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Vote Wisely Bears Written by: 1972 Wednesday, 17th October 2018 Vote Wisely Bears As you will no doubt know, a number of emails relating to SNP run Glasgow City Council’s intervention on the proposed Rangers fanzone have now been released, thanks to an FOI submitted by Rangers fan group Club1872. Club 1872 published said documents yesterday and have been supported by Twitter’s @therangersobserver in pinpointing some of the activity undertaken by council leader Susan Aitken and depute leader David McDonald. The detail is astonishing indicating not only that these two councillors intervened in the process to award a licence to Rangers, but that subsequent activity has involved McDonald apparently brokering a booking at the Ibrox Football Centre to clash with timings of Rangers matches, and Aitken sending very questionable communications regarding evidence cited by Rangers CEO Stewart Robertson. To add insult to injury, the FOI information released contradicts statements from both McDonald and Aitken, who denied there had been any sort of intervention, before Aitken accused both the club and her critics of sectarianism, for having the audacity to challenge what she’d done, while McDonald was paying scant regard to new GDPR regulations by releasing select emails including personal contact details. Stewart Robertson’s letter to Aitken, which was released as part of the FOI is to be commended, as is the request itself, and the analysis done by Club 1872 and RangersObserver. The message here from VB is very simple, and goes out to the any Rangers fans who have voted SNP, or shown any support for the Yes movement over the last 5 years. You are being taken for mugs by that party, who are working across the country to damage Rangers Football Club. That should be something you have an issue with, and you should be contacting your local SNP representatives to take action to ensure our club are treated fairly, and you should not vote for that party until such time as there is tangible evidence that the SNP are truly a party for all. Of course, you are entitled to whatever political beliefs you hold, but you should know that, despite some sterling propaganda, the Nationalist movement in Scotland is not progressive in any way shape or form, and is playing the electorate by picking up policies along the way that it believes are representative of the Scottish people as it drives on it’s one track journey towards Independence. The arguments over whether Independence is the right solution or the wrong solution may be for another day, however, you should be clear that the Nationalist movement has been hijacked by those of an Irish Republican persuasion with no interest in Scotland, other than it being a tool to drive Northern Ireland out of the UK. Whether we like it or not, our club, as a focal point for Unionism for many years, is in the crosshairs of these people. That means that, if you support the prospect of an Independent Scotland, then you accept that part of the Nationalist agenda is to damage our club, so at the very least, you should be putting desires for Independence on hold to ensure that the movement you have embraced genuinely becomes a fair party acting for all. You know what, even though it’s not my political view, if you do that convincingly you may actually win over enough No voters disgusted by the Anti English racism and overt Republicanism to your side. https://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/article.php?i=201&a=vote-wisely-bears

Accies, away is another pathetic advert for Scottish football, who would want to plough serious cash into a tin pot league with plastic pitches & half empty stadiums? run by buffoons.

As most of you will know, I've argued against those who attempt to make this a SNP v Rangers issue. Instead, I've argued that this is a group of individuals (who just happen to be in the SNP) who are acting in such a biased manner, rather than a mainstream party acting against our club. I still think this, however at the very least some questions need to be raised, and as someone who has no political bias (other than mistrusting all of them equally) I thought I'd raise them. 1. Given that there was an obvious attempt by councillors to intervene in such a sinister way, what are the leaders within the SNP doing to investigate and address this? 2. Given that a significant proportion of the country is now questioning the motives of a party, why is no one in the party attempting to manage our perceptions? If some of the posters on here were correct (in that few Rangers supporters vote for SNP), then this would be understandable, because they're unlikely to change opinions anyway. However, this is not correct and with around 50% of Rangers fans voting SNP there is a decent number of votes on the line here. 3. With so many overtly bigoted tweets from the SNP representatives, has the SNP leadership taken steps to ensure that this stupidity is addressed? Perception is all that matters in politics, and I find it astonishing that the party is either unaware of this growing concern, or so unconcerned that they choose to do nothing about it. I'll reiterate that I don't believe there is any evidence that the SNP party is anti Rangers, so why allow certain individuals to damage their party without being seen to tackle the issue? It demonstrates either poor leadership, or a level of arrogance that is concerning. Politics and football should not mix, however it is inevitable that politicians (as is the case with any profession) will bring their bias into their workplace. Let's not confuse the two.

