WATP_Greg

The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium – Ramsden’s Cup Final

We will be open from 11am for Sunday’s Ramsden’s Challenge Cup Final with The Mighty Rangers taking on Raith Rovers.

We invite any Rangers Supporter, who isn’t support the team through in Edinburgh, who can make it to the vicinity of the home of fantasy football to join us in celebrating the chance to win the only domestic cup we haven’t already won in our 142 year history.

We will be showing live football games on our eleven big screen televisions: six 60” full HD televisions in the bar area and five big screen televisions in the lounge area, for an ideal sports event viewing experience.

Renowned for our quick service and great pints, our staff will ensure you never have to wait long to get a drink. We also provide free rolls, free pies, an atmosphere second to none and for clarification – we don’t and never have had a cover charge. We also never do tickets for a Rangers game, all supporters are welcome.

Situated across from Ibrox Subway Station, there is easy access to and from all city destinations and a beer garden area out the back where our customers can enjoy a drink.

Come in for The Premier Rangers Supporters’ Matchday Experience in The Quintessential Rangers Supporters Pub.

One Rangers… No Factions – http://www.thelouden.co.uk @TheLoudenTavern

We Are The People

God Bless The Rangers

The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium - More than a Pub

Official Partner of The Rangers Football Club

*We are responsible for The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium, 111 Copland Road, Ibrox, G51 2SL solely and are not involved in the operation of any other premises

The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium – Ramsden’s Cup Final

Full elections in 60-90 Days when members can democratically decide.

http://www.rangersfirst.org/structure/?mc_cid=156c158ef2&mc_eid=5413676696

Looks like you'll have to have a second evening...

I'd love to - but I think we chanced our arm enough having one!

Rangers Disabled Supporters Club is the correct name of the "group".

Sorry bud! Good cause - chosen by Walter himself

Walter Smith tickets completely sold out - Amazing response!

We Are The People

We are delighted to announce that Walter Smith has agreed to do a night with us in aid of the Rangers Disabled Supporters Club.

I cannot state how immensely proud we are to have secured a night with one of the greatest managers in our club’s history.

Tickets £20 and include a bite to eat and are available at http://www.thelouden.co.uk/events.html

Doors will open at 7pm for the event with the Q&A scheduled to begin at 8pm.

Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and all ticket sales are final and will be collected on the door on the night.

One Rangers… No Factions – http://www.thelouden.co.uk, @TheLoudenTavern

We Are The People

God Bless The Rangers

The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium - More than a Pub

Official Partner of The Rangers Football Club

*We are responsible for The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium, 111 Copland Road, Ibrox, G51 2SL solely and are not involved in the operation of any other premises

Totally agree and as I made the same point the other day , people like to be associated with things that are successful , and where they can see other fans joining , one of the biggest drawbacks in schemes of the past is that there was no information coming out therefore people believed they were flops/flawed and didnt join .

 

Get the info out there Greg

I don't have the information, but I will bring it up on Monday.

I asked these questions exactly two weeks ago and am disappointed to report that no answers have been forthcoming:

 

1. Numbers signed up to web site
   
2. Numbers signed up to pay monthly
   
3. Total amount of monthly contributions
   
4. Number of Life Memberships taken out for cash
   
5. Number of shares pledged for LM or directly.
   

 

This information should be made public on a weekly basis in the initial stages and perhaps monthly thereafter.

 

I am surprised that Greg appears to have had access to the information about total sign ups when this is not in the public domain and I agree that there should be a ticker on the web site.

The information about sign ups is in the public domain - there was an email that was sent yesterday. Surely you have received it or have you not signed up yet?

Almost 1000 Members - no idea of the average donation level yet though.

Will ask on Monday

This is the 2nd signed shirt that has been given away - the first was in a twitter comp to get the largest RT. Someone got Rowdie Roddie Piper to do it - cracking effort

Ha!, I put that up on FF and the thread vanished within minutes!

I'm shocked

As the title says - an open Q&A where you can come along and ask anything that you like.

Everyone welcome.

http://www.rangersfirst.org

More appropriate but if the major point you raise re 5% etc is the ability to call an egm, you are 100% covering issues regarding the innermost politics of the club.

 

It needs to be clear to would be investors.

What would you suggest?

So you don't mean the politics then, fair enough. Perhaps you should change it.

 

And it is a RF thing, not personal, so you need to bang a different drum.

 

"I and everyone involved at Rangers First are...."

Quote was written based on the original meetings but I changed it in op as the membership is now much larger so I can't really say that anymore - fair point

re: internal politics - maybe better saying not interested in 'playing internal politics'

Idioms

8.

play politics,

a.

to engage in political intrigue, take advantage of a political situation or issue, resort to partisan politics, etc.; exploit a political system or political relationships.

b.

to deal with people in an opportunistic, manipulative, or devious way, as for job advancement.

