Back in the dark days of the 1990s we could only watch on in agony as our bitter rivals lorded it over us and won everything in sight. Not just on the park but off it. They had money to burn and were outspending most sides in the UK and even Europe.
They had invested not only in players but their stadium also, while we could only cringe as our incompetent ‘leaders’ not only neglected the playing side of things, but also the business side of it off the park. We were a financial time bomb waiting to implode and we didn’t even have a side on the park to take our minds off it. We were in a dire state. It was a painful time to be a Celtic supporter, a once successful club now shrouded in mediocrity.
The Rangers support lapped it up as you’d expect. They rubbed our noses right in it. We could only watch on as they lorded it over us. The banner their supporters produced at a game always sticks in the mind. It read ‘No money, No stadium, No trophies’
Yes it was painful, and yes we did have a lack of money, a ramshackle stadium and no trophies in that era, but what we did have was a history, a prestigious one at that. A record nine in a row and the big cup in 1967, something that money couldn’t buy.
David Murray wanted to disprove that theory and threw unlimited resources at achieving his goal. Fergus McCann of course arrived in town and saved us the anguish and embarrassment of administration or even worse, liquidation.
It took a while to get going but we eventually got to our feet and gradually gained stability. Fergus had built us a magnificent stadium and a decent side on the park. Murray was still throwing cash like confetti urged on by Celtic’s new found wealth. For every fiver and tenner blah blah.
Murray gained his goal of domestic dominance and his riches insured Rangers equalled Celtic’s prestigious nine in a row record. The ultimate target of overtaking that and achieving a record ten was thwarted though as Celtic kiboshed that in dramatic fashion in May 1998.
The holy grail that was European success was found to be out of reach for Murray. Even his unlimited wealth couldn’t buy European football’s most prestigious honour. Despite coming close in 1993, during his tenure he wasn’t even in touching distance of the big cup. European football was evolving rapidly financially, and even Sir David didn’t have deep enough pockets to keep up.
Karma summed up means ‘the sum of a persons actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.’
That’s what happened to Glasgow Rangers football club RIP. It eventually came out in the wash that Murray was spending other people’s money and thanks to his dodgy friends in high places was allowed an unlimited access to cash. Not to mention him using illegal payment schemes to entice players to Glasgow.
Rangers would eventually implode and disappear from existence thanks to years of reckless spending on a dream that would never happen. The new club formed in its place continues to follow the same path.
And they failed to learn the lessons from how their ‘No Money – No Stadium – No Trophies banner worked out for their previous club. In 2015 after Celtic went out of the Scottish Cup at the semi-final stage thanks to the most outrageous ‘Honest Mistake’ of them all, this Rangers supporter held aloft a scarf that they actually made to have a dig at Celtic for failing to win the Treble that season. Before that scarf was held aloft Celtic had only ever won three trebles in our entire unbroken history. Those trebles were won in 1967 and 1969 by Jock Steins great side and in 2001 by Martin O’Neill’s brilliant Celtic side. Three trebles in 113 years!
Since that Rangers supporter was pictured proudly holding her ‘Treble My Arse’ scarf above her head in 2015, Celtic have gone on to win an additional FIVE trebles in seven season
As Celtic supporters we can only watch on as our side wins everything in sight and sits in our rightful place as the most successful club in the country. Karma indeed.
From this…
To this..
To this
And then this…
JustAnOrdinaryBhoy – follow on Twitter @ordinarybhoy
As you may know I made my debut at a Celtic fan media conference yesterday and my question to new Celtic signing Marco Tilio about Ange Postecoglou seems to have made the headlines….here’s what happened!
