Podcast Episode 3 – David Low

davidLowDavid Low

represents a highly significant component of the history of Celtic FC and consequently a highly significant component of how Scottish Football has panned out in the last 20 years.

As Fergus McCann’s Aide-de-Camp, Low was instrumental in helping him formulate and implement the plans which ultimately allowed control of the club to be wrested from the Kelly and White families. Low also helped McCann to rebuild and regenerate Celtic as a modern football club.

His views are unsurprisingly Celtic-centred, and this interview reveals his ambition for the club to ultimately leave Scottish Football behind. That may or may not be at odds with many of our readers, but the stark analysis of the realities facing football in this country may resonate.

Podcast LogoHe provides a window on the pragmatism of the likes of McCann, Celtic and many other clubs in respect of the demise of Rangers. He pours scorn on Dave King’s vision of a cash-rich Rangers future, and provides little comfort for those who seek succour for our failing national sport, believing that Scotland will find it impossible to emerge from the football backwater in an increasingly global industry.

Agree or not with Low’s prognosis, it is difficult to deny his compelling analysis of our place in the football world.

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About Trisidium

Trisidium is a Dunblane businessman with a keen interest in Scottish Football. He is a Celtic fan, although the demands of modern-day parenting have seen him less at games and more as a taxi service for his kids.

3,066 thoughts on “Podcast Episode 3 – David Low


  1. sannoffymesssoitizz says:
    May 5, 2014 at 2:49 am

    Thanks for that it brought back memories for me of how I used to try and hit the ball with the outside of my foot to get that curving pass like Beckenbeuar, never quite managed it. Seeing Gilzean reminded me also of getting an Alan Gilzean heading training kick, a beach ball and a wall chart with the different types of headers and a goal. Must have got it through a cereal box or newspaper. I had that up on my parents bedroom wall and I’d get my brother to through in the blow up ball from the hallway landing for me to do that glancing header into the corner, ha ha.

    Looking at the clip you do note that the Germans were athletes and big Bobby M looked as though he’d been training once a week, but he was some player. Law had style when he headed the ball at goal.

    Sad about Balthacha, the press reported she had been ill months back but I can’t recall any updates that would have suggested she was losing the battle. RIP

    As for Kenny Miller heading back to Ibrox I would doubt any legal stuff has been done. Is this some within Ibrox trying to gee up the support ?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHNcfpsvi6Q


  2. Paulmac2 says:

    May 5, 2014 at 9:15 am sannoffymesssoitizz says:
    May 5, 2014 at 2:49 am
    ……………………..
    I believe that was the game during a stoppage Tommy Gemmell chased a german player all round the pitch to thump him…
    _______________________________________________________________

    No that was the away match – and Helmut Haller the recipient of the TG toe-ender.
    The Hampden match was a bit frustrating throughout after wee Gerd scored. High point was Bobby Murdoch’s screamer just before the end. I wonder if there is a video of that goal anywhere. Probably my memory has inflated it’s beauty?


  3. Miller, Gordon, Boyd, good to see an investment in youth.. These boys and the other old crocs at rangers will get the runaround in the championship.. Ally has got it all sooo wrong, once they sell Wallace in the close season he will have a team that is effectively worthless in the transfer market.


  4. ringostar says:

    May 5, 2014 at 8:14 am
    “This is not the club I knew.”

    Richard Gough 2014.
    Hear are some more Gough gems..

    “One day rangers will be back, they will play in light blue and play at ibrox. But it won’t be the club i played for”…..Gough feb 2012.

    “I’m still numb by the news 140 years of history wiped out in one fell swoop”…..Gough feb 2012.

    And these crackers 🙂

    “The gers i first encountered 35 years ago is still the same gers currently playing in the third division”…..Gough Nov 2012.

    “When i join fellow players to mark the clubs 140th Anniversary next month the message is simple……am i oldco or Newco”…..Gough Nov11th 2012.

    😕


  5. essexbeancounter says:

    May 5, 2014 at 8:30 am

    “JC(e) I think that reputation, along with that of the State Bar in Holland Street.”

    This is never ending, the State Bar, best steak pie in Glasgow and where I fell in love with Orkney dark island. Later I found an online supplier BeeRitz. Not completely off topic, as I understand Walter Smith had a stake in the pub (pun intended.) 😆


  6. essexbeancounter says:

    South0fThe Border says:
    essexbeancounter says: May 4, 2014 at 11:04 pm
    Yarmy…just returned from a lovely Sunday evening in the Epping Forest…three pints of Adnam’s Broadside raised to your side
    ______________________________________
    A bit OT but if we’re discussing pubs in a misspent youth – Essex – were you at the Forest Gate in Bell Common? Drank there a few times whilst they built the M25 through the nearby cricket pitch – they were very considerate and covered it over to form a tunnel and restored the cricket pitch on top!
    =========================================================
    SoB(sic)…the very place…! Amazing feat of civil engineering moving such important local bits and replacing them!
    A nice photo of the construction process hangs there.
    Sorry TSFM…no more OT
    ———————————————————————————
    Had to sign back in… To just clarify a wee bit, here….
    Imagine the SFA as the Department of Transport/Govt in the above situation…
    Do you really believe the SFA would do the right thing for Epping Forest when their favourite M25 project was mooted?
    Of course they wouldn’t! They’d blast straight through the Forest, gouge a hole in the glorious, ancient Earth and think no one would attempt to stop their beloved M25 from being in its rightful place!

