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

GRAHAM WALLACE, the Rangers chief executive, has revealed that manager Ally McCoist will learn his budget for next season before his review of the business is concluded. Wallace is coming towards the end of his 120-day analysis of all aspects of the club's business, and with Rangers promoted to the SPFL Championship, the manager had revealed a desire to make signings, despite the club's precarious financial position, as highlighted by the release yesterday of their interim results. Now Wallace plans to give McCoist an indication of his likely budget before his review is concluded next month. "In terms of the overall financial number [for the playing budget] we will agree what that is and then work within that on the playing side," said the chief executive. "In terms of determining our football player needs and squad needs that does not wait until the end of the 120 days. "Ally McCoist and myself are in constant dialogue in terms of assessing the current squad. He has his views on areas he would like to strengthen for next season and we are working on looking at the alternatives in terms of meeting that need. Once we finalise the overall financial budget that will give us a clearer indication of what we want to do. It would be wrong for anybody to think that everybody is sitting on their hands waiting on the outcome of the review." http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/wallace-plans-early-budget-for-mccoist.23814048

Looks like he's going to be replaced by Neil Warnock at Forest. Wouldn't require any compensation now...

Taken from FF The RFFF voted today that in the event of litigation against Craig Houston, arising from content on the Sons Of Struth Facebook page, a proposal to provide financial support will be taken to a general meeting of fans.

We are delighted to announce that Walter Smith has agreed to do a night with us in aid of the Rangers Disabled Supporters Club. I cannot state how immensely proud we are to have secured a night with one of the greatest managers in our club’s history. Tickets £20 and include a bite to eat and are available at http://www.thelouden.co.uk/events.html Doors will open at 7pm for the event with the Q&A scheduled to begin at 8pm. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and all ticket sales are final and will be collected on the door on the night. One Rangers… No Factions – http://www.thelouden.co.uk, @TheLoudenTavern We Are The People God Bless The Rangers The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium - More than a Pub Official Partner of The Rangers Football Club *We are responsible for The Louden Tavern: Ibrox Stadium, 111 Copland Road, Ibrox, G51 2SL solely and are not involved in the operation of any other premises

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

keith jackson ‏@tedermeatballs @kevineasson i hear they will be announced tomorrow keith jackson ‏@tedermeatballs 22m Celtic on the brink of celebrating another title. Rangers on the brink of announcing more enormous losses. Interesting 24 hours ahead.

Rangers Youth ‏@RFC_Youth 4m #RANGERS U20 to face Hibs: Gallagher, Pascazio, Sinnamon, Hegarty, Gasparotto, Telfer, Finnie, Gibson, Stoney, Crawford, Dykes. Rangers Youth ‏@RFC_Youth 4m #RANGERS U20 SUBS: Liam Kelly, Scott Roberts, Adam Wilson and Michael Mossie. Reply With Quote

Sunday, 23 March 2014 15:45 48-Hour Wait For Duo Written by Andrew Dickson RANGERS hope to find out the extent of damage done to Nicky Law and Ian Black in today’s win at Brechin inside the next 48 hours. Midfielder Law went off in the first half of the 2-1 success in Angus after hurting his back and he was replaced by Sebastien Faure. Black then had to be carried off on a stretcher after he went to shoot and connected with the sole of an opponent’s boot instead in the second period. The ex-Hearts star left Glebe Park on crutches but Gers are hopeful his foot will just be badly bruised rather than anything more serious. It remains to be seen if he’ll be fit enough for next weekend’s trip to face Arbroath at Gayfield but that will become clearer as the week goes on. At this stage, it appears Ally McCoist is more optimistic of having Law available for the meeting with the Red Lichties. After the final whistle sounded on a success which takes Gers 32 points clear of Dunfermline in League One, he hinted the Englishman’s withdrawal was a precaution more than anything. McCoist – already without key men Andy Little and David Templeton in the coming weeks - said: “At this moment in time they are both toiling. “We won’t really know how they are for another 24 to 48 hours. Blackie’s got a sore one. He went to strike the ball, the lad went to block him and I think everyone in the crowd heard it. “It looked and sounded like a sore one so he’ll ice it just now and we’ll reassess that one tomorrow morning. “Nicky is very much the same. He just felt he twisted his back a bit on a run through in the first half and we weren’t taking any chances so we took him off.” http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6597-48-hour-wait-for-duo

