The Real PapaBear
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Everything posted by The Real PapaBear
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I always look forward to your lengthier posts, amms, because there are invariably well made points and reasoned arguments providing food for thought. But on this one, I think you've been drinking the Kool-Aid. Firstly, Lennon is not being 'attacked' "because he's a footballer/manager". He's not being 'attacked' because he's Catholic. He's not being attacked because he's from Northern Ireland. He's not being 'attacked' because he's the embodiment of the successful and stylish Celtic of O'Neil's era. There have been any number of any of the aforementioned who have lived and worked in this country and have been welcomed (opposition fans excepted) with no trouble from anybody. The question that nobody can ask is "what's different in this case?" Why did all these people manage to live here without any problem when Lennon can't? Secondly, in what way is it a "fact" that he could have been killed? Which life threatening situations has he been involved in that placed his life in danger? I think when we look at these "attacks" we find that there is less to them than meets the eye. Bullets in the post and "bombs" that could have been made by Delia Smith are unpleasant but hardly life-threatening. Having a drunken Jambo fall down in front of you must be upsetting when it happens, but it's not goingto reduce your lifespan by much. The latest nonsense was reported as Lennon being driven from Tynecastle after being spat at and having coins and bottles rain down on him and suffering tirades of abuse from other fans. Fact was that there was no spitting and no bottles and no verbal abuse (other than any OF manager could expect to receive and he wasn't driven out, he left half way through the second half as is customary. One ned chucked one coin that landed nowhere near lennon. That was the extent of the 'attack'. I'm not, by any means, justifying it. Do I think anybody should be attacked or threatened? Of course not. Do I condemn anybody who (actually) attacks or (actually) threatens Lennon. Of course I do. Do I give a toss? Not really. Lennon has been largely responsible for the vitriol which follows him wherever he goes; His actions and words have been the cause, not his heritage - and if yobbish behaviour ends up attracting yobs, it's hardly surprising. Lennon is a yob whose behaviour attracts other yobs, he is not an innocent party who is being abused by stronger people who identify him as weak and want to exert power over him which is why your rape victim analogy is ill considered. You see, Lennon embodies a strain of self-obsession, self-importance, dishonesty and deluded hypocrisy that forms one of the strongest character traits of the "celtic minded". His manner is invariably snide, sneering and disrespectful and frequently poisonous. Let's not forget that he was the major figure in the poisoning of the game that caused the referees to go on strike and saw games in this country having to be refereed by scabs from Israel and elsewhere. Let's not forget that he whined incessantly about being victimised whilst he and his club ruined the careers of good men. He belongs to a school that perpetuates the myth of the Irish Catholic diaspora suffering at the hand of the Scottish Protestant establishment, playing to the galleries of plastic paddies with tales of anti-irish racism and feeding the gullability of imaginary armalite toting wannabe Rebels, whereas in fact Scots of Irish Catholic heritage have done enormously well for themselves over the past century. Not bad, in a country that is supposed to be bigotted and sectarian to its core., according to Neil and his ilk.
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after the two years we've just been through, it's wearing thin
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lol! nice one, mate. At least you've still got your sense of humour
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He's got you there Andy - You can't argue with any of that. If we get fan control and then allow ourselves to be lead by 1690 knuckledraggers, then hell mend us - we deserve no better than oblivion. However, to be honest, of all the Rangers fans you know, how many really fall into that category? I think, we'd be quite safe entrusting the fate of the club to, well, people like you find on this board.
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bearing in mind that my football credentials come from sitting on my arse in the Govan stand and standing on what is now the Broomloan stand for 40 years, could I have fucked up Celtic's season any more successfuly than the whinging bigot? Given that the league has been awarded to Celtic before a ball is kicked; Could I have manged to lose the League Cup to a team from a division lower than mine on 100/th of the resources? mmm, yep, I'm inept enough to have done that. Could I have got my team twatted out of the Scottish Cup at home to a side with 1/10 of my resources? To be honest, I probably could have. Could I have gone through a Champions League campaign, winning 1 and losing 5? Probably not, to be honest. I'd have lost all 6. So there we have it, a bluenose of 40+ years standing could have been only marginally more inept and done only margianlly more damage to Celtic than Yellow Tooth. Of a possible 9 trophies he could have won, in the absence of the only real competition, he has had 3 handed to him before the season started and won only 1 of the remaining 6 possibles. And this whilst managing a club whose resources are greater han the rest of the league combined. Yeah, they're queuing up to take Neily south of the border, that's for sure.
