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Anyone else think there's definitely a desire amongst some of the louder critics to see Rangers slumming it? There's getting the finances in order and there's turning up to the game in a wheezy old charabanc, staying at Ma McGlumpherty's Guesthouse before a match and running out in strips with holes in them. In fact. I think next season we should bring out a 'hair-shirt' top, and replace the pitch with ashes.

 

But again, it doesn't deflect - or we shouldn't let it deflect - from the truth at the heart of the message.

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Dundee has a Hilton? Where did they steal that from!! Jeez its so long since Ive been in Dundee.

 

I was thinking that maybe they didn't need to stay anywhere but in that case they would need to travel early in case of traffic and then they would be stuck in Forfar for hours before kick off doing nothing so they would need a place to prepare.

 

They might have been better spending a few hours preparing on the plastic pitch.

 

The Hilton's been there for many years at least the millenium because I was there that night but seems it's been demolished right enough :cry:http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186518-d192361-Reviews-Hilton_Dundee_St_Andrews_Coast-Dundee_Scotland.html

 

but there is a Doubltree http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-dundee-DNDKWDI/index.html that looks good enough for our Kings of the Road and loads to do in Forfar http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186494-Activities-Forfar_Angus_Scotland.html though our lads might be out their depth in the White Water Rafting.

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Anyone else think there's definitely a desire amongst some of the louder critics to see Rangers slumming it? There's getting the finances in order and there's turning up to the game in a wheezy old charabanc, staying at Ma McGlumpherty's Guesthouse before a match and running out in strips with holes in them. In fact. I think next season we should bring out a 'hair-shirt' top, and replace the pitch with ashes.

 

But again, it doesn't deflect - or we shouldn't let it deflect - from the truth at the heart of the message.

 

Of course Andy.

When you're Rangers these days, you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

We are a vehicle for selling media space or print.

The more they talk about us, the more we watch or buy.

One would think we would learn.

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Anyone else think there's definitely a desire amongst some of the louder critics to see Rangers slumming it? There's getting the finances in order and there's turning up to the game in a wheezy old charabanc, staying at Ma McGlumpherty's Guesthouse before a match and running out in strips with holes in them. In fact. I think next season we should bring out a 'hair-shirt' top, and replace the pitch with ashes.

 

But again, it doesn't deflect - or we shouldn't let it deflect - from the truth at the heart of the message.

 

I doubt if anyone grudges our management team, players, support staff and entourage the occasional stay in a top class hotel or resort when it's actually required to travel for a game and stay overnight, either before or after a game, but I do think you have to wonder how much money in total has been spent on golf jollies over recent years when the club has literally been in a financial swamp. In the past 6 months alone the team have stayed at at least 3 top championship class links golf courses in Scotland and been treated to luxury digs in Germany which Ian Durrant described as the best he's ever seen, all while the club is losing money at an alarming rate and all while we're in the lower leagues struggling financially post-administration. Maybe we need to differentiate between Rangers class and Rangers stupidity Andy.

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The golf related aspects and connections of the Club's pre season and pre away match visits and stays are a lot stronger than I had ever realised and it's no doubt been going on for many years.

 

Just looking at this season alone, we kicked off pre season with the trip up to play Brora Rangers and where did the squad stay? Royal Dornoch Golf Club, yet another championship links course!

 

Then it's off to Hotel Klosterpforte in Marienfeld, Germany. The luxury hotel and training complex we've been to before several times going back as far as 2007 under Walter. No surprise to find that Hotel Klosterpforte has it's own private 18-hole golf course.

 

Add in the Turnberry and Carnoustie visits en route to play Stranraer and Forfar, as well as no doubt a good few others we don't yet know about and it's really making me wonder. I mean was the trip up to Brora in July really primarily about football, or was it actually more about golfing at Royal Dornoch?

 

Walter, Ally, Durrant, McDowall and whole host of current players, ex-players and hangers-on are all keen golfers, so it shouldn't really come as a huge surprise that golf is high on the agenda. Just how high it's been on the agenda and how much it's cost while the cash is pouring out of the club is another matter.

 

When Rangers are over in Germany they mostly stay in this hotel just over the border in Holland.

 

http://www.bloemenbeek.nl/engels/top-sport-de-bloemenbeek.html

 

Top sport @ Bloemenbeek

 

County House Estate De Bloemenbeek has a long tradition off having top football/soccer teams and athletes for a optimal season or game preparation. De Lutte and De Bloemenbeek has become with this history a notion in the world off top sport.

 

The 36 years off tradition has begun in 1973 with the arrival off AFC Ajax Amsterdam. One off the must historic and successful Ajax Team from the past with players like: Johan Cruijff, Ruud Kool, Piet Keizer, Wim Suurbier, Johan Neeskens, Johnny Rep under the leadership off George Knobel en Bobby Haarms.

 

From that time on Ajax visits De Bloemenbeek loyale every year. To prepare for the upcoming season in the peaceful and beautiful nature off De Lutte. Each summer the soccer fields off SV De Lutte will be prepared perfectly for the coming teams. "Wembley grass in the Lutte" like Ajax icon Bobby Haarms always mentioned in the past.

 

Teams that recently visited De Bloemenbeek for a season or game preparation are:

Fc Twente, Werder Bremen, National team off Japan, Bayern Munchen, Fc Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Fenerbahce, AZ Alkmaar, Glasgow Rangers, Zamalek, Fc Schalke, Getafe, NAC Breda, VFL Bochum, SC Heerenveen, Bayer04 Leverkusen and our local pride SV De Lutte. But also cycling teams like, Rabobank, Telecom, Saeco, top tennis players like Paul Haarhuis, Jacco Eltingh, Tom Okker, Henri Leconte and the Telfort ice-skate team with Greta Smit, Jan Bos and Bob de Jong (later that season winner off Olympic gold) where our guest at De Bloemenbeek.

 

Master chef Michel van Riswijk will provide his expertise and knowledge off healthy and tasteful food to upgrade the performance off these top athletes. Off course this will always go in cooperation with the medical and technical staff off the teams.

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According to @LibertIain on Twitter: "All in, hotel & subsistence costs around £200k (based off 2008/09 costs) per annum."

 

OK, perhaps the issue does deserve some attention to see if we could be more efficient but clearly it's not a huge annual cost.

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According to @LibertIain on Twitter: "All in, hotel & subsistence costs around £200k (based off 2008/09 costs) per annum."

 

OK, perhaps the issue does deserve some attention to see if we could be more efficient but clearly it's not a huge annual cost.

 

It's a lot more than I thought.

 

Last year's figure appears to be included in the £13.3 million "other operating costs" (apart from the £17.9 million staff costs).

 

If it was c. £200,000 last year then it was only 0.6% of total costs and might be around 1% of total (reduced) costs this year, perhaps a bit more.

 

So even if you save 50% of that it's not a big figure; but as I said earlier it's the perception when you are supposedly reviewing the entire cost base of the company.

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Like I say, there's no reason our travel expenses shouldn't be reviewed alongside other costs but I'd much rather our players were afforded the best possible pre-match preparation and if that means hotel visits for most away matches (including overnight stays where appropriate) then so be it.

 

I'm sure savings can be made but we need to be careful not to jeopardise quality of performance while ignoring more important issues. Unfortunately football players will be always be overpaid and over-pampered but that's the market we operate in. Of course we'd all like to see us take a harder, more innovative line in that respect (see PRP for example) but there's compromise and there's risk.

 

There's also mischief-making newspapers and PR gurus.

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