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With a vital period in the club's ongoing challenges coming up I'd like to make a few points of order. 1. Abuse and insults While I don't expect everyone to get on like a house on fire and I'm more than aware a few people like to be loose in their interpretation of debate, please keep it civil and avoid insulting anyone. 2. Discussing other fan groups/forums Once again, while I don't expect everyone to be a fan of other websites or all fan groups, I think it's important to note we are all Rangers fans and I don't want people on here to add to the division we see elsewhere. 3. Trolling Yes, it's easy to circle round to underlying issues from time to time. However, parroting the same stuff can quickly become tedious - as can refusing to answer points in relation to this. Either take an constructive part in discussion here or do your baiting elsewhere. A few people have already been warned in relation to the above. I don't care if you have 1 post or 10,000; you're not immune from censure, temporary and permanent bans if you consistently refuse to adhere to the above simple requests. No excuses folks.
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Between Richard Wilson and this article (with no apparent byline), the BBC have began to venture into a more accurate take on political matters at Ibrox. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29153590 -
What steps might the board and their puppeteer investors take to make sure they come out on top should we go into administration again? With such a diverse shareholding spread are they able to secure admin for themselves like Whyte did?
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ANGRY Rangers fans are on the brink of staging full-scale boycotts of the club’s matches – amid new calls for Sandy Easdale to be axed as football board chairman. And brassed-off fans could also stop giving money to companies linked to the Glasgow giants – including McGill’s Buses and Sports Direct. The Sons of Struth protest group believes there is growing support among its members and other supporters for this drastic action. Sons of Struth founder Craig Houston confirmed his organisation is to poll its 1500 members over whether to boycott games and businesses. He said: “The feedback we have received from members and other fans is overwhelmingly in favour of boycotting games and businesses. “A very low percentage of fans have faith in the board. Every time a new revelation emerges we ask what we can do other than holding red and blue card demonstrations to highlight our unhappiness that is legal and this is one route we can go down.” “But there has to be a silver bullet moment where you say enough is enough. If that results in boycotts of your team, certain sports shops, certain transport or insurance companies, so be it.” The move comes after it emerged that shareholder Sandy Easdale had met with Malaysian businessman Datuk Faizoull Bin Ahmad and convicted fraudster Rafat Rivzi this week. Easdale was pictured with Rizvi, who is wanted by Interpol for corruption, money laundering and banking crime, in Glasgow. Last night the Union of Fans called on the Rangers board to remove Easdale over the visit. A statement said: “Mr Easdale has dragged our club’s name through the gutter once too often. Perhaps he feels his association with a man wanted by Interpol is acceptable. It is not. “Graham Wallace, Norman Crighton, David Somers and Philip Nash must dissociate the PLC board from this further attempt to involve Rizvi in Rangers’ affairs.” However, Rangers last night denied the meeting was connected with investment in the club. An Ibrox spokesman said: “The visit was organised as part of ongoing discussions between Rangers and Malaysian club Felda United with regard to a youth development partnership. “Mr Rizvi arrived without our prior knowledge. He is an advisor to Mr Bin Ahmad. Media reports suggesting Mr Bin Ahmad is in discussions with Rangers regarding anything other than youth development are untrue.” Meanwhile, other reports in England last night claimed Mike Ashley is prepared to sell Newcastle United for £230million so he can boost his stake in Rangers. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/ranger...048n.25297080?
