Tom Davison

If you were an Arsenal fan, would you want to see Rangers invited to a tournament?

 

We're no longer a top division team, we play grotesque football and even when we were in the top tier, the last time we visited the Emirates we were out of our depth against the home team.

 

The attraction of Rangers is historic rather than current.

Totally understand where you are coming from but in spite of the deficiencies of our playing strength,, Rangers will always carry a large support to tournaments with financial benefits to the host club.

I just wonder if McCoist is now having doubts about Cammy Bell. I'm just not convinced about Bell at all. He wasn't greatly tested last season but I thought there were one or two worrying signs. For starters he doesn't seem at all convincing when coming for crossballs and doesn't command his box. Better teams will exploit this. Maybe this is why Simonsen has been signed again

Your assessment could be right, RAB, but Ally had ample time to weigh up Bell's capabilities before signing him. I feel that Cammy Bell is an adequate goalkeeper, while well below the standard of the Woods, Goram, Klos and McGregor. The re-signing of Simonsen, for me, at least, is difficult to understand.

The two younger goalkeepers at Rangers must surely be in despair. It is decisions like this that leads to Ally getting deserved criticism.

D'art has highlighted failure to understand the depth of anger that has been generated. I may be wrong but I have never felt that the depth of anger was misunderstood. Instead, my feeling was that the media and some in the HMRC just didn't care and in some cases, welcomed our despair. An acknowledgement of their own failings and contributions. Just can't see that happening.

Not wanting to divert this thread, but I had high hopes when the UoF was first called into being, not least with some prominent and outspoken figures such as Chris Graham amongst them. Yet, it took them much like the SoS not long before alienating themselves with the club and with various factions of the support, instead of getting them under one umbrella.

While I am uncertain of the purpose of this membership scheme, is it not just possible that the major source of alienation has been the recent and existing "custodians" of our club?

I just don't believe a word they say any more .[

 

I wish I had your patience compo. I stopped believing what they said quite some time ago

While I have no time for the people who have been/now are running our club and am puzzled why there remains support for them from some Rangers supporters, to use a boxing illustration, the board members are well ahead on points. We have heard all sorts of noises from the likes of Paul Murray, Jim McColl, Dave King and the U of F representatives but the noises, in the main, have been less than convincing and often confusing. I suspect that I am not alone in confessing that I just don't know how our club can be restored to what most of us would like it to be.

I agree with you but until the likes of Hertz and Hibz dis-associate themselves from Liewell and his cronies at the SFA/SPFL and side with us to remove them then I genuinely think Scottish football is stuck where it is and will go on struggling as it is at the moment.

These clubs have a choice GS.They need to realise all the allegations against Rangers two years ago was complete nonsense in every sense. There was no £134m debt. We did not owe HMRC an EBT bill.We didn't owe Ticketus a penny(they only had personal contractual rights with Whyte). Until these clubs come out and apologise Scottish Football cannot move forward

Agree with much that you say but I suspect that you know that there will never be an apology. IMO, the biggest hurdle to Scottish Football moving forward is the selfish and small minded approach of those who should be providing leadership and it is difficult to see how that is going to change in the foreseeable future.

OK like much of what happens at Rangers, the Kris Boyd signing is short-term but he was excellent at Kilmarnock last season and he is bound to be an asset.

Wonder if Mr Crichton will have anything to say on behalf of the Investment Committee that he heads up.

Rangers is diseased. We need a cure rather than crutches, bandages and elastoplasts. We are a club that has lost its way and persisting with dubious ownership is never going to see Rangers recovering to a satisfactory level.

 

We are perhaps too close to really see it but there is a school of thought that Rangers is done as a football club and institution, and while I don't think we are a lost cause yet, I believe we will be if the club isn't cleansed of mediocrity and incompetence, and that means fighting to take it back rather than tolerating the inadequacy that has overtaken us.

