The Rangers, The Titles, and The Don.

Last Monday, Charles Green issued a lengthy statement on rangers.co.uk,  the website  he purchased from Duff & Phelps along with the rest of the now defunct Rangers FC's assets. You can read it here

I wanted to pass comment on some little gems contained within it relating to the, "it's the same club," fiction.

First of all, there's this:

"Neither the SPL, nor its Commission, has any legal power or authority over the Club because it is not in the SPL.

"For that reason it has no legal basis on which to appoint its Commission. The Club ceased to be subject to the SPL’s rules when it was ejected from its league."
 

Rather missing the point. The SPL is investigating the behaviour of Rangers FC during the period from 2000 - 2011, when it was a member.

The SPL is fully entitled to appoint a commission, whether Rangers has been ejected or not.

Green also indulges in his customary blurring of the distinction between Rangers FC and The Rangers FC. His club was not ejected from the SPL because it was never a member in the first place.

Next up:

"Since the decision was taken by HMRC on June 14 to reject administrators’ proposals for a Company Voluntary Arrangement, the fate of Rangers FC lay firmly and clearly in the ability of the consortium I led to form a new company and corporate entity that would ensure that Rangers had a future as a football club."
 

Actually, Rangers FC is still in administration and awaiting liquidation. Charles Green buying Ibrox, Murray Park and a car park lease doesn't get the club off the hook.

Here comes my favorite line from the entire statement though:

"To make it crystal clear, the new owners purchased all the business and assets of Rangers, including titles and trophies."
 

I wish Charles would explain this: IF (and that's a big "if") Sevco Scotland are the new owners of Rangers FC, the club formed in 1872, why on earth would they have to "buy" Rangers' titles?

Surely by virtue of being, "the new operators of Rangers FC," they would have no need to "buy" the titles?

Major faux pas from Charles there, I'd say.

The funniest part of the statement for me, is saved for last, as Green indulges in some classic rabble-rousing:

"As far as I am concerned, Rangers Football Club has won a world record 54 league titles, and, whatever the decision of the SPL Commission, these titles cannot and will not be taken away from us and our Manager Ally McCoist is in total agreement.”
 

I agree with the first part. Rangers Football Club has won a world record 54 league titles (or rather, 53 and a half titles, as the first was shared with Dumbarton).

Then Charles goes awry. Those titles can be taken away, although not from The Rangers FC, who don't have any titles to take away.

If the record books are to be amended to take titles won between 2000 and 2011 away from Rangers Football Club's record, it will have no effect on the trophy haul of Green's The Rangers FC.

But the real side-splitter here is that "Ally McCoist is in total agreement."

So that's that then. If the SPL want to strip titles from Rangers, they'll have to hang around like supplicants waiting to beg a favor from Don Vito Corleone on the day of his daughter's wedding.

Trouble is, Ally has already warned everyone he'll never accept the titles being stripped. End of story.

But is there hope yet? Maybe no Sevconian can refuse a favor on their team's first ever winning away day?