Updated Membership Group Proposal

[JMorrison1872 320]

Bump

[Copland bear 7,966]

Prices should be 15 for a adult, and 5 for a child. I think it sould be rolled out to season ticket holders only to get it up and running, once it is then it should be expanded to people down south and abroad etc, but the price has to be reasonable, 25 for a adult 15 for a child and this could be paid through paypal. Something needs to be done because as a support we are all over the place, we must some how bring the supporters under one banner so we have one voice. I thought about what people said, and yes I now agree we should open it up to everyone but only after the season ticket holders are in regardless, then we could expand it. We could even be making 600k + easily within 5 years. We should get names on here and hand it in to Rangers.

[trublusince1982 768]

Yes of course.

Fan input is critical.

The proposal will be put to RM, FF, Twitter and Facebook to get the fans opinions. As of yet it has only appeared on RM as I don't use any social media and I'm banned from FF for being a taig apparently

I also need people to step forward to canvas the club. This idea should be put forward by more than 1 person.

I'd like a member of each supporters group to go along to show support and show the club it is a proposal that could work, but 2 groups have already dismissed the proposal as silly and in-achievable.

Don't be under the illusion this will stop me, it won't!!

Our supporters need this, and very quickly!!

i would be more than willing to help out in anyway i can, but only if the proposal is to include all rangers fans without prejudice.

If it's only for season ticket holders ( i am one myself), i would be against any such proposal being put forward to the club.

[JMorrison1872 320]

i would be more than willing to help out in anyway i can, but only if the proposal is to include all rangers fans without prejudice.

If it's only for season ticket holders ( i am one myself), i would be against any such proposal being put forward to the club.

Well if you could put the proposal on other forums that's a great help.

The idea IS for ALL fans, not one specific type, this proposal isn't going to become another typical faction like we already have.

That is not the plan!

[Copland bear 7,966]

If you put it out to all supporters to start with, then you might not

get all season ticket holders. If you set it out so season ticket holders must be join when the purchase their book year in year out, then open it up to all fans who can pay via paypal. I am just worried that all season ticket holders won't join and we lose a lot of revenue. But season ticket holders must be locked in because that is 35,000 ish guaranteed.

[NamibianBear 1,851]

If you put it out to all supporters to start with, then you might not

get all season ticket holders. If you set it out so season ticket holders must be join when the purchase their book year in year out, then open it up to all fans who can pay via paypal. I am just worried that all season ticket holders won't join and we lose a lot of revenue. But season ticket holders must be locked in because that is 35,000 ish guaranteed.

Sorry but you exclude more fans by making it season ticket only. There are plenty of us that cannot get to games but would willingly put down money to join a well formulated and run supporters group.

Please do NOT advocate making it season ticket holders only - 1.) you shoot yourself in the foot and 2.) you look just like any other clique limiting its membership for no good reason

[Copland bear 7,966]

Naimbian bear, so how do you include all the season ticket holders lawfully? I mean they must join automatic? you are going to lose a lot people that way. Start up with season tickets only deal with that volume of people then within say within 3 months look to extend it worldwide. If we open it to everyone you will have to ask every season ticket holder if they want to join and not everyone will join. So please explain how you get every season ticket locked in legally?

[NamibianBear 1,851]

Naimbian bear, so how do you include all the season ticket holders lawfully? I mean they must join automatic? you are going to lose a lot people that way. Start up with season tickets only deal with that volume of people then within say within 3 months look to extend it worldwide. If we open it to everyone you will have to ask every season ticket holder if they want to join and not everyone will join. So please explain how you get every season ticket locked in legally?

Why force anyone to join a voluntary membership scheme in the first place? If you make it mandatory to join then it will just cause more to stay away.

The way to entice/encourage season ticket holders is to make their membership fees considerably smaller than non season ticket holders. Its fairly easy to administer any scheme like that. Volume administration on a membership of 500,000 even is not that hard to do.

Exclude bears once and you will end up with just another hated fans group.

Seriously now, you are saying make it season ticket holders only for three months then open it up to the rest? Hardly fair on other fans (who, by the way, make up the biggest part of our fan base) now is it?

I think if we were to make it (adult pricing only) a tenner for season ticket holders and thirty quid for non season ticket holders then you would get a huge take up on it. Hell, make the membership free (or a pound/fiver/whatever) to season tickets and thirty quid to the rest of us. That's still fair all round and generates loads of extra cash.

[JCDBigBear 10,825]

I suggested at the start of this idea that ST members pay £10 (£5 kids) and non-ST pay £20 (£10 kids) that way everyone can join and get the same vote for not much outlay. Everything done electronically to keep costs down. Use e-mail and Rangers web site and TV to get our points across, feedback, etc. Started up by volunteers until we can get a committee voted in place. That's the bones, just need to put the flesh on the idea.