Join up and vote? I'm a life member but now don't have a vote.

Let's just beat Hamilton and see how the other results went.

Hatred and criticism should be embraced by courageous men. Take it and learn from it. But when the hatred is supported by your own they need weeded out. Especially when the hatred comprises of poorly worded emails and tweets by incompetent twits. We didn't have these problems in our support prior to 2014. Divide and conquer is old but it works.

I think a lot of their potential followers over and above the 9,000 who actually go to games reckon Aberdeen have no chance so they can’t be bothered going to see them get whacked. Let’s hope they’re right.

I told you so ? and thanks for confirming it. There's no point having a go at me. I never expect anyone to be bothered what I think.

I don't see my support for Rangers in political terms, so to speak. But being a Rangers supporter and a Unionist go hand in hand. Do any other Scottish clubs fly the Union Flag so prominently at their grounds on matchdays? Do any other Scottish fans have several songs which relate specifically to being British? As for being able to stomach the company of Yes voting Rangers fans, I'd rather not. I've shunned the handful I've met and I doubt any of us are missing much. Stephen Dornan's emails on the FOI release are just another piece of evidence on an ever-increasing list of anti-Rangers actions by members of the SNP. I've had it up to here with their sheer hatred of our club.

Not every Rangers fan sees their support for the club in political terms. It’s not that complicated so no need to second guess the levels of indignation and denial. I’m not sure most would bother too much what you think about their politics. They may prefer to talk Rangers if you can stomach their company (with all due respect).

Offer them 20k tickets which was more than generous based on previous semis and their home attendances, bend over backwards to move the KO time for them as so as they can make the ‘arduous’ 3 hour journey, and still they only sell a third of what they originally thought was their natural entitlement. Their players should be grateful to Rangers fans that they occasionally get to play in front of a proper crowd.

Lol.. oh i knew Craig haha. We actually played well, still got humped lol. Fair play, talbot still the best in the juniors

All I can say is lol

Last evening, BBC Radio Scotland was hosted by Dandy Don, Liam McLeod. There are enough Dandies at BBC Radio Scotland to have a different Dandy hosting every night of the week. It also means that when something inconvenient arrives reference the Dons, you can ignore the embarrassment, until the necessary presentation is available. Liam preferred to lead a discussion on the trials of Kyle Lafferty and the rightful evocation of the FIFA ruling that denies Rangers playing the striker this coming Sunday. Oh, the effort being put into faux concern! The cloud of inconvenience arrived yesterday morning when we heard the SPFL had written to Aberdeen reference the number of tickets Aberdeen had sold for the semi-final of the League Cup. The hard rain fell when Aberdeen owned up to selling tickets either side of the larger Rangers support allocation, deliberately to deny any returned tickets being passed on to waiting Bears. No Siree Bob, Liam had his red and white brolly covering his conscience, ensuring the run off drenched Lafferty and Rangers. Aberdeen have sold 9,000 tickets from a 20,000 allocation that they screamed hard to secure. BBC Scotland led the screams. Despite hard marketing, Aberdeen sold a further 100 tickets today. The SPFL have forced Aberdeen to comply, awarded a block in the South Stand to move those Dandies that have already been allocated tickets for the North Stand. Further, Aberdeen are reduced to selling further tickets by blocks attached to their Sellik end allocation. The weight of inconvenience is such, that the Dandies at PQ lost their discipline this afternoon. The presentation agreed, they utilised the BBC Scotland web page to state, "Aberdeen sell just 9,000 League Cup tickets, despite protests". There are several paragraphs of accompanying explanation. A photograph is included showing the red and white army holding a banner depicting Dandy Don, Shinnie arm aloft holding the head of Rangers player, Ryan Jack. The strap line on the banner states, "red or dead". It was the BBC Scotland message for an hour, it has been changed to a picture of fans waving two flags containing the Aberdeen club crest. It was an honest mistake, and neither Big Dick, Liam McLeod, Jonathon Sutherland, Rob McLean, Jeff Webster, Charlie Mann, ...... etc will discuss this shameful slight. The Torry lad, Ryan Jack will receive neither apology, nor explanation. It's where they're at, sullen invective.

