Search the Community

Thanks for. Coming, Mr Hubbard. Perhaps you inspired the young guys. For the 90% + of fans who never had the privilege of seeing him play he was more than just a precision penalty taker. Wing play for him was a geometry. He ran lines and angles at speed to get past opponents with ease and without the demented flea tricks of the likes of celtic's Johnstone. Scored plenty from open play. Rarely scythed down by fullbacks because they generally couldn't get near him. Rangers have been fortunate with wingers - Waddell, Scott, Henderson, Wilson, Johnston. Old Mother was as good as any of them

Over two weeks now since Neil suggested that Craig Thomson had been responsible for Celtic losing at Aberdeen. Could it be that Mr Lunny has been absent from his desk and that is why that no action has been raised against Neil. Or is is it possible that a more likely reason for this to be overlooked is that. Vincent agrees with Neil's opinion?

Meanwhile, Arab Trust board member Mike Barile says that, if Rangers do make the last four, the game should not be played on the Glasgow side's ground. The former chairman of the fans' group said: "I was active in the supporters movement when United and Dundee met in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 1987. "Both clubs were prepared to play the game at Tannadice or Dens Park on the toss of a coin, but the SFA insisted that the game had to be played at a neutral stadium. "Now there is the possibility of playing Rangers and it is okay for the game to be played at Ibrox. "Can you imagine the outcry if the SFA were to say the game was to be played at Tannadice? It is a ridiculous decision. "If it is to be Rangers we are to play then the game should be played at a neutral ground." When Celtic Park was chosen as the venue for the final in October, it was announced that both semi-finals would be played at Ibrox. Hampden Park is unavailable because of redevelopment work taking place to lay track for the Commonwealth Games.

Rangers U20 team v Dundee United: Gallacher; Halkett, Hegarty, Gasparotto, Sinnamon; Dykes, Crawford, Hutton, Telfer, Stoney; Gallagher On the bench this evening for Gordon Durie's Light Blues are Kelly (gk), Gibson, Pascazio, Roberts and a trialist Halkett scored after some seventy seconds to put us ahead (Celtic trailing 1-0 into their second half)

I have taken off the headline, saying that our league win will be "hollow" as that may have distracted from what, for me, is an inarguable piece. ( http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/rangers-title-will-be-a-hollow-victory-1-3335530 ) by ALAN PATTULLO Published on the 11 March Rangers could be hours away from the League 1 title. The last but one objective in Rangers’ projected return to the top tier in successive seasons could be complete. Another mission accomplished if they win tomorrow night against Airdrieonians. It will be deservedly so. Rangers have won 25 of their 27 matches. They have drawn the two others. They have scored 84 goals, conceding only 14. They are doing what we all expected them to do. They are doing what they should be doing. But is the journey proving as gainful as hoped? Are Rangers making enough use of their journey back to the top flight? This question was first posed last season when a team of mostly experienced professionals – in several cases, internationals – made swift work of part-time opponents. Then, the same complaint was heard. Rangers are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. They are failing to take a prize opportunity to blood young talent in the first team. More than one person has commented on the underwhelming atmosphere at Bayview earlier his month, when Rangers needed an injury-time penalty to secure three points against East Fife. It was a scuffed victory, set against a backdrop of yelps and shouts from the players that were heard from television screens across the land. It was as uninspiring as it was possible to be. Manager Ally McCoist admitted as much afterwards. He was happy enough with the result, just not the performance. It was far from what he had expected, he said. It was certainly far from what should be expected from what is still, at even casual glance, a team of Scottish Premiership-standard players. For those with the health of Scottish football at heart, it is a slightly deflating experience to study the Rangers teamsheet each week. Doing so will stir far more painful emotions for Rangers fans, since it provides plenty of pointers towards why the club are still hemorrhaging money. Well-paid – some would say vastly overpaid – seasoned professionals playing far below their level is not the only reason why the club are reduced to casting around for loans. However, it isn’t helping. Much was made of how Rangers might negotiate their way back up the leagues when it was confirmed that they would begin season 2012-13 in the old Third Division. While clearly traumatic, some expressed the hope that this would at least provide them with the opportunity to rebuild from the bottom up; to resuscitate the club’s youth development programme. Few can claim that Murray Park has been as successful on that front as was hoped. The most successful graduates are now playing elsewhere. Are there many coming through the ranks? Not on the evidence presented to date. Of the players used by McCoist on Saturday, most would not have seemed out of place in the Scottish Premiership. Indeed, several of them are not only Premiership players, but top end ones. Lee Wallace was one of Hearts’ best players before he made the switch to Ibrox, as was David Templeton. Jon Daly was regarded as a significant loss by Dundee United fans when he departed, while Richard Foster is the epitome of a dependable professional, though when he returned to the club he seemed far from essential to Rangers’ ambitions of winning the title. Cammy Bell, meanwhile, had earned international recognition with Kilmarnock. On the bench, of course, is substitute goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, with the younger Scott Gallacher condemned to play reserve team football following his return to Ibrox after a loan spell with Airdrieonians. Defenders Craig Halkett and Lucas Gasparotto, who qualifies for Canada, are two players whom many expected to have been employed by now, but neither has featured yet this season – not for Rangers at least. Fraser Aird and Robert Crawford, who replaced Aird during last Saturday’s match, are sources of some optimism, as, of course, is Lewis Macleod, the currently injured Scotland Under-21 internationlist. McCoist clearly does not believe others coming through at Murray Park are good enough. If he did, he would have fewer qualms about pitching them into the team, the way that Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara has done at a higher level. It is unlikely that McCoist will be persuaded to do so next season either, in a league where teams need to know how to look after themselves, perhaps to an even greater extent than in the Premiership. So has Rangers’ window for youth development now passed? Probably. They have other battles to fight in any case. But when they do take their place in the top flight, probably in two seasons’ time, the relief may well be tempered by a niggling sense of what else might have been delivered over the course of their exile.