 

You worry about the risk of taking this to the brink - the real risk was in letting uninvited and hostile strangers own Rangers.

 

As risks go, nothing compares to this - it is madness writ large, and it is why we are where we are.

While agreeing with much of what you say, Hildy, when you say "fighting to take it back", how do you think that can be achieved? This is a genuine question and it is a question for which, I have no answer.

You read this and other recent articles from the Club and it does not sound as if season ticket sales are going well at all.

Probably true and yet the situation could be remedied if Wallace was prepared (or perhaps allowed), to say something substantive on behalf of the board other than coming out with vague statements and launching meaningless schemes e.g Ready to Listen.

Just another example of the small minded ness of the characters in leadership positions of Scottish football. It is little wonder that

our game is in such poor condition.

I can definitely see the sense in signing Miller, especially if he's playing for peanuts, although I do think Boyd would score considerably more goals.

 

This really isn't the sort of signing the Club desperately needs right now in order to give ST sales a good boost though because I think a lot of fans will be quite underwhelmed with the news if/when he officially signs.

Totally agree but can't think that we are going to be able to make a signing that would leave the fans overwhelmed. Would gladly settle for a centre back who is competent and mobile.

In any successful organisation those in leadership are bright/experienced enough to understand that to achieve success that it is essential to provide clarity in their policies and in their relationship with key people. The key people will be those on the payroll and most certainly their customers. The people currently in leadership at our club don't come across as sharing such values and that results in so many questions being asked.

Correct, the football was particularly bad in Eck's later seasons and also under Walter. With Walter we were very poor in possession (bar the tail end of 10/11) but still generally achieved success. The football now though is taking it to a whole new level. It's completely unwatchable and I feel you would really struggle to find many other teams that are as boring to watch. When we play I find it increasingly hard to concentrate and find looking at my phone more interesting. It also has to be factored in that we are not even playing professionals any more. We should be looking like world beaters against such poor opposition.

 

This past season is the first time since I was about 5 years old that I have not gone to a match. That had nothing to do with the board and was simply down to the disgraceful football.

How did you know that the football was disgraceful, if you never went to a match?

Not sure what the UofF could do, if they were given precise details of season ticket sales. If the bloke who believes that the board has a plan was prepared to share his understanding of what their plan is, that would be really helpful to those of us who haven't a clue of the ingredients of their plan.

Based on the disagreement expressed on this thread, the potential for agreement when all the groups attend the Louden gathering, seems remote. Not sure that the number of people today will have much influence on our board, one way or another. The reduction in the number of season ticket renewals is the figure that should concern them.

This initiative is both positive and well intentioned. However, although there are about 20 groups listed, I suspect that a large percentage of the club's support will no little or nothing of the existence of such groups and the relevance of what is agreed at this gathering is bound to be very limited.

Very good piece Hildy. I know where you are coming from when you say that there are no heroes in this debacle but it may just be that fans who have stuck with it and some of the club employees who have had to endure such worrying and unsettling times might just have earned the right to claim heroic status.

It was reported that One of the Easdales sat in on the meeting along with Wallace and in the UofF statement, it is not suggested that his was a dissenting voice. Thought for some time now that McMurdo has lost his marbles and has become a figure of fun to most people who have heard of him. Suspect that might not be too high a number.

The questions and doubts are both valid and legitimate but it seems churlish not to concede that things are a bit brighter than they were yesterday.

Find it hard to believe that anyone can feel reassured in any way, following th Q and A. A goalkeeping coach would have admired Mr Wallace's ability to deflect the straight shots.

Just wonder what the younger goalkeepers at the club think about this? Disappointed, perhaps?

Most people would go along with a top notch CEO being amply rewarded. However, GW asked for time to demonstrate that he could provide top notch leadership through his 120 day review/report. I felt that the content of his report was at best, disappointing and it may be that there will be others who are now having reservations that GW is really top notch and this has led to some of the questions about his level of salary and what he can do to justify his bonus.