David Edgar Article

[djbroxybear 0]

Usually I'm not one for hypothetical questions - it is, as memorably described in 30 Rock, merely lying to your brain - but I'll beg your indulgence just this once.

Imagine the following scenario; you have used a supplier for a number of years. Their service levels are generally good, so much so that during hard times for them, you found ways to get more money to them. This you did without prompting, simply because you felt it was the right thing to do. You have a great relationship â?? in fact, more than that; having helped them in their bleakest period, youâ??d say you have a bond. However, their standards have slipped recently, massively so. Not only is the quality of their work unacceptable â?? some would shoddy â?? but their workers seem not to care, displaying a dreadful attitude that reeks of complacency.

 

You decide to complain to the management. They tell you that, in fact, you are mistaken. The workers have had a tough time of it. They are going to hire a few new ones soon and it will sort everything out. Actually, come to think of it, they arenâ??t even doing that badly. A director who has been at the firm for a number of years says that the CEO shouldnâ??t listen to customers anyway, as all they ever do is gripe. You then find that those workers, the really lazy ones who you are financing, have taken to social media to laugh at you and all the other customers.

 

Would you give any money to that firm again? Would you hell. But thatâ??s what Rangers expect of us as the posties get ready to bring round the season ticket forms for 2013/14.

 

Now, itâ??s a flawed comparison, no doubt. We are supporters, not just customers. We love our club, weâ??ve been through the mill with them and we stood up to be counted. We donâ??t do walking away. But the fact is that, unpalatable as it is to some, we are customers. This is the 21st Century and attitudes have changed. I know we all like to be wonderfully staunch, but the fact is money is tight for many and the pressure to cut back on unnecessary outgoings is always there. When you are a family looking at economies, a season ticket, with its upfront payment, is always going to be a quick and easy one. When the football being played is entertaining, then it is a pressure we just donâ??t succumb to. When itâ??s not so free-flowing and joyous, there has always been that bond between player and fan. My club is your club is our club. Even when that was eroded (as it has been at every major club) by the money players earn, the club was usually engaged in a title race. There was enough to keep you going.

 

What we have now is really, really terrible football. Almost indescribably bad. Given the standard of the opposition, what we are serving up most weeks is evidence that the current Rangers side really does have a strong claim to be the worst ever. They are, more often than not, sluggish, half-paced, unimaginative, dull, sloppy and content to get by against part-timers. There is no vision, spark or drive. This is bad. This is very bad.

 

What has enraged thousands of fans, however, is that the players and staff donâ??t seem to care. In the days after the Annan defeat, we learned that Kyle Hutton had won the Murray Park darts tournament, was going to spend the afternoon watching a DVD after finishing training at 1pm and was attending a concert with several of his team-mates. How do we know this? He told us himself through the magic of social media. When fans pointed out that Hutton, whose performances recently have been so bad that he resembled a drunk wearing lead boots caked in lard, may be better served maybe spending more time in training, he took a hissy fit any toddler would be proud of. After telling fans to â??bore offâ??, he and Darren Cole exchanged jokes about the ridiculousness of anyone suggesting they do extra training. To put this in context, they laughed at Rangers fans for having the temerity to want them to better themselves as professionals. And they did it in public!

 

Now, Iâ??m not going to swoon at young players for acting like spoiled, overpaid prima donnas. Weâ??ve seen dozens of Kyle Huttons come and go. Itâ??s the arrogance of youth. He gives the impression that his life would be perfect if only it wasnâ??t for the bothersome Saturday afternoon football matches. He might think heâ??s all of that and a bag of potato chips, but history suggest that only one or two of any crop of youngsters will make it and, given his attitude and limited talent, it isnâ??t going to be him. No, what enraged me is that this attitude is fostered at best and encouraged at worst by the management team. Kyle Hutton and Darren Cole both felt comfortable openly mocking their fans in a public forum that they knew was filled with supporters.

