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.........with Celtic showdown one win away and a cup final they hope never to contest again. It's time for Rangers to take a break from slogging through the epilogue of League One and face two matches that could change the whole story of their season. On Sunday, Ally McCoist’s side travel to Easter Road to meet Raith Rovers in the final of the Ramsdens Cup, hoping to win a first knockout tournament under their manager. Six days later, they welcome Dundee United to Ibrox in the Scottish Cup last-four. The merits of overcoming United to reach the season showpiece at Celtic Park are undisputed. Should Rangers be able to raise their game against Jackie McNamara’s Premiership high-fliers – and they would have to do so substantially after grimly toiling to victory at Gayfield – it would be their greatest on-field victory since the financial carnage of 2012. What, though, of the Ramsdens Cup? Where does that rank in the overall scheme of things? After all, it’s a competition Rangers would hope never to be involved in again come their planned top-flight return. Any attempt to belittle the importance of the occasion is, however, met with strong resistance from within the squad. Take Cammy Bell, who performed heroics for Kilmarnock when they blanked out Celtic to attain League Cup glory in March 2012. The goalkeeper is adamant that success in Leith this weekend would mean every bit as much to him as that remarkable Hampden day. ‘Definitely,’ he insisted. ‘This is a cup final and it’s for the club I love, Rangers. It’s a massive day for me and all the boys. We’re really excited about it. ‘The manager spoke to us at the semi-final and told us we would never forget being part of a Rangers cup final. We want to go and win it. ‘Raith Rovers are a very good side, so it will be a tough match, but we’ll train hard all week and make sure we’re prepared.’ Whoever watched events in Arbroath on behalf of Raith would have returned an optimistic report to boss Grant Murray. It required an 87th-minute goal from Fraser Aird to maintain Rangers’ 100 per cent away record in the league after Jon Daly’s first-half header was cancelled out by Paul McManus – following a dire back-header from Seb Faure. ‘We do have to raise our game for the matches coming up,’ admitted Bell. ‘We’ll need to be on top of our game. Dundee United will be tough for us but it’s a challenge the boys need to stand up to.’ However, Arbroath goalscorer McManus questioned whether Rangers have what it takes to get the better of his former club Raith - never mind United. Had Alex Keddie not turn a golden injury-time opportunity over the bar from point-blank range, League One’s bottom side would have taken a point. ‘It’ll be close on Sunday,’ said McManus. ‘Raith are taking 3,000 fans and it will be a good experience for their players. But they won’t just be going to cherish the occasion – they’ll want to win the cup. The last couple of weeks, Rangers have been poor. That isn’t just down to them, other teams are putting up a fight. I think Rangers will struggle next week to be honest.’ McManus still harbours a grievance about Arbroath’s 3-2 defeat at Ibrox in January and was similarly miffed at a second narrow loss, sealed when Daly’s shot was diverted in by Aird. ‘The goal they got? Same old Rangers,’ he said. ‘When things aren’t going for them, they get a bit of luck. Not just off the linesmen and referees – it was a ricochet off one of their players and the ball goes in the back of the net. At the end, Rangers were hanging by a thread. ‘I was arguing with Lee McCulloch on the park because I felt he went down too easy. Tough times: Paul McManus expects Raith to test Rangers +5 Tough times: Paul McManus expects Raith to test Rangers ‘We played them off the park at Ibrox and got nothing. They got a late penalty through Jon Daly, who I felt went down easy then. ‘They won that game and decisions like that… we even saw it on Saturday with certain decisions down the side, when the flag never went up. We worked hard and never got anything out the game. It’s typical Rangers.’ Those jibes will not worry McCoist as much as the diagnosis on a hamstring strain that forced Daly’s late removal. Losing him for the forthcoming cup encounters would a huge blow. Ian Black and Nicky Law also missed out with ankle and back problems respectively, while David Templeton and Andy Little are also fighting for fitness. Greater long-term concern surrounds Lewis MacLeod. The Scotland under-21s midfielder will travel to England this week to discuss treatment options after a virus affected the muscles around his heart. While no timescale has been placed on his return, McCoist is optimistic the 19-year-old will make a full recovery. ‘Lewis’ spirits are high and he has the best people looking after him,’ said goalkeeper Bell. ‘He’ll come back, I’m sure he will. He’s a strong lad. He will be round about the lads on Sunday and hopefully he is back involved soon. We support each other no matter what is happening.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2593016/Rangers-face-season-defining-week-Celtic-showdown-one-win-away-cup-final-hope-never-contest-again.html#ixzz2xUsyODRf

MICHAEL MOLS has challenged the Rangers board to prove they regard the club as more than just a cash cow to be milked dry and insists a number of former players are waiting in the wings to provide an international scouting network on the cheap. The 43-year-old Dutchman - who played up front for the Ibrox side in a more prosperous era between 1999 and 2004 - travelled to Gayfield to watch the weekend's 2-1 SPFL League 1 victory over Arbroath and revealed that an ex-players' collective is ready to help reconstruct a now nonexistent element of the infrastructure at their former employers. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/rangers-can-call-on-international-rescue-mols.23828999 I don't have access to the full article.

https://twitter.com/gerrymcculloch1/status/450025504805257216 Gerry McCulloch ‏@gerrymcculloch1 @bjm1979 @Eddiek62 ebt's undoubtedly gave sporting advantage in my opinion. We'll see what result appeal brings.

