Green ignores fatal flaw in plan to move south
ChArlES Green’s brand of demagoguery gives him the appearance of a real-life Elmer Gantry and often carries about as much credence. like the old hellfire-and-brimstone evangelist hero of Sinclair lewis’s novel, the rangers chief executive’s bluster, bombast and threats will play better in the confines of a revival tent packed with susceptible wannabe believers than in the wider, harder-nosed world of business and commerce.
A substantial number of correspondents to newspapers and the internet have long since recognised that Green’s occasional headline-grabbers in the media tend almost spookily to coincide with a need to deflect attention from other matters, revealing an admirable grasp of the concept of propaganda.
This is a perfectly legitimate device by which to attempt to persuade the club’s followers of the worthwhile work being done on their behalf, even if the transparency of the flimflam occasionally damages his credibility. Few ibrox watchers, for example, really expected that Green would quit if the thorn in his side, chairman Malcolm Murray, were not removed. With both men still on the board, nobody has been disappointed.
The issue on which Green has been tub-thumping longest and loudest, however, warrants proper attention, since it carries potentially more serious implications. it is, of course, the business of taking rangers (and Celtic, for that matter) into English football.
like the overwhelming majority of politicians, Green has been prosecuting his case by emphasising items on his own wish list, conveniently omitting the mention of possible obstructions. Principal among his arguments is the certainty that pursuing his objectives in court will unquestionably result in success, since his legal advisors have assured him that the prevention of cross-border competition by Fifa, Uefa and/or any other football body will be deemed unlawful.
Even a layman is unlikely to contest that claim, but it is introduced to the debate by Green and his disciples as if it were the only obstacle to his ambition. in fact, it ignores the most formidable hurdle of all: that the Premier league in England, like the SPl in Scotland and every other league in the world, remains a society of clubs with the right of admission.
When richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the EPl, proclaims emphatically that the big Glasgow
Picture: Neil Hanna
WhOEvEr first observed that you can only play with the cards you’re dealt could have been foretelling the remarkable managerial skills exhibited by Craig Brown during eight years as manager of Scotland.
The challenge of actually managing has rarely been more robustly met than by Brown’s manipulation of a decidedly average squad in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup in France. Featuring a three-man central defence, none of whom – Colin Calderwood, Colin hendry and Tom Boyd – would be included in anybody’s all-time top 100 defenders, Brown’s machinations produced a record of three goals conceded in ten qualifiers.
With 15 scored, only one defeat and a total of 23 points, the Scots qualified automatically as best runners-up in the nine European groups, with no need of a play-off. Now, 15 years on, with his imminent retirement, it seems appropriate to make proper use of Joni Mitchell’s line: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”.