RAMSDENS CUP FINAL 2014 RAITH ROVERS F.C. V RANGERS F.C. EASTER ROAD STADIUM SUNDAY 6 APRIL, KICK-OFF 4.05pm Dear season ticket holder, Following confirmation of the Rangers allocation for the above match, I am pleased to confirm there will be a limited number of tickets on sale to season ticket holders for this match. We value your commitment and are delighted to give you the opportunity to be with us at the Cup final in our bid for the first silverware of the season. The tickets will be on sale from 9am Tuesday 11 March and are priced at £20 for adults and £10 for juveniles (Under 16). Conditions and booking fees apply. You can purchase 1 ticket per season ticket and a maximum of 2 tickets per transaction. The tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis via the Rangers hotline on 0871 702 1972 (calls cost 10ppm plus network extras), online at http://www.rangers.co.uk or in person from Rangers Ticket Centre. Please ensure you have your Rangers number ready and also the Rangers numbers for any other season ticket holders that you wish to purchase on behalf of. Thank you for your continued support.

http://www.therangersstandard.co.uk/index.php/articles/current-affairs/318-take-the-power-back? By Ewan McQueen If you asked anyone who knows me well to tell you something I’m passionate about, it’s almost certain they would reply with the answer ‘Rangers Football Club’. It has been a huge part of my life since I started following the club in 1995. Like thousands of others, I live and breathe Rangers every single day and constantly check social media sites and forums to find out the latest developments inside Ibrox. And now it feels like a revolution is brewing amongst the fans. And for my mind it has been a long time coming. The horrors of administration just over two years ago are still raw and can never be understated. However, it should have been a watershed moment for us fans despite the shock we were in. It should never be forgotten that David Murray got us into a real mess before he sold us down the river to Craig Whyte. That has all been well documented and there’s no need to go over it again here. But Whyte’s reign at the club should have proven once and for all that there should be no more days of one man running the club. Like every Rangers fan, I was stunned on Valentine’s Day two years ago. But we missed an opportunity. To its credit, the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund was a superb scheme and raised a wonderful amount of money when there were huge fears Rangers would die. But the RFFF didn’t go far enough. It seemed as though fans were waiting for a saviour, whether it was the Blue Knights, Brian Kennedy, Jim McColl and Walter Smith or, as it transpired, Charles Green and his cronies. Administration should have provided the perfect opportunity for fans to mobilise to ensure it never happened again. After the simply astonishing squandering of money and obscene bonuses to board members under Green’s regime, Rangers can’t rule out admin mark two which is simply disgraceful. And that’s why it’s time to take the power back and create a situation where fans have proper representation in the club and control a significant amount of shares. Ask yourself this: would you rather see the club you love ran by fans that feel the same way as you or by men like the Easdale brothers, hedge fund managers and the continuously mysterious Blue Pitch and Margarita Holdings? For me it is a no brainer. This board aren’t fit for purpose and none of them have any idea what it is like to live and breathe Rangers. They are in it for themselves. And the fact they are now going to be using season ticket money to pay back a loan at a ludicrously high rate of interest just takes the biscuit. For many fans the loans have been the straw that has finally broken the camel’s back. Schemes like Buy Rangers and Rangers First are to be hugely welcomed. For far too long there have been divisions amongst the Rangers support that have held us back. Of course it is only natural that there are debates amongst any club’s support. I regularly have fierce debates about the manager, players and tactics with friends I go to games with. That’s natural. What isn’t natural is that until now Rangers fans haven’t grabbed the chance to gain real power at Ibrox. Look at what the Foundation of Hearts has done after the Gorgie club was run by shysters. They’ve just announced their 8,000th member while the Rangers Supporters Trust currently has 2,500 members. I am one of them and find that stat very depressing. Rangers First seems to have captured the imagination though. First up, the name is simple and extremely effective. For too long we have been run by men who have never put Rangers first. As fans, by selling 72,000 season tickets over the last two seasons to watch football which has been very poor at times, by raising £5.5m in a share issue before Christmas and by simply continuing to follow the team the length and breadth of Scotland, we have always put Rangers First. Modern football offers far too many opportunities for businessmen and ‘spivs’ to make a quick buck at the expense of the people that truly matter at a football club – the fans. You only need to look at the way Vincent Tan is running Cardiff if you want an example. The next few years need to see a massive increase in clubs becoming fan owned or run as a community interest company. As Richard Atkinson of Supporters Direct says, fan ownership isn’t just about owning shares. It is about getting what you want from the club. There is simply no chance of getting that under this board. In simple maths terms, Rangers fans can easily out do what Hearts supporters have achieved. Say only 20,000 of our fanbase paid £15 a month in direct debits. That would equate to income of £3.6m per year and, at current market levels, 5% of shares could be purchased in three months. Both the Rangers First and Buy Rangers options are very reasonably priced as well. The Rangers First option gives you the option of signing up for as little as £5 per month. The price of a fish supper per month to try and reclaim the club I love? Count me in. And I’ve also signed up to the Buy Rangers scheme of purchasing shares in the club from as little as £11.25 per month. Both schemes are simple and I would urge every fan to do something. It is time to show you REALLY care about your favourite club. The Rangers support can be found in corners all over the world. Quite simply, if we don’t do it this time through these projects, then it can be argued we deserve what we get as a support. It feels like the right time. The financial crisis has reached breaking point again. Whilst there might be criticism of performances on the park, we have strolled to the League One title. We have now completed the first two stages of our journey back to the top but we simply can’t afford to be cut adrift when we return there. Hanging over these schemes is of course Dave King. Now, King’s tax issues in South Africa have been gone over more times than I have had hot dinners but what can’t be denied is that he is a Rangers man. It seems baffling that the board call him disruptive when he is a lifelong fan willing to put money into a club he loves. His idea of a season ticket trust is to be welcomed. Let’s get one thing straight, it isn’t a boycott. It is about, as King says himself, getting transparency from the board over the state of the club. At the time of writing, over 5,600 supporters have signed up to the call from the Union of Fans to back King. Again, that is real and decisive action from a significant section of the support. Key to all this is engaging those fans who aren’t online or those who are perhaps switched off from the turmoil. Indeed, I have friends and relatives in this position. Fan ownership remains a long term dream, but it can be driven forward quickly with the right marketing and information that is delivered to the fanbase. Legendary US rock band Rage Against the Machine once sang a ferocious song which shares the title of this article. When the revolution is led by the people (or in this case, fans), the men at the top can find it nigh on impossible to fight back against it. This particular Rangers revolution has only just started but I’m excited what I see on Twitter, Facebook and various forums. We have woken up big time as a support and credit to everyone who has got involved already. It will take a while and it will require patience but we simply must get rid of this board once and for all. We have a voice and it’s the most powerful inside Ibrox- more powerful than Graham Wallace or Sandy Easdale or even Ally McCoist. It’s time to take the power back.