Nope, not a chance. The only reason anyone would see new value in Scottish football is the Gerrard revolution but expect the SPFL to make an arse of it.

That excludes SNP voters then.

Avoidable Kyle Lafferty charade points to short Northern Ireland memory but Steven Gerrard won't forget. By Julian Taylor October 18 2018 Last week, watching Northern Ireland's industrious but limited forwards Josh Magennis and Liam Boyce plough wistful furrows against Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina respectively, has only sharpened the sense of regret regarding the fresh dispute between Kyle Lafferty, Michael O'Neill, the Irish FA - and now Rangers. Lafferty's failure to follow protocol over international withdrawal, citing an Achilles injury, has left the Ibrox star exposed. The long goodbye has begun. Steven Gerrard like most who once starred extensively in the international arena, appreciates the personal value of playing for your country as well as the reflected worth to the players' club. However, if Lafferty is thinking of calling it quits with Northern Ireland, then the Rangers boss is unlikely to dissuade him. Latest: Kyle Lafferty will be offered peace deal for Northern Ireland return In the hours after playing for three minutes in Rangers' 3-1 win over Hearts, and the apparent absence of a doctor's note from Ibrox, the player should simply have presented himself at Northern Ireland's luxury training camp in Austria before being advised to return to Scotland. Of course, you could point out the chicanery of this, but at least a rift may have been prevented. A lack of real transparency about the timeline of events, and hiding behind Fifa's five-day rule, leaves the issue open to wider questions over what has promoted this little-utilised measure. The Australian FA slapped down the order on Leeds United in 1999 over Harry Kewell - and now Northern Ireland are using it in a roundabout attempt to cut Lafferty adrift. Poll: Should Northern Ireland welcome Kyle Lafferty back after Rangers striker's withdrawal? The murky waters will have repercussions for the relationship between the IFA and Rangers, a club which has supplied several key performers to the national side, from Billy Simpson to Jimmy Nicholl, John McClelland, Steven Davis and Lafferty. If every association decided to entangle relationships with clubs in such bureaucratic bombast then we would be looking at shadow squads on a regular basis. Scotland, for example, are never going to cause friction with Celtic or Rangers if a similar situation arose with, for instance, Kieran Tierney or Allan McGregor. Feelings around Ibrox are of surprise at this IFA salvo. There are strong beliefs that Lafferty should call time on his Northern Ireland career. Indeed, fighting for a Rangers jersey may prompt the Fermanagh native to curtail international commitment - if O'Neill hasn't indirectly, and disrespectfully, made the decision for him. Considering O'Neill's lack of a detailed explanation - that is, the current relationship between the pair - we must conclude that, while the player's timing was poor and ill-judged, surely a heart-to-heart, rather than a dusty Fifa missive, could have provided prudent warmth? Lafferty is mindful that, at 31, he must be in prime condition to appear regularly at club level. It won't be easy to claim a regular Rangers starting place, especially with Alfredo Morelos in exceptional form. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for prevarication. His midnight phone call to O'Neill two Sundays ago was strange, given his status with Northern Ireland remains at least as high as his current position at Ibrox. In Fifa 'regulations for the status and transfer of players, annexe 1, section 5', O'Neill is sending out a message to others about turning up for international duty, which is understandable. It also has the hallmarks of a manager who has a short memory over Lafferty's Northern Ireland service of 20 goals across 68 appearances. The Euro 2016 odyssey would not have happened without the country's second highest goalscorer. There are theories in certain circles that O'Neill has been trying to get rid of the forward for some time now. Such passive-aggression is, frankly, ill-befitting of a Northern Ireland manager. Increasingly so when you weigh the alternatives. Lafferty is no Edin Dzeko or Marko Arnautovic, but his absence in the double-header against Austria and Bosnia was clinically obvious, when witnessing both Magennis and Boyce lurch to little effect. Interestingly, the fiasco is, arguably, a clunky attempt to somehow detract O'Neill's responsibility to garner results. While the manager still enjoys a justifiable afterglow of the French connection two years ago, then Lafferty also deserves a similar respect as well as criticism over his seemingly cavalier take on turning up for green and white duty. International football has lost its sheen for many and O'Neill appears to have temporarily lost sight of this. In the modern professional consciousness, money and club prospects naturally take precedence. Lafferty, savouring a rare second chance at Rangers, has, essentially, no more disrespected his country than O'Neill did when he held talks over the Scotland job last year to ultimately extract a better contract from the IFA. Northern Ireland's attempt to marginalise the colourful Erneman could spark unwelcome consequences for Rangers. The Ibrox outfit are tracking Davis with a view to a January return to Glasgow for the Northern Ireland captain. Davis may opt against a move if Rangers take a hard stance towards future co-operation with Northern Ireland - and O'Neill in particular. Read more: Steven Davis could make Rangers return: Old Firm transfer rumours There is an outside, nuclear, option potentially open to Lafferty if he decides Northern Ireland remain worth the commitment. The former Hearts man could opt out while O'Neill is in charge before returning to the fold. It isn't without precedent. David Weir returned to Scotland duty after a two-year exile when he fell out with then coach Berti Vogts. Meanwhile, Rangers now have to do without Lafferty at Hamilton on Sunday. The Accies' plastic pitch is hardly conducive to a player nursing an injury, so the player will have time to rest - and reflect. And the reality of Northern Ireland denying an employee the opportunity to work for the club which pays him handsomely is something that Gerrard - a man with a long memory - is unlikely to forget. An absolute, and avoidable, charade. Belfast Telegraph https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/comment-avoidable-kyle-lafferty-charade-points-to-short-northern-ireland-memory-but-steven-gerrard-wont-forget-37432057.html

