Was full disclosure of Rangers’ takeover, in the week Celtic won the league title, deliberately timed to deflect from an empty trophy room at Ibrox?
The old cynic in me says it probably was the reason for Wednesday night’s outpouring of information regarding 49ers Enterprises and the appointment of Kevin Thelwell as sporting director.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course, especially for the media. We are now about to witness a gloriously uninhibited bout of madness when it comes to speculation over what happens in the immediate future.
Rangers’ official statement relating to the negotiations with their soon to be American owners spoke about the
provision of “additional capital”.
This will be interpreted by the more excitable as Glasgow Airport being inundated by the arrival of a succession of
multi-million pound players from around the globe.
San Francisco 49ers pay their star quarterback Brock Purdy $50million dollars per NFL season, after all. And the organisation’s latest accounts show total revenue to be $680m – so untold fortunes must be on the way.
Or so some will claim.
Thelwell will, though, need to get up to speed with the city to where he has relocated from his post at Everton. The new sporting director’s introductory statement used the words: “Change takes time.”
Not in Glasgow, it doesn’t. If you’re not part of a title-winning club by this time next year there’ll be people suggesting you, and others, should be replaced.
Rangers fans want to believe Celtic’s time as the dominant force in Scottish football is about to be terminated on the back of long-cherished investment at their club – and the clock is ticking.
What the midweek revelations did was signal the dawn of a new beginning and the end of an era at Ibrox. Rangers have always thought of themselves as the quintessential Scottish institution, but they are now part of an American business concern’s portfolio, along with associated football clubs and representatives of other sports.
The “Rangers men” mentality in the boardroom is over as well. Previous big hitters, like Dave King, John Bennett and Alistair Johnston, are selling up and moving out.
Those who remain are minority players because 49ers Enterprises being the majority stakeholders at Ibrox was the only way a deal could be struck. On the basis that Celtic have won 13 of the last 14 league titles, radical – even historic – change was necessary.
It is, as the club’s midweek statement also said, about Gers’ “long-term direction”. The old ways are over and done with, the old faces are leaving the building.
The fascination for me is what effect the Ibrox revolution will have on Brendan Rodgers. Call me old fashioned but when Celtic’s manager says he is “150 per cent” certain to see out the last year of his contract, I take the man at his word.
So what might a resurgent Rangers do for Rodgers’ appetite to stay at Celtic beyond the lifetime of his current agreement? His employers must react to a new lease of life, under new management, at Ibrox.
They will be obliged to strengthen their manager’s hand for what lies ahead. When Fergus McCann came from America and assumed control of Celtic 30 years ago, revising the club’s historical pattern of being run by a group of families, it took four years to win a league title.
But Fergus had to build a stadium as well as a team. Rangers have no such concerns and now have access to a level of business acumen that has been missing during a long period of turbulence.
What we have now relative to the Old Firm is the old drama, but with a new cast. What I am waiting for, on a personal level, is the first caller to the radio to tell me Kylian Mbappe has been spotted at Glasgow Airport.
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