Expected big things from the lad today, he was outstanding against rovers at the start of the season. The whole team lacked imagination and I felt particularly let down by him as he is a player who should be making a difference. I for one don't blame Ally and to say we missed out the midfield yesterday would be untrue. We had the ball in front of their defence and all of our midfield players were involved. None of our players seemed to have any ideas or imagination as to how they could break down the opposition. Men like Law, Templeton and Shiels should have been instrumental but sadly they looked disinterested. You cannot blame Ally for that. When a player crosses the line at home in a quarter final you should expect passion and commitment - sadly none if our players showed any.

Serving his apprenticeship nicely at the moment and as it stands Im hoping he is our next manager. When Ally eventually moves on Id take him well ahead of the realistic candidates like Billy Davies. Got to give McInnes credit, 1 cup final, 1 semi final and 2nd in the league with a team who have been struggling for years. I liked him as a player in the 90s also, thought he was a fine midfielder.

...... when Albion scored. Could have been the effects mike but it sounded Richard Gordonish. He should be careful what he wishes for. Sheep might have a better chance against us than Rovers.

By Tom English BBC Scotland, in his new job with the BBC Charles Green's latest Rangers contribution might not have been as barmy a cameo as those provided by porn baron Paul Baxendale-Walker or that business with the Northamptonshire clown, Mr Custard. However, in the odditorium that is Ibrox, Green's bombast of Friday was another cringe-making moment. His new life may have taken him far from Glasgow, to an 18th-century castle in Normandy, but it would appear that the Yorkshireman is still of the view that he was God's gift to Rangers. Self-regard was always a stock-in-trade of Green's; self-awareness, far less so. At a time when Rangers have taken out a £1.5m loan in order to keep the lights on, Green's poor-mouth performance about being under-compensated for his work at Ibrox was laughable and must have served as a firm kick in the unmentionables to every fretting Rangers fan. His reappearance was fitting in one way, though. Things have reached the point of a free-for-all at Rangers. Pot-shots are being flung left, right and centre between suggested saviour Dave King and the board. Charles Green Charles Green believes he was under-compensated for his work at Ibrox The supporters needed Green popping into this saga like they needed a hole in the head. You watched Green climbing back into the narrative and, in that moment, it was easy to imagine the Rangers supporters repeating that line from Jerry Maguire, the film about the sports agent played by Tom Cruise. Maguire/Cruise was at what he thought was his lowest point only for further mishap to befall him. "Jump into my nightmare," he said, sighing. "The water's warm." The way in which former director King and the current Rangers board are training their guns on one another in public is remarkable. It was only last November that King called for some kind of decorum among key people in the Rangers story. "The best interests of the club will not be facilitated by playing it out in the media," he said. So much for that plan. Ten days ago, King issued his Gettysburg Address on the state of the club. It was damning stuff. There was a response, of course. Then King responded to the response. Graham Wallace, the chief executive, responded to the response to the response and King responded once again. The tit-for-tat carried on. David Somers, the chairman, slammed King and King slammed back. Director Sandy Easdale got involved and King replied. Then King went again. This is mortifying stuff. King is calling into question the integrity of the board while playing down other integrity questions closer to home, such as those raised by his guilty plea and subsequent conviction for epic contraventions of South African tax law, which eventually cost him more than £45m in cash and assets. We know that many Rangers fans are behind King regardless. This was the man who previously invested £20m in Rangers and lost the lot. That wins him kudos. Equally, it's the same man who sat on Craig Whyte's board of directors and who, according to the SFA's judicial panel, failed to do enough to question the former owner's disastrous behaviour. It's a measure of the mindset of Rangers people that so many have placed so much trust in King, a man denounced as a "glib and shameless liar" by a South African court. “Who will win this battle? It depends on how serious King and his supporters really are and what lengths they will go to in order to get a result” If the fans pick King over the board - and they are, in increasing numbers - then that tells you a lot about how the current incumbents are performing. They have been saying for months that there is no pressing cash crisis, while at the same time taking out a short-term, and high-interest, loan of £1m from one of its institutional investors, Laxey Partners. Their 'nothing to see here' mantra rings suspicious. Apart from the £1m loan (and the bank charges associated with it) there is an interest-free loan of another £500,000 from Sandy Easdale. Why would a club with no pressing need for money