The Godfather 72,650 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 let's call it "co-ownership" of the player! Now we will be a mini Seria A Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Could not help but notice on the new website the section on the Facebook group, showing about 225,000 people 'like' the Rangers Official Facebook group.Which got me thinking...In a relative sense, we all spend a lot of our hard earned cash on supporting the club by way of season tickets, merchandise, expenditure at the games etc. That said, we all love this club more than anything on earth and would give anything for the club to be as successful as it possibly can be.I am in the fortunate situation of being relatively comfortable in a financial sense but feel there is no way to support the club, other than buying more junk from the megastore.So, if 225,000 people can be bothered clicking a Like button on Facebook, perhaps there are a similar number who would be willing to contribute a few quid to the club each year towards a Supporters Fund that can be used by the club on the playing squad. Some people might be able to contribute say only 1 quid a year whereas others might be willing to contribute a few thousand a year. Overall though, there could be some decent money raised for the club to spend on the squad each year given the passion of the fans.Obviously the tax case cloud would need to pass and there would need to be custodial arrangements to make sure the fans money was being spent on the squad, but logistics and details aside, I would love something like this to be set up to allow me to contribute and give back to the club that has given me so much in my life.Any views on whether this would have merit?I think it's a brilliant idea but, is this not what the RST is for? Things like this have been said so many times since we have known about the debt etc. But never seem to work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 my personal view is that if i was to "donate" £[xxx]a year to the club, it is a donation and it is gone. your point is valid however and if something like this got up, there could be a pro-rating of any profits - i.e. a £2m player who the Supporters Fund contributed £500,000 towards (25%) then sold for £10m, if the Supporters Fund would then regain control of £2.5m that it would have discretion over. let's call it "co-ownership" of the player! Sounds to good to be true. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bothwellbear 1,392 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 some Rangers fans cant even be bothered to stay until the 80th minute or stop harassing our own players... in ideal world yes it might work but you would need to find the right loyal fanbase and not just the ones who click on like buttons Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
offminorthreat 1,467 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 I think it's a brilliant idea but, is this not what the RST is for?RST is more for gaining influence and communication with the club rather than as a financial body contributing capital as i understand it...Say I have 5,000 I want to donate, to make up a number...What do I currently do with it to benefit the club? As far as I know, there is nothing... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian 4,281 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I have had similar thoughts on this as the OP.I see no reason that a fund couldn't be set up, administered by suitable trustees and open to donations from fans.The rules for it's use would be stated and clear.I assume the club would apply to the trust for the money to buy a particular player and a decision would be made by the trustees.Obviously we would need to avoid any chance of the club deciding to keep their money and spend ours. I'm not saying they would, but councils and the police routinely use this ploy. They say money is ringfenced and can only be spent on X, which sounds good, but the money they would normally have spent themselves on X can now be used for something else, so they might as well have used the ringfenced money.One way round this might be to have the trust able to pay on a ratio scale, say for example they will match the club pound for pound, so if they wanted a £2m player, the club could only get half the money from the trust. I use these figures as an example. It could be a third, quarter etcWe get bombarded by these sponsorships for sponsored walks, bungees etc, so I don't see that it would be hard to set up an online fund, administered by independent trustees.I wouldn't expect millions from such a fund, but even a small donation of a couple of quid from a large section of the support (say 30,000 +) would generate at least a few hundred grand a month. I'm not saying everyone has to donate monthly but some will one month and others a different one.I reckon if this was set up right, and donating was made as easy as poss, the club could make a tidy sum from it.It's not ideal, but the club is in the mire and such a small thing (per fan) could make all the difference.As for a return for the fans on their money, surely seeing Rangers get through this current crisis would be reward enough.In better times the club could look at giving something back to the fans with a free friendly or somesuch. I'd just be happy I'd contributed in my own small way to helping out.It'll probably be dismissed by many as bluenose pie in the sky, but if someone upped and organised it, I'm sure many would chip in if it was easy to do.The club should have got something like this going IMO, and they are missing a trick, but that doesn't mean someone else can't.I'd sooner give a few quid to Rangers than some starving dugs in China or saving a few scrawny trees in a rain forest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimfanciesthedude 24,958 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 and what if the players bought with fans money turn out crap. Can the fans that gave in money demand the manager and ceo resign? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek1872 548 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 my personal view is that if i was to "donate" £[xxx]a year to the club, it is a donation and it is gone. your point is valid however and if something like this got up, there could be a pro-rating of any profits - i.e. a £2m player who the Supporters Fund contributed £500,000 towards (25%) then sold for £10m, if the Supporters Fund would then regain control of £2.5m that it would have discretion over. let's call it "co-ownership" of the player! So now we own the players and not the club? What if we dicide we dont like the player do we then get rid of him? This isnt football manager lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek1872 548 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 RST is more for gaining influence and communication with the club rather than as a financial body contributing capital as i understand it...Say I have 5,000 I want to donate, to make up a number...What do I currently do with it to benefit the club? As far as I know, there is nothing...Buy 100 strips for the club store Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
offminorthreat 1,467 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 So now we own the players and not the club? What if we dicide we dont like the player do we then get rid of him? This isnt football manager lolRead the first part of that post. But football manager style would be a good laugh, later Jig!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimgers 565 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I would contribute about £20 a month for life, but i want to pick the team Seriously though great idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBlue 136 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 We could set up a Trust, put money into it and then use it to pay the players we sign. We could call it something like an "employees benefit trust", or something. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
