Mibees Aye, Mibees Naw

By FTBR

MIBEES AYE, MIBEES NAW!

This throw away line is attributed to Kenny Dalglish, one of Scottish football’s great players, who Rangers contrived to miss – considered too small but whose best days lay not at CFC but playing for Liverpool,then at their peak in English football.

Whether Kenny said this once or several times is not known but he has been forever associated with it not just in football but in comedy programmes when being impersonated, so it seems to have stuck.

Only this week during the election leaders’ debate on BBC1, Jim Murphy, in a retort and I thought clever put down to Nicola Sturgeon, said “Last year in the referendum you were all yes, now you’re mibees aye, mibees naw!”

So a former football icon and a Labour candidate can now be associated with this phrase, but wait……………there’s another opportunity for “mibees aye, mibees naw” to surface again in a slightly different context but just as tangible i.e. to describe the invisible chairman in waiting, the self appointed deputy chairman and the members (directors?) of the “new” board at Rangers Football Club.

Pre-EGM all the Rangers supporters were promised and committed that significant millions were available just waiting to be invested to stabilise Rangers and get the club back on a sound footing ready to recover from the previous years of abuse at the hands of many.

The amounts being promised were huge: £30 million from Dave King, £10 million from the TB3Bs and a potential further £10 million burning a hole in Brian Kennedy’s pockets – all promised to revitalise and secure Rangers’ future following the assumed removal of the previous directors and board and the success of the “new” board at the EGM.

Together with significant season ticket sales assumed to be forthcoming on the back of this positive commitment of multi-millions, Rangers would be back with a bang and then some!

But here we are weeks after the EGM and what do we have – merely a “loan” not an investment of £1.5 million, hardly enough to maintain Rangers for one month and keep the lights on.

Mibees aye, mibees naw we’ll have a Nomad, mibees aye, mibees naw we will trade in the city, mibees aye, mibees naw we’ll invest multi-milions.

The company has no Nomad and has as a result been delisted on AIM and not one city firm will represent RIFC allegedly whilst Dave King is involved.

To trade on the alternative market Paul Murray announced last week simply to deflect the issue that being on AIM and having a Nomad was not really all that important anyway requires one full years revenue i.e. liquidity, in cash, in a RIFC bank account.

Mibees aye, mibees naw, where is this cash in the bank coming from, so it’s not going to happen, there will be no trading of shares on another market.

Now the Rangers crest, the club’s iconic badge, is in the possession of MASH as part of the £5 million loan which included Murray Park and the Broomloan car park and today we hear a former chairman of Rangers Alistair Johnston suggesting that to avoid the crest/badge problem Rangers “new” board should simply just alter slightly the current crest/badge and that’s MASH sorted.

This is outrageous on several fronts.

Firstly if the promised and committed millions mentioned above had been invested post-EGM repaying MASH their £5 million would have been the first act of the “new” board. Paul Murray stated as much in the days after the EGM that “sitting down with Mike Ashley was something which they needed to do and quickly”

So repay MASH and there is no issue at all with the club crest/badge, sorted, it’s not a problem anymore as MASH per the contract would have returned all assets held until repayment including the crest/badge.

Mibees aye, mibees naw, there it is again, it didn’t happen, MASH still own the crest/badge.

Secondly, a more serious issue arises not just from the MASH situation and the non-repayment of their £5 million loan and the “change the crest/badge” statement from Johnston.

What is going on at Ibrox? Are the rumours and stories running around Glasgow and other parts true i.e. the real purpose, the game plan of the invisible chairman and the “new” board is to downsize Rangers significantly, perhaps even move them from Ibrox altogether and start as a “new” club, – Rangers City, Glasgow West Rangers, Rangers United, or the old name for the reserves Rangers Swifts?Anyone care to comment?

Mibees aye, mibees naw, but the signs so far since the EGM don’t point towards multi-million pound investments, stabilising the club and the business, finding and trading on an alternative city market place, securing a new management team and investing in new players (assuming promotion to Premier League this season), repairing and refurbishing Ibrox stadium after years of neglect.

Lastly and importantly the invisible chairman and “new” board need to take urgent action to unite a support that has become fragmented and at war within itself – a support now divided into two distinct camps, the boycotters/demonstrators/requisitioners and the real Rangers supporters who continued to support Rangers financially on several fronts despite everything. This is a matter of priority if the “new” board expect to sell 40,000 plus season tickets next season, regardless of the league Rangers find themselves in at the end of this awful season. This coupled with the non-invested multi-millions is a disaster waiting to happen.

Mibees aye, mibees naw, if the invisible chairman and the “new” board do not plan to do any of the above because their intention is to change Rangers for good i.e. to the level of the Edinburgh clubs and Aberdeen (Paul Murray’s 2022 plan perhaps) then there is a very serious situation developing which at the moment those who supported the “new” regime appear to be totally unaware of as they blindly follow the “new” regime, but to where?

Mibees aye, mibees naw, it won’t happen. Rangers will survive at the size and level they currently enjoy and have done for 140+ years or there may be a “Rangers armageddon” all on its’ own e.g. Rangers Lite – new stadium, the club changed for ever never to reach the heights of before, consigned to just one of the rest rather than the leading club in the land and elsewhere, whilst CFC gather titles year after year for fun, 20 in a row anyone?

Is this the Kingco/PM plan – mibees aye, mibees naw,; is this why the multi-millions haven’t appeared, is this why they don’t want to trade shares anywhere, is this why there is no visible progress since the EGM apart from a £1.5 million loan and Stuart McCall?

Surely the Rangers support need to know, surely this transparency shouted loudly as the new mantra will tell us all exactly what is going on at Ibrox and just what are their plans for Rangers now and in the months and years to come.

Will they do so……………….mibees aye, mibees naw!

Will we have a Rangers as we know it to support in the months/years ahead…………mibees aye, mibees naw!

Will Rangers exist as it has done for 140+years……………mibees aye, mibees naw!

Until it becomes clear exactly where this “new” regime is taking Rangers they should be questioned consistently, long and loudly. The supporters require answers, not just platitudes or sound bites, but genuine, honest answers. It’s our club isn’t it…………mibees aye, mibees naw?

Given the current apathy that definitely exists within the real Rangers supporters at the distinct lack of visible funding and positive activity should the “new” regime expect super season tickets sales and bumper sell-out Saturdays all of next season…………mibees aye, mibees naw!

“Let the others come after us, we welcome the chase” – but will Rangers as we have known them be there to chase………………mibees aye, mibees naw!

Rangers FC 1872 & RSL – One Team, Our Team