Where do We Draw the Line & When Does it Come to an End?

[Zappa 0]

I'm neither for or against the Scottish Cup game boycott and that might seem like a cop-out, but I have to sit on the fence on the issue because I've never been a regular attendee at our away games, only going to one on a very occasional basis. For that reason, I think it would be extremely hypocritical of me to even remotely try to dictate to other fans on the issue of boycotting the Dundee Utd game at Tannadice.

 

I do support the idea of hitting back at these SPL teams in principal, but it seems to me that we need to ask ourselves when does it come to an end and maybe more importantly, where do we draw the line? Are we only going to boycott Tannadice once as a one-off statement or is it something we'd consider doing again next season if drawn against them for a cup tie? What about the other SPL clubs who were involved in voting us out of our league? Are we going to boycott them all without any fear of repercussions from our Shady Football Association?

 

Then there's the question of where to draw the line with the grudge in terms of which clubs deserve to feel our wrath on their bank balance. I note that Charles Green mentioned Motherwell as one of the clubs we've already been friendly to this season and you'd assume that he's essentially saying that full cooperation with Motherwell and certain other clubs will continue, but the fact of the matter with regards to Motherwell is that the majority of their fans wanted us voted out of the SPL in the summer.

 

The Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Leanne Dempster at Motherwell were in a position where their club (which was being run on a tight and small budget as it was) couldn't actually afford to vote against our SPL membership share being transferred and us being allowed to continue playing in our league. That's exactly what their fans wanted their Board and CEO to do though because like fans at most of the SPL clubs, they could smell our blood and they were wallowing in our troubles.

 

So my point here is does it actually matter if the Motherwell Chief Executive has told Charles Green they didn't want to vote us out of our league, when the fact of the matter is that they were pressured into doing so by their own fans, by other clubs and by other clubs fans who were threatening to Boycott any club who voted in our favour?

 

The key factor here for me is that a majority of the Motherwell fans wanted us out, not in and just like the fans of other clubs in the league, they were willing to damage their own club's bank balance to make it happen, so why should we be friendly to their club? We can't treat Motherwell as pals just because we like wee Stuart McCall, can we?

 

Do you see my point here? How do we fairly decide which clubs deserve to be boycotted when 10 of them voted us out of the league on the basis of pressure from their fans and politics within the league? Ten of them voted us out, so surely all 10 of them deserve to be boycotted in theory? If there were a few clubs saying to Charles green that they didn't want to vote us out, but had no choice, then why didn't they do what Kilmarnock's Chairman Michael Johnston chose to do and abstain from the vote?

 

I'm also wondering where Charles Green and our new owners stand on the subject of further boycotts? What happens if we boycott this game at Tannadice and then Charles Green & his gaffers refuse to back a full boycott of the next game we're playing away at Parkhead and thousands of Bears go to the match? That would make us look extremely lame if it happened because we all know that Celtic fans have been the worst culprits of all in terms of getting us voted out of our league and trying to kill off our club. If anything, maybe we should never take our ticket allocation for an away game at Parkhead again?

 

That then brings me to the question of where our new owners' stand on all of this. Do we think as purely investors in the business that they're going to want to refuse millions of pounds worth of ticket allocations over the next two or three seasons? I think they'll be freaking out at the prospect of that to be honest and I don't think they'll support very many more boycotts. They've supported this one by refusing the ticket allocation because they didn't have much choice ahead of their share offering and they've played a smart hand by supporting the fans this week, but what about future calls for match boycotts? Are our fan representatives going to ask Charles Green for assurances on the issue of official club support for future boycotts and are they going to ask these questions right now?

Edited December 5, 2012 by Zappa
typo

[simplythebest 0]

I'm sure it can be dealt with on a case by case basis until we're back in the same league as these teams, cup draws vary so much.

 

Of course you did have to turn this into another (albiet subtle) anti-Green rant. Whatever other issues there are can we not just appreciate him backing up the fans like this?

[DUDE 0]

This whole boycott only makes sense as a one- off. Every further boycott of away games would water it down and hurt our own team. And when we're ready to hurt our own team just to be able to harm another club, we're really down in the dirt with the rest of those tits. I've heard some say exactly this, to give away the Scottish Cup since we're not winning it anyway and promotion is more important. This is really not my stance because we're Rangers and fuck me if we're not in every tournament to take the silverware home. Your certainly need your fans supporting you to do so.

