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A new study has placed Celtic in the top 40 earners in world football - but concluded that the club’s meagre broadcast revenue will ‘restrict’ their potential to ever compete for a top 20 spot. The club’s inability to challenge the game’s biggest earners comes despite the Hoops’ “strong supporter base” which ensures their match-day income allows them to make up for a lack of TV money. The conclusions were made by financial firm Deloitte, who have published their 17th edition of their Football Money League, which they claim is “the most contemporary and reliable analysis of the clubs’ relative financial performance” for the season 2012-13. Spanish superpowers Real Madrid have taken the number one spot for the ninth consecutive year, thanks to a revenue of €518.9 million - around £444.7 million. Despite having six clubs in the top 20 - both Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs - English football saw Manchester United drop out of the top three, with Bayern Munich leapfrogging them with a revenue of £369.6 million. This year’s findings, which exclude player transfer fees, show a total combined revenue for the top 20 of a massive €5.4 billion (up eight per cent) and includes two new entries - Turkish pair Galatasaray (16th) and Fenerbahce (18th) - from clubs outside Europe’s big five of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for the first time. The chances of Celtic ever making it in amongst the game’s big guns are slim, however, with the top 30 all generating revenue in excess of €100 million. The Parkhead outfit enjoyed a massive 48 per cent uplift in revenues for the period in question, with Deloitte attributing much of their £75.8 million (€88.5 million) to the successful qualification of Neil Lennon’s side for the last 16 of the Champions League last term. But, despite the continued backing of fans, Deloitte have identified domestic broadcast income as the main issue hampering Celtic’s ability to keep pace with the world’s highest earners. By contrast, Real Madrid earned £161.4 million from broadcast rights alone. A spokesman said: “Celtic are amongst the 40 highest revenue generating football clubs in the world, having achieved revenues of £75.8m in 2012-13, an uplift of £24.5m (48 per cent) on the previous year. “This revenue uplift was driven by the club’s progress to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, which delivered substantial UEFA central distributions and contributed to an increase in match-day revenues due to a higher number of home games at Celtic Park, with a total of 30 in 2012-13 compared to 24 in the previous season. “Whilst domestic league broadcast contract values are a fraction of those for leagues in larger European markets, restricting Celtic’s ability to compete for a top 20 position in the Money League, the club continues to benefit from a strong supporter base, with an average home league match attendance of 46,754.” Top 20: 1 Real Madrid - £444.7 million. 2 Barcelona - £413.6 million. 3 Bayern Munich - £369.6 million. 4 Manchester United - £363.2. 5 PSG - £341.8 million. 6 Manchester City - £271 million. 7 Chelsea - £260 million. 8 Arsenal - £243.6 million. 9 Juventus - 233.5 million. 10 AC Milan - £225.8 million. 11 Borussia Dortmund - £219.6 million. 12 Liverpool - 206.2 Million. 13 Schalke 04 - £169.9 Million. 14 Spurs - £147.4 Million. 15 Inter - £144.6 Million. 16 Galatasaray - £134.6 Million. 17 Hamburg - £116 Million. 18 Fenerbahce - £108.3 million. 19 Roma - £106.6 million. 20 Atletico Madrid - £102.8. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/celtic-in-top-40-of-world-football-earners-list-1-3280419

http://www.scribd.com/doc/201292857/One-year-ago Published by RangersTransparency One year ago Mr McCoist had the chance to lead by example. Subject: Ally Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:52:06 +0000 From: Brian Stockbridge To: Ian Hart, Walter Smith, Malcolm Murray, Phil Cartmell, Bryan Smart CC: Charles A Green, Imran Ahmad Gentlemen The Board is being asked by Ally and his agent to approve an increase in his salary to the original level of £750k per annum. Whilst some of you may be aware of the background discussions that have taken place with Ally over his remuneration, some of you may not be so I set out the detail below: Originally Ally had an employment contract paying £750k per annum. In consideration for working with the Club during the difficult early stages and as a condition of supporting Charles, it was necessary for Charles to agree with Ally that Ally would have the same option package as Charles Charles, after discussion with Malcolm, agreed to reduce his own salary by half to £360k per annum. Ally agreed to reduce his salary from £750k to £600k per annum. At the time of the IPO, it became apparent that public disclosure of Ally's salary may be necessary in the Prospectus. Ally was concerned at how the fans would react to his salary level and I understand that he wanted to reduce it further to around £200k but with some sort of guaranteed bonus to make it back up. The Executive did not accept this as it was considered misleading and the disclosure made in the prospectus was for the actual amounts paid to Ally from June to August. The Executive agreed to explore every avenue to avoid having to disclose Ally's current contract and, after lengthy discussion with the Executive and its advisers, the UKLA accepted that no disclosure needed to be made about the level of Ally's ongoing salary. The Executive has recently been contacted by Ally's agent requesting an increase in Ally's salary from £600k back to the original £750k from now but with arrears of £62.5k to be paid in the January payroll (this represents the 5 months backdated pay). The Board is asked to consider and, if appropriate, approve the reinstatement of Ally's salary at £750k per annum and the payment of £62.5k of arrears. If this is approved then Ally's original contract will become in force. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. If this is real then I can see Ally quitting or being sacked.

Down to 30.4p, is there only one way for the shares to go with the present board ? Does the share price really matter?