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Chris Graham @ChrisGraham76 17m .@RFC_Union call on Rangers PLC board to remove Sandy Easdale as a club director immediately. #RFC pic.twitter.com/wIlX0SWgVu
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"The Union of Fans is extremely concerned at the recent public statements of Sandy Easdale, the Chairman of the so-called ‘football board’ at Rangers. Mr Easdale has a history of making ill advised, damaging and amateurish comments in the press about Rangers and last week he was engaged in more of the same. In April 2014, around a week before Imran Ahmad’s second failed attempt to have club funds arrested, Mr Easdale decided to take part in a BBC interview in which he raised considerable questions over the financial position of the club. These comments could clearly be seen to weaken the club’s case against Mr Ahmad despite victory in that instance. Last week, days ahead of Mr Ahmad’s third attempt to arrest funds, Mr Easdale did the same in a press Q&A. We would question the timing of both of these statements. Making this type of error once might be seen as naivety or stupidity. Making it twice starts to raise other questions. Mr Easdale was brought into Rangers to represent the wishes of the block of shareholders previously represented by Mr Ahmad and Mr Charles Green. Mr Easdale has, in our opinion, always represented their interests ahead of those of the club and it appears he is continuing to do so. Mr Easdale has hitched his wagon to Green, Ahmad, Blue Pitch and Margarita and, now that their influence over the board has started to diminish slightly, he appears to be seeking to retain his position at the club via an alliance with Mike Ashley. Indeed it appears that Mr Easdale will support anyone who will allow him to retain his director privileges and the borrowed respectability of being referred to as a Rangers director, regardless of their actions towards the club. Mr Easdale told the Rangers fans that Jack Irvine no longer worked for him. However, we have been told by a number of people that Mr Irvine has been in regular touch with them in a way which represents Mr Easdale’s interests. Mr Easdale told the Rangers fans in December 2013 that he had investors lined up for Rangers. This did not prove to be the case. Mr Easdale now wants the Rangers fans to believe that Mike Ashley, who has been handed “onerous” merchandise deals, virtually free stadium naming rights and now the Rangers club shops by Mr Easdale’s associates, is the man to take Rangers forward. Mr Easdale actively opposes any attempt to bring huge investment into the club from people who care about it but chooses to back someone who has clear issues with dual club ownership and is only interested in Rangers as a means to make himself money. We would ask the PLC board, the Nomad, Daniel Stewart and the LSE to investigate Mr Easdale’s comments and their effect on a court case which could have put the club’s immediate future in doubt. We would also ask them to clarify whether Mr Charles Green or Mr Imran Ahmad hold any shares for which Mr Easdale has a proxy through Beaufort Nominees. Mr Easdale is not, in our opinion, fit to be a director of Rangers Football Club and given his failure to be appointed to the PLC board we feel he has far too much negative influence on club affairs."
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Latest blog from McMurdo.........
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Apparently voting is now open for your favoured candidate in each section's short leet. I'm not a member myself but I'm sure someone can post the full list here if possible. http://fansboard.rangers.co.uk/
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RANGERS chief executive Graham Wallace was today slammed for keeping supporters in the dark about the situation at the crisis-hit club. And Wallace was warned that he risks more fans turning their backs on the Gers unless he tells them what the future holds. Fears for the Glasgow giants are growing after former commercial director Imran Ahmad succeeded in his bid to have £620,000 of club assets frozen last week. There are concerns the Light Blues - who have not repaid £1.5million worth of loans to Sandy Easdale and George Letham - will be unable to pay their wages this month. The financially stricken SPFL League One champions hope to raise nearly £4m from another share offering in the coming weeks. However, a statement to the Stock Exchange last month confirmed Rangers will be unable to pay their creditors if the share offering fails. That has raised the prospect of the Ibrox club going back into administration - a turn of events Wallace dismissed as recently as April. Drew Roberton of the Rangers Supporters' Association has called on him to speak to fans and spell out what the short-term future holds. He said: "Graham Wallace has spoken of fan engagement from more or less day one since being appointed. "He met with us once, but it seems that he doesn't want anything to do with us now. He doesn't seem to want to have any dialogue with any supporters' group. But I think he has to come come out and tell us what the situation is. He could get the fans on board by speaking to us. "There are all sorts of reports about him and Sandy Easdale not singing from the same hymn sheet. "It's all very well the fans throwing mud at the board at the drop of a hat. Some of my fellow-supporters may not agree with me, but I have a certain amount of sympathy for him. "He has always tried to be positive since being appointed. He saw a future for the club and a way forward. He thought the club would not continue like it had previously. It was a new dawn. "From the minute he joined the club, he was adamant there would not be another administration event." Roberton added: "Rangers are asking people to part with their hard-earned cash and buy tickets and merchandise. "But recent reports in the media aren't going to entice anybody to buy shares, season tickets, match day tickets or merchandise." Only 23,000 Rangers fans have renewed their season tickets for the 2014/15 campaign - around 15,000 less than snapped them up last season. And even with spectators paying on a game-by-game basis the last two home games have only attracted attendances of just over 30,000. That is a huge drop on last season when games at Ibrox against part-time club pulled in gates of well over 40,000. Roberton said: "I hate to say this, but there is a real danger of more fans turning their backs on the club if this continues." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-fans-want-answers-from-graham-wallace-179512n.25261148?
