If you're the type who reads the financial pages in the paper occasionally or listens to 5Live, you'll probably have heard the results of umpteen polls, where the question amounts to "What is the best way to reach and maintain high productivity of an excellent standard?"
The employers, the economists and the unions very rarely agree on anything, but making employees feel part of the company is one thing that everyone agrees on. Employee share schemes follow, giving the workers a feeling of ownership and belonging. The workers then get cash signs in their eyes and bingo! Increased production with less 'scrap', massive profits for the company, huge bonuses for the management, and all at the cost of a piddly percentage to the production line.
But football doesn't work that way. It's not a 'normal' industry.
Your football team is something you can't change. Your devotion to your team can't be bought.
Celtic could give most of us £50k pa and 50 days of holidays, but would this actually change how we feel about them?
I haven't a clue how much Lee Clarke was on when he showed the world what he thought of his employers, Sunderland FC, compared to his beloved Magpies.
That's why I think it rather odd that Martin Bain should go against qualified opinion and deny those who care about the club most the chance of successfully applying for a job at Ibrox. Giving preference to those without a record of buying a ticket to see Rangers surely increases the chances of having a workforce which doesn't give a damn.
By blacklisting 45,000 Rangers season-ticket holders plus another 50,000 or so who have bought tickets since RFC started logging details, Bain is excluding many who would probably take a wage cut to be at Ibrox every day. (50k is a very cautious estimate.)
100,000 people discriminated against when it comes to a job application. This is a record which only Glasgow's ruling Labour group can beat!
I've worked for many companies and as long as I got paid at the end of the week, XYZ PLC could give third-rate customer services, have 50 buildings full of people playing computer games and be operating at zero profit or great loss.
In fact, at most places I have worked, I wanted the company to go bankrupt and my dream was to see the company shareholders and managers begging on the streets!
Why should a Celtic or Thistle supporter give a damn about how Rangers operate? Beer tokens are the sole reason for being employed. If you like your employer, or even if you're neutral, you'll do a decent job.
If you hate your employer, even sabotage is possible. However, someone devoted to their employer will always give everything and therefore, do the best job.
That is why Rangers fans would give a higher standard of service, at great benefit to Rangers Football Club.
I'm not talking about those who are head-hunted for high-profile jobs, whether it be a project manager in a bank or the Rangers goalkeeper, as this is the very top rung of the employment ladder where massive financial reward is given and a reputation must be upheld to guarantee a good contract at the next place of employment.
However, there are more than an elite few who could do the job Martin Bain is paid to do.
That is why I'd much sooner see a bluenose in Bain's job, because It's not like a job on the ticket office counter. It's not the car park attendant, and as I mentioned earlier, football is different from every other industry.
To fill the position he currently holds, you have to put yourself in the position of the supporter. You can't judge the fans if you can't place yourself in the position of a fan.
If I were the PR chief of Celtic, I'd attack my own fans at every opportunity, make decisions that would damage the club, and laugh at the customers from my office.
Bain is doing exactly that from within Ibrox.
They don't give members of the Animal Liberation Front jobs at animal research laboratories, and the chances of Jonathan King getting a job at a school crossing would seem very remote.
So why should Rangers continue to employ a man who is in cahoots with those who lie about the club and its employees, makes totally unfounded allegations against a fans publication and has implemented a very damaging and questionable employment policy at the club?
It makes about as much sense as a closing speech and song at the Conservative conference from Billy Bragg!
Seriously, Mr.McClelland. Do something now before you are labelled as a puppet for the rest of your so-far unimpressive leadership.
SM