 

Ally has to publicly back the squad. I get that. But a listen to his interviews over the season â?? not just after matches, but before and even during â?? make one thing abhorrently clear; he really thinks weâ??re doing okay. Sure, heâ??d prefer we were doing better, but weâ??re supposed to be winning the league and we are. The fact itâ??s against bank clerks and panel beaters doesnâ??t matter. And his mentor is even worse.

 

Listen to Charles Green:

 

â??Walter Smith said to me the other week he said â??look Charles when you look out there it is not pleasant but you have to remember when we were winning nine in a row, we were getting booed off thenâ??.

Source - STV

 

In other words, â??never mind what the fans say. These ungrateful sods are always moaning. Ignore them. Their opinion doesnâ??t matter.â??

 

This attitude has been allowed to flourish at Ibrox, and it is coming home to roost. Well, be very careful Rangers. The players, cocooned in their Murray Park bubble, may feel that they are untouchable and our concerns are baseless, but thatâ??s where they are wrong. Not just about whether this season is acceptable â?? and it isnâ??t â?? but about the whole dynamic. Because, as any businessman will tell you, when your customers are upset, it doesnâ??t matter if itâ??s valid or not. What matters is making them happy again, and quickly. Otherwise they will stop giving you money. It isnâ??t rocket science. Walter, love him as we all do, is from a different generation, the Murray School of thinking where the fans are a necessary nuisance whose cash is needed, but whose opinions are not. Itâ??s archaic and in these times itâ??s downright dangerous.

 

Charles Green is at a pivotal point of his stewardship. His forecasts rely on the continued support â?? the amazing support â?? of the Rangers Family. He canâ??t take it for granted, and neither can those who we continue to fund. And if people canâ??t see why we are upset, then get them out the door and donâ??t let the door hit their arse on the way out. Weâ??ve had enough of low-to-no standards and being held in contempt by youngsters whose wages we pay and whoâ??ve delivered precisely nothing in their career yet. Let me end this with a friendly warning to Charles â?? donâ??t take our kindness for weakness. Itâ??s only you who will lose.

[biggordy 0]

Hopefully Mr. Green will see patience is wearing thin within the support. And hopefully when League business is done and dusted a new era will begin with regards to the attitude shown by the players especially towards the Support AND the reputation of our Club.

The honeymoon is over and the real players must step up or be kicked out, it's their turn to show if they're "worth it"!.

All supporters dug deep at the start of this season but I think it will take a big effort by the Club to garner a similar fan investment for the start of the next one.

[Thinker 857]

Listen to Charles Green:

 

â??Walter Smith said to me the other week he said â??look Charles when you look out there it is not pleasant but you have to remember when we were winning nine in a row, we were getting booed off thenâ??.

Source - STV

 

In other words, â??never mind what the fans say. These ungrateful sods are always moaning. Ignore them. Their opinion doesnâ??t matter.â??

 

There's a bit of a leap there between the original statement and the "in other words" interpretation. Fans (especially Rangers fans) are demanding. Sometimes fans are impatient. Importantly (for me anyway) Green has admitted that the product is bad and therefore needs to be improved. Say what you want about Green but he definitely doesn't think fans' opinions don't matter. If anything, he's too keen to be a crowd-pleaser - hence the repeated "moonbeams" criticisms.

[RANGERRAB 3,258]

Hate to say this but after last weekend's fiasco why wasn't the manager getting the players in for double training sessions ?

[Zappa 0]

Good article from David Edgar and I agree with a lot of what he says, but I think it's possible that he's wrongly reading what happened between Darren Cole & Kyle Hutton on twitter. He seems to be suggesting that they're clever enough to fully understand the dynamics of social media and the implications of their actions on/with it, when in fact they're not. There's cleverer blonde bimbos on twitter than that pair of pea brains put together.

