Sir David Murray has escaped Gers wrath

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YOU have to hand it to Sir David Murray. It looks like he's getting away with it.

With help from long-standing media servants and ex-players, we've seen his part in Rangers' demise airbrushed from history this week.

When the s**t started hitting the Ibrox fan, the Gers owner slipped out the side door unnoticed. As disappearing acts go it was up there with Lord Lucan.

When Celtic confronted their own banking crisis in the early Nineties, the controlling families were booed in and out of Celtic Park. You couldn't move in Kerrydale Street for the demonstrations against the people who had led the club to the brink. By comparison, Murray is getting off the hook.

Earlier this week a broadsheet was forced to print a retraction after claiming Murray had been forced from the Rangers board by the Lloyds Banking group.

If his arm wasn't twisted then why is he turning his back on the club in its hour of need?

In the glory years of nine in a row, David was more visible than Ben Nevis. Only Jock Stein before him exerted more influence on the media. The Rangers owner wrote the back pages during a leadership that couldn't have been more up front. Now, in the club's darkest hour? No sight nor sound of him.

Less surprising has been the tripe we've endured since Rangers' financial difficulties were exposed. If we're to believe the papers, it's all the bank's fault, to the extent some Rangers supporters are threatening a boycott of Lloyds to make them see sense.

A bit like removing the fuse from the life support system if you ask me.

In case you hadn't noticed, our two biggest banks were within hours of closure thanks to reckless lending. As a result, Rangers' lender, HBOS, was bounced into a shotgun marriage with Lloyds where the taxpayer now has a 43 per cent stake.

With Downing Street on their case, who in their right mind expects banks to cut anyone any slack?

That's why bogeyman Donald Muir was slipped on to the Rangers board.

He's not just answerable to Rangers fans, he's there to make sure Gordon Brown is getting value as well.

Those currently blaming the bank can't have it both ways. Did they complain when HBOS was throwing cash at David Murray hand over fist? Were there threats of boycotts when the Gers owner was writing out that £12million cheque for Tore Andre Flo?

As the debt mounted, I asked David if the interest payments scared him. Not a problem I was told, it was only the equivalent of paying one extra player.

In the rush to absolve Murray, those excesses have been ignored but if you looked long enough this week you would have found the voice of sanity.

Younger Rangers punters won't know Hugh Adam but the former Ibrox director predicted the current crisis years ago only to find himself ignored.

Adam earned Rangers many millions through his brainchild, Rangers Pools, but was marginalised after Murray's arrival.

During the mad spending of the Dick Advocaat era, Adam forecast bankruptcy for Rangers if they didn't put the brakes on. He was dismissed as a bitter old man with an axe to grind.

Had his caution been adopted, Rangers wouldn't be in crisis this morning.

Murray has enjoyed every advantage going. When he took control, a new stadium was already in place, allowing him to build a team worthy of it.

Celtic's decline meant he didn't have to try hard. Rangers were guaranteed a place in the European Cup every season.

The money poured in as ENIC paid Murray £40m for just 25 per cent of the club. NTL were another major benefactor, while shirt sponsors queued up for a piece of the action.

There was a real chance to secure the long term future. It was squandered. Who, apart from Adam, would have believed the club could find itself in this mess?

As Walter Smith is left holding the baby and fingers are pointed at scapegoat bankers, there is only one man responsible. Sir David has never run anything by committee. He signed all the cheques, made all the big decisions. This mess is of his making, you can bank on that.

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