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  1. Alasdair Lamont ‏@BBCAlLamont 33m Rangers chief exec Graham Wallace on £320k pa + 100% bonus. Plus £25k salary increase as Rangers move up leagues. More to follow.
  2. FORMER Rangers manager the late Jock Wallace was one of Scottish football's best known and successful coaches but after leaving Rangers he endured a challenging relationship with his old club. SNS Group Former manager Jock Wallace gets a rousing reception from the Ibrox crowd.JOCK WALLACE won 10 trophies and two Trebles in his two spells as manager of Rangers. It was a haul that made him a hero in the eyes of the Ibrox support long after his second stint ended in 1986. Wallace never spoke about his reasons for leaving Ibrox weeks after delivering the Treble in 1978. Nor did he publicly voice his dismay at being sacked in 1986 before short spells at Sevilla and Colchester brought his grand career to an end. But there was one incident – on Saturday, April 2 1988 – that cut big Jock to the core – the day he was escorted out of Ibrox by stewards. Rangers had lost 2-1 to Hearts and Wallace was standing outside the Blue Room looking for chief executive David Holmes. He was approached by a red-faced commissionaire, who said: “Excuse me, but I have been instructed to escort you off the premises.” Wallace asked the security man to repeat what he had just said and he did, word for word. Wallace replied with the question which under normal circumstances is the preserve of those of an egotistical nature – but on this occasion it was fully justified. He said: “Do you know who I am?” The commissionaire replied: “Yes, Mr Wallace, I do.” Wallace asked who had given him his instructions, and he replied “Mr Hood” – referring to Rangers’ operations executive Alastair Hood although he was conspicuous by his absence at that moment. A furious Wallace marched up to the members’ lounge and told his wife Daphne they were leaving. The irony was assistant manager Walter Smith had left complimentary tickets for Wallace and his wife. When the match finished he was making his way to the top of the marble staircase to head home when he was stopped by a steward and asked to look in to the members’ lounge. There he met the comedian Mr Abie, former player Billy Semple and a host of other long-standing friends. He stood chatting for 10 minutes, while Daphne did the same with a group of old friends. Wallace decided then to seek out Ally McCoist, who hadn’t played due to injury, and made his way to the Players’ Lounge. He met Terry Butcher, who told him Coisty was still in the dressing room. Big Jock then met the club’s vice chairman Jack Gillespie who took him by the arm and led him to one of the executive suites. Everything was relaxed and friendly and Gillespie took him down to the foyer where he asked if McCoist was around. Wallace stood chatting to Sandy Clark, Davie McPherson, Davie Cooper and McCoist. After a few minutes, he went back up the marble stairs, intending to return to the Members’ Lounge. But bumped into Willie Waddell and his wife, and a few other familiar old faces. Again he enjoyed renewing old acquaintances. He checked to seeif his wife was okay then went back out into the foyer to see if he could find Holmes. It was at that moment that he was approached by the commissionaire and thrown out of his beloved Ibrox. The only thing on his mind was getting the hell out of there. He shouted on Daphne and told her they were leaving. She knew that something was amiss and asked why the rush. Daily Record Jock Wallace in the Rangers trophy room Wallace said: “I’ve just been told to leave the premises and that’s what we’re doing.” Wallace was then reportedly forced to endure the humiliation of walking through the Members’ Lounge in front of so many people he knew, under escort, on his way out the door. Later, he said: “I have never been so angry or disgusted with anything in my life. “I was flaming mad and felt so sorry for my wife, who had been such a help to me in my days at Ibrox. She didn’t deserve this. She was shattered when I told her why we were leaving.” Wallace drove straight home and took his phone off the hook. He was in no mood to talk. He said: “I knew more than anyone there are no-go areas inside Ibrox but I had been invited into one of these areas by the vice-chairman. “I thought it had all been an awful mistake – a blunder if you like.” Ironically, a few days later, Wallace was given complimentary tickets for a Celtic match by his old adversary Billy McNeill and enjoyed the banter with the Hoops fans. The teasing was relentless but good natured. Wallace replied “I’ve been flung out of better places than this” – referring to his exit from Ibrox – and the Celtic supporters loved it. Wallace always steadfastly refused to criticise Rangers, even when he was sacked in 1986. But this was different and he was in no mood to protect the club after such a humiliating experience. More than a month had passed when Wallace decided to speak out. Perhaps he hoped that an apology would have been forthcoming. When it wasn’t, he said: “Until now I’ve kept my mouth shut, but my anger will not go away and I don’t think it ever will. “I will never again ask Rangers for a ticket for a match. I’ve supported the club since I was a kid. “I was a founder member of the Tranent Rangers Supporters’ Club in 1952. “I’ve visited supporters’ clubs all over the world and have honorary memberships in places like Melbourne and Toronto. “I have never criticised Rangers but I cannot ignore the dreadful treatment of Daph. “They may have thrown me out of Ibrox but they won’t stop me watching Rangers. “I took Daph, my daughter and her fiance and his parents to a match with Aberdeen at Ibrox and paid £30 at the turnstiles. “The guy at the gate said: “Mr Wallace, you should never pay to see Glasgow Rangers.” Never a truer word was spoken. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jock-wallace-rangers-legend-left-3434821?
