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Dont know if this has been covered or not , but who exactly is paying for this tour , we are taking a playing squad of 25 plus management and backroom teams , there must be the bulk of 40 plus in the party , yet we are playing basically junior teams by Scottish standards , so given we are struggling financially , the question is who's footing the bill for this little extravaganza
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RANGERS Football Club can this afternoon confirm the signing of Marius Zaliukas on a two-year deal. The Lithuanian defender joined Ally McCoist’s squad in Brora last week and during his second trial spell with the club he impressed both in training and in a 45-minute run-out against Brora Rangers at Dudgeon Park. Having successfully completed his medical he will now travel with the League One champions to North America tomorrow. Zaliukas came close to agreeing a deal with the Light Blues last September but after training at Murray Park he moved to Elland Road instead. Prior to that the 30-year-old centre half spent seven years in Edinburgh with the Jambos and captained the club Rangers will face on the opening day of the Championship season at Ibrox. In total he played 220 times for Hearts following his move from FBK Kaunas in his homeland and scored on 14 occasions. Manager Ally McCoist has already added one central defender to his pool this summer with ex-St Mirren stopper Darren McGregor putting pen-to-paper on a one-year contract on June 11. With Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd also returning to Ibrox last month, Zaliukas’ decision to join Rangers is another boost for the manager and the club as the preparations continue for a massive year in Scottish football’s second tier. http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/7183-zaliukas-joins-gers Hopefully an end to Jig at the back, thank goodness. Zaliukas will surely be the No. 1 choice CB with Faure but more likely Mohsni.
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Last evening, watching BBC Scotland's piece on Rangers trials with HMRC, I wondered why Angela Haggerty was chosen to counter Craig Houston. The current on going gripe is with HMRC, where is their representative? How about one of any number of the usual suspects(a lot of them regular contributors to BBC Scotland) who rushed to put the boot into the club? Even a Mark Daly who won a prestigious award for his BBC Scotland documentary, 'the man who sold the jerseys'? BBC Scotland utilise considerable energy in maintaining their policy of, 'careful hate'. Cosgrove keeps up the ridicule, Spence pushes the envelope regularly, and the News Department never misses an opportunity to demonise and marginalise(who can forget the bouncing ball on perceived sectarian lyrics)? Careful Hate just wouldn't cut it, the momentum had been building among the Rangers support, harbouring a legitimate sense of injustice. Quelling such fires requires venomous hate. Angela has a long history of being supportive of Irish republicanism, including providing necessary mitigation on the awkward area of armed struggle. Angela has been all over the Rangers situation, like a rash. Lucrative too for Angela, as Editor of Phil McFournames collection of essays, entitled 'Downfall'. Angela would have been paid a fee for lat evening's appearance too. Now, Angela is a well practised contributor to social media and she is 'Friends' with lots, if not all the regular detractors of Rangers. I suspect a few BBC Scotland Producers liked the cut of Angela's jib yesterday : "the revenge frenzy being whipped up by the Scottish tabloids is shameful. They know what the Rangers culture is capable of" and, "Rangers are a social club for people still clinging on to a white British protestant identity that revolves around fancy dress". You can see the attractiveness of misrepresentation, the HMRC thing has become inconvenient; get Angela on to spit a bit of venom on to the frenzy. Remember, the tabloids are shameful, BBC Scotland is unfailingly moral.
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[h=2]Club Statement[/h]WRITTEN BY RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB "RANGERS Football Club Limited (the "Club") notes the findings of Lord Doherty in the HMRC case against Rangers Football Club plc (Oldco) and shares the views of many fans that so much of what later ensued at our Club following the start of that investigation was avoidable. "We are pleased to see the end of this sorry chapter in the history of Rangers FC, yet our greatest sympathy is with those who felt the pain of the last four years the most – our supporters. "In spite of almost unrelenting attacks and setbacks they have never flinched from supporting their football club with all their energy and resolve. "It is a matter for the authorities to explain their actions during this entire period that has seen the good name of Rangers severely damaged. "Our focus is on rebuilding the football club and getting Rangers back to where we belong. That, in itself, will help right some of the wrongs our Club and supporters have suffered over the last four years."
