Nathan Patterson - stick or twist?

[Bluedell 5,329]

On 19/02/2021 at 16:23, Tannochsidebear said:

I can appreciate the comments of BD and others who say rehabilitate, only a teenager, we all do something stupid sometimes, etc. In any other situation I would probably be on that side of the argument as well.

 

However, the seriousness of this situation cannot be minimised. A global pandemic, emergency laws brought in to control the spread, and for players they are told how important it is to keep to the rules, as all it takes is for one player to catch this by being at a party and not get caught, then the virus spreads through our whole squad. Or, we have half our squad having to isolate. 

This was pre-meditated. You dont end up at a party in a lockdown, and can put this down to a spur of the moment mistake. You choose to go to a party in full knowledge it is illegal, dangerous, and goes directly against what your bosses have told you that you can do. It is that level of stupidity and ignorance, coupled with sticking two fingers up at Gerrard, his coaches, teammates, and fans just so he can go to a party. I just cant get my head around that at all.

 

Any player who doesn't stop to think about that before they proceed to go to the party, and who doesn't have the right people around him to tell him how ridiculous even the thought of that is, is NEVER going to be Rangers class. 

 

If Tav is out for the rest of the season, and the lack of cover with Patterson sacked costs us games either in Europe or at home, that is down to him and our rage and ire should be solely in his direction.  For us to say, here's a fine and say you're sorry and you wont do it again, is just so out of step with the actions. It is nowhere near enough. 

 

I really dont get the comparisons with Gazza, but for what it is worth, I was one of the minority of fans who wanted Gazza sacked as soon as it was admitted he had beaten up his partner/wife. That type of person is not welcome at our club. His sale probably cost us "the 10" but I wasn't sorry to see him go as a person, despite his talents on the field which were simply sensational. I didn't want Flanagan anywhere near our club for the same reasons. Ricksen's constant off the field antics should have seen him shown the door also.

 

Being a Ranger is so much more than at any other club. The standards are higher, so much higher. We have class and dignity as the cornerstones of our existence. Has been that way since the start. No other club comes close to us. We must guard that with everything that we have. No excuses. No lowering of the standards. 

 

 

 

 

So where do you draw the line, TB? You mentioned a fight outside a pub. Should we have of rid of Durrant for his BotP? McCoist and Goram for their drink driving? 

[compo 6,105]

45 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Baxter and Gazza wouldn't have lasted a week at Ibrox if we operated on that basis.

i doubt if those two former employees would have caught a virus that can have potential fatal consequences 

[Gonzo79 13,581]

3 minutes ago, compo said:

i doubt if those two former employees would have caught a virus that can have potential fatal consequences 

I doubt Nathan Patterson beats up his missus or gets pished every other night.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

stuff like this is a nonsense. would we sack kent if he went to a party.

 

no way. 

 

what would we do if we win the league at parkhead and the whole team goes out to party and gets caught. 

 

thee decisions are always commercial and we as fans might as well get used to that. 

 

you also have to support your workforce through issues. Especially first offences. 

 

would we be sacking the tea lady because she got a covid fine. 

[Devil's advocaat 1,275]

Quote

Simple answer if an employee messes up he has to go the same rule would apply to the whole workforce at Ibrox.

Wouldn't be many folk left at any place I've ever worked, defence, aviation or pharma, if this was the case.

[RabiDuck 89]

The big difficulty comes from the unique status of certain employees at a football club.  I work for an IT firm here in Yorkshire.  If I were to be guilty of gross misconduct, my employer would right dismiss me and not worry too much about it.  I like to think they'd struggle to replace me immediately but am under no illusions that it would be anything more than a minor inconvenience whilst someone else learnt the finer details of the stuff I do on a day to day basis.

In the case of a football club, however, the players are also assets.  Could we replace the likes of Patterson on the pitch? Yes, we bring in a new player or find another in the squad (King?) who can fill the role and build from there.  What we do lose though is financial.  Patterson listed on Transfermarkt at 250k, hopefully with a bit of nurture and development he becomes a multimillion pound player in a season or two.  Given our finances that's not money we can afford to just throw down the drain.  Yes we hold our players to a higher level and are disappointed when they fall short (as these guys undoubtedly have) but there's also a business angle to consider and if we hang them out and make it known we no longer want them, their resale value plummets and that becomes problematic.  It's been said before, but if it were to have been Morelos, Tav, Kent or one of our other high value assets who did it next, we'd have set a precedent that would be very dangerous.  They need a penalty, even a draconian one, and an education on what it means to be a representative of Rangers, but pragmatically there needs to be a route back for them, if only to maintain their transfer value...

[craig 5,195]

On ‎19‎/‎02‎/‎2021 at 13:20, CammyF said:

Maybe I'm mellowing out as I get older as my initial reaction (as it was with Edmunson and Jones) was to sack the bloody lot of them. 

 

On reflection, I don't think anyone on here could look themselves in the mirror and say they've never made a mistake. I've made countless. 

 

What they done was stupid, it was thoughtless and selfish, but do they deserve to be sacked for it? Probably, but I'd given them the benefit of the doubt. Final written warnings all around and up to them how they react.

I would be surprised if any of us could say we haven't broken lockdown rules in some way, shape or form.

 

I do, though, understand these guys are in a different situation 

[Tannochsidebear 2,306]

12 hours ago, Bluedell said:

So where do you draw the line, TB? You mentioned a fight outside a pub. Should we have of rid of Durrant for his BotP? McCoist and Goram for their drink driving? 

It’s a really difficult one given the range of offences highlighted and the different times these offences occurred in.

 

As I said at the start, I would normally be on the side of rehabilitation, but on this occasion with so much at stake and with emergency laws brought in to try to keep the pandemic in check I find it indefensible to attend a house party. The stupidity, arrogance, selfishness is, to me, off the scale and only blind luck meant they got caught out before they could rejoin training and force us to self-isolate a much larger number of our squad, perhaps causing us to withdraw from Europe, and get domestic games cancelled. 
 

The only other case I can think of that is also off the chart indefensible is Gazza’s wife-beating, which I personally find reprehensible and should have seen him sacked in my opinion. The other cases you mention,  would have seen them sacked in Struth’s era I would guess, but in the 90’s were not really seen as being quite so bad on the scale of the moral compass, so other disciplinary routes were seen as enough punishment and I can’t recall disagreeing with how we handled those cases at the time.

 

If all that makes me a little hypocritical, then fair enough. I’m glad I don’t have to make the decision!

[Frankie 8,145]

The difference between Patterson et al is that their indiscretion (however mild compared to drink driving or domestic abuse) could have ended up affecting the whole team and our league title prospects as opposed to one person having anti-social issues with the police.  The fact the players knew this makes it all the more astonishing they took the risk.  Thus, selfish and unprofessional doesn't begin to describe their behaviour.

 

On the other hand, we don't know enough about what they actually did (there are rumours but we don't know for sure so no point in speculating) so we can only go by the comments from the manager about being personally let down.  However he's also said we should move on which suggests some downplaying on his part.

 

It's interesting that there has been no punishment from the SFA yet for the players and/or club but it did take over two weeks for that to happen with Edmundson and Jones.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

The SFA aren't daft they know we won't play them for two weeks so no point banning them yet. Maximum damage to rangers while doing nothing about all the celtc breeches.