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How about taking the man at the value of what he writes? If you have a problem with him, challenge him about it. I have and I've found him robust but fair.
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Pete? Mate? Really? Am I going to have to signpost every sardonic comment now?
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he's not honest enough to be a politician.
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"You cannot have people throw coins at you when you are sitting there trying to do your job." Quite right Neil. Now go and have a word with Hugh Dallas, and Fernando Ricksen and Neil McCann and Van Bronkhorst and Jorg Albertz. "And yet some people in the back of their minds think it's my fault. Why this happens, I don't know." Quite right, Neil. It's not your fault. It's a Scottish problem. It happens to every Irish manager who works here. Well, except Martin O'Neil. And Liam Brady. And Pat Fenlon. And Stephen Kenny. And Jim Gannon. Actually, it only happens to you, Neil, but it's not your fault. "But a lot of the stuff has been almost life-threatening and the condemnation has been nowhere enough." Quite right Neil. Anything less than the intoduction into Primary Schools of a course on the "Persecution of Neil" shows that we are not taking your problem seriously.
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Fund Objectives and Questions for River & Mercantile
The Real PapaBear replied to BrahimHemdani's topic in Rangers Chat
and also, when the club was for sale we also had the "certainty" of a ruling against us in the big tax case - i.e he would have had to buy a pig in a very expensive poke of unknown depth, when his assets were already frozen. Then when he got the all clear and we got the all clear, Charlie and his pals had their feet under the table and any investment by King would have ben nothing more than a contribution to the Charles Green Retirement Fund. -
The good news is that I've spotted where you're going wrong. You're almost dismissing our biggest asset - our ultra-loyal and huge support - whilst suggesting that we need to bring some undefined dimension that other teams aren't required to. Why do we have to bring *anything* other than large groups of people who want to watch Rangers play, will pay handsomely to do so and will travel in numbers for the privelege? What additional factors would Ajax or FC Brugge or Porto bring? The only thing holding us back (apart from our boardroom and management) is the fact that we play in a mickey mouse league. We will eventually sort ourselves out, but we'll still be playing in Scotland against diddy teams. So it doesn't really matter how much better we get at operating ourselves, this will have no impact on our ability to perform well in European football. Eventually, we will have the organisation, infrastructure, size, fan-base, history going in our favour - everything, in fact, except where we ply our trade. Nothing, other than a move from Scottish football will allow us to develop to where we want to be. I would therefore replace your jakie analogy with that of a husband whose wife hates him; it doesn't matter how much he improves himself, how often he does the dishes or increases his income - she's always going to hate him. Sometimes, you just have to leave home and find someone else who appreciates your qualities.
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I think the recent turmoil actually proves the opposite of what you've just said. Yes, in footballing terms we are not attractive at the moment; yes, we're a poor side of journeymen footballers and yes we play in a crappy wee league that nobody gives a toss about. BUT, we have shown that we have the most loyal supporters to be found anywhere and large crowds in divs 4+3+2 are a guarantee that if we were to play in any top league we would bring our fair share to the table. Seriously, if you were to start European football from scratch, with a blank sheet of paper and put together a league structure based on fan-base, attendances and location (regarding passion for football) Rangers would be a nailed on cert for a spot in the top division. We're not here-today-gone-tomorrows like Bolton or Blackburn, we're not manufactured like the russian clubs - we've proved, and are proving every week, that our club and our fans are the real deal. Any league would be interested in that.
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You are of course completely correct. Not only have I traduced the good name of the model construction kit, I have, by comparing it to that hideous, cheap, second- rate, janefield Street botch job, opened the forum to charges of libel and defamation of a product. My sincerest apologies to all concerned, Sir. It shan't happen again.
