The Players Who Walked Away: Traitors? Or History Makers?

[AGM_72 3,646]

Is that you charlie? What a load of pish. Maybe if he bothered to pick up the phone and speak to them, a few of them might have come over. I dont like to bring him up in every thread, but seeing as you mentioned it.

Maybe people should wonder what greens role was in the fiasco. If they all came over and sat on their contracts, could charlie have paid them all? If the same situation was happening at your place of employment and your boss didnt keep you in the loop, what would you do?

Absolute pish.

1. Did they all do in depth Q and A's with their new chairmen? Asking for the ins and outs of their company that runs the football club? I would bet heavily on them not. However, that's conjecture so I'll move on from that to the next point.

2. Plenty of them did change over. Plenty of whom are foreigners and actually haven't got as good an understanding of what Rangers Football Club means to the fans as the players who left did. Did guys like Edu, Goian or Bedoya need a phonecall from Charles Green to transfer over? Did they fuck. Rangers *should* have meant far more to someone like Naismith than we did to someone like Edu. Charles Greens input shouldn't have mattered one bit, because, and this leads me onto point 3 which I have already touched on in the original post.

3. I would have remained with my place of work, knowing I had a contract and an escape route written into the terms of my contract should it go tits up. This escape route completely null and voids ANY argument you could possibly construct about Charles Greens intentions or lack of communication because if they actually planned to stay and then discovered Charles Greens consortium were the devil incarnate they need only have a club invoke their release clauses (which were pennies compared to their actual value) and they could leave easily while still earning the club a few pennies. So whether they actually intended to remain, or whether they just transferred over to earn us some cash, they still would have moved on and would have got our blessings. How does Charles Green giving them a phone call affect this?

Apologies if you don't believe staff should show some form of loyalty to the company that saved this club, the club that some of them claimed to support since childhood. To me, you have to give some kind of loyalty to the man (and consortium) who saved us from oblivion. Who put up when other "Rangers men" fannied about trying to get us for the lowest possible price.

[Blue corn flakes 1,282]

That photo with Naismiths face angers me

[rab wilson 3,246]

The Players Who Walked Away: Traitors? Or History Makers? by guest writer dougster1989

You know what mate, if I was running on raw emotion and vodka red bull tonight, I would be sitting here fuming reading some of that.but I'll say this you have your right as a bear to feel as you do, everybody is different and I will sY it's a really good post because it s your personal feeling towards it and you try not to force anybody to buy into it. Whittaker gave me my favourite moment in Europe following the bears, if messi had scored that goal, itvWould have been playing it over and over for the next 10 years. When he ran over to celebrate in front of me and my pals I was pleading with this polis" please shoot me now, shoot me please cos I will never feel any better than this"

You see mate I fuckin adored everyone of them. And worshipped the ground on which they walked, even tough I'm 40 years old. They fuckin let me down so bad, I was devastated by Naismith and Lafferty, my 2 heroes, the ones the tarriers hated cos the were the living embodiment of everything a rangers player should be, and they were the 2 players the tinks feared. Because they never gave in against them. They kicked all of us in the balls.

I was in tears when I saw naisy and Stevie sitting there in Front of the press. As I wAs watching Naismith kept pulling at the neck of his shirt. He wS

Lying through his eye teeth about being angry, when in fact he knew he was going to everton just after jelly left , just Fu kin tell the truth all of you, don't flannel us, we have taken enough as a support, some of them had to tell me I needed to go to medical drop in centre to be examine my jaw which was obviously broken , along with my nose aagain, and a few broken ribs after game at Tyne castle in which we totally destroyed hearts. I got a right good leathering that night from 3 or 4 of them. We were giving the club our last expendable money, all we wanted after months of lies. Last minute pull outs and the insulting bidding by TBK all they had to do was transfer their contract to Charlie boy. They had planned to leave , phoning me as a watertight alibi was something my cousin confided in me. If they didn't fancy div 3 cos of their international career

Then fine, but give the club some money to help themselves , anything, just like us supporters were doing Giving them our last pound every week, wouldn't you lot just do that? Instead they fuckin lied. They made shit excuses. They left the club with no chance to get a fee for them, they kept all the corn for themselves the greedy bastards. They chose to kill the supports spirit by being selfish and self preserving, when we had bought everything in the shops. , donated to the RFFF, bought everything we could lay our hands on just to help save Rangers. They just broke our hearts Cunts should never come near ibrox Park again, I don't know what I would do if they tried to walk past me.

