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Rangers have to play the game when it comes to fixture congestion


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Michael Grant

 

BACK in 2012 when old Charles Green was figuring out which buttons to push to endear himself to a deeply sceptical Rangers support, so that he might clean out their wallets a few months later in a share flotation, he had no qualms about fighting dirty.

 

He'd been in Scotland for about five minutes but that didn't stop the verbal diarrhoea that led to him spouting off about bigotry, about Celtic, about the Scottish football authorities and about the world in general having it in for Rangers. Plenty saw through him and knew his game, but there were enough who bought into it and made the mistake of embracing him as some sort of champion. Perceptions changed and the shares were snapped up.

 

Now, as then, there is a polarised club - board in one camp, most of the supporters in another - which soon will be in need of a life-support machine being switched on again. This time the sale of season tickets will dictate whether Rangers survive financially or collapse again, possibly into another administration, because of unsustainable running costs.

 

A rumbling, low level mood of resistance and unrest exists among the supporters even if the outcome of last month's annual general meeting left them unsure of what to do next. Thousands don't like this board but don't know what they can do about it. There is no consensus for an organised boycott of season tickets but there are plenty of committed, ordinary fans who are just quietly fed up with the way the club has been run and are prepared to stop going next season.

 

If you were Sandy Easdale, or David Somers, or maybe even Graham Wallace, you might have read what Ally McCoist said about the fixture schedule at the weekend and thought "yeah, that's a good line, that'll go down well". McCoist made some pretty unlikely and strange remarks about the Scottish Professional Football League's allocation of fixtures and the fact Rangers had been made to play four times in 11 days, and three in a row away from home over the festive holidays. "Different initials but the same old story with the way our club has been treated," said McCoist. He won't welcome the comparison, but that sounded exactly like Green.

 

On Saturday the Stenhousemuir striker John Gemmell took to Twitter. For all its attractions and advantages, social media encourages a depressing tendency to lapse instantly into personal abuse, especially on Twitter, and Gemmell used the sort of language that would have once led to him having his mouth washed out with soap. Take away the infantile insults, though, and it was easy to agree with Gemmell's underlying point. Since when did playing four games in 11 days, all within an hour's travel, amount to an excessive or unfair demand to place upon any set of footballers?

 

The idea that Rangers have been "singled out" or "treated differently" simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. A dozen other clubs have played four games in 11 days. Some have played four in 10 days. A team cannot claim to have been picked on for unfair treatment if it turns out loads of others were in exactly the same boat.

 

Four games in 11 days is a busy schedule, no doubt. But no more than that and the festive programme is always busy because it gives a greater number of people the chance to attend games while on holiday. Rangers have successfully requested the postponement of games this season because they had some players away on international duty, postponements which inconvenienced other clubs just as they feel inconvenienced now. McCoist wanted the game at Stenhousemuir to be played in midweek. Stenhousemuir wanted it played yesterday, as it was. Gemmell made a very good point about that in one of his tweets. Part-time players such as him and his team-mates tend to have a free diary for games at weekends. When they play midweek matches they have either to take half-days off work or else put in a full shift then rush to the ground to be ready in time. Why would they put themselves at such a massive disadvantage, and allow Rangers such an advantage, by moving their home game from a weekend to next midweek?

 

Rangers players have no other obligations pulling on their time, of course, hence Gemmell's sarcastic references to their massages, club-prepared healthy meals and £5000-a-week wages.

 

The difference in how the two sets of players are rewarded isn't an accident. The players at Ibrox are better footballers and that is reflected in their treatment, but sympathy lies with Gemmell for drawing the comparison. Rangers will never be able to paint themselves as a victim when they are the League One club which has it all.

 

It's easier to sympathise with the complaint about three consecutive away games but, even so, fans weren't asked to travel to the ends of the earth. All three games were in the central belt. Nor is three consecutive away games anything unusual: later this month Rangers will begin a run of three in a row at home.

 

What can be said for certain is that McCoist wasn't doing the board's bidding when he piped up. That isn't the way things work at Ibrox at the moment. It was his own, personal view. But a lot of people found it hard to take seriously. And Gemmell, a season-ticket holder at Ibrox, wasn't the only Rangers supporter among them.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/opinion/rangers-have-to-play-the-game-when-it-comes-to-fixture-congestion.23101970

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McCoist dismisses criticism

 

Ally McCoist yesterday laughed off the criticism he received on Twitter from John Gemmell, the Stenhousemuir striker, saying that "I get called worse in the house".