More appropriate?

Surely RF wants to be opinionated?

 

I'll play devil's advocate for a moment. Let's say RF get a percentage of the club and are invited to have a rep attend board meetings. Some things discussed may be commercially sensitive and cannot be revealed to fans. There are plenty of issues where there cannot be transparency.

 

Just facts? Again a difficult thing to stay true to. Many issues are based on opinions eg is the Laxey interest rate reasonable?

 

I think you're making a rod for your own back by some of this.

RF's rep on the board, if they had one would be a professional that is acting in the best interests of the support as a whole. We don't need to know every single internal detail but the broad strokes should be transparent imo

I think it is up to you as an individual to decide if Laxey's rate is reasonable not for Rangers First to decide that for you - if we where in place just now we could put to our members what their opinion on it was and then take the result back to the board to challenge it if that is what the members wanted. (I personally think the Laxey loan was very poor btw)

Fair enough I will take that onboard but I think if we were transparent about the situation then the support would be a great deal more engaged with the club.

What's TAC?

Transparent Authoritative Consulatation - I think RF might be changing the wording of that to Authority Consultation & Transparency (ACT) so that it sounds better

ACT now for your club etc lol

"I and everyone involved at Rangers First are not interested in getting involved with the internal politics at the club"

 

"Ideally we are looking for 1872 people to buy a life membership at £500 which will give us enough cash to buy circa 5% of the club. 5% being an important number in a plc allowing Rangers First several capabilities including the ability to call an EGM"

 

Best of luck with that.

By internal politics I mean the personalities themselves - it is the job they are doing rather than who they are that is important.

The ability to call and EGM is an important milestone in achieving transparent authoritative consultation (TAC) and I believe that would be a great benefit to the club and support

Ah, I didn't quite grasp that it was a personal letter rather than a RF thing. My mistake, sorry.

Sorry I will edit the post and make that clearer - It is just my personal take on RF and what I am sending to people to try and get them to have a look for themselves

But what if a board isn't? What if people in RF believe that a board isn't necessarily working to the best interests of the club? For example, I'd claim that taking out a secured loan at 30% isn't.

 

 

So if someone in RF found out what Whyte was up to you wouldn't have issued a statement on it? What is not controversial to one person may be to the next.

 

I think that you are making claims that you can't possibly adhere to over a period of time, or else RF becomes toothless. Perhaps reign back the commitments of what you will and will not do in the future as surely that's up to the members to decide whether a controversial statement will be issued or not?

RF is all about transparency - what we know the fans will know. That wouldn't be being controversial it would be being transparent IMO - no spin just facts. I was using controversial in this instance to mean opinionated

Though I suppose you are correct that RF will be dictated to what their members want but that was the consensus from the initial meetings with the 100 or so individuals but as the membership is much larger then OMOV will of course be the deciding factor.

Yeah that's a bit clearer but I'm not sure you could make such a claim without leaving yourself some room for manoeuvre. After all every situation is different...

 

For example, if we go back 2-3 years would you have been willing to work with Craig Whyte or would you have used your influence to contest his actions?

That would obviously be a different situation entirely as if Rangers First was in place and we as the support had TAC then Whyte could not have done what he did, we would have all known and actions would have been set in motion to minimise the damage. That is a good part of why I joined RF - If someone comes in and removes TAC then we know we have a problem.

It probably is. I don't disagree. But the experience of the RST shows that people are put off if they think someone is trying to speak on their behalf, even if they agree with them.

 

I suppose the question ends up being, are you hoping to win over people who already agree with you but weren't aware of the scheme, or are you trying to entice reluctant fans on board. Even if it's the first, there's still the need to step cautiously lest you alienate the second. Dancing on eggshells with Bears, man.

I agree and can see where you are coming from - This is something that I am putting out to personal contacts and thought it might be worthwhile putting out there for others to see and comment on.

In general statements from an organisation such as RF I would certainly change the wording but as this is a personal letter to people I know I think its ok - But I appreciate the feedback

1st para - (personal opinion only) I'd be careful about presenting the fans as uniting behind anything. Yes there has been a lot of support for this scheme, I'm not saying what you have written is wrong, but the wording: 'the common consensus', 'the average fan is seeking' - is it the common consensus? are the average fans really seeking these things? Plenty of us are behind it but there's a danger of claiming to speak for all which gets peoples' backs up, as we've seen before.

 

2nd para: typo: 'to' instead of 'the' in the second sentence: 'the goal is to ensure'

 

Other than that best of luck!

