It's all gone quiet over there, RST.

[Totti 0]

I've been doing that for years. So tell me again, since I missed it last time..... what truth is it the RST seem to be speaking? One small example, I'm serious, I've never looked forward to anything so much for a long time.

Well I haven't been here for long so maybe you could enlighten me.

 

As for the next point I just told you. I agree with a lot of what they have been saying in recent years about Murray and the situations we are in. They speak out where other clubs don't.

[maineflyer 0]

Well I haven't been here for long so maybe you could enlighten me.

 

As for the next point I just told you. I agree with a lot of what they have been saying in recent years about Murray and the situations we are in. They speak out where other clubs don't.

 

Well there's a big fat surprise, you've nothing to offer as back up for the wild claims of truth from the RST.

 

Right, now that you've relegated "truth" to "agree with", how about you give some examples of things the RST has actually either said or done that you've agreed with "in recent years"? As ever, I won't be holding my breath while you mull it over.

[rbr 1,256]

Totti , I used to share your view on the trust and as a lifetime member still agree with fan ownership and am also a fan of David Edgar as I believe the passion he shows is genuine , however I also had a debate with Maineflyer after which I had to seriously question my beliefs as he asked questions that i had neither considered or had answers to , and it's only after having these discussions and also reading other posters views that we all begin to see the bigger picture .

 

The night of the big cull of the RST a year or so ago is still a watershed as power was grasped away from the original board for others personnal reasons , that is still my opinion and led me to get ban from FF for asking or rather giving my view , Mark Dingwall keeps getting mentioned in not a very good way whenever certain subjects arise and I am not sure some are entirely happen if the RST is trying to muscle their way to a position of strength if as we are led to believe they have been holding talks with potential new owners .

[elderslieblue 0]

I'm an R.S.T. member and will continue to pay my membership as long as they speak out against some of the treatment our fans have recieved at away matches in Europe. That alone is worth the subsciption simply because there is nobody else who will put OUR side of the story in the Press. [certainly, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on some kind of defence coming from within Ibrox].

 

To put in bluntly, and I ain't interested in previous internal blood-letting, they are the only show in town.

[maineflyer 0]

I'm an R.S.T. member and will continue to pay my membership as long as they speak out against some of the treatment our fans have recieved at away matches in Europe. That alone is worth the subsciption simply because there is nobody else who will put OUR side of the story in the Press. [certainly, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on some kind of defence coming from within Ibrox].

 

To put in bluntly, and I ain't interested in previous internal blood-letting, they are the only show in town.

 

Elderslieblue, I'll give you this much, the RST is trying very hard at the moment to do something. I don't know what it is and it's unfair to criticise too much in ignorance. Better to stick to what I can see, which is a flourish of publicity to coincide with what I believe is an attempt by the RST to assert a position with respect to whatever ownership the club may have in future. The RST has published 13 articles on its website since 2nd October this year - probably more than the previous four years put together - it's hard to be sure since the past has been swept fully away in the current cleansing.

 

What I can't see is any sign of campaigning for away fans in Europe that you mention. There is one very brief statement that some individual board members will forward to the club descriptions of their Bucharest experience, along with any contributions from other fans that they receive. There is certainly nothing whatsoever asserting one view or another - no mention of the dreadful treatment in Spain, Manchester, or elsewhere and no calls for better planning or conditions. I believe the RSA may have done more on this but I don't anything to hand and there is nothing I can see on their website.

 

However, what intrigues me most about your post is the inference that the RST have somehow been either active or have achieved any of the success you indicate is worthy of your support. My complaint has never been that the RST exist, I've been a regular member and life member myself and have always said the RST should be the centre of the Rangers supporter's world. My problem with the RST is that they have simply failed to do the sort of campaigning that you seem to think has been going on. It is their dire lack of achievement that disappoints me, and the reasons behind this. Five years .... and what exactly? What is different, what has been achieved that actually makes life better for Rangers fans?

 

Have conditions actually improved for the away fan in Europe - have they? Has the RST created the rallying point for supporter pressure on the club or the regulating bodies? Has the RST actually mobilised opinion or educated and unified the wider support ... has it? Or are we really just dealing with words of self-publicity? The evidence seems to suggest it might be, if lack of tangible progress can be taken as evidence of under-achievement. The RST membership has fallen dramatically over he last two years, the one sure and measurable indicator of general support for the work of the RST is clearly judging them in ways other than your own.

