Downfall: How Rangers FC Self Destructed

by Phil Mac Giolla Bhain

Fundamental reading for anyone interested in the history of British football, Downfall - How Rangers FC Self Destructed contains a wealth of exclusive material as well as collecting the prophetic articles by investigative journalist Phil Mac Giolla Bhain. Phil gained the attention of notable writers such as James MacMillan, Professor Roy Greenslade and sports journalist Brian McNally - who compared his work to that of Woodward and Bernstein - by breaking the wall of silence of mainstream football journalism in Scotland, denouncing its corruption. With an introduction by Alex Thomson of channel Four News, Downfall. How Rangers FC Self Destructed has four sections which expose Rangers tax strategy and the luscious dinners for major reporters, as well as detailing the failure of corporate governance by the SFA and SPL and the culture of Ranger s supporters and how they failed to mobilise. The Fan's Revolution, when SPL fans held back from buying season tickets until they were sure their Chairmen would not let Rangers Newco back into the SPL, is documented also.

Genres: Football

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2012

Reviews

[Kevin Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

In such uncertain times you really do need something to raise your spirits and give you a laugh and this brilliant book did exactly that! I was taught to never laugh at someone else’s misfortune but when it’s self inflicted and involves a ‘proud Scottish institution’ with a 140 year history of racism, bigotry and sheer arrogant self entitlement then hell bloody mend them!

The author Phil Mac Giolla Bháin does an outstanding job in detailing how Rangers FC self-destructed. It’s still amazing that the mainstream Scottish sporting journalism ignored the biggest ever sports scandal in the country from not wanting to be ostracised from Team David Murray and it took an online blogger with a reliable source close to the internal workings of the club to reveal the truth about the financial charade at Ibrox. Phil was telling everyone just what was going on and that the football club which had brought nothing but shame and embarrassment to the country was certain to fall into administration and then liquidation. Of course as Phil says in his terrific book even as he was spelling out what was about to befall their club the Ibrox hordes made it clear, in amongst the numerous physical threats made against him, that they were never going to believe a ‘Fenian from Donegal!’.

Phil makes it abundantly clear that although Messrs Green and Whyte (still couldn’t make that up!) are the bad guys in the eyes of the people who used to follow the now extinct club, the man most culpable in the death of Rangers FC is the knight of the realm himself, Sir David Murray. Someone said recently on Twitter that for BBC Sportscene to be showing reruns of a club which no longer exists winning league titles and cups during their EBT’s / dual contract years is like Eurosport rerunning Lance Armstrong winning a Tour de France.

I couldn’t recommend Downfall by Phil Mac Giolla Bháin highly enough as it is investigative sports journalism at its very best. If there are still any Celtic fans out there who don’t yet fully appreciate just what Fergus McCann did for our club then they should definitely read this book. For the former followers of the club which no longer exists it would also serve them well to discover just how it all came to pass.

[Sean Docherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of this is now very much common knowledge, but was some decent and interesting snippets throughout.

I found the most interesting part of the book was the media section and how they basically just ignored the facts staring them in the face, and the very clear and obvious reasons behind that.

It did tend to repeat a lot of itself as it was a series of blogs in categories, it may have read better if it was in one continuous chronological order.

[John Meffen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Largely good, but the author is a bit full of himself, and sometimes as bigoted as the Huns themselves. When he divides "Scottish Football" into 'the green half' and 'the blue half' it shows that lives within that very 'old firm' space that killed Rangers FC and turns off most Scots.

[Billy Ferguson]

Anyone who is familiar with this author should realise the twisted reasoning behind the title of this book.

As a Rangers fan, I will not read this book for I know how the author feels about "my kind."

This story needs to be told, but by an objective mind, and while I'm not doubting the information that will be contained within the pages, this man is not of an objective mind.

If a man openly thinks of other people as racist, fascist and capable of obscenities just because of the team they support, then I will not put money into his pocket.

This will likely be shot down by many of his followers, but before you do, put yourself in my position: How would you feel if you are subtly referred to as a Nazi or mentioned as being a member of a "Klan"?

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of blogs on the Rangers FC saga, arranged in chapters by themes with an introductory summary essay each time. Unless you are a Rangers fan living in a wee bubble of ignorance most of this stuff is already in the public domain, although the chapters on the flaccid nature of the Scottish media and the Rangers fans are quite revealing. Overall I struggled to be gripped by the series of blogs repeated verbatim, which tended to overlap and repeat stories. The people who need to read it, won't read it, but good luck to him.

[Steven Pilling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been a 4 star but those are the breaks.

You dont have to be interested in Scottish Football to enjoy the book. Rangers fans will weep and possibly wonder how this happened to their club.

There is an element of i have been proved right to the book a little like David Walsh's Secen Deadly Sins but the writer has better control of his emotions. This should be a call to arms for fans and the media especially the media to look at the affairs of football clubs especially when the numbers dont always seem to add up.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charts the downfall and in the end death of Rangers FC, a club that had existed for well over a century. A must for any supporters of the now defunct (liquidated) club which re-formed as Rangers 2012. If only they had believed Phil's information that things were seriously wrong at their club they could have tried to save it. Sadly they dismissed the man as a Catholic, Celtic fan with an axe to grind and missed their opportunity.
This book will not make for good reading if you happen to be called David Murray, Martin Bain or Craig Whyte though.

[Lennox · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some interesting points but too bound up in the author's ego to have been of any use. It is also just a selection of blog so the narrative is poor.

[Alan Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good summary of the last 2 years of RFC, though if you followed the author's blog there's little new here.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. Subject matter is excellent but hard to follow in the way it is presented - it is a continuing story as I still read Phil's blog on this story regularly

[Shan]

yasss the huns are dead