theBOX

Ach who knows what goes on behind the scenes... As regards the Unionist agenda, vis-a-vis "Rangers" I suspect that this may not have escaped the attention of The Powers That Be (and I don't mean the footballing authorities here). In short, it might be that some controlling influences within the Home Office see this as being a good thing? 'Scotch on the Rocks' scenarios and all. Maybe there are vested interests quite outwith football who see the continuation of 'Rangers' - or at least the support they command - as being a convenience, and who are more than able to put Hector in his place.

Is Barry Ferguson not starting to ook awfy like that guy from Sparks?

That wishing well pic reminds me of that Benny Hill sketch... Now THERE'S a nice little possibility for a Flash animation.

Well done indeed to the social media - and this site especially. The Scottish Football Spring has turned into full Summer. Undoubtedly there are many threads to be tied up yet and those who pulled the strings of evil are still in situ, and still more than capable of mischief. Football aside though, this has been a great example of how the ability of the 'ordinary' people can sweep aside the gerrymandering and scheming of those in power simply by communicating effectively. Be warned though - both sides learn and adapt and should such a situation rear its ugly head again there will be new subtleties and tactics to learn. Keep watching and keep a thread like this handy, for the use of at a moment's notice. That pic of Doncaster and Regan - Regan's head in his hands... Reminds me of something - a failed attempt at something which was a supposed fait accomplit... 1978? Some South American campaign... It'll come to me soon. Anyway - well done one and all. Keep alert though!

Nursery school? Looxury!

Don't think there can be any doubt that tomorrow's meeting will be a culmination of the machinations that have been going on SPL-wise since Friday, to get Sevco into the top flight again, the Dundee/ Dunfermline issue having been firmly relegated. My view (guesswork admittedly) is that they all believe that SEVCO will NOT survive in Division 3 (either due to lack of income or Christopher Green walking). This would explain the panic vis-a-vis a Division 1 vs Division 3 placement, with the SKY contract baloney being no more than a red herring. It's all up in the air again and I think we're right back to where we were a week or two ago. It's that SPL vote all over again, but this time without the luxury of the SFL safety net. No doubt it will sharpen the minds of those involved wonderfully. My own belief is though that they WILL jettison the attachment to "Rangers" (and accept the likely death of that organisation) thanks only to the strongly held positions of some teams who will dig their studs in. They'd better! ps Just hope they sort out Dunfermline/ Dundee tomorrow. If they DON'T then you can take it SEVCO (or some unholy SEVO/ OLDCO-why-aren't-they-liquidated-yet hybrid) are waiting in the tunnel.

Football-the-business is a circus and 'Rangers' are now viewed by the moneymen as little more than a circus freak to be led out to ogle at and get the pennies jingling into the cap. I agree with those who are anticipating something not-very-pleasant on Monday (or shortly thereafter). For me this has all the hallmarks of a last desperate counterattack by the SPL hierarchy (but with very real dissensions therein). I feel the tactic is still to try a fait-accomplit (probably long planned, but not expected to implemented until now) which they hope will be difficult to undo before the start of the season; again the threat being that to oppose it will bring the Big Top crashing down. I now think it won't succeed though although there are now no rules and no guarantees.

One thing I don't understand... If the 'Armageddon' scenario is nonsense; fabricated and without substance (and I for one am willing to believe it is a gross exaggeration and that those who are promulgating this know it), then WHY rip the very fabric of Scottish Football to install Newco? If this is a fabrication then money can't be the true root cause. It can't be 'the betterment of the game' because the game becomes a sham and everybody knows it. To prevent social disorder? To preserve The Quo and keep the balcony bouncing? To save face? To preserve MI5 deep-cover agents? To fulfill a plan that started even before administration? This needs a good interrogative book and i for one will pay my 17/6 when it comes out (subject to Home Office and MOD granting its clearance).

Why are they very confident? By all accounts the vote is going to go massively against them. Could it possibly be that the outcome has already been decided DESPITE the vote. TBH I firmly believe that the decision for Div 1 (and much more besides) has already been made. I sincerely hope I am wrong, but the entire tactic so far by the SFA has been to drive a Chieftan Tank the wrong way up a one way street.

No point trying to close off the Big Hill to them while you do your walk. The Big Hill must stay open.

Here's how I see it: • FIFA/UEFA not interested in intervening and leaving it ll to SPL/SFA • delay in decision about Dundee/ Dunfermline going into SPL • previously stated determination of authorities to put 'Rangers' into Div 1 and nothing less • legal authorities (apparently) turning a blind eye to the efforts to continue Rangers, as was, as if nothing had happened (the name, claim to history, colours, etc) despite upcoming liquidation • determination of Newco to play fast and loose with players' rights to refuse transfer to Newco • pushing the boundaries at every turn, and so on... All points to NuRangers being put slap bang into Div 1 regardless of vote on Friday OR indeed SPL. This to be done as a fait-accomplit on the basis that once it's done it will be very hard to undo and the resentment/ rebellion created will (they hope) quickly die down and it will be Status Quo (and I don't mean at The Apollo).

