bluebear54 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 (edited) I’m not the only Bear who is grumbling in his den tonight, not understanding the devastating changes in my neck of the woods, and bewildered by the conflicting arguments about the future - which range from Armageddon to Utopia. Arguments about the validity of the Save Rangers Scheme, disagreements about the purpose of the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund, distrust of people leading some of these initiatives – they’re all in full flow. Then we have opposing opinions about the validity of the Blue Knights, a far Eastern interest (the resurrected Leggo suggests that that interest is not much further east than the City Centre), an American interest, fan groups,Ticketus, Craig Whyte, David Murray the last Board, … well, we could go on! I see that some forums – including this one (although –as is usual – in a more modified manner) are being split through the middle as to a best way forward for the Rangers. I do suspect, however, that on certain forums this is not helped by an unhealthy input from non-Rangers interests; who are intent on muddying; the waters at least; and seeing us die at worst. A point of note is that the combined membership of the fangroups and forums is but a drop in the ocean compared to the total number of Bears out there in the world. So for one or two of the groups to assume that they talk for all fans, let alone make comments about our ignorance and our not being able to make an informed judgment about the present situation is –to me – a pretty big statement, And to me a pretty big personal slight. Just before I go on to fan ownership, I’d like to predict that – in this situation - we’ll have doodly-squat to say about the present future of Rangers and whoever will next be in charge. Why? Because these decisions at present are totally within the control of the administrators, and the fan groups are neither in a position to finance nor influence them – despite their best beliefs and intentions. They’re out of their league. Why? Partly, lack of solidarity. They’re unable to unequivocally say “If you want 50,000 bums on those seats, these are our terms.” The issue of fan ownership unsurprisingly seems to be met with almost universal approval – at least on the forums. If ever we needed to pay heed to warning signs on the issue, it’s now. We are not united, we do not have a clear purpose, and no-one to this date has been able to give clarity of what theyare talking about. It’s just – fan-ownership, man! It’s cool, it’ll be OK. So – fan ownership. What is it? What does it mean? Great - you’re as much in the dark as I am. To my mind, it doesn’t mean getting one or even two fans on the Board. It’s about influence and governance - and influence and governance does not necessarily mean a big bum on a seat with the Hoi Polloi. It means purely what it says – influence. I would say that we add to that accountability, clarity and oversight. Regarding fan membership, I’m pretty sure we’ve missed the boat this time. No matter, I think that the time has come to put some serious thought into the issue of how we take care of our Club in the future. We are not joined up, never have been, and we don’t have an agreed agenda. I believe that we should use this present situation tohave a truly reflective and far-reaching consultation of the Rangers family. It wouldn’t cost a great deal to set up. I would rather chip in to a serious consultation than the Save Rangers Scheme or the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund. The analysis would require a lot of effort. However, the end result would be an agreed understanding of who we are, where we want to go, and how we should achieve that. It might result in a clear agenda for the future. An agreed way forward. Otherwise, we can let the next lot muddle through and face the hurdle once again. That hurdle would involve asking the same questions. Edited March 11, 2012 by bluebear54 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ergatrude 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Great read mate. From my point of view, I think we would benefit from some fan input, how we would implement fan input is a major issue. There are so many fans of this club with differing opinions how would we accurately guage their wants & needs. I think it was Zappa who said putting surveys/questionnaires under seats at ibrox on matchdays, which, I suppose could work but would have its flaws. I don't agree with fan ownership though. At the end of the day, we are a football club & football matters but we are also a multi-national business & that requires professionalism & certain expertise. My opinion is fan input is essential, but fan ownership could be catastrophic. Finding a balance is the hard part. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebear54 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Great read mate. From my point of view, I think we would benefit from some fan input, how we would implement fan input is a major issue. There are so many fans of this club with differing opinions how would we accurately guage their wants & needs. I think it was Zappa who said putting surveys/questionnaires under seats at ibrox on matchdays, which, I suppose could work but would have its flaws. I don't agree with fan ownership though. At the end of the day, we are a football club & football matters but we are also a multi-national business & that requires professionalism & certain expertise. My opinion is fan input is essential, but fan ownership could be catastrophic. Finding a balance is the hard part. My own opinion is similar. However, my opinion is neither here nor there. We really do need to know what our fans think and have a credible evidence base. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Well said. We should concentrate on uniting the fans rather than ownership. Just think what a united Rangers Support could achieve, it actually wouldn't matter who owned the Club. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,187 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 A well written argument mate but I am of the opinion we can make enough progress now to ensure out influence going forward is a positive one. I will agree that it is disappointing we've not already achieved consensus amongst our support but that may still come. The question for me is to people really want representation or would they rather pick at sores that should be easily repaired. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Regarding consultation with the fans, it's complicated, but it doesn't need to be over-complicated and if there's ever been a time to do it, then now is that time. There absolutely MUST be a gathering of the fans thoughts on the best way forward. Bums on seats including the season ticket holders, Rangers TV subscribers, corporate package subscribers and all of the other parties involved including the online community should ALL be asked for their opinions on fan ownership of the club. It's that simple. Fans reps can't speak for the people if they don't ask them what their opinion is, especially when the people didn't ask them to speak for them in the first place. We have some major hurdles to overcome as a club and as fans we need to be united or as near united as possible. Right now, we aren't even close to it and it's mainly because we're only fed scraps from the table in terms of information and more importantly, opinion forming on how the club should proceed. These things need to change and they need to change pretty quickly. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ergatrude 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 The question is 'how?' Zappa. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 The question is 'how?' Zappa. At this point in time I think the people within the club itself should consult the fans, so that would most likely be those behind the "Rangers Fans Fighting Fund" and if they wanted ideas on how to to it, then they perhaps already know who to approach and who not to approach. One thing's for sure, you can't just set up an online survey and expect to get results that are properly representative of opinions from the match day fans and the wider fanbase. All surveys are flawed in one way or another, but a purely online survey of Rangers fans misses out way too many match day fans and vise versa, so there would need to be various surveys launched simultaneously to get the best picture of fan opinion. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ergatrude 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I agree, online polls/surveys are great for reaching the masses. They have a tendency to miss the old school bear, the workaholic & the technophobes (which would be a relatively high number). In addition to that it is hard to vet the vast numbers of online submissions to try and weed out all the non-Rangers minded replies. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebear54 0 Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 A well written argument mate but I am of the opinion we can make enough progress now to ensure out influence going forward is a positive one. I will agree that it is disappointing we've not already achieved consensus amongst our support but that may still come. The question for me is to people really want representation or would they rather pick at sores that should be easily repaired. Thanks Frankie I hope you're right about progress. My point was not about consensus. To be honest, that will never exist on any issue. All you get is a 45% for 35% against, 20% undecided scenario, but at least it's measurable and that's the important thing. It's not on the whim of a few. On the subject of sores, we may find that a real consultation will give us some answers too. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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