Frankie 8,151 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Super_Ally discusses why some people seem to prefer the negativity over enjoying our unrivalled domestic success. The Rangers Rollercoaster - Do You Enjoy The Ride? From the slopes of dear old Ibrox to the underfoot gravel of Recreation Park (Alloa) I, like no doubt many other fans, have been and taken in a game of football at a variety of sporting venues. Some great, some small. Some empty, some full. Some noisy, some quiet. Whatever the make-up of the spectators, however, there is one constant; they are all there to watch their team hoping for a victory and a performance to match. Fans up and down the country pay their money to sit amongst a few hundred or tens of thousands. To watch their heroes and cheer them onto glorious victory or demoralising defeat. They travel in numbers from one corner of the country to another. We Rangers fans pay more than most for the privilege of watching our team at Ibrox or away. We of course pay for more than our smaller competitors and down through the divisions. Yet the other side of that coin is that we get to watch international footballers playing at a far higher standard, watching in relatively far greater comfort as our team competes week in, week out for national and European honours. More often than not we watch our team win. Take last season�s SPL matches; Walter Smith�s team emerging victorious on 30 occasions out of 38 matches played, witnessing just 5 defeats. We secured a League and Cup double winning 2 of 3 national trophies for the third year in a row, competing in European competition against Manchester United and Valencia. Going back to that comparison with one of the countries smaller teams then. In 36 league games Alloa fans enjoyed the thrill of victory on just 9 occasions. Defeated in the Cup by Hamilton in the fourth round, League Cup involvement lasted just two rounds. Rangers are a huge name known across the globe with everyone aware of and respecting our derby game. We have won a world record number of league titles and over 100 major honours. We play in Europe, to a greater or lesser extent, pretty much every year. When at home we watch our team in one of the few stadia ranked 5* by UEFA. It has to be asked then, why do fans of these so called diddy clubs seem to enjoy their football so much more? Most probably standing not seated, in driving rain and wind. Cold and wet watching a standard of football you probably think would make your own game of 5�s look like a Champions League clash. Yet fans of the smaller clubs do at least appear to derive some enjoyment from their fanatical following of their team. It is an uncomfortable fact that Rangers are no longer as strong as we were even 10 years ago. The quality of player plying his trade in our blue shirts has undoubtedly decreased. We in theory have a reduced ability to compete in Europe and certainly we compete with an inferior calibre of team for potential new signings. This is not an appeal to accept lower standards. We have not fallen so far as Leeds, from Champions League Semi-Finalists to England�s lower divisions. Liverpool have fallen from a side who dominated their domestic league to a side with a forlorn hope of regaining the title each year, despite it never really looking likely. Even Real Madrid currently have to suffer as Barcelona�s whipping boys as the Catalans sweep all before them. Football, like any sport runs in cycles. There are winners and losers and you are never always one nor the other. As a fan of any side, you have to be able to take the rough with the smooth. Support your team through thick and thin. At Rangers we are fortunate enough that we get to enjoy far more of the good times than the lean. We routinely see our team lift silverware on an almost yearly basis. Is it that familiarity with success, that expectation of victory that fuels this unrealistic demand for continual, unyielding success? Rangers are purportedly more than a club. Many of the older generation of fans like to remind us that it is about more than just the football. Why is it then, that we only seem to sing when we are winning? There are a vast number of our fans who are too busy ruing the missed opportunities. To engrossed in the negatives, that they cannot enjoy what we are achieving. Hot on the heels of 3-in-a-row and 8 trophies in four years we are once again top of the table and pace-setters in the SPL. Cause for complaint for some at Ibrox. The sort of troubles your average Alloa fan can only dream of. That goes, too, for the Hibees, Jambos or Arabs. Once again, this is not to urge the fans to lower their expectations. To demand, and strive for, more as the players and manager must surely due. It is merely a reminder to enjoy the good times that are also here. A look at the likes of Nottingham Forest, at Liverpool, at Feyenoord or Monaco show that a glorious history is no guarantee of a successful future. Rightly bemoan the wrongs and ills of the club. Question the poor results, the bad signings and the incorrect tactics. But every so often, take a moment to enjoy the league titles. The fantastic football players of international fame. The glorious and picturesque old stadium. The world records. The table topping league position. The knowledge that you are a true Rangers supporter and wouldn�t have it any other way. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisabeer 409 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The one thing that struck me over the last 3 seasons is that i didnt enjoy the football that i was witnessing. I found us to be bland boring and predictable, and for the most part pretty much unwatchable, winning trophies or not. Thats why i gave up my season book. I wasnt being entertained on matchdays and in the end the passion i had for Rangers wained. something i never thought would happen. Far too often in football the only thing that matters is the result with no care of how that result is achieved. To me that is wrong. The manner in which your team wins is a very important aspect of the game to me as it dictates just how good your team is. But this point of view seems to have got lost somewhere at Ibrox. I hope they find it real soon. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimpy 0 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Sitting in Ibrox or just driving up to the stadium still gives me the goosebumps. It can be painful on the eye from the playing side of things but sooner or later we will have the mix of both great stadium and decent, attractive football. We're spoiled and have higher expectations because of our success, we pay more to watch football than the likes of Alloa, but if fans didn't enjoy it the attendance would be much smaller. We have a different way of showing our appreciation. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 0 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I guess it boils down to our desire for domestic success at the expense of enjoying the ride to get there. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Maybe we need to learn to enjoy the ride... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Too much of a good thing. I don't mean football on the park but trophies won, we see trophies as the be all and end all and bugger the standard of the team that gets us there. But I think we are coming to a watershed moment in Rangers history the football is getting to a standard that even when we win we are hacked off (see Sunday). The big question for the fans to ask themselves is this, we can't buy a great team so we have to grow one will they wait for that to happen few trophies for 5 or more years with no guarantee that it will work. The fans I know say no way but are the loudest voices of how bad we are with no answers except some billionaire will chap the door some day. We as a support have to see the big picture we can't keep going on like this we have to build from the ground up and grin and bear the consequences. And I love the ride it's what being a Ger is all about. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I dont think that you have to give up on seeking trophies while building a better, more aesthetically pleasing team. When you have kids from the age of 7 or 8 on your books you really should have a philosophy on how to play the game. Use the same formation, same tactics in each of the age groups and they grow up knowing exactly how to play the "Rangers way". I read somewhere that Man U dont let their kids teams play against othe clubs until they are at the U-13 level. So for 4 or 5 years the kids are taught nothing but the technical aspect of playing, as well as learning how to play the "Man U way". If you have that philosophy from such a young age then when kids get to 16-18 yrs old they could easily slot into the first team and play as they have in all other levels with nothing to learn other than the step up in physicality from opponents and added pressure of having to win. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Outside of the likes of gymnastics, ice dancing, diving - and the Harlem Globe Trotters. I don't think any sport is dominated by people who see aesthetics as more important than winning. Highly competitive people do what it takes to succeed, not what they think looks nice. Form usually follows the function of winning and not the other way around. Teams that look good do what they do because it wins games - and they also scrap it out when necessary. As soon as we start thinking about playing "nice" football, we are lost as a successful club. You'd think we'd have learned the lessons of Burns, Mowbray and Yogi. The only reason teams like Barcelona and Man U can play great football is that they have the most talented players in the world. There are no teams at our level who can play them and no successful clubs at our level who are as good to watch. You just have to look at World Cup finals to see that aesthetics are but an occasional, fortunate by-product. You are naive if you go to any sporting event to be "entertained", that is not what you are paying for. You are paying for the privilege of watching a sporting contest in action and nothing more. The only way to make a sport more appealing is by changing the rules - not by getting participants to worry about how much the crowd is entertained - unless you want football to follow the American wrestling model - or the Harlem Globe Trotters. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisabeer 409 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 You are naive if you go to any sporting event to be "entertained", that is not what you are paying for. You are paying for the privilege of watching a sporting contest in action and nothing more. I have been "entertained by the likes of Davie Cooper, Michael Mols, Laudrup, Gascoigne to name a few and never felt one bit of naivety. should i have done? Quite an absurd comment to be honest. If the only thing that matters is the result then we may all as well stay at home and watch out for the final results on TV on sportscene. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Quote Originally Posted by calscot View PostYou are naive if you go to any sporting event to be "entertained", that is not what you are paying for. You are paying for the privilege of watching a sporting contest in action and nothing more. I have been "entertained by the likes of Davie Cooper, Michael Mols, Laudrup, Gascoigne to name a few and never felt one bit of naivety. should i have done? Quite an absurd comment to be honest. If the only thing that matters is the result then we may all as well stay at home and watch out for the final results on TV on sportscene. Agree strange remark from Cal, i wonder if the Barcelona fans think that way. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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