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BrahimHemdani

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  1. BrahimHemdani
    Thanks for that, the list of captains etc made a great half time quiz at the otherwise boring match yesterday. I have googled Sammy Cox and it seems you are correct about Scotland " In 1954 Cox played his last match for Scotland, as he captained the team at Hampden in a 4-2 defeat by England in front on 134,544 spectators." So I guess that would have to count although it seems to have been an honour for his long career and he wouldn't be regarded as a captain of Scotland per se. (Wrote this before I saw your post #7). However I can't find him listed as captaining Rangers though as you say it may not have been in a full time capacity. http://www.mygovan.com/html/rangers_captains.html Interestingly comparing the two lists I did find a David Mitchell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mitchell_(Scottish_footballer) in this list but not in the other http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Rangers_F.C._captains Equally interestingly, the second list does not include Jimmy Nichol and he is the only one in the modern era for whom no dates are shown, though his tenure appears to have been during or between McClelland and Patterson. I was wondering about a list of players who captained their countries but not Rangers. In the modern era I can think of Jonas Thern , Frank de Boer and Henning Berg who played together for us (de Boer and Berg) when their combined ages were 69. I remember watching them on a wet night at Firhill, what a treat. Any others lads? Any player who captained Scotland but not Rangers?
  2. BrahimHemdani
    Or why singing a song in opposition to a banned group was also made an offence both in terms of the law of the land and the SPL rules; something I also strongly opposed as entirely illogical.
  3. BrahimHemdani
    Excuse me sir; I am not making excuses for anyone, I was just stating the facts. If you read what I said carefully When I was on the JRG I argued very strongly for what is known as absolute or "strict liability" in other words clubs would be responsible for the actions of their supporters and for any damage caused them regardless of culpability; you will see that I argued for strict liability which would have ensured that the SPL had to charge any club whose supporters' conduct was unacceptable. I did not endear myself to the civil servants with this stance. However, I strongly believe that this will be forced on the SPL if they continue to fail to act in this type of situation.
  4. BrahimHemdani
    I have substantially re-written my post #2 to clarify the "reasonably practicable" defence and have given examples of previous situations.
  5. BrahimHemdani
    There will be no action taken because the home club can always hide behind the "reasonably practicable" defence i.e. we had the appropriate number of stewards/police etc etc. and the away club wil say that they are not responsible for what happens in someone else's ground (but will pay for the damages as a gesture of goodwill etc). That's why Celtic are always ringing their hands and putting out statements etc, so they can show that as evidence when it happens at Parkhead. That is the reason Hearts were not charged when Lennon was non-assaulted at Tynecastle on 11 May 2011; they were able to prove that they had all the stewards in place in accordance with the local authority regulations and safety certificate. It is also the reason why in 2011, the SPL decided to take no action against Celtic after investigating a report of pro-IRA chanting during their home match against Hibs on 29 October, ruling that the club had taken all “reasonably practicable steps” to prevent them. But Celtic were found guilty by Uefa of “illicit chanting” from their fans during the Europa League match at home to Rennes on 3 November and fined £12,700. The club accepted the punishment, with chief executive Peter Lawwell issuing a warning that the chants must stop. When I was on the JRG I argued very strongly for what is known as absolute or "strict liability" in other words clubs would be responsible for the actions of their supporters and for any damage caused them regardless of culpability; that is the UEFA rule which is why Celtic had no defence to the UEFA charges. I think that the police were in favour but naturally the SPL were against it. So far as I am aware no club has ever been charged never mind found guilty of such a rule breach in the SPL. I asked that question but never got an answer. I even brought it up to McAskill at the final meeting of the JAG; but he said that they didn't want to go that far at that time. However, the more such incidents there are the more likely he might be to change his mind now or in the not too distant future.
  6. BrahimHemdani
    Caldow was and is a gentleman. I met him a few times when I was a refeee and he was the manager of his local team, Cumnock. He belongs in very select company, as captain of Rangers and Scotland: Tommy Muirhead , David Meiklejohn, George Young, John Greig, Richard Gough, Barry Ferguson and David Weir. Tom Vallance, Jimmy Simpson, Jock Shaw, Ian McColl, Bobby Shearer, Derek Johnstone, Ally Dawson, Gavin Rae and Lee McCulloch all also captained Rangers and played for Scotland but not sure if any of them ever captained the national side.