take out an emergency loan and then secure part of it against club assets? They haven't adequately explained it. There are questions everywhere for the board and not many answers. The Rangers Standard website wrote about some wealthy Rangers-supporting businessmen who would have been prepared to offer the club loans at more favourable rates of interest than the Laxey agreement. John McClure was one such businessman. George Letham is another. The board are said to be considering ditching Laxey's deal and taking up Letham's offer instead. What does it say about this board of directors when a fans' website can track down wealthy Rangers supporters who are willing to loan money on more attractive terms than the club's investment committee could negotiate? These supporters run this website in their spare time. They are not on the club's payroll. As head of the Rangers investment committee, it is the job of director Norman Crighton to do this kind of business and he's rewarded handsomely for it. Former Rangers director Dave King Former Rangers director Dave King is keen on a return to Ibrox And yet, in the hours between putting in a day's work and putting the kids to bed, the fans can find better deals than he can? Crighton really ought to state his position on all of this. At the heart of this are the fans and their season-ticket money and the power they wield because of it. Rangers can't live without that cash. More and more the supporters are saying that the board are not getting it until they answer questions and bring transparency where currently everything is clouded. King and the fans' associations want to drip-feed the season-ticket money into the club by way of a trust. It's a device that could bring the board to heel or bring the club to its knees. It's high-stakes stuff, but the fans are mobilising, that's for sure. Mobilising behind King. He is said to be on his way to Glasgow soon for this showdown with the board. They should put the Rangers TV cameras in the room and sell it on pay-per-view. In a relative blink, the cash crisis would ease. Who will win this battle? It depends on how serious King and his supporters really are and what lengths they will go to in order to get a result. Equally, it depends on how much financial trouble the club is truly in and how short of answers they really are. To the former, the response is "very serious" and in the case of the latter the reply is always "not much trouble at all". But you learn to be sceptical about everything you are told in this story. Green's cameo might have brought an air of black comedy, but at its essence the fight for control at Rangers is a thriller - with a touch of horror thrown in. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26459395

EAST Stirlingshire head coach John Coughlin said last night that he substituted Jordan Tapping in yesterday’s 4-0 defeat by Peterhead at Balmoor after the 17-year-old schoolboy was reduced to tears by a sustained level of racial abuse from a section of the crowd. Coughlin claimed the youngster was subjected to monkey noises and name calling from members of the home support situated behind the goal that Tapping was helping to defend in the second half. Tapping, the cousin of Hearts midfielder Callum Tapping, scored an own goal in the League Two match and was taken off with 15 minutes remaining. Coughlin said: “Firstly I want to say that what went on had no impact on the result of the game but it was a horrible incident. It was so bad that a couple of our players went to the referee to make sure that he was hearing it. “He took no action at the time but he is including it in his match report. Jordan is just a kid who is still at school and was understandably upset and bewildered at what was getting shouted at him. I looked at him with about 20 minutes left and knew I had to get him off the pitch. By the time I did he was in tears. Whilst no one should have to deal with abuse, a more experienced player or person might have been able to handle it differently but in reality it is not Jordan’s problem.” Referee Gavin Duncan is expected to report the matter to the SFA. Coughlin added: “The Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison came up and apologised to Jordan after the game. Whilst he acknowledged there had been a problem, no one can quite understand why no stewards were asked to go and get the fans doing it to stop, or even more appropriately, throw them out or get them arrested. “Our players were very upset for Jordan and there was a lot of anger in our dressing room afterwards. They are all very much behind raising this incident as far as possible to show their support to their team-mate.” Tapping, pictured, was applauded off the pitch by his team-mates. One supporter who was at the game said: “The ref stopped the game in the second half and spoke to the linesman. Then he seemed to call the head steward or someone like that. It was good couple of minutes he was speaking to the steward. The steward went over and spoke to someone behind the goal. It was just a single guy that they seemed to be speaking to. When [Tapping] went off, all the other East Stirling players were applauding him off the park.” As of last night, the Scottish Professional Football League had received no complaint. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/east-stirlingshire-s-tapping-racially-abused-1-3325536