Evening times Michael Grant Regan: Rangers meltdown hasn't finished Scottish football, although wider financial concern remains Published on 15 January 2014 WHEN Stewart Regan was yesterday invited to give a state-of-the-nation appraisal of Scottish football as it enters 2014, it was safe to assume the Scottish Football Association chief executive knew which quote might boomerang back at him. It was on July 4, 2012, the day newco Rangers failed in their attempt to be voted into the Scottish Premier League, that Regan came out with the words for which he is always likely to be best remembered. He spoke of Armageddon, social unrest, and the Scottish game withering on the vine if Rangers were consigned to the anything beyond the old first division. They were not of course - instead of dropping one division as Regan wanted they fell into the fourth tier - but the game survives. In hindsight he misread the situation. There was no social unrest and no Armageddon. The game is hardly buoyant, but nor can it be said to be withering on the vine. Or more accurately, its established and long-term decline has not been accelerated by Rangers' implosion. "We're in a different place now," Regan acknowledged yesterday. "From a Scottish FA perspective we've got a television deal and the league themselves have put their own plans in place and protected their own commercial position. So we're in a different place. There's been some very competitive matches, which have resulted in quite an exciting competition at the top of the Premiership, and there's a number of emerging young players that have created quite a lot of excitement. Perhaps we're in a better place than we might have been 12 to 18 months ago. "But the financial state of football generally remains a concern for everybody and not just in this country. You go to some of the smaller associations as I do on a regular basis and talk about the state of the game. Scotland is in a healthier place than a number of smaller countries where they don't have the turnover we do and can't make the distributions we make. Everybody would like more money. It's like asking if they'd like a bigger pay rise, the answer is always yes." The SFA is working on a way to introduce Financial Fair Play rules for clubs to prevent unsustainable spending. A sub-committee of the SFA's licensing group, which includes representatives from the Scottish Premier Football League, is currently trying to draft regulations which might be acceptable to the clubs at a vote. "The game needs some degree of control," said Regan. "You can't argue with the principle behind financial fair play. There's a need to avoid overspending particularly on areas where money is dripping out of the game. You need to be able to cover your costs, pay your bills, not be breaching your banking position or getting into financial difficulties." Those are exactly the sort of difficulties which continue to hover over Rangers, of course. Like all 42 of the SPFL's member clubs Rangers must submit audited management accounts to the SFA by the end of March. The Ibrox club has admitted it is continuing to lose money, must make major cuts, and is the subject of a 120-day internal review under chief executive Graham Wallace, but that is not likely to cause any difficulty in terms of getting an SFA licence to play in 2014-15. "As far as Rangers' position is concerned clearly there is a lot of work that Graham Wallace is putting in place to get the club back to a stronger place," said Regan. "I sincerely hope he's successful. It's good for Scottish football to have the club back on a firm financial footing. "He needs all the support he can get to get that in place. It's a big challenge. We'll wait and see what comes in. We've spoken to Graham in the way you would speak to most of the clubs that have got challenges ahead of them. So we've had an opportunity to talk about some of the challenges he faces. You can't underestimate the work he's got ahead of him. "From a financial point of view, until we get our new Financial Fair Play rules in place, we don't really drill down to the management accounts and we don't drill down into saying what a club can and can't spend its money on. One of the proposals which is currently being debated is putting in place a measure which would restrict the amount spent on wages. That's one of the elements being discussed." Regan downgraded his prognosis for the game from "Armageddon" to "challenging". The SFA's own financial health is robust because of sponsorships which run to 2016 and the UEFA centralised television deal which runs to 2018. "At a club level there are a number of clubs feeling the pinch, and it remains a tough environment. So that's probably one of the biggest concerns." The merger of the SPL and the SFL into the SPFL was a positive, though, as were the introduction of play-offs for the end of this season, the formation of the Lowland League, and the progress made by the national team since Gordon Strachan was appointed a year ago today. "There are some encouraging green shoots. Gordon has made a big impact and turned around what was a very disappointing campaign and given us a degree of optimism for the qualifying draw next month. "Everyone's looking forward to France 2016. When you look at the emergence of young talent there's some very encouraging prospects starting to come through the system. I guess it's the classic school report card syndrome, isn't it? 'Progress has been made, but still a lot of work to do.'"

I think some people have completely lost all perspective. We've played some lovely stuff at times this season scoring barrow loads of goals in the process, we've also struggled in games yet still won the vast majority of them. I don't think anyone is happy with the latter, other than the results, but recognise that he's in a no-win situation until we're back at the top. We've all been puzzled by some of the selections and tactical decisions. But equally, the football is better than last season and some of the changes made etc.. have made a difference. McCoist has shown little so far to suggest he is a world beating manager, but he hasn't shown that he is a totally clueless fool either. I think two points which invariably get lost in these debates is that there has been a clear improvement from the dross last season and that McCoist may not be the answer long term, but that remains to be seen. At the moment he is meeting expectations and that should be good enough for the majority of the support.

Warning to posters. This morning we received a letter from Peter Watson, solicitor advocate of Levy & McRae acting on behalf of Mr & Mr Easdale. The letter asked us to remove posts from 3 separate individuals (NOT POSTS FROM SONS OF STRUTH) We would like to remind posters that this is an open social network page and as such is available to be viewed by any members of the public and posters should take care regarding defamation and The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012 https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfStruth

by ANDREW SMITH A BUMPER crowd is expected as Celtic bring in the bells at home to Partick Thistle on Wednesday. With free tickets dished out and buses laid on, who knows, the Parkhead ground may even be at least half full. It hasn’t been that way recently. Indeed, the past two league games are the first back-to-back such encounters to have attracted crowds of less than 30,000 while the championship has been a live issue since the stadium became a 60,000-seater arena in 1998. Then, accurate attendances were given out. Now, these require freedom of information requests, with the club aggregating the number of paid-for-seats, which amounted to 46,000 for each of the victories over Hibernian and Hearts this month. If that appears undoubtedly healthy then what is not is that around 20,000 season ticket holders – around half the entire figure, in fact – are electing to think better of occupying seats they have already parted with their money for. It will be pointed out that the weather and time of year led to a dip in attendances throughout the country but that doesn’t explain what is driving down Celtic’s capacity to have punters come out to watch them. In the year-and-a-half the top flight has been devoid of the Rangers brand, Celtic have made great play of the fact that they have a standalone strategy not dependent on rivalry with a club playing out of Ibrox. And, having turned a debt into cash in the bank and posted a near-£10 million profit last year, they are making good on their assertion. Yet the declining interest from Celtic fans in watching a procession to their third championship demonstrates that they would struggle to operate at their current level if there was never again a team called Rangers in the top flight. The last two home games offered a glimpse of what would be the norm if the club operated in an environment in which they had no major – even from a numerical and cultural sense – rival. The 20,000 no-showers among Celtic’s season ticket holder base probably retain their tickets currently for two reasons: they received a £100 reduction on them last summer and it will probably be only 18 months before there is a Rangers to ridicule and lord it over in the Premiership. Without that promise of ding-dong derby days, most of these fans would probably chuck their tickets. In a non-Rangers world, then, Celtic would have a rain-or-shine hardcore of around 25,000. When they won the last of their nine-in-a-row run of titles in 1974, that was roughly their home average, as it was when they hit rock bottom in 1994. To live within the means that a 25,000 season-ticket-holder base generated, there is no way Celtic would operate with the £30m playing budget they have at present, or spend even sums of £2m on a couple of players every summer. Such a reduced season-ticket-holder figure – with child and younger person reductions taken into account – would bring in around £8m. Celtic’s ticket sales for the Champions League last year alone were £10m. In the Martin O’Neill era, season tickets sales coined in £23m. Celtic are too cautious to rely on Champions League income every year to prevent major losses. However much their club’s supporters may want to be in denial about it, then, with no Rangers permanently in their domain, Celtic would undergo serious downsizing and most home games the club’s stadium would be morgue-like. In turn, a lower spend on player wages would inhibit the calibre of individual that could be recruited, which would result in the team being weaker and potentially more vulnerable across the three rounds of Champions League qualifiers they require to negotiate to reach the group stages. It is perhaps surprising just how quickly almost half Celtic’s season ticket holders have canned watching domestic games. Two years ago, their team wasn’t even champions. The apologists would claim that the club’s treatment of the now dispersed Green Brigade and its perceived attempts to “sanitise” the support has helped turn off sections of the support, but few are buying that. In the Glasgow domain, for a great many it is quite clear that hatred of the other side fuels interest more than love of their own club. And without this adversarial outlet, it is noticeable how the stuggles of both Celtic and Rangers have become internalised. When it was put to Celtic manager Neil Lennon that some of his supporters appear to have short memories, he said: “And a self-destrcut button. And it’s not helpful.” The Irishman said he “can’t look at” the possibility that some Celtic fans have turned to navel gazing about their club as a more satisfying pastime than actually attending games. “My objective is to take the team forward,” Lennon said. “I am aware of the point being made because it is almost as if they need something to fight or argue about. But I can’t do anything about that.” In terms of the lowly 25,000 crowd estimated to have turned up for the 12.15 visit of Hearts last Saturday, Lennon pointed to mitigating circumstances beyond climate. “It’s the first time we’ve had a home game televised for a while and it’s Christmas as well which might have had a big effect on the crowd. We are always looking to give fans value for money and we’re always looking to bring a player in who might capture the imagination as well. But we’re 16 games unbeaten and we can’t do much more than that. Our away form has been very good but it’s a little bit different at home where teams camp in for long periods of the game. I know it’s up to us to try and break them down but we try to give the fans value for money at home as well. “I don’t think [what has happened with the Green Brigade] has had any effect. There might have been a Champions League hangover as well. We’re out of that competition now. I would expect over the festive period the crowds will pick up again and we have Partick Thistle on New Year’s Day and I would imagine there will be a decent crowd for that one.” A “decent crowd” these days, is very different from what it was five years ago. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/poor-attendances-suggest-celtic-need-rangers-1-3249508