  3. Friday, 04 April 2014 10:00 Fozzy's Breaking New Ground Written by Andrew Dickson RICHARD FOSTER has waited 11 years to make up for the disappointment he suffered in his sole final as a professional and hopes his long wait for success ends on Sunday. The Rangers full-back was part of the Aberdeen team which lined up against Celtic in the final of the 2002/03 SFA Youth Cup at McDiarmid Park. Aged just 17 and a winger at that point, it was an exciting chance for Foster to get a medal under his belt so early in his career. But instead he found himself on the end of a 3-1 defeat in Perth and he’s never gone so far in a competition since. In that sense, this weekend’s Ramsdens Cup decider with Raith Rovers takes on extra significance for the former Bristol City player. While some might dismiss the competition for the fact participation is open only to lower-league clubs, Foster isn’t among them. He knows how important a trophy it is for the Light Blues to win and for him personally, it would give him a chance to add to the two league successes he has had at Ibrox. Foster said: “I’ve not played in any senior finals and my last final of any sort was in the SFA Youth Cup with Aberdeen. “We were beaten 3-1 by Celtic that day so this is a landmark game for me. As a player you want to win things and win cups. “This is my first experience of a big final and hopefully I’ll get to play. Hopefully we will win as well. “Everyone wants to be in the team for the final because we all want to be on the pitch if we win the trophy.” Despite their League One status in comparison with Raith’s Championship standing, Rangers are favourites to come out on top. Still the country’s most successful club by some distance, the Light Blues are used to having supporters of other clubs cheering for whoever they play. Foster isn’t bothered by that and is focused only on delivering more silverware for Gers’ loyal fanbase. He added: “It does have that feel but that’s something you’ve got to live with when you play for Rangers. We deal with that every day so it’s nothing new. “It’s not something we use in the dressing room. We just know that happens and we deal with it. We take each game as it comes and we want to win every game we play anyway. “We try not to think about what other people will say or think about us. We just try to win for ourselves and the fans.” http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6682-fozzys-breaking-new-ground
  4. 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
  5. NEW Ibrox supremo Dave King joins a long list of men who have tried to do what's right for Rangers, but is he up to the task of leading them back to where they want to be, asks Gordon Waddell. IT'S LIKE the Life of Brian. Off they go again, chasing another messiah. This time, though, are the Rangers support following the chosen one at long last? Have they bought in to their last false prophet? If Dave King has done nothing else in recent days, he appears at least to have unified the un-unifiable. And he did it in the most simple way possible, reminding supporters the power of their club lies as much in the stands as it does on the shares register. The fans just needed to hear the right person saying it. They’ve always had a cause. They just needed a leader to follow and an idea they believed in. And now that they have it? Now they can rally behind this pseudo-boycott King has proposed, putting the current regime on starvation rations? Do they have what it takes to see it through to its conclusion, no matter how ugly it gets? If they do stage a coup, what will their club look like post-apocalypse? And, ultimately, what’s King’s motivation? What does he want to be for Rangers? These are the questions that fans must ask themselves as they follow their pied piper – because, as yet, King hasn’t answered any himself. I saw someone suggest they needed him to be their Fergus McCann, 20 years on. They don’t. What they need is him to be their Dermot Desmond. Someone who has power, not someone who craves it or needs to be seen to have it. Someone who wants some control, not a control freak. Someone who will be their bank of last resort, not use the club as his bankroll. McCann fixed Celtic when they were broken, for sure. But he got in and out and made himself a rich(er) man in the process. Desmond was there then, he’s still there now and while his influence is understated, it should never be underestimated. He owns 29.9 per cent of the club and could buy and sell the rest of it but has never wanted to. THAT’S what Rangers fans need of King. I’ve said it plenty of times before. The best way for Rangers’ fans to protect the long-term interests of their club is to own the guts of it themselves. That way they’re accountable to each other and if they end up in trouble again they only have themselves to blame. There have been opportunities for them to achieve that – they’ve just never had the unity of purpose or the ?leadership to do it. Until now. As long as King holds true to his word. And as long as he doesn’t get the whiff of power in his nostrils and his ego decides he likes the smell. It surprises me a bit fans are blindly buying what he’s selling. It’s something he said himself: “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” If it had been anyone other than King stepping up with the plan he proposed and the statement he made, he’d have been drowning in scepticism and ?cynicism by now. They’d have questioned his timing – why, if it meant that much to him, wasn’t he just ponying up and paying the Easdales the premium they clearly want to cede power? But they haven’t. They’ve bought the farm because.... well pretty much because they’re screwed if they don’t. The current regime have had time to earn supporters’ trust – they haven’t. And news of that short-term loan last week was the tipping point. I had the Rangers PR department on after last week’s column, when I had a pop at Graham Wallace, but I’ve heard nothing since to make me change my mind. That’s nothing personal against the chief executive – I’m on record as saying I’m impressed with the guy. But ultimately he’s an employee doing the bidding of his board, and there’s your problem right there when you’re beholden to financial institutions and hedge funds. They’re only ever in it for what they can get out of it. Listen, it’s not unusual for clubs to seek short-term finance to see them through a couple of barren months. (Not clubs who raised £22m earlier in the season, mind, but still.) The irony is that before, in times like these, they’ve turned to Ticketus to keep them ticking over. Can’t see them being overly keen to help this time. But most clubs seek soft loans from shareholders to tide them over a shortfall or to invest in a capital project and get them at “mate’s rates”. Not 30 per cent APR. That’s loan shark material and any attempt by Wallace to disguise it as the market rate assumes his support is collectively thicker than a whale omelette. But of course they’re not. They see it for what it is. A loan deal that takes a loan of their club. At least now the fans can present the board with a choice. If they starve the club of season ticket money, the board will have to raise funds elsewhere. They don’t want a share issue because the Easdales know that will only dilute their own position. They may have no choice. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/gordon-waddell-questions-still-need-3198073
  6. Club website link: http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6350-ready-to-listen Received by email Dear At our recent AGM I outlined our intention to undertake a comprehensive review of the entire Club and I am pleased to report that we are making excellent progress with this. A key element of looking at how the Club operates and engages is to understand what is important to you, the Rangers supporters. If we can obtain your constructive input and suggestions then we can develop a comprehensive insight into what is needed to address the areas that are important to the fans. We are in the process of rebuilding how your Club operates and based on feedback from many of you, it is clear that there is a need for professional business management, honest conversation, transparency and greater communication to allow us to move forward together. Your Club Executive and Board is wholly open minded on how we can work together for the better development of Rangers. The Club, and you the supporters, have continued to be tested in recent months as we work on developing the long term strategy for rebuilding the Club. We need you to know that by working together, we have the ability to position your Club for a stable, successful and sustainable future. We hope that you will engage with the Club and talk to us openly. We value your input and we are Ready to Listen. To start us on this journey together, I would ask if you could take a few minutes to complete this short survey which will give you the opportunity to commence the process of sharing your thoughts and opinions with us. We will consolidate all input received and use this as the basis upon which to move our wider supporter engagement initiatives forward. Please click here to start survey. Thank you for your support. Graham Wallace Chief Executive Officer Rangers Football Club
