Rangers takeover: ‘Scotland without Rangers would be a tragedy’ says Jackie Stewart

SIR JACKIE STEWART believes it would be a “tragedy” for Scotland if Rangers go to the wall, but insists the Ibrox club are paying the price for abandoning the traditional financial values of his homeland.

The Formula 1 icon was in the west of Scotland yesterday in his role as president of Dyslexia Scotland, joining fellow sufferer of the learning difficulty, Rangers striker Steven Naismith, at a promotional event.

Sir Jackie was inevitably asked for his perspective on the Rangers crisis and the 72-year-old, who has been as successful in business as he was behind the wheel of a racing car, was as forthright and articulate as ever in his opinions.

“Scotland without Rangers would be a tragedy, a real tragedy,” said the three-time F1 champion. “The same way it would be for Celtic not to exist. Celtic and Rangers have to survive. They are the very core, an indigenous part of Scotland.

“There will be a solution for Rangers. I sincerely hope and pray they can sort it out. But it’s sad it was allowed to get to that level. A lot of the world is in this kind of trouble now. Modern society has come to think debt is okay. But we in Scotland were mostly brought up to not spend more than you earned or could afford.

“If you are burdened by the amount of debt that has accumulated at Rangers over a period of time, with everyone shying away from the reality of the situation, it got into a position where it was beyond repair.

“But debt can’t be afforded. You’ve got to get rid of debt. Now they (Rangers) have built up a degree of debt that was, it seems, irreparable, particularly in the last regime. As it was going from one ownership to the next ownership, it was ignored. That person said he had more money than he had and that was borrowed money. So it’s a very vicious circle.

“You’ve got to wake up to and face the reality of life. A good chief financial officer would never allow that to happen and a board of directors should never allow that to happen.

“Most big football clubs in the UK have been bought by foreigners. Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are the three biggest, all because the people who bought them could afford that type of debt and can re-invest in order to achieve the goals they set.

“Manchester City look as if they are going to win the league. Chelsea have won the FA Cup and are in the Champions League final. That man [Roman Abramovich] and his pals can afford to do that. But if they ever left, Chelsea would be dead.

“So the bottom line is this is not something only Rangers are experiencing. It is widespread. Sport is quite guilty of it, people trying to get things they can’t afford. Common sense, and that’s my experience being brought up in Scotland, would tell you not to do that. I’ve never had an overdraft and I don’t have a mortgage.

“In all of the time with my Stewart Grand Prix team, it never had an overdraft. I had to find £32 million a year to do it. It was all found.

“Then I sold the company for 135 times what I paid for it, with no debt. I’ve seen teams going bankrupt in motor racing. Hardly any new start-up teams have survived. But mine did, it’s now Red Bull and making money.”