This is the main problem at Ibrox: the fantasies about superiority and world domination won't go away. They simply can't accept that they are not a major force even in Scottish football, and even their old club was in top position through deceit, shady dealings and book fiddling. Rangers' dominance in Scotland was all done with smoke and mirrors; the smoke, however, has now cleared and the mirrors have shattered, leaving them with at least seven years' bad luck!
The fact that there is no money, even other people's money, to throw at their problems means that the old Walter Smith way of working is going to have to be abandoned. This means that, before too long, Sooperally's arse will be out the door. All he learned were the only two things that his mentor, Walter Smith, knew: punt the ball up the park and buy expensive players. What Bisto FC needs to do is to build for the future and they need a manager and coaching staff that can work with what they've got. It'll take time; a long time.
Even Barry Ferguson admits as much in today's Daily Record. A decent youth programme and scouting system are what is needed. The problem is that this is a completely new idea at Ibrox. How many 'stars' did Rangers have coming through the system? In the 'good old days' they relied totally on splashing out top dollar for proven, internationally-renowned players, even though they couldn't properly afford to do this. The days of EBTs and unlimited loans from the bank are gone, and with it the shortcut to success.
The Peeppil, however, cannot get this through their skulls and there'll be hell to pay if Bisto is not in the Premiership in August 2015. So we've got Mr Blobby trying to be realistic about how the club should be run and the fans demanding immediate success. Having to slowly work their way forward while Celtic wins title after title is a nightmare the Bisto Kids can't live with. And so any crook or conman that promises to throw money at the team is follow-followed with blind devotion. Even Sooper is caught up in this, demanding new players for an 'assault' on the Championship next season, instead of slowly building up a viable team.
As Mr Blobby says, this plan is totally unsustainable. Talk of 'ringfencing' season-book money doesn't help, as this is Bisto's main source of revenue at the moment. No reputable institution is going to lend them anything until they can prove themselves to be a long-term business. And another thing that nobody is mentioning: are they going to charge the same price for season books now that they're in the Championship? I doubt it. This is automatically going to reduce the number of season books sold; The Peeppil are well-known for having short arms and deep pockets. This will mean even more cuts, which, in turn, will have the knock-on effect of less paying customers if Bisto FC doesn't sweep all before them in the Championship. So even long-term, if things last, the outlook is bleak if you're a Bisto Kid!
Dave King is a total irrelevance in all this. Nobody on the board is going to dilute their shares just to let him in the door and it's doubtful that he's got the amounts he says he has even if they did. There seems to be some expectation that he'll throw millions their way in any case, even if he gets no return. There is also a squadron of pigs waiting to take off at Prestwick Airport. The Union of Supporters can greet and bleat all it wants; it's Mr Blobby's way or death.
So how does McMurdo respond to all this? That's easy. He just decides to ignore it and tell us instead of all the benefits that Protestantism has brought to the world. Apparently we have already been in the Rapture for the last few hundred years, with Protestants spreading joy, happiness, tolerance and freedom to every part of the globe.
"Protestantism went through the civilised world like a forest fire, setting the world ablaze and bringing life, light and liberty to millions. The Reformation brought mankind out of centuries of darkness, ignorance and oppression."
Is that right? Try telling that to all the peasants that were slaughtered because they thought Luther's message was setting them free. Tell that to the blacks of South Africa, who had to suffer oppression under the Presbyterian Afrikaaners. Tell it to the Anabaptists, who had to flee to America to escape persecution from supposed fellow-Protestants. Tell it to the millions that were kidnapped from Africa to work on the plantations in America and the West Indies. Tell it to the Catholics in this country that were not allowed a vote until the Nineteenth Century. And tell it to all the middle-class and working-class people that the Orange Order fought hard to keep the vote from.
"Protestantism is a wonderful thing, though hated and misunderstood by many.
From a spiritual perspective, it is the true evangelical faith – faith in a loving God and His Son who bled and died for our sins. Protestant theology teaches that man’s relationship with God and his salvation from the penalty of sin is by God’s grace alone. This, along with the doctrine of the immediate Mediatorship of Christ, absolutely shreds the religiosity of works-based ideologies and priestcraft."
A slight omission there. This 'loving God' has already decided who is to be saved and who is going to be flung into Hell, so even if you turn up at church regularly and have faith in this God, you might still end up in eternal damnation. Makes the whole thing seem pretty much a waste of time, eh?
"The Protestant Reformation gave the foundation of strength, courage and confidence that helped Britain build a mighty empire.
The weak, enfeebled state of our nation today reflects what happens when Britain abandons Protestantism."
Oh dear, oh dear! And I suppose this 'mighty empire' spread 'life, light and liberty' to all the subjugated peoples? On the contrary, the religious beliefs of the subject peoples were trampled underfoot. Witness the causes of the Indian Mutiny. And the lives of all those millions of people were made a misery; Indian industry was ruined, sending many into poverty, the Opium War secured a regular market for British drugs, while natives of every description were beaten and killed in the name of empire. In the 1930s, planes were used to strafe demonstrators in many places because they dared demand their freedom. And I don't need to elaborate at all on Ireland. Britain is hated and reviled throughout the world because of the way she treated her subject peoples. Through all the days of empire the British were secure in the knowledge that they were superior and everyone else was insignificant. I suppose you might say that this is a legacy of Protestantism's emphasis on 'The Elect' and the hopeless, predetermined misery in store for the majority of people in the world!
"And those who mock and hate Protestantism do so only because that very thing they hate gave them the freedom to."
Where the hell does he get this from? I don't hate Protestantism; I don't belive in it and can't accept its soteriology. That, however, doesn't mean I hate it and if other people accept it and believe in it, even from a position of ignorance, then good for them; I'll support to the death their right to believe in and practise whatever religion they want, as long as it is not hurting other people. What I do hate, however, is this idea that everyone else is wrong and should be pilloried, shunned and even excluded because they don't accept Protestant ideas. I don't hate Protestantism, or Protestants, but I do detest those Protestants like McMurdo, who seem to think they are God's chosen people and constantly display their hatred for everything and everybody that doesn't fit in with their world view. That's something that any decent individual would hate and I would imagine that it's something that God hates as well!
A short P.S. to McMurdo: there is a difference between theology and soteriology. Roman Catholic theology and mainstream Protestant theology are exactly the same, stemming from the Nicene Creed. It is the soteriologies that are different, even though they both stem from the pen of St Augustine of Hippo.
"I say, missus, what a tattyfalarious day for getting one of the Sons of Struth, shoving a sword up his arse and saying, 'How's that for ring fencing!' Oh, Happiness, Happiness..."
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