  7. GORDON backs Hearts' incoming chairwoman to revive the club while lamenting the damage done by the would-be saviours at Ibrox. THE definition of altruism: When the answer to the question “What’s in it for you?” is “Nothing”. That’s Ann Budge for you. Sixty-five years old, self-made multi-millionaire, family woman, treasures her privacy and relative anonymity, sees her Saturday afternoons as sacred time with her daughter and grand-daughter in Section D of the Wheatfield. What could possibly be in it for her to commit herself to four or five years inside the washing machine of Scottish football? Nothing. Not a single thing. Which is why Hearts fans should be eternally grateful that she has. And, as I wrote back in September, Rangers fans should be peering east, mournfully lamenting what they could have had. The deal to take Hearts out of administration and forward is the result of months of good leadership, good governance, good PR, good organisation and, most of all, good intentions. And what they’ve emerged with is the perfect template for the handover from tyranny to the terraces. Make no mistake, Budge’s role will not be passive. She’s no figurehead. She’s real. Incongruously, for fan ownership to succeed in the long run, they’re going to need her to be a strong individual, making hard-headed decisions that would be impossible to arrive at if the club were being run by committee. Her job is to hand Hearts over in the best financial health she can create in as short a time as possible. And the only way that won’t happen is if Jambos fail to live up to their end of the bargain. That’s why they’re lucky to have her. She’s the anti-Craig Whyte, the anti-Charles Green. As executive chair, she’ll be working five days a week pro bono. She’ll be arriving at conclusions plenty may disagree with but the one thing no one can dispute is that she’s doing it for anyone’s benefit other than Hearts. There’s a legal agreement that she has to hand the club over to the Foundation as and when they hit their pre-agreed targets. She can’t change her mind, can’t flog them to a predator who fancies the place for himself when they’re back on an even keel. What that means is the fans have to create the bank of last resort for the club with their membership scheme, the financial cushion for the months where there’s a shortfall, where the season ticket money has run dry and the commercial income is a struggle. All they have to be able to do is prove that in the absence of support from an actual bank, they will never get back to the day when the wages won’t be in the bank. And there’s no reason they can’t. At the moment the Foundation of Hearts bring in £130,000 a month in direct debits. That’s £1.5million a year as your slush fund. The season tickets, corporate and commercial income, sponsorship, catering and anything else they can raise funds from provides their working capital. If they do all that? If they create a model that washes its face? There’s no reason why a club of their stature, with their support, can’t be golden in four years’ time. And in the meantime? What a Championship it’s going to be next year. A tale of two clubs from two cities whose stories over the past two years may as well have come from two different planets. The team who’ve done everything right to get out of administration against the team who’ve had every wrong imaginable done to them. Rangers will be looking at Hearts and thinking, “If only...” To be fair, their Supporters’ Trust still have faith they can make it happen. But when they needed the kind of altruism Budge offered Hearts, they got shafted. Twice. When they needed a Jim McColl, he ran shy. And when they needed unity of purpose, they fragmented. Even now, their intentions may be there. But neither the Easdales nor Dave King as a potential investor seems prepared to engage in the idea that the club need a move towards fan membership and ownership for the long-term good. They’re still saddled by the “What’s in it for me?” brigade and as long as the answer is “plenty”, they’re fighting a losing battle. But you know what? Despite the fact that Hearts’ total budget next year will probably be around the £1million mark, less than 20 per cent of Rangers’, if it’s spent well, they could challenge the assumption the Ibrox club will stroll through that league the way they’ve strolled through the last two. If they can get 16,000 inside Tynecastle every week, create a cause the way Hibs did when they went down in 1998, the way Rangers’ fans did when they went into the bottom tier? Keep the best of their kids, get a few course and distance guys in to help them when the embargo goes? Get a little momentum going? It’s going to be a hell of a race. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gordon-waddell-altruistic-ann-budge-3151057
  8. Not the best goal, the best cross ever by a Rangers player. It's such a vital part of football and yet a difficult and hugely underrated skill. Here's some off the top of my head. Neil McCann in the last minute of the Scottish Cup Final. Facing two Celtic players he finds a gap between them, the perfect spot between the large Celtic keeper who'd already flapped coming off his line and the behemoth centre halves Celtic employed in those days. The height of the cross made it hard to clear for giants. It benefits from its perfect sense of timing too. (Watch from 8.36 for the cross, watch all of it to just remember how good it all felt). [video=youtube_share;MfRwwY3kWkA] . We rightly rave about the header, towering, majestic, triumphant, but watch the cross. From on the touchline, 25 yards out, with a defender close by, with only one Rangers player in the box to aim for who is surrounded by some of the best defenders this countries produced. Oh, and he's falling over too. Genius. Brian Laudrup could get a thread of his own, , two players turned inside out and the chip straight onto the forward's head. Easy. Aye, so it is! So what has been the best cross ever?
  9. GORDON believes that Wallace is the only real saleable asset in the squad and ponders whether Ally McCoist has been trying to build a massive lead at the top of the table in case of Admin II. THERE'S a lot of talk right now about what they’re not prepared to do at Rangers. The players aren’t prepared to take a wage cut. The manager’s not prepared to be party to a fire sale of his squad. The fans aren’t prepared to give their season ticket dough to a regime they don’t trust. In their own way, they’re all absolutely right. The players signed contracts in good faith. The manager’s agreed a 50 per cent cut and his wage bill is down to 30 per cent of turnover, a totally sound ratio. The supporters have had successive regimes pee on their shoes then tell them it’s raining. Why trust anyone? They do realise, though, that at some point someone is going to have to do something? Because those behind the scenes? You think they’re going to be persuaded to take their snouts out of the trough? Graham Wallace isn’t looking at the household budget and deciding they must pull the belt in a notch for a couple of months. Buy value pack instead of Hovis and Lurpak for their bread and butter. He’s looking at a business run so badly by his predecessors that it could have been doled out as a Primary Seven project to the local schools and it would have come back in better shape. And each day that everyone refuses to do anything, they lose another 30 grand. That can only end one way. How he can guarantee it won’t is beyond me when he’s trying to do a three-point turn with the QEII in a bathtub. At some point something’s going to have to give – and if it’s not the sale of Lee Wallace, you get the feeling the other Wallace could get to the end of his 120-day review and say “Y’know what, there’s nothing I can do for you.” Lee Wallace is their only option. And that’s a sad reflection of the wastefulness of the past two