Do boycotts ever last?

[LoyalWilliam91 32]

I noticed a thread earlier which asked if we should still boycott the grounds of Ross County and St Mirren if we were to draw either of them in a cup.

The retort to that question from one person in particular basically said that any talk of serious boycotts died after the game at Tannadice.

The 200 or so fans who travelled to that game severely let the Club down and totally contradicted what Charles Green and Ally McCoist had urged us to do.

Even Ross Blyth, then RSA vice-chairman was in attendance. This was even after his own organisation (RSA) fully endorsed this boycott.

I do understand that these boys only wanted to give the team support, but still ultimately let the Club down.

I don't think that we should boýcott Ross County or St Mirren. Even Kilmarnock. Remember, they were the only team who used a bit of common sense last July. They have proved to be the honestbrokers in the SPL and in Scottish football nowadays, that says a lot.

I still think that we should boycott the likes of Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, etc.

Even boycotting C*ltic. But to be realistic, that would possibly never happen. Both fans make the Old Firm Derby what it is.

But is there any point in talking about these boycotts if they're never going to be followed through properly?

Thoughts please.

[gogzy 31,195]

I don't actually think that the boycott was a total wash out.

We would normally have taken roughly 5k fans to their dump for that game right? possibly more?

300-400 fans turned up, that is a MASSIVE difference in gate receipts. While we might not scare everyone with the thought of a boycott, but some teams would see 90% of the away fans that normally turn up, not turn up. This could put the shitters up some teams.

[LoyalWilliam91 32]

I'm on my mobile and I can't quote for some reason.

Aye, a few hundred fans there as opposed to a few thousand makes quite a statement.

An empty stand would've made a bigger statement though.

Plus, it made our support look divided.

[Columbo 588]

The fans that went shouldn't have come but the fact we issued a statement intending to boycott highlighted and raised the issue we were seeking to address.

There is a big difference between taking a couple of hundred and taking thousands and every time we announce the issue it gains more prominence.

The boycotts of some of these clubs should continue. They were quite entitled to vote how they wish but now they must accept the bad part of their actions alongside any supposed merits

[TMB 14,167]

The time to boycott was last season during the final Old Firm game. At that point in time Rangers were in administration and desperate for cash. Rather than give money to our Club in a time of need many fans opted instead to give their money to Celtic. How many thousands of our fans paid £44 a ticket and went to Celtic Park?

We could have sent out a message to Sky that day and showed them what life would be like without Rangers. It might have scuppered the SPL's TV deal in turn. But we didn't. Why? Because it 'might be the last time people would see an Old Firm game for a while' so they couldn't hand over their money fast enough for tickets.

If our fans are willing to give so much money to Celtic when our own Club is in administation I highly doubt they'll be stopped for reasons of 'boycotting' once normal service resumes.

[LoyalWilliam91 32]

That's actually a point that I'd never came across or thought about.

That is very true. That one, solitary game could've scuppered the TV deal that the SPL got with Sky.

Great post.

[hammer93 15,064]

I hated what happened at tannadump that day, i don't think it helped the team one bit

not to have a large following to give them a lift.

yes we want revenge but surely not to the detriment of the team and results.

WATP

[TEFTONG 60,392]

What is a BOY,COTT.!?

Is it a wee bit smaller than a bed, and a wee bit bigger than a crib.??

Is it in or on such BOY.COTTS that young boys are allowed to rest after too much communion wine,

Going home refreshed and untainted.??

Oh silly me, its a form of protest that I am still intending to exercise against ALL sphell clubs, except St Mirren and Ross County.

I get dafter everyday.

[Smile 26,622]

I think the Boycott was a success so little fans going proved the point i think.

[legalbeagle 3,734]

I don't think we need an official boycott, most of us will never want to give these clubs a single penny ever again.

[SeparateEntityMyArse 54,072]

I don't actually think that the boycott was a total wash out.

We would normally have taken roughly 5k fans to their dump for that game right? possibly more?

300-400 fans turned up, that is a MASSIVE difference in gate receipts. While we might not scare everyone with the thought of a boycott, but some teams would see 90% of the away fans that normally turn up, not turn up. This could put the shitters up some teams.