 

Gemmell had called the Rangers manager a "p****" on Saturday night, while railing against comments McCoist made about the scheduling of yesterday's rearranged game at Ochilview.

 

McCoist sought the player out immediately after the final whistle, shook his hand and embraced him.

 

Gemmell, a Rangers season ticket holder, will though be the subject of an internal inquiry by his club, and may also face disciplinary sanctions from the Scottish Football Association.

 

"I reckon about 60% of our dressing room agreed with him - that was the concerning thing," joked McCoist. "He did miss the point - my main gripe was the fans being asked to travel about to three or four games at this time of year. I was just trying to fight the fans' corner."

 

Stenhousemuir will decide whether or not to take action on Gemmell this week. "We will deal with it but it didn't distract us," added Martyn Corrigan, the home side's manager.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/mccoist-dismisses-criticism.23101976

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I don't think it is fair to compare McCoist with Green, Ally wasn't trying to curry favour he was deflecting from a couple of mediocre performances in the standard managerial way; give the media something to discuss that isn't the side or the players performances. The journalist must surely know this.

 

I agree we shouldn't be complaining about our fixtures though, Gemmell, no matter his eloquence, had a point.

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I don't think it is fair to compare McCoist with Green, Ally wasn't trying to curry favour he was deflecting from a couple of mediocre performances in the standard managerial way; give the media something to discuss that isn't the side or the players performances. The journalist must surely know this.

 

I agree we shouldn't be complaining about our fixtures though, Gemmell, no matter his eloquence, had a point.

 

The "complaint" was nonsense as Mr Grant's article clearly proves. McCoist is trying to cover up now with bluster about " the fans being asked to travel about to three or four games at this time of year. I was just trying to fight the fans' corner" Nonsense, Ally and it was THREE not FOUR . Dunfermline was the only possible gripe but even that was relatively easy with a 6.00pm start from Glasgow. Airdrie at 5.30pm on Jan 2nd was actually very sensible in my view and it was definitely better from a FAN'S point of view to play Stenhousemuir on a Sunday than midweek (although that would not have been a great hardship either).

 

He would be a lot better off complaining about the Monday night games at Arbroath and Forfar.

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A) What a silly comparison by the journo.

 

B) Gemmell is a Rangers Season Ticket holder? Anyone seen his tweets?

 

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You'd expect a Bear to use such names and speech untowards a Rangers legend and his beloved team's manager? Lay off the medicine.

 

C) There is no doubt that Gemmell should be hauled before Lunny and Co., else that whole institution is a farce. (Not that there is much doubt about the latter.)

 

D) ... and most importantly: We had to play 4 games within 11 days, 3 of which away from home. Maybe these places are within one hour of another, but thousands of Bears will not be able to inhabit that area for 8 days or what, over the festive period. A point that Ally made.

 

E) It beggars belief that the journo actually deems it worthy to slam the footballers about having to play 4 games within 11 days, a tough schedule, even it it does not happen in wintery Scotland. And it does not matter that we were hit by this, any manager would complain about such rubbish, as it pure and simply throws "sporting integrity" out of the window ... for there was hardly any need to cushion the games into that time. We could easily have switched the Stenny game to this Tuesday or Wednesday too, as TV coverage was not on the menue. But as has been said, we've been treated rather poorly with schedules this season, with games needlessly chucked into Friday and Monday slots without any TV need in sight. And lest we forget ...

 

Sat - 26. November - SPFL 1 - East Fife (Ibrox)

Tue - 29. November - Ramsden Cup Quarter Final - Stenhousemuir (away)

Fri - 03. December - Scottish Cup 3rd Round - Airdrionians (Ibrox)

 

... with utterly no need to play the SFA cup game on a Friday evening. Well, apart from making it impossible for many Bears to get to Ibrox (or even watch the game on TV, as it was not broadcasted live either, IIRC).

 

So what the journo should have done is to compare other teams' schedules and check whether they get as much a plain playing field as we do.

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