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Tom English: Ian Black betting punishment mystery


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The way I heard it was that Black was not in breach of Rule 23 was it? where you cannot bet on your own team if youre playing in the match. that was why, it was said, that he did not get a more severe punishment.

 

Yet now English says that he DID bet against his own team. How does he know? IF true, then I agree with Chibmark. Far worse than Sandaza.

 

I think TE is alluding to Black's bet of a draw with EStirlingshire as betting against his team (to win).

 

Black is not only painfully stupid, his continued presence at Ibrox is a permanent signal that low standards will be tolerated.

 

Can anyone image, for a second, that Alex Ferguson would have accepted any Man Utd player betting against the team?

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I was interested to note a couple of things about the specific games involved in the 'betting against his own team' issue. Firstly the two games he did it with Hearts were games he wasn't even stripped for, presumably he was injured or suspended? I don't know but he wasn't involved and therefore unable to exert influence so presumably he thought it was ok to place the bets? Second thing, for the East Stirling game he was named on the subs bench, if I remember the game correctly that was a surprise because we'd been told all week he'd be out injured. Is it possible that he himself didn't think he'd be playing therefore thought again it would be ok?

 

All pure speculation I know but that version of events kind of rings true for me. I suspect all he is really guilty of is being a bit thick.

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I think most people accept he wasn't fixing matches and that he's guilty of stupidity more than anything more sinister. However English is correct to question the club stance on this. Why is it acceptable for a Rangers player to bet Rangers won't win a match? Even if he didn't think he'd be playing do we still feel that's okay? Really?

 

I've an issue with Black, I can accept he's not actively looking for Rangers to lose (or not win). But it tells you something about the man and his mentality that he'd make those bets. I've a big issue with that. I'd say that alone tells you he isn't fit to wear our shirt.

 

But in truth i've got a bigger issue with the club now. McCoist backing his player in public is one thing. I disagree with him, I think Black should, at the very least, been suspended by the club and torn a new one by the manager and that made public although I still feel he should have been put on the transfer list if not fired. But I can just about understand why McCoist is backing him publicly even if I disagree with it.

However where are the directors in all this? They 'run' the club, they should be the final arbiters of what's allowed and what isn't, of what's expected from Rangers employees and what isn't.

This is no longer about whether Black is a cheat. It seems he isn't, he's just got very poor judgement and a twisted idea of what's okay.

What this is about is the demise of our club. What it stands for, what is expected of it's players, management and directors. This isn't about harking back to the days of Struth and so forth this is about the club having certain standards, about playing for Rangers meaning you need to 'up-your-game' both on and off the field. It's about knowing that our club demands certain standards from everyone. It's not about the morality of gambling, I've no issue with that. Our club now seems to condone players betting against them, yet it condemns people being caught out by prank callers.

What does our club stand for anymore, anything?

 

With every passing week it seems our club is closer to the gutter than the stars.

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I'm not convinced that Ally really does back Ian Black privately, just as I'm not convinced he ever fully backed Craig Mather or ANY of the recent chancers in our boardroom privately. I think what Ally says in public in the company of press & media isn't always a true reflection of his feelings because he feels compelled to act in certain ways and say certain things in his capacity as our manager which actually go against his personal thoughts on certain matters.

 

I think there's no doubt different reasons for Ally doing this depending on different circumstances. In the case of Black and the betting case brought against him, I think Ally is simply far more furious about the fact that Rangers have yet again been singled out than he is about Black being so stupid and Ally is giving him some backing in public because he thinks he's giving two fingers to the people behind this whole Black thing. The problem is, that the people behind it are simply out to damage the good name of Rangers and cause our club harm and Ally is inadvertently helping them achieve that unfortunately, so it's another own goal.

 

I can't be too judgmental of or harsh on Ally though because I think he's doing what he thinks is best under extremely difficult circumstances.

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What Black did was wrong and he got punished for it end of. English wants a Rangers player to be severely punished for whatever crime, just as he wanted the club severely punished before we were judge to be guilty. No change of agenda then from English, guilty before judgement and more severe punishments than anyone else.

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Our standards have fallen so low that some now defend a player who bets against us to win a game he is playing in. Also shows up McCoist as being not a Rangers manager in the mould of Struth, Symon, Waddell or Wallace.

 

 

Well we do have a convicted criminal on the Board, which says it all when it comes to standards

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Black's getting a fairly easy ride on this because he actually started to come on to a game this season. I have a feeling if this came out last year, when he was mostly shite, that Green would have had him in the same taxi as Sandaza. The board do seem to not have an opinion on this, unless I've missed it.

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