Jump to content

 

 

JohnMc

 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,939

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    21

 Content Type 

Everything posted by JohnMc

  1. JohnMc
    Sorry dB, you think he's not solely here to make money? So what other reasons do you think are worth considering bearing in mind he has no known connections to Rangers, Glasgow or indeed Scotland?
  2. JohnMc
    When Souness left we turned to his assistant and that turned out okay I suppose. I wish Kenny good luck, he's highly regarded as a coach by almost everyone in football, that's quite different from being a manager though. McCoist has taken some stick by armchair tacticians over his statement that the players out of contract this summer need sorted out. Those who have driven themselves half-mad with their hatred of McCoist the manager seized on this as further evidence of his profligate nature and inability to make hard decisions regarding players he has a soft spot for. In actual fact it was as sensible a thing as McCoist has publicly uttered for a while. Playing for Rangers is a job to the players, it's what pays the mortgage and the bills and funds the lifestyle. No matter how overpaid we view professional footballers it's a short career and most aim to make as much as possible out of it while they can. We'd all do the same I've no doubt about that. So here's the thing, having a significant number of your squad not knowing if they're getting a new contract is destabilising. If a player knows that come May they aren't getting paid anymore then certain things begin to happen. Firstly they don't risk playing with any niggles, no one is going to take the chance of a tight hamstring turning into a fully blown torn one for a club that are possibly discarding you in five months. Likewise, those 50/50 tackles, who really wants to take the chance of picking up an injury when trying to secure a contract with a new club, it's not a great career move. Thirdly it creates disharmony in the squad, those who are unsure of their future naturally worry, their wives and partners are rightfully asking for some stability or at least a clear idea if they're going to have to move house again, they themselves are being asked to perform by someone who in all likelihood isn't going to be managing the side next season, perhaps even next month, what's the point in impressing him? McCoist carried weight around Ibrox, directors were nervous of him, he had currency with the players, the staff, the support and the media, that gave him some clout when it mattered. The players know the the 'new' guy doesn't. McDowall might well surprise all of us, if he does it will be a footballing miracle frankly, because he's playing with a loaded deck and he's out of chips before he sat at the table.
  3. JohnMc
    On what grounds do you disagree with the concept? I'm genuinely curious what might make you think Ashley is interested in Rangers for other reasons? His only public utterance in the subject was at the Sports Direct agm, his words there suggested he wasn't involving himself at Rangers for any other reason than to benefit Sports Direct. There are a number of cultural differences between the UK and Germany, one is in the ownership of football clubs. I can understand why you might look at this situation and assume that the very rich guy might fancy putting something back into the community and would only get involved in a professional football club to help them. I mean no disrespect when I state that in this culture corporate pillaging is not only tolerated is actively celebrated by many influential people in our society. It's naive in the extreme to assume that Ashley plans anything other than the enriching of Sports Direct, all evidence points at that.
  4. JohnMc
    I'm struggling a little to understand what point you're making here. Success for Rangers will surely always be measured against past 'successes', no? A side containing international players making a serious challenge for every domestic trophy, winning more of them than we lose is what most of us see as 'success'. Some will factor Europe in, some will want good youth players but history shows that regular domestic success is what sustains the Rangers support. However I'm far from convinced Ashley will care about that. He's not here for 50 years, we're a current potential revenue stream, one that'll be discarded quickly if we don't deliver required returns. That might seem cynical to you but for me it's simply realism. You made an interesting point when you asked "do you think Ashley likes to lose", what's missing from your question is 'at what game?' Ashley isn't here to protect himself from extradition like Abramovich, or for self-aggrandisement like the guys at Man City or because he's a serial 'sports franchise' businessman like the guys at Man U or Liverpool. He's here to help Sports Direct sell more Lonsdale t-shirts and Dunlop bags, no other reason. It's not cynical to assume that his aspirations and ours might not be aligned, it's common sense frankly.