    Now… Imagine TSFM as the Friends of Epping Forest (FOEF).
    A band of very ordinary punters who were outraged at the insult to all things right and fair… And who had a smattering of “older”professional people who really didn’t want to play the system any more, but knew how to and that they HAD to.

    FoEF’s efforts won the cut and cover M25 back in the Sixties… And we are still a ‘positive’ thorn in the side of the Corporation of the City of London who should have been ensuring the integrity of OUR Forest. All planning applications, encroachments on our Forest, mooted changes are addressed by our members and there are a thousand eyes watching all parts of it

    Banging on a wee bit, here… But I want to stress that us wee teams have been known to win through in the end… Despite the SFAs and DOTs of the world.

    Btw, it’s another glorious sunny day here, in OUR Forest. We intend to keep on enjoying it. They can’t take it away from us.


  7. I assume Mr Lunney will be issuing a notice to Bilel Mohsni for his gesticulations towards the Dunfermline fans on Saturday.Seems only fair.


  8. The spivs know when admin will occur, in the short term they can sign these fans favourites, and bring in more in ST money than they will have to shell out in wages. message to kenny and Chris, make sure the signing on fee is as large as possible and paid up front


  9. Funny that the Daily Ranger has a completely different take on Miller’s departure from Vancouver than the Canadian press http://globalnews.ca/news/1309896/kenny-miller-whitecaps-part-company/ but worryingly he is speaking like Ally

    To be honest with you, I wouldn’t rule anything out,” said Miller

    here http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/04/kenny-miller-vancouver-whitecaps_n_5263885.html

    I wonder if Kenny was truthful with his former employers and the Canadian press. If he wasn’t he will be well suited to the current regime down Govan way.


  10. From the very good IFFHS (International Federation of Football Historians and Statisticians) regarding dominance in Scottish football and it being relative. No points scoring possibilities for the SMSM now!!

    http://www.iffhs.de/in-a-league-of-their-own/

    In A League Of Their Own?

    Two years ago, Rangers FC were demoted to the Scottish League Two, which is

    actually the fourth tier in Scotland. Since then, the Scottish Premiership,
    which has traditionally been dominated by two clubs, is dominated by only
    one team, Celtic FC.

    Last year, the race was actually quite close. Celtic won the championship
    only four points ahead of Motherwell. But this season, the Glasgow club set
    a new domestic record by clinching the league title with seven games left to
    play. At the moment, Celtic hold a 25-point lead over Aberdeen. They have
    lost only one game and conceded just 19 goals in 34 games.

    Could it be that Celtic are on their way to becoming the most convincing
    league champions ever? To answer that, we first have to define what
    “convincing” means. Of course it’s a largely subjective classification, but
    perhaps there are some objective criteria?

    The best indicator of a team’s superiority is not necessarily their points
    total, their win percentage or the number of goals they score. In some
    leagues, two teams are so much better than the rest that they often rack up
    record numbers in these departments but still have a fairly close rival.
    Just think of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in Spain, who often collect 100
    points or score more than 100 goals and yet usually find themselves in a
    close race for the title.

    Not even the fact that a team goes through an entire league season without
    suffering a defeat automatically means that it has to be a very dominating
    side. In 1979, Perugia Calcio didn’t lose a game in Italy’s Serie A, while
    Milan lost three. But Milan finished first, Perugia came only second!

    So it would seem that the best way to gauge dominance is the lead which a
    team has over second place at the end of a season. The English record stands
    at 18 points, set by Manchester United in 2000. Seven years later, Olympique
    Lyonnais established the French record, winning Ligue 1 by 17 points over
    Marseille. But even in such big, competitive leagues, leads of more than 20
    points are not uncommon.

    The Spanish record stands at 21 points and dates from 1963. (Real Madrid won
    the title that year by 12 points under the old two-points-for-a-win rule.
    However, using the modern three-point system, Real’s lead increases to 21
    points, because second-placed Atlético Madrid had many draws.) The Italian
    record was set, of course, by Il Grande Torino, as they called the
    magnificent Torino side that tragically perished in the Superga air disaster
    in 1949. Using today’s three-point rule, they won Serie A in 1947/48 by 24
    points. But even that isn’t the heaviest total in a big European league. In
    Germany, Bayern Munich won by a whopping 25-point margin in 2013.

    This is a massive figure. Even many famous clubs which have gone through
    long periods of total dominance – such as Espérance Sportive de Tunis who at
    one point won seven Tunisian league titles in a row – can’t match this.
    (Their biggest winning margin during that run was 19 points.) The same goes
    for smaller leagues dominated by one team. Even when Rosenborg monopolised
    the Norwegian title in the 1990s, they never won by more than 15 points. Or
    take FBK Kaunas, who all but owned the Lithuanian title for a while. They
    only won by 21 points in 2006.

    In 2011, HJK Helsinki equalled Torino’s lead, winning the Veikkausliiga,
    Finland’s top flight, 24 points ahead of Inter Turku. HJK contrived to lose
    four games, in a 33-match season, yet still amassed this huge lead. This
    puts HJK on a par, statistically speaking, with Il Grande Torino and only
    one point behind Bayern’s all-conquering 2013 team and the current Celtic
    side.