Has liewell told diddy dumbcaster to sweep it under the carpet with everything else ? Was there another SPFL enquiry into the H block banners at the Abergreen game too ?

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/209-is-it-time-to-move-on It’s been a long time coming but finally the Rangers AGM arrived and at last we have some clarity on just how well supported the incumbent board is. In fact, the result was pretty conclusive – certainly for most of the Directors up for reappointment while those externally up for nomination struggled to achieve as much support. Therefore, whilst the issue of backing may not be as straightforward as it seems, no-one can deny it should now be time to move on and allow the club some space to consolidate its position. Such an abeyance of hostilities is essential for two main reasons: one, to give the ‘new’ board some time to deliver on their promises, and, two, to hopefully ensure the support doesn’t rip itself apart after a quite ludicrous period of belligerent disagreement between so-called rival factions of fans. So where are we now? Yesterday’s AGM statement to the London Stock Exchange revealed a short term ‘120 day strategic focus’ for the board on a range of important matters: including a detailed business review and attempts to re-engage with the fans to better capture our opinions. Along with other strategies highlighted in the statement, the aims are impressive and I doubt many fans would challenge them. However, we’ve heard similar buzz-words and phrases before – from Sir David Murray, Craig Whyte and Charles Green – all of whom failed to take the business forward during this modern era of austerity. What can this mandated ‘new board’ do differently? Let’s start with its make-up. Despite the institutional confidence placed upon most of the nominated incumbents yesterday, the scenes at the AGM were quite frankly incredible with specific focus on Finance Director Brian Stockbridge. It seems clear now that not only do thousands of fans have an issue with his position but also the vast bulk of the 1600 shareholders present yesterday. Moreover, the fact over 30% of other investors do not consider him re-electable arguably makes his position untenable on its own. However, add in his flawed performance and questionable behaviour of the last year then if the board is serious about trust, transparency and staff ‘pride’ in Rangers then Stockbridge must be moved on. Anything else would cast serious doubt on those that wish to lead the club back to success. Of course the rest of the board, other than Graham Wallace, don’t convince either. Neither Easdale brother speaks well or commands the respect of the support while new chairman David Somers appears inconsistent in his approach – one day signing his name to daft and inflammatory ‘open letters’, while the next saying he has no problem with people he previously labelled as selfish ‘fanatics’. It seems clear Mr Somers needs to familiarise himself with the high profile nature of the Rangers chairmanship and quick. Fortunately, new CEO Graham Wallace has been more measured in his approach so it’s not a surprise to see him warmly received by all so far. Mr Wallace can and should use this to his advantage by acting as a conduit to both investors and fans in the months ahead. With the above in mind, it seems obvious the board will need strengthened if the club’s 120 day plan is to be successful. I’m not sure adding either Murray to the mix will help but I’d hope Scott Murdoch and the impressive Alex Wilson are considered given Cenkos already gave their approval to their applications earlier in the year. That would go some way to bringing everyone around the same table ahead of the April finances ‘D’ Day. Speaking of which, obviously Dave King should be another who must be consulted with, even if his past and recent performance remains worthy of debate. I’m sure there are others out there who could add the right mix of independent business talent and Rangers-mindedness to improve the board. One such name I’ve heard mentioned is John McClure of Unicorn Asset Management who own(ed) upwards of 400,000 pre-IPO shares in the club. No matter who joins this board, the pressure will be high to deliver on their statement of yesterday. However, they do deserve time to implement the changes promised – just how much time may be reliant on their ongoing performance. For example, the issue of Jack Irvine’s retention cannot be kicked into the long grass. Moving on from the board the next important issue is that of the fans. The way many people (mostly online) have turned on each other over the last 6 months has been nothing short of remarkable. It seems polite disagreement cannot happen nowadays with insult and abuse being preferred instead. This has to stop and stop now. If not, our club will be easy pickings for those who wish to use it in a way to benefit themselves only. It also offers an easy excuse for the club not to engage with the fans as it should. Of course it doesn’t help that our fan groups seem so badly advised while struggling generally as well. I don’t blame the Trust, Assembly or Association for believing in the likes of successful businessman Jim McColl but jumping into his camp with both feet meant any sort of negotiation with the board was always going to be difficult. Add in their collective failure to achieve widespread support within the fan-base (via active membership more than anything else) then it’s debatable just how important the club will see them in the future. This is a great shame when we examine fine initiatives such as BuyRangers but perhaps something new can arise from embers of the existing groups? Hearts and Dunfermline fans have shown the way in this respect so we should be looking to them for inspiration. I’d certainly suggest each fan group outlines its own 120 day plan to show they’re capable of improvement. Only then may the club (and most importantly more fans) feel engagement with them is worthwhile. All in all despite yesterday’s conclusive AGM vote, uncertainty remains and that should be a concern for us all – the club director, the investor and the ‘ordinary’ fan. Indeed, financing the club is the biggest issue ahead and this can only be achieved by everyone working together for the greater good. We can all make sacrifices in that regard so I’d urge all involved to examine their contribution and ask if the betterment of Rangers is really their aim. If it’s not, then yesterday’s farcical AGM scenes will only be the start of more stormy waters ahead. That cannot be allowed to happen. Thus, in the spirit of Christmas and New Year, this is an opportunity to offer goodwill to others and start afresh in 2014. In that regard I’d like to wish all my fellow fans a happy holiday season and all the very best for the next year. Rest and be merry as, for the boardroom and the fan groups at least, the clock is ticking: 120 days and counting!

