It’s not all doom and gloom at Rangers despite the various problems on the pitch seeing the domestic campaign all but over by Valentine’s Day.
Philippe Clement’s early tenure threatened a treble only for the wheels to fall off in spectacular fashion and for things behind the scenes at Ibrox to go in the same direction.
Nobody would have predicted ever seeing Barry Ferguson as Rangers manager, let alone outsmarting Jose Mourinho in the latter stages of the Europa League.
If things aren’t great on the pitch other than the odd Thursday night highlight, things off the pitch are starting to show the early shoots of recovery.
The San Francisco 49ers takeover will see their technical director Gretar Steinsson help to appoint Rangers’ next manager with the game changing development potentially altering the landscape of Scottish football forever.
Rangers takeover matchmaker backs 49ers to have SPFL effect
Les Allan, an Edinburgh based businessman, has explained his role to the SPFL’s The Warm-Up YouTube show hosted by Gordon Duncan.
What he has also done, is suggest that it might not just be Rangers who benefit from the deal:
“Yes. I think Rangers fans and Scottish football fans [should be excited],” said Allan.
Remember that the NFL, they own the San Francisco 49ers, one of the most successful franchises, apparently worth up to $9bn are coming into Scottish football.
“So yes as Rangers fans I would be super excited but as Scottish football fans you’ve got yo think that’s going to draw the attention of other American sports owners at that level and that’s what’s happened over a period with the Premier League in England is that suddenly, you’re in that room.
Could the Rangers takeover lead to the end of Old Firm dominance?
There is already an American influence in Scottish football at both Aberdeen and Hibernian, but could the 49ers Enterprises takeover of Rangers really see money flooding into the game from over the Atlantic.
There is always a possibility, but St Mirren isn’t Rangers.
Scottish football is unique but the potential to grow any of the clubs outside of the Old Firm to a level where they can compete for the Scottish Premiership title is almost zero.
On the most basic level, Ibrox could hold the average attendances of Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen all at the same time, and all three clubs are enjoying good seasons in terms of current league position.
As with Hibs, the most likely scenario for other teams is the sort of link up that Hibs have with Bournemouth.
Potentially, this gives them access to better players than they would normally be able to afford or be able to find.
Rangers won’t be a feeder club for Leeds Utd but what they will have is access to the same recruitment and analysis data.
Everytime a team like Hibs or Hearts thinks that they have closed the gap, Rangers (and Celtic) just raise the bar again.