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Are we getting a new home kit this season
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Remember, the Donegal based fantasist has been all over the on going Rangers situation these last five years, like a rash. He has published a book, received the funds to publish another two(a novel and a revisionist history of the Irish in Scotland). He was welcomed on phone-ins, eulogised and lionised in turn, because he told the usual suspects what they needed to hear. Cosgrove and Spence were supporters, Radio Snyde's objective host of ra show, Jim Delahunt often introduced Phil as, 'a journalist who has built his own most substantial platform'. I wonder what their collective and individual take on Phil's ill-disciplined pronouncement on yesterday's Appeal result? "The sequence of events that ended in June 2012 with the club established in 1872 lying in a lifeless heap at the bottom of the marble staircase was almost entirely created by important people at the top of said staircase". Of course, the Ibrox Disaster analogy is most attractive to Phil et al. Again, please allow me to remind Gersnetters of Channel Four's Alex Thompson's YouTube sequence of John Greig's effigy stepping off the plinth and walking away, the strapline being, 'we don't do walking away'. Thompson was invited on to BBC Radio Scotland by Channel Four's Director for Diversity, Stuart Cosgrove to be coached through an apology for offence due to ignorance. It was an east 20 minutes for Alex as Stuart prompted him to a laughing conclusion. Two days later and a further two articles from Thompson had Rangers supporters continually referred to as, 'Daleks'. Notoriously, Dalek have problems with stairs. A further reminder, Alex Thompson, the journo that patrolled the back streets of Baghdad, was brought to the Rangers story by constant pleading from Dearest Phil, Cosgrove, and Roy Greenslade.
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Daly out for 6 weeks and Ally has this to say: That's right, he'd rather play a crocked veteran offering nothing than one of the younger guys in meaningless games. Calling him fantastic too
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Become a member Sons of Struth was formed out of frustration that we felt no one spoke for us and we wanted a voice. We certainly found one. If it was not for the thousands that joined our protests then our voice would not have been heard. We now want to give those who helped us be heard a platform and to be involved in shaping the future of SoS As a member of SoS you will receive updates on future activities be invited to put forward ideas for future activities be polled on concerns we may have for our club and on future activities have access to a members only forum have a say in the future of the group be part of the most active group of fans in the last 12 months Membership is FREE http://www.sonsofstruth.co.uk/join-sos.html
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A look at Europe's "second best" youth academy and how we can learn from it http://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/fk-partizan-belgrade-youth-school/
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Regulatory Story Company Rangers Int. Football Club PLC TIDM RFC Headline Statement re: Annual results Released 16:55 07-Jul-2014 Number 6537L16 RNS Number : 6537L Rangers Int. Football Club PLC 07 July 2014 Rangers International Football Club plc ("Rangers" the "Club" or the "Company") Statement re: Annual results for the 13 month period ended 30 June 2013 The Directors confirm that following the issue of shares announced on 1 July 2014 pursuant to the exercise of options by a former Director, there are now no outstanding share options or convertible shares held within the Group. The Directors note that Note 30 to the accounts for the 13 month period ended 30 June 2013 was incorrect to the extent that the options to which the share announcement on 1 July 2014 relate were not included. For further information please contact: Rangers International Football Club plc Graham Wallace Tel: 0141 580 8647 Daniel Stewart & Company plc Tel: 020 7776 6550 Paul Shackleton / David Coffman Newgate Threadneedle Tel: 020 7148 6143 Graham Herring / Roddy Watt / John Coles This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange END STRUGUCAMUPCGAM London Stock Exchange plc is not responsible for and does not check content on this Website. Website users are responsible for checking content. Any news item (including any prospectus) which is addressed solely to the persons and countries specified therein should not be relied upon other than by such persons and/or outside the specified countries. Terms and conditions, including restrictions on use and distribution apply. ©2009 London Stock Exchange plc. All rights reserved http://m.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/mobile/news/detail.html?announcementId=12008964
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The best centre forward I ever saw at Ibrox has died. Puskas and Gento were on the park that night as well.
