der Berliner

As far as I am aware, most poeple over on FF say they cancel the sports package. Why would they cancel Sky for good? At the end of the day, Sky will wait till they know where Rangers FC will be playing before making a decision.

You do have to ask whether these Supporters Groups actually have any power. While it is all fair and well that they go out there and speak "on behalf" of the Killie support, do keep in mind the sort of backing the RST, Assembly et al actually have within the support. How many out of those 50k at Ibrox will agree wholeheartedly with what the aforementioned groups have to say? How many of the Rugby Park faithful will do with this lot? Usually, these groups represent certain factions amongst their support, and AFAIK most of these groups are diehard hardliners too. Such people do generally not have the bulk of the common support behind them. I for one do not wish any harm to any SPL club bar three. Likewise, I do not really care how they fare either, bar these three. For those three though there is just one line: "To Hell or Connaught, may you burn in Hell tonight!"

... but we do need players who a) are seasoned pros, b) willing to play for us, c) will not cost a penny and d) can do a job at any level we will be send to. Signing Black or Beattie will not weaken our squad, nor will it hamper us from signing up or developing some raw talent into future legends. Right now, we have 8 senior pros and I reckon Ally will want to have at least 20 of them come August.

Some FFer found this out ... So it seems that as opposed to Cardiff and Swansea, Rangers were actually forced to withdrew from the English competitions. Whether we are still "members" remains to be seen. (Maybe we should sue the SFA for 130 years of compensation, if they threaten us any more.

.. and has been lifted, unless the SFA wants to continue to do illegal stuff. And AFAIK Green cannot voluntarily agree on illegal punishments either. Which should be made clear to him. Right now, the SFA is in the driving seat, but most of what they actually want is - simply called - coercion. Should they continue with their stance, we can appeal to UEFA/FIFA here or sue the SFA (which would essentially bar any Scottish side from UEFA competition), which should also made clear to the SFA. YOu give and you take. Some should be careful what they wish for though. No problem with Beattie signing up.

What annoys me quite a bit in this whole affair is that the reason why Rangers are on their knees is generally ignored. It's like blaming the Costa Concordia for the actions of its captain and the consequent disastrous publicity and state of the Costa Cruiser Line. Rangers are the victims here, time to acknowledge that. Once the court makes a judgement with regard to Whyte et al, some people in the higher reaches of Scottish football will look to cover their backsides ...

Late Friday night / Saturday morning paranoia mode switched on again, it seems.

Thread-robbery, but it is now also official that our plight is being made known to the Arab world, in particular Quatar. Rangers 'down to six first-teamers' Maybe someone down there will take interest now?

IMHO quite the opposite. They spoke to Green and stepped back (for the time being). Why is anyone's guess, mine would be that they see sense in Green taking the club through this ordeal with the SPL and SFA, get the boat back on course and then they come back again. McColl sure has the money to deliver what Green's men will want AND the resources to see us through these years in exile. Brown's current actions harm the club more than some of the antics of the other SPL people, as it - in essence - threatens its very existence. Green and Co. know full well that if someone like Smith steps onto the plate, with a backer like McColl in the background, a switch in ownership can easily be accomplished. Doing it right now though will hamper the ability of the club to act at all, should e.g. the SFA follow through with their silly antics.

