Time after time, armed with information supplied by the Rangers Tax Case blog, callers to phone ins were systematically ridiculed or cut off for having the temerity to talk about the implications of the tax case. The laughable Hugh Keevins dismissed the idea of the a tax case as being the figments of the “internet bampots” imagination. “We cannot talk about that matter because it is an ongoing case.” wailed the uninformed Keevins on Superscoreboard. Of course he was seriously misleading callers as the tax case remains in exactly the same state as it did months ago when he was cutting callers off and ridiculing their claims. He wasn’t the only journalist guilty of this and at one level the gulf between what we could read online via Rangers Tax Case and the mainstream media was widening on a daily basis. 

As the RTC site grew in stature it became clear that a core of contributors were going to the very heart of the corruption endemic at Rangers and across the Scottish football authorities. The BBC documentaries by Mark Daly only served to confirm the information provided online by Rangers Tax Case. At this point the penny finally began to drop with the likes of the pompous Jim Traynor that Ibrox was awash from a huge tsunami of financial fall out. 
It is perhaps a testimony to Rangers Tax Case that when Duff & Phelps sat down to their first Administrators pres conference that their opening statement referenced both ‘the small tax case’ and ‘the big tax case’. What Craig Whyte had claimed was “99% crap” had just become the defining parlance of the the men put in charge of Rangers in Administration.

For those of us who have written for years about Scottish football finance and more specifically focused on the reckless financial wrecking antics of David Murray it was heartening to see the Rangers Tax Case retain a clear focus on the key topic and to pursue those who attempted to undermine his work.  

What the Rangers Tax Case blog has done is show the arrogant sections of the Scottish football media that there are individuals and groups of football supporters who are highly articulate and highly informed about the game and all its various nuances. The new media allows them to put these views out their with credibility. The reality is that even the group of broadsheet journalists who are reasonable in plying their trade simply cannot tell me virtually anything about football finances which I wasn’t aware of already. So it was downright foolish for sections of the press to take a stance of dismissing the Rangers Tax Case blog as being an agenda driven bampot. 

So now the Rangers Tax Case blog has announced it is going to be wrapped up. Keeping anonymity was essential to the whole thing being a success, protecting sources of information and those wishing to assist in uncovering such an epic scandal.

We still await the outcome of the tax tribunal’s deliberations on the case but it is a fitting tribute to the Rangers Tax Case blog that any number of supporters across Scottish football will keep the pressure on the authorities to act with integrity and make the correct decisions.

The mainstream media have taken a battering and perhaps as their readers and listeners dwindle they may have the humility and the small amount of common sense left in them to properly report as journalists in the future when issues like the Rangers Tax Case come along.

At Celtic Underground many of us have covered the corruption of Rangers and the now discredited charlatan David Murray over a number of years. So we pass on our sincere thanks and good wishes to Rangers Tax Case. The blog that changed the world of Scottish football. Forever.