[JMorrison1872 320]

I suggested at the start of this idea that ST members pay £10 (£5 kids) and non-ST pay £20 (£10 kids) that way everyone can join and get the same vote for not much outlay. Everything done electronically to keep costs down. Use e-mail and Rangers web site and TV to get our points across, feedback, etc. Started up by volunteers until we can get a committee voted in place. That's the bones, just need to put the flesh on the idea.

The committee would be ex-players alongside fans representing the group.

This group WILL cater for ST & Non-ST holders, that idea is concrete. I would never let this idea become your run of the mill faction like we have right now!!

If anyone would like to put some serious help behind this idea, help me strike out a concrete plan and help canvass it on all possible Rangers forums/social media then simply drop me a PM.

JCD, IanG I know you lads are highly interested, start a PM and we will discuss this more. Anyone else who wants involved, let me know and I'll add you to the current group PM discussion.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Why force anyone to join Namibianbear? Money, that's why. If we can get something sorted were season ticket holders are charge by the club when they renew their book, then the monies earned through the scheme get filtered into the groups trust. We need every single season ticket involved. If we go with jcdbigbears prices then every season ticket lost is a tenner. We need to raise as much as possible and there alone lies 35,000 + fans. Get the scheme up and running all the names registered etc, then roll it out to everyone. I am in no fan group so I am unbiased, I have no agenda, I just want what is best for our club in the long run. But between us all on here we have alone made more progress than these groups who represent the minority.

[NamibianBear 1,851]

Why force anyone to join Namibianbear? Money, that's why. If we can get something sorted were season ticket holders are charge by the club when they renew their book, then the monies earned through the scheme get filtered into the groups trust. We need every single season ticket involved. If we go with jcdbigbears prices then every season ticket lost is a tenner. We need to raise as much as possible and there alone lies 35,000 + fans. Get the scheme up and running all the names registered etc, then roll it out to everyone. I am in no fan group so I am unbiased, I have no agenda, I just want what is best for our club in the long run. But between us all on here we have alone made more progress than these groups who represent the minority.

You cannot force people to part with money - that's just plain wrong!

I understand what you are trying to say but believe me, you will lose the bigger part of the fan base by doing what you have suggested. There are 38k or thereabouts season ticket holders. There are somewhere in the region of 450k supporters around the world, as well as in Scotland, that do not buy tickets. Are you seriously advocating excluding the bigger earning potential? What about the guy that buys a home match ticket every other week but cannot afford the season ticket "up front" cost?

And no, you cannot force anyone to buy a membership ticket on top of a season ticket. I guess you could "make" every season ticket holder be a member by increasing the base price of the season ticket by 10pounds and including the membership in that of course (although that would be undemocratically forcing people to join an organization they may not want to) but do not, ever, exclude your biggest revenue source. That just does not make sense.

[NamibianBear 1,851]

But between us all on here we have alone made more progress than these groups who represent the minority.

Deserved a separate post!

It would appear to me that all the other fans groups are being stuck because of certain individuals and agendas. Either that or they restrict their memberships in such a way as to severely limit their growth.

We can't all like everyone or everything but these groups are all faltering because everyone outwith said group has a specific issue with either an individual or the group as a whole. I believe fully that it is time to get one unified body that encompasses, and democratically speaks for, all fans. If it has to be a new group then so be it.

A handful of people, be it here or any other forum/group whatever, could indeed move this forward with fresh new ideas and no agenda driven motives.

[JMorrison1872 320]

Deserved a separate post!

It would appear to me that all the other fans groups are being stuck because of certain individuals and agendas. Either that or they restrict their memberships in such a way as to severely limit their growth.

We can't all like everyone or everything but these groups are all faltering because everyone outwith said group has a specific issue with either an individual or the group as a whole. I believe fully that it is time to get one unified body that encompasses, and democratically speaks for, all fans. If it has to be a new group then so be it.

A handful of people, be it here or any other forum/group whatever, could indeed move this forward with fresh new ideas and no agenda driven motives.

Blazer chasing ; such an ugly motive.

We can't force them to disband, we can get all bears to support this idea IMO if promoted to the highest order.

I will say again, from day one the group will be open to EVERYONE, our non-st support is too large to be left out at any stage.

[NamibianBear 1,851]

Blazer chasing ; such an ugly motive.

We can't force them to disband, we can get all bears to support this idea IMO if promoted to the highest order.