years. The rest of the squad is worth bupkis. Okay, you’d maybe get a few quid for Cammy Bell. Likewise Lewis Macleod if he was fit enough to go in January. But all the others who’ve been brought in on five, six, seven grand a week? Once just being a Rangers player would have given you a market value. Or being there would have made you a better player to a point where you’d attract interest. But honestly, who would come in and actually pay anything for Dean Shiels, Ian Black or David Templeton right now? They haven’t improved. They’ve gone backwards. They’re not assets at any point outside of the minutes they play for the team, only a drain on resources. And even if you agreed to give them away just to get them off the wage bill, there’s not another club who would pay them what Rangers are giving them. So they’ll stay exactly where they are. Won’t they, Mr Cribari? They know what side their bread’s buttered on – and Graham Wallace knows they’ll settle for nothing less than Lurpak. But as we’ve already pointed out, the players’ wage bill in itself isn’t a problem. The fact the rest of the wage bill outstrips it is. As is the fact that it’s another four, maybe even five months before the season ticket cash starts coming in. IF it comes in. The outgoings are there every month but the income isn’t. The walk-ups on a Saturday simply won’t cover it. Yes, something significant has to give. And if it isn’t the sale of Wallace, what else is there? Meantime, the share price falls with the penny-a-share fly-by-nights taking what profit they can while it’s still there. The irony is that if the fans were organised, they could be taking advantage of a share price that’s come down from a high of 88p to 27p in less than a year. The supporters could be seriously beefing up their stake instead of letting other institutions and hedge funds plunder them. Then again, as I said a few weeks ago, they already wield enough power with their threat of a season ticket abstention to put the club back under as it is. And it’s hard not to be cynical after two years of this – but there’s a bit of you that wonders whether the club might just force an administration again themselves. That would be one way to shed a cost base they can’t get rid of by any other means, wouldn’t it? It’s too ludicrous to contemplate though, right? Too many unknown risks attached to it. Meanwhile the only ‘known’ is they’ll be docked 25 points. But do it now and they’d still be second, guaranteed a play-off spot at worst. And they would have 16 games to rein in a single-figure gap on a Dunfermline team they’ve still to play twice with a squad which, even cut in half, would still be multiple times bigger than their rivals. Ally McCoist was asked about the scenario. Asked if they were in a hurry to get their lead up. And he laughed. Not the derisory laugh of someone who thought the idea was absurd. It was the nervous laugh of a man who knew it should SOUND ridiculous, but actually …
  10. Doncaster rued his bad luck. “Why didn't Regan draw the short straw?” he asked himself. But this was no time for “what ifs?”; he had drawn the short straw and now had to deliver the poison chalice to the master. Gingerly, he long pressed the 2 on his phone keypad and watched in fear as the phone speed dial responded with the fateful name. The two words flashed on the phone screen heightening Doncaster's sense of foreboding. Peter Lawwell. “What is it Neil” a voice rasped from the other end. “I'm sorry Peter but it's happened again” “What has ?” “A game has had to be abandoned for safety reasons due to the demand to see the Rangers” Doncaster could hear the sigh of exasperation on the other end of the phone. “Get Spiers or someone to put out a story saying it was fire fears due to the recent spate of flare throwing” “I'm sorry Peter the story has gone out already” “Who authorised it without my approval ? You know everything has to come through me” “I'm, I'm sorry Peter it was out with my control” “How many times have I told you Neil – NOTHING BUT NOTHING IS OUT WITH MY CONTROL !!!!” Click. I beg to differ Peter. We are out with you're control. You cannot control either our passion or determination to follow our team. At Elgin it was an overrun of printed tickets, today at Stenhousemuir it was damage to a temporary stand built to house the travelling blue legions. How much that must hurt our top league as they struggle to fill their stadiums. As they struggle to sell tickets. As they struggle to pay bills. “So as you sow – so shall ye reap” Of course, as was reported last week, a benevolent bank may come along and agree to write off all the accumulating debts. But I expect the Kilmarnock situation to be the exception to the rule rather than the norm. I wonder if Gordon Waddell will pen a column stating how much he would like to punch them in the face till his hand hurts, or if Spiers will “happily and reasonably accurately” accuse them of cheating ? Oh and I cant wait to read the Scotzine article on this. Mr Muirhead will be frothing at the mouth over this one. Well, that is if he is to remain consistent in his thoughts on debt and cheating at football clubs. But, as the legend which is Rangers powers through the current division as a consequence of our enforced exile, perhaps those top league chairmen better hold off potential projected financial prospectus in lieu of our return, to appease increasingly demanding bank managers. For there is no guarantee our eventual return to the top flight will see any change in attitude towards filling the coffers of those who caused our club so much damage and heartache. Who collectively conspired and contrived to do us maximum harm. Forgive, forget and move on ? I don't think so. We remember how hard you kicked us whilst we were down. I wonder how long it will be before the “financial sell” statements appear from the guilty ? ie “It's good to see Rangers back where they belong” “We cant wait to renew our battles with Rangers” I can guarantee one bear who wont be buying your bullshit. And you can take that to the bank.
  11. CAMPBELL OGILVIE was spot on when he criticised both sides of the Old Firm for their petulant behaviour. But the SFA chairman’s comments about the sniping between the clubs wasting time and money will no doubt fall on deaf ears once more. Why? The petty point scoring we’ve seen from the hierarchy at both Celtic and Rangers recently is not dignified or appropriate. It’s like they are trying to fuel the masses already at boiling point. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell’s jibe about Rangers was a throwaway comment meant to rouse supporters at the AGM but nothing more sinister. The SFA compliance officer found he had no case to answer for his attempt at stand-up comedy. And as for Rangers being upset enough to file a complaint to the SFA? They have stumbled from one crisis to another in recent months but still find it necessary to get involved in childish debate. Those at the SFA bunker must have thought it was a joke when Gers’ complaint about Lawwell dropped through the letterbox What purpose did it serve other than waste the time of an association already bogged down with more pressing concerns. It makes you sick to the pit of your stomach when you see these two squabble like the biggest kids in the playground. How on earth can you expect punters from both sides of the city to keep the head when the bosses are throwing petrol on the fire. Celtic, for their part, should rise above such petty squabbles. They are financially secure thanks to a sound business structure and money pouring in from UEFA. Why get involved? With a huge Champions League game this week, and the fallout from the trouble in Amsterdam still rumbling on, Celtic need to be focused. Meanwhile Rangers, with another chairman entering through the revolving door, should look in the mirror before anyone pens another letter to the SFA. Somebody should tip this club upside down and give it a good shake. Hopefully then the imposters will fall by the wayside and some sort of normality can be found. Why worry about what goes on across the city when the clubs are poles apart? The teams are leagues apart – both in football and financial terms. I’ve always believed that without these two Scottish football would die a slow death. But if they can’t work together the game certainly won’t thrive. Those who man the Daily Record Hotline should be knighted for listening to this drivel Go on any football forum on the internet and the childish chatter between their fans is pathetic. Should we be surprised when the top brass are at it as well?
