http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/ en Copyright 2012 Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:21:37 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This week I will not be writing about: - Mike Ashley or any other billionaire’s investment; - Rangers having paid their Scottish football debts in full; - The ever clearer links between Celtic and Harper MacLeod, the lawyers investigating Rangers over dual contracts; - Black being called up for Scotland; - The woeful European efforts of the SPL sides (with the notable exception of Celtic, well done Bhoys) - The predictable “sell out Saturday” damp squib; - What happened to the original SPL trophy over the summer; - Charles Green’s linguistic lessons; - What the real attendance was against East Fife; or - Neil Lennon being exposed in a court of law as a shameless hypocrite in regards to paying income tax. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/08/this_is_a_new_dawn_this_is_a_n.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/08/this_is_a_new_dawn_this_is_a_n.php Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:21:37 +0000 This has been a traumatic summer for me. At times I wondered where I would be blogging this coming season. Would I be blogging at all? Would my blog be replaced by that of a Dunfermline fan or a Dundee fan? Turns out it was neither. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/07/nevermind_the_bollocks_heres_t.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/07/nevermind_the_bollocks_heres_t.php Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:48:56 +0000 It is probably premature to suggest the dust has settled. As we stand Rangers as a club have survived though starting in SFL3 presents a long process of recovery. The challenge for our support is finding the strength to back up the words of defiance with action. In simple terms each and every Rangers fan needs to make a commitment to continue going to games and parting with their hard earned cash. Doubts remain regarding the new owners so that will not be easy, vigilance is necessary and I suppose individuals must make their own decisions. I for one will view holding a season ticket for SFL3 as a matter of personal pride. For good or ill I follow the club and they will always have my support regardless of corporate structure and ownership. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/07/for_the_worlds_biggest_wee_tea.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/07/for_the_worlds_biggest_wee_tea.php Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:43:09 +0000 The last few months have shaken my belief in many things. I have found myself questioning the importance of football in my life and the intensity of emotion it can produce in me. I have wondered about the motivations of many pundits and been left perplexed by the desire of some fellow football fans to see our club disappear. Punishment yes, but to disappear entirely? http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/06/the_last_few_months_have.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/06/the_last_few_months_have.php Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:28:18 +0000 So as the final act commences of this never ending footballing farce we find the end result was, as this blog always told you, a business and assets deal. The club survives but the company dies. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/06/and_now_the_end_is_near.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/06/and_now_the_end_is_near.php Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:57:29 +0000 Last week has the potential to be a monumental one in the history of Rangers if Miller's deal goes ahead and the club is saved. The coming week represents even more. The SPL vote will arguably be the most momentous week in the history of every member club and Scottish football as a whole. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/05/scottish_footballs_nuclear_opt.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/05/scottish_footballs_nuclear_opt.php Sun, 06 May 2012 13:42:12 +0000 With the news Bill Miller has been announced as the preferred bidder it seems we may be seeing the start of a resolution to Rangers' current troubles. If the deal is concluded then next season there will be a Rangers. You will know they are Rangers because they will play in blue, they will have RFC on their chests and when you look at the (SPL?) league table you will see them listed as Rangers Football Club. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/05/dont_worry_about_a_thing_cause_1.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/05/dont_worry_about_a_thing_cause_1.php Thu, 03 May 2012 13:50:36 +0000 Our former owner and Knight of the Realm is sitting in his castle counting other people's money. Our current owner has snuck back into Scotland and is sipping champagne whilst contemplating the potential return on his £1 "investment" in Rangers. The blazers are doing what blazers always do, nothing until it is too late. The hack-erati are busy scribbling with their crayons and our rivals continue praying to the Gods of Jelly and Ice Cream that today will be the day... All the while Rangers fans, the only people who ever truly had the club's interests at heart, are left climbing the walls. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/04/wish_me_luck_as_i_wave_you_goo.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/04/wish_me_luck_as_i_wave_you_goo.php Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:32:19 +0000 A week and a half after Rangers' administrators invited "best and final offers" it appears at first glance that not much is happening in the way of a conclusion. If press reports are to be believed the Blue Knights offer would see creditors receiving £10 million through a CVA. The alternative offers envisage a business and assets sale thought to mean a return of at least double for the creditors. In any other situation this would be a no brainer for the administrators but as ever the issues to be resolved are not purely financial they are also footballing. For months now this blog has stated two things consistently. Firstly I have maintained that the end game would be a business and assets deal that would save the football club but not the existing company. Secondly I have maintained that any punishment imposed on Rangers should be based on the existing rules and regulations. Clearly this will not come to pass with commercial considerations being prioritised a scenario that will serve only to disappoint and disenfranchise football supporters of all persuasions. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/04/dont_worry_about_a_thing_cause.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/04/dont_worry_about_a_thing_cause.php Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:50:59 +0000 Tomorrow could be the last Old Firm game played at Ibrox for quite some time if we are to believe the fantasists/realists/jelly and ice cream brigade (delete as you think appropriate). http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/03/fans_owed_an_old_firm_win.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/03/fans_owed_an_old_firm_win.php Comment Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:00:20 +0000 Weeks of administration look set to drift into months. Friday's false "deadline" regarding bids came and went with notes of intent lodged from knights, sharks and a Chicago turnaround mob. Other interest is also said to exist from as far a field as Singapore and the Middle East. Until the administrators actually establish they have the power to sell Craig Whyte's shares and manage to have the Ticketus contract ruled invalid in court then we will remain, at best, in limbo. This week the events of true significance all centred on the growing cries of "cheat, cheat, cheat". http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/03/crime_and_punishment.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/03/crime_and_punishment.php Comment Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:00:00 +0000 Three weeks into administration and things go from murky to murkier. With no clear view on the club's security, no certainty of fulfilling fixtures until the end of the season, no conclusion on the Ticketus monies and only understandably vague revelations of potential bidders it seems there will be no immediate end to the uncertainties surrounding our club. I have said repeatedly that the end game for me is a sale of the business and assets, i.e. everything that constitutes the club, to a new company (newco). For me the current company is simply the ownership structure of the club and Rangers will survive. The fall out in terms of punishments and demotions though make many uncomfortable with such a resolution. I thought at this juncture it was worth considering the recent performance and position of the key protagonists in the current drama. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/03/the_slow_road_to_liquidation.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/03/the_slow_road_to_liquidation.php Comment Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:31:55 +0000 A dystopian vision of the footballing future came into view for Rangers fans around the world this week. The appointment of administrators will in time allow the misdemeanours and excesses of the last two regimes to be laid bare. Tax evasion, fraud, a missing £24 million, money laundering… over the last week the more details that have emerged the less clear the nightmare has appeared. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/02/and_so_the_nightmare_began.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/02/and_so_the_nightmare_began.php Comment Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:29:49 +0000 Blog: Do Celtic really need Rangers?]]> http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/02/roses_are_red_violets_blue_ple_1.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/02/roses_are_red_violets_blue_ple_1.php Club News Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:30:46 +0000 Rangers have sold their main striker for around £6 million, well under his true value. For some this represents the point the club lost the league. They are wrong though we lost the league because of Naismith's injury, or more accurately management's inability to cope with his enforced absence. Jelavic? Good player yes, but his heart is not in it and we can always find someone else to take the penalties. http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/01/bring_out_your_dead_1.php http://blogs.soccernet.com/rangers/archives/2012/01/bring_out_your_dead_1.php Club News Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:35:50 +0000