Today, we have an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Aberdeenshire, transportation of sheep will be suspended. The SPFL are left with no choice, give all semi-final tickets to Rangers.

The northern lights are on, but there is nobody in.

How sad is that the country that invented the modern game has a national stadium with poor 'sight lines'? Still...what a pathetic attitude from Aberdeen.

After the furore that the Livingston artificial surface threw up (litrerally with all the black balls) I decided to try and bring these artificial surfaces into an article for the Gersnet readers to understand them a little bit better In Scotland in the premier division there are three teams that make use of the artificial surfaces. Kilmarnock Livingston and our opponents on Saturday Hamilton.In the last few weeks I heard the question why Rangers had less problem against Kilmarnock as against Livingston. The answer is it is a totally different surface and technology has improved in the making of Artificial turfs. Are they as good as real grass I will try and answer later. Due to this problem being a hot topic in Holland, where I lived for thirty three years, I have always been interested in the development of the artificial playing fields. Artificial grass was first brought out in the sixties in America for honk ball teams who have virtually no problem with the bounce or run of the ball. Then the second generation turf was brought in which was artificial grass filled up with sand to hold the grass fibres up. All of a sudden all Hockey fields moved to Artificial surfaces as real grass was quickly worn away by the speed of the sport. At this point QPR applied for and were granted permission from the FA to lay an artificial pitch but after a series of burned body parts due to the plastic that permission was later reversed at the end of the season and artificial surfaces were banned from football in England. The makers had to find a solution to make it fit for football. This is where the third generation pitches came in. The Fibres were made of polythene which is much softer and doesn't burn the legs in slide tackles. Instead of sand rubber crumbs were added in their trillions to hold up the grass fibres and also to dampen the shock on the legs to reduce injuries and get a better bounce of the ball. These rubber crumbs are made up of recycled car tyres and have been a topic of health safety ever since they were produced. In fact they come with a health warning of not to inhale the fumes or get them on your skin. There have been tests done in America and they came to the conclusion that there was a significant risk in getting cancer from the rubber crumbs. The strange thing, or maybe not so strange, is that a large number of the sufferers claiming to have got cancer from the pitches are goalkeepers.maybe not surprising when you think of a keeper regularly diving into the corrals head first inhaling fumes and probably also swallowing some of the flying corrals. As I worked with Dunlop in Inchinnan in the late seventies making tyres I don't need to go on to any website to know what a lot of unhealthy crap goes in and comes out of tyres. I just have to think back to what we called, the black mill, and see the black dust thick on the walls. Normal Scottish milk bottle coloured workers looking like they had just arrived out of the slave ships from Africa. I was offered promotion into there which would have probably doubled my wages but said thanks but no thanks. Another thing with tyres is they are built up firstly of layers of thin rubber and metal sheets for strength and then at the end a thick rubber outer which gives you the tread. In the Dutch research which included taking a urine sample from players after a game they found that the players had a high level of Zink in their blood but still managed to come to the conclusion that the pitches form no health issues. I am not learned enough to pass judgement on any medical issues but if you look at Livingston who have won three games at home and only one away then it does seem to me that they do carry an advantage of training and playing on that pitch. Kilmarnock use a Field Turf pitch which is the only pitch supported by FIFA. These pitches are also qualified for the Champions league. We all know though with Fifa that they have in the past given their support to a back hander rather than a better product. Field Turf certainly seem to have most of the big teams with their advert being: ** Training surface of prestigious European football clubs including Manchester City, Arsenal, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Juventus Turin, Inter Milan, Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain: That is quite a list. Funnily enough the last I can find on Rangers training pitches is: “The 60 x 40 metre indoor synthetic pitch allows players to train whatever the weather and is laid on a bed of sand and tiny rubber crumbs designed to cushion the surface and prevent injuries. This revolutionary new surface closely mimics real grass and is used by other top clubs such as Ajax.” As we have just read that Ajax now have Field turf training pitches, hopefully Rangers have also moved on and upgraded . After our performance against Livingston it would be horrible to think we could train under the same circumstances as Livy and get gubbed by a country mile. Most top teams today do not have a total grass park. They have Hybred pitches and that is including Rangers. A hybred park is where an artificial mat is laid 20 centimetres below the surface. Then earth is added to cover and real grass is sown. The real grass grows into the artificial grass making it stronger and vastly improving the drainage. Hamilton on Saturday also have an artificial surface and it is made by a firm callled Tiger Turf. Thankfully it is from the new technoligy woven artificial grasses and not a rubber crumb effort. I can understand small clubs wanting to hang on to plastic pitches as it saves a lot of money as you can train on it everyday whch takes away the need for a training facility. There is also no longer need for under soil heating as the artificial surface does not freeze.. I honestly believe that one day every team will have an artificial pitch but to answer my question if they are as good as grass pitches at this moment then I revert back to Holland. Would Ajax (Who have four state of the art, Field turf training pitches okayed for the Champions league) PSV and Feynoord be willing to give up European money to make the Ere divisie all real grass pitches. Nothing beats real (Hybred)grass at this minute and that is the pitch every SPF team should have. Nowadays in Hockey they play on a blue artificial pitch as they can see the ball better. Now that is an improvement I could get warm on that.

