NOT THE SAME CLUB: STEAUA RULING DESTROYS RANGERS SURVIVAL MYTH
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
When is the same club, not the same club? When UEFA says so, according to most observers.
Even Rangers fans are quick to point to UEFA’s own website which lists the honors of the former Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) alongside the current incarnation as validation of their religious adherence to the Rangers survival myth.
However, a recently settled dispute in Romanian football makes it clear that simply inheriting the honors won by the previous club, in the absence of any other legitimate challenger for that legacy, does not mean you are the same club.
Steaua Bucharest, FCSB Officially Not the Same Club: Torpedoes for Rangers Survival Myth
Despite winning the European Cup in 1986 and dominating domestically for most of the 1970s and 80s, Steaua struggled to emulate former glories once the Ceausescu regime, long time backers of the club, where deposed in a bloody 1989 uprising.
Much like Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) Steaua and their fans struggled to accept the reality that, without plenty of immoral and probably illegal support off the park, they could not maintain their dominance on the park. Financial mismanagement in pursuit of former glories led to the club filing for bankruptcy in 2003.
This is where the Steaua story diverges slightly from that of Rangers. In 2012, we only had one entity, Sevco Scotland, emerge as a possible successor to the now defunct Rangers. Steaua Bucharest on the other hand have, since 2011, had two different teams competing to inherit the “history” of the old club.
On one hand, there was the Gigi Becali, Romanian Tycoon and someone of great influence both in the business and government sectors in the former Eastern Bloc nation.
He set up a new company (sound familiar?) called FC Steaua București SA in 2003, and “bought the rights to the stadium, the name and the history of the previous club”.
Using his influence over both media and regulators, Becali was able to muscle his new club into the Romanian First Division, in place of Steaua Bucharest, and essentially carry on as if nothing happened.
A compliant media, scared of upsetting one of the most powerful men in the country (sound familiar again?) eagerly played along with this.
However, one dedicated group of fans of the original Steaua Bucharest saw this fallacy for what it was and decided to “take their club back”.
Originally a major shareholder in Becali’s club, CSA Steaua broke away and formed their own club in 2011, initially entering the 6th tier of Romanian football. They challenged Becali and board of the other new club for the rights to use the original Steaua Bucharest name, logo and team colors.
Most significantly, they also formalized a legal claim on the historical honors of the original Steaua Bucharest, and demanded that UEFA recognize them as the legitimate successor to that club.
Anyway, a kind of halfway agreement was reached in 2014, where Becali’s club changed their official name to FCSB, but colloquially and most importantly for him in the local press, they were still seen as being the same club as Steaua Bucharest.
However, that’s all changed now. A ruling handed down this summer and confirmed last week, means that CSA Steaua, who have since moved up to the 2nd division of Romanian Football are now the true inheritors of the original Steaua Bucharest’s honors, titles and history.
Rather embarrassingly, though truthful, this leaves FCSB with only 2 league titles to their name and a history which only officially began in 2014.
However, CSA Steaua, in addition to the right to call themselves Steaua Bucharest, also only inherited the titles won by the original club up until 1998.
FCSB’s owner Becali is claiming this as some kind of moral victory and an endorsement of his claim that CSA Steaua and Steaua Bucharest are not the same club.
So, which is the original Steaua Bucharest? FCSB or CSA Steaua. In truth, neither of them are.
Steaua Bucharest ceased to exist in their original form in 1998. Just as Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) ceased to be in 2012.
The only reason the current team at Ibrox is allowed to wear the logos, colors and pretend to carry the history of the original club is because no-one else has lodged a claim for it.
Let’s just say that Rangers 2012’s current path of utter mediocrity continues for a few more years, and the American owners make good on their pledges to cleanse Ibrox of the stains of racism and bigotry, making a club that genuinely is for “anyone and everyone.”
Would it really such a surprise to see a new club emerge claiming to uphold the “staunch traditions” of the “real Rangers”, and make a play to try and get the rights to all that history and all the hatred that goes with it?
Stranger things have happened. In the meantime, for those willing to engage their brains for more than a few seconds, the truth is clear. Neither Steaua Bucharest nor Rangers are “still the same club”. These are new entities created using the asset of now defunct clubs.
If Romania’s media and legal system can finally be forced into recognizing this fact, perhaps one day, Scottish football can too.