    However two of the world’s most famous clubs can do better than all of the
    sides mentioned above. And easily so.

    In 1972/73, Benfica won the Portuguese league 18 points ahead of Belenenses,
    but under the modern three-points-for-a-win rule, that margin balloons to a
    gigantic 32 points!

    Benfica won every home match plus 13 away games – and drew the other two.
    The Eagles won their first 23 matches of the season and didn’t drop a point
    until All Fools’ Day 1974, when they were held 2-2 away at Porto, after
    leading 2-1 with four minutes to go. During this beautiful season, Benfica
    averaged 3.67 goals a game and, at the age of 31, the great Eusébio scored
    40 goals to win the Golden Boot.

    More than thirty years later, in 2004/05, mighty Al-Ahly from Cairo almost
    tied Benfica. The team won the Egyptian Premier League an amazing 31 points
    ahead of ENPPI Sporting Club. Like Benfica in 1973, Al-Ahly didn’t lose a
    game and drew only two. However, they played four games less than the
    Portugese. (There were 16 teams in what was then called the Primeira Divisão
    in Portugal but only 14 teams in Egypt in 2005.)

    Whether that means Al-Ahly were actually more convincing in 2005 than
    Benfica had been in 1973, I really don’t know. True, if there had been
    another four rounds of games, the Egyptians might have pushed their lead
    past the 31-point mark. Or maybe not. Maybe they would have finally lost a
    game? We just don’t know.

    But what is beyond doubt is that Celtic still have a long, long way to go
    before they can even be compared to the most dominating club sides ever.


  11. It may be that the Ibrox support are starting to wake up. The Vanguard Bears group which I always thought of as pro-board after the extensive list of questions they posted for the King camp has just returned the favour and posted a list for the board to answer. I doubt the board will be happy as a lot of the questions are price sensitive . http://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/ready-to-talk.html It must be Spring as the bears seem to be coming out of hibernation. 😉


  12. Hector a lot of people have posted similar comments, going back a while now, regarding the Ibrox support “starting to wake up”. I think that there are now very few, if any, within the Ibrox support who think everything is hunky dory and that the majority of the support woke up some time ago.


  13. hector says:
    May 5, 2014 at 10:47 am

    See question 4 – the return of “quantum” !!!!!!!! 🙄


  14. Q. What does Scottish Football and the Scottish Referendum have in common ?
    A. They share the same media.

    However . . .yesterday, the Sunday Herald declared itself in favour of Independence
    which leads me to say;

    HOUSTON – WE HAVE A PROBLEM

    Q. Can the Sunday Herald be a ‘Nationalist’ Paper on the front pages
    while at the same time be a Unionist paper on the football pages.

    Can the Sunday Herald say on the front pages – The Emperor has no clothes,
    While on the football pages say, in unison with every other paper in Scotland – The Emperor’s new clothes!

    (For those who have been away on business or holidays for the past two years – The Unionist club, RFC(IL) went into Liquidation in 2012. A new club was formed thereafter.
    No mainstream media outlet in Scotland will say in public that that is the case.)

    (THE SUNDAY HERALD MAY 4 2014 : THE PRIZE IS A BETTER COUNTRY
    “The media should not speak with one voice”
    (Editorial. Page 3. Para.T))


  15. Don’t know if there’s any truth in this:

    @RetroScot: @RhebelRhebel @padrepio1916 Wonder if the entire Sevco Commercial Dept with their redundancy notices would also love to see Miller & Boyd.


  16. sannoffymesssoitizz says:
    May 5, 2014 at 2:49 am

    Ah, the old German manager with his appendage hanging out!


  17. RyanGosling says:
    May 5, 2014 at 11:06 am

    You’re right Ryan but, as before, they will wait for someone to come along as a saviour that they can tug their forelocks to.


  18. fishnish says:

    May 5, 2014 at 10:03 am
    =========================================================
    Fishnish…I am also a member of Friends of Epping Forest…their annual dinner is held in Woodford Green…very very near my office…!

    Now if TSFM, or any similar pressure group could exert as much pressure and succeed to the same extent as FoEF, we could certainly hang a few flags out!


  19. I would like to wish Imran Amhad every success tomorrow when he is in court to protect his rights under his employment contract.

    He is hoping to set aside £500,000 or 1,666 season tickets worth and following the 120 day report it will be difficult for ‘the mighty Gers’ to present a rosy view of their short term finances to the Judge on this occasion. Especially as the Judge will have access to the full unpublished report.

    With Graham Wallace admitting that season ticket sales are “slow” and even uber fan Matthew Lindsay admitting that “Administration II is …..a distinct possibility” I cannot see another outcome.

    http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-future-unclear-as-mccoist-focuses-on-here-and-now-162272n.24133892

    Unless of course the exciting news that Ally has engaged Kenny Millar, and will offer contracts to Kris Boyd and Craig Gordon, results in a flood of fans appearing at Ibrox today eager to hand over their hard earned for a seat for next season.

    A question. Is Ally still a young who is still learning his trade? Or is he out of his depth and tactically inept?


  20. No1 Bob says:

    May 5, 2014 at 12:07 pm
    A question. Is Ally still a young trainee (sic) who is still learning his trade? Or is he out of his depth and tactically inept? (my edit/addendum)
    ===========================================================
    Bob…the answer is a loud “neither”.

