Rangers’ redux: Scottish game set for shot of much-needed intrigue

It was the third game of season 2012-13, getting on for four years ago. The strongest memories are of how good the weather was; and how bad The Rangers were.

It was an August Sunday in Berwick-upon-Tweed, in England, a country where Rangers and Celtic have longed to play for years. But as the Rangers fans moved south across the sparkling Tweed to get to Shielfield Park their new reality was not England's Premier League, it was this: Berwick Rangers away in the Irn-Bru Scottish Third Division.

It finished 1-1. That left the famous Glasgow Rangers fourth in the fourth tier of Scottish football, a point behind Clyde. Manager Ally McCoist stood on the touchline wiping his brow due to a combination of heat and embarrassment. When he spoke afterwards about a fortunate draw, McCoist described the performance as "agony".

It was a word Rangers had become associated with. Five months earlier the Ibrox club had entered administration and had been docked 10 points immediately. That, though, was only the beginning – or the end of the beginning, given Rangers had been teetering on the brink before Craig Whyte’s £1 takeover a year earlier.

That £1 figure suggested Rangers were bankrupt and Whyte's failure to pay any money to shareholders beyond former chairman David Murray prompted further scepticism. Having said that, the club had been standing in a murky puddle of scepticism for some time and it was still raining.

As Whyte, Wavetower, Sevco, Charles Green, The Blue Knights, Sports Direct and numerous other unforeseen names and terms entered the lexicon of Scottish football, the very word 'Rangers' became the subject of a debate. It was still raging on Tuesday night, almost four years on, as the club who still play at Ibrox secured their return to what is now called the Scottish Premiership.

Liquidation had followed administration and so a new company – The Rangers Football Club Ltd – was formed, which in turn became owned by a holding company called Rangers International PLC.

Record expunged

Celtic fans determined to distance themselves from the Old Firm connection to Rangers – or to see Rangers’ trophy record expunged due to “financial doping” – have proclaimed the old Rangers dead, or “deid”.

They don’t much like the new Rangers either; but Celtic’s reality is that they will be in the same division again as their Glaswegian rivals from next August.

There may even have been a smidgen of green appreciation that prior to Rangers' promotion on Tuesday – via a 1-0 win over Dumbarton in front of 48,000 – the current manager Mark Warburton spent a chunk of his press conference discussing the "huge gap" between wages paid in England's Championship and those in Scotland.

Given that Rangers have signed two Accrington Stanley players on pre-contracts, Warburton is not throwing camouflage over future recruitment and the re-constituted Ibrox board are publicly sticking to an economic plan.

"First and foremost, we don't want to put the club into financial risk," said director Paul Murray as Tuesday became Wednesday. He used words such as "prudent" and "sensible".

Benchmark

Murray added: “Obviously the benchmark in Scotland is Celtic.”

It sounds promising that there is a lack of gung-ho “We are the People” bravado which alienated so many in Scotland, going way beyond Celtic. If hard lessons have been learned and Rangers would be prepared to stabilise in the Premiership over, say, two seasons before launching a title bid, then there are reasons for optimism about the club and the league.

Certainly to be in Scotland early this week was to be reminded of parochial force. While Barcelona were facing Atlético Madrid, Chelsea were appointing Antonio Conte as their new manager and Qatar met Abu Dhabi in the shape of PSG v Manchester City, in Scotland football coverage was dominated by Rangers' rise and Celtic's still possible demise.

In one way this can look, as was said, parochial; in another, there was an amount of enthusiasm and opinion on view that felt energising.

Warburton’s comments on recruitment were framed by common sense. The former Brentford manager will know the true strength of his first XI and by how much it needs to improve to be competitive in the Premiership. But promoted teams – as we have seen with Swansea, Bournemouth and Watford – often possess momentum and the under-rated quality of zest.

Away from Ibrox, there was also positivity at Hearts and Aberdeen. Those two were meeting at Tynecastle last night – a game that was sold out.

In the absence of Rangers, these are clubs who have re-configured themselves and now have a stable look; some measured investment and they could get closer to Celtic next season. At the very least, ambition is again on the agenda.

Hard evidence

Even at Easter Road

Alan Stubbs

was talking up Hibs – though we could do with some hard evidence from

Hibernian

one of these days.

In fact, the club giving the impression of dissatisfaction are the champions- elect, Celtic. Ronny Deila’s team drew 0-0 at Dundee on Tuesday night. It was a far from glorious result after what sounds like an unconvincing performance. Celtic have had a few of those this season and need to win the league as a bare minimum.

This should be accomplished, meaning five titles in a row. But who will laud it?

There is a Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden Park on Sunday week to consider. It will give an indication of Rangers’ progress and Celtic’s stasis. It will also be Warburton’s first experience of the sectarian shite that surrounds Celtic-Rangers.

If only that could be washed away, with Aberdeen and Hearts re-emerging, Scotland could have some sporting intrigue back next season. ‘Sporting integrity’ was going to be the phrase there, but it’s too loaded, too Rangers-Celtic. Intrigue will do. Intrigue is good.