Saturday, August 4, 2012
Rangers Relegation Good For Scottish Football
To the outsider Scottish football can seemly both quaint and
ugly at the same time. Quaint in that there are clubs with delightful names
like Cowdenbeath, Stenhousemuir and Queen of the South. Ugly? The sectarianism
that dominates the game, divides the mostly Catholic Celtic and the mostly
Protestant Rangers who have dominated the game almost since its inception and
whose every victory becomes a triumph for Irish nationalism or British
supremacy respectively.
Before last season when Rangers saw it all unravel when they
were deducted points for administration the Glasgow giants had held such a
stranglehold on the game north of the border that only once since 1996 had
another team finished in the top two (Hearts in 2005/2006). Since 1965 only
Aberdeen twice, under a young manager named Alex Ferguson, and Dundee United
have won Scotland’s top flight and they were back in the early 1980s.
Now though the duopoly is over. Before a ball has been
kicked Celtic are the champions of the Scottish Premier League. Quite simply
there is no other team that can match their resources.
Rangers must start anew. SPL clubs didn’t want them.
Division One clubs didn’t want them in their division. Rangers, mighty Glasgow
Rangers who reached the Champions League Semi Final in 1992, only to be beaten
by Olympique Marseille who went on to win the final but ended up disgraced on
match fixing charges, must start again in Division Three and it’s a decision
that hasn’t gone down well in many quarters.
Scottish football, if it exists in people’s minds at all, is
all about the Old Firm Derby. Celtic v Rangers. There is nothing else. Take
that off the menu and, so the reasoning goes, people have no interest.
Attendances at SPL games not featuring the Old Firm rarely break the 10,000
barrier. In the basement that will be home for next season a few hundred is the
norm.
There is a feeling among many out there that Rangers are
just too big a club to fail. That Scottish football at the highest level needs
them. That sponsorship and TV deals are at risk. That may all be true. Some
clubs in the top flight may struggle without the income that comes from two
full houses when Rangers and their large travelling support come to town.
But that is the cold hearted business approach. An approach
that overlooks emotions such as passion and romance. The business approach so
beloved of many has sucked much of the western world into the longest recession
since the 1930s. Perhaps it’s no bad thing that these realists and their
obsession with the bottom line took a back seat.
Maybe Rangers absence from the Scottish Premier League will
announce a time of famine for the top clubs. But for the clubs in Division
Three it is surely an unexpected, but gratefully received, windfall.
The new reality began at the weekend when Rangers played
Brechin City in the Scottish Challenge Cup.
This competition was created in
1990/1991 to allow teams outside the Premier League a chance to win some
silverware once in a while. Last season it was won by Raith Rovers. Before that
Ross County.
Brechin City play their trade in Division Two, a division
above Rangers. When they met at their tiny Glebe Park just over 4,000 fans filled the stadium.
Local pubs and small businesses were overflowing with customers who would not
normally have headed their way. One pub reported his business was 500% up on a
normal match day!
Rangers eventually won 2-1, does it count as a
giantkilling(?!), thanks to an extra time winner by Lee McCulloch leaving the
travelling support in a good mood and the home team luxuriating in the take at
the gate.
Forget the naysayers. Rangers season down below is going to
be a triumph. The other Division Three clubs are going to experience a cash
bonanza every home game, local business’ will find their cash flow eased and
the loyal supporters will get a buzz from visiting grounds they would never
normally get to.
Books will be written, DVDs released and future generations
of Rangers fans will hear from those who were there and dream, wistfully, they
too could have followed Rangers during those never to be forgotten years.
# posted by Me @ 8:39 AM 
Comments:
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Good article and I agree with you that Rangers' demotion is probably the best thing to happen to the lower league clubs for many a year.
As a Falkirk fan I have to be a bit pedantic and point out that it's us who are the current holders of the Challenge Cup, not Raith Rovers. We don't win that much so I have to claim every success I can :) BTW, we face Rangers in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup a week on Tuesday. That's an unexpected cash bonanza for us.
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As a Falkirk fan I have to be a bit pedantic and point out that it's us who are the current holders of the Challenge Cup, not Raith Rovers. We don't win that much so I have to claim every success I can :) BTW, we face Rangers in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup a week on Tuesday. That's an unexpected cash bonanza for us.
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