    He is a “cheeky chappie” (no more) who is media savvy, and has a fine repertoire in dog whistle tunes!


  21. Ryan, Giovanni

    The lack of any football strategy at Ibrox since the summer of 2012 is all too apparent. From the “crap manager” quote from Craig Whyte to the Charles Green “like asking a woman if she has enough shoes”, Ally McCoist failed completely to make use of the copious funds at his disposal to build any strategic direction for the club.

    I, along with many others on here, believe that several large shareholders in RIFC have no interest in the football side at Ibrox. They want a return on their investment. How that happens, they don’t care.

    I agree that the Gers support has “woken up” but it has as much strategic direction as the football side. DK/RG is the only show in town. It sounds like a plan so its a bandwagon to jump on just like the Blue Knights v1.0 & 2.0. Saves any hard thinking.

    The flaw in the plan is the core belief that everyone involved at Ibrox, deep down, wants or needs a successful Rangers football team. If the shareholders own Murray Park and Ibrox, simply, they don’t. It can become a property play. This will become apparent all too soon if the DK/RG trust fatally wounds TRFC.

    The squad, Wallace aside, is worth next to nothing. Its going to need further investment if they are to get out of the Championship at the first time of asking. Ally appears to be lining up an expensive Dad’s Army, Back to the Future, plan for someone to fund.

    Right now I bet Dave King is cursing Ally for all his worth that there isn’t a team chock full of young talent playing skilful, attractive football. At least then he wouldn’t be faced with a large players’ wage bill along with any rental agreement Laxey & co might prepare.

    A staggering £67m and counting, failure – all at the feet of club legend Ally McCoist.


  22. The Kenny Miller story is not so much a squirrel as a smoke bomb of the sort that seems to be all the rage with football fans IMO. It has had the desired effect as a quick run round forums from all sides of the debate and it is the talk of the steamy. The story is a distraction and it may be the new PR guru at Ibrox is starting to earn his salary. Ryan on the point of bears waking up I take your point but a lack of leadership seems to be a bit of a problem. I have watched the Sons of Struth for a long time and been impressed in general with how they have handled themselves. I am not sure the Dave King move is a good one but time will tell.


  23. 13/06/12 – THE SUN – “The really sickening thing about all of this is it was avoidable. All it would have taken for that was for someone to be honest. Pay your dues, give the tax man what he is owed. Instead Rangers have died.” (Richard Gough)


  24. briggsbhoy says:
    May 5, 2014 at 11:29 am
    5 0 Rate This

    Here’s an interesting story on what was formerly Tampere in the Finish league and expelled for cheating and money laundering. The fans have set up a new team !

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/world/europe/fans-lose-soccer-team-then-build-their-own.html
    —————

    Well spotted Briggsy. You don’t mess with the Finnish FA or the Finns.

    On 14 April 2011 the club were suspended indefinitely by the Football Association of Finland because they had received money from a dubious company based in Singapore, known for involvement in fixed games and money laundering. The club was excluded from the 2011 season of Veikkausliiga.[1] Players under contract were released due to lack of funds.

    Good to know that in Scotland clubs don’t receive money from anonymous or mysterious overseas sources and that any suspicion of cheating is treated with the utmost seriousness.

    Oh, a pig just flew past my window.


  25. @SUGAR DADDY I guarantee you if you asked Ally if he had been a success the past 2 seasons at Rangers he would say he has been, quoting back to back league wins. Records broken along the way (albeit I bet a lot of the meeja were gearing up for a record breaking points tally story today.. 😆 ), done on a shoestring budget, the wage bill the envy of clubs the world over, most goals scored in the UK etc…

    Ally was mentored to manage one way, buy buy buy, win at all costs. There lies the problem. Souness, Walter, Wee dick, Le Guen, Walter again, Ally have all been encouraged to spend over the odds in transfers and contracts with money they did not have..
    Charles Green would not have got his foot in the door if it were not for Ally, whereas any manager getting paid that amount of money and little experience of working on a lesser budget should have been moved out right at the very beginning but Mr Green knew he could not do that. Green had a short term plan and that is possibly still working for him to this day.


  26. Danish Pastry says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:30 pm
    Oh, a pig just flew past my window.
    ———————————————————————————–
    With a squirrel as it’s pilot


  27. andy says:

    May 5, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    1

    0

    Rate This

    13/06/12 – THE SUN – “The really sickening thing about all of this is it was avoidable. All it would have taken for that was for someone to be honest. Pay your dues, give the tax man what he is owed. Instead Rangers have died.” (Richard Gough)
    Thanks i will add it to the list 🙂


  28. I think Waldo is a decent man, he does know the finance game and hence there is only so much he can divulge publically I suppose. I think he would love to counter DK/Goughie with the real truth of the matter and come out and say if we don’t hit xx,000 SB sales guaranteed there will almost certainly be no football out of ibrox season 2014-15 as we could not finish the season…But we know he cannot as this would raise serious alarm bells from many quarters..

    I would not trust DK’s trust scheme with anything but contempt.


  29. No1 Bob says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:07 pm

    Unless of course the exciting news that Ally has engaged Kenny Millar, and will offer contracts to Kris Boyd and Craig Gordon, results in a flood of fans appearing at Ibrox today eager to hand over their hard earned for a seat for next season.

