Wallace happy with off-field progress at Rangers

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Again, I think you're completely wrong here even on the basics. If there is a company that you buy the services for a year in an advance, and that company to most of the customers is being seen as run badly by a bunch of people who are at best unreliable and untruthful and at worst ****s, who are taking huge sums out of the company while the company is making extraordinary losses, the company have no credit worthiness with the banks and choose to accept an incredibly expensive loan which is still secured on assets (to certain vested interests who have friends on the board), the company has had doubts by the auditors about it being a going concern - with all that and promised review and plan to show how the company plan to go forward, would you spend your several hundred pounds for a years services, not knowing whether the company will survive, when their promised review is published late and one working day before the deadline for you to spend your money?

 

In ANY other business, the answer would be no. The DIFFERENCE in football is that many will say yes despite it being objectively an incredibly poor decision.

 

You really seem to have it backwards. Normal companies might not tell you their business, but those in Rangers position quickly disappear. Rangers are only surviving BECAUSE they are not a normal business, but that survival does have some conditions to be met.

 

A better comparison would probably be crowd funding where the crowd want more info before investing - and if the company don't give them it, they don't get funded.

 

I accept that there is a lot of truth in what you say and I have already conceded that "Rangers in particular have relied on the loyalty of their fans over the years and in Rangers case especially the last two years".

 

However, one reason why banks began to pull the plug post 2008 is precisely because they no longer saw football clubs as a special case, just another non performing debt on their sick balance sheets.

 

You can say that I am letting my heart my rule my head but Rangers have been my life for more than 50 years and I am going to give this essentially new Board a chance to put things right. TBH I don't care if they produce the review or a summary of the review on 25th April or the 25th May so long as they get on with the extremely difficult job in hand.

 

The Club needs me and all other ST holders to renew now or it is clear that we will not be a going concern and I for one will not let them down.

 

Withholding ST money will not achieve any purpose other than the collapse of that which we all hold so dear.

Edited April 16, 2014 by BrahimHemdani

[BrahimHemdani 1]

This has been a deeply shameful period for the charlatans and ****s that have run the club and embarrassing for those supporters who continue to support them despite all the evidence of willful mismanagement.

 

However, speaking personally, I have never been more proud to be known as a Rangers supporter. As a body, and despite our internal divisions, our unified support for the club has been unrivalled in football history.

 

Thta's a very good point if I may say.

 

People around the world are astonished that we are getting 40,000+ in the 3rd and 4th division, witness the TV and press coverage to which I have alluded.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

i was talking a bout cuts to the playing squad. just when we need to be upping the first team budgets severely.

 

All we can do with the playing squad is let the 4 or 5 whose contracts are ending go. It would be counter productive to pay off anyone else unless they get new clubs and would be amenable to a deal, which is unlikely.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

All we can do with the playing squad is let the 4 or 5 whose contracts are ending go. It would be counter productive to pay off anyone else unless they get new clubs and would be amenable to a deal, which is unlikely.

 

And sell the good players

[Thinker 851]

what am i missing here? they aren't listed

 

Shit, you're right! I was looking at bet365.

 

Sorry!

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Frankie's really hit the nail on the head here in answer to the continued attempts to relate football businesses to any other.

Unlike any other business, the fans are paying for a product which is at the end of the day, customer satisfaction.

That customer satisfaction can come in many forms.

Winning the Champions League, a good run in Europe, winning the league, winning the Scottish Cup, remaining safe from relegation, just playing attractive football or whatever the fanbase cumulatively senses is acceptable for their Club.

However, history shows that prospects are bleak for Boards or owners who fail to live up to expectations.

Given our recent history, a large part of our fanbase is unhappy with the way we are playing, they are unsure if we are being led back to where we should be and they are suspicious as to our future financial stability.

This is why so many are questioning the present Board.

Nothing more, nothing less.

 

That's all well and true except for the fact the present board and its CEO are not responsible for us not being in the CL etc.

 

I am not happy about the way we are playing and have called for the replacement of the football management team but without knowing the actual terms of their contracts it is impossible to know whether Rangers could afford to "let them go".

 

Why do you think that McCoist is sprouting all that drivel about it being a successful season because we have won the league?

Edited April 16, 2014 by BrahimHemdani

[amms 0]

I accept that there is a lot of truth in what you say and I have already conceded that "Rangers in particular have relied on the loyalty of their fans over the years and in Rangers case especially the last two years".

 

However, one reason why banks began to pull the plug post 2008 is precisely because they no longer saw football clubs as a special case, just another dept on their sick balance sheets.

 

You can say that I am letting my heart my rule my head but Rangers have been my life for more than 50 years and I am going to give this essentially new Board a chance to put things right. TBH I don't care if they produce the review or a summary of the review on 25th April or the 25th May so long as they get on with the extremely difficult job in hand.

 

The Club needs me and all other ST holders to renew now or it is clear that we will not be a going concern and I for one will not let them down.

