D'Artagnan 173 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 (edited) Several years ago my wife and I discovered our teenage son was spending his school dinner money on cigarettes rather than buying himself food at lunchtime. Our response to this was twofold :- 1. We withheld his dinner money 2. My wife dispatched him to school daily with a suitable packed lunch in a Tupperware box. Over the next few weeks I noticed two things. The first that my son's general health and well being appeared to improve and secondly, the packed lunch box which he always hid for fear of his street credibility amongst his peers, would invariably return at the end of the day empty. We took this course of action, not to be punitive, but we could not, sole in conscience, continue to fund our son damaging his own health. I recite this story, not because I have signed up to some new health initiative, but because of the incredibly difficult waters I'm about to navigate – the rising groundswell of opinion amongst our support that they will be withhold buying season tickets whilst our boardroom continues to conduct itself like a runaway train being driven by George Michael. Speaking to fellow Bears and reading forum posts, it's clear the de-moralising affect this boardroom in-fighting is having on our support. Furthermore, the way this battle is being waged is particularly unedifying, and most certainly not the Rangers Way. Inappropriate use of Rangers forums is bad enough, but equally so is reading some of the press hacks columns as they deliver the latest inside info courtesy of a briefing from someone on our board. One can almost sense their satisfaction as those hacks deliver yet another body blow to our great club. This time of course it is all self inflicted, emanating from the warring factions within our boardroom. It is an utterly appalling way to treat a support who have stood by this club through thick and thin, who have financed its continuation and survival and ensured, by their loyalty and devotion, that it is a club worth investing in. Quite simply the members of our board should be utterly ashamed of themselves. Have they any idea the emotional roller-coaster this support has been taken on over the last few years ? Do they understand the suffering we feel as daily we read about our club literally ripping itself apart ? What kind of model are they presenting for would be investors ? Several years ago I was asked by a fellow Bear who I sided with in the Le Guen/Ferguson saga. My answer was simple – neither. Both had misled the Rangers support claiming all was well when behind closed doors they were actively engaged in a campaign against one another which caused our club considerable damage. I've said it before and I'll say it again now – This support deserves better. Much better. Honesty and integrity has always been a feature of the Rangers Way. Therefore I do not appreciate members of our board issuing the sound bites of the last few months, and let me paraphrase “we have have a great team in place who are all pulling together for the benefit of Rangers”. Not satisfied with embarrassing us with their conduct this board seem to be at ease with misleading this support as well. Therefore you will not find me criticising any Bear who decides to withhold season ticket money whilst our current board behave in a manner befitting squabbling schoolgirls. There appears to me to be 2 casualties in this war – The Rangers Support and The Rangers Way. I have been reliably informed that this current battle is about money and power, and the language of the Rangers Way is no competition for the language of pounds, shillings and pence. Perhaps it time for the Rangers support, both by word and by deed, to speak to these money men in a language they will understand. Edited May 17, 2013 by D'Artagnan 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darthter 542 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Several years ago my wife and I discovered our teenage son was spending his school dinner money on cigarettes rather than buying himself food at lunchtime. Our response to this was twofold :- 1. We withheld his dinner money 2. My wife dispatched him to school daily with a suitable packed lunch in a Tupperware box. Over the next few weeks I noticed two things. The first that my son's general health and well being appeared to improve and secondly' date=' the packed lunch box which he always hid for fear of his street credibility amongst his peers, would invariably return at the end of the day empty. We took this course of action, not to be punitive, but we could not, sole in conscience, continue to fund our son damaging his own health. [/quote'] There is one massive, notable difference between your course of action & the course of action a lot of fans are talking about ie. withholding season ticket money.....in your case, you provided an alternative to your son. In order to compare like for like, you would have needed to stop giving him the money & provided nothing else - That's what the fans who support withholding season book money will do. Without the season ticket money, how will the club run??? The only way would be to use whatever is left in the bank from the IPO. This will then get the fans shouting even more, and open up further divide within the support and possibly push then even further away (with their cash still in their pockets...) Without funds coming in, how is the club supposed to bring in any new players??? Again an action which will swell resentment against the Board. The tussles within the Boardroom are far from ideal....but as long as it doesn't impact the playing side of things ie. bringing in new players etc, I say let them fight it out. There will be a winner, who will hopefully be the best person to take the club forward. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 We should continue to buy ST's and hope we eventually get the right people to run the business 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Artagnan 173 Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 There is one massive, notable difference between your course of action & the course of action a lot of fans are talking about ie. withholding season ticket money.....in your case, you provided an alternative to your son. In order to compare like for like, you would have needed to stop giving him the money & provided nothing else - That's what the fans who support withholding season book money will do. Without the season ticket money, how will the club run??? The only way would be to use whatever is left in the bank from the IPO. This will then get the fans shouting even more, and open up further divide within the support and possibly push then even further away (with their cash still in their pockets...) Without funds coming in, how is the club supposed to bring in any new players??? Again an action which will swell resentment against the Board. The tussles within the Boardroom are far from ideal....but as long as it doesn't impact the playing side of things ie. bringing in new players etc, I say let them fight it out. There will be a winner, who will hopefully be the best person to take the club forward. Darth there is an alternative - that the boardroom battle is conducted in a way which does not shame our club. Perhaps some of our board members could learn to wash their dirty laundry in private. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darthter 542 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Darth there is an alternative - that the boardroom battle is conducted in a way which does not shame our club. Perhaps some of our board members could learn to wash their dirty laundry in private. True....so your saying that folk are more concerned with HOW the boardroom battle is being played, rather then who's participating or that its happening at all. If it was all going on behind the scenes there wouldn't be a problem??? Many fans were complaining previously that the Board didn't engage with fans enough - they were kept in the dark. Now they're complaining that everything is too public.... I do agree that a happy medium needs to be found. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Artagnan 173 Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 True....so your saying that folk are more concerned with HOW the boardroom battle is being played, rather then who's participating or that its happening at all. If it was all going on behind the scenes there wouldn't be a problem??? Many fans were complaining previously that the Board didn't engage with fans enough - they were kept in the dark. Now they're complaining that everything is too public.... I do agree that a happy medium needs to be found. Yes I am, and perhaps I did not make that clear in the OP - its the conduct not the fact there is a boardroom struggle . However there is a difference between keeping the fans informed and what we are currently seeing being released on a daily basis - thats not keeping the fans informed thats one faction briefing the press against their opposite numbers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC 150 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 (edited) "Therefore you will not find me criticising any Bear who decides to withhold season ticket money whilst our current board behave in a manner befitting squabbling schoolgirls." Interesting choice of "schoolgirls" there. I'd have thought it somewhat (that's a touch of sarcasm, btw ) more accurate to say 'befitting' "schoolboys". I tend to think girls old enough to attend school would already be far more mature than the moronic males, a whole host of immature cretins, that have brought our club to its knees with such squabbling - no? Totally correct re the hacks etc. though..well whaddya expect from boys, eh? PS - you write great stuff though, D'Art, no question. Something the other day was so on the mark that I felt pressing the "thanks" wasn't enough. PPS it needed proof-reading though (there were nouns as verbs and verbs as nouns, or just incorrect words "illicit" for "elicit"). This sounds awful but I am not saying it to be pedantic. I am saying it because you should be published in mainstream, professional print (and e-print, obviously). I know that one can read and re-read one's own writing and never spot the mistakes (one reads what one thinks one wrote) but your articles deserve to be 100% and to be published in mainstream media. You have a real talent, imho. Edited May 17, 2013 by SteveC 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
foggy dewhurst 0 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 george michael fags and lunchoxes hmmmmmmmmmmm 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumshie RFC 0 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 If it was any other business you would simply withdraw your money and think nothing of it. Trouble is this isn't a normal business, this is Rangers Football Club. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 people imho should go on a game by game basis until we both see audited accounts and get answers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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