http://t.co/akFr5PEKH3 Rangers chairman David Somers believes the "majority" of the Light Blues' support trust the board despite the stormy scenes at the club's annual general meeting at Ibrox on Thursday and recent fans' protests. The Rangers board were booed on to the stage at the AGM but emerged triumphant after all five directors were re-elected and their four opponents failed in their bid to be appointed. Under-fire finance director Brian Stockbridge, who received a particularly rough ride from those who attended the AGM, received 65.3 per cent backing from shareholders while his four colleagues, Norman Crighton, James Easdale and chief executive Graham Wallace, who subsequently won over most of the body of the meeting, all secured more than three-quarters of the support. The four so-called requisitioners - former Rangers oldco director Paul Murray, former chairman Malcolm Murray, Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch - all polled close to 30 per cent of votes to scupper their hopes. However, despite a clear mandate from shareholders, the fall-out from the meeting had Gers supporters and fans' representatives talking about boycotts and refusing to renew season tickets amid general disgruntlement. Asked if he accepted there was a lack of trust in the board from the fans, Somers told Press Association Sport: "Just at the beginning (of the AGM) there were boos but the rest of the meeting was very orderly. "I was pleased that I got a nice round of applause after my speech which I thought was very generous of them. "I thought the questions were fair and overall, I thought the mood of the meeting was very positive. "Hopefully it cleared the air and we can build on that and take the club forward in terms of stability. "I think there is trust from the majority of the fans but having looked at the dark corporate history of the club, I understand why, for some of the fans' groups, there is some distrust. It is our job to build up the trust but it will take time. "And actually, if we look at the result of the AGM, you can see quite clearly that were massive support for the board. "It is also interesting to see that the requisitioners didn't have the level of support from the fans that they were saying they had got - we can see that from the numbers." Somers, whose position was made permanent last month after he was given the chairmanship on an interim period, dismissed the fans' red card display at the last home game against Ayr United. In the 18th and 72nd minutes of the match, the majority of the 45,227 crowd held up cards which had written on them 'get out of our club' and 'vote out the current board'. "I wasn't at that particular one but I have had several emails from people who said they were led to believe that the red card display was about apartheid so there seems to be some confusion among the fans as to what they were displaying," said Somers. "But we have taken on board that we have got to engage with the fans, the supporters groups and we have plans to do just that." Indeed, one of the biggest gripes of Paul Murray and the fans' representatives in the acrimonious lead-up to the AGM was the failure of the board to enter into dialogue with supporters. Somers, who revealed he had been appointed to the chairman's post by Stockbridge and Easdale after being recommended by club advisors Daniel Stewart, explained his reticence. "A lot of it has been time-related," he said. "I have only been on the board four weeks, Graham has only been on the board three weeks. "I spent the first two weeks interviewing nine or 10 CEOs and also interviewing a bunch of non-executive directors and that took up quite a bit of time. "We knew the AGM was important so it meant we went round all the institutional shareholder groups and said, 'Here we are and this is what we plan to do' and we were using up time that should have been used in normal circumstances for the fan groups. "I think we reassured the fans (at the AGM) that we have to engage much more with them than we have been doing. "Some (meetings) have already taken place. Graham has already had two or three meetings." Somers, however, admits there are no plans to invite a fans' representative on to the board. "I think a fan on the board would be a very singular situation," he said. "We are looking to set up a mechanism by which we can engage more democratically with the fans and get more fan representation. "That is something that we will be talking with the fans groups about. "There are various options. One option is to have a fan advisory board where we have a number of supporter groups on it. " Somers also confirmed that there were no plans to invite any of the requisitioners on to the board. He said: "Not at the moment, no. The shareholders have made their decision so we have to respect what the shareholders have said." A "final statement" released to Press Association Sport on behalf of the requisitioners read: "Now that the dust has settled after yesterday's result we thought it was important to make a few final comments. "First and foremost, we would like to thank everyone who voted for us, particularly the fans whose overwhelming support has galvanised us throughout this process. "Secondly, we think it is important that yesterday's result is put in context. The reality is that Brian Stockbridge's vote and our vote was determined by a very small number of shareholders. "Four shareholders, Easdale proxy, Laxey, Mike Ashley and Zeus Capital control almost 50 per cent of the shares. Obviously none of them voted for us and all of them voted for Brian Stockbridge. "We therefore achieved 60 per cent support from the remainder of the shareholders whilst Brian Stockbridge achieved 30 per cent. "That said it was a democratic vote and we stand by the result. "We are proud of our campaign. We have brought all of the issues to the fore and we have exposed the mismanagement of the club. "This has brought positive board change particularly in the shape of Graham Wallace. "We now hope that he is given the authority to make his mark without outside influences. "Finally we wish Ally and the team continued success in the future." Copyright PA Sport 2013, All Rights Reserved

Not going myself so am hoping a few lads I trust to tweet accurately will keep us informed through the meeting. The Rangers board have already arrived ahead of the 10.30am start.

http://news.stv.tv/west-central/256830-rangers-supporters-trust-suspend-spokesperson-over-improper-conduct/

@scotDMsport: Ally McCoist sides with Rangers fans ahead of crucial vote. See tomorrow's Scottish Daily Mail

The Reqs the facts. http://www.rangersmedia.co.uk/requisitioners-the-facts/

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a ruling in favour of Rangers FC following an advertising dispute over whether the club should be allowed to advertise using the ‘Scotland’s most successful club’ claim. The ASA delivered its original ruling in June this year but after an appeal by complainants, the Independent Reviewer agreed that the case should be re-opened because a “valid question mark” had been raised over the adequacy of evidence submitted by the advertiser in the original investigation. However, following further examination, the ASA stood by its original ruling not to uphold 82 complaints that Rangers were misleading consumers by using an advertising slogan that said: “Join Scotland’s most successful club at Ibrox… still going strong… 54 titles… Rangers then… Rangers now… Rangers forever”. In a fresh adjudication, the ASA said it was confident that consumers would understand the claim was in reference to the history of Rangers Football Club, but did accept that that the club’s history was “separate to that of Newco”. “We consulted with UEFA, which explained that its rules allowed for the recognition of the ‘sporting integrity’ of a club’s match record, even if that club’s corporate structure had changed,” the ruling stated. “We also consulted with the SFA, which confirmed that its definition of a football ‘club’ varied depending on context, and could sometimes refer to an entity separate from the club’s corporate owner. “The SFA further pointed out that, following RFC’s transfer to a new corporate owner, Newco did not take a new membership of the Scottish FA but rather that previous membership was transferred across to them so they could continue as the same member of the Scottish FA. “We considered that consumer would understand that the claim in question related to the football club rather than to its owner and operator and therefore concluded that it was not misleading for the ad to make reference to RFC’s history, which was separate to that of Newco.” The question of whether Newco Rangers should be permitted to trade on the history of the liquidated company has been a bone of contention in Scottish football since Rangers’ financial collapse in 2012. The Drum understands that the ASA consider the decision final. http://m.thedrum.com/news/2013/12/11/asa-rules-favour-rangers-fc-advertising-dispute-following-appeal

