Rangers Banter Archive April 18 2013

18 Apr 2013 17:11:15
Glasgow Cup Final

Monday April 29th

Firhill Stadium

Celtic U-17 v Rangers U-17

KO 7pm

Adults £5 Child/conc £2

Lets hope they are just left alone to play football, remember that,? HH. Joe

16 year old boys. Cup game. Hope they have a great day.

18 Apr 2013 14:52:08
shares taking another battering today. good news required soon or could go into freefall. thoughts? JohnnyG

Just logged on myself, down to 59p each. that's from 93p each in december. very worrying

I really think we're going to be invited into an SPL2.

The first optimistic thing I've said in months.

18 Apr 2013 17:16:43
at 2) RM and Charles green have stated they will decline any invite to SPL2. we will see!!

@2; green is on record as saying he would not be part of any SPL set up. Will he backtrack?

@4 he said that while Rangers & SPL were in court regarding the registering of players during the EBTs. That is now over so it enables Rangers to play in the SPL or an SPL2

CG will be gone from Ibrox within a fortnight and Rangers if any sense whatsoever will accept the invitation into SPL 2

Probably because he knows it won t be the 'spl' it will be under another banner- if it all comes around.

10 SPL clubs don't want rangers in SPL. Most div1 clubs feel the same that's why they didn't let rangers into div1. Regan and Longmuir's lobbying on behalf of rangers have made them all even more opposed. It'll never happen.

18 Apr 2013 19:40:36
@5. nonsence. only an excuse to backtrack,,,, Green said Rangers would not play in SPL as long as he was here. ( obviously he was expecting a new structure (name) by the time it happened) but if fast tracked he will have to decline or lose face. as another quote was he is here until CL music played at Ibrox. can't have it both ways if SPL still in existance it is the only avenue to Europe,,,,,, JohnnyG

Uefa requires that no club who cannot qualify for a European competition may play in a qualifying league. So until rangers have three full year certified accounts they cannot play in the SPL.

For any SPL2 all clubs in SPL have to vote, they can't just say oh well 12-12-18 did not work with a vote so here is SPL2 and as far as i'm led to Believe mor than 2 SPL clubs are opposed to SPL2 so it would be a none starter.

18 Apr 2013 23:45:18
why oh why do some of you people keep telling us what Cg said? who cares what he said, its our club that matters, not what he says, are you so blind as not to know that Board members, managers, and even players of your own club have spouted crap over many years,? please get a life and stop thinking you, ve sent a valid "clever" post, u havnt, you. ve posted pish Tommyblue

Show Racism the Red Card, the SFA, and your new sponsors all seem to care what Green has said. That old senile cardigan wearing jakey that sits in the boardroom seems to care, and talking of jakeys what about Bomber caring, your Slug of manager seems to care and probably about 99% of real Rangers fans seem to care. Seems it is getting lonely with your head stuck in the sand Tommy...... so if you want to see pish being posted just look back through your own twisted rants. The answer to this post should be a cracker.....

19 Apr 2013 03:46:10
The answer to your post is simple pal, you have spoken of walter smith as a jakey, ally mcoist a a slug? and you expect respect, you actually criticise others? you need a wee lie down, folloed by a session with a councillor, do you have grounds for calling walter a jakey / most definitely not, you just thought you had the right didn't you Sad cretin

@13. Your infantile name calling just makes you look the fool you must really be, Most decent supporters of Celtic do not even sink that low. Give yourself a shake mate.

@13 disgraceful post which says more about the type of person you are. Why don't u keep your hatred and bile to yourself. It nots welcome here

19 Apr 2013 14:04:14
another 51, 722 shares shed today and club now valued at just over £38m. something not adding up. shakey times. stability is needed and even though Green has been silenced since sat, shares are still dropping. just as well he hasn't commented on anything for a week or it could be a lot worse. thoughts??