Once you realise the the plural of anecdote is not data it helps in understanding the scientific method. I think most of us have some reservations when it comes to these pitches but actually none of the actual science shows any detectable increase in cancer risk or confirmation that injuries are more common.

Remember seeing him against hearts last season and thinking he was excellent. Was all over the park and bossed the game. Not sure how realistic it is for a young player not getting a game in Scotland to go on loan to the EFLC as it’s a much higher level.

It looks like club 1872 are tying that option up with people needing to get 15 nominations to get on the board. we used to call that a closed shop in the unions.

It is more a library of information, a summary of ongoing recent events and it will be incredibly useful one day when it is roosting season for the chickens at BBC PQ CSC. More power to this thread, and hat doffed to @26th of foot for his enduring suffering whilst bringing us the latest bigotry our licence fee is paying for. I couldnt do it!

Many on here and elsewhere, have been saying for years about the anti-Rangers, anti-Protestant agenda with GCC staff and Councillors, well here is the proof in all it's unsavory glory. If this sort of organised sectarian behavior went on against any other community, like the Catholic, Sikh, Muslim or Jewish community there would be absolute uproar, but it being against the Protestant community, very little is said. We are virtually the forgotten religion in Scotland, our views don't matter and our heritage is trodden over by these openly bigoted people.

See transparency, some are more equal than others. Transparency is a constant cry from DrStu', always demanding lights to be shone in the dark corners of the SFA. DrStu' does not care for the Blazers, they run interference on those revealing lights. DrStu' is a rebel, a Blazer Slayer, and a bringer of the light. It's a carefully manufactured self image, and DrStu' continually manicure's it's presentation. Injustice keeps him awake at night, he is NEVER an Establishment Man? When Big Eck secured the National manager's job for a second time, DrStu' raised the rebel yell, he was against the decision because McLeish was the recipient of an EBT. Further, there was no point in allowing history to repeat itself; Strachan would not leave Hampshire, "McLeish will not leave his big house in Fulham". Sleepless in Dennistoun was just getting started, due process had been ignored. The job was not advertised, candidates had not been selected, nor interviewed, and the Tartan Army had been ignored. As already posted, last week DrStu' stuck it on Gazza. Wife beaters and racists have no place in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. It appears DrStu' forgot to peruse his very own money making expose, 'Hampden Babylon'. The very first chapter is a most unedifying biopic of Hughie Gallacher. We wait on DrStu' raising the rebel yell again? Insomnia is DrStu's constant companion because Gazza was nominated by the Scottish public. The process ensues, a committee meets, discusses, and votes. DrStu' comfortably slipped into Hector's clothes and landed the first blow on a vulnerable character, Jum Spence could not resist a fly kick, and Tom English battered in, whilst wearing the mask of hypocrisy. One of the committee, Neil Cameron rolled Gazza under a bus on world mental health day. It took five days to bye pass the process and allow an apparatchik from the SFA to announce the end of a public nomination. By Saturday last, PQ took the decision NOT to discuss the diktat. Not one word of discussion was offered on several hours of sports broadcasting over Saturday and Sunday. The Establishment Men had won. Or had they? Tam Cowan utilised his column in the Sun on Saturday morning to support Gazza on purely football terms and point the finger at the hypocrites. On Saturday's Off the Ball, he was too smart for his Producer. He highlighted an e-mail from Sheena of Edinburgh reference a cure for piles; DrStu' intervened, "we don't have to go there". Cowan continued on the effectiveness of a clove of garlic inserted into the caramac corner, whilst DrStu' groaned. Tam concluded, "Sheena is a license fee payer and as such is allowed to participate. We have no time for hypocrisy on this show". I feel the first chapter of PQ Babylon coming on!

Let's face we've given him enough material to write about over last few years tbh. Ex-player dares to criticise aspects of Rangers and people are up in arms. Grow a thicker skin.

Finished 6-1 blueflag