AS a listed company, the members of the Rangers Board have to be very careful and professional in the way in which we communicate information. This is clearly not the case for the requisitioners, who can make all sorts of wild and spurious allegations. My concern is that these unprofessional, wild allegations are being used just like bogey men were used when I was a child. But in this case, they are being used to frighten our supporters and shareholders. So, within the bounds of what I can say, I would like to put some of these bogey men to rest. Firstly, I read wild accusations that I may not be independent. This is usually accompanied by a list of names from the club’s past. Let me say categorically, that until I joined the Board a mere 4 weeks ago yesterday, I had never heard of Charles Green, Imran Ahmad, Craig Whyte, or any of the other characters in Rangers’ history. To my knowledge, I have never met them, nor had business dealings with them. Nor would I recognise them if I passed them on a street. When I was approached to join the Board, the Company had only two directors and the immediate priority was to preserve the AIM Listing. Surely it is naïve to think that there is any way the Nominated Adviser could have allowed anyone not totally independent to take on this position at that time? I have now read over two years of board minutes and they make very depressing reading in terms of the scale of their lack of professionalism and worse. The minutes make it clear, in my mind, that the boards of recent years have been totally unfit to run this club. The mystery to me is why people should now be considering that members of these boards, which presided over the problems we face today, should be considered for re-election. Although I have learned one lesson, which is that if you shout long enough and loud enough in the media, you may be able to reinvent yourself. Recent inaccurate and, in fact, completely untrue allegations have included a new bogey man about Jack Irvine's contract. I have looked at this and can say that he has a normal contract, with no bonuses attached and the figures quoted by Mr Scott Murdoch are utter nonsense. Let me also say that Graham Wallace and I are beginning a complete review of every contract that is in place. You can imagine that this is going to take weeks and then more time where contracts need to be changed. I have been on board four weeks yesterday and Graham less than that, but we have already begun this critical process. One area, where we are conscious that we need to focus, is in improving our communication and engagement with all Rangers supporters. We have already commenced work to identify what is required to fully engage with our fan base and we will be bringing forward some significant proposals in the near future. The Board is fully behind improving the communication and engagement with the fans. Another bogey man relates to the club's finances. We have said publicly a number of times that any talk of the club going into administration is completely untrue. Yes, we will need to make decisions to improve cash flows and strengthen the business, but these will be the right decisions at the right time. Another new bogey man thrown about by the Gang of Four is the suggestion that we might be thinking of selling Ibrox. We are not thinking about this. Where do the requisitioners get these ideas from? I promise you we have no intention of a sale. Brian Stockbridge suffers most from the lies thrown around by the people in the process of reinventing themselves. Even the requisitoners must understand that finance directors are members of boards and their actions are largely dictated by the board. Reading the minutes of the last two years or more, I see that Mr Murray was involved at board level for long periods covering contract and financial negotiations. It is not that Finance Directors make mistakes, rather that boards make mistakes, or worse. Without Brian, the club would, in my opinion, have been de-listed months ago and ironically the club should owe him a debt of gratitude for holding things together. Going forward, his new CEO, Graham Wallace, needs time to evaluate the whole structure within the business and the people within it. This will be true for Brian as for everyone else. For the good of the club, for the good of the supporters and for the good of the shareholders, I sincerely hope that the shareholders will get behind the existing board and vote for us. In addition, I encourage shareholders to vote against the four requisitioners. Firstly, because some of them were members or chairman of boards which failed this club in the past. Secondly, we need a Board selected from the best available people. Not just from fanatics who put their own personal interest ahead of the greater good of the club. If these people were to join the board they would be taking up positions which should be held in future by the best, professional people with Rangers true best interests at heart and not having their involvement driven by their own personal self interest. Best regards, David Somers http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/5759-an-open-letter-from-the-chairman

http://davidleggat-leggoland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-threats-to-jim-mccoll.html JIM McCOLL’S revelation of sinister threats, when he spoke to last week’s meeting of Rangers supporters, told only half of the story. Now I can reveal more. More of the shocking, shady and deeply worrying things that have been going on in the background since the Requisition was first moved on August 2nd. I can reveal McColl admitted that he had been the recipient of two phone calls from two northern English cities. McColl admitted this at a meeting I and a dozen or so others attended at his Clyde Blowers headquarters in East Kilbride in mid-September. His revelations that day about those deeply disturbing phone calls came in the wake of the news that Frank Blin, the City big hitter who McColl and Paul Murray had lined up to become financial director, had withdrawn from the campaign to change the board. And that, in turn, followed a public statement by the then newly appointed board spin doctor, Jack Irvine, that McColl and Blin and the others should be warned that they were now fair game. Many took that to mean Irvine would be behind a dirty tricks campaign. Certainly there were plenty of red herrings planted by Jack Irvine in the Press concerning whether or not Paul Murray would pass the Scottish Football Association’s fit and proper person test – he will – and claiming Dave King would not be acceptable to either the London Stock Exchange or the SFA, disgracefully inaccurate allegations which King blew out of the water. It is interesting to note that since King’s visit, Jack Irvine has not mentioned Dave King’s name again. But now, newly appointed chairman David Somers has taken up the cry that Paul and Malcolm Murray, along with the other two Nominees, Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch, men of the highest integrity and probity, men whose credentials are above reproach, may fail any Stock Market and SFA tests. Somers has put his name to this scaremongering in the official Notice of Annual General Meeting document, signed by him on November 25th and sent to all shareholders. Entirely separate from that, Jim McColl then followed Blin in withdrawing from the campaign, sparking suspicions by those who he told about those initial phone threats, that he may have been subjected to further outside pressure. McColl seemed reluctant to discuss the threats in great detail after the meeting with fans on Thursday night, though Friday’s newspapers carried the statement he made to the supporters’ meeting which touched on them. That was the first time the threats which McColl told me about in September, entered the public domain. But at the midday meeting in the Clyde Blowers boardroom on September 13th, which I attended, when the news of the threats was first revealed, McColl was much more candid. He revealed that he had taken two telephone calls – one from someone in Manchester and one from someone in Leeds – and that he was advised by both callers that it would be better for him if he stepped back from the whole affair and took no further part in the campaign to oust the board. McColl assured us all that he would not be put off and for the next 10 weeks he was as good as his word. Then, after the meeting with supporters last week, Jim McColl announced he would play no further part in the campaign by the four Nominees to win seats on the Ibrox board. Now McColl has followed Frank Blin and left the fight and he made that announcement on the very night that Paul Murray was able to lift the lid on the influence the disgraced Charles Green is still exerting with shareholders in the background and the power Green continues to exert over those with a stake in Rangers. With that Charles Green active influence now known to extend to more than merely handing the proxy for his shares to the Easdales, the spectre of money-grabbing, greedy Green and his power, now hovers over the Annual General Meeting. posted by leggoland @ 09:11