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When we went into administration I almost instantly (within the first month) had some major concerns because I quickly came to thinking that I didn't trust the administrators, didn't think they would get us out of it via a CVA and didn't think they seemed to be doing their jobs properly because if they had been, then they would have tried to rescue the company as a going concern. To do that, they would have needed to quickly address the cost base and stop the monthly loss-making, but they just went for a short-term fix/bandage to see out the season instead of properly cutting costs to address the going concern like administrators do in most football club administrations. After the shambles of their bidding process and finally bringing in Green & co (like they seem to have planned well in advance!), when D&P did their first presser with Green a feeling of dread & despair came over me because I could tell immediately that he was a bullshitting patter merchant and didn't trust him right from that point. It was a case of 'who the f**k is this clown?' and a distinct feeling of disappointment. Then we had to endure the failed CVA, being wrongfully stripped of our SPL share and kicked out of our league, left with no league at all for a period and questions hanging over our SFA license as well. When we finally got it sorted out and started the season in the 4th tier there was a sort of positive buzz that I never really understood, because I never felt as if it was right that we should be down there in the 3rd Division. I could obviously understand the positive buzz in the sense that we were still here with our history and titles despite the best efforts of our enemies and those who wanted (and tried) to kill us off, but didn't understand the positivity from numerous other perspectives, like the unprecedented treatment of our Club and the worries from footballing and financial/business perspectives. Not only did many of our fans think that it was just a simple case of 3 seasons of a journey back up through the lower leagues to the top flight, but many actually believed that it was an 'opportunity' to rebuild not only the business, but some kind of fabled & mystical footballing 'philosophy'. There was talk amongst fans of not only winning every single game in the 4th & 3rd tiers, but battering the opposition 8-0, 9-0 or 10-0 every week. I didn't buy into any of that because I thought it was always going to be more difficult than many of our fans thought it would be. Yes, we would dish out some hammerings along the way, but it was always going to be a battle too, both on and off the park no matter how many SPL-standard players we signed and no matter how many crazy moonbeams Green & co served us up. What we need to do now though, is completely forget about any mythical 'opportunities' or lost chances to create new 'footballing philosophies' and face the stark reality of where we currently are. I'm not saying forgive or forget (far from it!), but we urgently need to get up to speed and deal in the here & now. Depending on how things go off the park this month, we might be heading for another insolvency/administration event, but we don't know for sure either way because nothing is certain on that front, just as nothing is certain on the pitch either. We might drop points or lose a match, but no matter what happens, I think we all know that the 'journey' is getting tougher and tougher and that's something which was always on the cards both on & off the pitch, so it certainly shouldn't come as a surprise. The idea of an easy journey back up over 3 or 4 years while creating golden seeds for the future amidst new philosophies for the Club was a total and utter pipe dream. Even if we had been taken over by good guys instead of chancers and liars like Green & co, we were still realistically facing trouble along the way and potentially a period of 5 years or more before getting properly back on our feet and challenging in the top flight again. We might not be in a good position right now, but essentially, nothing has changed and we're still on the same path albeit a slightly more windy & rocky one than many of our fans seemed to think it would be. Our progress back to where we belong might still be set back even further by current and/or future financial issues, but we don't know for sure yet. What we do know for sure is that the people running the show need to collectively get their acts together, steer the Club in the right direction and ease the worries of the supporters, not through more moonbeams and lies like were served up in the past, but by addressing the immediate future as openly and honestly as they can without damaging the value of their precious shares.
