The old Rangers cheated with debt accumulation that was eventually passed on to the taxpayer via a Bank of Scotland bail out and then tax avoidance schemes. Over a 15-year period Rangers competed with Celtic by getting the taxpayer to fund their team to in excess of £250m. Over this same 15-year period you and I forked out hard earned money to see a rigged league. That, in summary, is why the same club/new club myth matters to me.
If they are acknowledged as the same club, in 100 years historians will write that the 4 years out of the top flight was worth it to gain the glory of the 15 years of cheating. That is why the new club/old club narrative matters. Being a football fan is about the joy of the moment and the glory of your history. They stole days of joy so why should they get to keep the history?
Regular readers here and listeners to the podcast will know that I am not fussed about ever playing them in the league but it was inevitable we would so when game day arrived I wanted not just to beat them but to thump them and I expected that to happen. People who listen to my rambles will know that for two weeks I had been discussing a 5-1 thrashing – I even mentioned the 50/1 odds on Radio Scotland. Cut through the hype of those journalists, misty eyed at their team reaching the end of it’s “journey” and they have been fishing in the same talent pool as Aberdeen, Hearts and St Johnstone – the English 2nd and 3rd tier. Remember when we were doing that?
For Payton and Biggins they’ve signed Waghorn and Garner. For aging pros Gillespie and McAvenie there’s Hill & Barton. There is always the chance that on a given day the poorer team wins but mostly they don’t. People say form goes out of the window in a derby but again, mostly it doesn’t.
I expected us to thump them…and we did.
Saturday was marvelous.