maineflyer

My apologies. I assumed the further passage of time would allow you to reconsider whether your question was entirely necessary. The first quote you gave isn't sarcasm, it is simply a reasonably interesting use of language to convey a point of view. The second quote is an example of humour, which is perhaps used too seldom in communication these days to be recognised when it arises. I think you may be striving too hard to find offence where none exists.

And good morning to you too, Super Moderator. Did you have a difficult night? As always, I'm happy to defer completely to your shining vigilance and necessary lack of humour. I withdraw my unwarranted criticism, it wasn't a daft bloody post. It was, of course, a well crafted viewpoint which I will be happy to recommend to everyone I meet today.

Who's this general of whom you speak and does he have a pipe in one or more orifice? I could have just said it was a daft bloody post.

Personally, I thought the orange cup final was an amazing spectacle and certainly had the participation of far too many bears ever to be called cringeworthy. I'll never forget that sight. What I do find cringeworthy however is the faux embarrassment of a certain type of supporter who wears a surgical mask and gloves while watching Rangers, just in case he catches something. Maybe even something as vile as one-upmanship.

The day was fundamentally celebrating the contribution of Ulstermen who have played for this club down through the years. I think that is a relevant Rangers matter and it defeats me why you want to introduce sectarianism into the issue - perhaps you've been reading too many Spiers articles. The day also acknowledged the contribution of Ulster men and women who have supported the club in their droves for many many years, whose support provides money and backing to a club which isn't exactly renown for its ability to foster goodwill outwith its own back yard. You obviously cannot get beyond the association between Ulster and bigotry that has been studiously manufactured by people with a rather blatant agenda. Blatant enough not to be taken seriously and perpetrated again on their behalf on Rangers websites. Sad really.

Something needs to be done about this prejudiced little rat. We've listened to enough contrived offendedness from Spiers and if the club won't face up to his blatant agenda then it leaves the supporters little option but to do Murray's work again. Why do Rangers allow this weedy bag of body odour to go unchallenged? Could there be an easier target?

Business issues meant I missed the match and the protest but I'd like to express my gratitude to those who stood up for Rangers today. If only those who manage our club did their jobs, these supporters wouldn't have to do it for them.

I'll be whistling Marching through Georgia!

All I can say is thank God we've finally decided on some positive action, however small the scale, and we're indebted to the good folks over on Vanguardbears for another initiative. When you see the supporter mobilisations that have taken place at Liverpool and Man Utd during recent years, it makes Rangers fans look like a disinterested smugfest. "It's not the Rangers way" has become a mantra for those who simply do not care enough but need to find a way to hide it. I've said for years that we could solve all our problems if we really wanted to. Every concerned Rangers supporter should be at the BBC protest on Sunday.

Me too. Let the bastards bleed until it reaches the knees.

Surely your not advocating the drawing of blood or the use of offensive weapons? I'm really surprised to read this kind of violence being promoted on a Rangers fans' website. Times have changed and there can be no place for caveman tactics like this among Rangers supporters.

The only truly offensive issue arising from this matter is the way in which Rangers bent its knee to the MOPES and rushed to condemn its own while expressing solidarity with the tarts in green. It would be beyond belief if we hadn't seen this so often already.

I'd just like to add that I think this is a truly wonderful song that has hit the hypocrisy spot square on. It is perhaps more relevant and more appropriate than anything we have come up with in a long time. Which of course is exactly why the self-deceiving cretins are so furiously trying to get it banned. Sing it loud and sing it proud because it does more to reveal the lies and absurdity of the celtic community than all the protestations on football forums. We've finally found a way to take this debate into the public forum and I'll be damned if I'll give it up willingly. Neither will I bow to the wishy-washy morality of fear and self-doubt that pervades so much of the current Rangers support. How disappointling to see such weakness revealed in this thread.

It seems to me that you are in grave danger of emulating the shape-shifters across the city who continually manipulate the truth to suit a pre-arranged agenda.

This is simply wrong. The song clearly does not poke fun at those who died. It does however poke fun at those who simultaneously ridicule the institutions of the country that sustains them and profess allegiance to another country across the Irish Sea. The song does nothing more than expose the hypocrisy of the MOPES and that in my book is worthwhile.