Lifted from FF: By Grandmaster Suck Updated Friday, 7th March 2014 Official documents reveal Easdale and Laxey have joint security over both the Edmiston House and Albion car par properties. They will be paid back in the first instance from money generated by season ticket sales. The season tickets are effectively mortgaged to the debt. Laxey are charging a higher interest rate than Ticketus did. The details from the Registers of Scotland (land registry) - Security over Edmiston House granted to Sandy Easdale http://freepdfhosting.com/3474a90828.pdf Security over the Albion car park granted to Laxey Partners http://freepdfhosting.com/cef985a572.pdf Ranking agreement between Sandy Easdale and Laxey Partners http://freepdfhosting.com/1bfcbe0abb.pdf The Ranking Agreement basically establishes that both have claims over both the car park and Edmiston House. Have a look at the page hand-numbered 19 (its 3 pages down) in the Ranking Agreement - this mentions that the money to Sandy Easdale and Laxey will be repaid in the first instance from season ticket money. Peculiarly, the announcement to the Stock Exchange said the loan would be repaid by 1st September 2014 - http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11872699 - but the Ranking Agreement says 1st September 2015. http://www.followfollow.com/news/tmnw/season_ticket_sales_will_pay_for_easdale_and_laxey_loans_826877/index.shtml

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/mccoist-to-meet-wallace-to-discuss-summer-signings.23632214

Just as the truth is widely recognised as the first casualty of war, the most striking and predictable consequence of the kind of circumstances in which Rangers have floundered in recent years is almost invariably the proliferation of myths and misapprehensions. Principal among these is the ludicrous notion that the Ibrox club (and their traditional rivals, Celtic, for that matter) warrant being referred to as “a massive institution” whenever their descent into the fiscal void is discussed, as if another General Motors has gone to the wall. This is clearly a preposterous description to apply to an organisation whose latest financial returns show an annual turnover of £19 million. That equates to about three months’ takings for the average-sized Asda supermarket. Hard evidence of the regard in which the market held the new Rangers company which was formed after the liquidation of the old – that is, their status as a business as opposed to a crowd-pulling football team – first emerged with the results of the share issue launched under the former chief executive, Charles Green, in December, 2012. At the time, Green talked of the “huge” interest from “institutional investors”, a claim which was less than convincing, given the recessionary times in which the prospectus was offered. Nor did it seem to make sense for institutional investors – these are hedge funds and the like handling pensions and other monies on behalf of clients – to be risking substantial amounts of cash on a football club, and especially one in Scotland that would be operating in the relative penury of the bottom tier of the game. In the event, these so-called heavy hitters limited their commitment to a total of just £17m, with another £4m worth of shares bought by individual fans. Now the eight most prominent institutional investors (not counting Sandy Easdale, an individual businessman) own equity worth an average of £1.3m. This is a figure that would not cover the annual remuneration of the common-or-garden hedge fund manager. Indeed, as an accountant friend confirmed, it suggests the kind of throwaway “investment” that results from the company involved having been advised it would be tax-efficient, rather than a source of profit. Nor could these reputed heavyweights be accused of an attempt at seizing power at Ibrox, since the biggest among them, Laxey Partners, holds a mere 12.47 per cent of Rangers. Curiously, the company about which there has been so much intrigue over the past year or so – with puzzling, widespread demands for the identities of their personnel to be revealed – appeared only this week to show a pronounced insouciance in the matter of the Ibrox club’s business affairs. Having agreed to lend the club £1m in return for an interest payment of £150,000 as well as security over the Albion car park and Edmiston House in the event of failure to repay the loan, Laxey seemed surprisingly ready to cancel the deal in order to allow an apparently wealthy fan, George Letham, to step in with the funds at a more favourable rate. This hardly seems to be the action of a City predator, interested only in maximising returns for minimum stakes. If anything, it is an episode that hints strongly at the possibility that, whatever priorities and imperatives drive their interest in Rangers (unlike certain individuals such as Green) making a quick killing is not among them. Celtic’s ‘lost’ treble is hardly unprecedented The impish cast to Fergus McCann’s mind would surely have been highly activated by the events of this week. While Celtic fans were remembering and celebrating McCann’s rescue of the club from the financial quicksand and looming oblivion during the most critical days in its history in 1994, there was a simultaneous outbreak of disgruntlement that the team under Neil Lennon at present were only 21 points ahead of the pack on their way to a third successive league championship. For those apparently endowed with the memory of a goldfish, this is clearly just not good enough. The notion that Celtic should stroll virtually unopposed to a domestic treble every season on the nonsensical grounds that their traditionally strongest rivals, Rangers, play in a lower league, is a supposition not 
supported by historical statistics. Some observers refer to Lennon 
“losing” a treble, seemingly unaware that you can’t “lose” one, but simply fail to win one. During the periods of virtually unchallenged domination by each member of the Old Firm, those many occasions on which they fell short of a domestic grand slam were almost inevitably the result of defeats by lesser opponents. Graeme Souness managed five years at Ibrox without winning the Scottish Cup, unforgettably losing to Hamilton at home in 1987. Martin O’Neill contrived to have the most formidable side in the country in 2003 and win nothing as Rangers under Alex McLeish lifted everything. O’Neill took his team to Seville and the Uefa Cup final. He also took them to Inverness and lost in the Scottish Cup, before conceding the championship on goal difference. In one bizarrely contradictory article, Lennon was first of all chastised for his part in two “avoidable” defeats, by Morton in the League Cup and by Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup, thereby failing once again to land the treble. A few paragraphs later, however, Lennon was accused of being “ungracious” following his scathing remarks about referee Craig Thomson’s performance in Celtic’s defeat in their latest league match at Pittodrie. It is a perfectly legitimate view, but Lennon was “advised” by the observer that he should simply have accepted that “these things happen” and allowed Aberdeen the credit they deserved. These things certainly do happen – but, apparently, in some quarters 
they are only forgivable if they do no damage. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/glenn-gibbons-big-hitters-see-rangers-as-small-fry-1-3333239