No Surrender

Rab

God Save Our Queen

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Sadly getting proof on the finances of our club are very difficult to come by. I should have said in my opinion we couldnt have paid them if they decided to stay. Do we really need another 8 Edu situations? Players drawing a wage that nobody really wants unless they get them for virtually nothing.

Any normal person in this situation would be offski, if they had another job lined up, with the same or better money. Anyone that says differently is a dreamer. Lets not turn this into another battle about charlie. The thread is about the players

You turned it into a conversation about Green by having a pop at him.

The part highlighted,does that make it right?

You keep comparing it to a normal job and it's not,these guys have more money than a horse can shit yet greed still gets the better of them.

Count up how much we could have made from selling these guys on and if you're not pissed off or angry then you're the dreamer.

[DarcheVinny 1,003]

I love you posts Darch, but surely this is not up for debate, any sane person can see that they are dirty greedy bastards who could have left as hero's but choose the road paved with gold.

I wish them all career ending Injuries and nothing will ever change my opinion on that. Ness McGregor Fleck and Whit the fuck a ter have all got bad one's hope wee baldy is next

It's not my article mate. It is by guest writer, dougster1989 (as in bold at the top ).

You can find my thoughts in post #3

[nigelx7 18]

Well written however my feelings remain the same.

They would still have been paid handsomely for transferring across and we wouldn't have stood in their way of a move.

Shit on us when we were on our knees.

This ! but to be honest some are worse than others. The worst of all for me was Lafferty ,a badge kisser who said he always supported the club but When the going got tough he was out the door as quick as he could to line his own pockets with his new shity team in Switzerland. Perhaps his new wife had something to do with it. Bastard!!

[DarcheVinny 1,003]

This article by dougster1989, despite going against popular opinion, has really shown that this wound created by the players leaving as they did, is still wide open for most people.

Some are more forgiving than other for sure, but Scotland is not exactly a country full of people who like to give up their grudges!

[Reformation Bear 6,453]

They are neither traitors or history makers. Not one of them would have failed to get a game with a decent club in England or in Europe so I would have preferred that they stayed, transferred their contracts and if they were then determined to leave to have generated a sale for the club.

But more to the point, I want to say a massive 'thank you' to those players who have stayed and to those who have joined. Whatever the achievements on the pitch of those who left, and for which they will be rightly remembered, they will be a mere faint shadow compared to the honour we should give to those who stayed with us in these dark times and who were proud to pull on a Rangers jersey even when we are playing in the lowest league. I have nothing but huge admiration for the players that stayed and those that have joined. They are already legends in my mind and I wish them every success as Rangers football players.

[Thermopylae 15,287]

I suppose it's easier for someone McCulloch's age to stay than it is for the likes of Davis or Naismith ... although if they had been bears they would have transferred to the newco and let us get a fee for them before they went

[King Jela 20,371]

They are dead to me.

[WestEnclosure82 8]

I don't understand how the wage cuts saved the club as we ended up in liquidation..delayed it yes.

They all had clauses that would see us receive a nominal fee and would have helped the club. The money grabbing bastards can rot as far as I'm concerned and should never be allowed to step foot in Ibrox again.

[Turnberry18 3,204]

This article by dougster1989, despite going against popular opinion, has really shown that this wound created by the players leaving as they did, is still wide open for most people.

