Living the Blues in Wales as Rangers forced to start again

Published date: 05 July 2012 |
Published by: Shaun Davies
Read more articles by Shaun Davies


 

FOOTBALLING giants Rangers FC have a long and illustrious history.

Formed in 1872, surprisingly the Scottish team has Wales’ largest and only official supporters’ club here in the Vale of Clwyd.
 

They are the only club in the world to have won more than 50 national league titles.

They are also the most honoured having won 115 trophies in total.
 

But following Ranger’s liquidation due to debts of more than £134 million, the newly formed Rangers Newco was yesterday (Wednesday) officially denied a place in the Scottish Premier League alongside Old Firm giants Celtic and other big clubs such as Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs.
 

On Tuesday, the 30 Scottish Football League clubs met to discuss which league the newly formed Rangers Newco will play in next season.
 

Will it be alongside Dunfermline in the Scottish First Division or with minnows like Annan Atheltic and Elgin City in the basement Third Division?
 

And it's not that easy... Falkirk, Raith Rovers and Morton have voiced their opposition to a Rangers Newco joining them in division one while Clyde and Peterhead have also gone public with their opposition to them joining league three.
 

And how does it affect people in Denbighshire? The answer is simple.
 

Back in the 1980s, following the demise of the creamery industry in Dumfries and Galloway, many Scottish creamery workers moved to the Vale of Clwyd and set up new homes around the thriving Llandyrnog Creamery.
 

And it didn't take long for them to form North Wales' largest and only official Rangers Supporters Club.
 

Jimmy McNally, of Llandyrnog, is a lifelong Rangers fan and has looked on in consternation as his club has stumbled from one crisis to another over recent months.
 

“My gut feeling is that we’re not in the SPL,” said Mr McNally last week.
 

“The fact they have already put in the fixtures ‘Team 12’ says it all.”
 

He added: “It’s really strange how this can happen to a club as big as ours.
 

“It just shows you what’s happened to us is going to be set down as a marker to smaller clubs.
 

“It’s a wake up call to any club where they’re unsure who’s in charge.”
 

On the issue of clubs voting against a Rangers Newco from competing in the Scottish Premier next season, Mr McNally added: “A lot of clubs have been forced into it from a fans’ point of view.
 

“Without us, they will suffer... but if they think they can survive without us, it’s their decision.
 

“We as a club have to take that decision and move on.
 

“I think us Rangers fans are happy to go into Division Three and come back.
 

“There’s Scottish clubs that want us in there.
 

“Motherwell said they’re on the verge of administration and we would tip the balance.
 

“That’s scary... I don’t want to see Motherwell disappear.
 

“Obviously we want to play in the SPL, but we as fans haven’t got that choice.”
 

Mr McNally, who has been an Ibrox season ticket holder for six years, says trust will be a hard earned commodity for those involved in the future of Rangers.
 

“There’s only one man I trust at the moment at Ibrox and that’s Ally McCoist. He’s gone through hell and he’s still there.”
 

He added: “Rangers fans are fanatical. Sticking us in the Third Division, I hope Stranraer and Annan are ready for us because we will fill those stadiums.
 

“Queens Park must be thinking we must play Rangers four times and twice at Hampden Park.
 

“If we went to Hampden to play them, we would fill it with 50,000.
 

“We don’t do walking away, so we are not going to walk away. If we walk away, Rangers will die."

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