18 Apr 2013 01:34:17
Apologies in advance for the length of this post but I need to have a rant. Scottish fitba is deid in the water until real sweeping changes are made and a completly new product is formed with a new, fresh governing body looking to the future. The reality is that there are far too many teams for our population to sustain. Scottish football needs to be simplified with less teams, 2 divisions and one governing body. We have far too many clubs per head of population with supporters splintered all over the place. You only have to look at the amount of clubs from each small region to see it's not working. Look at it this way, London has a population of around 8 million compared to Scotlands population of roughly 5 million. Yet here we are with 42 clubs in Scotland compared to Londons 14! Fife is a great example of a small area with too many clubs. There is only around 360,000 people in Fife with a large percentage having no interest in football yet there are 4 Fife clubs within our football league system. There is also the issue that Dunfermline, Raith Rovers, East Fife and Cowdenbeath are all situated within 20 miles or so of each other? yet still we wonder why these clubs have poor attendances? that's not even getting into all the Fifers that head to Glasgow every weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go at Fife teams in particular, I'm just making a point about numbers and sustainability. The same could be said for almost every county in Scotland. The greater Glasgow area itself has around 9 clubs servicing a population of about 600,000?! it's mental, most of these clubs struggle to fill a stand each week! I know this is not going to be a popular opinion but imagine for a minute there was no Dunfermline, Raith Rovers, Cowdenbeath or East Fife? Now imagine these displaced fans with no club were presented with a new club, a Fife club with a modest yet state of the art 25-30k seater stadium and a proper training facility. A community club that brought in additional revenue with public use of indoor sports facilities, maybe even being part of a bigger commercial shopping and office facility. An exciting new club that the whole county could get behind with an emphasis on the supporter and entertainment! proper scouting and bringing through young players with a sell on value. Now imagine that idea rolling out across the whole of Scotland? Exciting product with a constant stream of new, young, dynamic Scottish players comming through. £10-£15 a ticket! Full stadia, genuine competition, straight 2 up 2 down, decent food and maybe a beer or two in the grounds. ahhhhh, I can but dream. Trouble is, by nature we're a bitter little nation and where once we were respected in world football we rested on our laurals whilst the rest progressed. Now we are the laughing stock of the football world, full of bitter in fighting and a lack of strategy. The fans have almost become an insignificance to club chairmen, a nuisance even! Doncaster was right about one thing. football armaggedon is coming, I just hope there are people out there who have a decent vision for the future or we're all screwed. Love us or hate us I don't imagine there were many who could've predicted what has happened to Rangers. If it can happen to Scotlands most succesful club it can happen to your club too.

OP, what about your team merging with St. Mirren, or does your talk of teams merging only apply to other teams like Falkirk and East Stirlingshire.
It doesn't matter how many fans a team draws every second week. If they can keep afloat and give their fans a team to support, that's all that counts. If they can't survive on the money they bring in they will eventually fold or discuss mergers with other teams off their own back.
Al

Totally agree. Far too many teams in Scotland. Unfortunately it's never going to happen well it won't anytime soon. I think the sfa needs a clear out and young dynamic people brought in to get the product producing again. Scotland's still in te dark ages when it comes to football.

Very easy to post nonsense like this. Why would you assume that fans who have followed their club for a generation would jump to a new club? I do think that a drastic revamp of the league system is needed but it will not happen as the SPL clubs need the Celtic and Rangers games, when they return of course.

Nice post- why stop there? Look at Stirling/East Stirling/Falkirk/Alloa/Stenhousemuir - a very poor support among the lot of them in a small area. Or Brechin/Forfar/Arbroath/Montrose is another example. Too many clubs in this small country watching poor football at inflated prices. Kids under 16 should never pay more than £5 in the SPL and adults £15-£20 max. Even the cost of food/juice, snacks etc is over inflated.

Baybear - unfortunately you are spot on - but it is almost too sensible for it to work in this bitter wee country.
Example of teams you gave would be lucky to fill the Govan stand with their average home crowds combined, but the first reply you get is someone suggesting we merge with St Mirren!

says it all really

The OP is spot on! Trouble is, so are the replys. None of these clubs will merge, their fans would watch them go bust 1st. That's why Scottish football will limp on, as it is, for years. So get used to it

Just say'in.

Smaller clubs are a breeding ground for new talent. Merging clubs may increase the possible fan base but the supporters of East Fife live within walking distance of the ground. It would be a fair hike into Dunfermline.
Each club would also have their own squad so you'd make between 30 - 40 players redundant if three teams merge, they'd go to other clubs and stifle the emerging talent.
Or maybe not, but it should be thought through more with input from smaller clubs who have their own identity and contribution to the local areas.