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I thought this was worth sharing. First time poster so bear with me. I was extremely fortunate to go on holiday 26 years a go and meet a superb guy from Linwood who invited me a geordie englishman up to Ibrox, what he started was a love affair. I have had the pleasure of supporting Glasgow Rangers ever since and if i may I would like to share with you all a story that I heard this afternoon. 26 years is along time, I have heard and witnessed some truly majestic occasions and I am not ashamed to admit suffered as well but throughout I remain and I will always remain a Rangers man. I live in Blyth Northumberland and I am a teacher in Newcastle, on bus duty today a colleague approached who said one of the kids had said that I was aRangers fan, he had wanted to speak to me for a while. He asked if I knew my history of Rangers, had I heard of a former player called Willie Woodburn? Legend is used very loosely in football but without a doubt Mr Woodburn fits into that category. His wife's grandfather is / was Mr Woodburn he shared this story A few years ago during pre season it was Mr Woodburns birthday there was a family gathering in one of the lounges at Ibrox, very sadly Mr Woodburn was beset with health issues and quite deeply affected by altzeimers, after lunch the family were allowed down the tunnel to the edge of the pitch, the pitch had signs up as well as being roped off. Now bearing in mind Mr Woodburns age and health complications he proceeded to climb over the rope, everyone was waiting for an official but none came to order them off. My colleague was asked to go with him in case he fell, he did but kept his distance as for the first time in a while he felt that he looked alive, well and rather cruelly all there. Mr Woodburn went to the centre of the pitch where he stood for a few moments with his arms out, he said two words as he wept "I remember" Mr Woodburn left the pitch and never spoke of that moment, my colleague today left me an emotional wreck what a story. The first thing I did was ring my pal Dave who now lives on Rothesay to share like I have done with you Thanks for reading god bless Willie Woodburn and god bless Glasgow Rangers
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Rumours in Twitter land and elsewhere that case has been dismissed. Any info?
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Looking forward to reading and reviewing this book in the coming few weeks: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-Under-Union-Flag-Bissett/dp/1910021121/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404410171&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Born+Under+a+Union+Flag%3A+Rangers%2C+Britain+and+Scottish+Independence I know Ally and Alan (and the other contributors) have worked hard on this so it should be an interesting read and useful accompaniment to the Referendum debate. -
........of emergency cash slams Brian Stockbridge's 'disgusting' golden handshake share deal. GEORGE Letham, who is still out of pocket four months after bailing the club out, has accused the regime of misleading shareholders about Stockbridge's penny share option at December's agm. THE Rangers fan who loaned his club £1m of emergency cash last night said he is “disgusted” by Brain Stockbridge’s golden handshake share deal. Record Sport revealed yesterday that former financial director Stockbridge will pay just £7000 for around £215,000 worth of shares as part of an agreement with the board when he was booted out of Ibrox in January. Now wealthy fan George Letham – still out of pocket four months after bailing the club out of a financial crisis in February – has accused the current regime of misleading shareholders about Stockbridge’s penny share option at December’s agm. At that meeting, Letham asked specifically about Stockbridge’s entitlement to share options worth up to £500,000. In a statement supplied to Record Sport last night, Letham described the board’s failure to disclose the full details of that deal as “indefensible”. He said: “I am disgusted by the news that the share options granted to Brian Stockbridge were at an exercise price of one pence and feel that myself and all other shareholders present at the agm were misled by the response to my question. “The response to it from Stockbridge and David Somers meant I left the agm comforted that my shares were not going to be diluted to the benefit of Stockbridge. “I think it is indefensible that company representatives and advisers present at the agm did not seek to clarify the position especially when shareholders were voting on