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/195-fans-meeting-analysis-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place First things first – I must say I’m pleased that last night’s meeting at the Hilton in Glasgow went ahead. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it due to family commitments but the hard work of the organisers and those who tweeted updates meant I was able to be there in spirit; if not in person. As someone who has criticised McCollco long and hard for not reaching out to the wider fan-base, I can only praise them for finally going to the support for what seemed a very open and challenging Q&A. But, there’s always a bloody but nowadays, it’s debatable just how useful this meeting was. Yes, further negative points were made about parts of the current board; yes, McCollco did highlight a few areas where they’d seek to improve matters; and yes, most fans present seemed impressed by the talking done. Fair enough. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that enough was said to really persuade huge swathes of our support that the issue is as simple as voting for X instead of Y come the AGM in December. In saying that, to his credit, Jim McColl did underline that himself and was definitely the most conciliatory of the top table in acknowledging the difficulty in suggesting none of the present Rangers board are worth backing. Indeed, I think that was the most important point made of the evening. Let’s not forget that as we retreat to the trenches this morning. At almost two hours long the meeting was certainly well attended, most of the questions valuable and many points well made – both by the top table and a few obvious critics from the floor. In that respect, it was a pity McCollco appeared unable to underwrite their opinions with genuine evidence to confirm them. For example, we were told MediaHouse is on a huge financial package to operate PR for the club yet this was denied immediately by the company online. Jack Irvine doesn’t have many fans amongst the Rangers support but are we really to believe he earns more than the majority of the playing staff? In addition, I’d agree with the criticism of Brian Stockbridge and the contention his position is certainly untenable going forward. However, if his performance is poor (and it is) then I’m not sure I could vote for Paul or Malcolm Murray to replace him given neither of them set the world alight during their own periods on the board. Consistency on that basis is required so it may be only Alec Wilson and Scott Murdoch may be agreeable. I particularly liked the cut of Wilson’s jib but given both of these gentlemen were involved with previous failed Blue Knights bids, just how much faith can we put in them? That’s up for debate for sure… With that in mind, we can at least praise McCollco for being prepared to go to the fans and hold an open meeting like last night. The empty seats at the top table which were reserved, more in hope than expectation, that the club would send along a few representatives arguably said a lot about the existing board’s reluctance to be accountable to fans and shareholders. Of course next month’s AGM will determine their situation but I’m already disappointed by new chairman David Somers’ eagerness to release petty statements on the club website. He and Graham Wallace may have only been in their jobs for two minutes but at what point will they consider a similar meeting with fans to iron out the various issues that were evident from last night? Is waiting until the more formal AGM really an option for them or should they look to answer our concerns beforehand? The next 3 weeks in the lead-up to that event will be fascinating – if not tedious and tiresome. Indeed, it could be argued that fatigue will induce the kind of apathy that has helped place us in this ongoing awful position. Such a luxury isn’t one we can afford if we want to secure our club’s future and, preferably, improve the way we’re represented in the longer term. To that end, the final meeting point made about not standing back and allowing the situation to pass us by was another important one. Not just in terms of clarifying many of the problems we have with the existing board (or their linked predecessors) but by asking more from McCollco who, once again, struggled to put the meat on the bones of their ‘manifesto’ last night. Scouting, PR, fan representation, director pledges, break-even budgets and asset ring-fencing may all sound impressive ideas but it would be argued anyone could highlight the same areas for improvement. What the support needs is the finer detail – not least how the club will be funded from our financial low point of next April which is now less than six months away! The golf courses of South Africa certainly appear more attractive to Dave King than sitting beside his fellow fans sorting out the club’s future. In conclusion then, while this article discusses last night’s meeting, attention now must turn to the club itself. Irrespective of what we think about McCollco, the existing boardroom is wholly responsible for the future. They may wish to release more soporific statements blaming other people for the challenges ahead but the buck stops with them. Last night McCollco made an effort (imperfect or otherwise) to engage with the support to show why their nominations are a better option instead of or, perhaps more accurately as Jim McColl conceded, alongside the incumbents. It’s now up to the Easdales of this world (we’re continually told they hold a large percentage of voting rights) why their plan is a better one. Yet they’ve given us no indication of how they intend to fund and run the club. As it stands the support and shareholders are between a rock and a hard place. Can anyone address that or will the farce continue?