    A question. Is Ally still a young who is still learning his trade? Or is he out of his depth and tactically inept?

    Isn’t it funny how Ally McCoist can/has reportedly agreed a two year deal with Kenny MIller on an allegedly lower rate than certain other players, yet at the same time, he can claim that he has nothing to do with any contract details? So are the Daily Record lying or is Ally?


  30. No1 Bob says:

    May 5, 2014 at 12:07 pm

    I would like to wish Imran Amhad every success tomorrow when he is in court to protect his rights under his employment contract.

    —————————————————-

    I would prefer the opposite outcome, I hope he leaves the court with his tail firmly wedged between his legs.

    I dislike Rangers for many things but I hate these guys even more!


  31. valentinesclown says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:38 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    Danish Pastry says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:30 pm
    Oh, a pig just flew past my window.
    ———————————————————————————–
    With a squirrel as it’s pilot.
    ——–

    Certainly within the realms of possibility. We have red squirrels in our garden from time to time.

    Question is, will Imran, as rumoured, bring home the bacon tomorrow? Or have it ring-fenced, at least? That’ll certainly put any new contracts with Davie Weir & co on hold.


  32. Sugar Daddy/Jim Bhoy

    Same point but different. Not that McCoist is deserving of any sympathy but what was he supposed to do? The instruction to him (and several others, eh Campbell 😉 ) was firstly get us back to full time football whatever the cost. He has done that with aplomb. Unnecessary aplomb but then whilst the bears might have enjoyed a bit more edge of the seat stuff the money men certainly wouldn’t have – plus the fans poneyed up for the ‘irresistables’ so it doesn’t really matter if they came to actually watch it and enjoyed it or not, does it?

    It would take a very brave manager just now to be handed a 7 figure budget and say right I’m going to blow it all on youth development, just see the team we have in five years time. Alan Hansen kids comment anyone? Admittedly it takes a manager with galling crassness (at best) to blow an 8 figure budget on journeymen, and an incredibly stupid one not to have said when they were 10 points clear still with money in the bank say around AGM time not to say “em, just a wee query about next year boss? According to these bampots…..”

    So whilst I’ve no sympathy for the situation he now finds himself in – potless with massive expectations re the championship and possibly a points deduction on top, I can understand how, seemingly unrestrained as he was, he has gotten to this point but a realisation has now kicked in – as demonstrated by his sudden understanding of everyone’s wages to turnover ratios.

    Lastly, I absolutely take on board JB’s point – that a glorious team/club cruising to victory on a drammatic and exciting journey was nothing more than a front for a massive scam. (that’s a scam in Ibrox/Daily Record language by the way, normal people call in Return on Investment) A winning team was simply a byproduct. It’ll be interesting to see how they view it going forward.

    Oh and finally finally

    Sugar Daddy says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:15 pm

    The squad, Wallace aside, is worth next to nothing.

    In that case can we have Templeton for “next to nothing.” Ta.


  33. Lee Wallace says ibrox is the place he belongs, the irony being he will shirley be punted at the earliest convenience, maybe just to cover the cost of board pay offs. Miller also denying he is going to rangers, that was shot down rather fast, the new PR guys cannot be that good, jack would have gotten a week out of that story.


  34. JimBhoy says:
    May 5, 2014 at 9:54 am

    Miller, Gordon, Boyd, good to see an investment in youth..
    ————————————————————————————————

    For those of a certain vintage, has Ally been sacked and replaced with Viv Nicholson?


  35. manandboy says:

    May 5, 2014 at 11:21 am

    12

    1

    Rate This

    Q. What does Scottish Football and the Scottish Referendum have in common ?
    A. They share the same media.

    However . . .yesterday, the Sunday Herald declared itself in favour of Independence
    which leads me to say;
    —————————————————————————————————–

    I agree M&B, how can one paper be so wrong so often, on so many different issues! 😉


  36. Iamacant shirley Ally is just following recent tradition down Govan way of spend, spend spend! 😉


  37. Smugas

    McCoist has had 2 full seasons against part timers. He had £14m. He could’ve set up a scouting network to find better players, he did not. He could’ve employed the best youth coaches, he did not. He could’ve hired a DoF to help him do the above. He did not. He didnt think about the future, he didnt think about building Rangers up. He just blew the lot on average players. His victories are hollow. History, even if bought by another Yorkshireman, will not be kind on his coaching ability.

    As for Templeton’s value – take a look at this. The answer to your request is clearly yes.

    http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/david-templeton/mwverlaufgraph/spieler_54268.html


  38. Sugar, if this is a true reflection of current and past valuation it shows how bonkers anyone with value was in joining Sevco, all for short term financial gain, madness


  39. Danish Pastry says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:30 pm

    They are what you call standards.

    Flying pigs jeezo ! 🙂


  40. Sugar,

    McCoist was told to get them back to full time football in the first instance. He was told not to worry about the medium term (him foolishly thinking because a/ everything was rosy, b/ King was coming and c/ money doesn’t matter anyway) because the spivs weren’t worried about the medium term anyway (insert appropriate reason here).