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have they at least made up an excuse as to why they gave both finals to the meccanodome, or don't they even feel they have to bother with that charade now?
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the biggest problem with the above is not so much the formation as the fact that there are only 5 in that team who would be considered Man Utd class - and three of them want to leave
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Brian Clough, mate. Bob Paisley sailed a steady ship as well as it could ever have been sailed, that's true. But Clough took a provincial club from nowhere to become the best in Europe, not once but twice.
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I'd heard tales of your people, and by Jove, you do seem to be as illiterate as was suggested. Maybe ask Santa for some punctuation next Christmas?
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just read the drivel on the BBC web site and will simply say the following ( and you heard it here first, Brahim ) Lennon has begun working his ticket out of the Meccanodome. He doesn't want to leave his people, his blood, his kith and kin but due to the unrelenting bigotry of Hearts and Aberdeen and/or St Johnstone fans, he is left with no other choice than to seek employment n England because Scotland is so anti-irish and anti-catholic; Said no other irish manager. Ever.
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Normally I'd do this myself, but I'm up to my eyes in stuff right now - but could somebody put together a list of all the Irish/Northern Irish Catholic managers who have plied their trade in Scotland and then maybe list the instances of anti-Irish/anti-Northern Irish Catholic bigotry they have suffered or which have been reported? Because, honest to god, I can think of half a dozen Irish/Northern Irish Catholic managers off the top of my head who have managed to live and work here in complete peace without any expression of animosity. In fact, I can only think of one Irish/Northern Irish Catholic manager who has been subjected to any expressions of animosity whatsoever. And given that this one is neil lennon, I honestly wonder how much of the animosity exhibited towards him has to do with his heritage and how much is to do with the fact that he is a complete fanny of a man.
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We seem to be 'encouraging' bids for Lee Wallace
The Real PapaBear replied to JTP's topic in Rangers Chat
Why should he? Even if he had any say in the amount being bid for Wallace, then his duty and responsibility is to do his best for the club that employs him. To do anything else would be unprofessional at the very least. -
Personally, I'd give him a two year contract at a payscale which reflects the fact that he is manager of Rangers, albeit Rangers in the lower leagues. This takes us into the top flight and gives us two seasons after this to judge his and the team's development. If there has been obvious progress after the first season in the SPwhateveritwillbecalled then I'd be minded to stick with him. If the development of the team and those parts of the club for which he is responsible hasn't been what we could reasonably expect, then it would be time to have The Conversation.
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read post 34 again
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If you are judging McCoist the manager by those criteria, then that's fine - we should all be doing that. However, those people who judge McCoist the man by the performances of the team (and I'm not saying you are one, btw) forgetting the pivotal role that McCoist played in the summer of 2012 are not the sort of people I'd want with me in the trenches - or in the Govan stand.
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I've yet to meet any fans who thinks McCoist can do no wrong, but, I'll take your word for it that they exist somewhere. Be that the case, the vast majority of other fans recognise that he can and does do wrong and will continue to do wrong for some time to come - albeit in hopefully decreaseing amounts. But these other fans also recognise that he is still learning his trade as a manager and so are willing to give him every last opportunity to prove himself. We are willing to give him the time to get us to the top division and see how he does there under 'normal' circumstance and if he does well we will have been vindicated in our patience. If he fails, then so be it - but then at least we can look ourselves in the eye and know that we gave him every chance and stood by him for as long as possible. The reason for giving him this time and patience is that he *is* Mr Rangers, he *is* one of us and he has earned the right to expect at least that degree of loyalty from us.
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Egos and factions to one side, we're not, or at least I am not, talking about people expressing different opinions about how the club is being run or the ability and suitability of the manager. I'm talking about those people who are unable to discriminate between McCoist the manager and McCoist the man who held us together during the darkest period. I'm as happy as anyone to discuss McCoist's ability and performance as manager, but those people who attack him personally and who cast apersions on his character and integrity are not, to my way of thinking, real Rangers fans and do belong in the same bundle as the BBC and their east end friends - only these so-called fans do a hell of a lot more damage.