Another weekend with no game...sigh. Here's your Sunday morning 'long piece' a day or so early. Today's musical accompaniment is Hannah Georgas with 'Enemies'. Takes a while to get going but grows on you, kind of like a modern Suzanne Vega. Living with other people isn't always easy. Look at cities - the number of urban dwellers who look for ways to escape tells its own story: living with other people creates tension. So it's no wonder that many of the 20th century's finest thinkers on cities and how to live in them from countries which suffered the most devastation to their cities: having seen their countries convulsed for the better part of the entire 100 years, you can't be surprised that so many French and German intellectuals turned their minds toward how to improve the world for the future. Le Certeau, Foucault, the wonderfully named Lyotard...but what about the Germans? Unfortunately, for many Brits raised on a TV diet these last 40 years, mention of the word 'Germans' brings on a kneejerk reaction where an image of Hitler appears unbidden in your mind, either sauntering 'neath the Eiffel Tower or giving it laldy at one of the lads' night's out he and the rest of the gang were fond of. There he is at the podium, one fist turned backward on his left hip, his right hand karate-chopping an imaginary swarm of bees as he yells 'Niemals! Niemals! Niemals!' A strange man, indeed. But hardly the definitive image we want to take forward of that country, surely? Adolf's ubiquity on British cable TV is now such that it is only a matter of time before someone decides to hive off another arm of the History Channel into a dedicated Hitlery Channel. They may as well: from serious, academic studies such as The Nazis: A Warning From History or The World at War, through well meaning but poorly (cheaply) made cut-and-paste jobs like Secrets of the Nazi Gold to the recent, alarming trend in US low budget movie making to use Nazis as almost a comedy stooge - Nazis From the Moon, anyone? It's a real film, although even it is eclipsed by the appalling bad Nazis From the Centre of the Earth. What Jake Busey, so effective as the ghostly psycho the in Michael J Fox movie The Frighteners, is doing in this trash is anyone's guess: but any answer other than paying off a gangster's bill will reflect very badly on him. Hopefully America, given it provides pretty much the cultural compass for the world, won't go down the Nazi obsessed route the British media is addicted to. If you think the next four years, with day by day accounts of World War One are going to be full on, just wait, if you're old enough, until 1933 - I should think you will have a minute by minute account of what Herr Schicklegruber was up to from the day he assumed power until the Fuhrer's butler served up the cyanide and Lugers in the bunker. Given I'll be 63 in 2033 I imagine I will be either (a) dead or (b) gaga so it won't matter to me. I don't envy the rest of you, though! I suppose it shows how getting your image, your public perception out from under some kind of media imposed identity is not easy. Hence the reluctance in Britain to take people seriously who have names like Mearsheimer, Gadamer, or Bauman. Stuck in a Dr Strangelovian timewarp, we see them as sinister candidates for the experiment room rather than people who may offer something positive. Michael Schumacher, it's true, was popular, but his popularity in the UK was of the grudging respect kind last seen in veteran Desert Rats when they were talking about Rommel. In my lifetime I can think of only Prof.Heinz Wolff, woolly-haired boffin of TV science-fest The Great Egg Race, who has been accepted in Britain. Even he was looked upon with grave suspicion by my mother, although admittedly she was bombed out by the Luftwaffe in the 40's and has never forgiven 'the Germans' since. We as Bluenoses know all too well that if you don't control your own image, others will happily control it for you, and those others will almost certainly have nefarious intent. Our current status in the game - if this were India we would rank somewhere between pariah dog and untouchable street sweeper - have led many, me included, to adopt a defiant stance of 'get it up ye!' and to hold ourselves apart from the rest. They'll need us more than we need them, I have said, and meant it. Now, I'm not so sure. When veteran sociologist Zygmunt Bauman recently took a look at urban life, he diagnosed it to be suffering from two separate but connected illnesses, which, in the time honoured fashion of the intellectual, he gave the unfriendly names of mixophobia and mixophilia. The former sees fear of other groups than one's own run rampant, and those who can do so barricade themselves into gated communities with security guards, gradually losing the ability to communicate with the others outside, the fear of whom grows the more they become unknown. A self-perpetuating cycle where no one wins except, presumably, Barratt Homes. Mixophilia, meanwhile, seems a bit optimistic to me, a happy city with lots of mixing between classes and sects, Bauman foresees 'benign, and often deeply gratifying and enjoyable daily encounters with the humanity hiding behind the frighteningly unfamiliar scenic masks of different and alien races, nationalities, Gods and liturgies'. I remain doubtful how enjoyable daily bumping into hordes of celtc fans would be, especially in a city with trams, but I do take his point: hiding ourselves away in a ghetto will, in the long run, do more harm than good. Hang on , though, I hear you cry. What about Timmy? When O'Neill appeared, they drew back into the cultural enclave, they've never come out of it since and they're doing alright, aren't they? Well, not really, no. Although they have people at the top of the game and are very much the country's strongest side, there are two caveats. First, obviously, we handed it them on a plate, both due to our implosion and our mismanagement of the game during the SPL period. If we were to pursue the Germanic theme of this piece a little further, you could call the SPL period the Weimar Republic and the present lot the early days of Adolf. It certainly looks like a one party state, anyway. Given the delusion which appears to run rampant through their support - 'we bring smiles wherever we go' must rank up there as one of the best lines of this or any other year - perhaps Stalin's self-delusional Soviet Union would be a better comparison. Secondly, in broad terms they are dying every bit as much as the game as a whole. Although many Bears see the Sectarianism Legislation as directly only at them, it reflects a wider belief in Scotland that the day of Old Firm bigotry is past. Teams may be multicultural but the fans you are obliged to step past, usually pished and almost always giving it something from some idealised Irish folk history song book certainly are not. Scottish society, which seems to have been taking a look at itself in recent years (probably due to devolution and the independence referendum) has clearly concluded that shibboleths like the Old Firm are shibboleths no longer and must either change or wither. I think we're both doing a pretty good job of withering at the moment, crowds or no crowds, the mutual hate and societal impact of recent events causing disquiet among those who are fans of neither club. How appealing will the present antipathy be to the generation which comes along after us, which has to have the last few years explained and which, like all new generations, will probably look at us with the same unconcealed contempt my son directs at me when I tell him to cut his nails or tidy his room. Certainly it will keep me going for years, this hate, but as a long term marketing strategy it is lacking. We exist in the Scottish leagues, and we're going to have to come to some kind of understanding with the Scottish leagues. Hans Gadamer, in a book called Truth and Method, explained that mutual understanding can only occur when there is a 'fusion of horizons' between peoples. This fusion can only come about through shared experience and that shared experience can only come about in a shared space: if we exist in a vacuum, our horizons, whatever they may be, will be ignored in favour of everyone else's. Given how much everyone else's appear to accord with those of celtc FC, this is a genuine worry, but more broadly, if the OF continue on their road to cultural isolationism, they may well both be victims of the rest of society's impatience and end up moribund. This may seem needlessly pessimistic to celtc given their CL money, but it goes out as soon as it comes in and even it is far from guaranteed. Another German, philosopher Emmanuel Kant, talked about a general association of mankind: 'allgemeine vereinigung der menschheit'. For this Scot, who suffered at school trying to get his bunged up nose and gutteral, throaty accent around the romantic cadence of French, German is a godsend - it is basically 'say what you see' and none of that Froggie rubbish about silent letters or nasally stops. It even sounds like English. How two countries with so many similarities as the UK and Germany ended up so far apart is one of the great questions of the century gone by, but it's generally ignored in favour of endless programmes about Hitler, Goering and the rest. Unless we take steps to address our current position in the game: no power, no influence, no friends, nothing other than a sometimes useful chip to throw down for small clubs looking for a payday - we may end up more a curiosity rather than a vibrant player, and contribution we might have to make ignored in favour of bone-picking over the last few years. Given the present shambles that is the club, any kind of future vibrancy may seem like lunatic optimism but we fans have a duty to at least try and shove the club into engaging with the outside world. A voice which is constantly telling everyone else to go stuff themselves is unlikely to win many arguments. I suppose at some point we have to engage: even if the ultimate aim remains the annihilation of certain clubs,we don't have to shout it from the rooftops. The AGM is coming up: there will be a possibility of change, though it varies from day to day and depending on who you read. How I hope we seize this chance, for the alternative is terrible: Rangers from the Centre of the Earth, anyone?

http://www.therangersstandard.co.uk/index.php/articles/current-affairs/295-the-rangers-football-club-selfie