  5. JohnMc
    Andy, almost every club has supporters who sustain mediocrity. Outside of Celtic every side in the Scottish top flight began this season knowing they wouldn't win the league, yet they still buy tickets, strips, hats and assorted tat. Look at England, success is now finishing fourth, mediocrity is celebrated not just tolerated. Making the club unattractive to people like Ashley is difficult, all normal societal rules are suspended when football enters the equation. Loyalty to your 'team' is a cultural meme, propagated by Sky and avaricious betting companies and mass produced lager conglomerates. Everything is hyped, most people don't even realise they're perpetuating mediocrity. I accept Rangers history of success makes selling mediocrity more difficult, but trust me it can be sold.
  6. JohnMc
    Yip I agree, but these people remain 'fans' they don't go and support another side and that's the lesson business has learned. Even just now, if our side was playing anywhere close to exciting football we'd be getting 30,000. As such they're still susceptible to buying merchandise. This is win-win for Ashley just now. If the side improves, starts playing better and getting results a percentage of the support will return to matches particularly if we start challenging for the title again. If results don't improve the pressure on McCoist will become intolerable and he'll walk. A new manager will bring an increase in interest and crowds, initially at least.
  7. JohnMc
    You're applying normal rules to someone who by all measurements is not 'normal'. I don't mean that as an insult, he's an exceptional person, clearly gifted in many ways, but not 'normal'. A normal person would fear becoming a hate figure and a full-scale revolt, Ashley doesn't. The Rangers support will continue to buy their kids shirts and themselves a top for five-a-sides no matter how we're performing, that's what he's banking on. What big business has cottoned onto is that loyalty to a football club is entirely different to any other commercial venture. Man Utd sold more shirts than any other club in the world last year despite experiencing their worst season in two decades and having enormously unpopular owners. Rangers in the top flight, finishing top three, will consistently draw 30,000 plus crowds, we might think that poor, but it really isn't in the grand scheme of things. That's easily achievable if the club can stay solvent, we'll have a considerably higher turnover than every other side in the country bar one, on that basis any half competent manager can secure second or third. Ashley shouldn't need to invest any money to achieve that, simply make sure we don't go bust in the short term. We're a minor gamble for Ashley, I doubt we take up much of his time or thinking, I assume he'll try and recreate the Newcastle model, where we're self-sustainable, breaking even, beyond that he's only interested in leveraging retail from us, there's plenty of evidence that how a team performs, the relationship the club has with it's support and how a club's directors behave has little bearing on that.
  8. JohnMc
    You vastly over estimate what our support will accept. If Rangers can get promoted then even badly mismanaged we should finish top three in the SPFL most seasons, challenge for one of the domestic cups to at least quarter final stage and qualify for qualification stages for the Europa league. At that stage we can be pacified with 'there's always next season' talk, a change of manager every now and then and the promise that change might bring and the likelihood that the Tim's will mess up every now and then and we might sneak a title. Look at the numbers quoted above, even now, at our lowest ever ebb, the we generate more money than a one city English Premiership side with a famously resilient support. Any success we get will be an added bonus, but I can see no I'm imperative for Ashley to require it or even desire it.
  9. JohnMc
    It's got planning consent for leisure and recreation and it's a big chunk of land in Milngavie. A leisure centre, David Lloyd type of place, perhaps even a Dobbies Garden Centre kind of business would do well there. Plus don't put it past a developer to purchase it and let it go to ruin, become an eyesore and then put in an application to turn it into a supermarket or flats, it's been done before.
  10. JohnMc
    Maybe he means successful like Newcastle.
  11. JohnMc
    I don't mind, Hibs looks like the next free one but if someone else wants it I'm easy.
  12. JohnMc
    Go on then, if you're desperate I'll jump back in.
  13. JohnMc
    Was I a young Christian Slater to your Sean Connery or is it the other way around?
  14. JohnMc