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Do you remember when we knew what Celtic players looked like? Do you remember how we would listen in nervously when they played, hoping that they'd falter? The football landscape has changed so much in Glasgow that the city is no longer an Old Firm goldfish bowl. Instead, the two sides function in separate atmospheres. With no Old Firm interaction, each has become a stranger to the other. The current Celtic team could walk past me in the street and I probably wouldn't know who they were. For Celtic fans, due to Rangers being run as a retirement home for elderly footballers, they have no difficulty in recognising Rangers' established guys, but many of our players are unfamiliar faces to them too. There was a time when fans of each side knew the other lot almost as well. They didn't need to learn the enemy team, they just knew it. Not so long ago, a Rangers-supporting friend of mine used to chat fairly regularly to a fellow dog walker. It turned out that he was talking to a leading Celtic player, and yet he had no idea. This surely couldn't have happened in the past. We knew them and they knew us. Now, Celtic's profile has dipped as a consequence of Rangers being in the football wilderness. Ours has dipped too, of course, although Rangers is such a dysfunctional entity that it retains a profile of sorts by providing a daily source of amusement to the nation. Apart from the obsessed element in the Celtic support though, which keeps Rangers under intense scrutiny at all times, there is a realisation within the Celtic fraternity that the game is up for Rangers. The laughter has abated and they even feel a degree of sympathy for us. They are looking at a future now that might not be seriously challenged by Rangers, and as they come to terms with it, there is a grudging realisation that they are poorer for it. Now that the big two has been reduced to the big one, the intensity has disappeared, the temperature has cooled and the colour has faded. Celtic fans are living in a monochrome world where the competition is either walkover material or too good for them. It is a bore. It's not boring being a Rangers fan, though. The football may be rotten but when was clinging to a life raft ever boring? Rangers fans are living out an outrageous soap opera where each twist is more absurd than the last one. This Rangers saga could not have been made up or engineered even by a bitter and hateful enemy. It is a tale of woe beyond imagination and comprehension, and with every day that passes, the realisation dawns that bouncing back is hard to do when the ball is burst. The leading figures at Rangers have become cartoon characters. There is nothing that they do which shocks or surprises. Talk of the stadium being sponsored for the grand total of £1 is eminently believable. This is the calibre of people Rangers FC is run by in the 21st century. Every statement, announcement or comment from the club is greeted with ridicule and dismissed as being symptomatic of a failed and toxic regime. Rangers has ceased to be a credible entity. It is crumbling and falling apart. We are often reminded when we complain about politicians that we get the governments we deserve. If the same can be said of the governance of football clubs, the Rangers support must have been guilty of something dreadful, or maybe we're just not that bright. Either way, Rangers fans have an allegiance to a club that is an asylum for the clueless, the calamitous, the absurd and the avaricious, and it is conspicuously rotten from the front gates of Auchenhowie to the top of the Ibrox Stadium flagpole. I have long believed that Rangers had a sell-by date. I always suspected that it was going to become an unwelcome institution in a changing world. I was concerned too that it would fail under 'private' ownership. The only solution was to become a fan-owned club that embraced a new enlightenment, but our failure in this area has been as embarrassing as it is shameful. As we remind ourselves, almost hourly, what a mess it is at the top of the house, we really have to take account of our own inability to properly attempt some kind of rescue. We may have been turned over, but we have been passive, mostly inactive and even apathetic during this crisis. As per usual, we wait on a saviour, and if there isn't one, we just keep waiting anyway. When the lights go out at Ibrox, or when they become so dim that they can barely be observed, ask yourself - how will Scotland remember Rangers? Fifty years after Rangers' passing, how will our children and grandchildren remember the football club that is so much part of our lives? I suggest that Rangers will be remembered with the same kind of affection that BBC Radio Scotland and Radio Clyde currently have for our club. We will not be fondly remembered or missed. The country will be glad to see the back of Rangers and it will speak of us in a highly derogatory tone when enough time has elapsed to make us a distant memory. Bearing in mind our current predicament - and we are all aware that another collapse could be close - not only would we lose a club that is dear to us, as people, we would be marked down by history for having an association with a club that will almost certainly be remembered as a monument to bigotry. And with this double whammy in mind, what do we do? We wait, and wait, and then wait some more. History won't be kind to us for this either.
