Rangers alone and ignored as influence in Scotland wanes – Chris Jack
Rangers are the “black sheep” of the Scottish Premiership after they were bypassed by the league and their rivals on the new broadcast deal, says Chris Jack.
Despite the Gers refusing to put their support behind the £150million agreement with Sky Sports, with Stewart Robertson arguing that Scottish football was being undersold, they were bypassed as the deal was signed without them.
And after the club came out on top of the lengthy dispute surrounding the league sponsorship with cinch due to it competing with chairman Douglas Parks’ own Park’s own Park’s Motor Group, but then saw the arrangement remain just with the Light Blues cut out by SPFL chief Neil Doncaster, Jack argues that they will never get their way in a minority of one when their opposition amounts to nothing.
In his column for the Glasgow Times on Thursday morning (29 September) he said: “Doncaster found a way round that debacle and excluded Rangers from the reworked deal.
“Then he went and did it again when Rangers refused to put their name to the Sky contract and were left urinating into the breeze as they attempted to make their voice heard.
“The no-one likes us we don’t care, even though we really do, siege mentality position that has been adopted at Ibrox is all fine and well, if you are into that sort of thing.
“But Rangers find themselves struggling to get their points across and make people sit up, listen and take notice.
“Their influence politically has waned, their ability to shape the narrative in the Press has all-but gone.
“And when the SPFL can simply change the rules – rightly or wrongly – to circumnavigate Rangers once again, then the Ibrox board have lost the capacity to be key decision makers in our game.”
Pariah
As Jack suggests, it doesn’t matter whether the hierarchy at Ibrox have a valid argument or not if nobody else is bothered about hearing it.
It will naturally put the club at a disadvantage in repeat circumstances if they are operating at odds to the rest of the league over and over.
With current attitudes they are likely to take against whatever stance is held by the Bears on principle, just as the disdain held towards Doncaster will presumably lead to those at Ibrox doing the same in return.
It is going to be doubly-difficult to command respect among rivals, particularly in the context of numerous past disputes, if the powers that be at the club often can’t manage to command respect from their own fans.
There appears to be a lack of consultation and willingness to compromise at times, with an us vs them outlook that pits the decision-makers against anyone who may be affected by the decisions.
Mixed messages on recruitment and investment, along with unpopular messes like the abandoned participation in the Sydney Super Cup, have all gone down badly in recent months.
And if that is the case with their own fiercely loyal supporter base then it is no wonder that the rest of the league are ready to gang up against the club whatever the merits of the argument.
In other Rangers news, yet another dispute has come to a conclusion with the club no longer having to pay out compensation in the millions.