    Had he set up a scouting network, youth policy and appointed a director of Football who’s name wasn’t Walter and in so doing meant they weren’t cuffing guys off the nightshift on a regular basis then the illusion (mask) would not have been created and his employers wouldn’t have looked on him too kindly, never mind history. But to do so they needed cash, pots of it and someone else’s obviously. And now they need more IF the footballing illusion is to continue and IF the spivs require the footballing illusion to continue.

    I do take on board to be fair, that McCoist could have done the things you say and built genuine legend status for himself almost in spite of the spivs. But he didn’t, and now, without cash, he can’t. Option 1 – McCoists plan – was risk free with a minor hiccup right at the end if someone didn’t time the admin right Ooops. Option 2 – what the bears now wish they had (keep me right here Ryan) was fraught with two immediate risks – fan rebellion because the kids weren’t winning in the Rangers way a bit like Hearts mid season (AJ, EJ?), and god forbid if he was too successful a la Walter, do you really think the spivs would have kept him about the place?

    I am no defender of the Ally faith. He had a quick, lazy, relatively risk free option available to him and he took it.


  41. Sugar Daddy says:
    May 5, 2014 at 1:27 pm

    I think you forget SD, McCoist said at the time that the reason these players were signed was because the fans ‘deserved’ to watch the ‘best’ players possible. Therefore there was no way McCoist could sign average players.

    Similarly the reason they stay in 5 star hotels before EVERY game is because Rangers players DESERVE the very best.

    And right there you have the mentality that will plunge the whole omnishambles back in to further crisis.


  42. Smugas

    That Ally took the path of least resistance is undeniable. He fulfilled his brief. That too is undeniable.

    However, had he taken more than 30 seconds to think of a 3yr plan it could’ve been easily done on half the budget without upsetting the ST buyers. Some decent Championship players plus kids & those that TUPE’d would’ve been more than enough. The MSM drool upon every his every utterance, so a few well placed stories on best in class scouting & coaching programmes was all it would’ve taken. He could genuinely have given TRFC something of value. Boy, could they do with that right now.

    Smugas, you are right as TRFC are now between a rock and a hard place and they have been put there by McCoist. Sure, he wasn’t to know what Green & Co were really up to but he must have guessed pretty quickly, after all we did.

    The biggest open goal of his life and McCoist missed it.


  43. Fans of all football clubs participate in a kind of ancestor worship. I wonder if the importance of tradition at Rangers makes that emphasis on the past more potent? Bill Struth introduced the idea that Rangers players should always travel first class, eat in the best restaurants, secure the best seats in cinemas and so on, in order to uphold the good name of the club. The recent furore from fans when McCoist stopped wearing a suit and club tie to the dugout shows that this continues to be important issue for them. I think there is something a bit more deep-seated than ‘we deserve the best’ going on. Placing importance on appearance and conduct is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it does seem to make Rangers as a social group resistant to change and to new ideas.


  44. Having lurked but not posted since chipping in spasmodically to RTC, perhaps some of you can help me reach a fuller understanding of the Dave King/Richard Gough scheme. I am failing to see how it can possibly work.
    Surely they will also be in the position of being able to accept cash payments only as any credit/debit payment agency will know that they are even less able to guarantee delivery of the promised product ?
    Assuming that some bears come up with the cash, will DK simply propose handing it over on a match by match basis ?
    If so, would the Rangers board not just declare the proposal unworkable and unacceptable and insist that season tickets be bought directly ?
    Is my assumption correct that King has no expectation of the scheme ever being used, and is he just looking to drive the board into negotiations, or better still administration ?

    On a different but connected point, did anyone else find the purchase of 25000 shares by the Vanguard Bears somewhat curious ? Its difficult to find sound financial reasons for this and the accompanying list of questions to DK brought out the cynic in me. Not just the obvious attempt to discredit King, but also the possibility that the news of a supporters organisation showing confidence in the future may persuade a few wavering supporters to buy season tickets ? Possibly instigated and even funded by the new PR man at Ibrox ?


  45. sickofitall says:
    May 5, 2014 at 6:40 am

    “THE Rangers supporters trust fund goes ‘live’ tomorrow…

    Gers fans can now pledge their cash if they wish…”
    =========================================
    As an impatient, pedantic Bampot – I can’t wait until tomorrow !

    As we have discussed previously, I still can’t believe that this Trust idea is doable.
    But is the use of the word ‘pledge’ the key ?

    Like when they have TV charity telethons, pledges are made to donate – but these pledges are to create the initial ‘Total Raised’ – but they aren’t always followed up with the actual monetary donation ?

    Is the initial phase simply to collect ‘pledges’, [not money], to force TRFC into co-operating with DK ?

    …and is the timing of the ‘go live’ on the same day as IA’s court case just coincidental ?


  46. briggsbhoy says:
    May 5, 2014 at 9:45 am

    sannoffymesssoitizz says:
    May 5, 2014 at 2:49 am

    Thanks for that it brought back memories for me of how I used to try and hit the ball with the outside of my foot to get that curving pass like Beckenbeuar, never quite managed it…
    =========================================================
    bb, as a teenager totally besotted with football I learned a highly effective way to curl and spin the ball by accident.

    One day I ‘borrowed’ a volley ball from school and took it home. I quickly realised that it was great [light] for bending the ball outrageously – and for flicking the ankle when striking the ball to put even more height/spin on the ball.

    Eventually the skills learned where then relatively easy to apply to a normal match ball.