A Paisley man who shouted sectarian abuse at rival fans following the Aberdeen versus Celtic Scottish Cup fixture was today sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court. Jan Reilly (46) was fined £200 and had a two year Football Banning Order imposed for shouting the abuse as he exited Celtic Park after the cup tie on February 8 this year. Speaking following sentencing Stephen Ferguson, Football Liaison Prosecutor for the West of Scotland, said: "Football fans on the way to or from a match should not be subjected to insults and abuse by someone seemingly intent on provoking them. This sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable, brings shame on the game and embarrasses genuine supporters." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/u/paisley-man-receives-football-banning-order-after-shouting-sectarian-abuse.1394206879 Very vague report!,what team does he support?, I think I can guess!

alex thomson ‏@alextomo 28m Rangers to go into Administration on Wednesday? At least one senior Glasgow accountant is saying so tonight. https://twitter.com/alextomo

Five people have been arrested in connection with crowd trouble at the Motherwell v Celtic game last week A reported £10,000 of damage was caused to seats in a section housing Celtic fans, a flare was let off in the same area before the game and two green smoke bombs were thrown on to the pitch during the match at Fir Park stadium on Friday. Celtic said they were ''appalled'' by the actions and issued precautionary suspensions to 128 supporters preventing them from attending home and away matches, while 250 season-ticket holders seated in the Green Brigade's corner of Celtic Park are to be moved to other parts of the ground. Police said 18 smoke bombs, three fireworks and one flare were set off. There were also disturbances and vandalism in Motherwell both before and after the game. Officers said five people were arrested in connection with the disorder on Monday and inquiries are continuing. The incident was the latest in a spate of trouble at Scottish football matches. A teenage girl was arrested after a flare was thrown from the Rangers support after their win at Falkirk on November 30, damaging the pitch, and a smoke bomb was thrown from the Motherwell support during their defeat by Albion Rovers on the same day. Last Saturday, 10 people were arrested in connection with football-related disorder before the Falkirk v Raith Rovers match. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/u/five-arrested-after-celtic-fan-trouble-at-motherwell-match.1386845170

James Ward has banned his Albion Rovers players from taking pictures on their phones when they visit Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals on Sunday. "I don't want anyone to think we are not taking this as seriously as it should be," the manager of the part-timers told BBC Scotland. "This is a massive game for our club and we see it as opportunity for our group of players to progress. "I don't want to belittle that in any way by making it a day out." Rovers sit seventh in League Two and lost to Montrose at the weekend, while Rangers are strolling to the League One title. There may only be one division separating the sides but there is a huge gulf in every other respect, with the Coatbridge club averaging less than 500 spectators for home league matches this season. Yet Ward remains convinced Rovers can cause another cup shock and reach the semi-finals, having earlier bundled Premiership side Motherwell out of the tournament. “Our players definitely have belief that they can win” James Ward Albion Rovers manager "This is a game we really want to give our best in," he said. "We can win and we'll do that by being fully committed to what we are doing on the day. "Rangers will need to play at their level to beat us, it won't be because we have put in a poor performance." Rovers have not been this far in the Scottish Cup for 80 years and Ward admits it is the biggest game of his career. However, he added: "I hope it's a stepping stone to bigger games because you never know what Sunday is going to bring. "Our players definitely have belief that they can win. "No better example of that was against Motherwell. Our team is organised, we are disciplined, everybody knows what is expected of them and they grew in confidence as that game went on. "We won the game - justifiably - because when we were in possession we were more effective. "Sunday is going to be similar. There are so many factors I can't control, like the size of the crowd and how our players will react to walking into an arena like that. "I'm hoping a lot of them get a lift from it, which will compensate for the one or two who are maybe a bit more nervous. "Hopefully we can grow into the game once more and capitalise on any nervousness from their fans and potentially from their players." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26477651

http://www.unionoffans.org/statements/2014/2/27/union-of-fans-statement-270214'>http://www.unionoffans.org/statements/2014/2/27/union-of-fans-statement-270214

Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 31s #Rangers Dave King "Message to fans is..if we don't hold board to account then we will have a couple of unnecessarily difficult years ahead" Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 1m Dave King "I am absolutely confident that Craig Whyte won't have a future at #Rangers going forward" Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 1m Dave King "There are powers behind the throne at #Rangers not represented on board" would prefer him an other likeminded people involved Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 2m Dave King believes there is a "guiding hand behind" #Rangers that is not currently sitting on the board. But doesn't name names. Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 3m Dave King says "what is very important" is transparency must come first, before any future investment. Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 4m Dave King says trying to avert "another financial crisis" at #Rangers & that board is relying on fans' "fierce loyalty" to come up with cash Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 5m DaveKing says "it is obvious" #Rangers is "running out of money" & was happy go be a significant investor but board has since "done nothing" Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 9m Dave King says real aim to get "proper transparency from #Rangers & would like not to have to set up fund for season tickets. Martin Williams ‏@Martin1Williams 11m Dave King says will meet the #Rangers board and insists his statements about "financial crisis" of club was "nothing controversial"

Ibrox investor Kieran Prior has thrown his weight behind Dave King's Rangers revolution THE former Goldman Sachs trader will meet the South African tycoon in London next week to discuss his plans to shake-up the boardroom at the beleaguered club. IBROX investor Kieran Prior has thrown his weight behind Dave King’s Rangers revolution. Prior will meet the South African tycoon in London next week – and reckons other major shareholders are ready to back his agenda for change. The former Goldman Sachs trader’s support of King comes as the ex-pat prepares to fly to the UK, vowing he will not leave until he comes up with a “definite game plan” for the future of the Ibrox club. Prior said: “Dave and I have spoken and I want to support his objectives for the club. He has asked to meet me in London next week for further talks to find the best way forward for Rangers. “I’ve talked with investors who hold significant stakes in the club and it’s my belief they are ready to back Dave’s vision for the future. “The board do not have the business acumen of Dave, nor his philanthropic approach to helping the club return to the top.” Prior, a childhood Rangers fan, owns around 2.5 per cent of the club and has invested £1million in the last 12 months. He is keen to invest more and is willing to take a financial hit on his existing shareholding if it helps the club back on its feet. He added: “In order for us to have a club at all we need a stable board and management structure and an ongoing supply of capital. “If that means a new rights issue then it means a new rights issue. If I have to dilute my shareholding for the good of the club then it’s no big deal. We may not need a shares issue but I’d rather have one if it safeguards the club.” Former director King, 58, urged fans last week to withhold season-ticket cash and hand it over to the club on a game-by-game basis. King, who lost £20m under Sir David Murray, decided he could no longer watch from the sidelines and claimed the current board, led by chairman David Somers, were burying their heads in the sand. He said: “I know they are running out of money, hence my approach to them late last year. “I said then, ‘It’s now early enough to anticipate you will not make the end of the year on your current cash balances so let’s try to go about a new fundraising exercise’. “I was happy to be a significant investor, in fact a leader of a consortium putting new funds into the club with the only condition they went into the club. I wasn’t interested in taking on existing shareholders and buying their shares. “I was looking for a new share issue and for those funds to go into the club but they have adopted a ‘Nero fiddling while Rome burns’ approach. “The board has done nothing, has not been transparent with the finance and we now know they have run out of funds and are trying to shuffle on hoping the fans will again rescue them. “They are looking for money for season tickets so they can continue for another couple of months before another financial crisis. That is what I am trying to avert. “The board has said my intentions are damaging but the opposite is true. The board should go to the fans and say, ‘This is the true state of the position at the club’. “I will meet the board. I will visit the institutions in London next week and put a schedule together with some of the existing shareholders to find out where they are and how they feel about a rights issue. “I will stay in Scotland for as long as it takes until we have a definite game plan.” Meanwhile, King has rejected claims from Sandy Easdale he never held talks with the transport boss about putting new funds into the club. King said: “I subsequently spoke with Sandy and he has confirmed he intended his comment to be construed as meaning I had never offered loan finance to the club. “He is correct. I have only offered equity finance. I do not believe the club can afford debt at this time. “I accept his statement was a misunderstanding and he was not intending to impugn my integrity.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ibrox-investor-kieran-prior-thrown-3212193

