OnlyOneAmoruso 0 Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Hope I'm alright posting this here. Northampton Loyalist This is not a piece written for any group or any collection of posters, it is from one supporter who has fought with others on regular occasions. A poster who is today shitting himself We 'on-line supporters' have had it good for a while. Free to express our opinions and defend against the inevitable backlash, free to question each other both as to motive and intelligence, to build 'alliances' and make pretend enemies. Today that has to change. Over the years there has been some fantastic debate, real opinion changing, worthwhile debate and for that alone the advent of the online forum has been a godsend. With it though has come a platform for people to push their own agenda, whether that has been as part of a group or as individuals. Under normal circumstances that challenging of ideas is to be encouraged, it breeds meaningful thought and forces people to challenge their own perceptions. Today we cannot afford the luxury of allowing ego to rule our actions. The biggest bone of contention has gone; Murray may still be a shadow looming over the club but his direct influence, if all the various rumours are correct, has all but dried up. The Murray debate will rage for the rest of all our lifetimes, the outcome will remain, as it ever was, indecisive and people will keep the memories they hold today. The terms applied in the past few years count for nothing today 'Murray haters' and Murrayites' must stand together for the good of the club. Walter Smith too has sparked his fair share of debate. To some he is above any and all criticism, the halcyon days of Nine In A Row and a triumphant return to the club in it's hour of need have assured him a place amongst our managing greats. To others he is a relic of the way football used to be played, safety first and at times boring, afraid to use youth and incapable of adapting his game-plan. Under normal circumstances the debates would be good, necessary even, a spur to the people in charge and aimed at keeping a freshness about the club. Today Smith appears to be the single voice of any note that genuinely has the best interests of the club at heart. Walter Smith was a Rangers fan long before he was given a chance as assistant manager under Souness and he remains as passionate a fan as you will find sitting in the stands. The things that are hurting us today are hurting him as much and perhaps more; we can blind ourselves to the real problems should we so choose, he does not have that luxury and must face the direct consequences on a daily basis. Walter Smith alone has opened a crack in the door for the fans to fearfully peer through; Murray has left the stage without even a farewell and has made no noise at all, Muir has done his damndest to spurn the advances of any journalist asking questions or any fan with the temerity to raise concern, Lloyds have uttered the bear minimum in the way of meaningful dialogue and the upshot is the vacuum of knowledge we now see. Whatever the individuals thoughts on Smith the manager, Smith the man has our best interests at heart and has made the call to arms. Pretty words on a message-board are fantastic in their place but that place is not now, we need cohesion and co-ordination. We need to shelve the more divisive of arguments and fight for the common ground. We are all fans of a club that demands more than simple support, Rangers' gets under your skin, into your life in a way no other institution the world can and because of that when she is under direct and clear threat we have to act as one. I fight with my brothers on a daily basis, always have, but woe betide the person that picks a fight with any of us because the others will step in. As a united front the Rangers support is something far beyond the power of Lloyds to control, never mind an individual like Muir. If you are in the Trust and someone from the assembly has pissed you off, forget it for now. If someone on Rangers Media has upset someone on FollowFollow you need to put it aside, for now at least. Individual arguments count for nothing in the face of a threat that is very real and very clear. Each person on their own is but a single voice and simply cannot achieve what we need today. As a united front the will of our support would be overwhelming. Ego counts for nothing at a time like this, personal victories will be truly hollow if the prize is a club destroyed while the support watched it happen. Far subtler minds than myself will set the true agenda in the coming days, people with a flair for politics will hopefully set the support on the right road and leave simply the walking to be done. In the meantime we need to appreciate that regardless of individual motives Lloyds and Muir are working their way towards destroying our club. The person in the middle has made this painfully clear and we can only ignore Smith's words at our own peril. You owe it to your fellow supporters to do whatever it is you can, be that adding your voice to a protest, carrying a banner or changing who you bank with. The sad fact is if we all wait we may find ourselves pushing too late. For anyone with a login to FF you can follow the thread here http://forum.followfollow.com/showthread.php?t=626154 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,329 Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Gersnet are always willing to take part in such initiatives. I've read the thread on FF and I see at least one provocative post that's obviously not in the spirit of the OP. I guess some websites are more willing than others. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,149 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 What Bluedell said. Gersnet remain committed to unity and have called for such many times and have already attempted to involve everyone before in addressing the issues at our club. It goes without saying that we remain open to any cross-community initiatives. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 ''To others he is a relic of the way football used to be played, safety first and at times boring''. Load of rubbish mate.:box: Apart from that I hope we can all join together. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOneAmoruso 0 Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 ''To others he is a relic of the way football used to be played, safety first and at times boring''. Load of rubbish mate.:box: Apart from that I hope we can all join together. How can you say an opinion is a load of rubbish? There are people who believe that but NL isn't one of them. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabashcannonball 0 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 To be united you have to know what you are uniting against and for which reasons, to many factions and misinformation for that to be happening in our situation. Less than half in a small poll on RM definitely support the protest. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOneAmoruso 0 Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 It's a good job RM only equates to a small percentage of our online support then 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 How can you say an opinion is a load of rubbish? There are people who believe that but NL isn't one of them. It's these people opinions I am talking about. Wind yer neck in. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,149 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 It's a good job RM only equates to a small percentage of our online support then RM is smaller than FF but i think it is pretty obvious it does have the kind of numbers worth taking note of. On raw membership figures, FF accounts for more than half of the online community which means it is still the most important forum out there in terms of influence. However, it is only one forum and a cursory look across the other main ones out there show opinions can differ in a reasonable sense. I think for any call of unity to be successful, people have to see past the vocal minority on any forum who may be less constructive to seek the true feelings of the online supporter. Then, the hardest task of all, persuading the offline fan to become 'politically active' can be examined as we're all in the minority then when it comes to online and offline fans. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyOneAmoruso 0 Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 It's these people opinions I am talking about. Wind yer neck in. I know and I was pointing out that it's their opinion and they are perfectly entitled to it. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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