  12. It is that most poignant time of the year – Remembrance Day. A time to remember, a time to reflect. But for the people of Ulster, today is particularly poignant, it is hurtful and will bring much reflection and sadness. 26 years ago to the day, a bomb exploded without warning at a Remembrance Day memorial in Enniskillen leaving 11 dead and 63 injured. The cowardly, savage and barbaric nature of this attack saw those responsible – Irish Republican Terrorists – roundly condemned by all sides of the community. It was an act of inhumanity designed to terrorise the PUL community in Northern Ireland, to prevent them honouring the memory of their fallen; it was the very essence of terror in that it was designed to disrupt and discourage people from their normal activity through fear and intimidation. That it failed spectacularly to do so is down to the courage, bravery and determination of the ordinary people of Ulster. The postmen who continued to deliver letters, the policemen who continued to uphold the law, the judges who continued to dispense it, the firemen who fought the fires, every single Ulster man woman and child who quietly and with stoic determination continued with their normal lives and normal activities. Who refused to deviate from the norm, who refused to give in to the bullet or the bomb, who refused to surrender the norm. But it is not just a story, it is a lesson. In a week which saw our club's name dragged through the courts and the press for misinterpreted salutes it serves as a reminder of our responsibility to not only our club but also the PUL community in Ulster. Instead of showy, chest beating, but otherwise empty and moronic gestures (which our enemies will make use of to the full) if you really want to help and show your support for the PUL community in Ulster why not take a leaf out of the Vanguard Bears book, and quietly and without fanfare actually undertake some kind of activity which will benefit their community ? I’m sure the £560 raised by them for the Twaddell and Woodvale Residents Association was of far greater benefit than the negative imagery and commentaries associated with “Red Hand Salutes” If any of you are in any doubt – ask yourself why a newspaper recently published a 3 year old picture of such behaviour. It damages our club and the very people for whom you are trying to show your support. Today in Enniskillen a father will reflect on the daughter he will never walk down the aisle. A son on the missing father at school parent's evening. A whole community will join together in sorrow. But they will not be beaten. They will remember and they will honour. And others will watch and remember them as the very essence and embodiment of No Surrender.
  13. Guest

    Blues Brothers

    The current focus on the Easdale brothers in the Ibrox boardroom is a far cry from the nostalgic look back we had at the McNeil brothers 12 months ago during our 140 year celebrations. The Original Rangers Family, the McNeil brothers, the Campbell brothers and the Vallance brothers were at the very beginning of the lineage of siblings to have pulled on the Light Blue that include the Waddell brothers and the Jardine brothers........ http://rangersfacts.thecoplandroad.org/2013/10/blues-brothers.html
  14. Lifted from FF: I have been hearing from various sources that we as a group are being met with mixed reviews from forums etc so decided to come on and let everyone know a bit about us and our aims to allow each to make their own mind up We have been accused of being many people from tims to M Dingwall to D Leggat and even malcolm murray. We are none of these we are only normal concerned fans and if you read attachment below it will give you a better idea of who we are and how we came about. We only have 3 aims and I would question any fan who didnt want these things from their club regardless of who they are and which team they follow 1) Keep the stadium in clubs name to avoid Coventry situation 2) clear accounts which prove proper running of the club 3) a board that keep the club off the front pages and are above reproach We do not have any aims that can divide a support and only actually which to unite fans from all groups against a clear and present danger The following is a post from our facebook page that was first posted 2 weeks ago when we first started. Please take the few minutes to read and DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE surrounding The Sons of Struth https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfStruth Here we go I will try and explain in as short a post a possible who is involved to date with the Sons of Struth and how this page came about. One of our main points of agenda and a main Struthism is openness. Some of you may be aware of the Rangers Rumours website and a regular poster named George or George protester number 1. I picked up on his postings only 1 week ago and was intrigued to know what his feelings and understanding of our clubs current plight was. George arranged to travel from London on Friday and meet anyone interested in what he had to say at Ibrox. Due to my own worries about our club I felt I had nothing to lose other than 10 minutes of my time and a whole lot to gain if he had any information that could fill my appetite to fully understand the situation at our club. The fact that only 10 people turned up confirmed my general feeling that our fans are very apathetic towards the current situation and George was very disappointed also. He did, as many have since held against him, arrive minus the promised leaflets and did introduce himself as a representative of George. Both these points seem to have angered some but I understand why he done both when as he could have possibly been faced with a far greater number of fans who he didn’t know who they where and he was let down by a local printer which was a point later proven to me. To the 10 who were at the first meeting and others who visit the Rangers Rumours site, I was the guy with the red jacket who some believed was Georges minder and I post on the site as Craig protester number 2 BFH. To set the record straight I had never met George before Friday and purely turned up as a disgruntled fan searching for some knowledge. I appeared to pick up on what George was saying very quickly but so did others around me, however George seemed to like the questions I asked him and what I had to say so he asked me after the meeting if I would like to talk further on a one to one basis. This “private” meeting consisted more of us talking like true fans and swapping stories of our favourite experiences following our club than it did about revelations which weren’t disclosed at the full meeting. We did prove our love for our club and our concerns for the future just as many discussions would go between Rangers fans all over the world when two strangers meet and they find they both support Rangers. We decided we would talk again during his stay in Glasgow and exchanged numbers. During the course of last weekend we talked several times over the telephone and agreed to meet on Monday and I would introduce him to my friend Sandy who was also interested to hear what George had to say. During the course of the weekend George had put his leaflet online as he promised. George, Sandy and I met on Monday and again the discussion was no different to hundreds of chats between Rangers fans many times over. We discussed our favourite games, best goals,most manic away trips and the like but most importantly we shared a huge concern over the current state of our dearly held club and a desire to do something about. We all agreed that doing something and failing was more acceptable than doing nothing but with the hope we could make a difference even if it was just to give the proper fans some information that may put some fire in the belly and arouse some passion from within the fan base. We then involved the man power from a well known body of fans, who if they wish to disclose their important and welcome involvement is matter for them, who helped along with hastily recruited normal fans like Paisley Gary to help with the distribution of Georges leaflets prior to Tuesdays game. The leaflets went out and received a mixture of reactions. On Tuesday not long before I left for the game I started the Sons of Struth facebook page. The reasons for this is to give the normal fan who wants our club to return to a stewardship of which we would expect from Rangers. You pick up a paper on Monday going to work and you are faced with another scandal about our club. You discuss it and try to make sense of it but before you have a chance to get your head round it a few days later you’re faced with another earth shaking scandal. This is not what we expect from the custodians of our club. The mere inclusion of the Struth name in the page harks back to an era when our custodians conducted themselves with dignity, honesty and respect. We must install this again from our boardroom. Who am I? I am a nobody. Not attached to any fan group or organisation. I am you. A fan and season ticket holder since the age of 8 years old. What do I want? I want to talk about my favourite memories of Rangers and idols and goals again, not have to discuss and deal with on a daily basis another boardroom scandal and just get back to the football. I want a board that won’t embarrass me and treat me like a fan without