Hildy

RST are active while other people pay for their legal bills.

Why don't you just back off and take comfort in the fact that RF will stand shoulder to shoulder with RST where it matters - during the vote at the EGM?

As I understand it, the RST were prepared to meet the legal costs involved, but they made a request to the RFFF for reimbursement and it was granted.

It is ridiculous that just one group is prepared to pay the costs while another looks the other way.

The fan board were criticised on here but that criticism does not extend to RF - and it absolutely should.

So you believe that they should abandon their stated aim, on the basis of which they have collected a lot of cash? Would they not leave themselves open to accusations of being liars and collecting cash on false pretences?

Would they rather keep quiet than find out?

It certainly looks like it.

There are different ways to skin a cat.

 

Also surely if an organisation sets out its aims it can't turn round and change them? It's collected money on the basis of its aims so it would be in dangerous grounds to turn round and change them now.

 

I've got sympathy with your view but I can't get too excited about RF not issuing a statement when there are others doing it well.

It reeks of cop-out and let's face it, the non-political stance is worn like a badge of honour.

It is far from it.

Others occupy the front line while RF, like General Melchett, keeps a safe distance from the hostilities.

I don't understand that as they are not a political voice but a scheme to buy shares for the club.

I have never heard anyone stating they would be a political voice.

They have spoken with their cash.

The fan board were hammered for backing off calling for a vote of no confidence in the board - they thought it was nothing to do with them, but they had to think again.

At this time of struggle, and it has been a long and protracted struggle, RF is silent while others do the hard work in the field.

This is inexcusable.

Presumably RF will vote for King's proposal at the EGM so they're hardly neutral.

We're left to presume because RF is about as communicative with the public as Mike Ashley.

It beggars belief that a fan group can stay in the shadows while there is such turmoil.

I've been quite scathing about this group but praise where it is due - under pressure from fans it has made the right call.

Unlike Rangers First whose continued silence is despicable.

This is a time of crisis for Rangers.

It is astonishing that a 'dignified silence' can be maintained by any fan group. Even the official fan board has spoken out - and quite rightly, it was urged to speak out - even by people on here.

Why are there no calls for RF to abandon its apparent neutrality?

Or is it not neutral at all?

Well played again, RST.

Always in the thick of the action, always prepared to get involved, never afraid to be political and never content to stand idly by on the sidelines.

I see Rangers is given 117 as a score. That includes two lower division titles. Our total should be 115.

Edit: the same seems to be true of the rest. Only trophies which are national and international awards should count.

Summoning him to parliament and getting him to face tough questions in the full glare of publicity is not something Ashley will relish.

I believe this was raised yesterday by a Scottish Labour MP (Donohoe) and if it can be made to happen, it will be an uncomfortable experience for a man who rarely gives interviews.

I think it's a clever move to get him questioned at Westminster.

He won't relish that - if it happens.

No, I wouldn't go that far, the possibilities could blow your mind. However, I have oft though that Liewell did not want us in Div. 3. Probably he wanted us in the SPL, but with points reductions and some sort of fine structure for a few seasons.

He was never daft enough to assume he could prosper without the blue pound.

The situation at Rangers these past few years has been full of bizarre turns and twists. There is a feeling in some quarters that Lawwell and/or Celtic have played a part in this, but of course this is deemed to be far-fetched and nonsensical.

If however, in the fullness of time, it transpires that there has been a Celtic-minded plot at the heart of this matter, I will not be shocked or surprised.

Our rivals, as we can see from their recent newspaper 'advert', are so obsessed with Rangers that I would never completely rule out a green and white influence somewhere along the line.

GreenCo had a notable history of pulling wacky PR stunts (even if it was BAD PR) to distract people from bigger news such as Green's 'paki friend' stuff pulled off do deliberately distract everyone away from the major story of the time which was his links to Craig Whyte and the lies he'd been telling related to that. A can of worms was being opened and it was convenient for Green to throw himself under the bus to distract folks' attention because it also gave him a cosy get-out ticket and a free pass to fill his boots with a fat pay-off.

 

This Novo stuff is clearly a different sort of situation, but IMO it is almost certainly a deliberate distraction set up by people intent on running interference.

RF has to be the tamest fan group known to man. It says nothing, keeps out of club politics, doesn't vociferously oppose the board and is probably the one group that this board would feel able to do business with.

The idea that an ex-player joining them has met with club disapproval is extremely far-fetched.

Should this deal go through unchallenged then Ashley has effective control of the board and one major source of income for the club.

It does not say he has control of ST and ticket sales, advertising or sponsorship. However, the board would and he would have four seats on the board.