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.......to save Ibrox as new cash crisis rocks Gers. RANGERS fan groups fear the club will not be able to pay next month's wage bill after court ruling while legend Andy Goram feels it may be too late to save Ibrox. FORMER Rangers director Imran Ahmad has succeeded in his bid to have £620,000 frozen in the club’s bank account. Lawyers for Ahmad claim he is owed a £500,000 bonus for the time he spent working as commercial director at Ibrox. They went to the Court of Session because they fear Gers are about to become insolvent. Ahmad is set to take his former employers to court later this year and is concerned that if he were to win his action, Rangers would be too poor to pay him. His legal team had failed on two previous occasions to obtain the order. But yesterday, after hearing claims that Rangers were becoming the “envy of English Premiership sides” for their financial position, Lord Stewart ruled there was still a “risk” of insolvency. He said: “I have formed the view that there is a risk of Rangers becoming insolvent. “That is not to say there is an actuality or a certainty insolvency is something that will happen. At this stage, it is only a risk.” Fans groups now fear Gers won’t be able to pay wages this month. Rangers have £1.2million in their account but the wage bill for playing and non-playing staff is thought to be close to £1m a month. Salaries are normally paid on the last Thursday of every month so they will be due on September 25. The club’s recently announced share issue takes place a week earlier and the beleaguered board are hoping to claw enough cash together from that to limp on. However, Chris Graham of the Union of Fans said: “This puts the club in a really difficult position. “With just £1.2m in the bank at the moment this will make it difficult to pay the next wage bill.” Graham also hit out at director Sandy Easdale and said: “Many fans will be wondering what on earth Sandy Easdale was doing speaking to the media just days before this case and outlining how dire the funding position at the club is. “Surely he should have realised that his comments were going to weaken our chances of getting a positive outcome from this case.” Another fan, Craig Smith, tweeted his 16-month old daughter “could have run Rangers’ finances better”. But the club last night claimed they were confident they would still be able to “operate as normal”. Rangers have sought leave to appeal and the court will deal with that request on Tuesday. A club statement said: “We agree with Judge Lord Stewart when he told the court: ‘This does not mean to say that insolvency is an actuality or is going to happen.’ “We remain confident that the club will be able to continue to operate as normal.” That came after Alan Summers QC told the court Rangers’ financial situation was improving. He said: “When we were last here, we heard how the share issue would only keep the lights on at Ibrox. “I can tell you the floodlights are back on at Ibrox and are in no danger of being switched off. “Talks are at an advanced stage with two potential investors. The club has not been in rude health for some time. But the situation is improving. The club is trading its way out of difficulties. Its current position is the envy of many English Premiership clubs.” However, Ahmad’s advocate Kenny McBrearty told the court there was no proof the share issue could keep the club solvent and insisted there was no guarantee investors would come forward. He said: “A pattern of diminishing working capital is evident. There is nothing concrete that there is a saviour for Rangers.” Many fans view Dave King as that potential saviour after the South Africa-based businessman promised to pump £30m into Rangers if the board were removed from office. He also set up a trust fund with fans’ groups so punters could commit their money to the club without handing it over to those in charge at Ibrox. But Rangers legend Andy Goram believes time is running out for King to stop the club from tumbling into administration again. The former keeper said: “I would like to see King doing what he has been promising to do for a while. “King threw a grenade in at the start of the season and stepped back. The longer he leaves it, the worse it’s going to get. “The fans had three choices this summer. You either paid season ticket money, went game to game or gave your money to King. “Now it needs something pretty quick. I see Jim McColl has saved the shipyard on the Clyde. “People like that, Rangers fans like that, I think the club is still important to them. “We don’t want to see it go down the tubes again. Administration again would be ridiculous. “If King’s timing is not right, if people don’t get the timing right with the investment, it could be too late. It’s getting pretty close.” Yesterday’s court ruling came after Record Sport revealed Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct firm had acquired the naming rights to Ibrox for just £1 – a move which has sparked fury among the fans. The Newcastle supremo is one of the biggest individual shareholders at Rangers and has also taken full control of the club’s retail stores. Those deals were struck during Charles Green’s time at Ibrox and Goram believes it would have been better for Rangers if someone like Fergus McCann had taken over after the first financial crisis. The canny Canadian helped rebuild rivals Celtic two decades ago by watching every penny. And Goram said: “Rangers needed someone like McCann to sort it out from the beginning. “The deals Ashley has done all happened when Charles Green was in charge.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-brink-new-cash-crisis-4173651
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Why is there so much hatred towards SOS, UOF etc?
Ser Barristan Selmy posted a topic in Rangers Chat
Hugely irrational hatred. A huge chunk of our support still hate them despite everything they have been saying coming to fruition. What is this hatred based on? I'm not trying to instigate anything here (not that this is the place such a thing would happen), I just do not understand it. -
Mike Ashley to up his stake in Rangers to 9.9% through the current share issue. Source SSN” Sources close to Mike Ashley say there are no immediate plans to invoke the naming rights at Ibrox stadium #Rangers @charlesp_sky: It's understood Ashley views his interests in Rangers as purely strong commercial ones which he intends to protect
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I dont know the exact figures on this , but on the rangersfirst page there is a rolling screen of whos recently joined , and I have been watching it quite closely over the last few days , its been amazing to see the number of fellow fans that have been joining not just at the fan level, £5 a month, but at the supporter £10 and founder £18.72, levels , plus amazingly the life members and an amazing number of donations , where you dont need to sign up for any set monthly amounts but can donate one off amounts. Add in all the retail partners they have signed up , it is actually very impressive , anyone not checked out the rangersfirst retail section really should do so , any purchases made through the links , rangersfirst get a % back .
