There should be 3 main sources of scrutiny that have to be examined when discussing this failure. They are the Media, the fans themselves and the National Body. Each branch of this trinity have the power to influence the other 2. If one had done the right thing, the other 2 would have been forced to step into line.
Anyone who has read any of my other pieces know my views on the Scottish media, these “journalists” have shamed their profession in this sorry saga so I will not go over old ground. I will sum their actions up in one man. Keith “wealth off the radar” Jackson who then brazenly admits he regurgitates unquestioningly Rangers PR lines in his copy, yet keeps his job. Enough said I think. Epic failure number 1.
If, like me, even prior to the events of the past 2 weeks you are partial to some Schadenfreude Pie then you will have a login to Mark Dingwall’s Online Fat Club. Even today there are a sizeable number of posters who believe that their Whyte Knight has a grand plan to save the Rangers from his tropical hideaway on an extradition treaty-less island state. For 20 years this group of people have had their psychological want for supremacy and power fed by the PR machine of a Knight of the Realm*. Their daily diet of bombast and drivel has left them like the humans on Disney’s Wall-E. Utterly incapable of doing anything other than what they are told. In fact they are just one step short of the Police being able to control them with Collie dogs and a whistle rather than Alsatians. As Whyte’s PR people cleverly played to their collective hang ups, tugging at their heartstrings whilst equally strumming their intolerances, they cheered his name whilst he raped their club. As some bears started to waken they looked to their fan leaders for, well leadership. What they never realised is their so called leaders were even less able to deal with reality outside Planet Whyte than they were. Instead of countenancing that the things they were being told were correct. Drawing up plans as a body for if the worst case scenario hit, just in case all of the Internet Bampots were dealing in truth as opposed to Timmy fantasy, they were planning Christmas Do’s and Sash Bashes. Leaders rise in a collective as they usually embody the qualities that collective feel represents them and are able to eloquently convey these qualities. This is true here. Their leaders are bombast guzzling fantasists interested in the position and authority with no cognisance of the responsibility and duty. Forelock Tuggers Loyal. Deserve better? They have received more than that. They have received exactly what they deserve. Epic failure number 2.
This leads us to arguably the greatest and most shameful failure of all. The previous 2 failures could be excused as these 2 group’s failures could be attached to emotion and self-interest. The failure of the governing body is absolute and holds no mitigating circumstance. The SFA are charged with the good governance of the game of Association Football in Scotland. Their abysmal failure goes back years. I cannot think of any other leagues whose professional clubs have suffered as many insolvency events as ours has. In fact we have had one of our top tier clubs actually completely die due to Sugar-Daddyitis. Yet in this face of this, in an industry which is part of the very fabric of society, how do our governing bodies react? Not even a twitch. They have sat idly by whilst clubs spent themselves to death. Said nothing whilst winding up orders are issued. Paid lip service to Fit & Proper person rules, all the while talking about reform. They are not fit for purpose. When the sectarianism at the very core of the organisation was discovered the entire structure should have been rebuilt. Instead they have changed from a Bowling Club to a Golf Club.
The very things a governing body is there to prevent have taken place. We can no longer wait for Regan to do his cosy reforms. The governance of the entire Scottish game has to be re-done and in one swift move not piece meal as archaic blazers, against the removal of their absolute power, slowly retire. It is obvious there are a great many clubs in Scotland who are incapable, or unwilling, to run their businesses in a correct manner. Their financial vandalism puts clubs who do behave correctly at a disadvantage but not only that, they have now threatened the existence of the whole industry. The SFA have a chance to expedite reforms with the new independent enquiry. However we seem to have the SFA’s own version of an independent enquiry. This is an independent enquiry, commissioned by the SFA, that has an SFA employee sitting on it and a secret remit that they won’t share. Business as usual Timmy, move along.
The SFA have failed in their duty to safeguard the game. They must not escape without explaining their inaction. I look forward to the impartial statement on all of this by their impartial Chairman, at least he will have expertise in the matters he will be discussing. Epic failure number 3.
The failure of Rangers FC (in administration) should cause large sections of Scottish society to navel gaze, to assess their own actions and how they could have prevented Jellymageddon. It will not though. We all know that. Rangers FC Utd will return in some grotesque form, looking to put a “business as usual” sign up. If the people who are being wronged by this process do not ensure that the 2 branches of the trinity of failure that they will be able to influence are made to rectify their mistakes then history is doomed to repeat itself. If that comes to pass then we will have the 4th, and possibly most epic, failure of them all.