IF, LIKE me, you’re proud of the Scottish Cup being the oldest national football trophy in the world you might have issues with it copying other inferior johnny-come-lately tournaments. I’m thinking of the screeching pop music, the balsa-wood stage for the winners, the celebratory bouncing, even the foliage in the managers’ lapels. You were first, Scottish, do your own thing. Don’t be bullied by the Champions League into moving from sacred Saturday to Sunday. And – favourites of this column – let’s bring back the massed pipes and drums and the Alsatian obstacle-course. Some of those changes are modernisms and maybe we have to move with the times. But every year our clubs are writing the cup’s history, a dutiful task like that of the trophy’s engraver. And when future generations of football students and anoraks open up Wikipedia at season 2013-14, what will they see? That Rangers played their semi-final at Ibrox, their home ground. Seriously, that has to be a joke. What an all-consuming tale this is. Truly, our cup runneth over. There’s stupidity, arrogance, incompetence, intransigence, fatuousness, our-club’s-bigger-than-your-club juvenalia, delusions of grandeur, you name it. Let’s deal first with the delusions of grandeur. The Scottish Football Association, who announced as far back as last October that Ibrox would host both last-four ties due to Hampden being out of action, have in the midst of the rammy tried to cite Euro precedent. The Champions League final venue is confirmed a whole season in advance, they point out, and you’ve got to forward-plan. Who are they kidding? Without wishing to contradict myself, the Scottish Cup is not the Champions League. It does not need six months of planning. George Peat, the former SFA president, recalled seasons in the League Cup where the Scottish league would have less than a week to arrange all-ticket ties. Peat said that while the SFA would have signed a contract for Ibrox he couldn’t understand why they didn’t have a plan B in the event of Rangers reaching the semis. Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson reckoned he had a pretty good idea why: money. All current SFA chief executive Stewart Regan, pictured right, was interested in was the commercial benefits, he claimed. “Obviously looking after the sponsors is more important than it being a neutral venue.” Certainly Ibrox getting the semis and Celtic Park having the final sounds very SFA: a divvying up in the grand old tradition. But I do find it astonishing that no one in a blazer thought the cup could pan out like this. If no one did, requiring the plan B that Peat was talking about, then you have to wonder what kind of brains trust is running the game. The SFA have tried to pass the buck for being aware that Ibrox was the home of a club who potentially had semi-final aspirations back to the rest of Scottish football, saying that any concerns should have been raised at the time of the decision. It is here that the story becomes a bit murkier. You can find two different Dundee United responses. Yes, we had concerns and raised them then. No, we didn’t because it would have been presumptuous to suggest we’d be involved in the semis. But this isn’t the crucial aspect, and the second response would have been perfectly acceptable. The duty for organising one of the oldest club football competitions in the world, and avoiding the complete and utter embarrassment of one team having home advantage in their favour to reach the final, rests entirely with the SFA and it is both laughable and chilling that they appear not to have anticipated this could happen, or had a contingency plan, or were unprepared to change the venue when, as Peat says, they still had the best part of a month to do so. The bickering between Rangers and Dundee United was caused by the SFA, although the individual reactions of the clubs were fairly predictable. United laying into the game’s rulers, angry at the SFA’s tone, arguing that given the number of talented young footballers they were producing for the greater good they didn’t deserve such treatment. And Rangers, in the squabble over how many tickets United should receive, labelling their fans glory-hunters. Ally McCoist chose this moment to boast about Rangers’ bigger support. The last time United had been in a semi, against Celtic, Hampden was only half-full. His club’s fans didn’t just turn out for semis, McCoist said, but all games. Not true, of course – Ibrox wasn’t packed for the quarter-final against Albion Rovers – but the basic point hardly needed to be made: a lot of people like to watch Rangers do their special thing. The issue then became ludicrous with McCoist claiming no special benefits for his men from playing in the distinctive Govan air, with yon majestic Broomloan Stand rising up behind them and the classic criss-cross detailing by the great stadium architect Archibald Leitch so known to the team, like the tattoo on the back of a hand. “There’s very little to be taken from home advantage the higher you go in football,” he argued, before being quickly backed up by his striker Jon Daly. Sorry guys, but you’re talking tripe. Daly would not be saying “I don’t see Ibrox as being an advantage” if he was still a Dundee United player and McCoist would not be dismissing the venue as being of no significance if Rangers were facing a Scottish Cup final at Celtic Park against … Celtic. This too was among the scenarios of the SFA’s “planning” last October. They’ve avoided that, but a semi at the Big Hoose featuring its occupants is definitely happening. To be fair to McCoist and Thompson, they’ve toned down the language since the rumpus kicked off. But 12 April is currently shaping up as a dread day in the football calendar rather than one for families to enjoy. The SFA can still change the venue and they should. As things stand they’re doing no favours to Rangers save for stoking the defiance of their own fans and the conspiracy theories of the rest. They’re doing no favours to Dundee United who’ve been dealt a grossly unfair hand for sure but must be wondering if making such a stink could cause their young team to think their abilities to win are being doubted. Most of all, though, they’re discrediting the grand old Scottish Cup. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/aidan-smith-sfa-should-change-semi-final-venue-1-3350659

