Mountain Bear

I snorted aloud when reading the author's complaint about the use of "rats" and other degrading / dehumanising language:

But now I've composed myself I realise I should apologise on behalf of all my fellow Zombies, monkeys, Huns, DOBs, Herrenvolk and Klan members.

The psalms also tell us to smash our enemies' babies heads on the rocks...

 

Psalm 137:9

Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!

 

(New Living Translation)

 

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

 

(King James Bible)

 

The bible is a bit bonkers...

To be fair, it's not actually an instruction - it's a bit of a revenge fantasy against the invaders who exiled the Jews from Jerusalem.

So I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water...

The election got sidelined into discussions on 3 divisive nominees and the issues that the rest were standing on (or not) got lost.

 

Many did not get to say whether they were for or against the merger or what their approach to dealing with conflicts of interest would be.

 

It's a shame that they didn't stand down when the very predictable storms arose and didn't put the organisations before themselves.

Very frustrated with the whole merger debate. There is nothing on the table yet so all we've had are entrenched pro / anti views, rather than a discussion of the merits or otherwise of a specific proposal.

That's simply distracted everyone from the attributes that each candidate would bring and their plans to improve what exist today - much of which is necessary (e.g. better communication), whatever the outcome of merger talks.

I have a feeling our poll is going to be quite reflective of the final result. I would expect at least 5 of the 7 we are voting for to be elected. Incidentally I havent seen much campaigning from the ones with connections to the club. Has anyone else seen or heard anything from Messrs Blair, Gough, McQuarrie during the campaign other than their opening statements?

Blair has said a few things on Twitter.

When the list came out I had a very quick scan read of the candidates profiles and statements and thought I would go back to it later in the process when more was known.

 

What has happened since has been very very sad indeed. Are some candidates there on behalf of the club? Are some there to push through a merger with RST/RSA? Are some there to push for not merging with RST/RSA?

 

Is anyone actually standing as a Rangers supporter who believes in the concept of RF, a share purchase vehicle to get as many shares into the hands of ordinary bears as possible, to protect our club from ever again being at the mercy of mercenary owners?

 

I am a member of both RST (have been since the start in 2003) and pay into the £11.25pm Share purchase plan, and RF on the £18.72 monthly contribution. It is my belief that I want as many shares in the hands of ordinary Bears as possible. I really dont want the RST to merge with RF as I think there is a place for both to do quite separate things on behalf of their members, and also there may be times when it is good to keep them apart. As both have several thousand paying members, I am sure there are a large number of bears that are members of both. Merging this will probably mean less money going into buying shares as what would be the point of me continuing to pay both £11.25 and £18.72 per month to the same organisation?

 

I am also struggling with casting a vote in favour of what I see as "Club men" like Gough and McQuarrie. On one hand it would give RF some clout to say they have these names on the board and would be easy to get media attention. However the whole point of RF was to stay away from the more confrontational and controversial issues of the day and just be a share purchase vehicle, so it shouldnt need to attract media attention other than to try to persuade more Bears to join with them and help build the fans shareholding. On the other hand the RST has always been more active, vocal, controversial, and unafraid to criticise the board of the day or the footballing authorities without the need to have "celebrity bears" to get their message out. Long may that continue, but the polarising nature of their work has meant that for some fans the RST will not be an option to contribute to, so are we going to lose those contributions to RF if a merger goes through.

 

I haven't got a clue who to vote for. I know some I wont vote for. That list has got gradually longer as the process has gone on. I will probably end up not voting at all. Its all very sad.

I've got some sympathy with your post TB, but I hope you do exercise your vote, even if you can't find 7 candidates you're completely comfortable with.

I'm not the organiser.

Ah, ok. Cheers.

Hope you get a good day / turnout.

I won't make the walk myself (I'm already supporting my wife on a charity climb of the Ben this summer) but have donated.

I assume that you're all sorted with some experienced walkers in the group, but if you need any advice, just DM me.

It's clear to me that the RF board (or some of them) are against the idea of the new fans group, despite an overwhelming majority of their members wanting the idea explored further. I'm not sure I understand why. They have been represented at the same meetings that I have attended.

At least Graham Campbell had the courage to confirm that in his supporting statement.