.......and it's fast-fading for Graham Wallace and the Rangers board. KEITH looks at how Rangers' CEO Wallace's reputation has been damaged in recent months and says that his business review, published in a fortnight's time, will give him an opportunity to salvage it. RIDDLE me this. It’s a priceless commodity and yet it costs nothing at all. It cannot be bought but its every ounce must be thoroughly earned. If Graham Wallace could solve this puzzle then his task as Rangers chief executive would be made a great deal more easy. The answer, of course, is trust. And it’s been his biggest issue ever since he agreed to wade into the quagmire that is the Ibrox boardroom. Simply by willingly associating himself with the board which appointed him, Wallace was up to his knees in inherent suspicion from the start. But his long-standing professional reputation bought him a bit of time. To many, he was the acceptable face of an otherwise intolerable regime. Five months on, however, Wallace’s mask might be starting to slip. Because on Thursday of last week, just hours after putting his name to the Ibrox club’s latest declaration of multi-million pound losses, Wallace found his integrity being called into question by the very supporters he has been struggling so hard to convince. The Union of Fans – an umbrella group made up by various factions – accused Wallace of “misleading” season-ticket holders and shareholders alike over the true state of Rangers’ finances. And all at once the CEO became a busted flush because if he really has lost the trust of his own customers then it’s hard to see any way for him to claw it back. His silence, as well as that of chairman David Somers in the five days since, has been of the deafening variety. Then again how exactly is Wallace supposed to talk his way out of this one? How on earth can he explain why he stood up at the club’s agm on December 18 and insisted robustly that all was well when, with the benefit of hindsight, the whole world can now see that plainly it was not. For the record here’s a taste of what Wallace told the assembled shareholders: “There is sufficient cash in the business to fund the ongoing needs of the club in the near term. There has been speculation in the Press that we are teetering on the brink of administration. That is categorically not the case. There is sufficient funding to continue to trade as we normally would.” Now Wallace may not have been attempting to mislead about any of the above. If, by the near term, what he meant was really the next three or four weeks. And if, by categorically pooh-poohing the risk of another administration, he already knew how he was going to raise the money needed to plug a £4m black hole for the rest of the season. It could also be argued in Wallace’s defence that he himself had been misled, perhaps by the then financial director Brian Stockbridge who lost his job very soon after. And none of that can be discounted. But, if you believe it then you must also ask how it could be that a man with Wallace’s credentials as a financial big hitter, would allow himself to be placed in such a position. If, when he stood up to speak at the agm, he really wasn’t armed with the full extent of the club’s dwindling cash reserves, then what does that say about his own competence as a CEO? And here’s the really tricky bit. What if, less than a fortnight after the agm, frantic discussions were taking place behind the scenes, not just about how to keep the floodlights switched on through February but also how best to keep everyone else (particularly those in the market place) in the dark about this need to raise emergency funding? In fact, what if the board had been preparing for precisely this penniless scenario since as long back as last September, when they first opened negotiations aimed at raising £2m against assets such as the jumbo screens at either end of the stadium? The truth is, it was only after this potential deal collapsed, at around the time of the agm, that the Rangers board was forced to look at alternatives and ended up agreeing controversial loan deals for £1.5m with two shareholders, Laxey Partners and Sandy Easdale. And yet on February 25 in an exclusive Q&A with Record Sport after this arrangement had been announced, Wallace said: “Football is a very cyclical business, with big incomes generated early in the summer which progressively run down. So this is not a crisis move. It’s not a last-gasp policy. “We have some fairly significant income streams that will arise in the summer. So this is just a short-term facility. We have no bank debt, no overdraft and a balance sheet which is probably the envy of a lot of football clubs but yet consistently everybody talks about us being in a crisis.” Wallace added: “The need for a financial facility is no different for Rangers than for any normal business. We need time for people to see how the business is being operated and to rebuild people’s trust in Rangers as an organisation and trust in the credibility of those who are running it.” There’s that word again. Trust. In little more than two weeks’ time Wallace will have another chance to start earning it, or at least winning some of it back, when he delivers his 120-day business review. It will be interesting to note if he will put his name to one particular plan which has already been floated at boardroom level. It involves not just a huge hike in season-ticket prices but also asking fans for additional cash payments which would be ringfenced and used for spending on their team. Now that really would be one test too many for the patience of this support which is already hankering for Dave King’s millions to give the club an easy fix. Given the hand-to-mouth existence of Wallace’s club, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand why the man in charge is not shifting heaven and earth to bring King’s money inhouse. Immediately. The longer King is kept at arm’s length the less trust these fans will have for Wallace and his regime. It really is that simple. And you don’t need a badge in riddle solving to work out where that leaves Wallace and Somers with these supporters.