I write as a bit of an outsider: someone with no specific team allegiance but one who enjoys the spectacle of football and likes a good, clean sport where everybody has an equal chance and it's the skill of the team that determines success or failure. It means a lot to me that people are able to enjoy their football without the waters being dirtied and the validity of the whole shebang being corrupted. Stating the bleedin' obvious; if football is rigged then it's not football any longer. Those who have said that they'll no longer follow (senior) football have, therefore, my full understanding. What I want to say is this, and it's not a popular thing to be saying, but here goes: 'Rangers' (who are original contaminant in all of this) are certainly going to be shoehorned back in: Guilty as Hell and unrepentant notwithstanding . My reasons for saying this are simply an extrapolation of everything that's gone before, courtesy of the SPL/SFA. It seems (to me at least) that the tactic is (1) to try and obtain the consent (coerced though it may be) of the member clubs and when this fails (2) to just go ahead and do it anyway and live with the consequences. I fully believe that this is what will happen. They are banking on fans grumbling a bit, but still trickling back. The boundaries are continually being pushed back and there are no bufferstops in sight. The rules that everyone thought kept things in check have systematically been sidestepped. Brace yourselves for what is about to happen. Finally, I love all the teams that provide this wonderful spectacle week in, week out. (Incidentally I do have a soft spot for Dumbarton and would like to give a little bit of support to those fans who have been having a rough time of late), but all of you for whom your football is an important part of your lives- I sincerely hope that - EVENTUALLY - something good will come out of all this. Meantime I fear that things are too far gone and it really is a matter of some kind of fresh start.

Is that really Craig Burley's statement. If that is the case then all I would say to him and those who have engineered the current state of Scottish senior football is this... YOU have destroyed the game. YOU have made it into a something totally worthless: something not worth spending money on; something false and hollow and utterly useless to man and beast. Bugger your millions of pounds in lost revenue (it that' s not a myth anyway) - if the sport's nothing but a fix then those millions of £ are being taken under false pretences. The REAL nonentity here is the game itself? The REAL embarrassment here is what the game is becoming. National obsession ? It's just been trampled underfoot and wasted for every single fan who appreciates fairness and sport as opposed to empty headed tribalism. Why bother with the football? Just sell the colours and make it into a £££ multi million gang fight. And another thing - How can anyone really take 'Rangers' seriously again. In this instance they themselves are being used by the manipulators in charge of the 'game', but surely this destroys any credibility they might have been able to rebuild by fair and honest workmanship and a climb back up through the leagues.

I fully expect that there are 'contigency plans' for that eventuality too. Some kind of fait accomplit that will simply see Revco suddenly integrated into 1 - either that or some even more dire threat than those already issued, including delaying the start of the season. What I'm saying is that the 'powers that be' will continually be thinking two steps ahead and probing weak points/ sowing division in a divide and conquer strategy. The more I think about it too the more I think there's a bigger game going on here - even bigger than finance, but at what level? It seems the legal authorities and tax authorities are being very restrained and that Revco are pushing the boundaries with some kind of impunity.

What are the players' views on this? Playing in a set up that is openly rigged? Will they not be looking for moves out of Scottish Football?

Thousands and thousands of good people whose main pleasure in life is Football; the fans of the SPL clubs; have been betrayed in a staggeringly blatant way: Betrayed many years ago in fact. It's a real shame. I would imagine the powers that be hope that the momentum of the beast will carry it through this hiccup and that in a month or two all will have settled down and been forgotten. But it's a sham - there IS no game and there IS no sport; just a rubbishy, tawdry, illusion; sustained at all costs to keep the money flowing for the moneymen and the sports writers and the hangers on. It's a bloody bauble: or a two-dimensional cardboard cut out of a thing - all front and nothing really there when you look behind it. As I've said before I don't think this is in any way motivated by favouritism for 'Rangers' as such - they are just (along with Celtic) the most useful tool in the money-making box and are also being used (although in their case it suits them). Bad is good and good is bad in SPL Land and everything decent and honest seems to have gone. So much for the club (in SPL terms anyway) being the fans. This myth has been busted. I personally will never watch, attend or have ANY interest whatsoever in any SPL game ever again - the conjuring trick has been exposed and I'm amazed it ever took me in in the first place.

I've been following this for a while. Haven't posted before as I have to admit to not being a supporter of ANY team as such - I just like the spectacle of football in general and to see people enjoying themselves. One thing that strikes me in all of this though is that to those 'in power' ,'Rangers' is probably no more than a commodity: a cash cow. I doubt if there is any real loyalty - more self preservation and protectionism towards a source of cash flow, and any rule bending/breaking/bonfire-of-the-rule-book is motivated by the £££ of the status-quo rather than two hoots about the team itself: a far more powerful motivator than team loyalty or prejudice. In short, football has become two starkly different things to the two basic groups that make up the game: those who control it and those who follow it. It is fatally split along the fault line between business and sport, and laid bare for all to see. My feeling is that those who control it (with a few exceptions, but not enough to make a difference) will happily pay lip service to the fans... until their own interests are jeopardised. This has now happened. I can only see this ending in a very shabby compromise in which NO fans (including those of The Rangers) will benefit. The ba's burst: it is on the slates and singin' with the choir invisible. Football The Business has shown its true face and will do everything it can to subdue Football The Sport. The unhappiness of the alliance is made public and the comfy illusion of years broken. I don't think things can go back to how they were. This genie's well and truly out the bottle and maybe it is time to start all over again and roll back to the unpoisoned game. 'mon the juniors.