andy steel 0 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) I'm sitting typing this post on the evening of July 10th, which ought to be the height of summer. In gloomy old Scotland, though, it is raining yet again, as it has been for the last two weeks. Those of you who are keen gardeners will be aware of how long it has been since you needed to fill your watering can of an evening, but also of how reluctant the blooms are to emerge. Who can blame them? I wouldn't want to open my eyes to this Scottish summer if I didn't have to, either. Decisions will have to be made soon about whether to give up on some of my more tender plants, which are already showing signs of suffering from root and leaf rot. The likes of my spuds are loving the weather, but my salad crops are looking sadly yellow instead of a vibrant, appetising green. My roses, my pride and joy, are doing their best, but without sunlight the buds remain unopened. Decisions of a different kind need to be made about The Rangers as well. Do I show humility, as fans of other clubs demand (showing a distinct lack of humility themselves, ironically) or do I raise two fingers? Do I adopt a mature stance regarding the SPL or seek revenge? Do I buy into the 'Rangers are guilty' before any trials or do I defend my club as never before? I don't think it will make any difference. Looking back over the years I've been old enough to follow events outwith the park, nothing Rangers or Rangers fans have done has ever been good enough for other people. Slated for the use of a discriminatory signing policy, when Rangers emphatically consigned that policy to the dustbin of history by signing Mo Johnston, we were told he wasn't really a Catholic. I can remember being told he was the 'wrong kind' of Catholic and so didn't count. I kid you not. What the right or wrong kind was, I never found out. Today is the 23rd anniversary of Rangers signing this classy forward. Yet hardly an online story about Rangers has been published since without a rambling 'comment' from some other teams supporters about this policy. Perhaps there's a statute of limitations, and they will stop worrying about something which hasn't happened for at least 23 years in the year 2525, but somehow I doubt it. Nothing is ever good enough. The many other companies and professional bodies who also operated outrageous hiring policies escape censure; I wonder why? If it's Rangers, it's wrong. You may think I'm making this up. Well, luckily I have kept the papers from that historic day tucked away all these years, and some of the comments from our virtuous media guardians are worth a look. Here's the Evening Times, qualifying their praise in the bottom left hand corner: That line on the right, about Murray being 'nothing if not a realist when it comes to business', tastes slightly sour now, does it not? Something to remember the next time we're blasted for not waking up to Murray soon enough. Here's The Record, which doesn't even get past the first paragraph to throw doubt on whether it really counts as the real deal: The Record again. 'A light Blue boo-boo' indeed. Nothing like welcoming in the new era with gusto, eh? Not all were so hypocritical. Ian Archer, long celebrated amongst those opposed to the backward signing policy for his 'permanent embarrassment, occasional disgrace' quote, took the chance to look forward in hope. It's worth reading this piece in full since, with the aid of hindsight, it is poignant beyond words. Finally, here's a snippet giving the views of some fans. I wonder if any of them are now online users, and whether the lad with the dodgy tache did, in fact, stay away while MoJo was playing for us? Notice, too, the extreme reluctance with which the editorial on the left welcomes the end of the sectarian signing policy. It wasn't just the sectarian signing policy that was chastised. Slated for years over the sectarian songbook, when Rangers fans adopted a hymn - 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' - in honour of Paul Gascoigne, we were told it was the wrong kind of hymn because English rugby fans had already appropriated it. I was a bit uneasy at signing it, being a bit of a kilt wearing Nationalist in those days, but I didn't expect people to be as unhappy with it as they were with 'No Pope of Rome'. They were, though. They actually were. No Rangers fan can deny that we walk right into deserved criticism time after time, the last example I can recall being the singing of 'who's the ****** in the black' during a game at the end of last season. All the ammo our haters need, we provide. Just the same, if you tell someone they are always wrong, they may well stop caring. During this current debacle at Ibrox, the New Puritans have been out in force again, seeking out Witches in Blue. Despite spending weeks berating Rangers fans to accept their club's wrongdoing and start again in Div.3 with some humility, when they actually did so, the usual suspects on Radio Scotland wasted no time in assuring us that they were doing so only out of spite, not genuine remorse. The Ginger Revolutionary, Leon Spence, was, as usual, first up on the barricades, bleating about the online abuse he receives and wondering where