a resolution to give authority to grant share options of up to 6.6m shares to directors and employees.” The Union of Fans also hit out and questioned whether Charles Green had a similar agreement on his shares. Their statement read: “If ever fans required a reminder of the reasons for our campaign to secure our club’s home, it is the recent windfall received by Stockbridge, who has been handed shares worth around £215,000 for which he has paid just over £7000. “It is the current board’s position he was contractually entitled to these shares and so it was outwith their control. We reject this entirely ... the windfall is an absolute disgrace. “Charles Green had a clause in his contract which entitled him to 1,028,571 shares. Can the board confirm whether this option was also allowed to remain following Mr Green’s contract termination? “If so, can we expect a further windfall in the near future for Mr Green on top of the small fortune he has already bled from the club?” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-fan-who-loaned-club-3806719
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“If ever fans required a reminder of the reasons for our campaign to secure our club’s home, it is the recent £200k windfall received by disgraced former finance director Brian Stockbridge, who in the past couple of days has been handed shares worth approximately £215,000 for which he has paid just over £7,000. It is the current board’s position that Brian Stockbridge was contractually entitled to these shares and it was therefore outwith their control. We reject this entirely. Mr Stockbridge could and should have been sacked for any number of employment related issues including his abysmally inaccurate financial projections, financial mismanagement of tens of millions of pounds of fans’ and investors’ money and several misleading statements to fans and shareholders. That this board allowed a compromise agreement to be signed, on termination of Mr Stockbridge’s contract, which allowed Mr Stockbridge a further £200k windfall is an absolute disgrace. His share option entitlement and any other financial benefit which Mr Stockbridge was due should have been removed as part of his contract termination. Mr Stockbridge has already received considerably more than he merited from our football club as have several others with whom he is closely associated. Did Mr Stockbridge’s close relationship with the Easdale brothers, who hold undue influence over boardroom matters, smooth his path to this further windfall? Furthermore, we believe that David Somers misled shareholders at the AGM on the subject of Mr Stockbridge’s share options. When a question was asked on this topic, the clear inference from Mr Somers was that this would not be an issue due to the option price of 70p, which at that time was almost twice the market value of the shares. Mr Somers clearly gave the impression that the option would not be taken due to the drop in share value. At no point did either Mr Stockbridge or Mr Somers make it clear that this option could be exercised for 1p a share – a crucial and highly misleading omission. Charles Green had a similar clause in his contract which entitled him to 1,028,571 shares. Can the board confirm whether this option was also allowed to remain following Mr Green’s contract termination? If so, can we expect a further windfall in the near future for Mr Green on top of the small fortune he has already bled from the club? Finally, despite repeated attempts to engage with Graham Wallace and the board over the issue of a binding legal commitment not to sell or lease back Ibrox or Murray Park, we have been unable to come to any agreement. It seems the board are happy to continue to alienate the thousands of fans who have supported our efforts through the Ibrox 1972 fund. As a result of this refusal from the board to give fans any legal undertaking over the club’s most prized assets, we are left with no option but to release all those who have supported the fund from their binding financial commitment. This will be confirmed to them over the coming weeks. We urge fans not to give their money to this regime in a lump sum payment via season tickets and to support the team on a game by game basis. The team deserve our loyalty, this regime, with its stranglehold on our club, deserves nothing but our contempt. Quite simply, they cannot be trusted and supporters simply do not know where their hard earned money is going to end up if they pass it over blindly."
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Not sure how genuine this is but it does tie in with the rumoured design....
