“We’re just too negative”; an ode to Ibrox Noise

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“We’re just too negative”; an ode to Ibrox Noise


Ibrox Noise’s Greg recently provided an early report card, one which was rather balanced and both criticised and praised Steven Gerrard’s start at Ibrox in equal measure.

We then followed this up with another, more critical piece discussing the direction of the club in light of such a number of loan signings arriving, and their own motivations for doing so.

Safe to say, some of the disagreeing feedback has been vitriolic to both articles, while those who agree or accept the points made have been extremely civil.

Some of the critical points argue we’re incessantly negative or we’re not supporters

We would like to address these in turn.

The negative slant is interesting; for around six+ weeks from the announcement of Gerrard till his first match against FK Shkupi, the accusations were similarly intense, but equally opposite – we were being labelled as a ‘propaganda tool’ for the board, with our constant positivity and optimism.

All you have to do is look at our output from around mid-May to 12 July to see just how good we were feeling about Gerrard’s imminent appointment, and how we projected some serious players arriving as a result of his name. We admitted we were unsure how he’d do as a manager, but that was about as negative as it got. So the idea we’re nothing but negativity is frankly absurd and based on selective reading.

We will now have a look at that second point – that we’re not supporters.

One accusation is that we ‘don’t go to the games, that says it all’. Well, that is absolutely nonsense – while not all of us on the site are able to get to the games frequently (bit like many of you lot reading this article), we have season ticket holders (just like many of you reading are) writing for us or part of the staff, past and present, and we all put repeated sums of cash into the club for varying reasons (just like many of you have).

We have always found the accusation that anyone who doesn’t go to the matches as much as the rest or at all is in some way a non-fan to be the most ludicrous piffle ever put by quill to parchment, given the majority of Rangers fans clearly do not. This club has hundreds and hundreds of thousands of fans globally, and only 51,000 seats at Ibrox. You do the maths.

However, what we would attest is that perhaps we’re a different ‘kind’ of supporter, that we buck convention.

You see, we hold our club to account – we don’t blindly put faith in despite the evidence before us. We call what we see, and we’re honest about our opinions.

If we see a poor performance, we call it a poor performance. If we have doubts about this player, or that formation, or this manager, we express them. Just like all you reading have throughout your lives.

The difference, perhaps, is we’re prepared to express those beliefs on this site, while most of you will keep your scepticism to private chat with friends or talk of the terrace. We respect how each fan wishes to convey themselves. But this Ibrox Noise here will say what we think – and many people agree with our comments. Many don’t, and we have no issue with that. The personal slurs (99.99% false incidentally) we could do without, but it’s par for the course online. Much more a reflection of those slurring us than anything else.

Sometimes our more public thoughts are proven to be false – that this player actually turned out great, or that one turned out rubbish – but we don’t have any issue saying what we think, both good and bad.

The overriding worry on Ibrox Noise, though, is that Steven Gerrard appears to be making more errors than successes – few fans could be thrilled at the Greg Docherty story, out of position players, the appointment of Tavernier as captain or the continued selection of Alfredo Morelos and Andy Halliday.

We simply hope he irons these out and does it quickly. We still remain uninformed about how good he will be as our manager because he hasn’t been in the job long enough to make truly useful judgements but signs so far are mixed at best.

Many reading this are of the lines of ‘give him time’, and ‘far too early’ – and they’re right. It is too early. But there’s nothing wrong with making judgements based on empirical evidence, and we’ve done that without any shame.

This is our club and we want the best for it.

Time will tell if that’s Steven Gerrard and his signings or not, but if you don’t like us calling  anything he (and the players) does wrong as well as praising what he does right (defence is far better, for one) then Ibrox Noise isn’t for you.

Peace.

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39 COMMENTS

  1. Of course you won't publish this (You never publish anything I write with which you disagree) but there are so many things wrong with this article that I could go on all night. However here's a few samples:

    1. Being over-optimistic one minute and over-pessimistic the next is not good journalism. It's just called having a chip on both shoulders

    2. Unfortunately it's a fact of life that people who do not go to the games do not see the full picture the same way as fans who do. That's a fact. No amount of TV pictures and third hand reporting in the press shows it like it is in the flesh

    3. I'd love to put my opinion on here rather than save it for private chat. Unfortunately when I do you often conveniently omit to publish it

    4. Gerrard is not making more errors than successes

    5. You say "…he hasn't been in the job long enough to make truly useful judgements…" then in the next paragraph you say "..there's nothing wrong with making judgements based on empirical evidence….". Make up your mind. And anyone who knows anything knows you can't make empirical judgements on insufficient data. You are very confused IN.

    In summary maybe it's time to shut up until there is something worth saying.
    As I said this won't get published but why don't you be man enough to give me an email response???

    • Sorry bud but I have had a right go at INoise in the past and it was always published. It's just not who they are. Ever considered that it might of been a internet error or other such witchcraft?

    • Sorry Fulham but I agree with the gist and meaning of your comments aside from 2 wee areas.
      I went to games betweenn67 & 2015 before becoming severely disabled, I watch every second of each game INCLUDING PLAYBACKS and it's these playbacks I use to capture incidents which I'd not see in my former seat at Sandy Jardine GF3 😢😢

      Second of all I'm reading your published article.

