Fan ownership of Rangers

[Super Cooper 0]

Swayed yet Super Cooper?

No mate, I have not heard anything to convince me it is the right thing for Rangers.

[54andcounting 0]

If we don't hurry up and get our arse in gear it'll be a decade before we get a chance at 55

[simplythebest 0]

I'm always baffled at the reaction to this topic when it gets debated by 'Gers fans. Up until this season, since 1872 we've always had 'fan ownership' if you accept that Craig Whyte and SDM were fans in their own way. What we're really debating is whether it is better for us to be owned by a large number of supporters, no one of who has more say than any other, or owned by a large number of people, most if not all supporters but where a small number, possibly only one, have a much greater say because they 'own' much more of us.

We've tried the latter for the last 20 or so years. Whilst it brought success it ultimately brought disaster. There were no checks and balances in place, one man could make decisions without fear of reprimand or censor, whilst the going was good few questioned it, by the time it got bad it was too late to do anything about it. Do we really want to return to that? The success it brought wasn't so significantly better than we'd enjoyed at other points in our history to make it worth the pain it eventually brought.

 

People speak about our support being fractured like this is somehow unusual. Do you think all the Dortmund/Hamburg/Barcelona supporters agree on everything. Really? Don't you think they have factions in their support? Do you think having liberals and hardliners, traditionalists and modernisers, progressives and regressives is peculiar to us? C'mon, even Clyde who are fan owned in the sense most on here are meaning it can't agree on everything.

But it isn't about agreeing on everything, it's about making sure the club, our club, is run with us in mind. It isn't about 'us' running it, it's about 'us' owning it and holding those responsible for running it to account.

 

Ultimately the 'owners' would need to devolve the day-to-day running of the club to people qualified to do it. Frankly writing a blog about football doesn't make you qualified to do anything except write a blog, this fear some have that perhaps some of the more prominent members of the online Rangers supporting community would suddenly find themselves running the club is ludicrous.

 

The last thing Rangers need is another 'sugar-daddy' type owner. The club is big enough to stand on its own two feet and win it's battles without the largesse of some industrialist. To suggest this could "finish us off" is perplexing, not taking a say in how our club is run will finish us off far quicker. We very nearly died last year because far too many of us became apathetic over the last couple of decades, me included. We expected someone else to to fix our problems, we looked to an owner to fund players we couldn't afford, we just wanted to turn up at the weekend for 90 minutes and be entertained. Did we learn nothing in the last 18 months?

 

Like most things football evolves, things change. Rangers place in European football will continue to diminish for the foreseeable future. Even when we are able to qualify the gap between the English, Spanish, German and Italian leagues and ours is so chasmic it is unbridgeable now. This looks like it won't change anytime soon. It's vital we get involved with our club, if we want a voice at the table we need to be prepared to do a bit more than simply turn up every second week. There is no money to be made in Scottish football, none, it's practically impossible currently. Anyone looking to make money from a Scottish football club does not have that club's interest at heart because the only way to make money from us is to take money out of the club that we, the fans, are putting in. We don't have many other sources of income, sponsorship isn't great, prize money non existant and TV money a joke.

 

Rangers should have a purpose, a stated aim and it should be a simple one. It should be to bring glory through our football and to make our support proud. Nothing else matters, it's all any of us want, I don't need a poll to know that everyone wants that from our club. That's the starting point, every decision we then make should be designed to achieve those two aims.

 

To be honest i'd want to see the results of this regime before concluding that it hasn't worked out. Outwith the dramas we don't really know how this model can work for getting us winning the title again etc, we got put into Scotland's bottom tier and they can't magic us back to the top league, so until we're actually there who knows that we can't have this 'glory' you talk about?

[54andcounting 0]

To be honest i'd want to see the results of this regime before concluding that it hasn't worked out.

 

In a way I agree with this.

 

We did complete 'phase 1' albeit with piss poor football, so for this reason, like Ally, they should be 'given more time'

 

Alas you are either an Ally Basher/lLover or a Green Lover/Basher and that's why 'fan ownership' of Rangers FC would make a mockery of the club. I think.

[forlanssister 3,061]

To be honest i'd want to see the results of this regime before concluding that it hasn't worked out. Outwith the dramas we don't really know how this model can work for getting us winning the title again etc, we got put into Scotland's bottom tier and they can't magic us back to the top league, so until we're actually there who knows that we can't have this 'glory' you talk about?

 

 

Other than the 33% ratio of wages to turnover claim nothing whatsoever resembling a business plan in the slightest has been put forward by Green & Co.

[chilledbear 16]

Watching Sunday Supplement last week-end.

 

One of the guests told the story of the then Barcelona Manager Terry Venables,when he bought Steve Archibald for £750k. The ones in charge asked him to say the price was £3m not £750k, the fans would vote them out if they knew Barcelona were buying players for only £750k.

 

Good post amms, I don't think fans realise what FO entails.

[amms 0]

To be honest i'd want to see the results of this regime before concluding that it hasn't worked out. Outwith the dramas we don't really know how this model can work for getting us winning the title again etc, we got put into Scotland's bottom tier and they can't magic us back to the top league, so until we're actually there who knows that we can't have this 'glory' you talk about?

 

My issue with the current 'regime' is that they want to make money from the club. I don't believe it can be done in Scottish football as it currently exists. The only way for them to make money is to take it from the supporters as no other significant revenue streams exist. Had they all left after the share offer I'd have probably accepted that as their payment for rescuing the club, whatever anyone thinks of that process. That they are still around is my main problem.

 

I've little doubt that run efficiently the old/current model of ownership could see us back on top in Scotland but the basic flaws of being reliant on one man or company for stability have been demonstrated so many times in recent years that I'm surprised we all don't find it anathema now. Gretna, Dunfermline, Hearts and us have all discovered the cost of putting all of our eggs in the one basket.

[Frankie 8,187]

When it comes to fan ownership I think it is a difficult subject to discuss because, while I take AMMS' point, such a vehicle is alien to many football fans and especially RFC fans.

 

I think it could work (and may have to at some point) but only under the most careful of circumstances and only in a step-by-step way.

[amms 0]

When it comes to fan ownership I think it is a difficult subject to discuss because, while I take AMMS' point, such a vehicle is alien to many football fans and especially RFC fans.

 

I think it could work (and may have to at some point) but only under the most careful of circumstances and only in a step-by-step way.

 

What do you mean by alien? If I remember correctly you've some experience with this, or am I mixing you up with someone else? If so your views would be interesting.

[Frankie 8,187]

What do you mean by alien? If I remember correctly you've some experience with this, or am I mixing you up with someone else? If so your views would be interesting.

 

Not alien to me but to many others. Fan ownership isn't something that has been overly popular in the UK.