    I told you not to eat that camembert before bed, but you don't listen... Firstly I've no idea if he wants to buy 29.9% or not, neither does the author of the article. It might appease some supporters and it might improve the share price though so factor that in when trying to figure out who might have briefed it. Assuming Ashley does though consider the following. He seems to have total control just now, but that can change, at 9% he could, in theory, be marginalised if someone else was able to either buy shares or create a shareblock from existing shareholders. His contracts aren't in perpetuity, they'll come up for review again in the future (I'm assuming) so they could in theory become less profitable for SD if renegotiated. He can't cut the playing staff wage bill until January when the transfer window opens and that ever so crucial pre-Christmas retail period is past, he isn't going to fire any players but some might get pay-offs to leave and others sold where possible. He doesn't care what fans think or say, he knows we'll buy strips and stuff whatever. But it'll be cut, I've no doubt about that. Forget about the Champions League, that's a red-herring used to great effect by PR professionals on a regular basis where Rangers are concerned.
  15. JohnMc
    I'm not sure Celtic do sell that many and i'd be astonshed if they turnover £60m without Champion's League football but it's a moot point anyway. I doubt the powerbrokers at Sports Direct give much thought to competing with Celtic, that's not why they're here.
  16. JohnMc
    We won't get that £5 million, Sports Direct will. I think the press report is a PR briefing, it's the sugaring of a very bitter pill. Some will still swallow it though.
  17. JohnMc
    We sell close to 100,000 just now and we're the worst we've ever been. With the exception of the big two in Spain, Bayern currently and Man U/City and Chelsea clubs don't sell strips to anyone but their own supporters in any numbers that count.
  18. JohnMc
    It's about controlling retail Andy, you must have seen some of that in your previous life. When supermarkets sell Nescafe at below cost they are doing it because it brings in thousands of customers who then buy other things with significantly higher margins. That's how Sports Direct operate, get all the Rangers branded clothing exclusive to their shops and watch the quarter of a million people emotionally connected to Rangers walk through the door or click onto the website. Ashley couldn't care less if we win the Champion's League, it's of no consequence and the article is PR bullshit from start to finish. He's learned at Newcastle that supporters will continue to buy merchandise no matter how dire the team are doing, and whilst in the shop they'll pick up a Lonsdale t-shirt and a dozen golf balls too.
  19. JohnMc
    A look at Ashley's history shows someone who buys poorly performing brands like Slazenger, Dunlop and Lonsdale, cuts all costs from them, repackages them and sells them exclusively in Sports Direct. Rangers currently fall into this market, we're a once widely recognised and successful sports brand currently failing. Even simple arithmetic shows why we're attractive to him, selling only 100,000 strips at £50 a go brings in £5 million, if you already own the retail costs associated then the economies of scale are massive, if you own or control the club you control the remuneration they receive too, you're basically only paying for manufacturing the rest goes onto the bottom line. Funding us for a couple of years isn't much of a gamble for him if he can gain control of us and our brand.
  20. JohnMc
    You've far more faith in direct action than I do. Look at the state of the club, if we're not mobilised by now we never will be. I've felt for a while that many in our support simply want someone else to do the work.
  21. JohnMc
    Better someone on the outside being ignored or on the inside keeping watch?
  22. JohnMc
    Word. It's genuine hysteria.
  23. JohnMc
    This, this and thrice this. Well said, I'm embarrassed reading some of the vitriol aimed at McCoist.
  24. JohnMc
    What Ness should have done when he left us was join Dundee Utd and told us it was simply to further his career, that way many in our support would have lauded him and slated the club. Simple.
  25. JohnMc
    Aha, right, so playing for Dundee Utd is the height of his ambition. Fair enough, he's probably better off not being at Rangers then. Seriously? Was it the fantastic facilities at Auchenhowie or the salary he got since he went pro that tipped him over the edge do you think? Here's what I think, the hard-on you've got for some at the club is blinding you to the fact that this boy showed no loyalty, no patience, no willingness to fight for a place and no care for what the fans of Rangers, the people who ultimately have funded his 10 year apprenticeship, think or care.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.