On reflection, a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 horror film The Shining on Friday evening was an entirely fitting end to a week in which Scottish football, like the character played by Jack Nicholson in the movie, descended into madness.
Nicholson’s terrifying portrayal of a man hobbling blindly into the abyss of a snow-bound maze was, in many ways, akin to what we’re currently witnessing within the (formerly) beautiful game north of the border, as Rangers’ own demented administration-related turmoil seemingly offers ‘road to nowhere’ signs at every turn.
And now, of course, the madness is boiling over, casting an altogether darker hue across many within the game who would frankly rather avoid its more sinister reaches.
This time last week, Rangers boss Ally McCoist was continuing to attract plaudits for the dignified way he has attempted to steer Rangers through the worse crisis in the club’s rich history. By Tuesday evening, however, he had gone some way to undoing a hard-earned (not to mention well-deserved) reputation for level-headedness when all around him seemed to be losing their minds.
This was thanks to an interview he gave for Rangers TV, in which the Ibrox boss lambasted those on an SFA Panel who, following an investigation into the circumstances which led Rangers into administration, handed down a hefty fine, and – more significantly still – an embargo on the signing of players for twelve months.
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of the decision for one moment (and admittedly McCoist was not alone in protesting the harshness of the embargo), you wonder whether the Rangers manager has reflected on his emotive words with some regret ever since.
McCoist maintained that the decision could ‘kill the club’, and that it could be ‘the final nail in the coffin’. His insistence that he wanted to ‘know who these people are’ was quickly acted upon, with the Panel members subsequently named on-line. (McCoist, as it transpired, already knew fine well who ‘these people’ were, given Rangers had a representative at the hearing, and therefore he only had to ask).
It need hardly be repeated that the men in question have since had to be given security advice by the police, following the issue of threats against them and their families as a consequence of their decision in this case.
McCoist clearly should have known better. This is a man who has almost thirty years experience as player and manager amid the often combustible atmosphere that pervades the Old Firm.
Just last week, two men were jailed for five years each at the High Court for sending parcel bombs to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other high-profile Celtic supporters. This served as a timely reminder of the unsavoury element that attaches itself to the clubs, and who require little persuasion to resort to criminality as a means of demonstrating their so-called devotion to the cause.
McCoist’s predecessor Walter Smith then added fuel to the fire by making the astonishing claim that, only a year ago, the club was virtually debt-free. Smith’s muddled thinking failed to take cognisance of the £18m debt owner Craig Whyte took on, the millions of pounds owed to other football clubs in transfer fees, and the not insignificant matter of a tax case (dating from the period when he and Sir David Murray were at the helm) which, if lost, could send the club’s debts into the stratosphere.
At the weekend, we had the sight of thousands of Rangers supporters marching through the streets of Glasgow in protest at the sanctions taken against their club. We’re promised that further protests are planned, including the potential for a boycott of away matches by Rangers fans for the foreseeable future.
Amid the madness, the weekend’s final Old Firm match of the season passed largely without incident. Given the current circumstances, this was a blessed relief, as there had been fears that the mayhem of the moment could have spilled over onto the field of play and beyond, given that rational thought appears to be losing out to raw, unthinking emotion for the moment.
The feeling persists that the Rangers saga has some way to run before clarification on a way forward can be obtained. For the good of the Ibrox club, not to mention the sanity of Scottish football as a whole, it’s to be hoped a workable solution can be found.
In the meantime, some people would do well to avail themselves of a lie down in a dark room for a while.