RIDDLE me this. It’s a priceless commodity and yet it costs nothing at all. It cannot be bought but its every ounce must be thoroughly earned. If Graham Wallace could solve this puzzle then his task as Rangers chief executive would be made a great deal more easy. The answer, of course, is trust. And it’s been his biggest issue ever since he agreed to wade into the quagmire that is the Ibrox boardroom. Simply by willingly associating himself with the board which appointed him, Wallace was up to his knees in inherent suspicion from the start. But his long-standing professional reputation bought him a bit of time. To many, he was the acceptable face of an otherwise intolerable regime. Five months on, however, Wallace’s mask might be starting to slip. Because on Thursday of last week, just hours after putting his name to the Ibrox club’s latest declaration of multi-million pound losses, Wallace found his integrity being called into question by the very supporters he has been struggling so hard to convince. The Union of Fans – an umbrella group made up by various factions – accused Wallace of “misleading” season-ticket holders and shareholders alike over the true state of Rangers’ finances. And all at once the CEO became a busted flush because if he really has lost the trust of his own customers then it’s hard to see any way for him to claw it back. His silence, as well as that of chairman David Somers in the five days since, has been of the deafening variety. Then again how exactly is Wallace supposed to talk his way out of this one? How on earth can he explain why he stood up at the club’s agm on December 18 and insisted robustly that all was well when, with the benefit of hindsight, the whole world can now see that plainly it was not. For the record here’s a taste of what Wallace told the assembled shareholders: “There is sufficient cash in the business to fund the ongoing needs of the club in the near term. There has been speculation in the Press that we are teetering on the brink of administration. That is categorically not the case. There is sufficient funding to continue to trade as we normally would.” Now Wallace may not have been attempting to mislead about any of the above. If, by the near term, what he meant was really the next three or four weeks. And if, by categorically pooh-poohing the risk of another administration, he already knew how he was going to raise the money needed to plug a £4m black hole for the rest of the season. It could also be argued in Wallace’s defence that he himself had been misled, perhaps by the then financial director Brian Stockbridge who lost his job very soon after. And none of that can be discounted. But, if you believe it then you must also ask how it could be that a man with Wallace’s credentials as a financial big hitter, would allow himself to be placed in such a position. If, when he stood up to speak at the agm, he really wasn’t armed with the full extent of the club’s dwindling cash reserves, then what does that say about his own competence as a CEO? And here’s the really tricky bit. What if, less than a fortnight after the agm, frantic discussions were taking place behind the scenes, not just about how to keep the floodlights switched on through February but also how best to keep everyone else (particularly those in the market place) in the dark about this need to raise emergency funding? In fact, what if the board had been preparing for precisely this penniless scenario since as long back as last September, when they first opened negotiations aimed at raising £2m against assets such as the jumbo screens at either end of the stadium? The truth is, it was only after this potential deal collapsed, at around the time of the agm, that the Rangers board was forced to look at alternatives and ended up agreeing controversial loan deals for £1.5m with two shareholders, Laxey Partners and Sandy Easdale. And yet on February 25 in an exclusive Q&A with Record Sport after this arrangement had been announced, Wallace said: “Football is a very cyclical business, with big incomes generated early in the summer which progressively run down. So this is not a crisis move. It’s not a last-gasp policy. “We have some fairly significant income streams that will arise in the summer. So this is just a short-term facility. We have no bank debt, no overdraft and a balance sheet which is probably the envy of a lot of football clubs but yet consistently everybody talks about us being in a crisis.” Wallace added: “The need for a financial facility is no different for Rangers than for any normal business. We need time for people to see how the business is being operated and to rebuild people’s trust in Rangers as an organisation and trust in the credibility of those who are running it.” There’s that word again. Trust. In little more than two weeks’ time Wallace will have another chance to start earning it, or at least winning some of it back, when he delivers his 120-day business review. It will be interesting to note if he will put his name to one particular plan which has already been floated at boardroom level. It involves not just a huge hike in season-ticket prices but also asking fans for additional cash payments which would be ringfenced and used for spending on their team. Now that really would be one test too many for the patience of this support which is already hankering for Dave King’s millions to give the club an easy fix. Given the hand-to-mouth existence of Wallace’s club, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand why the man in charge is not shifting heaven and earth to bring King’s money in house. Immediately. The longer King is kept at arm’s length the less trust these fans will have for Wallace and his regime. It really is that simple. And you don’t need a badge in riddle solving to work out where that leaves Wallace and Somers with these supporters. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-its-matter-trust-3303691

Statement from NARSA regarding recent events involving the RFFF: "The RFFF voted today that in the event of litigation against Craig Houston, arising from content on the Sons Of Struth Facebook page, a proposal to provide financial support will be taken to a general meeting of fans." Below is the NARSA (North American Rangers Supporters Association) response to the above statement by the RFFF (Rangers Fans Fighting Fund) from Wednesday March 26, 2014. NARSA hereby demands that the seven members of the RFFF who voted in favor of the motion to support the above proposal resign their positions on the RFFF Committee by Friday, April 4th. NARSA feels these seven persons have failed in their duty to use the funds in the manner befitting the original purpose or in the best interests of Rangers FC and the RFFF. Should any of these seven individuals remain on the RFFF Committee by end of day Friday, April 4th, 2014, NARSA and its Member Clubs will demand the immediate return of all monies donated. In addition, we propose that, as NARSA raised and donated funds in excess of $80,000 USD, we have official representation on the RFFF Committee going forward. Our representative would be the sitting President of NARSA, by default.

Written by: Admin Saturday, 29th March 2014 It is with utter disbelief that once again our Club and it's support have been dragged into a series of incidents which has resulted in Vanguard Bears deciding to release a statement to outline where we stand with this RFFF mess. The recent legal action carried out by Sandy Easdale against Craig Houston is well documented, what has enraged the vast majority of donators to the RFFF is that certain factions, for reasons only they can explain, saw fit to first release their intentions on Mark Dingwall's FollowFollow forum, a forum which any supporter of any club can join and have a say, to put to a vote for acceptance of monies being taken from said fund to shore up Craig Houston's Legal Defence against Sandy Easdale, should this have made the courts. This action went against the vast majority of donators wishes, despite certain parties assuring everyone they spoke for the majority of the support. The RFFF was set up to fight our Club's corner against our detractors out there, of which there are many, sadly there are just as many from within the ranks of our support these days who are equally as damaging. Many put their hard earned cash into this fund in good faith, sadly thanks to certain individuals with nothing more than self-promotion and mischief on their minds have sought to put this at risk. The anger among the many donators has resonated around the globe, and no one can blame them for their anger thanks to this latest stunt. The seven committee members who voted to accept this should now find their positions in the RFFF untenable. If they had any dignity and feelings for the way in which their latest stunt has left the support enraged and suitably angered, they would resign with immediate effect. Knowing the background of some of them and their past antics, this would seem highly unlikely. It will now be down to the majority of enraged supporters who donated to the RFFF to demand their resignation, and with this in mind a decision must also be taken regards the next move to protect this money falling into the direction of self-promoters, with their own not-so-hidden agendas, to use as they see fit. It should be noted that the VB representative on this committee voted totally against any funds being utilised for anyone's legal defence funds against Sandy Easdale. We also vow to ensure that this cash will never fall into the hands of any self-appointed fans group leaders or hastily nailed together 'new age' fans groups either. We note also that Mark Dingwall in a recently released post on his own forum is once again imploring the support not to renew their season tickets for next season. We find this utterly astonishing that somone who relies on handouts from other supporters to attend matches - whenever he feels like turning up - should ask of many who hold season tickets, and have done so throughout their lives, to give up theirs so he can further destabilise our club and cause further harm to pursue his own and others agendas. VB once again will urge all of its members and beyond to ignore the rants of this troublemaker and self-promoter and to get fully behind the club in its time of need. Dingwall along with Chris Graham and other self-appointed and opinionated 'fans' speak only for a handful of rabble rousers and charlatans, we are sure the decent and vast majority of the Rangers support will see through their desperation to disrupt and destabilise our club and renew their season tickets when the time comes. This group of Charlatans will NEVER speak for the vast majority of our support, make no mistake about this. The Rangers Board now must act firmly and address those that would seek to harm both our Club's finances and reputation immediately, until that large boil is lanced and removed, the uncertainty and divisions will remain. http://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/statement-on-the-rfff-committee.html