On the eve of his 1000th game Alan Smith picked his best Wenger XI excluding players that were at Arsenal before he arrived - meaning likes of Seaman, Adams , Parlour and Bergkamp cant be picked. He went: _____________________Lehmann_____________________ Sagna_________Campbell____Koscielny_______Cole Walcott_______Vieira_____Fabregas_________Pires _________________Henry____Van Persie________ Im going: ___________________Szecezny_____________________ Lauren_______Campbell____Toure_________Cole Walcott_____Vieira_______Fabregas______Pires ________________Ljungberg___________________ _______________________Henry________________ RVP was a one season wonder while Ljungberg was class for years. And Walcott has offered more than RVP also so gets in the team. Hard to leave out Anelka and Overmars but Pires gave that bit extra on the left and Ljungberg has to make it.

So sayest the Scottish Sun Can't say I have seen much of him, FFers rate him as good talent (though the Yahoos were linked with him in January). Like Gavin Gunning (whom we'll see in April) of the Arabs a freebie this summer. Cribari is for the off, as are probably Perry and Hegarty. We have to see how any youth player shapes up in these last few months as well, but competition next season will be more demanding and getting experienced freebies on two-years deals et al is still No. 1 option.

by Graham Taylor | Guest Contributor I’ll be the first to admit that when the name of Sandy Easdale was first mooted as having a possible involvement at Rangers in November 2012 I didn’t know the first thing about him, as no doubt many that do not live in the central belt probably didn’t either. Handily though, the Daily Record were quick to point people in the direction of Mr Easdale’s somewhat questionable business past with an article entitled “Bus tycoon Sandy Easdale who was jailed over VAT fraud is courted as possible investor at Ibrox”. Taken at face value at a time when the club was needing to regain its credibility following the disastrous insolvency experience under the stewardship of Craig Whyte, I, like many, was aghast at the thought of an individual with an equally-dubious business background to that of Whyte being involved at the club. It was noticeable from the story that the Rangers spokesman at the time felt it necessary to give direct comment on the possible involvement of Easdale at the club. Looking back it is clear that, even from that early stage, Sandy Easdale was being lined up for a prominent role at the club. As the beginnings of a boardroom turf war started to creep its way into the spotlight Sandy and his brother James joined the embattled Charles Green in the Directors' Box for the friendly against Linfield. It was around this time that Green was feeling the heat for his links to Craig Whyte and the fallout from his racist remarks in a Sunday newspaper interview, so with the focus firmly on Green it was perhaps an ideal opportunity for the Easdale brothers to be seen with the man firmly in the public domain. Days later, Green resigned his post as Chief Executive of the club. A few days beyond that, it was announced by BBC Scotland’s Chris McLaughlin that James Easdale–and not Sandy–would be buying the seven percent shareholding held by Green. Now, given what we know now, why was it James that was announced as the man looking to buy the sizeable shareholding and not Sandy who has been largely the main figure at the club in recent times? And why was it claimed by McLaughlin that the brothers held a shareholding far in-excess of what they could possibly have held then and still do to this day? Coincidentally, it became common knowledge around this time that Jack Irvine had become the Easdale brothers’ personal PR representative. This led to the infamous interview where Sandy and, to a lesser extent, James laid out their vision for Rangers going forward to BBC Scotland’s Chief Football Correspondent whilst sitting in one of their buses. For businessmen hoping to be taken seriously in their objective of securing board representation, it was an abjectly embarrassing episode. Sure enough and even with a relatively small level of shareholding James Easdale was given a non-executive Director role on the plc board. Sandy would have to wait a few weeks later for his role on the Ltd company board, which he was later named Chairman of with the remit