Three decades on, I can still recall the stunning impact of the words spoken to me over the phone by then Rangers owner David Murray.
“If Celtic put down a fiver, I’ll put down a tenner,” he said, verbally illustrating for dramatic effect the financial power he knew his club had over one that had been fiscally weakened by boardroom mismanagement. I’d called him on behalf of the Daily Record and it was the kind of quote you spend your working life striving to get so that it can be shared in print with the biggest possible audience.
It was also typical Murray bravado. He knew Celtic were in a vulnerable position and the great showman within him revelled in talking up their obvious discomfort. A perfectly allowable advantage gained from the superiority which tends to go in cycles where the bitter rivals are concerned. The strategy Murray embraced would, of course, turn out to be nothing short of catastrophic in the long run.
But now, after administration and liquidation, the Rangers fans are in the mood for bravado to make a comeback on chairman Douglas Park’s watch. They want to see transfer money brought in for players rather than have them run down their contracts and leave for free. And they want to see financial gains re-invested in Giovanni van Bronckhorst ’s squad beyond retaining players.
Bravado comes in all sorts of shapes and forms – and one of them has been the hiring of John Park
to Rangers’ recruitment department after he once headed up that side of the business for Celtic.
Turning Celtic Park into Ibrox Park is a natural source of controversy for supporters. The incontrovertible rule in the West of Scotland is that you do not, under any circumstances, betray the sacred trust and “jump the dyke”.
No explanation of that term is necessary and anyone who says they don’t understand what it means suffers from Boris Johnson’s interpretation of the truth.
The first caller on the radio after the news broke concerning John’s appointment at Ibrox referred to him as a “salesman”, a “middle-man” and someone who was “over-rated” and “got rid of” by Brendan Rodgers. All of which, incidentally, was apparently designed to underline the fan’s conclusion that defection to the other side was of no consequence to him.
You could’ve fooled me. The onslaught sounded more like the accusation of a mortal sin having been committed by a man whose name would have to be expunged from the club’s history. A bit like Mo Johnston, 33 years after he made the transfer move which no doubt still causes him to look over his shoulder wherever he goes. But dyke-jumping can take on the scale of an Olympic event for supporters and the competitors are judged accordingly. Wee Mo was a perfect 10.
Rangers didn’t hire Park to deliberately irritate the Celtic fans but some will take the bait and react in a manner which suggests they don’t believe that. The fact of the matter is John left Celtic, where he was liked and admired by the players and Neil Lennon during his first spell as manager, six years ago. Park, like the Rangers fans, has still to establish the financial guidelines he has to follow in his new role.
Now that Celtic have given the biscuit tin a decent burial and Ange Postecoglou wants another two players to add to an already richly upholstered squad, is there an inclination inside Ibrox to indulge in a 21st-Century game of fivers and tenners?
I would phone the chairman and ask him but those days have gone and cash for questions is the club’s way of handling Press relations. Cash for players, and how much, remains the topic of intrigue for the Ibrox support though. They’ll hang on the line until they get an answer. And the signing of Antonio Colak – joining the 11th club of his career at the age of 28 for a fraction of the money Rangers made last season – won’t entice them to hang up.
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