It has been coming but could be official today if they lose against Hibs. What a game for them to lose. It will get the SPFL and SFA licking their lips at money maker with the only show in town v Hearts 4 times next season.

My gran wasn't too impressed with Colin Stein. Nothing to do with the player himself of course, but everything to do with the grandson who muddied himself on her back green in Anniesland trying to emulate the great man's latest goal every Saturday. The following day being Sunday, there was no way she would take her grandson to church looking anything less than respectful and appropriate for The Lord's House. So the breeks were hand washed in the big kitchen sink, scrubbed at the knees with a scrubbing brush before being rinsed, and then wrung out on the huge brass taps. Depending on the weather they were either then hung out on the verandah, allowing the employees of Barr and Stroud, the factory directly across from my grandmother's tenement, to know that Colin Stein's young protégée was in residence. In the event of inclement weather, an extra lump of coal was placed on the fire and the trousers placed on a screen nearby. Nowadays of course they would be straight into the washing machine and then the tumble dryer - Sorted. Often we take for granted the things which makes life's journey far more comfortable or enjoyable. Having them taken away for whatever reason can leave us with the prospect of having to do things as in days gone by, a fact I was reminded of that recently. Rumour reached me that our supporters bus, The Monifieth Loyal, had folded leaving me facing the prospect of a long solitary drive, to and from Ibrox drive every other week. (The fact that it would also mean an abstention from alcohol on match days was a minor matter. Honestly) It was not something I relished having discovered the considerable benefits of the local supporters bus. It was relief to read a few days later on Twitter that the rumours were totally unfounded and it was business as usual. Whilst supporter's buses may be an alternative form of transport for those of us who can drive, for others they are the only form of transport available. For those in our community who are less than firm, less than able, the supporters bus with it's unique and personalised stops and pick ups is often the margin of success in them overcoming insurmountable difficulties. The sight of the infirm and disabled overcoming the cruel hand life has dealt them to watch their beloved Rangers, is one which is truly inspiring. Then of course there is the “social” aspect of the bus. Yesterday at Gayfield I bumped into and old friend of mine I hadn’t seen for years who promptly introduced me to members and organisers of his bus. Let's just say every one of them were in particularly high spirits, I would imagine the crack on the bus home would have been worth the admission money alone. But it goes further than this. For those of who through work or other commitments have been forced to leave the mother nest of Glasgow for pastures new, the supporter's bus brings together a network of exiles who otherwise may have been strangers to one another, and the many considerable benefits which that brings. The local supporter's bus offers many benefits, financial, friendship, social networking, information, opinions and convenience to name but a few. If you currently don’t travel via one I would encourage you to try it. You will soon find it is not one of life's luxuries, after a few experience you place it in the “essentials” category - and there will be no going back to “the old ways”.

..........gets Rangers fans all fired up to renew Old Firm rivalries. IT was a terrific quote. Nauseating so far as its sentiment was concerned, but a marvellous sound-bite never the less. It was the one Dave King delivered about some Rangers fans who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, put shoes on their children’s feet because they wanted to use the money to buy their season ticket for Ibrox. This was portrayed as evidence of the extraordinary degree of passion some fans have exhibited for the club. It’s nothing of the kind. Putting football before your family’s needs is not and never will be a badge of honour. Indeed it is a source of everlasting shame and there shouldn’t be the slightest hint of dubiety about that. But Dave wasn’t indulging in some emotional flight of fantasy, dreamed up one night while he was lying on a sun lounger as dusk fell on his exotic garden and swimming pool in Johannesburg and thinking about his place of birth. These people really do exist. I was once abroad in the company of an old friend who had a long and illustrious career with Celtic. We had been covering one of the club’s European ties and having a post-match refreshment before turning in when he was accosted by a fan. One who proudly told him his children hadn’t had a holiday in any of the previous three years so that he could travel the continent to support his team. The supporter had managed to turn denial where his family was concerned into some kind of imagined virtue He may have expected the Hoops hero to offer heartfelt words of praise but it was all the ex-player could do to maintain self-restraint after the interloper had invaded his company to spout his ?nonsense. Here’s the thing, though. ?Rangers’ survival as a viable concern is essential to the future well-being of the game in this country. The written media have done their usual first-class job of turning Celtic’s latest title-winning exercise into more column inches than would have been devoted to the Second Coming. But the reality is we need, heaven help us, the return of the rivalry that brings out those whose distorted sense of family values is an affront to decency. That also means unleashing the younger element upon us as they represent another part of the baggage that comes with re-establishing the Old Firm. Rangers and Celtic will play an Under-20 league match at Murray Park on Tuesday afternoon. That’s because the number of police who would’ve been required to enforce security if the game had been played ?in public view would’ve been financially inadvisable in times of austerity. It would have been interesting for normal folk to monitor and contrast the clubs’ youth development set-ups. Particularly at a time when 17-year-old Liam Henderson is scoring in a match against Partick Thistle that confirmed Celtic as league champions. But the youngsters’ match would have been hijacked, as those in authority well know, by the flare throwers, the singers of questionable songs and the rest of the misfits who would leave a family audience in fear of their safety. The match would’ve become an irrelevance to both sets of fans while they hurled sectarian insults at each other. It was the business of using rivalry as a basis for thuggery that put King’s policeman father off football when Dave was growing up. But one day, and it’s not too far off now, we’re going to have to deal with a first-team Old Firm derby that troubles society at large while helping enhance the product known as the SPFL Premiership. King knew exactly the right button to press when he started his propaganda campaign to win control of Rangers by instilling the fear of Celtic winning Ten in a Row in the minds of his club’s fans. And that’ll prey on their minds longer than Rangers’ captain Lee McCulloch’s talk about next Sunday’s Ramsdens Cup Final being a “massive” game. The match with Raith Rovers is a by-product of a club fallen on hard times. Nothing more and nothing less. Only those who would contemplate denying the weans shoes to buy a season ticket will think otherwise. Now the Ibrox board have countered King by saying that fans will threaten Rangers’ viability as a going concern if they decide to withhold season-ticket money The fans are now trapped between two sides, each trading on their innermost fears. And gullibility. I was speaking to a fan on the radio the other night who told me Celtic qualifying for the Champions League group stages next season would be a greater achievement than winning the European Cup in 1967. It was breathtaking nonsense, and a moment to ponder whether some fans actually understand history. Celtic were the first British, not Scottish, winners of the competition. Idolising Neil Lennon's perfectly all right, but distorting the truth while tarnishing Jock Stein's memory isn't. Neil would surely be the first to agree. No-one's dismissing his achievements. But there must be a sense of perspective.