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http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/486397/Rangers-gaffer-Ally-McCoist-happy-to-sign-experience Rangers gaffer Ally McCoist happy to sign experience RANGERS boss Ally McCoist has defended his signing policy after reuniting the ageing strike force of Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd. Published: Thu, July 3, 2014 Miller and Boyd. The duo have a combined age of 64, but while McCoist insists his team isn’t the ‘Dad’s Army’ of the Championship, he was quick to stress the Ibrox side would not have made it out of the lower leagues with a bunch of kids. McCoist, whose side face Buckie Thistle in their first pre-season friendly tonight, said: “I can understand people being sceptical with players coming back and the ages of these players, but, at the same time, we are not in a position to plan longer term. “Finances are dictating that the job is to get out of the division until the time comes when we can again spend money and bring players in. “A year ago, Kenny was scoring at Wembley for Scotland, and Kris was unbelievable at Kilmarnock last term. “I was really impressed with their desire to come back, do well and be part of our journey. “They’re tremendous pros and the younger ones will learn a lot from them. “When you are reaching 30, a fear goes through you that you’re nearing the end of your career and there’s a desire and a determination to look after yourself and play for as long as possible." He added: “We’re not ignoring kids and it’s nonsense to suggest otherwise. But you can’t flood your team with kids and then expect to get through two divisions. “There’s never been a case in recent Old Firm history where five or six kids have come through the ranks and into the first team. “But, if the younger lads coming through are good enough, they will play. Guys like Lewis Macleod and Fraser Aird have come in and stayed in. “Others, like Calum Gallagher and Robbie Crawford are there on the fringes and we’ll continue to give the younger ones a chance. “But it’s crazy to think we could have put seven or eight in the team and come through the leagues.” McCoist confirmed that former Hearts defender Marius Zaliukas, 30, is on his radar as he looks to add to his squad. He said: “Marius has come up to train with us for a couple of days, “I’ve always liked him as a centre-back, If we can bring him in then great, but we haven’t even spoken contracts or money.”
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I see they have a new sponsor as well!! http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/petrofac-training-cup-draw-today/ The draw for the first round of the Petrofac Training Cup takes place at Hibernian’s Easter Road Stadium at 2pm today. The first (and second) round of the competition is split on a regional basis, with first-round ties scheduled for the weekend of July 26. The 30 Scottish Championship, League 1 and League 2 clubs are joined in the first-round draw by Highland League champions Brora Rangers and Lowland League winners Spartans. North Section 1 Alloa Athletic 2 Arbroath 3 Brechin City 4 Brora Rangers 5 Cowdenbeath 6 Dunfermline Athletic 7 East Fife 8 East Stirlingshire 9 Elgin City 10 Falkirk 11 Forfar Athletic 12 Montrose 13 Peterhead 14 Raith Rovers 15 Stenhousemuir 16 Stirling Albion South Section 17 Airdrieonians 18 Albion Rovers 19 Annan Athletic 20 Ayr United 21 Berwick Rangers 22 Clyde 23 Dumbarton 24 Heart of Midlothian 25 Hibernian 26 Livingston 27 Morton 28 Queen of the South 29 Queen’s Park 30 Rangers 31 Spartans 32 Stranraer Petrofac Training Cup 2014/15 First round – July 26, 2014 Second round – August 19/20, 2014 Quarter-finals – September 6, 2014 Semi-finals – October 12, 2014 Final – April 5, 2015 Read more at http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/petrofac-training-cup-draw-today/#QdwPxpjdsvzyLT6M.99
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.........that Ally McCoist showed me the door at Rangers. THE Northern Ireland internationalist says that McCoist spoke to him throughout last season and fully expected to stay at Ibrox. FORMER Rangers striker Andy Little says he was left stunned last month when he was axed at Ibrox. The Northern Ireland international didn’t take long to find a new club and earlier this month agreed a contract with Preston North End in England’s League One. Little, 25, is disappointed he wasn’t offered a new deal but understands why he was allowed to leave the League One champions. McCoist has brought Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd back to Ibrox since and Little said: “It was a massive shock. I was fully expecting to sign a new contract and stay at Rangers. “The manager had spoken to me throughout the season. I loved every minute of my time there but these things happen in football. “I think they needed to offload some players and I was the collateral, if you like. “I think the manager wanted to keep me but sometimes if there is another player he fancies more than you, he has to make that choice.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/stunned-striker-andy-little-still-3787254