That's a perfectly understandable position to take andrew. You're not comfortable with the song and presumably take full advantage of your right not to sing it. Meanwhile, the rest of us who choose to sing it should have the same right to do so, without contrived offendedness being used to prevent us.

But he's spent �£600 million of his own money so he's earned the right to turn this club into whatever he wants. That's the moral of the story isn't it? That excuses everything.

I have to face it that the Rangers I grew up with and loved so much for so many years is over and gone. The sheer weakness of those running the club today has destroyed it for me. I've all but given up.

Willingly offended and so desperate to feel victimised, the hypocrisy brigade want "The Famine's Over" banned. They don't want us to stop singing it, they want us to be banned from singing it. Which, as always, is mildly amusing. What really disappoints me, however, me is the predictable knee jerk rush from Ibrox to judge and condemn our own fans. Think what you will about the song or its sentiments, it is still only that, a football song. No bad language, no overt abuse, just a taunt between football rivals. Why are those who run our club so utterly incapable of exercising rational judgement? Why do they always get it so wrong? Why are they willing to support a move to have us arrested and burdened with a criminal record for singing this song with its rather appropriate question?

Jeez, no pulling the wool over your eyes, is there? Have you really been nursing that one all this time? You really shouldn't take it all so seriously, this is just a football forum, not the UN. But before shouting checkmate my picky perfectionist, why don't you just go back and read what I actually said. It may be hard to understand but you're obviously a man prepared to devote whatever time it takes.

Aw shit, now I'm gonna have to lie down! But you're right. We are what we are only because down through the long years so many men and women have refused to settle for second best. I would say that this has definitely changed, particularly over the last ten years or so. I read and listen to so many self-styled Rangers fans apologising for what we were and willing to accept what we've become today - the classic comment being that "we have to be realistic". We spent the first 125 years learning how to be the best and the next 10 years forgetting it. Now who could be responsible for these new and diminished standards? Surely not Rangers people. Maybe this just what happens when the monkeys are left in charge of the zoo?

That is actually a very disturbing post and I'm at a loss how to react. Firstly, no one ever agrees with me. Secondly, Celtic winning the next eight titles is simply unthinkable.:box:

Our option. I love the naivity in this notion that there actually is an option to be exercised by the fans. As if all that had to happen is that we finally reach a collective conclusion one day that Murray is or isn't the man for the job - and then WE choose for him to stay or go. The idea that the outcome will be determined by us, that these debates on Murray's suitability can have any tangible outcome one way or the other, is interesting but inevitably pointless. There is no option. We don't have a choice to make. Not even that favourite choice of doing nothing. Our actions and opinions are completely dislocated from the reality of what Murray does with his shares or who he might sell to. We've never been consulted by Murray on anything of any importance in twenty years so the idea that we will have any role to play in the future is laughable. We simply are not part of that particular equation. Again, all that is available to us as supporters is to choose to like or dislike what the man does in his roles as chairman and owner, and how we might show those feelings. There is a small chance we might influence what he does while he remains but not whether he stays or goes or who he chooses to sell to. We can try to be a conscience for the club but we can be the arbiters of nothing.

"We have to be careful"??? Why? Murray's the only one with enough shares to need to be careful who he sells to. It won't make any difference how careful you are. You seem to think the choice of next owner is something to do with the supporters - it's not and never will be. The only thing the support can decide is whether we would like Murray to go or not. That, I'm afraid is as far as it goes. We certainly can't force him to go. All we can ever do is point out his periodic fits of dishonesty when they emerge and put pressure on his reputation when he nods off and lets the other mob pick up three titles without getting out of second gear.

The basis of this viewpoint appears to be that having to have your leg amputated for gangrene really isn't so bad after all when you consider that you might have been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In fact, this is the age old condition of the afflicted and it's called phobic inertia. No matter how bad things get, we always seem to be able to convince ourselves that it could be worse, always to the exclusion of making it better. Welcome to the land of the consolation prize.