Genuine question because I think Dave King could get blamed for something he is not totally responsible for. I honestly believe, after speaking to hundreds of other fans, that they have had enough of the complete and utter dross being served up on the park. Nothing to do with boardroom stuff.

.....for the Premiership title in 2015-16 Ally McCoist last night declared that anything less than Rangers challenging for the Premiership title in season 2015-16 will be unacceptable. The Ibrox club will compete in the Championship next season having won back-to-back titles and are hot favourites to pave their way back to the big time with a third successive crown. However, the source of the club’s long-term financing remains shrouded in uncertainty, with would-be investor Dave King so far being kept at arms’ length by the board. King’s willingness to underwrite the £50million he believes is needed to compete with Celtic has chimed with a fan base who are behind his plan to only release season-ticket money to the board if certain conditions are met. McCoist yesterday expressed his hope that dialogue could yet see all parties arrive at a satisfactory solution. But, come what may, the Rangers manager refutes the notion that the aim of a first season back in the top flight could be consolidation. ‘No, it’s not an option,’ he stated. ‘We know it goes with the territory here, you are expected to win the vast majority of games and you’re expected to get promoted and get back in the top league as quickly as possible. ‘So far, these boxes are getting ticked although there have been one or two hiccups along the way, which we always said there would be.’ Asked if he intended building a team capable of challenging at the first time of asking, McCoist continued: ‘Yes, it’s important. We’ve never made up the numbers at all. No matter what league we’ve played in or where we’ve played, we’ve always believed we’ve had a chance of winning the competition and I don’t see any reason why that should change. ‘In fact, it shouldn’t change and it can’t change.' On Thursday, Rangers chairman David Somers issued a stern warning that the proposed season ticket stand-off could cause untold damage to the club. Speaking after the publication of the interim financial results, Somers said the withholding of money could risk the club’s ability to ‘continue as a going concern.’ McCoist has repeatedly taken a neutral stance in the ongoing spat between the board, King and the fans, but yesterday he admitted to having serious concerns about what Somers had said. ‘Of course that would worry me, as a supporter and as a manager,’ he added. ‘That would be a concern for everybody who has anything to do with the club. If the chairman feels that has to be said, it is probably an unpleasant reminder to everybody involved at the club that we have a long, long way to go.’ Notwithstanding the possible return of King to Ibrox, McCoist believes he and the board are on the same page as far as a shared vision for the future of the club is concerned. ‘I’ve said all along that we need investment to get back, there’s no doubt about that,’ he continued. ‘Graham (Wallace, the chief executive) and the board have said that, too, so it’s good that everybody feels like that and shares that opinion. ‘Where the investment comes from we will have to wait and see. ‘In the meantime, it’s good everybody agrees investment is needed. ‘For us to get back to where we want to eventually be, we will need investment. ‘We lost millions when we lost all those players. To get back to the standard of where we were, investment is needed.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2591972/McCoist-sights-set-challenging-Celtic-Premiership-title-2015-16.html

Is it just a coincidence that all our flair players have been pretty much invisible this year or is it more to do with our manager? Temps - injured a lot but took him all season to pretty much guarantee a start before his last injury there. McKay - sent out on loan. Shiels - gets the nod, does well, scores a HT and is dropped the next week (I think), clearly he isn't a favourite of Ally. Apart from those 3 guys we literally have zero creativity. OK we are winning but lets be honest our opponents are plumbers/sparks/asda boys ......... we are god damn awful to watch. Edit: just thought it would be nice if one thread on the first page was actually about football.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/qa-rangers-chief-executive-graham-wallace-on-finances-the-review-and-the-clubs-future.1396009021 Can somebody copy and paste.

