Shug remembers the days of David Murray spending tenners for every fiver, and he welcomes new investment from fresh faces.
Rangers will deposit ten dollars if Celtics put down five.
I need to examine and update the comment given to me three decades ago by former Ibrox owner David Murray in light of the present takeover talks between the Rangers and the owners of the San Francisco 49ers. Murray’s words, all about bravado at a time when Celtic were the dominating – not dominant – half of the Old Firm, have resonated down the years with no loss of vigour.
And now they have renewed importance, while the possibility of Rangers being taken over by new owners and turned from being a club of considerably diminished stature after years of boardroom maneuvering, managerial turbulence, and declining success on the field is very real. Patrick Stewart, Ibrox’s chief executive, used a lot of business talk during an interview for the club’s own TV station on Wednesday.
He addressed the “shame” associated with Queen’s Park’s departure from the Scottish Cup and explained why manager Philippe Clement was still employed despite the fanbase’s desire for him to leave the club. However, you might have easily cut through the jargon and concluded that Rangers require a full-fledged revolution, culminating with the installation of persons to govern the club who are not from its conventional background.
Every time Rangers suffer a disgrace on the extent of being knocked out of the Scottish Cup by a Championship team, I wait on the radio for the first caller to demand the imposition of “real Rangers men” to make things right. It’s an innocent, yet completely wrong, assessment of the circumstances.
Knowing the lyrics to all of the songs does not guarantee pitch perfection, on or off the pitch. Rangers men have spent millions of pounds in the club in recent years, yet nothing at Ibrox has changed but their own financial circumstances.
Balance sheet losses continue to pile, with the most recent being a declared loss of £17 million, and former chairman Dave King recently stated that “investor fatigue” is a concern for the club. They require new funding, drive, and direction.
And it would be beneficial for Celtic if their falling competitors received it. Being so far ahead of Rangers might lead to complacency and lethargy.
We know that if Celtic win the Treble this season, Rangers will have won three of the last 42 domestic trophies. And that is the same number that St Johnstone has obtained throughout the same time span.
That’s why Rangers are looking into nuclear options to reset the dial. And the first thing Celtic would have to do if a buyout occurs is extend manager Brendan Rodgers’ contract.
“In Brendan we trust,” is the fans’ motto now that they have been given just cause to regret branding him a “rat” and a “Judas” when he went to Leicester City before returning to take up where he left off on the winners’ podium at Celtic Park. Celtic without Brendan would be a hazardous proposition.
And fans must hope that the prospect of facing a Rangers squad capable of posing a serious challenge energizes the boss. Rodgers emphatically demonstrated his worth by his team’s result and performance against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.
You wonder whether a merited draw at the Allianz Arena could have turned into a historic win for Celtic if Rodgers’ bosses had been as bold as the players on the field in the final days of the January transfer window.
If the manager had brought in the additional striker he desired, who knows what might have happened after Nicolas Kuhn put them ahead in Germany? Rodgers only deployed two substitutes in Germany, which may be viewed as a lack of Champions League-level talent in reserve to choose from.
And making that truth known to people in positions of control. Brendan openly proclaimed that he would not “kill the joy” of being Celtic manager by causing widespread disruption following the closure of the transfer window, which was not to his liking.
He prioritized diplomacy over discord and distraction. He also refused to start a fight over selling the club’s most prolific scorer, Kyogo Furuhashi, while still in the Champions League.
Rodgers then overcame all odds and came close to achieving a historic victory over Vincent Kompany’s side. Prior to Tuesday night’s kickoff, there was an understandable assumption in Munich that Celtic would emerge with their dignity intact as the best-case scenario.
The manager devised a strategy to achieve that goal while also improving Celtic’s European reputation. If Rangers are to drastically improve their game by revamping the club’s appearance through major spending, the Celtic crowd will expect a favorable response.
After many years of having their way on a domestic level, we will see what the Celtic hierarchy is truly made of. Murray’s bluster fell hollow when Martin O’Neill took over as Celtic manager in 2000, and the currency of discourse shifted from fivers and tenners to the renaissance he triggered.
Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s primary shareholder and de facto owner, must be monitoring developments at Ibrox. He will recognize the urgent need to strengthen the other Irishman’s hand in his presence.
