Old Firm friendly shows disconnect from Rangers board - Kenneth Ward

In football, these members of the family move in and out favour at the breakneck speed of Lewis Hamilton slaloming through a chicane in Monte Carlo. One minute “Brendan Rodgers is here for 10 in a row”, the next he’s Judas; one minute “We are all Neil Lennon”, and the next LennonOut spends more weeks at the top of the Twitter trending charts than Cher’s Believe did at the top of the pops.

But while Celtic supporters piled on their previous two managers, any suggestion from the outside that these individuals had slipped below the standards expected of their position in terms of conduct or results would have been beaten away by said baying mob. This is where the function of the board in terms of uniting the family comes into play. The board’s job in such situations is to take on the role of the safety car in Formula One: keeping a lid on the rise and fall in fortunes of any club member.

But it all becomes tricky when the board appears to become complicit in the travails of the family. Peter Lawwell, the patriarch of Parkhead for nearly two decades, was rarely afforded the full paternal respect of the Parkhead faithful throughout his tenure, despite myriad success on and off the park since his appointment as chief executive in 2003. His hard-line approach to the actions and behaviours of the club’s rebellious youth, The Green Brigade, for instance, saw him depicted as out of touch with the family. His loyalty to Lennon, too, was considered folly.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 02: Former Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell during a cinch Premiership match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park, on December 02, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Lawwell has since vacated his post and the appointment of the popular and charismatic Ange Postecoglou has breathed new life into the Celtic support and their devotion to the family unit.

Such is the Greek-Australian’s universal appeal, the recently announced Sydney Cup, which will see Celtic take on Rangers Down Under in a money-spinning friendly competition that will also include A-League sides Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers, has been billed as Ange’s Homecoming. That Rangers would sign up to such an event, however, has sent shockwaves through the Ibrox family.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 02: Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou at full time during a Cinch Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park, on March 02, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Having had to deal with the financial improprieties of a former board, the debacle of the Craig Whyte era, and several pariah figures looking to extract as much as they could out of the club as they got back on their feet following financial meltdown in 2012, supporters stood and have been central to their re-emergence on the domestic and European stages. In such circumstances, a family that had suffered the ignominy of a complete fall from grace would naturally insulate itself from outside criticism as their rivals lapped up their misery. Rangers fans knew who was responsible for their downfall, but no one outside the family was welcome to point this out. And that included the media.

Since returning to the Premiership under Mark Warburton in 2016, when supporters unveiled a “Going For 55” banner on their first home game of the season, a siege mentality has strapped the club in the wake of their fortunes a decade ago. And as Rodgers secured back-to-back trebles before teeing up Lennon to complete the hat-trick in 2019 with 10 in a row a seeming formality, Rangers’ approach became increasingly insular. Retreating further into their shells, bracing themselves for the ultimate dagger of “the 10”, the Ibrox club cut back on visitors to their home on derby day. Then the pandemic struck. Celtic were awarded their ninth title in a row and the Ibrox club waged war against the SPFL while deploying an approach of stringent social distancing with all other member clubs.

Now it may seem that the board were acting in the interests of supporters at this time. But their role as safety car in this context is supposed to be with regards to insulating their own. Not in blocking rivals. And there has always been a sense that embracing the siege mentality was an appeal to a fringe element who might be more willing to dig deep into their pockets during the club’s ultimate time of need. And let’s face it, it seemed to work: under the guidance of Steven Gerrard, Rangers’ fortunes gradually started to improve until their title win last year. They began to dominate certainly the home fixture of the Old Firm derby once again, where they had been embarrassed a couple of times during the Rodgers era.

Why, then, would this same board sign up to an Old Firm fixture that parades their arch-rivals as the first family of Scottish football? Even though this move, as the club’s largest supporters group Club 1872 would describe it, would alienate a vast portion of the fan base, on whose sustained patronage the club relies so heavily.

For the money, of course; indeed, Rangers said so themselves. And that is reason enough to leave the Ibrox family feeling betrayed. Although they won’t appreciate being told so from someone on the outside, one thing Lawwell could impart on this current Ibrox board is that you fail to listen to the fan base at your peril. No success – financial or in terms of silverware amassed – can replace a misplaced sense of family loyalty.