  7. BrahimHemdani
    Or else they'll have along bus journey for nothing; but maybe they're overnighting at the Hilton Xmas Party?
  8. BrahimHemdani
    Compliments of the season to all on Gersnet (and my readers in other places!). Elvis at his leather clad best and the sweet voiced Martina McBride (no digs please) the "Celine Dion of Country Music" dedicate Christmas to Rangers fans everywhere. Thanks to Super Ally for embedding the video from the link I posted (and removing the ad as well)!
  9. BrahimHemdani
    More than likely that will be the case. I would not be in the least bit surprised if the entire playing staff were told that there will need to be a hefty across the board cut in wages if a number are not transferred. And yes deja vu. I realise of course that all players are on fixed term contracts but I wonder if the new CEO couldn't simply say that after a thorough review it has been determined that we only need x number of first team players (which would be approx. the current number minus 10 say) or can only afford a budget of £y milliion for the rest of the season and therefore players a , b, c , d, e, f, g, h, I and j are hereby made redundant (subject to the appropriate consultation period). A first team squad of more than 30 players including 7 CB's and a dozen midfielders just cannot be justified at this level or indeed any level of Scottish football. Something ruthless has to happen and Wallace might just be the man to do it. It will need something like that to convince investors to put in more serious money. Ally must have been on the Christmas spirit a bit early. There's no chance of him being allowed to bring anyone in unless a lot of others are shipped out and/or he and his staff take the much promised pay cut and finance newcomers themselves.
  10. BrahimHemdani
    This has to be a wind up surely.
  11. BrahimHemdani
    I think we can expect some serious cost cutting measures and not before time perhaps. However it's hard to see how he can save money on players wages unless we can ship some out on loan; can't see the likes of Cribari, Smith, Shiels etc attracting much transfer interest. Templeton possibly, but more likely a loan candidate as well.
  12. BrahimHemdani
    That IS what he said and it is true that all that first class flying does take out of you. At least Peralta came back on time which is more than can be said of some in our recent past. However, I think the main point was that Aird was considered good enough to step in ahead of the likes of Templeton, Shiels and say Barry Mackay. I like what I see of Aird, he has developed well this season and shown that he is much more than just a pace merchant; he is a threat to score as well as a creator of chances for others.
  13. BrahimHemdani
    Foster's not in the same league as Alan Hutton or Stephen Whittaker but he's not "useless", he's a decent professional footballer especially at the level we're at right now. He was regarded as a good enough RB to let Whittaker play in midfield.
  14. BrahimHemdani
    On the whole I think that's true; Ally has always tended to play even mediocre players he has brought in, ahead of the talented youngsters. But it might be changing a little. McLoed has essentially forced his way into the team and is noticeable on the rare occasions he has been absent. Two weeks ago, Aird started ahead of Peralta v Forfar and then kept his place ahead of Templeton against Ayr.
  15. BrahimHemdani
    All clubs should hold a minute's silence at their next first team match, not just under age games.
  16. BrahimHemdani
    No he hasn't let us down but that's not the issue. He is understudy to Wallace who has played more games than any other player in the squad, therefore he has had few opportunities. He has started 4 games and from memory 2 or 3 of those were at left back and 1 or 2 in LMF. We have a plethora of other candidates for LMF. So he is getting £1,700 a week (allegedly) to play a handful of games and at the same time keep a younger player out of the team on the few occasions that Wallace is unfit . And that is supposing he is fit himself. Smith's career hasd been dogged by injury, perhaps a reason why he failed to fulfil his early potential. He has never managed more than 24 games in one season and on average only plays 14 or 15 times. Not exactly the kind of player you would want to have on standby, I don't think. Nothing against the guy, but I reckon he was very lucky Rangers picked him up and whether you view him as expensive or cheap, he is an indulgence we don't need.
  17. BrahimHemdani
    Like Charlie Adam perhaps? Agree that another loan would be good for Hutton as his season's been wrecked by injury and the others you mention are all ahead of him, never mind Aird and Mackay.
