A decade on from liquidation can Fiorentina act as a blueprint for SPL giants Glasgow Rangers to rise back to the top?
Dark clouds loom over Ibrox at the moment and the Rangers motto of ‘Ready’ is being sternly tested; as I am not sure many of the Gers faithful, even the most paranoid, were ‘ready’ for the summer they have endured. This week Rangers newco head Charles Green seemed to have assured words at hand that SFA membership would be granted ‘within the next 24 hours’ and therefore a ramshackle Rangers squad would be able to fulfil their fixture with Brechin on Sunday. Now with reports that an agreement is not any nearer today than it was last week Rangers again find themselves in limbo.
Having Glaswegian blood coursing through my veins somewhere I was always destined to develop an affinity to for one of the Old Firm clubs. For me it was Glasgow Rangers, mainly because of my love for former Everton and Manchester United wing wizard Andrei Kanchelskis, think Andrei Arshavin but quicker.
But if Rangers fans look to another of Kanchelskis’s former clubs they can find hope in events from Italian Serie A outfit Fiorentina a decade ago. This summer is the tenth anniversary of the reforming of the Florence club. After racking up tax debts to rival Rangers’ they were denied entrance to Serie B and ceased to exist; reforming with the name Florentia Viola, in Serie C2 the 4th tier of Italian football. What a fall from grace for a team who once had stars such as Rui Costa and Gabriel Batistuta adorning the violet strip as they produced historical wins against Arsenal and Manchester United in the 90’s.
They kept hold of influential players such as Angelo Di Livio; and also acquired the crème de la crème of Italy’s lower league players such as Cristian Rigano and Massimiliano Scaglia not to mention loaning in future Italian internationals Fabio Quagliarella and Allesandro Diamanti. The club destroyed numerous attendance records as they cantered to a league win. After being fast tracked into Serie B after a revamp and expansion of the Italian league system Fiorentina were promoted through the playoff system back into Serie A in less than 3 years and also re-acquired the rights to use the name Fiorentina along the way.
But the fact is they may have lost that right legally, but in the eyes of players, fans and opponents this was still Fiorentina, the Lillies; winners of 2 Serie A titles, 6 Coppa Italia’s and European football regulars.
This applies to Rangers; whatever happens the name and perhaps most importantly the supporters of the club remain; and if they can be resilient in the face of crisis eventually the names and faces of the ‘suits’ who have created this situation will be forgotten but any players who help lead them back to glory will go into footballing folklore.
image: © carca
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