Death Threats and David Edgar

[maineflyer 0]

David Edgar on death threats A RANGERS fan club boss told last night how he quit his post after receiving terrifying death threats - from GERS supporters.

 

David Edgar revealed that after he criticised the club's board last year he was warned he'd be attacked if he was seen at Ibrox.

 

One sick fan even posted a package of maggot-covered rotting meat to his home.

 

Shaken Edgar, 32, spoke frankly about his ordeal only days after he resigned as spokesman for Rangers Supporters Trust (RST).

 

And the Gers diehard admitted he suffered a nervous breakdown after leading calls for a fans' takeover at Ibrox.

 

He also hit the bottle as his marriage to wife Lisa, 32, fell apart.

 

Edgar became the public face of the We Deserve Better Campaign, which the RST launched in January 2009 after a string of poor on-the-pitch results and dire financial predictions at Ibrox.

 

Now, in his new book 21st Century Blue, Edgar tells how he was singled out by raging fans. He said: "I received some death threats. Worst of all, they were from fellow Gers.

 

"Stuff arrived in the post graphically depicting what would happen to me if I didn't shut my mouth."

 

Edgar said the threats started after he took up his RST post.

 

He said: "I'd be sent letters threatening to kill me, with cut- up newspaper headlines spelling out the words.

 

"Another time someone sent a package of meat and maggots to my house - with a note saying, 'Next time you see this, it will be your insides'.

 

"And when we started the We Deserve Better campaign things stepped up again and became more sinister. I would get verbal attacks whenever I went to Ibrox - and a text message said that if I was spotted around the club, I would be attacked."

 

Edgar claims Rangers chiefs also turned on him. He said: "The club went on the attack, launching a full-on assault on me personally. I was called a glory hunter and was cited as the reason for things being wrong with the club."

 

The football fanatic, from Ayrshire, admits he turned to drink to cope with the pressure and his crumbling marriage. He said: "My life fell apart. I split up from my wife and suffered a breakdown. The constant stress definitely had an effect.

 

"I was drinking to excess every day. Wine, whisky and lager - I got caught up in binge boozing.

 

"I told a doctor how much I was guzzling and he just shook his head. I realised I had to give up or I was going to DIE."

 

Now, after losing three stone in weight and resigning from the RST, the dad-of-one has a new partner and says: "I am sober, happy and settled." But memories of that turbulent time will stay with him. He told how Rangers owner Sir David Murray summoned him to a face- to-face meeting at his plush Edinburgh HQ last year.

 

The showdown came after he attacked the tycoon in a radio interview.

 

Edgar recalled: "As I walked in, Murray was on a telephone barking commands, but he motioned for me to sit down.

 

"When he'd finished, he said, 'That's me just concluded a �£25million deal. That's the kind of thing I do in a day.' I'd like to say I was nonchalant but this was a new world to me.

 

"I just wanted us to be a bit better at set-pieces, for crying out loud."

 

Edgar also uses his book to defend Paul Gascoigne, 43, over an incident at an Old Firm match in 1998 when the Gers legend pretended to play a flute.

 

Gazza was fined by Rangers at the time and widely criticised for stirring up sectarianism. But Edgar says: "He mimicked an Orange Order flautist.

 

"As far as I know, the Orange Order is not an illegal organisation. So what's the problem?"

 

Edgar also slags off the home grounds of Gers' biggest rivals, referring to Celtic Park as "The Potato Bowl" and "Girodome".

 

And turning to Aberdeen FC's stadium, he states: "Going to Pittodrie just isn't a pleasant experience in a, 'I hope I don't have to touch anything in this place and get home without contracting rabies' kind of fashion. It's an absolute s***hole."

 

Last night a source close to Edgar said: "His book will get under the skin of a lot of people - that's what David intended. He feels he was treated badly by people at his beloved Rangers."

 

21st Century Blue: Being A Bear In The Modern World, will be published next month by DB Publishing, priced �£12.99

 

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scot...x-torment.html

[Stimpy 0]

He's wrote a book! A brief stint in the public eye and he does this - what a tube.

[bmck 117]

"Another time someone sent a package of meat and maggots to my house - with a note saying, 'Next time you see this, it will be your insides'.

 

This is fascinating. How would they manage to spill his guts and keep him alive for long enough that he could see that the maggots had gathered? That's some expert macabre torture.

 

Edgar claims Rangers chiefs also turned on him. He said: "The club went on the attack, launching a full-on assault on me personally. I was called a glory hunter and was cited as the reason for things being wrong with the club."

 

Cashing in on your celebrity by selling the sensationalised version of your life through the gutter press you'd previously made your name standing up to may not be the best way to prove those who call you a glory hunter wrong, but fair play to the guy I suppose. I think as a general rule if you've had your name in the paper more than three times nowadays 'you' need to write a tasteless horribly written autobiography.

Edited September 26, 2010 by bmck

[Gazza_8 233]

Why is the NOTW even publishing this?

[Frankie 8,150]

I'll plead the 5th on the Edgar stuff until he explains his motives for bringing such stuff into the public domain.

 

One thing is for sure though. Despite it being a disgrace what happened (and I hope he is feeling much better) this won't help his or the Trust's reputation amongst the wider support.

 

I need to know more though.

[Frankie 8,150]

This must have been closed by mistake. Now open again - apologies!

[rbr 1,247]

I cannot believe that he has for monetary gain published this in of all papers the NOTW , any respect I have had for this guy has just vanished , these fans could have been anyone , how he knows the packages were sent by Rangers fans is pure speculation on his part . That aside he should know better , this has been ignored on �£�£ funny that .

 

My mistake , this is his answer .

 

 

Got a call from the press lady at my publishing company saying 'buy a News of the World, you'll be pleased'. Obviously she didn't appreciate the intricacies of FF life

 

To answer a few points;

 

No, I didn't get paid for it.

 

The book is 80% about Rangers and 20% about me. The stuff they have focused on is around two pages out of two hundred. However, it all happened and it would have been wrong of me not to mention what was a huge factor in my decision to leave the RST.

 

Every newspaper receive the same PR blurb and it's up to them to run it if they want, and choose which bits of it to go with if they choose to do so.

 

The vast majority of threats I ever received were from Celtic/Sheep fans - for example, the meat package.

 

Any questions, fire away, I am more than happy to answer them

[bmck 117]

I'll plead the 5th on the Edgar stuff until he explains his motives for bringing such stuff into the public domain.

 

Frankie, the only possible motivation for writing a minor celebrity formula autobiography ( = humble background + i got some fame + people hated me + met powerful people + battled addiction) is money. Just to be clear, money's no evil motive; he's a well known figure and people may find his story interesting. I just won't be buying it for the same reasons I don't buy Rebecca Loos' or the third winner of big brothers'. It's a shame, the guy clearly engages people well and a thoughtful version of what it is like to be a modern Rangers fan might be nice to read, but the make-money-from-fame-and-shocking-tasteless-revelations autobiographies are just universally horrible, even if written by a Rangers fan. Perhaps epecially.

[biggordy 0]

Let's see the hassle he gets now courtesy of NOTW.

[rbr 1,247]

Let's see the hassle he gets now courtesy of NOTW.

 

Anything he get's is because he's brought it on himself