to run the business side of the club that the plc board did not run day-to-day. Sandy was subsequently asked in an interview with STV’s Peter Smith if he felt his conviction for VAT Fraud in 1997 contributed to him being unable to take a role on the plc board. He denied this was the case and said it was his decision to not take up a role on the plc board. It was widely discussed in October last year, none more so than by the former Scotsman journalist Tom English in an amusing parody, that Easdale did not wish for Dave King to be involved at the club and that Easdale’s PR representative had been briefing journalists that King’s potential involvement would be vetoed by the relevant authorities. King himself admitted last month that his recent discussions with a view to investing in the club were held with Easdale and not the Chief Executive Graham Wallace or the Chairman of the Investment Committee Norman Crighton. King has since said that had it not been for fan pressure then the board would not have met with him in the last few days. Now what possible problem would Sandy Easdale have with a committed fan investor such as Dave King being involved in the restoration of Rangers? If he’s as big a supporter as he claims to be then getting King involved is a no-brainer, but if the above is true then it seems Easdale is continually putting obstacles in the way of King getting in the door. Why? The question that many would pose is just what purpose does Rangers Football Club hold for Mr Alexander Easdale? Does he see the club as a passionate hobby and is involved to assist the club in its return to its rightful place? Does he see Rangers as a commercial opportunity to make a profit from, as is the case with the various institutional investors? Or does he see his involvement as a chance to create a public profile that would give him the type of status that is indicative of others with similar wealth in Scotland? And with the added bonus of providing him with a less-than-dubious prefix to his name when being discussed in media circles, unlike the “ex-con” he was described as in the above Daily Record article prior to his involvement at the club? The questions surrounding Easdale don’t end there. For instance, why has he decided that Craig Houston from the Sons of Struth or the GersNet site is more deserving of litigation proceedings than the fans of lesser clubs or frequenters of bus and coach forums who constantly label him with the same terms? Why have his solicitors Levy McRae issued legal letters for and demanded immediate cessation on Rangers fan forums only and not targeted these various other football and travel sites? One Google search will confirm that this is the case, yet he has chosen to make an example of an ordinary Rangers supporter, as Alexander also claims to be. Why? Why did he claim in the interview with Peter Smith that he had investors lined up to invest in Rangers if need be? If so, why were these investors not approached prior to him providing a loan facility that is secured against valuable tangible assets such as Edmiston House and the Albion car park? Did these investors even exist or was it just bluster for the cameras? With the voting rights of Blue Pitch Holdings and Margarita Funds Holding Trust still registered in his name does he still have a binding agreement to purchase the remainder of Charles Green’s shareholding as per the Media House press release of 30th August 2013, an acquisition which would take him over the concert party threshold of 29.9 percent? And given his good relationship with the individuals behind these trusts, why won’t he come to an agreement with them to publicly reveal their identities to allay fears that certain individuals with alleged criminal activities are involved? For all the questions there are over Sandy Easdale’s involvement at Rangers, there is one that stands out more than most: If the institution that is Rangers means as much to him as he claims, why is that everything he has done in his time in the limelight appears to be to the detriment of what the vast majority consider to be in the best interests of Rangers Football Club? And does he even care...? http://www.thecoplandroad.org/2014/03/posing-question-of-alexander-easdale.html

http://www.rangerstv.tv/showseries.php?s=61&c=Inside%20Ibrox

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)