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RANGERS have experienced a flurry of late season ticket sales since striker Kris Boyd made his emotional return to Ibrox last week. Boyd ended weeks of speculation when he signed a one-year deal with the SPFL League One champions - and is set to team up again with Kenny Miller. And his capture has since led to a surge in Light Blue supporters signing up to watch Ally McCoist's side in the 2014/15 season. The ticket office at Ibrox at the weekend was queued out of the door for long spells as fans snapped up season books for the new campaign. Lifelong fan Alan Anderson, from Cambuslang, was taken aback at the level of interest when he renewed his ticket at Ibrox on Saturday. He told SportTimes: "I was told the season ticket office was going to be open until after two o'clock and popped down half an hour before it shut. "But when I got there there were a lot of cars in the car park and people were queueing out of the door. "There was a great atmosphere among the supporters who were waiting to buy tickets. "I think most of them were, like me, buying season tickets because Kris Boyd has signed. "But people were genuinely excited about the season ahead and the prospect of playing teams like Hearts and Hibs. "I wasn't going to renew my season ticket, but I decided to do so when I saw that Boyd had signed. "I think a lot of people were the same as me. "I don't necessarily like who is in charge at Rangers at the moment, but I am, as the slogan goes, prepared to support the team and not the regime." Rangers announced to the Stock Exchange a fortnight ago that "approximately 17,000" season tickets had been bought by fans this summer. That is in stark contrast to the 34,000 supporters who made the Gers one of the best backed clubs in Britain for the second stage of "The Journey". The Union of Fans - an umbrella group comprising six supporters organisations - has been urging fans not to renew their season tickets. The UoF and former director Dave King set up Ibrox 1972 Ltd in the close season and urged supporters to pledge their money to it instead. They want Rangers to give them security over the stadium and the training ground at Auchenhowie in return for the cash. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-revel-in-boyd-ticket-bounty-169185n.24618366
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A KILMARNOCK pensioner was shocked to find a rare and valuable Scotland cap belong to former Gers player Bob McPhail lying in his loft. AN OAP has discovered a priceless piece of Scottish football history in his cupboard. Stewart Core, 78, found a rare Scotland international cap belonging to Rangers legend Bob McPhail as he cleaned out his house. The cap – which marks McPhail’s appearances for Scotland against Northern Ireland and Wales in the 1931-32 season – is now expected to fetch up to £6000 when it goes to auction. Father-of-two Stewart, from Kilmarnock, said: “Bob McPhail became a family friend after my dad sold him a house. “My dad worked for house builders John Lawrence Ltd and they became pally. “My dad was a lifelong follower of Rangers. I visited Bob with my father and he became known to me as Uncle Bob. “Bob played outside left for Rangers and played for Scotland 17 times. “He was known as ‘Greetin Bob’ because he was always appealing to the ref. “I understand that Uncle Bob had decided to give away his international caps and he kept his junior ones. “This cap was given to my father as a gift by Bob McPhail himself. “When my father died in 1966 my mother passed the cap on to me. “I never thought about it and found it in a cupboard when I was clearing things out. I decided to put it up for sale so that it can go to a good home.” McPhail was signed by Rangers from Airdrie in 1927 for the then substantial fee of £5000. He went on to become one of the most prolific strikers ever to play for the club, scoring 261 goals in 408 appearances. Only Ally McCoist has scored more league goals for the Ibrox club. McPhail won nine league titles with them. He was also a great success with Scotland – notching up seven goals in his 17 appearances. They included a double in a 3-1 win over England in April 1937 in front of a Hampden record crowd of 149,415 people. Stewart added: “The last contact I had with Uncle Bob was in 1958 when I married and was setting up my first home and I bought kitchen equipment from his firm. He was a generous chap. “I have no idea what I will spend the money on if the cap sells. “I’ll probably just put it towards doing my house up a wee bit.” The cap is due to go on sale at McTear’s Auctioneers next month. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/oap-finds-rangers-legend-mcphails-3771253 -