Some are more forgiving than other for sure, but Scotland is not exactly a country full of people who like to give up their grudges!

Nothing to do with grudges, or being Scottish. The fact is they are symptomatic of much that is wrong with the modern footballer.

[delparlane 5,679]

You know what mate, if I was running on raw emotion and vodka red bull tonight, I would be sitting here fuming reading some of that.but I'll say this you have your right as a bear to feel as you do, everybody is different and I will sY it's a really good post because it s your personal feeling towards it and you try not to force anybody to buy into it. Whittaker gave me my favourite moment in Europe following the bears, if messi had scored that goal, itvWould have been playing it over and over for the next 10 years. When he ran over to celebrate in front of me and my pals I was pleading with this polis" please shoot me now, shoot me please cos I will never feel any better than this"

You see mate I fuckin adored everyone of them. And worshipped the ground on which they walked, even tough I'm 40 years old. They fuckin let me down so bad, I was devastated by Naismith and Lafferty, my 2 heroes, the ones the tarriers hated cos the were the living embodiment of everything a rangers player should be, and they were the 2 players the tinks feared. Because they never gave in against them. They kicked all of us in the balls.

I was in tears when I saw naisy and Stevie sitting there in Front of the press. As I wAs watching Naismith kept pulling at the neck of his shirt. He wS

Lying through his eye teeth about being angry, when in fact he knew he was going to everton just after jelly left , just Fu kin tell the truth all of you, don't flannel us, we have taken enough as a support, some of them had to tell me I needed to go to medical drop in centre to be examine my jaw which was obviously broken , along with my nose aagain, and a few broken ribs after game at Tyne castle in which we totally destroyed hearts. I got a right good leathering that night from 3 or 4 of them. We were giving the club our last expendable money, all we wanted after months of lies. Last minute pull outs and the insulting bidding by TBK all they had to do was transfer their contract to Charlie boy. They had planned to leave , phoning me as a watertight alibi was something my cousin confided in me. If they didn't fancy div 3 cos of their international career

Then fine, but give the club some money to help themselves , anything, just like us supporters were doing Giving them our last pound every week, wouldn't you lot just do that? Instead they fuckin lied. They made shit excuses. They left the club with no chance to get a fee for them, they kept all the corn for themselves the greedy bastards. They chose to kill the supports spirit by being selfish and self preserving, when we had bought everything in the shops. , donated to the RFFF, bought everything we could lay our hands on just to help save Rangers. They just broke our hearts Cunts should never come near ibrox Park again, I don't know what I would do if they tried to walk past me.

No Surrender

Rab

God Save Our Queen

Hats off to you Rab for that - absolutely hit the nail for me. Felt the same, about Naismith and Davis especially. I have 3 jerseys w/ Davis on the back here in the closet - one w/ a poppy on it too! (we have that name on one side of the fam's history, so I was chuffed to support SD and get it on the back). Can't bring myself to bin them, even though I'll never be able to wear those in good conscience again, because they are Rangers tops above all else. Guts me every day what those players did to us - they took the easy way out when they absolutely could have taken the right path like Big Jig did. What a terrible legacy to choose to be remembered by.

[Comeoffit 152]

You turned it into a conversation about Green by having a pop at him.

The part highlighted,does that make it right?

You keep comparing it to a normal job and it's not,these guys have more money than a horse can shit yet greed still gets the better of them.

Count up how much we could have made from selling these guys on and if you're not pissed off or angry then you're the dreamer.

The argument that its not a normal job doesnt hold up. You dont know what commitments they have, and how much they need coming in. Dont forget that most of them will be finished by their mid 30's, and they probably dont have 2 brain cells between them to start a new career. Football clubs treat players like assests, when they are done, they are cast aside. You cant really blame them for not being loyal to any team.

I imagine the reality of playing for Rangers isnt what most people think it is. Sure we would all kill for the same chance, but these players lived it for some years, and it probably didnt hold the same attraction as we would all like to think it has.