 

It's alright to take a stand and show defiance, but it has to stop when it starts to harm your own team. Period.

[ian1964 10,377]

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-fans-urge-cup-boycott-of-spl-clubs-109083n.19598796

 

 

Rangers could boycott all SPL grounds in the William Hill Scottish Cup this season – including Parkhead.

 

John Macmillan, General Secretary of the Rangers Supporters Association, made the threat today.

 

And it came in the aftermath of Charles Green's decision to officially snub February's cup tie at Tannadice – but he has hinted the embargo may not stop there.

 

A run in the Scotish Cup could throw up the prospect of an Old Firm game – the only one possible this season – but even then, the Ibrox support could still vote with their feet if the tie was at Celtic Park.

 

Macmillan said: "We would hope the boycott would extend to other SPL clubs we might be drawn against, should we progress, and that could well include Celtic.

 

"But it is early days. The resentment is there about the way we feel Rangers were treated this year and this is our chance to do something abut it.

 

"We are not singling out one club here. It is not all about Dundee United.

 

"There were a number of SPL clubs who put the knife into Rangers and hurt them badly.

 

"The suggestion to boycott will come up again if we are successful in progressing, and that will cover all away SPL grounds.

 

"All of the SPL clubs made it quite clear this summer that they were voting because they were responding to the wishes of their fans.

 

"Well, now it is the turn of Rangers to listen to their support and act accordingly."

 

The latest storm to engulf Scottish football erupted after Rangers decided to reject their allocation of tickets for the cup tie against Dundee United at Tannadice.

 

Green said: "Everyone at this club is dismayed at the actions of certain SPL clubs, which were actively engaged in trying to harm Rangers when we were in a perilous situation and we are acutely aware of their attitude to us.

 

"Not all clubs fall into that category and we made Motherwell very welcome when we played them at Ibrox in the League Cup recently.

 

"However, feelings remain very raw and it should be no surprise that we as a club feel this way.

 

"The last thing we want is to compromise security arrangements for any match. I therefore appeal to all fans not to travel to this match and to Dundee United not to sell tickets to Rangers supporters."

 

The boycott announcement last night triggered a quick response from the SFA, who said the matter would be discussed at a meeting tomorrow. But it raises the notion that Rangers could still be entitled to half the gate money at Tannadice – despite their fans staying away.

[foggy dewhurst 0]

never forget these clubs wated to finish the rangers for good i can never forgive them for that to me they had some mad idea they were going to be better off with no rangers well they were wrong .

[Guest DietofWorms]

In my opinion, it's not up to us to draw up a 'truce'....there will come a time when we need to sit down with clubs and draw up plans for a sustainable, realistic future for football in this country.

As we've seen however, the fools at the SFA & SPL are in denial and seem still hell-bent on us being marginalised and punished.

The war is just beginning I'm afraid. I was always quite interested in (most) other clubs and cared a bit about their well-being. After the vitriol I recieved this Summer however, there has to be a reckoning on them for me to move on.

[DUDE 0]

Neither will I, they can all go down tomorrow without a single tear shed. But there's other ways of expressing this than denying your team your support in foreign grounds. Anyway, it's an alright one- off action.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

We are still under constant attack from the haters in the Press and at the BBC, SPL clubs want to strip of us titles.

 

Yet some of the support would rather we just crawled into a ball on the ground at keep taking a duffing.

 

The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.

 

Our boycott of this game is our first real attempt at standing up to these bassas, long may it continue.

[simplythebest 0]

We are still under constant attack from the haters in the Press and at the BBC, SPL clubs want to strip of us titles.

 

Yet some of the support would rather we just crawled into a ball on the ground at keep taking a duffing.

 

The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.

 

Our boycott of this game is our first real attempt at standing up to these bassas, long may it continue.

 

Yep, the fact some of our support are for appeasement is saddening.

[ian1964 10,377]

All the fans of all the SPL clubs wanted to bury Rangers, not punish us but to actually see us die, this season we only have the Scottish cup to boycott games against SPL teams so I'm all for 100% boycott, next season will depend on what has happened to these teams,maybe they will have went bust?, but next season I'd go for the boycott again on all SPL away games, our priority is getting promotion up the leagues, we can't even play in Europe if we were to win the Scottish cup. They all said they don't want or need Rangers so we give them what they want by not giving them a penny.