For the Avoidance of Doubt (Alternative Version)

[Guest JCS]

On Saturday, not long after the Stranraer match, the club published a statement entitled, “For the Avoidance of Doubt”.

 

The article was written under the tag, ‘Rangers Football Club’, although almost everyone acknowledges that it was probably penned by the club’s Director of Communications, James Traynor. Although the statement was generally well received by Rangers fans, it was more noticeable for what it didn’t say, rather than what it actually did say.

 

Whilst the statement is welcome, it is long overdue, and I doubt if it will have any substantive or meaningful impact on the serial Rangers haters who constantly misrepresent and malign our club. I suspect that most Rangers fans consider the statement to be much too terse, and would have preferred a more comprehensive, robust and forceful statement.

 

Certainly given the nature and content of the statement, it is noticeable for its failure to comment on the serial offenders at Rangers who consistently utilise the local anti-Rangers media to further their own agendas, or censure those Rangers bloggers who are aligned with one side or another in the current Boardroom wars, and who often give interviews to the local rags, including the Daily Record.

 

In fact it fails to confront the leaks that are clearly emanating from Ibrox, and it doesn’t ‘sit well’ with the fact that our board of directors, club officials and employees regularly utilise the local rags for their own ends.

 

Fine words from James Traynor – but actions speak much louder than words! It is for that reason I have penned an alternative version of “For the Avoidance of Doubt”.

 

 

For The Avoidance of Doubt (Alternative version)

 

“Rangers Football Club is aware of wildly inaccurate stories circulating on various websites and would like fans to know that these flights of fancy will be monitored by our lawyers. Where it is considered necessary, we will instruct our lawyers to initiate legal action against the owners and administrators of any website, or any other media vehicle, that publishes (or disseminates by any other means) material that is inaccurate, libellous or misrepresents the club’s position in any way. The club will keep fans advised of any action initiated as a consequence of this monitoring process and will provide regular updates on the club’s official platforms.

 

In particular, our lawyers are examining a malicious piece which seems to suggest that the club does not own its facilities. That suggestion is, of course, utter nonsense, and the club wishes to make it unequivocally clear that the club owns all of its facilities in their entirety.

 

We urge Rangers fans to treat these idiotic and lumbering articles with the contempt they deserve. Better still, ignore them completely. However, we acknowledge that many fans may wish to analyse and assess them and, where appropriate, respond to their misrepresentations by means of their own websites and blogs. Indeed the club recognises the very practical assistance provided by the fans in monitoring these articles and responding in circumstances where the club is, either, unable or unwilling to do so.

 

But we must also stress we cannot waste time responding publicly to every blog or ridiculous claim against the club, although we acknowledge the magnificent work that has been done by Rangers fans in challenging the reprehensible Rangers Tax Case blog; BBC Scotland’s consistent misrepresentations and its inaccurate and biased reporting; the vindictive and malign blogs of those such as Alex-Thomson of Channel 4, Phil Four Names, Paul McConville and, of course, those journalists in the mainstream media such as Graham Spiers, Tom English, Keith Jackson etc. who continually misrepresent, and unreasonably, attack our club.

 

There is also a dangerous proliferation of anonymous obsessive’s on various social media sites and we will not give them any credence, although we will continue to monitor the material they publish and seek to identify the source of any leaks, particularly where specific material is proven to be genuine correspondence emanating from Rangers Football Club. In such circumstances we will take appropriate action against any director or officer of the club who is found responsible for leaking confidential information including, if necessary, precautionary suspension and summary dismissal.

 

Nor can we react to every journalist and publication that appears to pursue an anti-Rangers agenda; publications such as the Daily Record which today boasts yet another headline which does not accurately reflect what manager Ally McCoist said in his press conference yesterday. The paper’s intent is clear, and we urge our fans to see it for what it is, as we urge those prominent bloggers who are closely aligned to the Club, and prepared to give interviews to the Daily Record, and provide them with information relating to the business of our board, its shareholders and the club’s operations, to desist forthwith. In this regard, the club will make every effort to ensure that no member of its board, any shareholder, club official or employee will provide information to, or give interviews to, the Daily Record or any of the other recognised anti- Rangers media.

 

If Rangers fans want the truth they will find it only on the club’s official platforms, and we will make every effort to ensure that, from this point onward, there is substantive and meaningful information available to fans on the club’s platforms in relation to current anti-Rangers news stories, statements that misrepresent the club’s stated position and those that are causing significant concern to the fans. This is particularly relevant given the current boardroom upheavals.

 

Finally, Jack Irvine of Media House does not speak for this Club, although we can confirm that he and Media House currently represent the interests of the Easdale brothers who are major shareholders in Rangers Football Club.”

[Zappa 0]

I thought the original club statement in question was an absolute joke, but a lot of fans seem to have really liked it because it had a pop at the Daily Record. We all know that the Record overall & in general isn't a friend of the club, but the club has more important issues & problems to deal with at the moment than Scotland's most popular tabloid red top.

 

Regarding the article JCS, I don't really see the fairness in having a veiled dig at a Rangers blogger who spoke to the Record if you're not prepared to have a pop at Rangers bloggers doing the bidding of people threatening to sue the club for millions of pounds when they've already made millions of pounds from their extremely short involvement in the club.