  18. BrahimHemdani
    We didn't have a natural RB (aside from Cole and the writing was on the wall for him) and Foster is a decent pro, albeit prone to the occasional disastrous error. However, either one of Mitchel, Hegarty or better still McAusland would be more than good enough at this level. Faure is a CB as was Argyriou. He played really well in my opinion at CB at the start of this season, he never looked troubled and was always trying to pass out of defence. If his qualities had been recognised last season, we didn't need Cribari and certainly don't need him now. I would be more than happy with Faure and Mohsni as our CBs. Smith is an indulgence we simply can't afford. It's all very well saying that we are one injury away from fielding an inexperienced player at LB; but what would be wrong with that in this League or the next one. What kind of message does it send out to young players when they see that kind of player between them and the team? Simonsen was another totally unnecessary indulgence at this level. It was useful to allow Gallagher out on loan but we didn't need Simonsen for that purpose. Alan Smith could sit on the bench. I am a fan of Hutton and he worked hard in the summer because he knew this was a make or break season for him; I don't think he should be jettisoned just because he got a bad injury. Little has scored goals consistently for us and IMHO is a good back up striker to Daly and Clark who would be my first choices. Shiels simply didn't perform last season and I think he would be best out on loan as part of his recovery plan. Templeton is a bit of an enigma. Clearly a very talented footballer who has proven himself at SPL level; but struggling to find a place in the team as he too builds up again from injury. Another loan candidate? I think Peralta is good enough to go though the leagues with us and can play wide or in CMF. Perry will never be good enough for us at any level. The two players who I really want to see get a run in the team are Barry Mackay and Fraser Aird; both of whom seem more than capable to me of becoming good enough to play at SPL level.
  19. BrahimHemdani
    I think there is some confusion here between "democracy" as in the workings of a plc and "democracy" as in fan ownership. Rangers International Football Club is a plc which is indeed run on democratic lines. In order to participate in this democracy you have to be part of it. Being part of it means you have to buy shares in it. You don't get to take part in this democracy by buying a season ticket or club merchandise. If you own shares in it you get to take part in the democracy by electing your representatives at the AGM or EGM specially called for that purpose. Whether you like the result or not (and this is not a comment one way or the other) we have just seen that democracy in action. This democracy is tightly controlled by company law. Any breach of that law is a criminal offence. It is, of course, true that not everyone pays the same price for their share of this democracy but that is how a stock market works and that is where this particular game is played. RST to their credit (and no doubt some will find it surprising that I give RST credit for anything, but I did say elsewhere that I had long ago given up any bitterness towards them per se) raised £250,000 to buy new shares on behalf of their members and at the same time increased their own membership. However, if my maths is correct, then that £250,000 only purchased less than 0.5% of the issued shares of the plc. It is said that fans purchased new shares to the total of £5m which would be around 10% of the club and a figure of 12-13% has been widely mentioned as being in fan ownership. It is worth noting therefore that individual fans own 25x the number of shares owned through RST. Again if my understanding is correct, RST is still a "one member one vote" democratic body and its share block will be voted in accordance with that one member one vote philosophy. Again, I would commend RST for polling their fans about the AGM resolutions. However what this does mean is that Kris Boyd, who apparently purchased shares to the value of £5,000 through the scheme, gets the same one vote on how these shares are voted, as Joe Bloggs who bought one share for 70p (or whatever the minimum purchase was). I will leave others to debate whether or not that is democratic; but I would suggest that it was one reason why the RST scheme was not more successful. Many people might think that if you buy 10,000 shares and the next person buys 100 shares, you should have 100 times the say as him? Indeed that was one of the biggest stumbling blocks we faced with the 2010 scheme because it was said that there were many wealthy fans who had the ability to put up say £50,000 plus (and indeed we were in communication with one such who said he had several hundred thousand to invest but had all sorts of conditions attached thereto) and why we considered a two-tier scheme. So that is company democracy but it is quite different from what I will term club democracy along the lines of FC Barcelona or the German or Argentinian Clubs. All German football clubs, except for some historic works teams that are allowed to maintain their company affiliation, such as Volkswagen's VfL Wolfsburg and Bayer's Bayer Leverkusen, are required to have at least 51% member ownership. All Argentinian football clubs are entirely fan owned. No other form of club ownership is allowed. We didn’t see any hoardings around Glasgow extolling the competing manifestos or visions of David Sommers and Malcolm Murray as potential Chairmen/ Presidents of the Club for one simple reason, those