hiding facts from me. I want to be assured that the stadium where I have had many happy memories will be in the ownership of my club and not sold off and rented back to us by some spiv. The stadium holds the spirit of not one but three disasters and has to remain ours to honour those who did not return. It has to remain for the thousands who have the names of lost loved ones chiselled on the very bricks in their memory. It is not the crown jewels it is far more important to the very soul of every fan who has ever walked through the turnstiles. Who are the Sons of Struth? We all are and can be ordinary fans or members from any other fan body. If you are a Union Bear or a Supporters Trust member, as long as your principles and desires are the same as ours then we welcome your input and support. We are not affiliated to any other fan body but welcome their involvement and discuss common aims. Our biggest and most immediate threat is the possible sale of our stadium and let me explain why. The ground swell of opinion is the current board may not have 51% of the shareholder support in the near future and as such leaves them in a position of one last heist. Let me explain in simple terms and use your house as an example. You require cash due to your ailing financial position and own a home with a market value of £200k. I agree to give you £100k cash today to solve your short term financial problems and I will rent you the house back for £2k per month. I will also agree to allow you to buy it back anytime in the next 10 years for £300k. I cant lose. I either 1) have you in the home and draw £24k a year of you in rental 2) Get £2k a month off you until your able to give me £300k to get it back 3) You leave the house and I have a building costing me half market value. Now turn this story to Ibrox and what a spiv could do. Sell the stadium to a carefully selected company that a trusted friend owns and the spiv has a vested interest in and do it soon before he loses the majority of shareholders. Couldnt happen? Think of the Monday morning paper stories we have all had to deal with in the last couple of years. SONS OF STRUTH DEMAND THE TRUTH SHOW YOU CARE AND SHARE WITH A BEAR Craig
  15. I admit it, you got to me the other day. When my team reached the giddy heights of the Ramsden Cup semi-finals, I expected the usual doom laden chorus of nay-sayers to come floating out of the crypt, issuing dire warnings. probing the entrails of goats and generally bringing everyone down, lest anyone of a Blue persuasion experience anything akin to happiness. And sure enough, there was Hugh Keevins, sternly informing me that to actually be happy at winning a minor pot would be very, very wrong, and possibly raise the wraiths of Struth and Waddell to bring down the walls of Thebes (or Ibrox). He was easy to ignore. He is, after all, no prophet. A Tit, yes. A Tiresias, less so. You, though, were harder to dismiss. An ever popular figure amongst fans and media, your brash denunciation of the Cup Final being held at Ibrox bit to the core. You mentioned integrity and you balanced it against the mere accumulation of money. You spoke with feeling about how much more it would mean to Raith Rovers to win a pot themselves, rather than merely enrich themselves by a few hundred thousand pounds. A tear was not far away, I confess. And then, as I sat there reflectively stroking a pensive eyebrow, I realised that Rangers had no chance in this fight. For when you, Turnbull Hutton, say something, there is neither man nor beast can stand in your way until thy will be done! Who can forget your tireless efforts to bring about the vote of no confidence in Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster, first announced by your good self, with the usual gravitas, back in about April of this year? Doubtless the delay in that vote actuaaly happening is merely administrative. Those slow moving apparatchiks at the SPFL will feel your well fed wrath descend upon them shortly, of that I have no doubt! For when Turnbull Hutton speaketh, the earth trembleth!!! I for one have firmly believe that we shall see you at Hampden soon, bringing down the statue of Belial and emerging from the dust like Charlton Heston in a Cecil B DeMille movie...only, you will be the better actor. It is the same with your unquenchable Corinthian spirit. Only a churl amongst us would point out that the man who spent over a year helping to re-arrange the deckchairs on the SPFL steamship Titantic - with the specific aim of bringing more money into division one clubs, of which Raith Rovers just happened to be one - didn't seem to be overflowing with the sporting ethos of the game when he shafted every part time club in the country to gain a few more pounds. It is not for mere mortals such as we to wonder why you have gone from money grabbing backstabber to embodiment of the Olympian Spirit in the space of a few months. I have already slapped down a few coarse, crude types who tried to suggest you were an enormous bag of wind, which the media let open every so often and print the resultant ephemeral, noxious but essentially meaningless gas. Their low minds don't appreciate you the way I do, Lord Turnon of Bullhut. They cannot see how you represent all the aspects of Scottish football in the way I do. They say: he's a bumbling hypocritical oaf, who loves the sound of his own voice but can only just make it out because his head is so far up his own arse. I say: Smite them, when thy has the time. I believe in you, oh Lord Bull! I believe!! Were any sign needed of your great omnipotence, it is the way you gave your people Your Word on the Cup Final location BEFORE THE DRAW WAS MADE!!! Once more, some gutter dwelling people have suggested that the way you anticipated avoiding Rangers in the semi final and getting a fairly easy ride for The Rovers into the final looks like the draw was fixed. If only they could understand that Your Vision is limitless, they would easier come to heel. All kneel before Turnbull Hutton, avatar of morality, principle and integrity!!!
  16. STV - 12 September 2013 00:01 BST Rangers midfielder Ian Black will go before a Scottish Football Association committee on Thursday to answer accusations of betting against his own club on three occasions. The former Inverness CT and Hearts player is accused of putting money on his team to not win matches between March 4, 2006 and July 28, 2013. Black is also accused of betting on a further ten games in which the club he was playing for were involved in, as well as betting on a further 147 games not involving his team. It is not known which specific fixtures he is accused of placing bets on which involved the clubs he was registered with. The Scottish FA have stated that there is no evidence to suggest the player acted in a manner or influenced proceedings during a game which led to him making money. STV understands the most recent match Black bet upon was Rangers' tie with Albion Rovers in the Ramsdens Cup on July 28, 2013. Rangers won the game 4-0. It is also understood that the player's actions came to light through his use of a Ladbrokes phone account. Footballers registered in Scotland are prohibited by the Scottish FA from betting on any football match. If found guilty, players can be fined from £500 to £1,000,000 and can be either suspended or expelled from playing professional football. They are also not allowed to "behave in a manner, during or in connection with a match in which the party has participated or has any influence, either direct or indirect, which could give rise to an event in which they or any third party benefits financially through betting". The Scottish FA however have made clear there is "no evidence" to suggest Black has breached the second rule. When the allegations were first made, a Rangers spokesperson said: "The club is aware of the SFA's notice of complaint and are currently investigating the matter." http://news.stv.tv/west-central/239202-rangers-ian-black-to-go-before-sfa-committee-over-betting-claims/