    Volley balls are not great in windy conditions because of their lightweight – and use on a gravel pitch just destroys the ball quickly.

    But in all seriousness, for a young kid, using a volley ball is a great, additional learning tool – as a normal match ball can still be too heavy – and frustrating – for a youngster to develop these eye-catching passing/shooting skills.

    And that’s my football tip for today, thank you very much… 🙄


  47. loamfeet says:
    May 5, 2014 at 2:43 pm
    16 0 Rate This

    Placing importance on appearance and conduct is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it does seem to make Rangers as a social group resistant to change and to new ideas.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    As discussed the other day, attention to detail such as how people are turned out is IMHO good practice as once the standards are set and known then when simply followed by all the bigger issues can fall into place.
    The other thing is that taking a pride in one’s appearance, especially when hard up, shows a degree of class and dignity. I am guessing that Struth’s intentions would have been to paint his club and his footballers in a good light especially as others in high places in those days may have looked down on the sport.

    The problem is of course that at some point the Struth ideals possibly became twisted to represent arrogance and entitlement.

    As the man said himself

    “inevitably we shall have our years of failure, and when they arrive, we must reveal tolerance and sanity. No matter the days of anxiety that come our way, we shall emerge stronger because of the trials to be overcome. That has been the philosophy of the Rangers since the days of the gallant pioneers.”

    Tolerance, sanity and a bit of good old fashioned hard work is what is required down Govan way if they are to emerge from the position they find themselves in.


  48. Delighted to see that the Ibrox 1972 interweb site is open to all.

    It is in fact open to both season ticket holders and non season ticket holders.

    Non season ticket holders can make a pledge of money to Dave King via this page:

    https://www.ibrox1972.co.uk/commit-funds/non-season-ticket-holders/

    Dave suggests £350 which is the average season ticket price but there seems to be no limit. Fill yer boots!


  49. @NO1 BOB

    The meeja are gonna love reporting these nonsense pledge numbers daily (mostly pledged by non rangers fans) to the easily lead bears. I wonder if the total will get to 500 million fans… 😀


  50. No1 Bob says:
    May 5, 2014 at 4:37 pm
    ===========================

    This is getting utterly ludicrous now. I’m almost starting to pity these poor souls who call themselves Rangers supporters.

    On another note, there has been a lot of talk of salaries and bonus payments of late, particularly regarding the CEO, with his contractual arrangements ridiculed all over the pages of the MSM.

    Has there ever been any leaks from Charlotte or any of her pals, of who received EBT’s but has yet to be identified?

    Surely Mr McCoist is on that list but what about Mr King down in South Africa?
    Pure speculation on my part, but why have the remaining recipients of EBT’s never been revealed?
    There’s some serious :slamb: at play here?

    If only Wallace or any of the current board members had access to that sort of information.
    Don’t think the MSM would be too keen on it though!


  51. Wonder if DK knows any of those African princes who will send me £1m when i send on £2k to help free up his family assets.


  52. One think that jumps out is that Ibrox 1972 seems to have a better credit rating than RIFC plc or ‘the club’ as Dave calls them.

    The Q&A confirms:

    “We are not providing a 10 month payment option but, unlike the club, you have the ability to pay by debit and credit card.”


  53. Struthian values, such as they were, have little to do with the misplaced arrogance and absurd sense of entitlement that pervades Ibrox. This is a much later construct, born of the ego of a rather ridiculous figure who, much like the masters of the universe in banking, though building a business on borrowed money in the midst of the biggest bubble in history was the result of his genius.

    The Rangers fans I knew in my youth understood that football is cyclical, and three titles in 20 years while Celtic ruled the roost and the “New Firm” were their only real challengers gave them the time to accept it in the way Celtic fans had to accept in in my childhood.

    But David Murray’s intervention put a stop to that and, thanks to a deluge of borrowed money that it was never the intention to repay, created a bubble in SW1 that was every bit as damaging to Scottish football and the psyche of the community that revelled in it as the banking bubble was to the economy at large.

    Rangers have been called to account — terminally — but the blaggards who made it happen and by so doing created the even uglier chimera of Sevco, still have to be.


  54. burghbhoy says:
    May 4, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    Thank you for you reply. I still think your argument was a nonsense and proved absolutely nothing, but you have a perfect right to put it, here or anywhere else. But your excuse for coming on disguised as a Celtic supporter is pitiful. If you care to answer, could you tell me, and the rest of the blog, why, if you are so convinced of the continuation of your club (RFC), you feel the need to convince us too? Your continued attempts, at a two year old chestnut, suggest to me that you aren’t all that convinced yourself, and are continually looking for new arguments, or proof, to put forward. Time, I think, you realised that, when you have to search for something for two years or more, it probably doesn’t exist.

    In the meantime, can you point to Rangers Football Club, if it’s not, that is, The Rangers Football Club Ltd?


  55. No1 Bob says:
    May 5, 2014 at 5:24 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    One think that jumps out is that Ibrox 1972 seems to have a better credit rating than RIFC plc or ‘the club’ as Dave calls them.

    The Q&A confirms:

    “We are not providing a 10 month payment option but, unlike the club, you have the ability to pay by debit and credit card.”
    ———————————————————————————————————————————————————

    Perhaps he has offered to underwrite it personally or maybe he has even offered Ibrox as security since he will theoretically have security over it at that point 😛 …but no matter, it’s completely academic because it will never get that far. Indeed now we can see the the detail it’s beyond argument, not that there was much doubt anyway, that the only intention of this scheme is to crash the bus as quickly as possible by starving them of funds. There is no plan B.


