Rangers need their very own Fergus McCann to get out of this crisis!

Rangers current plight echoes problems previously faced by Celtic.

Dave King’s plea to Rangers fans to withhold their season ticket cash has echoes of tumultuous events across the city 20 years ago.

But, as Celtic director and club historian Brian Wilson points out, the big difference is that there was actually an individual willing to put cash in to save the club.

Tuesday will be the ‘china’ anniversary of Fergus McCann saving Celtic from going bust.

The Canadian businessman’s intervention followed a hugely successful Back The Team Sack The Board boycott.

In a match on March 1, 1994, only 9,000 Celtic supporters turned up to watch the Hoops beat Kilmarnock at home through John Collins’ strike.

It was a crowd that seems almost unbelievable now in these days of the Hoops playing their home Champions League clashes in front of 60,000 sell-outs.

However, as Wilson recalls, it took the intervention of the man known as ‘The Bunnet’ to rescue a club from the fate experienced by the Ibrox club.

Now, as Rangers battle to continue their journey up through the divisions, he reckons only similar stewardship will get them where they want to be.

“I think the lesson for Rangers from Celtic’s experience was that, without strong corporate governance, the accident was always waiting to happen,” says Wilson.

“I have heard what Dave King has said about Celtic shooting through 10 in-a-row and, as a current director of the club, it is not a prediction I would really comment on.

“I do know, though, that it can be difficult for ordinary folk to get their heads around the sums involved when we talk about football clubs in debt.

“That’s particularly the case with the Old Firm. We are talking about huge outfits with significant support available to them in the shape of their fan bases.

“To make the most of that support, they need strong, financially-responsible leadership. Celtic got that back in 1994 in the shape of Fergus McCann, who was an amazing character.

“Having spent many years in politics, I have met a lot of interesting, clever people in my career. Fergus, though, was someone who was completely unique.

“He was totally single-minded in the pursuit of what he wanted to achieve. And, ultimately, that was his great success he delivered what he said he would do.

“He was very up front about his five-year plan, and his intention to leave at the end of it, which he did and with a lot more money than he initially invested.”

What was more important was the fact he ensured the club’s financial future was in safe hands.

“Fergus’ two greatest legacies to Celtic were the stadium and the strong corporate governance he left in place,” Wilson continues.

“They were what were missing before his arrival.”

It might seem easy in hindsight. The reality was very different.

“Fergus took a gamble at the time, and it paid off handsomely. You always have to look at things in the context of which they took place.

“This was 1994 and things at Celtic were in absolute turmoil. We are talking crowds down to rock bottom.

“That Fergus was able to look beyond that to plan for the 60,000 stadium we have today is nothing short of remarkable. And it was a huge risk.

“If you look at the situation at Ibrox just now, you will see plenty of people who profess to have the interest of the club at heart. But they are not actually coming across with the money to lift the club out of it.

“Fergus did that. He put up £9 million half his personal fortune. Where I thought he was very shrewd was in initially identifying himself with the ‘rebels’, the likes of Brian Dempsey and Matt McGlone.

“But he only went so far with them. Once change had actually been effected, he moved to bring in a core of his own executives, including Eric Riley, who is still with the club today.

“And, of course, he eventually brought in three real heavyweights in the shape of Dermot Desmond, Brian Quinn and Sir Patrick Sheahy.

“For all the talk at the time: ‘the war is over, the rebels have won’, Fergus actually ushered in establishment.

“Not the old Celtic establishment which had held power before. The Kellys and the Whites and so on. But a new financial establishment.”

It was to prove a masterstroke. While Rangers got embroiled in the EBTs, Celtic stayed away on the advice of Quinn, a former Governor of the Bank of England. Not that the support always appreciated it.

“Fergus got booed by fans when raising the flag when we won the title in 1998 to stop Rangers making it 10 in a row,” Wilson recalls.

“That was just bonkers! There was no question he had the club’s long-term interests at heart. Contrary to opinions voiced in some quarters, he was affected by that.

“He was genuinely astonished by the public profile that was thrust on him as a result of his actions, and he definitely didn’t enjoy it.”

McCann should find the reception afforded him at the start of next season, when he visits Celtic Park to take a bow, easier to handle.

These days, it is Neil Lennon who finds himself the focus of attention at all times.

The manager stated on national television last weekend that his ultimate ambition would be to one day manage Celtic in the English Premier League, and Wilson can appreciate where he is coming from.

“I think that is what everyone wants,” he says.

“At the moment, we are operating in a set-up that doesn’t allow the club to achieve the full potential it possesses.

“Of course, we have European football every season. But, even then, you are operating within the constraints of the money you take in. But we are where we are.”

As the lessons of McCann’s intervention 20 years ago showed, that doesn’t have to be where you end up.