[amms 0]

You know it seems our club has 'spent' £22 million of IPO money, season ticket money, corporate sponsorship in less than 12 months and they achieved this largely during a transfer ban.

Still, lets focus on the Daily Record and some mentally unbalanced bloggers, that's what's important right now.

[andy steel 0]

I thought the original club statement in question was an absolute joke, but a lot of fans seem to have really liked it because it had a pop at the Daily Record. We all know that the Record overall & in general isn't a friend of the club, but the club has more important issues & problems to deal with at the moment than Scotland's most popular tabloid red top.

 

Regarding the article JCS, I don't really see the fairness in having a veiled dig at a Rangers blogger who spoke to the Record if you're not prepared to have a pop at Rangers bloggers doing the bidding of people threatening to sue the club for millions of pounds when they've already made millions of pounds from their extremely short involvement in the club.

 

Who's that, then? I was puzzled at the reference to bloggers closely aligned with the club - is it Andy Goram or someone?

[Zappa 0]

You know it seems our club has 'spent' £22 million of IPO money, season ticket money, corporate sponsorship in less than 12 months and they achieved this largely during a transfer ban.

Still, lets focus on the Daily Record and some mentally unbalanced bloggers, that's what's important right now.

 

What I find unusual is that the Club statement in question was trying to discredit the Record at a time when the Record (Jackson at least) has been pro-Walter & Malcolm Murray and more recently, very pro-McColl. Trying to discredit other news sources while trying to suggest that the Club's official news sources are the only trustworthy ones is a very tedious and suspicious path to go down at time when a LOT of fans don't actually trust the people currently running the club.

[Zappa 0]

Who's that, then? I was puzzled at the reference to bloggers closely aligned with the club - is it Andy Goram or someone?

 

There's a bunch of fans who've been giving Fury (Chris Graham) dogs abuse because he spoke to Jackson 'on the record' after the recent fans' meeting. Anyone attacking Fury in the midst of all this chaos at the club has very confused priorities in my humble opinion.

[amms 0]

What I find unusual is that the Club statement in question was trying to discredit the Record at a time when the Record (Jackson at least) has been pro-Walter & Malcolm Murray and more recently, very pro-McColl. Trying to discredit other news sources while trying to suggest that the Club's official news sources are the only trustworthy ones is a very tedious and suspicious path to go down at time when a LOT of fans don't actually trust the people currently running the club.

 

Traynor's no idiot, if he did pen that, and I can't believe he didn't at least approve it, then it smacks of score settling and dick measuring. The Rangers website is not the place to do that, particularly with the chaos around the club currently.

I didn't read the story but I saw the 'Spend, spend, spend' headline on the back page. Now if that misrepresented McCoist then Traynor will have a fairly accurate idea who wrote it, he probably interviewed them for their job. A headline like that puts pressure on McCoist, but not as much as losing to Stranraer would have. If McCoist wants to avoid pressure he should ensure his side keeps winning. Beyond that the article smacked of Traynor being pissed off that his dictats to the media were being ignored.

[der Berliner 3,207]

You know it seems our club has 'spent' £22 million of IPO money, season ticket money, corporate sponsorship in less than 12 months and they achieved this largely during a transfer ban.

Still, lets focus on the Daily Record and some mentally unbalanced bloggers, that's what's important right now.

 

Ahem, I would assume that even while most of our staff are not women, they are still capable of doing quite a few things at a time. Especially if "time" refers to weeks, days or hours, not moments.

[Zappa 0]

Traynor's no idiot, if he did pen that, and I can't believe he didn't at least approve it, then it smacks of score settling and dick measuring. The Rangers website is not the place to do that, particularly with the chaos around the club currently.

I didn't read the story but I saw the 'Spend, spend, spend' headline on the back page. Now if that misrepresented McCoist then Traynor will have a fairly accurate idea who wrote it, he probably interviewed them for their job. A headline like that puts pressure on McCoist, but not as much as losing to Stranraer would have. If McCoist wants to avoid pressure he should ensure his side keeps winning. Beyond that the article smacked of Traynor being pissed off that his dictats to the media were being ignored.

 

Personally, I think the club is digging itself into a very very big hole with all the aggression towards the media because it's never going to stop the various media outlets printing their articles and in some cases twisting the facts & quotes or misreporting stories by adding slants to them. That's just the media and it's fine to slap them on the wrists if need be, but I get the feeling that the club is really isolating itself if it continues down the current path.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the the club should just ban all of the perceived media enemies from Ibrox, but something in the back of my mind tells me it's a mistake. I just think that Green & co (and Whyte before them) have been milking the support's disdain for certain media outlets.

 

It's a dangerous path to take because while banning the BBC and trying to discredit certain red-tops might go down well with a large percentage of fans, there's no doubt that it isolates the club and potentially makes matters even worse.

[amms 0]

Ahem, I would assume that even while most of our staff are not women, they are still capable of doing quite a few things at a time. Especially if "time" refers to weeks, days or hours, not moments.

 

You've lost me.