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DR publishing interview with Sandy Easdale tomorrow.....and also running a headline that the naming rights of Ibrox being sold for £1!! Rumours are that the naming rights are given for £1 plus underwriting the share issue. Not 100% sure though. Looks like more grim news on the way bears....buckle up!! -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29050877 Former Rangers commercial director Imran Ahmad has returned to court for a third time in a bid to have £620,000 of club assets frozen. Lawyers acting for Mr Ahmad claim he is owed a £500,000 bonus for the time he spent working at the Ibrox club. The Court of Session in Edinburgh heard Mr Ahmad is worried about the potential prospect of Rangers becoming insolvent. Lord Stewart continued the case to Friday when lawyers for Rangers will address the court. Mr Ahmad, who has twice lost court bids to have Rangers' assets ring-fenced, claims he is owed £500,000 for negotiating deals and wants another £120,000 to cover legal expenses. Advocate Kenny McBrearty QC told Lord Stewart that Mr Ahmad is concerned about the current state of the club's finances and fears Rangers would not be in a position to pay up if the court eventually rules in his favour. He told the court Rangers have sold 23,000 season tickets this season, down 15,000 on last season. Mr McBrearty said the Rangers board's latest plans for a share issue may only raise £3.6m and cover part of the club's obligations. He added: "There is a significant hole in the club's finances for the forthcoming season."
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Looks like 3.6 million shares were traded today or rather transferred , could this be in part payement for either outstanding loan
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Bill Leckie; Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If they don’t heed those words as the vultures circle Ibrox once again, then hell mend them. First time their club went to the wall, they manned the barricades to protect it from a big, nasty outside world. For that, no matter what other thoughts you have on the matter, their loyalty surely deserves to be applauded. But now? Two-and-a-half years on? If, despite being given a second chance to repair the horrendous mistakes of the past, a club with this level of support goes into administration AGAIN? Sorry, but if it was me I wouldn’t give them another penny. On Saturday, once more, thousands turned up brandishing red cards to express their unhappiness at the way the love of their lives is being mismanaged. And, once more, those responsible for the mismanagement laughed up their sleeves at the pointlessness of the protest. Because to brandish those red cards, you have to pay your money to get inside the stadium. Which hands yet more cash to the people you’re protesting at so they can go ahead and waste it. Listen, what do I know? They’re not my club and the one I do follow has never been to the heights Rangers have reached to suffer such a humiliating, disorientating fall. I’m just someone looking in and wondering how the hell, in all good conscience, Bluenoses can carry on regardless if and when the accountants take over the asylum once more. Actually, don’t answer that. It’s not a can of worms that’s worth opening, this We-Are-The-People, Rangers-Till-I-Die, stick-your-fingers-in-your-ears-and-sing-Follow-Follow mindset. So, for what it’s worth, let me instead pass on my suggestion for what they should do if their club re-enters the abyss. Sod it. Turn their backs on it. Give it, as a man on the other side of Glasgow once said, not one more thin dime. And instead, invest in the future of Scottish clubs who DO run their affairs honestly and who DO have respect for those who click the turnstiles. Go and back your old skipper Barry Ferguson as he tries to make things happen at Clyde. Go and see what another ex-player in Gary Bollan’s doing with Airdrie. If you’re from Fife, go and watch East Fife or Cowdenbeath. If you’re in Angus, hand your tenner to Arbroath or Brechin, Forfar or Montrose. If you donÂ’t want to give up your wee jaunt over from Northern Ireland, get off the ferry and stroll up to Stair Park. There’s been a school of thought among some these last couple of years that Rangers being forced to do the grand tour of the colonies meant the lower divisions should have been grateful for the gate receipts and the TV handouts. For me, this always got it the wrong way round. It was those inside Ibrox should have been thankful that they were in still in business and ABLE to head for Elgin and Berwick and Stranraer. Now, as fresh financial catastrophe looms, I’d put it to Rangers fans that they could do far more good for far more people if they stopped pouring money into what has long since ceased to be “their” club and started drip-feeding it to those who genuinely are the game’s lifeblood. Why? I’ll give you three good reasons. One, those halfwits in your directors’ box shouldn’t be trusted with the remote for the telly, never mind your wages. Two, that 30,000-odd of you spread among the country’s 20-odd part-time clubs would not only create better atmospheres but also help to cement football in communities for the long term. And three? You might just get to relax and enjoy the game, rather than always