Rangers Football Club

And they were a club before they were incorporated. It is an argument that has a distinct bang of "modern football" off of it. Clubs exist independent of corporate structures in society, and if they incorporate, and things go south the club and its members can still have perpetuity, even if the corporate structure is gone. As a question, Do club's get to claim the prizes and history of a club won prior to incorporation, or are they are new club, and as such, these cant be claimed by the club which is now incorporated?

Also, you know full well that if the roles were reversed, the argument I'm making would be the first thing that comes to mind in the eyes of Celtic fans.

From the point of view of their liquidation, I know that Cork City never felt the same to me after dying and reforming. It was the same fans wearing the same colours at the same ground in the same town, but it was different. It might not have felt different to everyone, but I reckon a lot of that would be denial.

Aside of that, I am not sure there are many clubs left at the top levels of modern football, in Britain at least, whether we like it or not! There is very little connection between clubs and the communities they are in, and where there is it often feels forced and corporate, like when McDonald's sponsor kids sports or when major food and drink brands put their finger to the wind on social issues like racism, homophobia or transphobia.

As a Celtic fan, like fans of any other club, I thought mine was a bit different. That's the denial we all face. The reality is that it is as corporate as any other, if thankfully not being used to launder the reputation of an evil regime or individual; yet! Deep down I know I will support them until that happens, but many others will ignore it if it does.

Since Rangers reformed I would, through gritted teeth, admit that they have managed to keep a connection with their support more than most. I might dislike the manner in which they do it, especially in early November, and they certainly seemed to have taken gambles financially, regardless of how Tones and Phil McFourNames may exaggerate it! That doesn't change that, like Cork City and Derry City and Parma mentioned above, that they left Rangers die and Celtic fans will mock them for it. Those that say it was McCann saved Celtic ignore the fact that he headed a deal that saw a share release that was taken up by thousands of loyal (lol) fans to save the club then. They didn't do it and neither did any of the others mentioned. 

Even where I watch most of my football now, in the English fourth division and below, there are questions about how much of a club, in the truest sense many are. Forest Green Rovers, who get showered with good publicity for their progressive attitudes on the environment, but they are just an advertisement and vanity project for Dale Vince and his company, with little connection to the club that it was.

Even at Cambridge United, who I fell in love with for feeling exactly how I feel a football club should, by being a part of its surroundings while also being one of the few Cambridge institutions that is defiantly separate from the University, isn't perfect when stripped down. I go to the matches, when allowed, with a local who has gone fifty years and he questions why a football club has a CEO, never mind one who has no interested in football, has no connection to the city and was parachuted in for his business acumen. When he said it I understood what he meant, despite my admiration for how said CEO handled the infamous disapproval of players taking the knee against Colchester United when we were allowed in, briefly.

I think the pandemic has, like it has done with badly run countries and its citizens, highlighted the schism between a football 'club' and its community and supporters more. We know that a club is its fans, that's an accepted truth in football; but it is barely even a half-truth now. The pandemic has made football a television show for everyone and the cynic in me makes me feel that that's what those that run 'clubs' want now. They don't need fans for the spectacle anymore. Of course we will still go back, but we have all seen how it has been diluted, whether we care to admit it or not. That's the denial. 

I have been shocked that the EPL didn't use this period to try and ship games to the Middle East as it is the next link to having teams move outside of England, which I feel is the end goal. A world or European super league of some form or other. At the moment they have that, to a certain extent from a Champions League (sic) that can only won by a dozen or so clubs, but I do feel thats what those laundering reputations want as the next stage of the progression of laundering their reputations.

I'm sure Celtic fans would have all stayed at home if they won the league though 

Yes, but the club has been, in general, removed from its community. There's nothing wrong with Celtic fans mocking Rangers fans for letting their club died when they saved their own. It is very close to being the whole point of being a football fan! And of course they are wedded to that idea!

As I found out with Cork City, there is no bigger disconnect than the club dying. It can be dressed up in my ways after,  but that's denial. 

But there is a difference to being wedded to a jeer, to actively seeking out ways to make fact of the narrative. And that's what gets me. There are a number of Celtic fans who believe the Club died, as opposed to the underlying corporate entity (this has other problems and ethical repercussion, especially in relation to debt left behind). But, what I'm willing to point out is when people conflate the liquidation of the corporate with the death of the ethereal club. Especially one which had instant perpetuity.