People expecting loyalty from footballers dont live in the real world. Some of the stuff that gets said about them is sickening.

Im sure they all had low fee release clauses in their contracts, so i doubt we would have got as much as we think we would have. I think one or two would have left, but i imagine we would have been stuck with the others paying them 10k+ a week to play in div3.

[rab wilson 3,246]

They are neither traitors or history makers. Not one of them would have failed to get a game with a decent club in England or in Europe so I would have preferred that they stayed, transferred their contracts and if they were then determined to leave to have generated a sale for the club.

But more to the point, I want to say a massive 'thank you'

to those players who have stayed and to those who have

joined. Whatever the achievements on the pitch of those

who left, and for which they will be rightly remembered,

they will be a mere faint shadow compared to the honour

we should give to those who stayed with us in these dark

times and who were proud to pull on a Rangers jersey

even when we are playing in the lowest league. I have

nothing but huge admiration for the players that stayed and

those that have joined. They are already legends in my

mind and I wish them every success as Rangers football

players.

Well said sir, well said.

But Christ I worry about ally. Some of his tactics are fuckin bizarre to say the least. Listen, don't take that the wrong way, ally and jasper are my all time rangers heroes, I want them to succeed , win everything there is to win. , beat the tinks every time we play them, you know what I mean. But I think both of the dynamic duo need an experienced old head behind them to look after them, who will advise and tug them straight awAy whenthey get it wrong. I'm not talking about Walter, ally doesn't need that. I was thinking about Jim Jeffries. That is there to be shot at but I think he would be great at this moment in time. Or John lambie type.

No Surrender

Rab

Go Save Our Queen

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

The argument that its not a normal job doesnt hold up. You dont know what commitments they have, and how much they need coming in. Dont forget that most of them will be finished by their mid 30's, and they probably dont have 2 brain cells between them to start a new career. Football clubs treat players like assests, when they are done, they are cast aside. You cant really blame them for not being loyal to any team.

I imagine the reality of playing for Rangers isnt what most people think it is. Sure we would all kill for the same chance, but these players lived it for some years, and it probably didnt hold the same attraction as we would all like to think it has.

People expecting loyalty from footballers dont live in the real world. Some of the stuff that gets said about them is sickening.

Im sure they all had low fee release clauses in their contracts, so i doubt we would have got as much as we think we would have. Im think one or two would have left, but i imagine we would have been stuck with the others paying them 10k+ a week to play in div3.

Neither do you but there's not many people that can afford to just walk away from a job and these guys can therefore comparing it to everyday employment is a bit shit.

Shagger would have brought us in a million I think? Naismith £2 million I think his release clause was,Davis had just signed a new contract as well.

The only loyalty I expected was them to transfer over then I would have no problem with them leaving after that,think you're missing that point a bit

I didn't expect them to play football in the third division,as someone said above it's the principle.

[Rfc#1. 1,877]

Traitors. Not content with doing the club out of transfer money they came out with that statement at their press conference. Forever scum in my eyes tbh.

[A.T.G 10,773]

Fuck Naismith

Fuck Whitaker

Fuck Ness

Fuck Davis

Fuck Lafferty

Fuck Fleck

Fuck McGregor

Dirty traitor scumbag bastards

They could have got Rangers a fee, you know, the team who watched their fans pack in at the weekend to start the long domestic road back to the top

The ones who didn't know if they would have a team after the summer

The fans who spent their last penny in trying to keep these cunts happy and get their wages paid

Traitors Then. Traitors Now. Traitors Forever

Fuck them all

My memories are tarnished coz of they greedy cunts

[loyalfollower 1,543]

Its not the players leaving that I have a problem with. Its lies and under hand tactics. They wouldve been on the look out for a new club for weeks. why didnt they just say they left for money as none never went to a bigger club and thats a fact.

[Comeoffit 152]

Neither do you but there's not many people that can afford to just walk away from a job and these guys can therefore comparing it to everyday employment is a bit shit.

