Lennon: Have Rangers brought it on themselves? Yes
The past week has seen the mainstream media finally catch on to the depth of the club’s problems highlighted by the desperate need to sell Nikica Jelavic to bring in much needed cash.
Ally McCoist is now operating under the financial constraints that Lennon has been working under since he took over from Tony Mowbray in 2010.
While Walter Smith was able to splash the cash on Jelavic and James Beattie at the start of last season the Celtic boss had to scour the world for cut price signings like Emilio Izaguirre, Biram Kayal, Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes.
“I have a certain sympathy with Ally McCoist,” Lennon told the daily newspapers yesterday having earlier touched on the subject in a Sky Sports News interview. “He’s in his first year in the job and I’m sure that he didn’t envisage the problems that he’s had.
“But somebody must have seen in coming. Do I have sympathy in that respect for them? No. Have they brought it upon themselves as a club? Yes.
Explaining the reality of how Celtic have to operate Lennon added: “We have cut our cloth accordingly for years and had to bite the bullet a few times.”
Lennon’s comments come as the prospect of administration or even liquidation is freely discussed about Rangers.
An automatic 10 point deduction will apply in the event of administration but liquidation is a whole new area for the football authorities to deal with.
Liquidation would mean the end of the club formed in 1873 but a new club would almost certainly be formed.
How the authorities deal with a newly formed Glasgow club probably playing out of Ibrox Stadium remains to be seen. Any new club would have to be registered with the SFA and then apply to the SFL or SPL for membership.
There will be a will amongst some clubs to welcome the new Glasgow club into the SPL for commercial reasons but there are bound to be dissenting voices concerned about any such move.
At that stage Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster will need to earn their salaries and ensure that Scottish football is seen to be operating within the Financial Fair Play guidelines about to be introduced by UEFA.