How does the SFA's rules on dual ownership/control apply to this situation, whereby Ashley has control of the board but does not own a majority of the shares?

Is it entirely paranoid enough to assume that this is the exact position that Liewell dreamed of - i.e. Rangers being stable enough to be run within their own means but not rich enough to buy the personnel required to challenge for the league?

Newcastle, anyone?

Am I correct in assuming that you sniff a conspiracy of sorts here?

Absolutely ridiculous that they are allowed to do this when there is an offer of loan on the table which has no such attachments to it.

It's absolutely ridiculous that we were naive enough to believe that they couldn't do this. The club is occupied by an alien force. It will serve its master as an absolute priority every time.

What a pity that so much time and energy has been wasted over many years in the amateur financial analysis of what has been going on inside Ibrox. It didn't change anything - the wrong people are still in charge.

Fan ownership was put forward over ten years ago but it took far too long to build up a head of steam.. Even now, it's only making headway because people thought that Ibrox could be lost. You have to wonder - why were we never this upset when the entire club - including Ibrox - was in inappropriate ownership?

It has become impossible now for thousands of fans to prop up Mike Ashley's Rangers - and who can blame them.? Rangers has been consumed by a corporate empire that has effectively turned the club into SD Rangers.

What socially aware discerning 21st century fan in the west of Scotland is going to enthusiastically back Rangers now?

The EGM has become a must-win game for the Rangers support. The club will never maximise its potential while it is a glorified branch of Sports Direct.

In the eight team CFL(Canadian football league) the same man owns two of the teams.BC Lions and Toronto Argonauts.

The league has no problems with this.

Well it should.

What if Ashley was to sell Newcastle and buy Rangers - and then buy Celtic too?

Would you want the SFA to sit back and do nothing?

STV understands a conference call will instead be held between all parties to discuss the possible breach, with the governing body optimistic Ashley himself will participate.

 

So it's not postponed then?

Yes, it has been postponed. There will be no judicial panel handing out punishments or forgiveness, but there will be a meeting to discuss the situation.

Is this the SFA backing off - or backing down?

I do hope so.

Good stuff. Mind you, it'll take more than a pre-election MP looking at losing his seat for me to forgive the abandonment of the club during her hours of need - outside of Ian Davidson (briefly) I cannot think of a single representative of any stripe who took any action at all. Nevertheless, all help, even this late, is to be welcomed.

Ian Davidson is also in the RST.

On the field we are still suffering from Walter's legacy and the further we get away from it the better. Since 03/04 onwards we have just been utterly brutal to watch and the day I see us playing remotely watchable football will be a welcome return.

I agree with that. We need a brand new football influence, something miles away from the ghastly fare that Smith brought to Rangers which Ally, regrettably, carried on.

What is this guy like, though? I hear he's big on fitness but how do his teams play? Are they safety-first and boring or adventurous and entertaining?

It angers me considerably when there are references to Rangers being a new club. If we had a properly functioning operation we'd do something about it - and I'm still waiting to find out what Rangers did with regard to the Livingston programme - but this latest nonsense from a sad little enclave within the Celtic support doesn't irk me in the same way.

This is a bunch of people so consumed with Rangers and so infested with hatred that they cannot handle the fact that Rangers ticks on as it always did - starting in 1872.

This is one battle we won. We lost almost everything else but this vitally important battle went our way.

Opposition fans will be telling us for years to come that we're a new club and we'll have to live with that, but we should do everything we can when professional journalists and broadcasters try to imply that Rangers is a new club.

They have no excuses. If we ever get good people at the helm again, this will have to be addressed.

Why wasn't he ever given a shot at RB ? He played there for Honduras didn't he? Couldnt be any worse than Foster

"We're delighted Arnold has agreed to join us," said McCoist. "We went over and watched him playing for Honduras against Panama and he performed well.

"He will certainly give us a bit of bite in the middle of the park. He actually played at right-back when we saw him but his best role is sitting in midfield.

"Arnold is very aggressive and he gets about the park well, so I think he would blend in with the rest of the midfield and he will be a good signing."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22753154

People would do well to remember that this is a scheme looking to attract members in order to raise cash for rangers.

The RFB is another piece of junk emanating from a club that has lost it way; to raise money to fund its profligacy, to indulge in its own brand of democracy, to feign accountability, to dismiss faces that don't fit, to do its master's bidding and to pretend that it somehow matters.

It doesn't matter.

So much going on and this trash is distracting people from the real difficulties that affect Rangers.

In time, hopefully, it will be disbanded and only recalled when we look back on the worst era the club has ever had to endure.

Don't waste your time and energy on it.