Shagger would have brought us in a million I think? Naismith £2 million I think his release clause was,Davis had just signed a new contract as well.

The only loyalty I expected was them to transfer over then I would have no problem with them leaving after that,think you're missing that point a bit

I didn't expect them to play football in the third division,as someone said above it's the principle.

Im not saying im totally happy with what they did, im just saying i kinda understand it. There was a lot of uncertainty around us at the time, and green wasnt the hero we all think he is now. If you think teams would have come in and payed millions for our players, then thats your opinion. They got clubs so easily because they were freebies. Its a different kettle of fish when we are demanding fees for them.

I think when you take into account their wages that we would have to pay them before they left, we havnt lost that much money. Look at Edu now, sitting on his arse picking up 10k a week or whatever he is on for doing fuck all. Times that by 8 and it doesnt take much imagination to see what would have happened to us.

[A.T.G 10,773]

Im not saying im totally happy with what they did, im just saying i kinda understand it. There was a lot of uncertainty around us at the time, and green wasnt the hero we all think he is now. If you think teams would have come in and payed millions for our players, then thats your opinion. They got clubs so easily because they were freebies. Its a different kettle of fish when we are demanding fees for them.

I think when you take into account their wages that we would have to pay them before they left, we havnt lost that much money. Look at Edu now, sitting on his arse picking up 10k a week or whatever he is on for doing fuck all. Times that by 8 and it doesnt take much imagination to see what would have happened to us.

At least we know if Edu cant get a decent move then he'll stay

The other cunts? Nah no history with the "newco" (Whitakers words not mine)

And we will get a decent amount for Edu

[Gash07 26]

I haven't read the entire thread so if someone has already said this then apologies, but until someone can provide me with a plausible and acceptable reason why players like Mcgregor, Davis & Naismith, could not have transferred via tupe, on the proviso that release clauses of around £500,000 to 1m be inserted in their contracts, then shallow, self centred, ungrateful traitors they shall remain.

Every positive action concerning these treacherous souls has been tarnished.

[broxi74 127]

i feel sorry for them... money comes and money go's... memories are somthing special and should be cherished. they pished all over theirs

[Kitey79 241]

Best forgotten. Had the chance to get us a transfer fee but CHOSE NOT to! Black, McKay etc look good. The ones who walked will be the same ones looking for another chance with us when the going isn't so rough!!!

[Hilly86 706]

The only thing that annoys me where their comments that Rangers were no longer Rangers, that can never be forgiven.

Only because of the chaos and uncertainty at the club, I would not have blamed any of the established, higher-earning players from taking the opportunity to leave. They are in the prime of their careers (allegedly in Whittaker's case) and risked losing out on earning money that will set them up for life. I also can't find it in me to blame any player for wanting to play in England / not play in Scotland.

Players like McCabe and Ness get less sympathy. They've proved nothing in their careers, had excellent medical care and careful amounts of playing time when the latter was serially injured, and had the opportunity to stay and be potential legends. There was not the same personal downside to staying for them, but they chose to ditch us at the earliest opportunity with little shame.

Worst for me are Naismith and Whittaker. How easy it would have been to scribble some lines to the press, how they stayed as long as possible, don't want to go on under uncertainty, made sacrifices, can't play in Div 3 at this stage in their careers, etc. - fine, honest and understandable. But instead, with no minds of their own and too thick to act alone without agents and PR clowns, they stage the most self-serving press-conference. Instead of the the usual stuff about loving the club, difficult to leave, 'the fans', they chose to spew out all of that guff about the status of the club, parroting the same nonsense that the numerous enemies were using to have a go. Naismith's stupid, pained expression and whiny mumbles were meant to show off how much he agonised about having to embarrass the fans who supported him and the club who brought him back from serious injuries. This at the same time as knowing exactly how much Everton would be willing to pay him if there was no transfer fee.

2 traitors.