being angry and stressed about it. Watching Ayr United play Stenhousemuir might just extend your life. The alternative to this is a simple one. Stand your ground and, by your very presence, condone the halfwits in the directors’ box. Two-and-a-half years on from that first administration and the liquidation that followed, these halfwits need to scramble together £4million in a matter of days to keep their heads above water. To achieve this, they may need to flog their saleable players before the transfer window closes, which will hamper your hopes of promotion back to the top flight. If they don’t raise the money, they stand to suffer a 25-point deduction as punishment for a second spell in administration, all but ending those promotion hopes. How, with the wages they pay and the crowds they attract and the sheer intimidatory force of their name that is a two-goal start against far smaller opposition, can this possibly be? How the lumping hell can the people running a club the size of Rangers be handed the chance they were to start again, to build sensibly, to tool up for their return to where they want to be, and yet fail so utterly miserably? How? The clue is in the word halfwits. So maybe I’ve got this all the wrong way round. And it’s those Ibrox directors who should be sent to the outposts of the footballing empire instead. Maybe Graham Wallace and the Easdales and whoever else is a player in this embarrassing saga are the ones who need to go out into the real world and see how real football people operate. Trust me, if a month shadowing the treasurer at Albion Rovers didn’t shame them into living within their means, liquidation’s too good for them. -
I wouldn't disagree with much of this to be fair. BY GORDON WADDELL Gordon Waddell: Like Thelma and Louise, Rangers have arrived at their destination.. the edge of a cliff 31 August 2014 08:37 AM By Gordon Waddell GORDON reckons Rangers are at the edge of a precipice but the cash crisis hasn't stopped the club signing back-up keeper Lee Robinson in a move typical of the way the club has been run for the past few years. THEY sold their road back to the top of the game as ‘The Journey’. It would appear Rangers have arrived at a destination many financial experts predicted for them long ago. The edge of a cliff. As the directors sit there like Thelma and Louise, with the engine revving, you wonder if the question was not whether the club would end up being driven over the edge but more a matter of when the crash would occur. How else do you explain it? No sane person would surely run a business the way they’ve run theirs. It’s as if they have committed commercial suicide. An example? It didn’t make a headline. Barely registered a mention. But if you want even a tiny indication of exactly how dysfunctional Rangers are, then look no further than the signing of Lee Robinson last week. A 28-year-old back-up keeper to a 35-year-old back-up. When they already have the Scotland Under-19 No.1 AND the Scotland Under-17 No.1 on their books? Another wage? Aye, why not, eh? We’ve been splashing money needlessly for two and a half years on players we don’t need and can’t afford – another won’t kill us. Their share offering on Friday was like taking a tube of Savlon to a cremation. They’ve admitted to the stock exchange that if they don’t get at least £3m, they’re knackered. And even if they do, they’ve openly shifted the problem a couple of months further down the line. Yet still they sign players like autograph hunters? They act as if they don’t give a monkey’s. Other clubs coming back from the brink, the first thing they attacked was their cost base. Trimmed all the fat and started from the ground up. Live within your means. New club motto? Numquam Iterum. Never Again. Yet here we are, back at square one. Ally on the back pages, pleading: ‘Don’t sell my stars’. Why not? Truth is you should never have been allowed to sign most of them in the first place. This whole ‘We’re Rangers and until someone tells me otherwise, we’ll continue to behave like Rangers’ schtick? McCoist is a bright, articulate, likeable guy. I refuse to believe he’s so gullible. That he never sat there and thought ‘This can’t be right’. Who would you prefer to be in charge at Rangers? I’m not saying anything I haven’t said to him in a dozen different press conferences. I’ve asked him why they weren’t hunkering down, signing players for their level, saving cash. He always replied: “The fans deserve better.” Damn right they do. But they also deserve their club to survive after what they’ve put in over the years. In a football sense, I haven’t yet met a Rangers fan who didn’t think the club would have been better bleeding half a dozen youngsters into their line-up back on day one and developing them properly than going down the road they did. I haven’t yet met a fan who wouldn’t have put up with the odd defeat to see some genuine progress and fiscal responsibility rather than watching the likes of Richard Foster, Stevie Smith, Ian Black, Dean Shiels or Jon Daly. Or Lee Robinson. Nice lad, decent gloves – but what about Liam Kelly and Robby McCrorie, two of the highest-rated teenagers in their position in Scotland? Every other club in the country is giving youth a chance and reaping the rewards. Not The Rangers. Sorry lads. Can’t trust you, even on the bench. No time