[Guest JCS]

There are few things I would dispute in David Edgar's article. He reflects what most of us have been thinking and feeling this week (and in previous weeks). This isn't simply about the Annan game - horrific though it was - but, rather, about the inept and embarrassing performances that we have witnessed regularly all season.

 

David's article is hard-hitting, forthright and blunt but, regrettably, it is spot on. There is a complacency - and, dare I say it - an element of contempt at Rangers. The players seem to think that the supporters will continue to accept this level of 'performance' without protest.

 

David Edgar - indeed, every one of us - is all to painfully aware of what has happened since February 14th last year, but those events cannot be offered as an excuse for the performance against Annan, or those others that we have had to endure this season.

[der Berliner 3,245]

I think once people start talking of reasons rather than excuses when it comes to team performances, the time is back to debate it on here.

[GovanAllan 0]

I think once people start talking of reasons rather than excuses when it comes to team performances, the time is back to debate it on here.

 

Ok I'll give you a reason the manager hasn't a clue what he's doing, are you going to give me the never ending excuses why its not his fault.

[Kenzie1 0]

Ok I'll give you a reason the manager hasn't a clue what he's doing, are you going to give me the never ending excuses why its not his fault.

 

I would reluctantly agree with this. the empirical evidence is there for all to see.

[ian1964 10,411]

ALLY McCOIST last night insisted Murray Park is no holiday camp.

 

In the wake of last week’s humiliating home defeat to Annan, midfielder Kyle Hutton naively took to twitter to tell his followers he was heading home at lunchtime to catch up on US TV drama Homeland.

 

The reaction wasn’t what he expected, with cyberspace erupting in protest at the apparently cushy life of Rangers’ players.

 

Christened ‘The Nando’s Generation’ by some over their fondness for fast food and shoot-em-up computer games, McCoist shot down suggestions they had it easy.

 

But not before he took the chance to slap down chief twit Hutton.

 

He said: “Rightly or wrongly, social media has become, for a lot of people, a massive part of their life.

 

“I’ve said to the boys on numerous occasions to know their responsibilities and pay due attention to what they’re writing because what they write is picked up instantly.

 

“We had social media experts in to speak to them, so it’s not as if they don’t know about it. In a normal week it was a nothing message from Kyle — but it’s the context of coming off a defeat. He posed himself a problem with a throwaway line.

 

“It’s a common-sense issue and I’d far rather ask them to use common sense than to start banning things.

 

“It’s not my cup of tea. But just because it’s not for me doesn’t mean the younger, and perhaps older, players shouldn’t use it.”

 

The average footballer’s working day has long been a sore point for punters, who fail to see why they can’t spend additional hours brushing up on opponents or working on their weaknesses.

 

McCoist understands the concerns but denies Rangers’ training methods are stuck in the Dark Ages.

 

He added: “The most important thing is, if anyone needs reassured, we know what is required.

 

“We have coaches and fitness staff, whose job is to prepare the boys correctly for their games and they do a good job.

 

“Criticisms about our approach would be levelled at me and that’s one I’d refute because we work the boys for the right amount of time.

 

“They do their hard work, their technical work, gym work and pool work but it has to be in the right order before a game.

 

“There’s not a team in the world that works nine to five. The object of team training is to make sure they’re ready for the next game. The job of every coach is to find that balance.”

 

Andy Little agreed with his boss ahead of today’s trip to Elgin.

 

Little, winner of the Irn-Bru Ginger Boot as February’s top scorer, said: “We can only train so many hours a day. Like Kyle, I got a bit of stick for apparently saying I could play golf any day of the week.

 

“What I mean by that is going out to play a few holes in the evening. I’m not going to play on the day before a game. I know that — I’m not stupid.

 

“But we need to be aware if you have a bad result fans don’t want to hear about you having easy afternoons off.”

 

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/feeds/smartphone/scotland/4844406/You-Twit-Kyle.html#ixzz2NgsiUGq9