  56. No1 Bob says:
    May 5, 2014 at 5:24 pm

    2

    0

    Rate This

    One think that jumps out is that Ibrox 1972 seems to have a better credit rating than RIFC plc or ‘the club’ as Dave calls them.

    The Q&A confirms:

    “We are not providing a 10 month payment option but, unlike the club, you have the ability to pay by debit and credit card.”

    _______________________________________________________

    Not necessarily.
    The cardholder can supply card details to the trust.
    The card company can take payment from the cardholder when instructed.
    It need only pass payment on to the trust when it receives in exchange whatever guarantees it needs to discharge its liability with its own insurers.
    In the case of TRFC, GW took the view that the required guarantees (security of Ibrox) and costs were prohibitive (or unaffordable).

    Now it may well be that DK has been asked for less in the way of guarantees (I doubt it – a brand new company with him as a director???)
    Or he may take the view that the guarantees he has been asked to put forward are affordable
    (fat chance. See above).
    Or he may take the view that he can put up other security from elsewhere to meet these requirements (entirely possible).

    Or it may be that he actually has no intention of ever collectinhg the money for season tickets at all and is simply posturing, by taking a stance that the board could not agree too in any case (because of the contingent liability that sits on Ibrox already and prevents them from borrowing against it already), so whether he claims to accept credit cards or not is totally academic. Any money that is collected will stay with the clearuing house until it is returned to the client, minus processing fee.
    (yep… that’s where I’d be betting!)


  57. Allyjambo says:
    May 5, 2014 at 5:32 pm
    burghbhoy says:
    May 4, 2014 at 4:49 pm
    In the meantime, can you point to Rangers Football Club, if it’s not, that is, The Rangers Football Club Ltd?
    ———————————————————————————————————————
    One delicious irony is that they can’t escape the truth every time they walk past the famous Ibrox Gates. It’s there in big white letters, Rangers Football Club Ltd, and as everybody knows that organisation is in an irreversible Liquidation process.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/8899981@N05/7644418496/

    Maybe they should add a ‘The’ on the top for factual accuracy but that would be an acknowledgement that they are a new club, not that Richard Gough or Walter Smith would ever admit that…..oh that’s right, they already have 🙂


  58. Head Hunter says:
    May 5, 2014 at 5:45 pm

    “There is no plan B.”
    ———————————-

    You should explain that to Richard Gough who has a different view.

    “Dave is a man with a plan. In fact, he is a man with a plan B, C and D.”

    https://www.ibrox1972.co.uk/about/richard-gough-statement/

    I was hoping for Plan E but you can’t have everything.


  59. easyJambo says:
    May 4, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    Thanks for posting that excellent explanation of the Hearts’ liquidation. I have to admit to being shocked when first reading, on here, of Hearts liquidation, but felt certain there would be something similar to what you wrote in the background. I expected that, with ‘limited clubs’ being in their relative infancy no-one would have thought to block any loop-holes to stop clubs overspending, then they would be free to use liquidation and restarting as the same club to get around the problem. You have shown that Hearts not only took advantage of the law as it was at the time (a section of the law that actually appears to have been put in place for such a purpose), but honoured the law to the full. The fact that they, very quickly (as I recall from reading a report about it previously), repaid all creditors in full, suggests that if the route had not been open to them they’d have found another way to get round their problems, which included the need to change the company constitution as this was causing them problems in their efforts to raise money to clear their debt. A complete contrast, in fact, to the situation we find ourselves in at present.

    Your efforts to research and post your findings are very much appreciated by this lazy blogger who merely comments on the fine work done by others.


  60. Listened to some of Radio Clyde earlier. Predictably, much of it surrounded the potential return to Ibrox of Kenny Miller…and Kris Boyd…and Craig Gordon (okay, he’s not been there a first time!). Why don’t they just go the whole hog and point out Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole are all available as Bosman’s this summer!


  61. I note that we are having another deja vu moment.

    The DK plans states that in relation to the pledges for season ticket monies

    “Payment will be taken on or after 15th July 2014 only in the event a security is granted. You will be given 3 days’ notice of any payment to be taken. If the security has not been granted by 8th August 2014 then all instructions will be cancelled and it will be up to you to decide how to proceed with purchase of tickets.”

    The Challenge Cup now under SPFL control will commence on 26/27 July
    The SPFL season will start on 9/10 August.

    Therefore the rest of Scottish Football is again on tenterhooks waiting to see what happens.
    Therefore we can have the scenario similar to last year where a team could play in the Challenge Cup but nobody is actually sure if they will be able to compete in the league.

    Both the Sevco board and DK could have their heads knocked together if the SPFL supported by the SFA told them they needed proof positive from the member club that it was going to be in a fit state to compete in and complete all fixture in the coming season sometime before the first Challenge Cup game.

    If proof was not given then membership suspended for a year and go ahead with byes in the cups and free weeks for opponents in the Championship. Simples!!


  62. Phil MacGiollaBhain @Pmacgiollabhain · 10m
    Emergency board meeting tonight?
    Oh dear…

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