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Oh no! Glasgow Rangers are in administration

15th February, 2012
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Roar Guru
15th February, 2012
2
1357 Reads

The shock was palpable: Glasgow Rangers, Scottish champions 54 times and winner of some 100 trophies, has been placed into administration.

The foe is the ever vicious tax man seeking to come down heavily on the football club’s accounts. In this match-up, the tax office is faring rather well against the well silvered giants.

The tax office, which in the past may have well been more lax in attempting to drain the coffers of a football institution, is demanding nine million pounds in unpaid taxes. But the tax office are going much further, claiming that the club managed to avoid payments by using employee benefit trusts. That amount comes to £50 million, and is being dealt with by the tax tribunal.

As a result of this entire exercise, the club has been docked 10 league points.

Rangers’s history is long and rich. In 1872, Peter McNeil, brother Moses, Peter Campbell and William McBeath formed a team in Glasgow. Rangers first game was against Callander FC in a match that ended with the inauspicious score line of 0-0. Celtic’s formation followed in 1888.

Then came the trophies, massed with giddying speed – victories in 1894 against Celtic (3-1 in the Scottish Cup final); silverware again in 1897 and 1898. The tireless architects behind the accumulation of triumphs are names the fans of the club recall like immemorial mantras – William Wilton, Bill Struth, Scot Symon.

The announcement that the club is in administration does not doom it. Duff and Phelps, the firm saddled with the task, have made noises that it hopes the club will be kept afloat.

The club has been given 10 working days to outline an ongoing, feasible financial structure.

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The purely financial nature of such discussion has proven mind-numbingly alienating.

The followers of Rangers are being reminded exactly where the existence of a club derives from – not from their shout-till-you-are-hoarse patronage and annual subscriptions, but from the broader financial decisions made by individuals they barely know.

Then come the internal politics that sour the mix. Former Rangers’ director Paul Murray has made rumbles that he might well consider taking over the ailing club, but refuses to deal with the current owner Craig Whyte.

“There is”, Murray lamented, “a real lack of clarity on finances.” Then, a shot of warning. “Rangers supporters need to come together and examine all the options. I don’t think Craig Whyte is the only option.”

Rivalries made in the furnace of sporting identity feed competitions, and the end of Glasgow would mean that Celtic will have no fitting rival to contend with. This would be the termination of a relationship that has been dubbed ‘The Old Firm’. This does not trouble the somewhat deluded Peter Lawwell chief executive of Celtic, who claims that the end of the rivalry ‘would have no material effect on Celtic.’

The hunt for a suitable substitute will take years and a good deal of history to make. Money and interest will be drained from the competition.

And Scottish football may well pass into an obscure backwater in Rangers’ absence.

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