KEITH says the resurgence of Aberdeen under the impressively astute Derek McInnes is something that should be cherished and encouraged at a time when Scottish football is struggling. DEREK McINNES has done the first part of the job. A huge red monster has been poked in the ribs. Consciousness has now been successfully regained. But here’s the trouble with waking a sleeping giant. You better make sure it gets out of the right side of the bed because you wouldn’t like it when it’s angry. And you most certainly don’t want to be the cause of its ire. For example, if McInnes does not win the League Cup Final – after watching the abysmal manner in which Inverness Caley Thistle self-destructed against Dundee United yesterday – then he may suddenly find himself with some explaining to do. Worse still, even if McInnes does deliver the Pittodrie punters with their first piece of silver since 1995 on Sunday, he might still be chased the length of Union Street by the natives should somehow fate dictate that he loses a Scottish Cup Final to Rangers. Now don’t laugh. I’m serious. Okay so first Ally McCoist will have to find a way of getting past Albion Rovers in a replay next week. And you wouldn’t bet bad money on them doing anything of the kind. Then – against all odds – they’ll have to deal with the effervescence of Dundee United in the semis. At the same time, McInnes will have to negotiate a way past St Johnstone. But the truth is if Rangers somehow make it to the Final, McInnes might never recover from the shame of not seeing this lot off. In fact, the most damning thing about this latest Rangers humiliation is it did not even register as a shock to see them scrambling to salvage a 1-1 draw against a team of part-time kids on £20 a week. A mild surprise? Perhaps. Shockingly unprofessional? Absolutely. But anyone who was actually, genuinely left slack-jawed in amazement at what went on at Ibrox yesterday afternoon has clearly not been paying due attention to the mess this club has made of itself on and off the park in recent times. So woe betide McInnes then if he should somehow find a way not to do away with his old club. Aberdeen, you see, are standing on the shoulders of history. For more years now than anyone cares to remember this has been one big Incredible Sulk of a football club. Consistently, almost without fail in fact it has punched way below its weight. Often embarrassingly so. But two cups and a second-placed finish in the league can end all that. To put it simply even though there was a similar high point back in 1990 the recent years of bottom-six finishes and the ensuing onset of being comatose this could be the single greatest Aberdeen awakening since Gothenburg. Or it could take crestfallen to new levels. But before it goes one way or the other let’s add a sense of perspective to Aberdeen’s rise while remembering “In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is King”. We could rework that old saying for the modern-day game in this country. In the land of the incompetents, the mediocre man wins medals. And before this mighty and mobilising Red Army starts frothing at the mouth let me make one thing clear. Recently in these very pages, not only did I write that Aberdeen are now well and truly back but, what is more, all of Scottish football should be glad about it. The fact they have shifted more than 40,000 tickets for Sunday’s cup final at Celtic Park merely confirms that a healthy, vibrant Aberdeen is good for business. The game in this country doesn’t have a lot going for it right now but the resurgence of this club under the impressively astute McInnes is something that should be cherished and encouraged. They have been out cold up north for far too long. But while all of that is true, it would be absurd to start fawning over this Aberdeen team or to mistake McInnes’s players for a new batch of Willie Millers, Alex McLeishs and Mark McGhees when evidently they are not. In today’s world they do not need to be. Aberdeen must only achieve competence to emerge as this country’s second force. McInnes has simply been smart enough to recognise this as a fact. Just look at the slapstick defending that cost Inverness their place in the semi-finals yesterday. Some of it was hysterical. Much of it was beyond parody. And this from a team competing in the last eight of the Scottish Cup? It would not seem unreasonable to expect better of a team playing on a public park. In the current climate, simply being competent, resolute and organised is enough to turn any team into genuine contenders. The difference at Pittodrie is McInnes is both smart enough to realise it and capable enough to make it happen. When he brought in Barry Robson and Willo Flood in the summer, McInnes was hanging his hat on the tried and tested. Men who have been over the course and back again. Even at the peak of their powers they were never considered to be world beaters. Their career highs came and went more than five years ago when both of them ended up at Gordon Strachan’s Celtic. The truth is, they’ve been on a downward trajectory ever since. The fact they are now the joint powerhouses in Aberdeen’s engine room suggests clearly the decline of the Scottish game has been a great deal steeper and faster than that of their own. McInnes was shrewd enough to identify even if this pair’s best days are beyond them they are still better than most of their contemporaries. And it was the same in January when McInnes pulled off another fine piece of business in bringing Adam Rooney back to the Scottish top flight. That signing, in my view, secured second spot in the table. It may well turn out to have bought McInnes a cup double too. And yet the reason Rooney was available for free was because he had just been released by League One outfit Oldham, despite his previously prolific stint in Inverness. On Saturday, Rooney scored his sixth goal in eight appearances for Aberdeen to knock Dumbarton out of the Scottish Cup quarters. McInnes conceded after that nervy 1-0 win some of his players are starting to feel the pressure that comes with the weight of expectation bearing down on their slender shoulders. That’s human nature and perfectly understandable. But they should worry not. They are the best of the rest and now is no time for self-doubt to get in their way and stop them from reaching out to claim what is theirs. It’s not rocket science. They have the second-best team in the country because they have assembled the second-best group of players. McInnes has spent well. His squad’s wage bill is significantly short of £2million and miles shy of the £6m currently being wasted by Rangers. Which just goes to show sound management is not just as simple as signing big cheques. Yes, McInnes has made Aberdeen a force again. He had better not blow it all now.