Given the dire state of the published interim accounts (despite whatever way folk would like to look at them) - I am yet again left with a lot of questions about how the board are running the club and how they foresee us pulling through. However we all know that over the past almost 4 months, the only answer we are constantly given is 'wait until the 120 day business review is completed'. This excuse is often compounded with the 'previous regime costs' and 'previous shortsightedness' that seemed to be the basis for some decisions. Personally speaking, I have lost all faith in the board. I do not see any results from the investment committee, the Easdale's continue to operate within shroud of mystery and their behavior is nothing short of appalling, the debacle with King / Irvine which must have came from instruction from the board, the Laxey loan agreement etc. Therefor I do not hold out much hope on the outcomes of this review other than what was intimated by Somers - the fans will need to provide cash to bail out the club by season tickets, which I have to say is a totally unacceptable stance to take given the lack of performance that can be easily read from the accounts. As stated, that's my personal view - and I would love to be proven wrong with a positive outcome of the review detailing new ventures / revenue streams / investment plans as well as a detailed account of how the business has been operated over the past 18 months or so. However I was keen to see what other folk think the outcomes of the review will be? Do we have any faith in this 120 day exercise? Will Wallace finally prove he has the substance to continue in his position at Rangers? Will the board finally 'let go' of the historic excuse of the Green / Ahmed / Whyte era? The past few weeks news headlines and media articles have almost laid down the gauntlet to the board - and I certainly still feel that the next move must be theirs, which will undoubtedly be the publication of the review findings. I fear that these results will not be enough to appease the support which will lead into another period of uncertainty.

Has Easdale dropped the libel bid?

Didn't look good and does not make good reading either ... Sky Sports News ‏@SkySportsNews 32 Min. Hull expect goalkeeper Allan McGregor to miss the rest of the season with a kidney injury #SSN

One club/stadium noticeably missing when you search Greater Glasgow for Sport>Football on http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/info/see-do/searchresults?prodtypes=ACTI%2CATTR%2CENTE%2CRETA%2CTOUR&refined=1&refine-place=on&src_area=4651&refine-location=&loc_address=&loc_place=&loc_polygon=&src_location=&loc_placeprox=&src_pcproximity_bands=50%7C20%7C10%7C5%7C2%7C1&src_pcproximity_dist=50&refine-category=on&src_category=cg038&refine-name=on&src_name=football …#RFC@ofvoid

King: My father was so anti-football he didn't want me to be a Rangers fan Dave King can afford to laugh now. About the round of golf with Arnold Palmer which ended up costing him £20million. His investment in Rangers was never planned. Travelling with Gary Player from South Africa to a pro-am event in Hawaii early in 2000, the intention was to spend some time holing putts. ‘I played with Gary in the pro-am on the Tuesday,’ King recalls. ‘But on the Wednesday he was going to look at a golf course he was designing. So he arranged for me to play with Jack Nicklaus instead. ‘After that round we then had dinner with Alistair Johnston, the future Rangers chairman. He was a good mate of David Murray. ‘He was a big Rangers man like myself and was telling me how the club needed cash and so on. He was trying to sell it to me. Asking what it might take. ‘So I said to him: “You know what would be really nice? I’ve played with Gary on Tuesday, I’ve played with Jack on Wednesday, could you fix it for me to play with Arnold Palmer tomorrow in the pro am?” ‘Alistair could do that. He arranged the pro-am. So I played golf with Gary Player on the Tuesday, Jack Nicklaus on the Wednesday and Arnold Palmer on the Thursday. I might be the only amateur golfer in the world who has ever done that. But golfing with the big three was a costly business. It ended up costing me a £20m investment in Rangers.’ Some still suspect King got most of his money back. Amongst those opposed to his plans for a proposed new Ibrox investment of between £30m and £50m, a report from a South African business journal in November 2008 has now become gospel. Unverified, the report claimed King received £18m in income from Rangers over the 12 years of his previous involvement. It was seized on by the PR man once paid to do the bidding of the current board. Indignant, King tells Sportsmail: ‘Listen, I did not get one penny of that money back. SARS taxed me on my total income. And obviously your income includes what you spent it on. ‘When I invested that £20m I didn’t even have a tax problem. That came later. ‘There was some mischief put out there about me getting £18m back or something. Nonsense. ‘That PR guy Jack Irvine was putting out some stories to discredit me for whatever reason. It was absolute rubbish. The truth is that I put in £20m and lost it all. ‘I didn’t even get my 3p in the pound or whatever I was due back. So when people say I don’t put my money where my mouth is I point to that. ‘I genuinely put in £20m, I genuinely lost it. And I am still coming back for more.’ That first investment finally disappeared down a black hole when Rangers entered administration in February 2012. He threatened afterwards to sue Murray for the loss on the grounds of ‘non disclosure’ over the club’s true financial state. Asked if he is still pursuing the cash, he says: ‘I continue to work on that for myself and for all the fans who lost money.’ Despite it all, he now wants to invest more money in Rangers. This newspaper first broke the news of King’s plans for a fresh investment last April. A year later he is still trying, saying this week the club need up to £50m over the next four seasons and that he would underwrite a new share issue himself if he had to. The sums involved are eye-watering; a world removed from a modest childhood in Castlemilk. One of seven children – four boys and three girls – his policeman father Tom King witnessed the corrosive, disproportionate impact football had on Saturday nights in Glasgow. ‘My father wasn’t at all keen on me becoming a Rangers supporter. He was a Glasgow policeman and because of that he resented the whole football scene in Glasgow. ‘He was actually very anti-football. When we were kids growing up he was very vocal on his dislike of the bigotry in football. The police in Glasgow at that time saw it as a basis for thuggery. ‘He saw what it did from a crime and disorder point of view in Glasgow. And as a family we were taught to reject the whole bigotry aspect surrounding football. That has stayed with me through the years. ‘My father took me to that first game reluctantly, but I clearly remember seeing Ritchie, Shearer and Caldow in the classic Scot Symon team. It would have been 1965 or so and I was 10. ‘Thereafter there were so many players I admired. Greig, McKinnon, Ralph Brand, Jimmy Millar. But it was never about individuals. It was more about the club. ‘If you are a Rangers fan you go beyond players. It’s about the club, the institution – it’s what you are brought up with. It’s just in your blood. It’s in your DNA.” The Kings were amongst the first inhabitants of the new tenement flats in Castlemilk, the south side housing scheme developed by the old Glasgow Corporation to provide affordable overspill housing for the Gorbals. The homes were new, the amenities non existent. ‘I don’t think we ever regarded ourselves as well off in any way. You understand when you are a kid that a lot of kids are better off than you. That becomes a motivation in a way. ‘I wanted to do something different with my life. I didn’t want to feel like that. ‘It would be easy to say growing up in Castlemilk as one of seven in modest circumstances drove me on in life. But it was there within me anyway. ‘Of course, there was a certain sense of growing up and thinking: “I don’t want my kids to live like this.” There certainly was an ambition in me and in everything I did to progress from humble origins, if you want to put it like that.’ Uniquely for a boy growing up in Castlemilk, King attended a private, fee-paying school. ‘I was certainly helped by going to Allan Glen’s,’ he admits. ‘Everyone around me went to the local schools and I suppose I was unusual. ‘The view of my mum at the time was that she would do anything to get me in. ‘But I was lucky because I got a bursary. I sat an exam and after being awarded the bursary I was excused fees. But my parents thought it was so important that even if I hadn’t got a bursary, I would have been sent in any event.’ He left school and started his working life with Glasgow’s Weir Pumps. He was transferred to South Africa with very little cash in 1976. ‘I planned to spend a few years here, make some money and return to Scotland. But one thing led to another.’ He married wife Ladina and the couple had four children. After spells with the Post Office Reserve Bank, King set up a management consultancy and took a golf membership at the Dainfern Country Club. His tax problems began when he established Specialised Outsourcing in 1993/94 to efficiently handle funds on behalf of the government for a share of the profits. He acquired conspicuous wealth and in 2000 – the year he also invested in Rangers – he bought a painting by artist Irma Stern at auction for £100,000. Reading of the purchase, Mr Charles Chipps, a special investigator of the South African Revenue Service, decided to check on King’s tax payments and discovered a declared taxable income of just £4,000. His discovery triggered an infamous 13-year battle between King and SARS. One which placed him on the front pages of South African newspapers and saw his overseas assets frozen. When Rangers entered administration two years ago, he could barely buy a bus pass in the UK, let alone a football club. The damaging dispute finally ended last year with a £39.3m settlement. Shares in King’s company Micromega immediately rose in value by 500 per cent and – on paper at least – he has made all his money back. Regretful he allowed things to drag on so long, he admits the settlement is a weight off his mind. He can now focus his attentions – and cash - back on Rangers. ‘The SARS business was a huge burden - one that has finally been removed. It was onerous. Very onerous given the extended time and the tying up of most of my capital during this period.’ There remains one lingering stain. As part of the plea bargain, King accepted culpability for 41 breaches of section 75 of the South Africa Income Tax Act. Each charge offered the choice of paying a £5,000 fine or spending two years in custody. King opted to pay the total fine of £210,000 rather than spend 82 years in jail and maintains the offences are not serious enough to breach the SFA’s fit and proper person regulations. He remains ‘certain’ he will pass the test, but before he reaches that stage King must find a route back into the Rangers boardroom. He rejects criticism that he has yet to put his money where his mouth is. That he has talked a good game without buying any shares. ‘It’s not unfair to say I haven’t put my money where my mouth is,’ he insists, ‘it’s just plain wrong. ‘I repeat, I’m the man who put £20m in and didn’t get a penny back. ‘I don’t even want to put new money in. If the Rangers board can raise £20m without me than that’s the first prize. ‘I would prefer it and my family would certainly prefer it – because that’s the trust funds for my four kids taken care of. ‘But what I am saying is that if there is a fresh share issue I am willing to do it. ‘It’s quite simple really. Where Rangers are concerned, I am the last resort guy. No more than that.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2591251/Dave-King-My-father-anti-football-didnt-want-Rangers-fan.html#ixzz2xDdtF8hl