However, I'm certainly not voting for anyone who's already preparing their exit route in case they don't get their way.

Given that 97% of RF members voted to explore the possibility of creating a single supporters body, it seems odd to me that so many candidates are against the idea.

Is this focus on independence driven by principle or personality clashes?

So what is a shadow director?

 

I read that is what these two are in RF.

It's someone who isn't an official director of a company (and therefore lacks legitimate authority), but nevertheless exerts considerable influence over how the actual directors run the company.

Without casting any aspersions on the two gents in this case, the description shadow director usually carries negative connotations, as in most cases if you are in control of a company, you should have no reason to hide the fact.

Not really my thing to get mixed up in the politics of this but my thoughts are that if any candidate(s) has already set up a splinter group to build on if they do not get elected then they should be struck of the list right away. We need team players in these positions and not people who pull a petted lip and say it is ma baw 'n am gon hame,

Pete, Rangers First is itself a splinter group, set up by people who wanted to do things their way...

Directorships,Owners of companys with hundreds of employees.uni degrees,bsc,s ,corporate moguls,just general clever look at me types.

Ex players /captains,company secretarys etc,etc.

Just a general snapshot of your run of the mill teddy bear-----perfect for heading up the FANS voice in future---------------God help us.

You might want rank amateurs running an organisation which is generating circa £100k in donations per month, sitting on £400k of fans' cash and £600k of shares in RIFC, but personally, I'd like to see trustworthy fans with experience of corporate / charity governance and some financial nous being elected.

They can always ask the "ordinary" memBears what they think before making decisions.

Frankly, the current RF Board have done a pretty decent job IMO, and I hope those seeking re-election retain their posts.

We are expected to believe that Llambias, who claims to have fallen out with Ashley, subsequently received the blessing of MASH to be one of their reps on the Rangers' board.

A carefully constructed argument to try and create degrees of separation between MA and the holding co which he owns a majority stake in and which bears his name.

Aye right.

After his shot come pass-back against Falkirk, I'm not sure he'd make my top 50 in Scotland.

Bluedell has already covered my feelings about last night very eloquently, so I'll merely add that it was a pleasure to share a table with a third Rangers legend, Dave Smith.

Thanks again for organising the event BH - the best yet.

Or perhaps McCoist was just a very poor manager.

Worse than I thought, if there were no other issues involved.

I could never figure why McCoist would play the much less talented Aird regularly, but was prepared to let McKay go on loan for long spells.

I assumed he had attitude or off-field issues.

Glad to see the lad turn things around.

Before we get all het up, does anyone actually know what the 3 fans did? It's even possible the police were correct to arrest them, I don't know. Does anyone ?

I believe they were singing about where the authorities could stick their cameras.

If true, it's utterly scandalous that they were arrested.

Rangers Supporters First

That's pretty selfish BH, we should put the Club first! [emoji6]

The Union of Rangers Supporters.

There must have been acres of newsprint and terabytes of online traffic about journalists reporting something which, lest we forget, actually DID happen (large scale singing of TBB).

It's a radical alternative, but why don't we simply stop handing a big stick to those who are only too happy to beat us with it?

If we want to sing songs to that tune, as many other clubs do, then we need to replace the "offending" phrases and move on. It's the 21st century FFS; why are we signing about being up to our knees in anyone's blood at a football match anyway? At best it's mindless self indulgence.

Great friendly service at the temporary shop at Ibrox Primary today.

Good to see the Bears getting behind direct action (much busier than the official store).

The idea is just to have one group. Potentially using existing mechanisms in the background but everyone will be a member of the larger group.

I thought the groups were proposing to operate under a single umbrella organisation, but would continue to exist as separate entities - a bit like the EU!

Obviously, I'll defer to your inside knowledge though PLG.

No chance. I'm driving!!!!!

BH is arranging a late change of guest speaker for the Gersnet dinner. I understand it's now Derren Brown! [emoji16]

I've asked this question here and elswhere on several occasions over the past 2 years and all one ever gets is obfuscation of the type put out by Bearman; at least plgsarmy just says she's not telling.

 

Perhaps if we ply her with enough drink at the dinner she'll give up this big secret :devil:

It'll all be academic once the Rangers fan groups are operating in perfect unison, each with their own specific areas of responsibility...[emoji6]