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.

http://www.rangersfirst.org/

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

https://twitter.com/TheSundayLife/status/439897127913656321/photo/1

Just in case anyone fancies doing this while raising money for charity! http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/225-football-aid-2014-play-at-ibrox

Hi All,: As many of you may have heard, SDMC Productions is producing a Feature Length Documentary charting the Extraordinary story of Rangers Football Club - Still the most Successful Domestic Club in the World ! This was originally to be a SDMC & BBC project; however, due to the relationship between Rangers/The Fans and the BBC we have decided to fund this ourselves. We are now opening a project to include the Fans and Supporters in this feature and will then screen in Cinemas around Scotland. Please check out the link below to our project page and support if possible - Please also pass to Friends, Family and fellow supporters and help us get this project completed! Link: Thanks guys! Niraj. -- Niraj Dave |Researcher SDMC Productions Limited Email: niraj.dave@sdmcproductions.com Office: http://www.sdmcproductions.com [​IMG] Disclaimer: The contents of this e-mail are confidential to the recipient to which addressed. It may not be disclosed or used by anyone other than addressee, nor may it be copied in any way. If received in error, please contact SDMC Productions Ltd @ mail@sdmcproductions.com quoting name of sender and addressee. PLEASE DELETE FROM SYSTEM Please note that neither SDMC Productions nor any Employees or associates accept any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of SDMC Productions Ltd by means of e-mail communication.

