Why Rangers Legends Should Stay Out of Politics

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Why Rangers Legends Should Stay Out of Politics



About a year or two ago, John
“Bomber” Brown waded into the Ibrox chaos with two infamous and reprehensible
gaffes.
The first was his embarrassing
Tommy Sheridan-esque “show us the deeds” speech from the steps of Ibrox, where
he had suddenly become a self-appointed judge and jury to Rangers’ hierarchy,
and where only his approval of what he might or might not be shown was good
enough for the club and fans as a whole.
The second was even worse. Brown
posed in the Sun newspaper with elderly Rangers season ticket holder Tom Hobbs
in a grotesque image which saw the lifelong fan handing Brown hundreds of
pounds because he trusted him with his season ticket cash over Charles Green.
It was never reported that this money had been returned.
One of these days we might hear he got this money back.
The moral of this story is
simple; ex-Rangers players should never ever get involved with the politics of
the club. They either end up looking foolish, naïve, or they get the backs up
of the supporters who disagree with the stance they have taken, which can harm
the legacy of their playing days irreparably.

Even the great Walter Smith
slightly damaged himself with his boardroom and political involvement once he
left as manager. He will always be a hero and a legend, but his displays in the
boardroom and following his ill-fated takeover attempt left a slightly sour
taste.
Which brings me to Richard Gough.
Richard is a good man, a man with honour; but sadly he appears to be another
legend of the club with his finger a million miles away from the pulse and
disconnected from what the majority of fans feel.
Firstly he opposed the Tannadice
ban – if ever a Rangers legend showed a complete lack of knowledge regarding the
supporters’ position, this was it. At the time Utd were a big enemy – the lack
of refund from that abandoned game was one thing, their chairman Stephen
Thompson’s public condemnation of the Ibrox men quite another. Whether the ban
was right or not was irrelevant, it was the stance Charles Green took and fans
were quite happy with it.
In condemning the ban, Gough showed
his naivety:
“If supporters want to support their team,
they should have the right. I don’t think the head of the club should come out
and say we’re not taking tickets.”
This might not completely wrong,
but it showed another Rangers legend well out of touch with Rangers fans and
what they wanted.
Now, sadly, he has got involved
again, this time with the Union of Fans Trust plan backed by his personal
friend Dave King. The idea for the UoF is that with such a trusted legend
supporting their cause, it will encourage supporters to buy into their scheme.
Regular readers of my blog will know I am not in favour of any plan which could
kill Rangers, and withholding season ticket cash is certainly one of those
plans. However, that is irrelevant to this piece.
What matters is that once again
Gough, like so many legends before him, has picked a political horse to back,
and this is an increasingly troubling precedent. In this case it is most likely
influenced by his ties to King, which does suggest he is easily led, but that
really is not the point.
I polled Rangers fans recently to
gauge opinion on UoF’s plans. I asked who would be renewing regardless and who
was putting their faith in the scheme. The final figures were nearly 3 to 1 in
favour of renewing their season ticket. 
So the fact is the majority of fans do
not subscribe to this scheme, yet here we have another club legend wading in
with his size 11’s and taking a stance. You could admire him for doing so, for
having the cajones to stand for what he believes in, or you could say he is out
of touch and just doing a favour for a friend.
And just like John Brown’s
shambolic escapade with Mr Hobbs it once again sees fans having to invest their
own cash in something they cannot be sure of.
No wonder the majority ignore it.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Usually agree most of the time in here, this time way off the mark, can't you see you are saying "do nothing" so the very existance of Rangers is going down the tubes with these guys/hedge funds et al !!!!!

    Enough is enough I will not put any more money into these Millionare's pockets, I will be with John Brown / Richard Gough / Alex Rae and many more legends who gave me something back for what I paid !!!! Include Mr King to that, at least if it goes south it is with a blue nose !!!!! [London Wall, season ticket holder]

    • Buy your season ticket or the club dies, Kings plan is just pie in the blue sky. It really is that simple.