    • Ok fair play you published this one. I think unless there's derogatory remarks or the like then all comment should be published. Sorry Stuart there's been too many instances for internet error. Fair play to IN – I don't disagree with all your articles but it's nice to get this off my chest. Please try to maintain some balance – it's the switching back and forward at the drop of a hat that gets me – three games is not enough to assess Stevie G – let's look at it 3 months into the season – 1 round of SPL games.

    • In our defence John, we've assessed managers three months into seasons and still been told it was too early. We do sense there's no science in a globally acceptable 'time frame' – after all, we did point out we'd judge better after Shkupi and no one complained about such a projection?

      End of the day, we'll judge when it feels right to us – and we've noticed a lot more protests when those opinions are negative rather than positive.

  2. The overriding worry on Ibrox Noise, though, is that Steven Gerrard appears to be making more errors than successes – few fans could be thrilled at the Greg Docherty story, out of position players, the appointment of Tavernier as captain or the continued selection of Alfredo Morelos and Andy Halliday.

    2 games ffs gee the guy a chance,i cant wait till we beat brendas mob this will be blown out the water🇬🇧

    LETS GO WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 GSTQ

    • BenidormLoyal while I still believe its way to early to think we can challenge those smelly inbred corrupted swine, we will be there very soon.

      IF Murty had not made an obvious Substitution error only weeks ago we could have seriously challenged last season with a bundle of Fannies impersonating Rangers Players

      Letsgo

    • Brian i agree 100% he had in sight and blew it,
      It is early we wont do it at the piggery it will be at ibrox and what a day that will be🇬🇧
      Remember WATP and allways will be regardless GSTQ

      LETS GO WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

  3. I think your getting criticised for your over reaction to certain topics you comment on, can I ask a couple of questions . If Tavernier is the wrong choice as captain who would you choose and why. Secondly, as he obviously is not a first choice for Gerrard would you prefer docherty just to stay on the bench for the season rather than get some more experience and game time elsewhere for a spell.

  4. When things are good, IN can’t help but get carried away. When things aren’t so good, IN go over the top with criticism. You need to have a balanced view within EVERY article. Going from one extreme to the other is not balanced. What I will say however, is the majority of our support act the same way, so you’re not alone.

    • Well said.

      Up here 👆 one minute
      Down here 👇 the next

      Too far in the extremities.

      Chill, breathe. Then say what is factual, not what is prompted by an anxiety post match attack.

      But they are only human.

      But DO they go to the games lol

  5. Good article and i agree with it tell it as it is Gerrard is making mistakes but hopefully he is not going to be a blinkered manager and i think players should be played in positions were they have been performing best 🇬🇧🇬🇧

    • Evan Stewart. Do you not think we are simply missing a striker or 2 of top quality?

      The supply into The middle us great. Even player someone other than Lessorles coz he can't play as a lone striker.

      Incidentally why do we play a lone striker?

      Its ineffective boring and doesn't work

    • Yea we are short of good quality strikers and I know some of the new guys have not played yet and we await to see how they fit in and perform hopefully they are a big step up from what we have at the moment as I said earlier we can only just on how we see it 🇬🇧🇬🇧

  6. Guys I will be first to admit I have though the negative articles have outweighed the good lately but I also believe you are entitled to your opinion as we all are, but where you guys see a glass half empty others will see the glass half full. Take Docherty… would I like to see him in the centre of our midfield, definitely however I also can’t deny we have a lot of options in that area and he is young. A year in the championship would give the lad some much needed experience and a loan may be exactly what he needs. I have looked at footage of Coulibaly and if he performs anything like he does in France he will be first name on the team sheet.
    Again with regards to Europe you seen an average display and were not happy with it and you’re not wrong it wasn’t great but rather than looking at the positive you went more with the negative even saying about Hibs free scoring game. We have kept 2 clean sheets in Europe and while the team was not Real Madrid they were extremely well organised. We did what we had to and progressed. The manager wasn’t singing their praises which gave me a good feeling as I feel like he is not getting carried away with the role, and as for Hibs I watched some of the game. The team they played were very disorganised and the keeper looked like the only thing he was trying to win was a comedy award. Given the 2 results I genuinely believe we had the better performance. Hibs although scoring 12 conceded 5 goals to a team that would struggle in Scotland’s 4th tier.
    I personally would like to see you guy Hane a more positive outlook. Like you said it’s early days and there is a lot of football to be played. Let’s save the really negative articles for when and if they are truly deserved

    Much love IN

  7. The replies to your article speaks volumes..To optimistic one minute and negative the next. Jamie Murphy springs to mind. You praised his signing as a coup then moaned about his fee because you apparently didn't realise it was as much as it was(even though it had been reported plenty of times what it was). In my mind this was you looking for something negative to write about Murphy perhaps because he was off the boil and little. More balance and fairness please..ps if it's too early to judge Gerrard, then why are you judging him so heavily on a number of issues??