I watched a wonderful short film this week, on the effect the reintroduction of wolves has had on Yellowstone National Park in America. Wolves were wiped out in the area 70 years ago but several packs were brought back twenty years ago in the hope they would breed and reestablish them. A highly controversial move, the wolves were closely monitored and the effect they had on Yellowstone was studied during this period. As a large carnivore there was much apprehension about the wolves; would they decimate other species, clear large parts of the park of other mammals, indeed would they endanger man? The actual findings were mind blowing. The wolves mainly hunt deer and prior to the wolves return the deer had enjoyed decades with no natural predator except man. As such, they grazed where they wanted for as long as they wanted, they moved slowly through the landscape and their numbers grew and grew. The reemergence of the wolves changed this. The change wasn’t that large numbers of deer were killed (there aren’t that many wolves and there are tens of thousands of deer) it was that the return of the deer’s natural hunter led to a dramatic change in deer behaviour. Previously the deer grazed where they liked but now they were much more cautious and this was particularly noticeable near rivers. The grazing is good there, but it is open, and the deer were easily hunted. As the deer modified their behaviour and avoided grazing on the lower ground the vegetation changed, grass grew longer, bushes and trees reached maturity instead of being stripped back by hungry deer when small. This led to insects returning which in turn brought birds. The longer grass brought rabbits and the eagles who hunt them. Bears returned to eat the berries that now ripened on the bushes, beavers returned and used the mature trees to make dams. Most astonishingly of all the course of the river changed. Previously it meandered, it flooded regularly and the rain ran off the surrounding land quickly eroding the area. Now the increased vegetation soaked up much of the rainfall and its roots held the soil together. So the river ran deeper and faster, it no longer meanders it flows true. The wolves had indirectly been responsible for changing the course and flow of a river. What must be remembered is that wolves weren’t artificially introduced to the area; rather their absence in the first place was artificial. The ecology of Yellowstone evolved over thousands of years and at the top of the food chain was wolves. This large carnivore was meant to be there, nature had decided that a long time ago, the rest of the park actually depended on it. Its removal caused the damage, not its reintroduction. Every aspect of the park relied on the wolf directly or indirectly. Rangers play Stenhousemuir for the fourth time this season on Saturday. We’ve won our two previous league meetings and our meeting in the cup. Our last match at Ibrox saw us triumph by eight goals, our subsequent meetings have been much closer affairs. This match is being played against the backdrop of continued problems in Scottish football. The removal of Rangers from the top flight has upset the trophic cascade, the natural order of things evolved over more than 100 years is seriously out of kilter. Celtic have no serious rival as such and they are now meandering, their club is selling its best players, their manager speaks openly about being unsettled and their support, as well as showing apathy towards attending matches now fill their time by promoting songs about Irish murder gangs, making ill-thought-out political statements or indulging in good old fashioned hooliganism. The game’s governing bodies now no longer even hold the pretence of parity. They award cup finals and semi finals to grounds months in advance rather than wait to see who’ll contest them. Their decisions regarding cup matches and Inverness have bordered on the corrupt, the ticket allocation for the League Cup final being only the latest example. The side who finished second in the country last season, Motherwell, still managed to make a loss of nearly £200,000. The prize money they should have received was drastically cut half way through the season you see, no surprise there. This happened despite them cutting their player budget the previous close season. Still the league has no sponsor, in the top flight the champions and the side relegated was decided before a ball was kicked and the standard of play and player continues to drop. Without its largest animal the competition is reduced, the drive is lost and the revenue that follows it dries up. All of these things are interconnected, remove something from the natural order of things and it takes a long time to recover, if it ever does. Stenhousemuir go into this match with a new manager, former Scottish international and feted wunderkind Scott Booth. Although the current Scotland under 17 coach doesn’t take up his post for a few more weeks we can expect his new players to be eager to prove their worth to him. So motivation shouldn’t be an issue for stand-in coach Brown Ferguson’s side. Stenhousemuir are in a bad run of form with no victories this year, only their early season good results afford them the relative safety of sixth place. Rangers go into the match without Moshni who remains suspended. Cribari did well against Ayr and should retain his place although I expect McCulloch to return to the defence and Foster to drop out. Beyond that the side should pick itself, MacLeod should come into contention if fit again but I expect Bell, Law, Wallace, Black, Daly, Faure, Templeton and Aird to start. I don’t expect a repeat of the early season 8-0 but half that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow particularly if we score early. Stenhousemuir have both suffered and benefited from being in the same league as Rangers. Having the largest carnivore in the country close by drastically reduces the likelihood of promotion for every other club in our division, but it does offer them other tangible benefits. Our presence is artificial though, man made and it is upsetting the natural order of things. The trophic cascade refers to interconnectivity, how removing something from the top of the food chain has consequences all the way down that chain, how these changes can’t all be foreseen or managed and it is vital that chain isn’t allowed to be tampered with artificially. Recent meetings aimed at securing a voice for Rangers supporters in our boardroom should be welcomed, not only by all Rangers fans but also by all football fans. Whatever your feelings towards our club, we are all connected and interdependent, it’s in everyone’s interests that we’re back where we belong believe it or not. The only thing that should prevent that happening is our side not being good enough. Financial stability and accountability are vital, not just for our sake but for every club in the country. Nobody should fear the return of the wolf, its return should be welcomed by all.