who might see such posters, for the most part, are not their constituency. Most people know that FCB is a member controlled club with upwards of 175,000 “socios” who have the right to be elected to and elect the Board of Directors, to elect the President and – ultimately – terminate the Board and the President’s tenure. The members also vote on how the income passed to the FC Barcelona Foundation is used. Members are expected to contribute to ensuring the Club’s financial position remains sustainable, which includes membership fees and season ticket costs and indeed the capital and assets are the property of the socios. For more details and analysis please see http://www.uk.coop/sites/storage/public/downloads/insight3_bara_0.pdf written by Dave Boyle the former SD Chief Executive. Unfortunately for Rangers fans today, those who were around in 1899 did not have similar foresight and chose a privately owned company as the Club’s structure (as did most if not all other such football clubs). Contrast with “cricket and rugby clubs, who chose co-operative forms of incorporation to ensure that the members – the supporters – retained control of the enterprise, and made the key decisions about the club’s strategy.” As is seen more than ever today, the objectives of shareholders do not necessarily reflect what fans might regard as the common good but rather the pursuit of business profit. Football is a business is a well worn phrase but true nonetheless. The challenge for Rangers fans who want a democratic club rather than a democratic company is to come up with a scheme which will raise enough money to buy the business and turn it into a members club. That is a whole other ball game and I and others have written at length about such schemes. In the article that I co-authored with Arnold Black in August I suggested that “In order to get a scheme off to the best possible start we are of the opinion that all season ticket holders (next season) should be automatically enrolled as club members”. On a seasonal note, that might be akin to the turkeys voting for Christmas; but they (the turkeys) might consider it if it meant that they would get a good feed and get out of the spotlight in the barn after a few months. Boyle mentions a figure of £600 per fan and that is indeed the starting point we had in 2010. Back then we thought that it might be possible to raise £1,500 over 5 years from 20,000 fans to cover the £30m (underwritten by McColl) thought to be needed to buy the club at that point in time. Of course back then there was a willing seller; but who is to say that there might not be willing sellers at some time in the next 5 years? What the price might be, would be anybody’s guess but obviously depends on what the sellers paid for their shares. My feeling is that it could be as little as £25m but as much as £75m or more depending on our fortunes in the intervening period. But if every season ticket holder was willing to pay £20/month for 5 years you would be half way there and we have several times that number of fans worldwide. Some food for thought perhaps as we prepare to don our funny hats and tuck into our Christmas fare.
  20. BrahimHemdani
    That's business, it's not democracy.
  21. BrahimHemdani
    Even if the RST has the 2,500 members that it claims, how could they possibly be considered to represent "all the fans"?
  22. BrahimHemdani
    No need to apologise, my previous comment was ambiguous. However, I beg to differ about the RST. Whilst every Rangers fan may not know who RST/MD are, one way or another Mr Dingwall by his various TV appearances etc has put them front and centre of what the media consider as Rangers fans' opinion. I would beg to suggest that they are much better known from that point of view than the Assembly itself, certainly much higher profile than the RSA. I think their support of Whyte, the Blue Knights, Green and the requisitioners and especially "don't buy season tickets" means that they are very high profile indeed; much higher profile than their numbers merit.
  23. BrahimHemdani
    To clarify - I meant that the RST is high profile, not the current issue, whatever it might be.
  24. BrahimHemdani
    I certainly did not start the speculation on here or elsewhere but I take your point and am more than happy to desist.
  25. BrahimHemdani
    I appreciate your comments and would not attempt to influence your judgement based on your own experience; though you may want to take into account the comments of others whose opinion you respect. We do share the "status" of having been banned from FF; in my case I am not sure about the nature of my "crime" as it was before my time on the Board of RST. I think it was just for expressing an anti-establishment opinion, which I often do. Mr Dingwall did offer to reinstate me when I was on the Board, an offer I politely declined. Regrettably, the different factions appear more opposed than ever. I have suggested that a membership scheme would be one way of bringing fans together or at least expressing a collective, authoritative opinion. But that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon. If you were the current board (and I stress I am not picking sides here) where would you go to get the fans opinion: the Assembly, the RSA, the Trust, FF, Gersnet, Rangers Media etc, shareholders, some combination of the foregoing? None individually or collectively represent anything more than a minority of fans who go along on a Saturday. The nearest you might get is the season ticket holders (and who would represent them?) but even then you would be excluding a lot of people.
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