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No ‘return’ for Stokes’ old foes

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Anthony Stokes newsAnthony Stokes wants competition- from ‘Rangers’ or elsewhere- to push Celtic for the championship flag.

At a media conference to promote Celtic’s goal of the season poll the absence of the club, currently in liquidation, from Ibrox was brought up with the striker claiming that it would be good for Scottish football to have them back.

There are many things that would be good for Scottish football but sustaining the game is more important than any short term fix.

On the surface it would be good for Motherwell to have John Spencer, Andy Goram and Ged Brannan in their team but it’s better for the Fir Park side to be able to honour their players contracts and live within their means.

Aberdeen would benefit from having a player like Dean Windass knocking in goals (and corner flags), Hibs could do with the £5,000-a-week skills of Franck Suazee, Kilmatnock could benefit from the expensive experience of Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant.

Dunfermline used to pay Stevie Crawford £5,000 a week while the madness was nowhere more evident than at Dundee where Claudia Canniga, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Temur Ketsbaia and Craig Burley were entertaining crowds of 6,000.

All of those clubs were copying the Ibrox model created by Dave Murray, a business plan based on the generosity of Murray’s good friends at the Bank of Scotland followed by a tax scheme that brought the club to their knees and into liquidation.

Celtic did indulge for a spell with the club paying out over £30m during a 24 period on Eyal Berkovic, Raphael Scheidt, Chris Sutton, John Hartson and Neil Lennon.

Wisely the cheque book was tucked away after that with the successes of the latter signings used to redefine the club as a new scouting set up and attitude took hold that prevented the club from ‘doing a Rangers’.

It’s highly unlikely that Stokes, or any other player in Scotland, gives too much thought beyond their next pay packet and contract- few fans know anything about the financial well being of their employers competitors- but supporters have lived through the boom and bust of Scottish football and have a grasp of the realities.

That’s why Rangers sit alongside Gretna and Airdrie in the footballing mortuary with Hearts in the waiting room.

The current club at Ibrox will certainly be back- back in administration and liquidation having learned nothing from their previous incarnation.

Next time the squeals of Armageddon will be laughed off, there are only so many times that you can cry wolf with the credibility of Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan on a par with Scotland’s international rating.

Celtic’s focus will increasingly be on Europe with other Scottishj clubs hopefully making it through to the group stages of the Europa League within the next three seasons.

The pre-Murray days of the early eighties will never return but neither will the national wage, terraces or smoking inside football stadiums.

A new order is emerging with each club finding their level and working hard to maximise their performances on and off the park.

One club bucks that trend with the vanity project that is Murray Park and Ibrox Stadium a millstone around their neck as much as the incompetence of their manager and the outrageous wages handed out to journeymen.

Greater competition will return during Stokes time at Celtic but it won’t be the from within Glasgow.

As the striker said: “We want as much competition as possible. We want to push ourselves to improve — if that means other teams improving or Rangers coming back into the league, so be it.”

Competition will come, when Celtic lose they will lose fairly and squarely to opponents playing on a level playing field with only the odd honest mistake to create controversy.

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