  17. IT IS unlikely that Ian Black is going to sit down any time soon – if at all – and explain what he was thinking about that day he struck a bet on East Stirlingshire to get a draw against his own team, Rangers, at Ochilview on April 27. That’s the first question you’d like to ask him. Not about the 159 other bets he placed that contravened the SFA’s betting rules, but that one wager, as part of an accumulator, on Scottish football’s most hopeless senior club getting a draw against the newly crowned Third Division champions with Black himself at the heart of their midfield on the day If you leave to one side the fact that any such betting on football was against the SFA rules, how did Black come to the conclusion that that was the wager he wanted to place? What weird rationale made him opt for a draw? East Stirlingshire were not only bottom of the league but they hadn’t had a draw – not to mind a win – in any of their previous eight games. In fact, they ended up losing their last ten games of the season conceding 39 goals in the process. In the games leading up to Black’s bet on a stalemate, East Stirlingshire had lost 5-1 to Queen’s Park (the week before the Rangers match), lost 2-1 to Annan, lost 6-0 to Peterhead, lost 2-0 to Clyde, lost 2-1 to Montrose, lost 2-0 to Berwick and lost 9-1, yes, 9-1 – to Stirling Albion. Where was the form-line that suggested they were capable of holding Rangers? East Stirlingshire had conceded 101 goals in their 41 games leading up to Rangers match. Black had already played against them three times that season. On none of those occasions was there the slightest bit of evidence that the worst team in Scottish senior football was capable of getting a draw against Ally McCoist’s side. In the first match, Rangers beat them 5-1. In the second, Rangers won 6-2. In the third, Black’s team won 3-1. Three games and an aggregate score of 14-4 and then Black goes for a draw? Does that make sense? Black has been found guilty of betting on football, and betting against his own team, but is there no suggestion of anything more sinister, such as deliberately underperforming in that East Stirlingshire game in order to make the draw a little more likely. Black scored the goal that put Rangers 3-2 ahead, thereby helping to sink his own bet. In that regard, he was a bookmakers’ dream. A punter who deliberately stymied his own wager? That’s nirvana for a bookie. All of this is weird and demands explanation but we won’t get it because Black won’t talk (not for a while at any rate, you’d have to imagine) and the judicial panel won’t publish their findings. None of this is helpful. Here is a footballer who has admitted to betting against his own team and yet, effectively, he will serve the same suspension as a player found guilty of a bad challenge. On Friday, Rangers manager Ally McCoist said that he had no issue with Black or his betting and that, too, is unsatisfactory. How could the Rangers manager not have an issue with one of his players taking the field having had a bet on his team not to win the match he was playing in? McCoist’s words are actually a betrayal of sorts. Imagine McCoist trying to explain himself to a Bill Struth or a Scot Symon? Imagine those gentlemen trying to get their head around this business of Black betting on Rangers drawing with East Stirlingshire before going out to play against them? Amid all the hoopla surrounding the Black case, there was one point on which nearly everybody was agreed and that was that a player should never bet against his own team. Black has admitted to doing precisely that at the end of last season. The Rangers man has been fined, in essence, little more than a week’s wages and is banned, in effect, for three games, the same punishment doled out to Dundee United’s Gavin Gunning a few weeks ago for having a sneaky kick at Virgil van Dijk of Celtic. At times like this the easy thing to do is to give the SFA a shoeing for a verdict that makes little sense to most people but what has to be remembered is that it was their judicial panel which handed down this sanction on Black and that that panel is independent. It stands alone but it is the SFA that must deal with the fallout. Three matches, with seven more suspended, does not amount to zero tolerance of players’ gambling on football. Players gambling isn’t really the nub of the Black affair, of course. Players have a punt. Managers have a punt. Many people in the game have a punt on football even though they are not supposed to. But they don’t bet on their own team not winning. That’s crossing the line. Quite frankly, you won’t stop players betting. It’s instructive to note that Black’s punishment only relates to betting on games involving the club he was registered with at the time. For more than a hundred other breaches, all admitted by the player, he received nothing more than a slap on the wrist. What is the point of a rule if there is no sanction when it is broken multiple times? From the outset of this case, the major question was whether Black had bet against his own team in a match in which he was playing. He did and he deserved a bigger sanction than the one he got. He certainly deserved harsher words than his manager was prepared to offer in public. McCoist didn’t have to sack Black, although Rangers fired Fran Sandaza for a lot less under the pretence of disloyalty. Isn’t betting against your team the very essence of disloyalty? We still don’t know why he did it. That’s the truly mystifying part. The panel discounted match-fixing and ruled out any notion that he tried in any sinister way to influence the game to bring up his bet. Once he stops breathing his sighs of relief at such a lenient punishment and the undeserved support of his employers which followed in its wake, Black might want to explain what he was thinking. The bet, as part of the accumulator, flew in the face of form and logic and integrity, it was against the rules of the game and against the spirit of the dressing room. For breaking the one rule that most football people (McCoist excluded, it seems) say cannot be broken, Black will serve a three-game ban. Hard to fathom, just like his bizarre wager at Ochilview that day.
  18. Gordon Waddell in the Sunday Mail compares Hearts and us. WITH the right kind of leadership and governance, Rangers could have been golden by now. Miles back down the road. Instead their fans have had to watch a seemingly endless line of charlatans, con-artists, chancers and liars pass through their club. It’s been like some kind of anti-Disney parade, as they looked to see what they could make from it, not what they could make of it. Which is why they should be looking on with interest at where Hearts are headed this morning. See what they COULD have had. Day one of the draw-down on the direct debits of their membership scheme. The cornerstone of their recovery. More than 7000 people signed up and counting. Yes, the Foundation of Hearts are still only preferred bidders for their stricken club. Yes, they’ll be hostages to fate as long as uncertainty surrounds the insolvency of UBIG 1700 miles east of them. But it’s what they’re trying to create that’s so important. They’re not the first – but they’ll be the biggest fan-owned club yet. And if it works for them? They could be the template for everyone. Fan-owned and controlled, sustainable wage bill, sensible leadership with a presentable public face, people with some corporate smarts and business acumen behind the scenes. They’re all eminently achievable for a club of Hearts’ size. People say fan ownership can’t be trusted – but why not? In a crowd of 10,000 you’ll have everyone from brain surgeons to brickies, from lords to layabouts. If you can discern between them. They’ll all be as diehard as each other so why not amalgamate the expertise in your stands to help make it work? Look at the way Ian Murray has steered the Foundation of Hearts so far. He hasn’t put a foot wrong. He’s a compelling speaker, who talks the same language as the fans – in a literal non-Lithuanian sense as well as figuratively. He’s that rare breed who’s an MP and yet still has some moral fibre. It’s all there for Hearts if they can just get through administration. They’d have the stadium and have already done the hard work getting their wage bill down from the ludicrous excesses of their bampot despot. They are also shaking off the shackles as well – last weekend their PR staff brought in players for all arms of the media in the wake of their win over Aberdeen, something they hadn’t been allowed to do in five years. They already have one of the best family-oriented community trusts in the country in Big Hearts, an independent charity arm with a fine record of engagement. And if they can get 10,000 people paying a membership of £100 a year, that’s a million quid right there as your bank of last resort. The foundations are there. After that, you just need to make sure what goes out never exceeds what comes in. To be honest, they’ve already got a decent model to follow when it comes to the transition from an egomaniacal, overspending benefactor into fan ownership. It’s exactly 18 months since I wrote about the Well Society. The membership collective charged with proving they had what it took to inherit John Boyle’s 73 per cent stake in Motherwell and make it work for the community as a whole. They were given targets, milestones they had to meet in a five-year plan to prove themselves viable – and so far so good. They met their first funding target to get half the shares, two members were co-opted onto the club board – although to be fair, every current director at the club is also a member of the Society. Now they’re a third of the way down the road to meeting their next target of raising £1.5m. They have 1250 members around a third of their core support so it’s a work in progress. But if and when they get there, they will inherit a club that’s already a model of good governance with no bank debt and no facility for it either. Which is the way it should be for everyone. The club makes a profit, their PR is peerless, they have a sharp chief exec and directors whose CVs wouldn’t look out of place in any big business boardroom. All from one of the smallest fan bases in the top division. Now multiply that by three or four for Hearts and tell me it’s not sustainable. Then multiply THAT by another four or five for Rangers and tell me they don’t have the money, the manpower and the motive to make a similar scheme work? Of course they do. But has their chance gone? Clubs like Hearts, Dunfermline and Motherwell saw an opportunity for a fresh start, a new baseline borne from their crises. The problem with Rangers, sadly, is that they WERE the opportunity. And look around their boardroom at what it got them.