.........and share the 1914/15 league title. By Gary Ralston GARY says that the Premiership champions have an opportunity to lead the way on behalf of Scottish football this summer by requesting a fitting tribute to the Hearts players who made the ultimate sacrifice. HEARTS start the new season in the Championship and it would be an act of graceful benevolence from Celtic if they end it with a top-flight title. The Premiership champions have an opportunity to lead the way on behalf of Scottish football this summer by requesting a fitting tribute to players who made the ultimate sacrifice. It would be a touching act of remembrance if Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell approached the SPFL in the coming weeks and asked for the 1914-15 championship to be retrospectively shared. The new season kicks off on August 9, five days after we pause and reflect on events 100 years previously when World War One was declared. It is estimated total casualties from the conflict was 37 million, including three million alone from Britain and the Commonwealth. It was a slaughter of innocents from all nations that lays bare the great lie of sport’s tragedies, usually uttered when a millionaire fails to score with a free shot from 12 yards. The real tragedy for Scottish football was the deaths of James Speedie and James Boyd, aged 21, Henry Wattie and Duncan Currie, 23, Tom Gracie, 26, and Edgar Ellis and John Allan, just 30 years old. It was the compromised career of Paddy Crossan, gassed and wounded twice at the Somme, and Alfie Briggs, who returned from war and never played again, suffered from severe depression and died in 1950 with two machine gun bullets still embedded in his back. They were among the 16 who signed up from Hearts for McCrae’s Battalion soon after the outbreak of war, foregoing their careers to play for a bigger team and a greater goal. They were not alone, of course, as McCrae’s Battalion attracted players from Hibs, Falkirk, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers, all following Lord Kitchener’s fickle finger of fate to the killing fields of France. No football team in Scotland was unaffected, including Celtic, where players also signed up, and who, in 1918, won the Navy and Army War Fund Shield, played to raise money for the families of those who had fought in war. Seven former Celtic players died in World War One. And William Angus, who won the VC for outstanding bravery, was wounded 40 times and suffering the loss of an eye during a daring rescue of an injured pal on the edge of German trenches. But no team suffered more than Hearts during a period when the SFA were under pressure to postpone the season all together, with Airdrie chairman Thomas Forsyth declaring: “Playing football while our men are fighting is repugnant.” At the start of the 1914-15 season Hearts won eight league games on the trot and hopes were high they would win their third title and their first in 18 years. However, the strain of the war effort told in the end as exhaustion from their army commitments took hold to such an extent even trainer James Duckworth suffered a mental breakdown under the pressure. As a result of innoculations, non-availability and additional military training, their form inevitably crumbled. Hearts led the league for 35 out of 37 weeks but eventually succumbed and defeat to St Mirren and Morton allowed Celtic to overhaul them to win the championship by four points. Striker Tom Gracie topped the scoring charts with 29 goals but played the closing weeks of the campaign with leukaemia. His body broken, he died in a military hospital the following year. Jimmy Speedie was killed at Loos in September 1915 and Currie, Ellis and Wattie all fell at the Somme, that repugnant slow march to death ordered by their own generals. Hearts would not hit such grand heights in football for almost another half century, with the last of their four championships won in 1960 after earlier success in 1958. The season after they came so close to the championship they finished fifth and on one occasion could not even raise a team to travel to Morton. A shadow of the club they once were, in the 1916-17 season they finished 14th, used 46 players and were in such a state they finished a match at Ibrox with only 10 men because Fred Gibson had to leave early for work. Hearts fans have never forgotten the bravery of their men and every November they gather at Haymarket for a service at the memorial erected by Edinburgh’s city fathers to mark their sacrifice. In recent years, a cairn has been established at Contalmaison and a bronze plaque was also recently unveiled at Tynecastle, 100 years old this year, to recognise their heroism. Scottish football, led by Celtic, have the ideal opportunity to do the same. It would be a poignant gesture if they asked for the history books to be rewritten and that one campaign shared. Players come and go in Scottish football but this squad of 16 deserves always to be remembered. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gary-ralston-celtic-should-honour-3773982
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well a few weeks with no rangers games and old compo is lost and to make things worse the world cup has wetted my appetite for footie I just hope we at ibrox play a passing and free flowing type of game something that will have the fans begging for more , lets hope .