debear 603 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 If fans were clubbing in money, I'd rather it went into a fund to help older players who weren't fortunate enough to play in the days of sky high wages and have fallen on harder times. If there are any. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRICKY1872 118 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Sorry but to compare Rangers to Woolworths Woolworths went under mainly due to the fact that they never adapted to an ever changing market place. The emergance of low cost places like pound stores selling the same or substitute products at a much lower price killed them.We on the other hand have no real excuse for the mess we are in at the moment and I think asking the fans for a hand out is something the club wont stoop too hopefully.I never compared Rangers to Woolworths, you were the one who referred to us as a multi million pound business that's been running for 140 years. Much like Woolworths, eh? Asking for money from supporters is not stooping at all. As long as safeguards were put in place to ensure the money was used for the good of the club. Barcelona operate a member's scheme, which in essence means the supporters are paying towards the upkeep of their club. Is that the kind of level of stooping you mean? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo 7 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I know of a similar scheme for another team in the SPL.. This is dedicated solely to investing in the teams youth development rather than purchasing players and has raised a reasonable sum (given the teams support base). With a much larger fan base, this could work but I'm not sure it'd raise millions.You'd need a supporters trust to administer the fund and ultimately, support/endorsement from the club itself otherwise it wouldn't be seen as a worthwhile endeavour. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clerieblue 24 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Would donations be taxable..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory 0 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Alot of people would be against the idea due to the fact of the amount of money they already spend on the club but I see what you mean anything anyone could give would be good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
annanbear 5 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I think it may work in the short term, but long-term unless there are great results that come of it, it will die away when people have less money to spend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
showtime69 514 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 there is a darts forum who did something similar although on a much much smaller scale obviouslythey all chipped in £25 each to fund a guy to play on the PDC pro tour for a year,, think they still do this and vote on a different player every year.would need to be run right but i could see this working,, even if it was just used to maybe sponsor youth teams strips or something like that Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS 649 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Could not help but notice on the new website the section on the Facebook group, showing about 225,000 people 'like' the Rangers Official Facebook group.Which got me thinking...In a relative sense, we all spend a lot of our hard earned cash on supporting the club by way of season tickets, merchandise, expenditure at the games etc. That said, we all love this club more than anything on earth and would give anything for the club to be as successful as it possibly can be.I am in the fortunate situation of being relatively comfortable in a financial sense but feel there is no way to support the club, other than buying more junk from the megastore.So, if 225,000 people can be bothered clicking a Like button on Facebook, perhaps there are a similar number who would be willing to contribute a few quid to the club each year towards a Supporters Fund that can be used by the club on the playing squad. Some people might be able to contribute say only 1 quid a year whereas others might be willing to contribute a few thousand a year. Overall though, there could be some decent money raised for the club to spend on the squad each year given the passion of the fans.Obviously the tax case cloud would need to pass and there would need to be custodial arrangements to make sure the fans money was being spent on the squad, but logistics and details aside, I would love something like this to be set up to allow me to contribute and give back to the club that has given me so much in my life.Any views on whether this would have merit?I've seen many such suggestions here, and on other Rangers sites, over the past 24 months and, particularly, in the months of uncertainty leading up to Craig Whyte's takeover.Many of these suggestions/ideas had real merit and your idea mirrors many of those previously posted.Whilst I hate to be a harbinger of doom and gloom, I suspect that your suggestion (like all the others) will be to no avail.I say that with genuine regret having tried (with several colleagues) to interest the Club in a similar form of fundraising only to be 'fobbed off' with some rather pathetic excuses and a large dose of disinterest!I eventually received a letter of thanks from the Club essentially saying...'don't call us we'll call you'.That, of course was during the tenure of Alastair Johnston, and it may be that attitudes have changed under the new owner.However, as I and my colleagues found out very, very early on in the 'exploration' process, an idea is one thing, trying to bring it to fruition by means of a formal and legal arrangement is quite another.As someone above has already said...people want 'something' for their money and from personal experience that 'somehing' varies considerably from one person to another.I suspect that the RST (reconstituted and revitalised of course) is the only realistic 'vehicle' for such a scheme. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirrhillLoyal 318 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Great idea. If everyone wants to meet me outside the ticket office before the Aberdeen game with their donations, I will make sure they get handed to mr whyte! I promise. Nah seriously, not a bad idea tbh Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights 2,526 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 If there's a fund then it should be for non-footballing things. Fix the screen, do up the ground, etc.Donating it towards the transfer kitty would cause all sorts of problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcbear 10,924 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Hows about the guys who benefitted from the EBT scheme being the first to offer help, i would like my donation to go poor Stevie Whittaker toiling on 100k a month Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broxi 11,680 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 It could work.I've liked the Bayern Munich page on FB because I like them but I wouldn't donate money to them if they were in our situation. You also have the people who say they "support" Rangers and stuff but don't actually watch the majority of the games or really keep up to date. I'd say no more than 100,000 of those people are proper Rangers fans (Scotland and abroad) and I don't think the amount of them willing to pay decent money would be higher than 50%.That makes about 50,000 people potentially, say on average those people give £5 a month, some give more, some less, that's about £250,000 every month.These numbers are probably way off and it's just a quick estimation but even if they were a lot lower it'd still be a handsome figure annually for the club. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broxi 11,680 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 If there's a fund then it should be for non-footballing things. Fix the screen, do up the ground, etc.Donating it towards the transfer kitty would cause all sorts of problems.Screens are fixed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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