Think that in future, similar percentages of tickets will be taken up even if the club again ( unlikely as it is ) support boycott.

I for one never but food, programmes, merchandise, or anything else at the piggery, and will refuse to do so at any game I do attend against any of those who stood against us last year. That is where much of their profits stems from and I wish others would follow suit as it would hurt these clubs financially. Yes, they could put up ticket prices, but likely not enough to cover this loss of revenue.

Support the team, pay what I have to do so to get there, but give them not one penny more.

[kplfishtank 4,660]

No need for official boycott as the number of fans attending these grounds will be less than normal. I won't ste foot in any of their grounds. My choice and I wouldn't dare to tell anyone else how they should follow the team. My ticket money will go to the boozer

[cushynumber 25,178]

Geoff is 72 - not too shabby.

[Dutchy 1,200]

There's no point in organised boycotts, just do it on a game by game basis.

If a couple hundred go, so be it. They prefer to keep their 100% attendances intact and that's their choice, but any other team that wants to put the boat in to Rangers, then they can think and hopefully learn to stop expressing their hatred so publicly if they only get 2-300 fans turning up to their dumps.

[NamibianBear 1,851]

Unfortunately, regardless of what OUR club wants, you will still get people attending an official club boycott.

Those 2-300 people do make a slight difference to the gate receipts of these clubs and really should respect the club's decision.

If the club comes out and says "boycott" then that is exactly what every fan should do.

I am all in favour of continuing the boycotts against most the SPHell clubs, except maybe those two that really do have some amount of sporting integrity.

Cue GOAT asking me out for a fight for disagreeing with him about his attending the boycott.......

[californiadreamin52 339]

Just depends how strong our resolve is "a house divide can easily be defeated"

[clubdeck 41]

Just ask dundee hibernian if they thought the boycott was a failure.Specky was going off his head asking the spl & sfa to step in ,I have no doubt it was a success & further more the reaction of certain clubs yesterday have ensured its coming their way soon

WATP

[RangersFanBase 611]

We could never expect a boycott to be 100% successful. There's fans who have never missed a game and would like to keep it that way even if the boycott is encouraged by the club.

But then there's fan organised boycott's - Some people stray away from Social media sites like facebook & twitter etc, so have no idea that people are wanting to boycott certain games.

At the end of the day though - there's no way to make sure not one single Rangers fan doesn't attend a game against a team we dislike.

[trublusince1982 768]

Personally I will continue to boycott SPL teams regardless of what others do as I hate them all and don't want my hatred and their actions to become financially beneficial to them

[sassaaaa 11,406]

We are never , and never will be , united on anything , just read the forums .

Tannadice was an embarrassment.

My cash will never go to any other club , something i will stick to .

[OLE SUPER WILBERT 2,475]

There wont be another boycott, thankfully.

[stu43rigger 327]

I think another aspect to the boycott was the opening of the bars at Ibrox for the game, hopefully this continues as would love a scenario where Rangers can benefit from away games more so than the home team when we're back in the top flight

[Guardian 4,281]

I think Geoff is still going strong

Boycotts certainly do seem to last. The drastic boycott of games by SPL fans has been massively successful all season and continues no matter what. You gotta admire their determination to stay away.

As for our boycotts, they are our most effective weapon and fear of them has kept a great deal of trouble off our backs.

We needed to demonstrate we could do it and we did so. It matters not a jot if a few stragglers turned up. The home team got the message loud and clear.

It doesn't help the team in the short term but helps make sure we still have a team in the long term.

[a loyal man 4]

My boycott will but as a group it will dwindle and die. That has alwas been the problem with the Rangers support we split up into our separate little groups and our strength is diluted as a result.

[TMB 14,167]

It would be great if we could just open up Ibrox for away games. We did it against Dundee United albeit was just the Hospitality (is that right?). I think given the size of some of these away ground there's no reason why we couldn't do that for evey game. If it was popular enough we might be able to open the Main Stand and try to implament the 'beam back' idea. after all, we do have those new biger and better screens.