Here are the minutes (snatched from FF) + + + Sandy Jardine welcomed all to the meeting and introduced the top table. The results of the RFFF poll showed an overwhelming desire (76%) from the fans out of almost 20,000 polled to play in Division 3. A straw poll was taken in the room; the result again reflected an overwhelming support for Division 3. The entire Rangers board then entered the meeting, introduced themselves and explained roughly what they had done in the past. Malcolm Murray wants to rebuild the club. All assets are owned by Sevco Scotland. Craig Whyte is definitely not involved, sworn statements have been lodged with relevant bodies including the SFA regarding this. Charles Green talked about ‘balanced shareholding’ – no individual person would have control of the club again. He said everyone ‘outside of this room’ and the people we represent is Anti-Rangers. The board stated that £11 million has been raised so far and injected into the club. They reckon there is roughly £3 million working capital, with more money coming in over the next couple of weeks. John Brown asked the panel if they were still going to have £30 million available by mid-July. Charles Green said that figure was expected given while they expected a CVA to be agreed. The board were confident that more money and more investment was coming into the club and that the targets would be met. A representative from Rangers Unite asked the board “What would you see as an exit price?” Imran replied that he believed on a bad day the club was worth £50 million. There is currently £3 million in the bank account and an expected £2.6 million coming in over the next two weeks. This further investment is guaranteed and they have legal documents to prove so. A Rangers Standard representative asked Charles Green to read out the names of the current shareholders. A number of names were read out and it was revealed that the major shareholder is Blue Pitch Holdings with 23%, which would be getting diluted to between 10 and 15% when the other investors come on board. Ian Hart was discussed as the questioner stated that he previously said he wasn’t an investor – the reasons for this were explained by CG. CG stated the club would be floated on the Stock Market giving fans the chance to own shares in the club. VanguardBears member and representative from RTID NI asked how CG feels about the fans overwhelming wishes to go to Division 3. Charles Green responded with “I have publicly said that I would accept that.” Charles Green referred to the players that had left as turncoats. Alan McGregor was the only one to call Sandy Jardine afterwards, with Jardine also mentioning ex Celtic PR ma Peter McLean as being Steven Naismith’s agent. CG expects criminal charges to be brought to the previous regime. CG was asked if the possibility of playing in England exists and if he made an attempt at buying Bury FC. He responded that he was attracted by Bury and hoped to mention the club along with Rangers. Unfortunately distance was going to be a problem, as after Wimbledon became MK Dons the football league changed its rules to state that any merger between two clubs could only happen if the clubs were within roughly 60 miles of each other. He also looked at the possibility of buying Carlisle, but believes we cannot merge with an English club. We would have to start at the bottom of the conference if we were to go to England. A supporter asked when the current money in the club would run out without further investment. No answer was given. The same supporter was asked later to view the Club assets documents (the one’s Findlay wants to see), but declined the offer. A representative from Denny then informed the panel that he had four reasons why we should go into Division 3. First he believed it would test Charles Green resolve; secondly he believed it would show the benefit of Auchenhowie and allow the management team to gain experience. Third, it would galvanise and unite the Rangers support, and lastly it would allow us to move on and concentrate on defeating the SNP’s fight for independence. Malcolm Murray stated that the process for changing the name of Murray Park is underway. John Brown and Andy Goram both asked if Donald Findlay QC could see the title deeds of the club, Brian Stockbridge, the club accountant, told John Brown to give him a call and they would set up a meeting where Donald Findlay could see the title deeds. This didn’t seem enough for Brown, he believed that a secure location had to be set up because Donald Findlay didn’t want people to know that his name had been mentioned, even though John Brown mentioned it on numerous occasions. John Brown then claimed that a friend of his offered £11 million for the club before Charles Green’s consortium and that Duff and Phelps had rejected it or ignored it. This was debunked and denied by the board. Brian Stockbridge twice explained the financial situation to Brown which appeared to go in one ear and out the other…. Charles Green left the meeting to attend another meeting with our enemies. Various supporters took to the floor offering best wishes to Ally McCoist, stating they would be renewing their Season Tickets as there was no alternative. Questions to Ally McCoist : Q – Will you be asking the fans to renew their ST’s? A – Ally said he couldn’t ask the fans to renew ST’s as he didn’t know which players would be there or where we would be playing and he wouldn’t want it on his conscience that our hard-earned cash was being spent on something he couldn’t guarantee. Also, he didn’t have full trust in the current board for two reasons; he hasn’t known them long enough yet and because of the actions of the previous incumbents. Q – If you were at our (the supporters) side of the table would you buy a ST? A – Ally responded, “In a heartbeat…..” Q – Would the manager prefer Division I or Division 3? A – Ally replied that he felt his duty as the manager was to carry out the fans wishes, if 80% of them wanted Division 3 then he would be 100% behind that. He said that only six first-team players turned up for training plus all the kids. He was unsure if Edu, Bocanegra and Goian would return from their extended break. Q – It was reported in the rags that you were resigning from the club, was that the case? A – It was explained by Ally that he had a fall out with CG – things like that happen, but never at any time was he for walking away. John Brown was then asked to take the microphone for 10 mins – which turned into almost 30. Virtually nothing of the way forward for Rangers was discussed. He was prompted to come to the top table by RFFF Chairman to view the relevant documentation to satisfy his demands, which he declined. The meeting was then informed by Chairman McCormick that he was Brown’s accountant, which brought about many wry smiles from those assembled. Sandy Jardine then informed the meeting before closing that there will be another RFFF meeting convened soon to discuss the position of the RFFF and funds within it.

I know, I generally reject the name newco Rangers or Rangers newco in any sort of referral to us. Either they speak about the company or the club. For only one is relevant. Else we can whip up a new SPL league table and renaming all clubs in there with their company names et al.