Where are those disagree buttons when you need them

@1&2- No disrespect intended but do you seriously buy into this whole Rangers/St Mirren merger conspiracy?
For the record, at no point did I mention teams merging. I was talking about clubs not existing anymore through financial troubles and leaving a void that could be filled with one or two new, well run, progressive clubs. I would never expect fans to go for a merger with their local rivals but if neither existed anymore through no fault of the fans then why not move forward rather than remain a football fan with no club? Also for the record, I would not support any Rangers merger with another club as we have consistantly demonstrated our ability to pack our stadium so it's not an issue relevant to this post. However, I love football, so should Rangers be wiped off the map never to exist again I would initially be devastated and angry but I would still want to go to games on a Saturday. Should this happen I would definately consider buying a season ticket for a new Fife club as that's where I live. I wouldn't consider supporting any of the existing Fife teams because quite simply I am a ST holder at Ibrox, from a long family line of Glaswiegian Rangers supporters and my upbringing has dictated the club that I love, not the fact that I now live in Fife. My post was supposed to be viewed as a possible look into the future not an attack on other clubs. Try to think outside the box once in a while and don't be so defensive. I know it's hard to believe but there are Rangers supporters who are concerned about Scottish football as a whole as well as our own club. I hope this reply clears up my point and highlights that the 'nonsense' you speak of was in fact your incorrect interpritation of the post and not a Rangers supporter lording it over the 'wee teams'

Suddenly it starts to become a lot clearer why there was this sudden panic to drive through reconstruction. Aberdeen closing down part of their ground, Dundee U saying manager will have to lose a third of his squad next season. Only the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of the end for the SPL. Doncaster again telling porkies "the SPL is healthy, it is the 1st Division clubs who will suffer", doesn't even know which clubs are in the organisation he is representing or have Aberdeen & Dundee Unt left? Looks like the real reason for the panic was so that through amalgamation with the SFL they could get access to a share of the cash generated by Rangers, to be used to fund their financial promises to other clubs. No wonder Milne was beelin. The pigeons are coming home to roost from their misconceived decision to kick Rangers Out last summer.

OP and 5 You are both spot on, an excellent well thought out post! Sadly I fear the first reply is a true reflection of that individuals own club. Like all things in this country if it is sensible and had a snow balls chance of working it will be the last option looked at!

@5, read the rest of my post. I'm not suggesting any mergers just that all talk of mergers comes from you never from supporters of small teams. They have a right to their own team as much as anyone else. How many people came on here this time last year saying that if there was no team playing at Ibrox they would give up going to football. What's the difference?
Al

Merging clubs only puts hundreds of footballers, coaching staff, admin staff, maintenance staff and boards out of jobs.

There are inverness caley fans and inverness thistle fans. who won't go to inverness caley thistle games. the idea is sound but a non starter,. shammy

@10. total p1sh. businesses everywhere are tightening their belts. this is also the delayed effect of all seated stadiums and the increase in admission fees that brought. also televised football from england is killing the game here and there. all english clubs are massively in debt and it is unsustainable most can't fill their grounds even with all the exorbitantly paid talent. if rangers brought in so much money how come they went bust? the idea that somehow your club can ride to the rescue scattering money behind them is self evident bullsh1t. greens operation is struggling the most.

God almighty, still having posts that rangers where kicked into div3. just accept it man up, wake up. its a new club in div3. sm

16) still having people like you spouting the same drivel, guys like you are half the problem. If we are a new team in div three why are you wasting your time on here? When was the last time you were on the Annan page?

The fact is that SPL chairmen could and would have had Rangers in SPL, it was their hateful fans that wouldn't allow it.

But the day they voted no, was the day the game died in this country. That's the truth.

17) No my misguided friend it was YOUR chairmen that could and would have had Rangers in SPL, it was their greed and mismanagement that have caused your demise no one else,
It’s your hateful fans that wouldn't believe what was going on,
You still don’t so you JUST BLAME ANYONE EVERYONE
SPL refused to change the rules that RFC agreed to. you were not thrown out.
Would you have saved Dundee or any other??

I posted this about a year ago and there is no doubt that this would be a far better way, but three problems exist-

1) the teams that should amalgamate are close by each other, therefore are rivals. It is like Rangers merging with Celtic to their fans

2) too many club officials would lose their jobs, turkeys (except for SPL clubs) don't vote for Christmas.

3) the few fans that these clubs attract, no doubt love their clubs as much as we love our club.