“We note today’s interim results which show a drop in revenue excluding the Sports Direct deal, a failure to address operating costs during the period to December 2013 and doubts over the cash position of the club going forward. The most important issue, and one which highlights the obvious need for substantial investment, surrounds the cash position of the club both at this present moment and at the AGM last December. The CEO, Graham Wallace, stated at the AGM that there was “sufficient cash in the business to fund the ongoing needs of the club in the near term”. It appears from both these interim results and the recent loan of £1.5m from shareholders that this statement at the AGM may have been somewhat misleading. It is unclear exactly how it could have been stated by the board at that time, with any confidence, that there was sufficient cash even for the short term and we would like Mr Wallace and Mr Somers to explain this as a matter of urgency. We would also like to address Mr Somers comments on the consequences of the possible withholding of season ticket money. We are certain that not a single one of the 6500 fans, and counting, who have so far shown interest in the idea of a season ticket trust, have any wish to withhold any money from the club. However, it would be foolhardy for fans to once again commit their money without any kind of transparency or security. The fans have shown outstanding loyalty and commitment in the past two years, both via the IPO and two sets of unprecedented season ticket sales, but we have seen that loyalty thrown back in our faces as money has been squandered. Mr Somers acknowledges how vital season ticket cash is and the need for the board to build trust with the fans. What better way to do that than to give security over vital club assets - Ibrox and Auchenhowie - to the fans in return for that much needed income? The board have publicly stated that they have no plans to use these assets for any other security, or a sale and leaseback, and so there is no impediment to them agreeing to the terms of release. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no plan to drip feed season ticket money on a game by game basis. The proposal is simply that season ticket money is paid in a lump sum, prior to the start of the season, in return for security over club assets. This will allow fans to be safe in the knowledge that no matter what happens the club’s assets will be in good hands. We also note Mr Somers statement about fan engagement but, since announcing the trust, we have had no contact from the board. Given the obvious and urgent need for investment, we would once again urge the board to accept Dave King’s offer of £30m so that both the fans and the club can move forward in harmony.” http://www.unionoffans.org/statements/ctbbhmeyvnm6jucnohohhbl3jce9ay

