It's quarter final time in the Euros so it's interesting to see how my predictions have gone. I predicted Germany, Spain, Italy and France correctly but missed out on England, Portugal, Czech Republic and Greece - and let's face it, I don't think anyone really saw the last one coming. That's a 50% success rate or, to put it another way, about the same as if I had randomly pulled the teams from a hat. So much for my punditry skills! Aside from Greece, England's performances have really surprised. I think the initial draw against France was a big help as it relieved the pressure for the final "away" game against Ukraine. Having said that, the performances have been functional rather than showing great flair but even a "signed up member" of the Tartan Army that I spoke to on Saturday said that he was willing them on against Sweden. I suppose the lack of expectation in the media has made it easier for folk North of Hadrian's Wall to support England but I noticed 1966 mentioned during last night's commentary and the papers have now declared England champions elect so I expect the ABE T-shirts to come out in force and for normal service to be resumed.
As for the quarter finals: I would expect Portugal to
beat the Czech Republic (although I'd like see the Czechs win), Germany will
beat Greece (unless it is 2004 again), Spain will beat France after passing
them to death and I fully expect Italy vs England to go to penalties after a
goalless draw (make up your own mind who will win that one). I checked with my
match prediction for the competition at work and it looks like I am far more
likely to win the wooden spoon that the jackpot. It has been a fairly football
related week at work as the fixtures for next season have also been published.
I was actually intrigued by this as it is far from certain what format the
Scottish league will take next season. The chap who deals with the draw merely
said that things had been "accounted for" which seemed all dark and
mysterious. In fact I don't think he is fully aware of what the fixtures are
before they are published. Aside from programming the rules for the logistic
and commercial ordering of the fixtures, it is all done by a computer so no-one
really knows until they are published. But it is still fun to be dark and
mysterious. As it was, the uncertainty was "accounted for" by
publishing the fixtures with a well known name replaced by "Club 12".
I've never been a fan of Rangers Football Club but what
has happened to them recently really rather saddens me. It is clear that the
club has been mismanaged for many years and we have seen, over the last few
months, that the predators and parasites who have brought the club to its knees
have been replaced by scavengers looking for their own pound of flesh. The
sharks and the leeches that have drawn the financial lifeblood from the Gers
have now been replaced by the hyenas, the vultures, the maggots and the worms.
There seems to be great concern about the fate of the clubs assets, the affairs
of administrators and liquidators, and the effect of Rangers liquidation on TV
revenues and the Scottish game in general. However, very little seems to have
been said about the concerns of the ordinary Rangers fan.
It might not suit the whims of the suits who run football
or the chairmen and sugar daddies who control the clubs but professional
football clubs exist because they have fans - not the other way around. If no
one wanted to pay to watch football, the clubs and the millions of pounds they
throw around like Monopoly money would disappear. Of all the supposed assets
that Rangers have the most valuable is that tens of thousands of fans are prepared
to give their loyal and undying support to the club. There may be the odd glory
hunter that will simply follow the day's winning team and there will always be
halfwits who simply use the Old Firm clubs as a hook to hang their bigotry on,
but Rangers do have a large and solid fan base who will have supported the club
from childhood, as their fathers and grandfathers did before them; watching from
the stands and terraces at Ibrox with all its wondrous and sometimes darkened
history. Whilst the old Rangers company may have folded out of existence, there
is still a great desire amongst those fans for an entity called "Rangers"
to act as a focus for their footballing affections.
The question of how Scottish football will move forward
is locked in limbo. There may well be a desire amongst the Rangers faithful to
see a reimagined Ibrox club filling in the space left by "Club 12"
but I don't think this would be the best idea given the tainted reputation of
the Rangers name and of Scottish football in general. The SFA are now pressing
for a reform of the leagues with the ill-conceived SPL merging with the lower
SFL clubs and even going further to create a pyramid of leagues rather then the
flat four with the Old Firm at the top and East Stirlingshire at the bottom. This
sounds like a much needed reform but quite where Rangers would fit into this
depends largely on what the leagues would look like: how many teams would each
division have, what kind of promotion and relegation would exist and how would the
existing clubs would slot into the structure will all have a bearing on how, where
and when a re-established Rangers could be readmitted.
I think much of the problem with the rest of Scottish
Football at the moment is that they are reacting to Rangers demise with the
intention of maintaining the status quo. Things need to change and they have
needed to change for a long time. If a new league structure can be combined
with a democratisation of football rather than the two team plutocracy that has
existed since the SPL was formed we may actually get to see competitive leagues,
better football and a new Rangers football club competing for trophies that
actually mean something. I suspect that my legal punditry is probably as poor
as my football punditry but I still fully expect to see a club called Rangers competing
in the top league of Scottish football at some point: just not now and not as
"Club 12".
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