Thanks

I can sort of see where you are coming from but the statement:

"The average fan is seeking to have a more open relationship with the club" I think is entirely accurate and doesn't represent any particular 'group of fans'

I believe that over 95% of the support are not affiliated to any group but I speak to a great number in my line of work - I genuinely believe that is the common consensus.

There are a few small grammatical errors you may wish to fix but the main question I have is related the part about 'not (being) interested in getting involved with the internal politics at the club'. Surely that's a bit paradoxical when you consider what the scheme is trying to achieve?

 

If you mean that personally you have no interest then it may be worth highlighting that rather than suggesting the group, as a whole, are not looking to engage with the club via share ownership.

Thanks for your feedback:

What I mean is that Rangers First have no interest in the internal politics of the club - by that I mean that RF are willing to work with any board that gives the fans transparent authoritative consultation and is working to the best interest of the club and the fans. The participants aren't important to RF it is what their relationship with the fans is.

Does that clear it up?

Hi, I'm an open and avid proponent of Rangers First - I really believe this can be great for the club and the support.

I have been sending this out to my contacts list and thought it could be worth an airing on here:

As all Rangers Supporters know it has been a turbulent few years. We seem to move from one crisis to another and I think we are all getting to the stage where the common consensus is that something must be done. The average fan is seeking to have a more open relationship with the club, people who previously had no interest in the on goings behind the scenes at the club are now demanding transparency and openness.

There is a swell of support for increased fan involvement at Rangers Football Club – and something that has previously not received a great deal of wide support is now become a possibility.

Rangers First is a fan led membership vehicle, backed by Supporters Direct – a government funded organisation, for fan ownership that is seeking to purchase shares in Rangers in order to achieve the goal of the fans having transparent authoritative consultation with the club. The goal is to ensure that every Rangers fan knows exactly where the club are and where we are going – the advantages of which will lead to greater fan engagement of the club ensuring our illustrious history continues into the future. Once that initial goal has been achieved Rangers First has the capability of increasing the revenue potential of the club in order to help us regain our position as the dominant club of Scottish Football.

Rangers First is a CIC (community interest company) that is set up to benefit the Rangers Community. There are currently over 900 members who have signed up to Rangers First within two weeks of the launch and have already donated various levels of finance with membership starting from as little as £5 per month in order to allow as many fans as possible to have a say in the club.

It was agreed at the initial meetings that Rangers First is not interested in getting involved with the internal politics at the club (who is on the board does not matter) – we are only interested in getting the fans a voice to ensure that they stay engaged with the club and to help ensure that Rangers stays the greatest and most successful club in the country. We are focused on community involvement and fan governance - you will not see any controversial statements coming from us. We are a democratic organisation that seeks to give the fans a voice. No fan involved will receive any financial reward or payment – we are all volunteers trying to make a difference at the club.

Ideally we are looking for 1872 people to buy a life membership at £500 which will give us enough cash to buy circa 5% of the club. 5% being an important number in a plc allowing Rangers First several capabilities including the ability to call an EGM.

For the good of Rangers, and The Rangers Support, I would ask of you as a supporter of the club to consider becoming a member of Rangers First.

If you could take the time to look at http://www.rangersfirst.org it would be greatly appreciated.

I myself, and my family are all taking out life memberships in Rangers First as well as a monthly contribution. We are also donating our shares bought at the IPO to Rangers First. This is something I believe can be the vehicle that ensures we get back to where we should be.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I’m sure we can make a difference.

We Are The People

- Any constructive feedback?

Tomorrow is an important fixture in our season. Rangers have the chance to progress to the last four of the Scottish Cup and we are looking forward to a cracking match!

Come down to The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium for the Quintessential Televised Football Viewing Experience and watch the match amongst your own.

We will be showing tomorrow’s game live on our six 60” TVs in full high definition – the way televised football should be shown. We invite any Rangers Supporter who can make it to the vicinity of the home of fantasy football to join us in celebrating the continuing unbroken history of the most successful team in the history of the game.

Renowned for our quick service, our staff will ensure you never have to wait long to get a drink. We provide an atmosphere second to none and for clarification – we don’t and never have had a cover charge. Come in for The Premier Rangers Supporters’ Matchday Experience in The Quintessential Rangers Supporters Pub.

And of course we will still be providing our much sought after free pies

Situated across from Ibrox Subway Station, there is easy access to and from all city destinations.

If you are not able to attend our premises we hope that you will use your local Rangers Supporters pub or club. All Rangers minded venues need your help – use them or lose them!

Watch The Game… Support Your Own

We Are The People

God Bless The Rangers

The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium - More than a Pub

Official Partner of The Rangers Football Club

One Rangers… No Factions – http://www.thelouden.co.uk, @TheLoudenTavern

*We are responsible for The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium, 111 Copland Road, Ibrox, G51 2SL solely and are not involved in the operation of any other premises