 

Withholding ST money will not achieve any purpose other than the collapse of that which we all hold so dear.

 

Well said.

 

See I've no issue with you saying you are going to renew your season ticket for emotional reasons, none at all. That you feel the potential consequence of not renewing is worse than renewing is your point of view and, believe it or not, I respect that. I respect it because it's an emotional response to an emotive subject. I disagree with you but I can understand why you think that way.

What I took issue with was your comparison with other businesses, it suggested there was logic to your decision and, in my opinion, there isn't. It is illogical to give a business as badly run as Rangers money upfront, it simply makes no logical sense. It's a gamble for which the potential reward is quite small.

But because you aren't really just a 'customer' because you are actually emotionally involved on a level that bears no comparison to any other commercial enterprise on the planet, then you'll take that gamble no matter the potential return. I can respect that.

 

I think the harder decision and the wiser decision is to withhold for now, but that's just me.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Oh, go on, I'll bite. Tell me BH what other places of entertainment are you paying for upfront? Not just in advance but close to a year in advance? Forget about phone companies or utilities, they aren't in anyway similar, I don't need to worry about the quality of electricity I'll get from Scottish Power only the price of it. But if Scottish Power looked like they might fail as a business in the next few months and were asking me to pay for my electricity in advance then yes, absolutely, I'd make it my business to be sure they were still going to be able to honour their side of the bargain.

 

If you are going to the cinema you'll maybe pay up to a couple of days in advance. Perhaps the theatre or a concert you'll pay months in advance, that's not unheard of. Something like Glastonbury you'll pay way in advance. Now, if Glastonbury went bust two years ago, was now no longer attracting any high profile bands or singers, had very publicly lost a lot of money the year before and wouldn't tell me who the line-up was going to be for this year, well, you know, i'd be cautious about buying a ticket, particularly if they increased the price from last year's concert which wasn't very good in the first place.

 

If you want to compare us to customers then fine, but do the analogy correctly. Wanting to know what you are getting for your money, wanting assurances that they'll deliver their side of the bargain is fairly normal practice for all consumers.

There is a reason holiday companies who ask you to pay for a holiday upfront are ABTA bonded, because if they aren't people are wary of parting with their hard earned. All I want Rangers to provide is my ABTA bond, I'm just being a customer after all.

 

You do present a powerful argument Mr Amms but you know as well as me that you are not going to get your Rangers Bond (indeed those who had a different one lost it in liquidation!).

 

I have booked three hotels for a holiday in a long haul destination later in the year; one is a world renowned name brand, one is a NA name brand and the other is a one off. I have used AMEX to make the bookings. So I am not protected in any way if any of these groups go down and hotels fail to honour my booking, although AMEX will try to help they are not obliged as they are not a credit card company. I didn't ask any of them to produce their latest business review before I made the bookings; it is an act of faith. To that extent it is the same act of faith that I pay Rangers for my ST and they fulfil the fixtures. I am not in in any serious doubt that they will not. If the RIFC goes down because other fans do not renew then I am in no doubt that Mr King will step up to the plate and save the day.

 

I have no interest in Glastonbury, each to their own. However, if you want to go to the Grand Old Opry in Nashville you will have to buy a ticket a year in advance. You have no way of knowing who will appear on the stage on the night you attend or indeed if the Opry will still be around. However the Opry is an American institution, so I am sure that if whoever owns it now goes down some other company or even a group of past performers will step up to the plate (sic).

 

I have already agreed several times that being a customer of Rangers is not the same as almost anything else because of the brand loyalty factor.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

And sell the good players

 

Yes we could; but the likes of Wallace will not go, he has made that clear.

 

Who would pay any of our others the same money as we are paying them, except perhaps McLeod and McKay, which is certainly a worry.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Well said.

 

See I've no issue with you saying you are going to renew your season ticket for emotional reasons, none at all. That you feel the potential consequence of not renewing is worse than renewing is your point of view and, believe it or not, I respect that. I respect it because it's an emotional response to an emotive subject. I disagree with you but I can understand why you think that way.

What I took issue with was your comparison with other businesses, it suggested there was logic to your decision and, in my opinion, there isn't. It is illogical to give a business as badly run as Rangers money upfront, it simply makes no logical sense. It's a gamble for which the potential reward is quite small.

But because you aren't really just a 'customer' because you are actually emotionally involved on a level that bears no comparison to any other commercial enterprise on the planet, then you'll take that gamble no matter the potential return. I can respect that.

 

I think the harder decision and the wiser decision is to withhold for now, but that's just me.

 

Thanks for that and I guess you won't like my following post but I have replied to your question.

 

The only point on which I would disagree is

It's a gamble for which the potential reward is quite small.

 

It's a gamble to see my team finally climb back to their rightful place in the top tier of Scottish football, that's a gamble I would happily take any day of the week.