AS the row over Peter Lawwell's Celtic AGM comments rumbles on, KEITH JACKSON reckons its time both sides of the Old Firm stopped the grandstanding and concentrated on their own priorities. LIKE Alan Partridge, Scottish football is bouncing back. In just 10 months Gordon Strachan has taken this team of ours and stopped it from being a laughing stock. As a result of all his hard work, Scotland are no longer driving from Norwich to Dundee in their bare feet, gorging on assorted Toblerones. Friday’s 0-0 draw with the USA at Hampden may hardly have been inspirational but even so it was yet more proof that Strachan has us on the road to recovery. His players are not losing games against supposedly vastly superior opponents, even when performing well below their own best standards. That’s progress and it comes at a time when things are looking up. All over the country, talented young players are emerging at club level and thriving with the responsibility of first-team football. Stuart Armstrong has just earned his first call-up to Strachan’s full squad while Ryan Gauld and Stevie May will soon be knocking on the door. At last, after years of internal vandalism, we’re getting our own house back in some sort of order. It’s not immaculate but no longer does it make us cringe with embarrassment. Until, that is, someone goes and mentions the Old Firm. I did it once but I think I got away with it. Oh no wait, that will be the sound of a thousand emails cascading into my inbox. A deluge of dementedness. “Don’t call us the Old Firm. We don’t want anything to do with that other mob.” They may hate the living daylights out of one another but what they do share – in fact what binds them together – is the capacity for ferocious bampottery. Every comment passed in public about one side or the other is picked apart forensically by supporters of both. Often the throwing of these titbits results in an online feeding frenzy, where all reason and logic are the first to be devoured. It has been this way since the invention of the internet. But, just lately, the landscape around Glasgow’s uneasy neighbours has become noticeably darker and poisonous. Which is why Peter Lawwell, of all people, should have displayed better judgment than to poke a big stick into this hornet’s nest at Celtic’s agm on Friday. By gratuitously branding Rangers Rory Bremner FC, Lawwell sent this bitter little world into meltdown. Lawwell’s words were a nod and a wink to the most extremist element of his club’s support and, in a way, a green light for them to pursue their own dubious agendas. Sound familiar? It should do. Because it was not that long ago that a certain big-handed Yorkshireman was doing precisely the same thing to win over the masses at the other side of this never so deeply divided city. It’s called grandstanding and, at a time when emotions are so volatile and feelings so raw, it’s a dangerous road for either of these two clubs to be going down, never mind both of them at once. In opposite directions. The sooner this pair remember that their purpose in life is to play the game, not the galleries, then perhaps the rest of us might be able to get on with the business of helping Scottish football back towards a state of good health rather than constantly being forced to rubberneck by these ceaseless attention seekers. And yet no sooner had Lawwell pressed the button on Friday (successfully diverting attention away from an awkward internal debate about paying his employees a living wage in the process) than Rangers responded with a blast of their own. You could almost hear them inside their Ibrox bunker working out the strategy, above the clicking of a PR guru’s Cuban heels. “Right, where’s that statement slaughtering Celtic and Lawwell. That’s genius. Punters will love it.” Talk about stage-managed rabble rousing? It’s almost as if the current remnants of this Rangers board are being given PR advice from the very same strategical experts who presented Craig Whyte to the world as a billionaire and told him how to go about winning friends and influencing people. Oh, wait a minute. They are. Yes, the very same people who said the Daily Record was lying when it first revealed what Whyte was up to with the club’s season tickets – a full seven months before his ruinous business plan tipped the club into administration. Whoever said motivation doesn’t grow on trees clearly hasn’t gone for a stroll down Edmiston Drive since Whyte stuffed the taxman for £15million under the cover of dark arts. That’s the truth of the matter. Whyte plunged Rangers under and his scandalous behaviour has left a black mark on the very soul of this football club which continues to operate at Ibrox, in blue shirts with the same badges and crests. Whyte was a near-death experience all right but Rangers live on. The real nature of the problem facing Rangers today is not that they have ceased to exist (they are still here after all) but rather they have become unrecognisable from their former selves. And to that end, Lawwell had a point. Like Bremner’s Tony Blair, today’s Rangers are a flimsy impersonation of the real thing. But none of that is the business of Celtic’s chief executive, who would surely be better off concentrating on his own club’s continued dominance, especially now that BT Sport are doubling the value of a ticket into the Champions League. Lawwell was right when he said Celtic are now a stand-alone club. They have proved they do not need Rangers in order to survive and to prosper. The less of UEFA’s loot they have to share, the stronger they will become. Rangers, for their part, face a struggle just to keep HMS Ibrox from sinking for a second time. Let them both get on with it, preferably as far apart from one another as is possible in this twisted little world. In the meantime, just don’t mention the Old Firm.

Scotland's claim to be fighting the cancer of sectarianism and hatred took a severe dent at the weekend. Perhaps sadly, the decision not to hold a one minute silence prior to the Ross County vs Celtic match, came as no surprise to many of us. Its embarrassing, unedifying and sickening to hear a one minute silence being disrupted and dishonoured. But there is something worse, far worse in fact - not holding such a ceremony at all. Because in failing to do so we have acquiesced to the morons, the bigots - we have handed them victory on a plate. Let the moronic and shameful actions of bigots within the Celtic support shame all the devils in hell - rather that than our country is forced to fail to remember the fallen whose sacrifice ensured our freedom from evil and tyranny. This morning I wrote to Ross County asking for an explanation into such an omission on Saturday and in particular who made the decision to dispense with the one minute silence - was it from someone in the club or from outside the club? The Ross County support have previously made their club aware of the importance of Remembrance Day and its significance within their support. http://www.north-sta...oldiers-667.htm Furthermore this is an issue which must ascend Old Firm rivalry and the often tit for tat churlish and pedantic tribalism. It is time for the Scottish press and media to stop avoiding the issue and to speak out - ignoring it will not make it go away. It is untenable and unacceptable that men who laid down their lives in order to defeat that which is unacceptable cannot themselves be remembered and honoured due to the actions and behaviour of some in our society which is in itself – wholly unacceptable.

League One business makes a quick fire return to Ibrox on Saturday. After a hard fought win over Dunfermline in midweek, can The Rangers make it twelve league wins on the bounce on Saturday (15 in all competitions) against Gary Bollan's beleaguered Airdrieonians at Ibrox? Let’s look at how we might shape up. Eleven League games. Eleven Wins. Eleven Jon Daly goals. Two of those coming in the Scottish Cup fixture against Airdrie at Ibrox on Friday 1st November as Rangers swept Airdrie aside after a fairly poor first half. The big Dubliner is in lethal form and who would bet against him extending his tally on Saturday? Daly is a certainty to start. Beside him young Nicky Clarke would be my choice as a second striker, his movement and work rate on Friday was very encouraging and Daly looks to be a good foil for him. Andy Little won’t feature for a lengthy period after being hospitalised with a fractured cheek bone on Wednesday. Unlucky on the boy, let’s hope he makes a speedy recovery. In the midfield it's not such a clear picture. Kyle Hutton had a decent return to the first team after Ian Black missed the match due to a suspension picked up in last year’s cup exit to Dundee United, and he may have done enough to keep his berth. Nicky Law and Lewis Macleod will keep their places unless McCoist decides to rest one or other after a bruising encounter against The Pars but I’d be surprised if he would feel the need to do this at a time when both are playing well and giving opponents a torrid time. Peralta looks off the pace and may be rotated for David Templeton after his goal and decent form from the bench. At the back Scotland’s best full back and arguably the finest footballer at the club Lee Wallace will be on a high after receiving the call from Gordon Strachan for the up-coming International fixtures against the USA and Norway and is sure to start. Goal scoring colossus and cult figure in the making Bilel Mohsni should retain his place in central defence beside skipper Lee McCulloch and Foster seems to be a first pick despite recent poor displays. His ball retention and distribution is abysmal and is surely the weak link of this side so far this season. Sebastian Faure would be my choice at right back but McCoist is not one for tinkering with a winning side. Confidence must be sky high at the moment and if we can start games in a more positive manner, I see no reason why we can’t maintain the 100% record until Xmas. It would be a fantastic achievement regardless of the standard of league we find ourselves in. I’m going for a convincing 4-0 win, Jon Daly to get at least two of those. (Possible line up) :rf: :jig: :kh: :ib: :lm: :jd:

Should make for entertaining listening? http://radioplayer.clyde1.com/live/