You would think that it is a subject that has long since been forgotten about. Rangers, Sevco, and the club versus company nonsense that still, regularly, fills the pages of Celtic bloggers and keeps them awake at night.
Now, a professor at the University of Stirling has written a book covering the years 1998-2015 in which he details what happened to Rangers before 2012 and the subsequent fallout, I just hope that Dr Brian Howieson has his social media notifications turned off.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, Howieson explains why he was so interested in the subject, despite being a Falkirk fan, and why it really isn’t that complicated a concept to get your head around:
“I’ve researched this issue and there IS a difference between the company and the club. I would direct people towards the words of Lord Nimmo Smith and Lord Glennie. The stakeholders at Rangers Football Club — the players, the staff, the supporters — were the victims in all of this. But no one died.
“It was a story of a company which went into decline. The football club has always remained. The real story is about companies which own and run football clubs being bought and sold.
“I’ve seen it at Falkirk with people we don’t know much about trying to buy the club.
“Every single football fan can relate to this. It is a life-long commitment to support your club — but do you really understand who owns your club and what their agenda is?”
So, if FIFA, UEFA, the SFA and the SPFL wasn’t enough, we now have an independent professor telling us that Rangers are the same club, not that we didn’t know this already, of course.
Will this stop the usual suspects from churning out the “yer club’s deid” patter? No. Will they accept the research of such an eminent individual? Again, no.
The strange thing is, Howieson didn’t really have to write this book but it will be interesting nonetheless, one thing you can guarantee though is the demographic for who buys it and what club they support.
Has there ever been a fanbase so obsessed with their rival’s accounts?