With this being the case, with our debt reaching levels it simply cannot be allowed to exceed our squad, yet again, requiring major surgery and the prospect of Murray Park youngsters playing a part in this operation remaining an ever-distant prospect, one thing has to be asked.
Do we actually know how to get out of our current situation?
Do we have the coaching staff, chairman, management team and CEO with the know-how, dynamic approach and fiscal management skills to pull us out of our financial mess whilst achieving success at the same time?
Needless to say, the answer is a resounding "no". Whatever your opinion of the chairman, CEO and management team: No-one in their right mind can be confident in a healthy future for the club on and off the field so long as the mentality stays as it is.
So with the same transfer policy likely to remain in operation, that would, to me, mean more of the following.
• Rangers refusing to give young players a season or so in the first team to bring them up to the levels they need to be, instead, continuing to spend unnecessary amounts on players from other SPL sides who've had a decent season.
• A continued reliance on experienced yet limited players over youth
• An outright refusal to look further afield to source new players - The lower leagues of France, Germany and Spain being a basic example.
• Continued ignorance of the loan market.
So, combining all of these factors, how are we going to improve? How is a club like ourselves who's finances are an absolute mess going to reduce our debt when we will continue to neglect every cost effective avenue available to us?
It's clear that Sir David Murray is going to be our chairman for the foreseeable future and as a result, he must demand more of his management team, and ensure the club employs even the most basic of scouting networks to give us the best possible chance to improve the team at as low a cost possible.
The fans will be expecting their season ticket renewals through the door any day now, and it is widely expected that the club will be looking for fans to commit to 3-5 year season tickets at a marginally reduced cost. I put it to the Rangers Family that the club is offering you more of the same for a 3-5 year period, coupled with the obvious risk of taking in arguably our biggest source of income early for the next 3-5 years.
• How about the club tells you how it's going to get us out of the current mess over the next 5 years?
• How about the club tells you what it's going to do differently to remedy our current situation?
• What assurances can the club give you that we will not, once again, be facing another "firesale" in 4 or 5 years time like we have twice in the past decade?
• Will the management team show the diversity necessary to adapt their draconian skills to deal with football and it's finances as they are today?
Because let's get one thing clear: The message from the club is a negative response to each of the questions above, and taking out a 3 or 5 year season ticket this summer will be your seal of approval for these techniques, like it or not.
There is only one way the club will react and make the type of changes necessary - and before I'm called a "Walter/Murray Basher", I'm giving them the opportunity to change as they are - ...and that is to reject this idea comprehensively.
Acceptance of this diverse and potentially great scheme from hard-up fans during this recession must be met with the level of ambition and vision necessary for a club of our stature.
Otherwise - loyalty or not - what is the point?
BtDS