  19. I guess this will open the way for a Wilson deal to get put in place. No complaints here if it does he will be an excellent addition. If we loan him to xmas we could bring in Carlos in January. We could even be cheeky and offer Liverpool 1.5 million for him.
  20. A BRAVE ball boy has vowed to defy the thugs who pelted him with coins and landed him in hospital. Hearts fan Jack Waddell, 14, was targeted by rival fans during his team's clash with Celtic on May 11. He suffered concussion after yobs hurled 2p coins at him - just after Celtic manager Neil Lennon was assaulted by a Hearts fan. But Jack said: "I love helping Hearts and this won't stop me." Jack, of Loanhead, Midlothian, was covering the away end of the SPL match at Tynecastle as he was one of the Edinburgh club's most experienced ball boys. He added: "After the Celtic manager was attacked, the crowd went mental. They were shouting and jeering. "I was hit in the head. I looked down and saw a 2p lying next to me. Then another coin was lobbed and I was hit in the head again." Jack's mum Linda, 39, drove him to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after he fell ill the next day. Tests showed he had sustained a brain injury but he has now fully recovered. A Hearts spokesman said last night: "A thorough investigation into events on that night is ongoing." http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/05/23/hearts-ball-boy-pelted-by-coins-from-celtic-fans-says-i-won-t-let-thugs-stop-me-86908-23150864/?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4dda4de4da0a2e22,0
  21. I would be surprised if Stewart Regan didnââ?¬â?¢t know exactly what he was doing when he commented on the happenings of the League Cup final; Iââ?¬â?¢m sure he had reasons for doing it that way; one would be that he didnââ?¬â?¢t want to make an enemy of the establishment team in Scotland. He has called a summit this Wednesday at Hampden and invited along the clubs; the police; and the politicians; he has failed to invite the people who have made it necessary to have the summit in the first place; the most poisonous football supports in Europe. I have a certain sympathy with Mr Regan; he is in the unenviable situation of being surrounded by bigoted oafs like George Peat; he also has in the office another clown; Billy Singh of Show Racism the Red Card; an organisation that took a full year to admit that the ââ?¬Å?Famine Songââ?¬Â was racist; he just happens to be a Rangers supporter; surprise; surprise. Reganââ?¬â?¢s statement is classic they are two sides of the same coin; ââ?¬Å?Iââ?¬â?¢m conscious that it (sectarian chanting) is becoming more of an issue in recent times; Iââ?¬â?¢ve been told its gathering momentum and itââ?¬â?¢s more prevalent now than it was this time last year. Now why would that be Mr Regan? Would it because all the threats of closed door matches and point deduction were a bluff; the SFA; and indeed UEFA have failed miserably in that respect. He also talks of political songs and sectarian songs; I donââ?¬â?¢t think you would need a degree to define the songs which fall into which category; but I think I can say without fear of contradiction; No Pope of Rome; the Famine Song; and being up to your knees in Fenian Blood certainly are not political songs. The media have completely brushed this issue under the carpet; they know for an absolute fact who is responsible; and therefore who need to be punished; but apart from Graham Spiers and George Galloway; nobody has come out and said who is to blame; guys like Gordon Waddell didnââ?¬â?¢t even mention it in his column yesterday; and today in the Daily Mail John Greechan is calling for the person who threw the banana at Neymar to be tracked down and banned forever; why isnââ?¬â?¢t he calling for 50,000 bigots to be banned forever? So what will happen on Wednesday at the summit? People like justice minister Mac Askill and assistant chief constable Corrigan have actually backed themselves into a corner with their comments after the last match; so how do they now come out and say there is a problem? Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell played a blinder in the last summit; he came out and applauded our fans for their positive and inspiring support; what did Marin Bain say about his fans? Zilch; his silence told its own story. Finally let me say this; I think the Celtic fans need to stop contributing to the media; not only by not purchasing their rags; but also by not appearing on their radio shows; we never get a balanced report; all these people are doing is using the Celtic fans to stir up controversy and therefore boost their listening figures; just ask yourself this; when was the last time Keevens or Traynor stood up for Celtic? Or maybe more important; when was the last time any of the two of them said anything disrespectful of Walter or his team? Joe O'Rourke Administrator http://www.celticsupporterassoc.co.uk/showthread.php?t=867&p=4164#post4164
  22. Have been sent an email from, erm, Paddy's Market informing me of an interesting Ebay auction with various items of Rangers memorabilia up for sale. This includes historic match tickets, signed player cards, rare match programmes, books, a superb album of press cuttings/autographs and last but not least a signed Willie Waddell handkerchief. I'm interested in buying a few items for our archive part of the main site but you may also fancy a wee bit of Rangers history. Auctions: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/paddys-markets/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340 Gersnet Archive: http://www.therangersarchive.co.uk
  23. ...and the Scottish Cup this coming season. It will put him 2nd in the all time figures of Rangers managers. He is level with William Wilton on 8 titles at the moment but 2nd in the all time total figures with 18 trophies. Would anyone deny he has been our 2nd best manager of all time?? At the same time he was also Assistant to Souness 7 trophies.
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