We Shall Not Be Moved

[Senna 735]

50,268. That was the official attendance from Saturday’s defeat and our first sellout of 2012. If you've been living in a cave somewhere, don't be fooled – this wasn't a title decider or an Old Firm game – it was our first game since we effectively handed the title to Pacific Shelf 595 Limited.

The importance of getting behind the team, however, was the real objective.

This was the first game since our beloved club had gone into administration. A ten point deduction had rendered the outcome of the match less than crucial, but most if not all Bears this week knew this match was about more than beating visitors Kilmarnock.

Saturday was about getting behind Rangers FC. This was about stepping up to the mark and being heard. This was about sending out a message that as a club, we will not die. Never has the future of our club been in more jeopardy and doubt than it is now.

Undoubtedly the future is unclear and shaky for the club. But the point was made on Saturday. However bleak, however unclear, we, the fans, will not allow this club to expire. A fanbase that can fill out Ibrox, with many more hundreds of thousands there in spirit, will not allow this club to die.

Issues of mistrust, mismanagement and finance have been rife since administration had been applied for, and whatever you think, or wherever you stand, the single biggest bond we all share is not about Craig Whyte, David Murray or HMRC. It's that inside of us all, there is a deep, unyielding love for Rangers FC, which no administrator, judge or civil servant can ever take away from us.

However, it's easy to throw out emotive words and implore the fans to stand staunch behind Rangers, but that's the long and short of what we can do until a decent fan-ownership scheme appears.

Back to business though and words and phrases like 'liquidation', 'bust' and 'phoenix club' were thrown about with varying levels of glee across Scotland and further over the last eleven days. Annoyingly so, by both those within the club and some idiots outwith it.

The team and everyone involved at the club must have wondered what the response would be from the fanbase. Well, it's safe to say that we done ourselves supremely proud. A disputed investigation into alleged sectarian chanting aside, fans made the game a sellout with many more trying unsuccessfully to get tickets.

Gestures, such as Bears that couldn't make the game sponsoring their seat freely to other Bears who wanted to go but couldn't afford it, have really shown that as a club, a family and a fanbase, we really have taken the mantle of the best fans in the country right about now.

If anyone wants to doubt that, check the attendances for the games at Parkhead in 1994 when Pacific Shelf 595 Limited were around 15 minutes from going out of business, rather than a swift name change, and then come back to me.

It will be increasingly difficult for the fans to keep up this level of support and attendance until the end of the season, or administration, whichever comes first, but the first step in making Saturday's game a sellout was a huge statement.

David Whitehouse, joint administrator, said at yesterday's press conference that, “"Ibrox was sold out last Saturday and hopefully that can be the case for the rest of the season. The fans are clearly extremely loyal to Rangers and by coming to matches at Ibrox they are directly contributing to the Club's future.”

That sellout for a Kilmarnock game alone, should have shown the team, the staff and the watching world how much a part of our lives Rangers FC are, have been, and will always be.

I'm not going over the ins-and-outs of the situation that Rangers are in right now (it's a gargantuan piece to explain and I don't even get all of it) but we're in deep crisis, of that there can be no doubt.

Administration means wage cuts, players leaving, staff jobs lost, energy saver lightbulbs, half time oranges from the Smart Price range, the lot. It's perhaps not right to be flippant about it, but the old cliché about laughing or else you'll cry isn't all that inaccurate these days.

The sensible voices (the ones that you can count on one hand) in Scottish football came out and said that without us, Scottish football is looking into an equally dark abyss.

Whitehouse went on to acknowledge this, saying, "Generally other clubs are sympathetic. I think clubs realise this is a difficult time for the football industry in general and Rangers isn't unique in its financial position. They are very supportive of the survival of the Club which is critical to Scottish football."

He was acknowledging the comments made by St Johnstone chairman Geoff Brown and Dunfermline chairman John Yorkston recently, indirectly supporting Rangers in their plight and acknowledging the crucial part our club has in the world of Scottish football.

The moronic voices, or perhaps those that have to pander to a less-than-forward thinking fanbase, said that they wouldn't need us, that they'd be fine without us and in truth, showed themselves up for the classless, opportunistic and short-sighted fools they have proven themselves to be.

But this isn't about them. This is about our great club. Scotland's greatest football club, most successful club and despite everything, Scottish champions and still the team to beat.

We will always be the greatest football club in Scotland.

54 titles and we will carry on.

We shall not be moved.

[MrT 173]

Well done, I was having a bad day untill I seen this makes you proud to be a bear no matter what we go through we will follow follow on. WATP.

The great thing about this article for me is that you have summed up what has went on in the last 10 days, you are bang on about one thing and I quote "we really have taken the mantle of the best fans in the country right about now"

:21:

[weshallnotbemoved! 714]

Indeed we shall not!

[Gazza's Flute 4]

Great article, last part gave me goosebumps!

We will always be the greatest football club in Scotland.

54 titles and we will carry on.

We shall not be moved.