 

What's the reason for this? It's certainly not that the Trust hasn't had time or opportunity to make better progress. Could it possibly be that it simply hasn't been done at all well? Could it be that the concept is OK but that the execution has been decidedly underwhelming?

 

You say you're not interested in previous bloodletting but I respectfully suggest you should be. The bloodletting you refer to was orchestrated by a small number of people, perhaps for the best of reasons for all I know, who are the same people who have under-achieved the mission, lost the membership and alienated large chunks of the support. These people continue to direct the Trust and these are the same people who are now assuming both the right and the ability to negotiate a fan ownership scheme. For my part, I fail to see where the right comes from with such a tiny membership to represent - and I fail utterly to see the personal qualities required for an enterprise like fan ownership.

 

In short, I have no problem with the RST but I have enormous problems and a profound lack of confidence in those running it. If you have found reasons to think otherwise then good on you, I only react to what I actually see. It seems obvious to me that we now have a RST board that has been trying desperately over the last few weeks to place a veneer of action and credibility on the idle inactivity of previous years .... with the intent of deflecting criticism from it's involvement in the fan ownership project. This smacks of rank and temporary opportunism and I'll be extremely concerned if these people succeed in positioning themselves as the ones to represent the fans in any such scheme. It really would be ironic if they ended up by default with a membership of tens of thousands when they haven't been able to earn much more than one thousand by their own efforts.

 

I strongly recommend to every Rangers supporter to view the inner circle of the current RST with great caution. Not because there are no good people involved, there are. Not because the organisation doesn't have any merit or potential, it does. But because the evidence demands it and the future of the club is far too important to be place in the hands of ambitious individuals who have consistently placed personal agendas before the club and the fans ... and who, beyond the rhetoric, have actually achieved so little.

[elderslieblue 0]

No. Conditions have NOT improved re the treatment we receive in Europe. But at least there's someone willing to speak up about it and to challenge some of the lies printed in the Press about our behaviour.

 

That's all I ask. I'm sick of being painted as some kind of savage just because of the team I support. Even if the RST only answer half of the allegations made against me I'll be satisfied. I've seen very little issued from any other supporters group or the Club itself and there SHOULD be.

 

The buyout/buyover/shares thing is a different matter and to be honest, I have no real interest in it. I'll wait until the dust settles before deciding if I'll invest my hard-earned in it.

[maineflyer 0]

No. Conditions have NOT improved re the treatment we receive in Europe. But at least there's someone willing to speak up about it and to challenge some of the lies printed in the Press about our behaviour.

 

That's all I ask. I'm sick of being painted as some kind of savage just because of the team I support. Even if the RST only answer half of the allegations made against me I'll be satisfied. I've seen very little issued from any other supporters group or the Club itself and there SHOULD be.

 

The buyout/buyover/shares thing is a different matter and to be honest, I have no real interest in it. I'll wait until the dust settles before deciding if I'll invest my hard-earned in it.

I wouldn't argue with anything you say needs done but I've probably written more letters to the club, media, football authorities, and politicians than the RST has done. If I thought the RST had done half as much as it should have these last five years, that would be ten as much as it actually has done. It is the organistaion that should be doing these things but the actual impact has been almost indiscernible, which is why I fear so much about their self-styled role in the fan ownership proposals.

[elderslieblue 0]

I wouldn't argue with anything you say needs done but I've probably written more letters to the club, media, football authorities, and politicians than the RST has done. If I thought the RST had done half as much as it should have these last five years, that would be ten as much as it actually has done. It is the organistaion that should be doing these things but the actual impact has been almost indiscernible, which is why I fear so much about their self-styled role in the fan ownership proposals.

 

I've spent a fortune in stamps and phone calls myself over the years Bear and apart from a letter in Hugh Taylors Sportsbag in the Rhecord around 1972 it hasn't made an ounce of difference.

 

The RST have managed to comment to the public via radio and t.v. on most of the things that concerned me. For what my membership costs, I'm happy.