to have faith in you. Other diddy clubs might get away with playing teenagers. They may even excel. Hell, look at Conor McGrandles – 82 senior games by the age of 18 and a £1million move from Falkirk to Norwich. Rangers are too good for that, though. Listen, the dysfunctional management of the club’s affairs runs a million miles deeper than the team. These are just examples of how a total breakdown in management manifests itself in public. What goes on behind closed doors or up marble staircases? We may never know. But the fact they’re putting out the begging bowl in such a humiliating manner suggests none of it is good. And then we have the ever-hovering presence of Dave King . King has been criticised for his silence but don’t let anyone kid you that he hasn’t been waiting for this exact moment. The lowest ebb. The final wheezing breaths of a regime someone as long in the tooth as he is always thought would arrive. Sure, he’s a Rangers fan. Sure, his intentions for the club will be more honourable than the current incumbents. But spare me the idea his timing suggests anything other than his own benefit being served too. In the meantime, the Rangers fans are once again left with what they call Morton’s Fork – two choices, both undesirable. Take up the share option, keep a shambolic regime functioning a little longer. Or not a penny more. Flush them out and suffer the consequences. I don’t envy them their decision.
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http://sport.stv.tv/football/video/3755311980001/? I have to say, i may not be his biggest fan but i support him here completely. The press in this country are an absolute disgrace. Ally gives them all the sound bites they want, all the time and interviews and when he asks for a little bit back they can't afford him it. Well played Ally, well played.
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I would encourage anyone not already a member to join now The below will be being emailed to all members shortly. We encourage all Rangers Fans world wide to now participate in at http://www.rangersfirst.org'>http://www.rangersfirst.org We are the People and this is our time. Dear members > > As you will have gathered the Club issued an Open Offer today regarding the issue of 19,864,918 new Ordinary Shares in Rangers International Football Club PLC. > > The full details of that issue can be found here: > > http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exch ... d=12066370 > > We would ask that you have a read of it all. > > Rangers First was set up to collectively buy as many shares in the PLC as it could, with the hope of at least reaching 5% ownership which in a PLC is significant as it would allow Rangers First to hold any PLC board to account via the calling of a General meeting. > > Rangers First can confirm that it has already written to both Graham Wallace and the NOMAD (Daniel Stewart & Company PLC, who has confirmed reciept) that it is in a position to “invest beyond our pro-rated pre-emption rights” and that Rangers First would “wish to be added to any Excess Application Facility for the purchase of additional shares” > > Upon reflection on todays statement the Rangers First steering group has concluded that it is most appropriate to continue on our policy of buying shares and will as we indicated in our letter seek to take up as many as possible. > > However as is made clear in the Clubs own statement there are severe risks if this share issue is not taken up and this will not be the last share issue and so we presume these same risks will also attach as concerns to the further share offers to follow. Rangers First is set up as a democratic organisation and so the Steering Group wish to put the democratic process into action and have our members confirm by vote that they are happy for Rangers First Steering Group to continue its share purchase policy and take up as many shares as it can in this share issue. > > All members will be sent a vote in the next few hours which will be open over the weekend. > > This is another chance for Rangers Fans to take a significant stake and have significantly more influence at our Club. From the statement this will be the first of a number of equity raises so now is the time to sign up, get you family, home and abroad signed up, get those you go to and watch the game with signed…..get every Bear you have ever known to sign up to Rangers First > > http://www.rangersfirst.org Please consider taking out a Life membership of Rangers First for £500 (this can be passed to your children one day) or joining for a monthly fee of as little as £5 per month (U16 free) Selling all the 1872 life membership would raise enough for Rangers First to buy over 5% of the Club and reach our Stage 1 > > > We are the People and this is our Time!
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Yet another Sinky got wrong Just got a move to Norwich City that could net Falkirk £1 million. I watched him play in the same youth team as Darren Ramsay and Charlie Telfer for a couple of years, where as he may not have been the standout he wouldn't have been a candidate for release in my opinion. Gary Oliver who recently scored for Hearts, Lewis Spence and Lewis Martin who are now regulars at Dunfermline also played in the same team on occasions although they are a year younger.