Celtic striker Anthony Stokes charged with assault Anthony Stokes Anthony Stokes is alleged to have assaulted an Elvis impersonator in a Dublin nightclub Celtic striker and Republic of Ireland international Anthony Stokes has been charged with assaulting an Elvis impersonator in a Dublin nightclub. The 25-year-old is accused of attacking Anthony Bradley, 42, at Buck Whaley's nightclub, on Lesson Street, in the Irish capital, on 8 June last year. The footballer made no reply to the charge at Dublin District Court. Judge Michael Walsh remanded Stokes on bail, with no conditions, on his own bond of 1,000 euros. Mr Stokes has been ordered to appear again before the court on 29 May. Arranged arrest Judge Walsh asked him to hand over details of his mobile phone to prosecuting authorities. The court heard that the Celtic striker was arrested - by arrangement - on Chancery Street in Dublin on Thursday afternoon. He was officially charged with assault causing harm, under section three of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. Garda Noel Gibbons, of Pearse Street Garda station, gave evidence at the brief hearing of the arrest, charge and caution. The garda officer agreed with Mr Stokes' solicitor Michael Staines that the footballer had co-operated with the arrest and charge. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-26470771

Former Rangers director Dave King will fly in from South Africa next week and not leave Scotland until he comes up with a “definite gameplan” for the future of the Ibrox club. The South Africa-based businessman last week urged supporters to withhold season- ticket money and hand it over to the club on a game-by-game basis, amid growing concerns about the League 1 leaders’ finances and governance. The 58-year-old Glaswegian, who invested £20million in the club before it was consigned to liquidation in June 2012, made his plea to fans after Rangers confirmed they had accepted £1.5million in loans from shareholders Sandy Easdale and Laxey Partners. King then accepted an invitation to meet the Rangers board after an open letter from chairman David Somers claimed he was “damaging the club” with his statements, although he mocked the tone of the letter, saying he was being “summoned” to explain himself. Backed by the influential Union of Fans coalition, King will first jet into London to meet with investors in the club before travelling to Glasgow where, aside from his appointment with the Ibrox board, he will meet supporters to find a way forward for the Govan club. “I will visit the institutions in London next week and put a schedule together with some of the existing shareholders to understand where they are and how they would feel about a rights issue,” said King. “Also, whether they would participate, whether they would give the rights to someone like me and I would like that out of the way before I meet the fans. Then I will stay up in Scotland for as long as it takes until we have a definite gameplan as to how we will go forward from there.” Former finance director Brian Stockbridge said in October that Rangers would only have around £1m of cash reserves left by April but chief executive Graham Wallace has denied there is a risk of a second administration. King claims the Ibrox board were fully aware of their predicament when they refused his offer of help late last year. “I said then ‘it’s now early enough to anticipate you will not make the end of the year on your current cash balances and let’s now try, and in an orderly fashion, go about a new fund-raising exercise’,” he recalled. “I was happy to be a significant investor, in fact a leader of a consortium putting new funds into the club with the only condition that the funds went into the club. “I was looking for a new share issue and for those funds to go into the club and into the team and really all that’s happened is they have adopted a ‘Nero fiddling while Rome burns’ approach where the inevitability of the next couple of months has come to pass. “They are looking for [fans] to give enough money for season tickets so they can continue for another couple of months before again ending up in another financial crisis. That is what I am trying to avert at this point.” King later clarified that he had offered to invest in Rangers in response to an apparently misleading statement by Easdale, which was read out on Sky Sports News. He said: “I refer to Sandy Easdale’s statement earlier today that I had never had discussions with him regarding putting new funds into the club. “I subsequently engaged in private communication with Sandy and he has confirmed directly to me that he intended his comment to be construed as meaning that I had never offered loan finance to the club. I accept that Sandy’s incorrect statement was merely a misunderstanding and that he was not intending to impugn my integrity.”

What has happened to Celtic's support of this rhag now that they have untold millions to spend? From Quinty on RM, http://t.co/IDysjpkfvH THE Daily Record and Sunday Mail newspapers are seeking applications for voluntary redundancy – on ‘enhanced terms’. Confirmed a spokesperson at publishers, Media Scotland (a division of Trinity Mirror): “Media Scotland has the country’s biggest combined print and digital audience. “While print circulations and advertising revenues are declining, we are seeing positive growth in digital. We need to restructure our business so we can invest and take advantage of that growth. “I am keen to ensure this is done in the most open way possible so we are announcing a voluntary severance scheme which will allow those who wish to apply the opportunity to request to leave their employment on enhanced terms.” There is no official word on numbers or types of posts that the newspapers might most want to dispense with. It is understood Media Scotland manager director, Allan Rennie, is to address staff at 2pm today, and there is to be a NUJ chapel meeting tomorrow at 3pm. * * * from TrueAzure on RM, "The Father of Chapel (FoC) and Mother of Chapel (MoC) are the titles in the United Kingdom referring to a shop steward representing members of a trade union in a printing office or in journalism. The FoC or MoC is assisted by the Clerk of the Chapel or by a Deputy FoC/MoC. In the printing trade, a Chapel was the traditional name given to a meeting of compositors. The name originates in the early history of printing in Great Britain, when printing offices were controlled by churches (hence "chapel"). The name also honours the origins of British trade unionism, where non-conformist churches often acted as covers for trade union activity, which was illegal at the time." I guess we should help them out by not clicking on their online versions !!