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Article submitted by Andy Steele: SDS Survey: No Issues? No Chance! News that a survey by fans' body Supporters' Direct Scotland has found that while the vast majority of fans felt the game in Scotland had no issues with racism or homophobia, it had a big, big problem with sectarianism. This highlights not just the issue of social attitudes and football, but, sadly, the problem people have with perceiving themselves as part of the problem. One can assume fairly safely that for such a result to be obtained a good proportion of respondents were either non-Old Firm fans, or if Old Firm fans, Celtic supporters. I would be willing to place a hefty wager that the only fans who feel strongly that there is little sectarianism in Scotland would be those supporters the others consider to be the problem: Rangers fans. One must always, in such debates, pander to the thin skinned and establish that yes, one does think there is an issue and yes, Rangers fans most of all need to deal with it. A major issue, though? I don't see it in my day-to-day life, though I may of course simply be lucky or blinkered. Having established that denial is not on the agenda, though, I'd like to examine the other two aspects mentioned, homophobia and racism. If Scottish football has no issue with racism it is because the game is played, watched, commentated on and written about in what is a virtual monoculture. The BBC can count Kheredine Iddeshane, who to guess from his name may be of middle east extraction, and STV Rhaman Bardwan, but that's about it. The sight of players from non-European backgrounds has diminished of late, while managers and chairmen are exclusively white. No racism? Well, maybe if we understand that creating an almost exclusively European ethnic identity for the game will go a long way to excluding those from without such a background, it may expain why there's 'no racism': there's no cultural mix in which it might appear. Perhaps, if we actively created an environment which encouraged diversity, and focused on policing the resultant mix effectively, we may find we're not quite so tolerant as we might like to think. Or we may not - who knows? Casual racism has certainly been part of my west of Scotland experience: I am inclined to believe that 'no issue' is a complacent and boastful conclusion not based on evidence. But since many have called long and loud for such an approach to sectarianism, it seems only logical to apply it to these other areas as well. And what about homophobia? 'Get fucking up, ya poofy cunt' is, for the student of English, a fascinating sentence, but it's hardly indicative of a tolerant atmosphere. You'll hear it, and variants thereon, at every ground every week when an opposition player is apparently injured, though: 'no issue'? When 'Off the Ball' described a poor flag as 'poofy' I actually, for the first time in my life, got off my arse and complained. I got a reply: it was drivel. Credit where it's due, though, the programme presumably realised they were out of order and have since addressed the issue interestingly and humourously. What the incident that riled me shows, though, is that many of us are actively discriminatory without even realising it: Stuart Cosgrove was no more actively trying to put down homosexuality than I am actively trying to create a Protestant theocracy when I sing 'No Surrender' at Ibrox. The effect, nevertheless, can be non-inclusive. My singing of that song is based on the fact that it creates a great atmosphere first and last, and not in any way because I care about or know about Irish or religious history. Others, though, hear my singing and feel excluded or offended by it. What to me is a noise is to others an insult - if Tom English, easily the best analyst of the game at the moment, is freaked out by it I have to think twice. That's not to say I will agree with him, but it gives pause for thought. Plainly all these issues are hyper-sensitive with absolutes thin on the ground, but there's simply no way we have absolutely 'no issue' with racism or homophobia. I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that in our game, all three of these issues exist to varying degrees, but only one is taken seriously and, conveniently, it's the one that can be blamed on someone else. Sectarianism deserves to be taken seriously, but so too do other forms of bigotry: not least sexism, which in Scotland remains rampant. I find women as sexually stimulating as the next man, assuming he's straight, but that's no reason to objectify them or base a professional appraisal on their chests or backsides: that's still the default position of far too many men. We've plenty issues which could do with being addressed both in the game and in the country, but the first step we take will have to be from our own front doors. Blaming everything on Rangers and Rangers fans while insisting the rest of the land is a paradise of tolerance and diversity is doing no-one any favours: a more honest appraisal of our own prejudices would reveal some or all of these issues, far from being non-existent, might be visible in the mirror tomorrow morning as you shave. http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/252-sds-survey-no-issues-no-chance
