowds please!

Good stuff. Crack on with winning the league and we've got full-house derbies to look forward to at the Cappielow Upgraded New Topflight Stadium. Well, I think it's a good name!

Stadium sharing with us wouldn't work. We're already the designated home of the Scotland U21 side, and wouldn't want the pitch to be fecked - like Fir Park was when Gretna shared. I simply cannot imagine a Morton v St Mirren game, held at our stadium, which is a designated Morton home match. Morton fans in our three stands, with 'visiting' Saints fans in the away end North Stand only? Our corporate hospitality suite, which is decorated with graphics panels depicting St Mirren's history, full of Morton supporting prawn sandwich guests? Be still my aching heart! If I were you, I'd give Partick Thistle a call instead.

Seating and covered seating at that is only part of it. There's USH compliance, and toilet facilities, access routes, safety issues... etc. Remember we had to spend money building new safety exit staircases on our old main stand, and had to upgrade the access to the North Bank... never mind putting USH in for one season.

Where's the cash coming from? You bought our old Love Street end stand and couldn't afford to erect it. There's also a rumour that Rae has told your manager to do well, but not well enough to actually win the league... can't afford to go up. I'd love nothing more than to see Renfrewshire derbies in the SPL by the way, so I'm not trying to be funny - I just don't see you being allowed up, unless you pull a huge rabbit out of a hat and attain SPL stadium compliance. Falkirk were knocked back - the suits in charge have previous in this area. You'll be fcuked if Aberdeen or Hibs finish bottom - there would be dodgy league reconstruction before you could say boo to a goose.

I haven't read the thread, so apologies - no doubt this has been mentioned. One for the 'Ton fans... if you actually win Div 1, where would you play SPL football?

Sing along while we're waiting to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody.... Mama, I just killed a club, Went to Hampden, but was banned, Wouldn't sell for twenty grand... Mama, Livvy was such fun, But now I've gone and thrown it all away... Mama, ooh-ooh-ooh, Cannae' even drive my car, Cos' I got pished in a bar....

Should change his name by deed poll to Rowan Alexander.

Massone is about to go, And leave behind this farce. The drummer boy will miss him, With his visits up his arse. Again - needs a bit of work.

The odds of Livvy pulling through, Are just about to shorten. Angelo's got 5 quid left, Enough to buy up Morton.

They used to be Ferranti, And once were Meadowbank. Now they're out in Livingston, And their Chairman is a w**k. Needs a bit of polishing, but it's nearly there.

...and a 'nae luck pal' to the lottery buffoon that allowed himself to be taken for a ride..... When you add up all the chunts involved, is it any wonder most of us want to see them put to sleep ASAP.