Will we charge the same amount for Div 1 as we did for the SPL? Will we charge the same amount for Div 3? IMHO, these are the questions that need answered before the renewals start in earnest. First, we need a league to play in. Obviously, as I said yesterday, legends and greats should call to the fans to save the club now by renewing their season tickets (at the old price), so the club itself survives. If need be, add free membership to these people and award them club shares too.

Ignoring these journalists (or printed media) ain't a way forward. They spout all sorts of half-truth and negative stuff about the club and that itself transfers to the public opinion on the club and its dealings - as we have seen. These foul-mouthers should simply be denied access to Ibrox, unless they pay an entrance fee. If their newsoutlets want reporters accreditations, they shall send different people. I for one would start a vote amongst our support who should get a press accreditation (and thus free entry to Ibrox) next season.

First ... it comes from a Rangers History site (linked above) and makes a good read in these dire time. Second ... someone on FF found it. Third ... it was just a question, not bleating about England. Green has said, IIRC, that if we would apply to the English FA and would get an entry, we may find ourselves in the 8th tier or something. None of the established teams in any of the professional divisions would vote is in, solely for business matters. The only powers that may want us included would be the Sky dealers and powerbrokers - because we are a team that would draw massive media attention. That old membership thing would be interesting in so far, as we could show it to UEFA and FIFA - much like Swansea, Wrexham, and Cardiff could.

Right now, we do not have a league to play in. Common sense-wise, why would people spend money on a product that ain't one? Fan-wise, you would expect that loyalty and fear for the existence of the club will see season tickets to be renewed nonetheless. I for one do expect that once we have a league to play in - i.e. there is football actually being played at Ibrox, people will return to the counters and renew. Or, for that matter, will come and see the games of choice on the match days. Once we have a league to play in, McCoist will sure make a plea to the support to buy tickets now and keep the club running. In essence, this is as much doom-mongering as is the "worst-possible-case"-scenario always painted by the media pre-CVA. If theserunning costs of 1m a month is correct, and Green's numbers of 5.5m by the end of the month, there is no need for the support to rush to the counters just yet.

But did we ever withdraw our membership or transferred that membership to Scotland? From the Gallant Pioneers site.

This essentially is a case for our QC, someone like di Stefano, and UEFA. The SFA wants to pummel us with illegal penalties and also wants that we do not go against any other sanctions, waiving our rights to appeal. Sporting integrity? That is plain simply coercion.

Not wanting to join your little late-night banter, yet I for one assume that once we know which league we are going to play in and e.g. Ally McCoist utters a rallying cry, the season tickets will be renewed in a sizeable number. Maybe not as many as last season, but that may offer more places for the match day ticket sales, which will go up due to - I would assume - lower prices for SFL games. Furthermore, if Green is smart enough, he invites a number of teams to Ibrox for friendlies, starting with the Blues brothers Hamburg, Linfield and Chelsea. And then add to this Le Havre, to celebrate both club's 140 year existence.

I think we should also contemplate handing a friendly game to Stenhousemuir for being as frank and honest as they are.

As it seems, Goram just stated on SSN that Brown's Consortium will table another bid next week, after being told a rough price at the meeting. He does not realize that he can do this in a month time still? Why is there a need to distract the support and the current management with this power struggle? Somesuch makes me really sick these last few weeks. These people will manage to factionalize the support and bring the club down before our very eyes.

Maybe people should not envisage this as being a service by a company/club to them, but their service to the company/club to stay alive right now and will hopefully be able to present you with European nights and Old Firm wins in years to come. It is NOW that the clubs needs you and your money most. Green should perhaps offer a 50/50 split ... i.e. 50% season ticket / 50% membership fee. Thus supporters get a first taste of being a member of the club and perhaps a few goodies along the way, possible a share in the new company as well. (If only for safekeeping of something very club-ish.)

Over these last few years all I have left for Celtic FC is utter contempt. Had they been in our straits, I would have faced a certain dilemma, but they aren't. Anything that befells them is of their own making and I for one wish them all ill luck that there can be. As for the rest, I simply do not care about Aberdeen FC and Dundee United. I will not share a single tear if they fall. I would mourn the demise of the rest, as many of them have simply just been plugging along as best as they could - despite the odd malicious attack on us.

Contacted the admin who padlocked the site.

The decision was clear from the start, with or without Murray. Making people believe something different is just another spin on that epic saga that it is all Rangers' fault. Must do better, much better.

Yes, and start with Linfield and Hamburg. "Hands across the water & Blues Brothers" Tour 2012!