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Rangers fans group Sons of Struth threaten boycott of Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct shops

 

Ashley has been targeted after purchasing the naming rights to Ibrox for £1.

 

The threat of a boycott of Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct retail group along with the business interests of other Rangers directors has been made by dissident fans’ group, the Sons of Struth, following a ballot of supporters.

 

The group, named after Rangers’ longest serving manager, Bill Struth, staged a demonstration behind the directors’ box at Ibrox during the team’s recent meeting with Inverness in the Scottish Communities League Cup, but have now raised the possibility of direct action against McGills Buses, a transport group owned by the Rangers football board chairman, Sandy Easdale, and his brother James, who serves on the plc board.

 

Ashley has been targeted because Sandy Easdale recently revealed that the naming rights to Ibrox had been sold to the Newcastle United owner for £1. Easdale himself has been the subject of condemnation from the Rangers support - whose boycott of season tickets has reduced the club’s income from that source by half - because he has been seen in the company of Rafat Rizvi, who was sentenced to 15 years in absentia when convicted of fraud in an Indonesian court.

 

Rizvi, a UK citizen, is the subject of an Interpol international arrest warrant but cannot be extradited because the UK has no treaty with Indonesia. He was pictured recently in Glasgow along with Easdale and Malyasian businessman, Datuk Faizoull Bin Ahmad, who was named as a potential investor in the troubled club, although he subsequently denied any intent to take a stake or any knowledge of Rizvi.

 

The Sons of Struth issued a statement detailing the results of their poll, which did not specify how many fans’ opinions had been sampled, although it is thought that they have around 3000 members.

 

The statement read: "Due to recent events, such as Sandy Easdale's meeting with convicted fraudster Rafat Rizvi, his broken promises of having investors lined up and the selling of our stadium’s naming rights to Mike Ashley for £1.00, Sons of Struth have received an increased level of calls for tougher action against the board, Sports Direct and, Easdale-owned McGills Buses.

 

“Recent polling of our members resulted in 99.35% calling for the removal of Sandy Easdale as a Rangers director and 97.19% wishing Mike Ashley to cancel his 7 year contract for the naming rights to Ibrox, 92.87% want to boycott McGills buses and 87.47% want to boycott Sports Direct in attempt to achieve the removal of Sandy Easdale and cancellation of Mike Ashley's naming rights agreement.

 

“89.64% of those polled want to see some sort of boycott at matches with an aim of removing Sandy Easdale. The general feeling amongst our members is that he lies to fans and shows no respect to his position through his close association with Jack Irvine and his meeting with a man on Interpol's most wanted list. His words and actions are disrespectful to the position he holds as a director of Rangers Football Club.

 

“Our firm belief is that Sandy Easdale is an obstacle to future outside investment and, despite his recent outlandish claims that the fans' actions may put the club's future in danger, we firmly believe that after 100,000 season ticket sales in three seasons the blame for the clubs perilous financial position lies squarely in the boardroom.

 

“The club operate a "football board" which is viewed in the eyes of the fans as nothing more than a vehicle to allow Sandy Easdale a directorship as he may not be eligible for a seat on the PLC board. Does this "football board" have any other purpose?

 

“We shall release our intentions for further protests and boycott action in the very near future and in the meantime would encourage the board to immediately remove Sandy Easdale if they wish to avoid this.

 

“Sandy Easdale has been heard in the past to claim that if the Rangers support do not want him at Ibrox he would leave. We would ask him to take the hint and go before his association with our club causes more damage.

 

“Sons of Struth also call on Mike Ashley to cancel his naming rights contract before the 11th of October. If he still retains the naming rights after this point we will instigate an immediate series of actions aimed at his Sports Direct stores.

 

“We would ask all Rangers supporters in the meantime to use discretion when deciding to give either Sports Direct or McGills Buses their custom. We will hold a public meeting of Rangers fans in October at at a venue to be announced."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/11131196/Rangers-fans-group-Sons-of-Struth-threaten-boycott-of-Mike-Ashleys-Sports-Direct-shops.html

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I genuinely respect the work, effort and all that the Sons of Struth are seeking to achieve to try and remedy a lousy situation. Just wonder how many of those who go regularly to Ibrox and the others who for good reasons, can no longer attend, will know, who the Sons of Struth are. If the proposed meeting goes ahead, it would be helpful, if they could persuade some respected Rangers man (not so many around these days) to come and identify with the purpose of the meeting.. As someone who lives on the McGills bus routes, the decision to continue to continue to give them my custom doesn't present a challenge. Bit silly to think that too many people would be likely to inconvenience themselves.

Edited by Tom Davison
Missed Words
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A gnat's fart would probably cause more angst to Ashley.

 

Other than gaining a few column inches and perhaps the odd tv appearance Rangers fans boycotting Sports Direct a futile protest.

 

For some companies, bad press is free advertising.....

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A gnat's fart would probably cause more angst to Ashley.

 

Other than gaining a few column inches and perhaps the odd tv appearance Rangers fans boycotting Sports Direct a futile protest.

 

Spot on.

 

The shadowy figures at the top, Easdale and Ashley have all called the bluff of every threat that has been made by SoS/UoF and with every subsequent statement that is issued, they come across as increasingly desperate.

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A gnat's fart would probably cause more angst to Ashley.

 

Other than gaining a few column inches and perhaps the odd tv appearance Rangers fans boycotting Sports Direct a futile protest.

Indeed, and in our circumstances, if we boycott, there is another group across the city that will suddenly find that it wants to shop there.

 

We seem to be limited in strategy. It always seems to come down to boycotting clubs, broadcasters, newspapers or businesses. Sometimes a point can be made, but too often the impact is negligible.

 

If we expended the same energy trying to buy Rangers as we do trying to damage businesses that aren't liked, we might get somewhere, but it's easier to lash out than to act constructively and positively.

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That same point could easily be applied to the current Ibrox boardroom/s and their puppet masters.

 

I agree to an extent, but only in regards to timing, as they will have an end game already planned out. They will put it into action earlier than planned if circumstances dictate that.

 

Somebody not buying a return from Greenock to Boglestone, or foregoing the chance to wear a Lonsdale trackie won't be what tips the balance.

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Re statements, I believe that it is important to communicate information to the fanbase, and the UoF does this quite successfully.

 

We are enduring a very depressing situation at the only club we'll ever have and it is about as complex as sending someone to Mars. At least there is a group of concerned people on the side of the support which is trying to keep us in the loop. I can't knock that. They may make mistakes from time to time, but so what? It goes with the territory. It is getting things right too.

 

Imagine there was no UoF and no statements. That wouldn't be very encouraging at all. The UoF is an imperfect coalition. For the most part, it is doing a good job.

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