The 'Old Firm' is Dead: Long Live Celtic!

THE 'OLD FIRM' IS DEAD: LONG LIVE CELTIC!


Dark Days at the gates of Ibrox​

So it has finally happened. At 3pm on Valentines Day 2012, Glasgow Rangers slid into administration over an unpaid tax bill of £9 million since Craig Whyte took over the club. This is before the 'big' tax case over the potentially illegal use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) makes its judgement, a judgement which could cost Rangers anything between £49-£75 million. For those Celtic fans who grew up during the hubris and arrogance of the David Murray funded 9IAR era, this feels very much like karma.

Yet now the campaign has begun to spin the myth that Celtic and its fans need Rangers. This despite both the Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Chief Executive Peter Lawwell spelling out in crystal clear terms that Rangers going out of business "will not materially affect" the running of Celtic. Why is this so difficult for some people to understand?

The pundits and journalists who until very recently dismissed those who warned of the impending doom coming towards Ibrox as 'fantasists' or 'internet bampots' are all of a sudden financial experts who knew from the start that Craig Whyte was 'dodgy'. My eyes must have been deceiving me when I read about the 'Motherwell born billionaire' with 'wealth off the radar'. These same pundits also repeat the mantra that without Rangers, Scottish football is worthless, that fans of Celtic and other clubs will be driven away just because we can't watch Rangers and their typically exciting, Barcelona type brand of football.

What the Laptop Loyal originally said!​

The truth is, it is not us or Scottish football that need Rangers; it's them. They can see the succulent lamb gravy train, what with free tickets to football, foreign trips and a public profile to massage their egos going out the window if Rangers go bust. A considerable number of their audience will be gone as its always been admitted that "bad news for Rangers doesn't sell papers". Those who have stolen a living from the game might actually have to do some work now rather than regurgitate any old drivel about billionaires, super casinos and warchests. These pundits find themselves increasingly out of the loop as the power of the internet renders their opinions utterly meaningless.

Which moves us onto the campaign being waged now. Amazingly, the coverage of Rangers demise has been overwhelmingly sympathetic, as if these financial troubles are through no fault of their own. Let's just remind ourselves what they stand accused of by HMRC. HMRC believe that for the last 10 years, Rangers, in their vain and arrogant attitude of winning by hook or crook, misused the EBT scheme to fund the signing of players they wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford. Doing so means the taxpayer has potentially lost out on £50-£75 million depending on which source you read.

Just so Rangers could win a few trophies. Trophies that, if the tax case goes against them once and for all, should be stricken from the record.

In these times of economic misery, how much would such a large amount of money go towards funding hard pressed schools, hospitals and indeed, the armed forces that Rangers enjoy parading at Ibrox so much? Not to mention the irony of a club that wraps itself up in Unionism and claims to love the monarchy seemingly refusing to pay their taxes to Queen and country. Yet people are lining up to defend this!

A tainted title? Rangers secured a narrow success in 2003 whilst using the EBT scheme​

Even politicians are getting in on the act. Of course, their weasel words should always be taken with a pinch of salt. For example, the Prime Minister David Cameron said of Rangers that he hopes they and HMRC could come to an arrangement; yet do people honestly think the PM actually cares? The PM knows as much about Rangers "proud" history and "traditions" as he does about how normal people live. Our very own First Minister, Alex Salmond, is a different kettle of fish altogether though.

Its not surprising that Salmond, usually such a canny political operator, wants Rangers and HMRC to do a deal. He can hardly say "let them die" even if he knows fine well he and his party can do absolutely nothing to influence HMRC and their judgement. As irritating as it is seeing him go on about how Rangers bring 'fun' to the game and are an important part of the "fabric" of Scottish society its not surprising to see a politician trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Clueless: First Minister Alex Salmond's comment about Celtic "needing" Rangers was brutally refuted by the club​

Where Salmond has made a huge mistake is parroting the tired old myth about Celtic "needing" Rangers. Just as he didn't want to listen to Celtic fans protest over the Offensive Behaviour at football bill, now he refuses to listen to not just the fans, but the club itself. Apparently the word of Lawwell and Lenny wasn't enough. So Celtic released the following statement late on Thursday afternoon:

“We are very disappointed with the First Minister’s claims that Celtic ‘need’ Rangers and that Celtic ‘can't prosper unless Rangers are there’”.

"This is simply not true. In a series of interviews given just three days ago, we made it abundantly clear that Celtic has a well-defined strategy and a business plan independent of the fortunes of any other club. That remains absolutely the case.

“The predicament of Rangers is clearly a serious and complex matter with a whole range of possible outcomes.

“However, we are extremely well-qualified to make our own position clear and have no wish to see this being misrepresented for political reasons .”



As statements go, that is as clear a 'declaration of independence' as you'll ever read.



For years, particularly after the events in Manchester in 2008, the Celtic support have increasingly come to resent the 'Old Firm' tag and the myth about both clubs being "two sides of the same coin". People like Salmond just don't understand that the Celtic support's ambitions go beyond simply being one half of the 'Old Firm'. The club and the fans, unlike Rangers, has never defined itself by what it is not. Indeed, like most other clubs across the UK, Celtic never had any trouble signing people of all creeds and race from day one. Can anyone say the same for Rangers?

The Celtic faithful have also never forgotten the way that when our club faced deaths door in 1994, no one cared. Not the media, who indeed reveled in it, sending a hearse past Celtic Park. There were no articles saying Scottish football "needed" a strong Celtic. Not the politicians, no doubt afraid to play politics with football (take note Alex). And certainly not Rangers, run by the man ultimately to blame for their current mess, David Murray, a man who would not have thought twice about burying Celtic once and for all. It was only the Celts for Change movement consisting of fans with nothing but a simple love for their club and Fergus McCann who ultimately saved Celtic from oblivion.

The Scottish media shows just how 'sympathetic' they were towards Celtic's plight in 1994​

Yet we are supposed to feel sympathy for a club that got itself into such a financial mess? For a group of fans so dim that they have sleepwalked into disaster without a critical voice being raised? To meekly accept a potential new Rangers to walk straight back into the top flight?

Most importantly, are HMRC just expected to let such a huge sum of taxpayers money go without punishment?

We will soon find out the answers to these questions. But if there's been a question that has been emphatically answered this week it is "do Celtic need Rangers?"

And the answer, whether it is from the Chief Executive, the manager and indeed the vast majority of Celtic fans, is overwhelmingly NO.