Graham Spiers Made Redundant From The Times

[muttondressedaslamb]

Does this mean there wil be a lot less/no Scottish football coverage in The Times?

[dazzy_deff]

Does this mean there wil be a lot less/no Scottish football coverage in The Times?

Probably...the less people have to endure our pish league the better. Its too embarrassing. Got a pretty healthy package according to him on Twitter.

[OddJob]

Probably because he was the only west coast hack who actually saw the OF for what they are. Shame really as he is a good articulate journo.

[Redstar]

Probably because he was the only west coast hack who actually saw the OF for what they are. Shame really as he is a good articulate journo.

Well.... East Coast...born in Edinburgh

[fatshaft]

Well.... East Coast...born in Edinburgh

Bet his punctuation is better than yours!

[Redstar]

Bet his punctuation is better than yours!

I'll give you that one FS

[The Boofon]

Probably because he was the only west coast hack who actually saw the OF for what they are. Shame really as he is a good articulate journo.

 

 

He is indeed. The Times' loss is the Herald's gain.

 

Herald Article

 

There are two competing schools of thought about the faintly Barnum figure that is Charles Green, the Rangers chief executive.

 

The first is that he is an engaging, gutsy man, who has astutely taken on this Rangers mess and stored up for himself future profit, while simultaneously restoring the club.

 

The second is that he is a colourful buffoon, a blusterer adept in the outrageous statement, who has taken in the Ibrox hardcore with his megaphone pronouncements.

 

I think there is merit in both points of view. Green is a hard man to place. He has done a lot that is admirable at Rangers, even while his tongue occasionally wags to lunatic effect.

 

Give me more of this, I say. It's like having a circus right on your doorstep that you can dip in and out of any time you like. Whenever I think of Green I think of him in one of those huge, stripy top-hats.

 

Yet Green's most recent outburst may sway any swithering neutral about him towards the second of these perspectives - that is, of the buffoon in action.

 

Tub-thumping as only he can, Green has harangued the Scottish football authorities over their proposed 12-12-18 reconstruction of the leagues. The Ibrox CEO also stated, in quite a porridge of indignant sentiment, that Rangers should leave Scottish football as quickly as possible.

 

Amid his frothing Green came upon one slight glitch…he didn't know where his club should go.

 

Just to be sure, I quote him: "If that [12-12-18] is what we have [then] the quicker we can leave Scottish football the better."

 

And then: "On first glance there is nowhere for us to go…but that doesn't mean we shouldn't start looking for an option."

 

Curiously, Green was greatly agitated on Wednesday about the fact that, in any new 12-12-18 set-up, Rangers, should they win the Irn-Bru third division title, would not be "promoted" as such but end up playing the same teams again next season.

 

Yet if Rangers were to be promoted in an unchanged system, they would go up to the third tier in Scottish football - just as, in a new 12-12-18 structure, they would resume in the third tier.

 

Indeed, a title-winning Rangers, working their way up from the third division under the current system, would take three years from August 2012 to get back to the top - a time-frame that doesn't change in a 12-12-18 system.

 

Even more strange, Green in his statement appears to favour "a bigger league" than the current SPL of 12.

 

Yet in the SFL's counter-proposal to go to a 16-10-16, a title-winning Rangers this season would also have to stay in the bottom tier next year, playing the same teams again…but didn't Charlie just rage about this?

 

Indeed, asked about the 16-10-16 scenario only a month ago, Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, said he welcomed the plan.

 

This is all very confusing. Mr Green's anger flies around like shrapnel, some of it hitting the mark, other bits smashing the tea-pot in the corner. On such occasions, he exhibits quite a lather.

 

In truth, what we are witnessing here is the pain of an aggrieved Rangers, a wounded animal. This club is letting off steam at every conceivable opportunity.

 

Green has made it his place to rage against the SPL and the SFA, and he never wants to miss a chance.

 

Rangers are sore. They feel persecuted. The club and some of its supporters see various conspirators and "agendas" which are there to trip them up.

 

You do meet other Rangers fans who accept the club's wrongdoing, who are stoical about their fate, and who remain a tad sceptical about Charles Green. But they are a silent majority (or minority).

 

I don't mind Charles Green's bombast. Indeed, he is a dream for the Scottish media. He provides endless drama and headlines.

 

But there is a chance that his endless indignation will become boring. Just occasionally, he might like to pipe down a bit.