  2. have also emailed rangers and said we won't be renewing (5 season tix)… with major probs off the field and mccoist as manager we are not prepared to throw any more good money after bad. so like the previous reply, enough is enough.

    • If you are a Rangers supporter, which seems unlikely, despite your claim to have "5 season tix," you don't appear to be a very good one. Certainly, Rangers don't have their troubles to seek, but this is the time they most need the supporters. It 's not difficult to follow any team during the successful years,but it's trying times like these that sort out the real supporters from the glory-hunters.

  3. Sorry, I don't agree. It seems to me you are asking us to buy season tickets and hope, what has that achieved in the last two seasons?
    All the board have to do is give a security over Ibrox and Auchenhowie, which will cost them nothing and make the fans feel they are being listened to. As well as preventing the board flogging these assets.
    I am unsure as to how this can be seen as a bad thing. We are not asking for much, why can it not be given?

  4. I'm on the fence on this one but it seems the fence is falling down and I don't know where best to land.the club will release its plan on a Friday 25th April apparently giving us time to digest the plan even though season renewals or non renewals would have to ve on ticket office in writing for most by the Monday 28th April so it seems we are being played for fool's.
    I sent the club an email asking them to delay the deadline as a matter of good faith and to give us time to look at the facts last night I await there response…

    • They're not playing anyone for fools and can't delay the season ticket deadline just because someone asks them to. 25th April until 6th May, even allowing a few days for delivery of renewals, should be enough time for anyone to read and digest a report.

    • Of course they're playing us for fools and ridiculous pro-board bloggers like Danny and
      Merlin are assisting the
      board and their hedge
      fund masters such as
      Laxeys and investors like
      BPH and Margarita into
      taking our club on a slide
      towards administration
      which will only be halted
      by the sale and leaseback
      of Ibrox and Murray Park
      and we will then be in
      hock to these bandits forever – THAT'S why they
      love 'real fans' like you
      mate!!

    • Just as well there are plenty of "real fans" like me mate, as we'll make sure the club keeps going. You haven't even seen the report, but your mind's made up that you're not giving any money to "the board." Well, there's no chance of me giving my money to a bunch of rabble-rousers on the say-so of Dave King and I can't understand why anyone would. I'm willing to give the board a chance and, thankfully, so will most supporters. If you want to give up your season ticket, that's up to you.

  5. How many times do you want us to give money to this board they have had 22mil IPO money 2 seasons of season ticket money 18 mil? Then they run out of cash and then go and borrow it from Laxey partners at an inflated interest rate please get real and come into this world

    • Do you think the players, the coaching staff, the power, the rates, the water, the PAYE/NI, the staff, the policing, the stewards, the old footballing debts, the maintenance, the most expensive footballing academy in the country etc. are all free.
      If I hear about that IPO money one more time….

    • Of course it's not free but the amount of money that has gone out the club is truly shocking – but keep your head buried deep in the sand, do nothing and say nothing coz a 'dignified silence' is the 'Rangers way' and you know what happens…….we end up in another admin event or liquidation! Aye Ready? Of course you are!!

  6. this board are no different to an abusive partner.If you knew someone was being abused in a relationship you would, without doubt advise them to step well away from that person and stop enabling them, stop them from feeling justified to continue in their pattern of abuse.how many times have you seen victims ignore the signs and ignore the best advice of their peers to just go back and take it all over again.
    No matter how painful we have to withdraw support and we may have to go to rock bottom but we will, if we withdraw from them, live on while they will have to go elsewhere for their "quick bucks".
    STOP THE ABUSE NOW. Stand firm and demand clarity or force them to get the hell out of our club.

    • What's all this stuff about abuse? The board have abused no one. And if you're prepared to see Rangers "go to rock bottom" just to get shot of them, (aren't we just getting back from there) then you must be some supporter. If you're not happy with the report when it's published, then you can demand clarity or whatever, but if you're not even prepared to give them a chance, you're being totally unreasonable like a few others on this blog.

  7. While we the fans are split there will NEVER be stability at our club, UoF , Dave King etc, are harming Rangers F.C .

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