the decent 'guys and gals' of the Rangers fanbase were. Leaving aside the bizarre Jimmy Saville terminology (I dread to think what he'll be like when news finally reaches Dundee that the white haired DJ is no longer with us), the reason decent Rangers fans don't engage with the likes of Jim Spence is that he's been revealed as a serial hypocrite. If like me, you've been living with people who not only move the goalposts but rip up the whole bloody pitch when it suits their agenda you tend to amend your outlook accordingly. If you continually slam people for not doing something, then slam them for doing it but not in the right fashion, people are going to correctly assume they can never please you, that you are not objective (that's putting it mildly!) and that you can safely be ignored. Make the most of your online abusers, Leon, since the online socially mental ones, such as myself, are the only people likely to be bothered with you. I want Div.3 for a couple of reasons; it will allow the club to rebuild, it seems only fair since we're a Newco and it can't be that much more boring than going to places like Motherwell or Dundee. I doubt the opposition will be that much weaker, either, which is a worry considering how weak we are! But that's all part of the romance - not knowing whether your team is going to win or not will be most refreshing after decades of pumping SPL teams (all of whom were similarly indebted, before obsessives from other clubs start whining about cheating). But I don't think I'll bother with the demands for humility. Since I'm always wrong, no matter what I do, there's really very little point in wasting the time. It would be refreshing if even a single media pundit could see the contradiction inherent in hypocrites bleating about integrity, but I won't be holding my breath. Edited July 12, 2012 by Zappa 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Great stuff Andy! That's your article published now - http://www.gersnet.co.uk/ Also on NewsNow - http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Sport/Football/SPL/Rangers 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Thoroughly good read Andy, those newspaper articles remind me of why I stopped buying them. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 saw this on facebook. its excellent. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,187 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Brilliant stuff mate... I'd like to take this opportunity to thank yourself, AMMS, dB and Zappa for releasing so much excellent material lately. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy steel 0 Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 The only fans not crawled to for their opinions over our debacle has been us. This needs to be challenged! With the quality of writers on this site - and I mean everyone, not the people you mention above - we should be putting out articles from our point of view which destroy the myths and legends, challenge preconceptions (amongst ourselves and others), offer a fresh take on events as they happen at least every couple of days. Berliner's piece has already led to more than one news outlet in Germany amending their 'facts', which they get from the Bheeb, in order to give a more accurate picture. Not a rosy one, given our position, but accurate. We can make a difference, and we should do so. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Quality stuff again Andy. Brought back some great memories. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Can I take the opportunity to congratulate the OP for a fantastic read and at the same time I would like to thank many of the other posters from recent weeks. It only proves why I am a member and read this blog on a daily basis. It's provides insight, honesty and balance not found on other Rangers sites IMO. Well done all 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc 280 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 The only fans not crawled to for their opinions over our debacle has been us. This needs to be challenged! With the quality of writers on this site - and I mean everyone, not the people you mention above - we should be putting out articles from our point of view which destroy the myths and legends, challenge preconceptions (amongst ourselves and others), offer a fresh take on events as they happen at least every couple of days. Berliner's piece has already led to more than one news outlet in Germany amending their 'facts', which they get from the Bheeb, in order to give a more accurate picture. Not a rosy one, given our position, but accurate. We can make a difference, and we should do so. Absolutely spot on. We have let the haters spin their lies unchallenged for too long. Lying down and taking it isn't an option because no amounts of regret and remorse on the part of Rangers supporters, no amount of wanting to do the right thing, take our medicine at start again in Division 3, and no amount of flaws in their simple world view that RANGERS = BAD is going to make any difference. Give us fairness and a league to play in and we'll answer you in ways you can't deny or lie about. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.