Simply the Second Best?

The Rangers chairman was clearly determined to portray the Trust in a negative light, to the extent of insinuating that it was a 'mischievous element'. Seemingly unaware that squad morale could hardly have been boosted by announcing in early January that the club would accept bids for any player such was the need to generate cash, he claimed with no apparent sense of irony that his critics were playing 'into the hands of our competitors by scoring own goals in the media'. Similarly, it does not appear to have occurred to Sir David that his newspaper interviews this month have alerted managers the length and breadth of Britain that Rangers are desperate to sell, thereby leaving the club in a most exploitable position as the transfer deadline approaches. It presumably has also escaped the attention of the Rangers chairman that his comments about the RST were ample demonstration that the club only responds when its senior officials rather than the support are under attack - one of the Trust's main criticisms.

Stripping the 'spin' from Sir David's latest remarks, it is clear that the club is now embarking on yet another downsizing period, barely two years after emerging from the last such phase. The first-team squad of 28 players is being slashed to 20, seemingly confirming a comment by the journalist Andy McInnes that it aimed to reduce the wage bill by one-third. This pill was supposedly sweetened by the news that younger players, most out on loan at present, would make up the shortfall in numbers. Superficially, it may be argued that this news answered the Trust's complaint about the lack of talent forcing itself through from Murray Park, although cynics may well conclude that cost-cutting is the chief or even sole motivation. Regardless, radical retrenchment hardly qualifies as the 'discernible strategic vision' advocated by the RST. What should particularly concern Rangers fans is that a cut in the club's wage bill along the lines suggested would leave Celtic with possibly as much as a 2-to-1 advantage in terms of pay packages. Barring exceptional instances of managerial excellence or incompetence, it is difficult to see how this factor could be anything other than crucial in future league title races and consequent entry into the lucrative Champions League group stage. Thus, there is a severe danger that the ostensible goal of 'long-term financial stability' will come at the price of engendering a vicious cycle of failure in football and financial terms which would inevitably imply that Rangers would play second fiddle to Celtic for the foreseeable future.

There may now be a degree of weariness among the support at the succession of downbeat statements from Sir David. At no stage in the chairman's recent interview does there appear to be an acknowledgment that fundamental mistakes have been made. It is scarcely credible to launch a signing spree last summer to accumulate a squad of 28 players and almost immediately seek to dismantle it citing 'a couple of factors' as having knocked the original plan 'off course'. These 'factors' were left unspecified, although there was an allusion to 'the very, very difficult economic climate'. However, this line of argument is open to question given that many analysts have been predicting the so-called 'credit crunch' for at least a year and that all other football clubs are similarly affected. The explanations given by the chairman of how the club is responding to the situation it now finds itself in are perfectly clear and, in a short-term financial sense, understandable. However, what the RST was driving at was the question of why the club had arrived at this position. It essentially demanded that the Rangers board upped its game in terms of its aspirations and performance - it did not seek another litany of self-exculpatory pronouncements.

In conclusion, Rangers fans must now realise that the club is effectively rudderless until a buyer with genuine ambition arrives on the scene. As has been true for the past six or seven years, there is no long-term vision within Ibrox - simply an effort to stumble from one crisis to the next. A support that has been traduced by Scotland's politicians and journalists while the club has remained aloof (and even, occasionally, in tacit agreement) is now asked to 'stick together' with Sir David Murray. Blind faith and dumb obedience alone will not solve Rangers' problems. The Rangers chairman asserts that he is 'not immune to analysis or criticism'. Why, then, the prickly attitude when it comes his way? The Rangers support will not settle for second best; we deserve better.