Full elections in 60-90 Days when members can democratically decide. http://www.rangersfirst.org/structure/?mc_cid=156c158ef2&mc_eid=5413676696

Thursday 27th March at 12:38 During the course of last night’s match it became apparent that a number of away fans had obtained tickets in sections designated for home support. We would like to apologise to all Thistle fans and, in particular, to any that felt intimidated or uneasy as the match progressed. Unfortunately, due to the exceptional circumstances of Celtic being able to win the league, interest in the game was higher than usual. We would like to emphasise that every possible effort was made by the club to ensure that any tickets sold for areas of the stadium designated for home support were not knowingly sold to away supporters and, anybody requesting Celtic tickets, were turned away. Obviously last night was not the type of atmosphere we expect or encourage at Firhill. We will be closely reviewing our match day operations and sales procedures to help ensure that a similar situation never happens again. As part of the review process we will be liaising with supporters' groups to gather feedback, as we continue to try and improve the match day experience. http://ptfc.co.uk/news/2013-2014/march_2014/partick_thistle_vs_celtic_-_a_club_statement

There are real doubts about Rangers' ability to continue as a going concern THE chairman issued the dire warning, which he claims is a direct result of fan proposals to drip-feed season-ticket money to the club via a trust fund. RANGERS chairman David Somers has admitted that "material uncertainty" over season ticket income may cast doubt about the club's ability to continue as a going concern, as the Ibrox outfit announced its cash reserves fell by more than £17.5million last year. Rangers announced a loss of £3.7million in the seven months up to the end of 2013, an improvement of 50 per cent on the same period 12 months earlier. But they had just £3.5million cash on December 31, despite bringing in £22million in an initial public offering (IPO) share issue just over a year earlier. The main Rangers supporters' groups recently raised the possibility of drip-feeding season-ticket money to the club via a trust fund amid continuing distrust over the board's ability and intentions. And the club, who recently arranged loans totalling £1.5million from two shareholders, admits that casts a shadow over the club's immediate future. In the interim report, Somers said: "This possibility results in the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast doubt about Rangers' ability to continue as a going concern and therefore that the company may be unable to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business. "Nevertheless, after making the appropriate enquiries and considering the uncertainties referred to above, the directors have concluded that there is a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the interim results." Earlier this month, the Union of Fans, which incorporates all of the main Rangers supporters' groups, urged fans to put season ticket money into a trust, from which it would only be released to the club when assurances were met, including security over Ibrox and the Murray Park training ground. The club's independent auditor, Deloitte, stated the uncertainty might cast "significant" doubt over the club's ability to continue as a going concern. The club have made assumptions including that they "modestly" increase their season-ticket numbers, which stood at 36,000 in League One, next season and beyond. The improvement in financial performance is in large part down to increased retail sales with the club reporting its partnership with Sports Direct was worth £4.8million in the seven months, up from £900,000. Revenue was up 38 per cent to £13.2million, however operating expenses also increased slightly to £16.8million. Staff costs were down £800,000 to £7.5million but the club pointed out that £500,000 was spent on severance payments. Somers and chief executive Graham Wallace came in towards the end of the period and the latter is conducting a 120-day review of the business, and they explained some of the spending that meant cash reserves fell from £21.2million in a year. Somers said: "The majority of the money raised from the IPO in December 2012 had been spent by June 2013 on IPO related fees and commissions, severance payments, the purchases of the Albion car park and Edmiston House and to fund ongoing operating losses. "The club incurred a further £7.7m of cash expenditure in the six months to 31 December 2013, funding additional fixed asset purchases and operating losses. In total the club has spent over £4m on fixed assets since the IPO that are not yet generating incremental revenue." Somers admitted operating costs had been unsustainable. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fears-future-ibrox-chairman-david-3290753

A top Tayside police officer has said plans are already being prepared to prevent any violence at Dundee United’s Scottish Cup semi-final clash with Rangers next month. Bad blood between the two clubs has grown over the years, partly due to United’s stance on Rangers playing in the bottom tier after the Ibrox side went into liquidation. And after venue and ticket arguments over the upcoming match, Arab Trust chairman Steven Hughes has admitted some fans are “nervous from a safety perspective” about travelling through for the game on April 12. Chief Superintendent Eddie Smith, the commander for Tayside Division, said his staff were in contact with colleagues in the west to make plans to prevent any violence. He said “We are already in dialogue with the Greater Glasgow Division and we will assist them in any way we can. Our primary role is to get everyone in safely and then get them home to their families safely. “If we have achieved that, then we’ve achieved our primary goal, which is keeping people safe. “We always prepare for the potential of violence and we’ll use our intelligence nearer the time to get a picture as to how exactly we structure the plan. “There’s a good quote from the Hillsborough Inquiry that says ‘complacency is the enemy of safety’ and that’s a mantra I will always adhere to, no matter how big or small the event is.” Tangerines’ chairman Stephen Thompson has also caused controversy by going to war with the Scottish Football Association after trying to get the game switched to Celtic Park. Another fallout followed when the SFA claimed United declined their original seating allocation for the Ibrox game and asked for less seats. Mr Thompson initially rejected the claim, although he soon backed down from his statement. However, Mr Smith, who was the match commander at the last Old Firm game in 2012, said their early planning had nothing to do with comments from the United chairman. He said: “This is just a normal response. “That’s how we plan for high profile football matches. “We will be performing our usual duties, which are working with the football clubs to make sure the venue is secure and we have tried and tested plans to make sure buses are stopped and searched for alcohol.” http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/police-in-talks-to-keep-dundee-united-fans-safe-at-ibrox-1.288176?

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11905464 Full results and report here: http://rangers.g3dhosting.com/regulatory_news_article/375