Frankie
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Posts
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Everything posted by Frankie
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Great to see such a positive thread at last! I think the biggest compliment you can pay to Weir is when he does actually have a bad game, the criticism feels so unusual because they are so few and far between.
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Of course not but people's expectations - including the manager's - will be higher than when we signed Lovenkrands. Remember we also chased Lafferty for months (or longer) and competed with Celtic for his signature. That probably drove the price up but no matter who is responsible I see little in the lad to justify it. I sympathise a little with Lafferty as he clearly has some talent but no matter if he starts up front or on the wing, he doesn't show it anywhere near enough. Add in his other foibles then he's someone we just can't trust to deliver.
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Lovenkrands cost 2/3rd less though. Big difference.
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I'm one of those fans who can see that for every dreadful first touch and blast over the bar, Lafferty does something impressive as well. Unfortunately, he just doesn't do it consistently enough which is why the manager and the fans don't trust him to deliver. Yes, there are excuses for his average contribution but all in all he's been a criminal waste of over �£4million (by the time you add wages).
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Exactly Cal and I think, personally speaking anyway, that's why I've been so disappointed with Davis (and to a lesser extent Bougherra). These guys have been talismans in previous seasons but have not turned up yet this year. There is still time so I hope they start to show what they're capable of this evening!
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Image the outrage if that happened at Ibrox now... Not that our club would ever invite the Royals to the ground again.
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Some cracking videos there - Rangers playing in the hoops against Dynamo as well...
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I'll do it - many thanks mate!
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I can do it tomorrow am if you like mate...
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Sorry mate - I didn't have time over the weekend.
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I'll expand the above into an article tomorrow... ...and correct the spelling within the graphic...
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Just to put some meat on the bones, I like the idea of an annual Rangers Rally which could be used as an ongoing vehicle for lobbying the club. Imagine something like the flyer below - a day of debate and entertainment at a suitable venue. Open to all with invited guest speakers, this could be a chance to not only have a NARSA type event at home but bring together bears with like-minded opinions to discuss the issues of the time. The organisers could spend a few months beforehand working on getting the subjects into the media spotlight via newspaper letter pages, radio phone-ins and supporter group meetings. Then an agenda could be agreed, experts invited to speak and ideas shared to provide solutions and innovation for our club. I'm oft told of a strong Rangers family based on principles that may be disappearing year on year. Something like this would perhaps reverse such a trend while giving everyone the chance to have their say. Imagine hundreds of bears attending and the event expanding into something even bigger with charity, heritage and political arms. All with no membership fee obligations and anyone welcome to get involved. Could we then reclaim the ground we've lost? We can all dream I guess.
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This is a fair point to be honest. Personally I just want better communication between the fans and the club. We don't need to know every single fact but given we're about to invest another �£15-20million into the club at renewal time we're surely entitled to know the direction of the club. I don't think any Rangers fan is being unreasonable here. We don't expect to win the CL every year and we appreciate the financial playing field is skewed against us in many ways. However, we still have a huge fan-base and all the tools to be a successful, innovative club. I also think we could cope with losing a league or more if we knew it was leading to a new club - one based on youth, scouting and fan involvement - as opposed to one on risky transfers and short-term loans. All in all Rangers need to be more forthcoming with how they see our future - with or without SDM/Lloyds. If the current board think we're being strangled by the owner then they should say so and join with us. If they don't think a new owner is viable, then they should show us why and work with us to an alternative. Again, in my opinion, I think some initial clarity could be achieved by organised protest. I don't necessarily mean rabbles outside Ibrox or banners within stadiums but an organised campaign of raising awareness. There exists a variety of medium to get our message out there and all the media are desperate for stories. Meanwhile, we work together as fans in the background to find common ground and unite to provide positive, credible solutions. As always, this is all much easier said than done.
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No, he's the chairman. Lawwell is the CEO.
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Unilaterally denying it may well be a large jump but you only need look at previously under-subscribed protests under worse circumstances to see why I'd make such a generalisation. You may get 50% support online (probably much more in fact) but beyond that you'll struggle for 10% (or probably less). Again, I'm not saying protests to any scale wouldn't work, I'm just saying for that to happen you need good planning, fan unity, leadership and focal points. I see no evidence of that but will gladly help achieve it given the chance.
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I think it is easy to say don't give up (and of course we shouldn't) but the fans also need inspiration at times. The players and manager must show some intent over the next two games in particular to raise morale.
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Absolutely - and in many ways that's understandable as the majority of fans will take little interest in the club's overall politics. After all, they'll just see Walter Smith being given millions and not spending it well and/or the players not working hard enough on the pitch. SDM or MB or AJ can quite rightly say they can't effect performances per se and have to work within our financial limitations. The rest of us know it goes a bit deeper than that but merely pointing out that fact amidst no credible alternative won't be enough to persuade existing sceptics never mind casual supporters who enjoy going to the game nothing more. On a different tact, some people are so desperate for change they'll welcome any new owner. Yet we still know nothing about the validity of his bid/background. As such, there are probably as many bears not wanting a new owner as well. The online community is quite a difficult one to gauge in comparison to the whole of our fanbase. What seems like a majority opinion online (or even in one forum) can be the opposite when you go offline. That's another very difficult challenge to overcome for anyone wanting to disseminate a message that will most probably be unpopular or unwelcome.
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Of course there are solutions but they have to be credible ones. You and I may agree that protest and/or ticket boycotts may be the only way to force the club to listen to what we have to say but the appetite is not there. Especially not when we can still win leagues and we need season ticket money to maintain our competitiveness - or indeed or very future. However, there must be some way we can make our annoyance known before people start to drift inevitably away anyway. Season ticket sales have fell a fair bit over the last 2 seasons when we've won leagues. How much will they fall if we lose the SPL? I've been saying it for long enough that we need a credible focal point to help us publicise the valid criticisms and concerns we have. I'm at a loss as to who or what that could be. Neither of the fan organisations seem able to lead/unify. No former player seems interested in standing up. We have no friends in the media to speak of. When was the last time our fan reps had their say in the Scottish Executive? Do we even have any celebrity fans anymore? If we get beat tomorrow night, lose the SPL and the cups to Celtic then any protest movement may naturally increase. But we lost everything in 2007/08 without as much as a whimper from the support as a whole. It would take another year at least before momentum was strong enough to really worry the club. Protest is all well and good (and I'd buy into it right now) but it needs to be tactically perfect for it to work. Amongst all the articles like this one painting a balanced view on the status quo, I see absolutely no protest strategy per se offered from anyone to change it. That's my point.
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Ally speaks very, very well in the press conference... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/9405047.stm
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Not my favoured choice but as others have said, he's learned his trade from one of the most experienced mentors in the game. Good lucky Ally - may you bring the same success you had as a player.
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A fine post but as with other similar articles, there is no strategy for change to buy into.
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Thread closed.
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Naismith and Ness are out for the next two weeks. Big chance for a Fleck, Weiss or Wylde to stake a claim.
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I'm sorry to hear that....
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True but people tend to think they are untouchable online so probably exaggerate their behaviour.