  8. If people make ANY comments,then they Can be crucified….
    I think Ibrox Noise just says what he sees…Their is NOTHING wrong with that.
    In fact,it should be beneficial to the club, yes their will be mistakes by every human,that means Gerrard will be included but what WE have to do..is tell people how we can make our club even better..they should then,read what has been said.
    And think whether those changes would be more positive for the club and if possible alter the weaknesses.

  9. I feel the criticism toward Ibrox Noise is very much unwarranted. You publish an article and we have a good debate about it. We agree or disagree, that's what makes a good debate.
    I have agreed 100% in your recent articles. In the 2 displays in Europe, there is much cause for concern for the season ahead and we base that on the past 2 seasoned performances of the opposition against us. After I watched both legs, I immediately said we are going to struggle again this season. The SPFL is fast paced and tough tackled. We are not!! It's a footballing opinion and not just through blue tinted glassed!!
    I have also been victim of abusive comments too Ibrox Noise. Accused of being a fan of the other side just because they didn't agree with my comments. I have been called a "Timposter" and been told to get back with my pals in the "Piggery" I have been a season ticket holder at Ibrox since I was a teenager, a long time ago, so I won't stand for ignorance in those people who can't make civil and valid reasons of disagreement, and just resort to derogatory name calling!
    I will be the first to say thank you Ibrox Noise, for running this site so we can all have a say. Keep up the good work and if any others have a problem, then your right, they should move on elsewhere!

  10. I don't like the fact that season ticket holders, are so SMUG. I'm not working and since there is NEVER, any pay at the turnstile, options available (why not?) and i'm not currently working, i'm limited to away games. We can't ALL, be minted. But I think the club is missing a trick, not allowing pay at turnstile for some games. There needs to be more consideration, in that area. We're all bears together, are we not?

    • Agee with you Joe – I don't live in Scotland anymore and everytime i get back home and try to get to the game – there is never tickets available. Can season ticket holders not inform the club that they will not be bale to attend so average punters get a chance to go to the game?
      I appreciate season ticket holders are more valued, and to some respects they should be – they at the end of the day put up the cash. But for punters who cant afford them/not able to buy a ticket – should there not be a better process – there may not be many empty seats at ibrox (testament to the fans) but i have seen on many occasions a good few empty seats…. just saying.

  11. Personally I would rather read an article on the club that was over critical than one where praise and optimism was dished out willy nilly.

    It’s the massive expectation that we can flick a switch or turn a corner and be back to the top that drives the criticism and hysteria.

    Good honest and realistic views are what’s needed and not just seizing the opportunity to get clicks

  12. Sticking with murphy. candeias.morelos. tav.windass who are not good enough will cost Gerrard his job.

  13. I have felt the IN have been hasty but then again its based on facts. We have been poor in the first two games – but then again the objective was to qualify for the next round which did rather comfortably. Yes we would have loved to have seen a performance from the team – but the job is a long arduous job which is going to take a long time to sort – especially with mismanagement the team has had over the years.
    one key area to improve was our defence. – are we there yet no – have we seen progress YES. Goldson and Katic look like a good pairing but they need cover and need to be tested more thoroughly. They strolled through the games so far. They need to be better at concentrating as the season goes on we will have many games where for 80 mins they will have nothing to do. Then comes that 10 mins where we will be tested – that will take time and knowledge of each other – so yes we are on the right path.
    In defence the options
    RB – Tav/Flanagan CB katic and goldson lb john/Flanagan
    we need another CB and another left sided fullback to cover out options.
    Midfield – we have a huge amount of options here but what we are missing is a creative midfielder who can unlock those stubborn defences which we are going to face all season.
    Attack – Sadiq and Morelos
    Everyone has had there say on Morelos and rightly so. BUT i truly believe this lad is a talent and as soon as he finds the back of the net we will be singing his praises!! But what this has shown is real lack in depth up front. Why hardie was shipped on god only knows – i wuold have liked to have had him but we do need an experienced forward. Danny Ings ma well be wishful thinking – Moult is available and knows the league – Sadiq will need to wait and see.

    From what i can tell 4 more players needed to get the balance right – but we may not get the right quality this window and may need to continue forward.

    But going back to IN – yes you are right to call out he concerns and i applaud you for it – but it can be negative and if you read the latest articles and know nothing about the club you would think Stevie G has murdered your dog!

    always enjoy reading the articles and the delightful comments from all the supporters. Makes my work days bearable 🙂

    • Hardie was shipped on because he's not good enough. He had a few tries and didn't look anything to shout about. Rudden looks a better player than him.

  14. Your reactions are too knee jerk. You post articles while still raw from the highs or the lows. He sticks with morelos for now because he has no one else right now. He was never gonna give the armband to someone just in the door except maybe McGregor and that you weren't keen on either so who would it have been? McCrorie is too young right now so tav was the only real choice

  15. Jeez….it seems like there is a whole bunch of you out there about to have a stroke.
    Here's a simple thought.
    Instead of rushing to the bathroom to change your underwear every time Alfredo misses a chance…
    Why not just support the team, whatever.
    That's what we are here for, right ?
    To support the team.

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