I will say again, from day one the group will be open to EVERYONE, our non-st support is too large to be left out at any stage.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Well we will be lucky to get 15,000 season ticket holders to join if it is rolled out to everyone to start with. It will be a lost opportunity, I will repeat this time and again that it needs to be rolled out to season ticket holders first, We also need a donation to get it started as these things cost money? We will need at least 1 maybe 2 staff working on it? There are gonna be overheads, you just can't say, that we have a brilliant idea? Even brilliant ideas fail if not run correctly and properly funded. There is more to this than just starting a supporters trust. I know all fans want to be in it from the off set, that's fine, but say every season ticket holder joins and say another 15,000 fans on t of that, the computer system will go into meltdown. I say we need to learn to walk before we learn to run. We need account knowledge, company law knowledge, Things like do we have the ticket office in charge of our staff? As they do not work for Rangers? What sort of wage will they be on? No more than 22k, Would need to pay Rangers Expenses, ie, use of the office, our share of bills, ie if 40 staff are in ticket office and we have 2, then we pay 2% of all overheads, then their is desks, computers, tables, etc etc. It all adds up, the Fighting fund should cover these funds, but that will be another battle, as other groups will want this to fail of their own agendas, I studied accounts three years and have a certain knowledge! but the truth being told will the fighting fund release any monies? Goodluck with that one.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Also if we do not lock in all season ticket holder, how do we know if in 5 years the numbers do not dwindle? How could we afford these overheads? It is gonna be very tough to get up and running as it is, if we can't afford say 60k per season as overheads then it goes tits up. I budged from being season ticket only, I realised it would be unfair but I will repeat it should be rolled out to season ticket holders May when the books are renewed, and at the start of the season send it global with a paypal account. That is my 2 cents worth on this subject,

[Shetland Bear 433]

I think quite a few supporters are selling the club short with their suggestions. Clubs like Real Madrid, Barca, Bundesliga teams etc. gain far more than Rangers in regards to sponsorship, especially from TV. Even when Rangers get back to the top flight, our TV revenue will be minuscule compared to these clubs.

Realistically an annual fee of ST Adults £40, UK Based non-ST Adults £70, Outside UK non-ST Adults £100 and all Kids £20 would be popular and see an uptake of membership that could contribute a great deal of income for Rangers. Members could then have discounts on paper tickets, official club merchandise etc.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Shetland, totally agree regarding sponsorship etc! we sell ourself way short? But prices I would like to see at a modest price. Even 20 for season ticket holders and 10child season ticket holder, 25 non holders and 15 for child. We could set up a family package also 2 adults 1 child for say 40 or 2 adults 2 child's for 50 for season ticket holders and 50 and 60 for non holders. I understand a fair amount of fans pay their books up? Do they pay Apr on it? How much is it? As in the future we could give fans a better deal , as this will also make revenue and benefit the fans also.

[trublusince1982 768]

got to start at the start and set down in writing the aims and objectives before we go any further. They must be clear and precise while attractive to fans with measurable objectives.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Also get a PayPal account set up ASAP with an account system in place, get it advertised at Ibrox, over tannoy, round pitch on screens, ask for donations to get it up and running, we have 7 months till may to get a business plan in place and find out what the actual cost it would be to get off the ground. We need a lawyer to deal with contracts for staff also we need a fully qualified accountant to deal with books. I would suggest asking for applications too apply, we could keep the other applications on file for the future. But they need to be Rangers fans to deal with anything. If that was hard then we need to do the impossible and get groups like the rest round the table. Each group can put a member forward for the elections, For chairman, vice chairman and on the board, anyone outwith these groups can run as an independent candidate but to stop all applying to run in the elections each member has to pay 100 to run for election. Only a few suggestions.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Trubluesince1982, I could not agree more, we need to get a structure and funding sorted.

[Copland bear 7,966]

JMorrision, Could you set something up on here, just to see who would join on here. If so are you season ticket holder or non season ticket holder? Child ticket holder or child without? children must be 15 and under, also if people will not join and ask if they are season ticket holder and non holders? Also ask would they be prepared to make a charitable donation to get it started?

Would do myself but but to be honest would not have a clue how to do it on the ipad. But this could work. On a lighter note, Could we not call it For The People? Orange uniforms? could you imagine the media going into a meltdown?

[trublusince1982 768]

^{It will help to have clear aims in place first so when approaching other groups you can say here we go this is what we plan.}

Lets start with the simple. Aims...

^{To encourage and grow the stature of the club.}

^{To give the fans one clear voice.}

^{To start, encourage and fund fan participation and development of the club.}

^{To improve communication between supporters clubs, each individual fan and the board.}

^{how about these for a start.}

[lau03143 84]

That whole of Scottish football needs to adopt the 50+1 arrangement like Germany. It's then not a supporters group working with the club, but every supporter who has signed up as a member, they all get voting rights on electing board members etc.

Fans groups like RST etc are devisive and generally counter productive.