If we were starting from scratch it makes sense, but we are not. If Peterhead for example produce a team, and run it profitably are they any worse or less important than our club who have been run in the way it has. I think not.

Whether anybody likes it or not, the Scottish game has been dwindling for years. I have been at Hampden with 104,000 people watching. I remember when Rangers and Celtic, on the same night, were playing in semis of the two top European trophies. There were 160,000 watching football in Glasgow.

These days are long gone, Manchester excluded.
The game got a huge lift when Souness came, partly due to the English European ban, but others tried to match them, Dundee signed Canniggia etc. As much as Murray tried to win the European Cup and look at the mess that brought, other clubs did the same.

We need the rule brought in where we can have three foreigners per team. We must bring through players instead of paying money to foreigners and losing it to the game.

The game in Europe has been ruined by UEFA with the Champions league. It was set up to protect the big clubs income, and has now got to the situation in England where finishing fourth is success. That's wrong, it's not success. So the rich get richer and the rest don't matter. It is ridiculous that in CL there is seeding, and teams from same country can't play each other. That is rigging in my view and you could name three out of the quarter finalists for next year. It is the same games every year and crowds are dropping. It also means that the likes of
Ajax can never win the CL, if you are from a small country, forget it.

As I said earlier I remember the night Rangers and Celtic were in the semis, now it is a success if we get through to last sixteen, that's not right, when is finishing 9th success?

It's not about success or dreams it is about money, pure and simple. And the game has suffered as a result. Let's get back to Scottish guys playing in our leagues, we might just unearth a Baxter or Dalglish.

@15 very true! But wasted on blinkered narrow minded people like the poster at 10! @10 is only interested in his own bitter sad agenda!
Times are tough, his own club proved that by going against the wall! But I am sure he was one who never thought this could happen to the old club he used to support!

@18 great post mate! It's the people like @17 who have destroyed the game in Scotland! Their impression of self importance is something else and their idea that their OLD clubs demise and refusal to be allow the NEW club to leapfrog teams who have managed their affairs correctly (some exceptions but not that many) are simply disgusting!
But, on the other idea of amalgamating of clubs, their club is a classic example, the OLD club's fans have jumped ship to support a BRAND NEW club and supported the NEW club in huge numbers! So let this club be a lesson for us all!

21) great, so you don't care as the game goes down the pan!
There is no question that our management are to blame for the mess we got into, no doubt. Happy?

Now the fact that crowds are falling, that the league is won by a team that has dropped more points than any winner in god knows how long and you are still miles ahead. The Celtic fans are leaving because whether they win, lose or draw it does not matter. So we get punished, fine. But now the rest are suffering, the game is dying before our very eyes, and all you are interested is having a pop. Well carry on, could not care less, but just see what is left in three years. Still you will be happy as long as Rangers suffer.

@15 You have obviously never ran a business. I do not disagree with your post entirely and accept there are other factors at play, but these factors are generic with every other modern business enterprise. What is an isolated problem with Scottish football is this, if your little brain can comprehend it. In general football support in Scotland is generally split up like so Rangers 40% Celtic 40% the rest 20%. If a business loses 40% of their customers they cannot sustain the business, simple really. Rangers the club went bust through inept management, not there supporters who attended the games and bought tickets as well as spending money in the pubs & restaurants in the area. let's look at a simple calculation. Rangers take an average traveling support of 10. 000 fans to a game at St Johnstone for example @ $20. 00 per head equates to 200. 000 times two games per season equates to 400. 000 St johns tones split equals 200. 000. That is a lot of money to a little club per year. Based on the same principle let's look at sponsorship. If I am going to pay out 2 or3 mill on sponsorship I want to see a dividend on my investment. Why would I spend that to sponsor a product that may gain me a few thousand extra customers but at the same time potentially lose me 40% of my original customers (Rangers supporters) who are alienated from the product by the ill feeling towards the SPL? The answer is I am not going to commit business suicide. Tv is no different they know the numbers and are not going to pay for a product which does not encompass a 100% audience share. This is the one major reason for the financial predicament of Scottish football, you only need to look at the example where this season the 3rd division has a higher attendance than the top division. Just a small lesson on business economics and before you ask I have been a business owner for more than 20 years an am Executive Chairman of the board of a Fortune 500 corporation, one of the worlds largest in fact.