SPL BOSSES STUFF RANGERS AGAIN
THE names at the top of the Scottish Premier League may have changed, but one thing which remains a constant is the way Rangers are treated by this organisation.
Lex ''Two Carat'' Gold is no longer the SPL executive chairman and Ian Blair is no longer the head honcho's right hand man.
However, the new top man, executive chairman, Ralph Topping and his sidekick, chief executive, Neil Doncaster, don't seem any more capable of providing a level playing field for their champions than their predecessors were.
Witness the hand the SPL have dealt Rangers when the fixtures were put together. I hesitate to say they were planned, for if they were then more serious accusations may have been bandied about.
Though there be some people out there who choose to take a hard line.
I could never go along with any conspiracy theory regarding what Rangers must face in the period between now and the first week in December when the Champions League group schedule ends. The facts though, speak for themselves.
This weekend has Rangers making the trip to to the north east to face Aberdeen before they entertain Bursaspor in the Champions League on Wednesday, followed by a noon kick off on Saturday, away to Hearts at Tynecastle, always one of the toughest trips for the Old Firm.
And so it goes on. Before Valencia arrive in Glasgow for the match on Wednesday 20 October, Rangers are away to Motherwell, and after the Valencia encounter they must travel across the city to Parkhead for the first Old Firm game of the season.
They prepare for the visit of Manchester United with a journey to Ayrshire and a match against Kilmarnock, and follow the meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson's team by being sent to another of the toughest of away grounds, Tannadice and an SPL meeting with Dundee United.
It almost beggars belief. But no, it's true. That isn't the end of it either. At least Rangers are home before their long and difficult journey to Turkey, and the very outer edge of Europe for a clash with Bursaspor which could well decide whether they make it through to the last 16 of the Champions League, or qualify for the Europa Cup.
However, when the weary travellers arrive back in Scotland, just guess what faces them? That's correct, another away game. Not just any old journey either, but the longest one possible as they hit the trail to the Highland capital and a match against Inverness Caley.
This is just the latest in a long line of what many people see as an SPL bias against Rangers.
For instance, for seven of the last ten seasons Rangers have been forced to visit a club for a third match after the split, something which incurred the wrath of Walter Smith towards the end of last season.
Smith said at the time that Rangers would be writing to the SPL to request that someone explain it all, and when some Sunday reporters asked the question of SPL officials they were, according to one colleague, subjected to such a mind boggling barrage of mumbo jumbo that they were completely confused.
That does not surprise me as I recall one telephone conversation I had with Ian Blair when his management-speak was so bewildering and lacking in clarity I thought I had dialled David Brent at The Office.
Blair it seems, is no longer in such a powerful position, and if true that is a good thing, while the departure of Gold - a man whose stewardship as chairman of Hibs co-incided with a terrible time for that club - appeared to be good news too, as did the arrival of Doncaster.
But the fixtures foisted on Rangers around their Champions League dates by the SPL makes me resort to that old line about only the names having been changed.
To quote from the official website of another Glasgow club - surely no fair minded man etc etc..........
Now this old observer is not suggesting Rangers should have been handed six easy home matches on the weekends after their midweek European adventures.
However, just a single solitary home match to follow European weeks is just not even handed. It does not present a level playing field.
If, at the end of the season, Rangers lose the title, and they look back on points dropped on away trips in the aftermath of Champions League action, there will be more rancour.
And, if they have to make a difficult third trip to a tough venue for the eighth time in eleven seasons after the split, then any complaints they may make will surely be justified.
Topping and Doncaster are at the moment engaged on a charm offensive, having taken a squad of daily newspapers out for a curry last week, with a gaggle of the Sundays due for a feed from them soon.
It seems they are trying to pave the way for a favourable press for plans for reconstruction they are believed to be on the brink of making public, with a 14-team SPL thought to be the favoured option.
Just how many away games they may wish to force Rangers to play in any new-look SPL is anybody's guess.
posted by leggoland @ 20:42
11 Comments
11 Comments:
Rangers will continue to be treated in this way by the SPL until such time as RFC starts to conduct itself in the same undignified manner as the perpetually offended and outraged, you know where.
However, I much prefer RFC to continue taking it on the chin and let the facts, as you have laid out Leggo, speak for themselves. In twenty or thirty years however, the revisionists will have us remember how CFC suffered at the hands of the SPL so for those interested in facts start your 'history files' now, to be dusted off at a later date!
With regard to the SPL, they can take a long walk as far as I'm concerned, a bunch of non-entities whose own mothers would hardly recognize them in the street.
While it's one thing to suggest fixtures have worked out unkindly or unluckily it would be absurd to claim or insinuate that there is any kind of conspiracy or bias. That is a road Rangers and Rangers fans must not go down - for it is a ridiculous and unhealthy road.
Fairness will only ever be an issue when celtic come into the equation, Doncastor for all his posturing is nothing more than a milkman doing his rounds, he's out of his depth and currently pissing up the wrong pole which will only serve to make his tenure harder. On the league size, well if 14 is what he is proposing then he obviously wasted everyones time and money with his mute effort to restructuring and invigorating the SPL. Why o why do we appoint stooges like him.
Good points.
On the flip side if Ra Shellick had made Europe (No sniggering at the back please)they'd have had 5 home games after the midweek fixtures.
Of course there is no bias...........ahem!!!
We cant really know for sure if these fixtures were chosen specifically to disadvantage a Rangers team tired from euro action or not.
To be brutally honest though , I would be very surprised if there wasnt a hint of bias regarding this at the SPL....their previous record regarding actions taken against the interests of Rangers and for the benefit of others, is still staggering.
We would look silly challenging this , a better method would be to make the facts known and ask for an explanation as to why the SPL are not helping their champions and only euro representatives out as much as they can ?
Didn't Rangers manage to get a game cancelled in order to accomodate their European ambitions,the first and only time this has happened to any club in Scotland?
This all reeks of fear.
Anonymous @ 20.49. "This all reeks of fear"........do you mean like the way ra Shellik used the death of a former bit-part player to get an OF game cancelled? Nothing to do with the injuries and suspensions this dispicable club had at the time.
My heart bleeds
As a Celtic fan I remember when we played Boavista away in the UEFA cup semi in 2003 and we played at Ibrox 70 hours later and still beat you .
You scream from the rooftops we are the champions well this comes with the territory
STOP MOANING AND GET ON WITH IT
6 CL fixtures. One would expect 6 home fixtures either before or after these fixtures. Instead they have 4. A bit of a statistical blip, but hardly enough to get excited about.
As for the "away 3 times" nonsense, in every season since the split began, Rangers have played 19 home games and 19 away, same as Celtic. Are you seriously saying they should have got 20 home games in the 8 years you mention? Put more water in it, David!
This post sounds very "Tim-ish"....
Lets just get on with it. NAy obstacle shall be overcome.
We are the champions, we are the people and we welcome the chase.
I think the SPL should explicitly and firmly adjust its schedule to the advantage of any Scottish team playing in any European competition. The debacle in 2008 when Rangers made it to the UEFA Cup Final was disgraceful and frankly unbelievable. Much as I dislike the IRA Sporting Wing up at Parkheid, even for them I would automatically support adjusting their schedule to give them the best chance - not in Scottish competitions - but in any European ones. And here's the rub, I feel very confident that Rangers FC would do so as well.
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