For the love of club

[minstral 5,375]

Must point out that many walked away in the 80s, and only came back when we started winning things. But without season ticket money, we would end up back in trouble.

[Beaujolais 1,371]

This thread has produced an excellent debate. Hope our Board of Directors actually understand the dilemma that many good Rangers fans are currently faced with. Many our Support are going to invest their hard earned wages on purchasing season tickets. Funds from which will allow the Club to offer its employees- players , management and executive directors wages that mere mortals can only dream of- so that our Club can climb back to the top of the game. I hope these guys who are happy to accept the riches that come with being employed by Rangers understand the responsibilities that come with those many rewards.

What is certain these employees need to start performing and acting in a manner that reflects the values of this great Club.

[Drunk and disorderly. 14,614]

Must point out that many walked away in the 80s, and only came back when we started winning things. But without season ticket money, we would end up back in trouble.

That's what worries me. We need the ST investment. I never want to endure the sleepless nights of last year again. Rangers will be in financial peril if we don't renew on mass. Each to their own, but I will renew without any hesitation to ensure our Club endures.

[pcbear 10,924]

D'art scribes some fantastic pieces,but todays somewhat contradicts yesterdays brilliant "the people will come" article, same as his many other classics where loyalty to our team is pretty much to the fore, we are all in this together so I found this one a bit off beam, the fans are the club and will not walk away.for many many years of following Rangers I never even knew a directors name, roll on the days when the guys doing the bizz on the park are getting 100% fan focus.

[Carsons Dog 9,878]

D'art scribes some fantastic pieces,but todays somewhat contradicts yesterdays brilliant "the people will come" article,

Excellent point

[Drunk and disorderly. 14,614]

This thread has produced an excellent debate. Hope our Board of Directors actually understand the dilemma that many good Rangers fans are currently faced with. Many our Support are going to invest their hard earned wages on purchasing season tickets. Funds from which will allow the Club to offer its employees- players , management and executive directors wages that mere mortals can only dream of- so that our Club can climb back to the top of the game. I hope these guys who are happy to accept the riches that come with being employed by Rangers understand the responsibilities that come with those many rewards. What is certain these employees need to start performing and acting in a manner that reflects the values of this great Club.

I agree. Dart has got as got us all debating and has made some very valid points. The board are below what we deserve. I don't know which of them are to blame, but leaking, deceiving and lying are not the traits of a Bear, they are the actions of a coward. The mole(s) may as well be tims for the hurt they are causing us.

[racoon 66]

i just find it strange when 1 man says this and the other says that.rangers men or women.my way of thinking is pretty simply as you probably no on our rm site,fun is the way i like to be.i hated every monkey 20 years ago tried to grow up.but why do we argue with each other?simple debate thats what normal people do.back to 20 years ago i hated the monkeys then and i still hate them now.why why why simple there not Rangers fans.all the best from robert

[baxfanalex 113]

If ever our support had a reason not to renew it must have been last season with our descent into SFL3.............that didn't happen and we witnessed our first triumph, albeit at a lowly level. Witness our near neighbours who, with little credible opposition and the prospect of European nights et al, have suffered a decline in attendances unprecedented in the SPL. Next season they will be offering a £100 " discount " for the uptake of their season books in the desperate hope that they can emulate the numbers we manage.

I agree that the boardroom antics at Ibrox are a disgrace and an effrontery to the Club's support. I also see that D'Art has chosen this topic to offer us a pause for thought.

Whilst the Machievelian carry-on continues the fans suffer, again, so let's remind those at the " stairheid " where the power of Rangers lies.

A brief pause in the rush to renew might just send a warning shot across the bows and get the ship steadied for the next voyage into SFL2.

With power comes accountability !

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

D'art scribes some fantastic pieces,but todays somewhat contradicts yesterdays brilliant "the people will come" article, same as his many other classics where loyalty to our team is pretty much to the fore, we are all in this together so I found this one a bit off beam, the fans are the club and will not walk away.for many many years of following Rangers I never even knew a directors name, roll on the days when the guys doing the bizz on the park are getting 100% fan focus.

Allow me to explain then PC...

"People will come" is based on the fans who turned up against all the odds, all the scheming all the lies and failings of authorities being exerted on our club from outside influences.

Love of a club deals with negative influences emanating from within the club itself. Furthermore there has been no suggestion of "walking away" merely being less than punctual when it comes to renewing ST's to make a point.

But before I continue allow me to clarify something which some appear to have missed. In my original post I have not advocated a delay on season ticket renewals - I have said I understand, even empathise with those who are going down this route and will not be critical of them.

But I want to address something with you irrespective of ST's

You stated "I never even knew a directors name, roll on the days when the guys doing the bizz on the park are getting 100% fan focus." - I honestly think that should be be a thing of the past.Might I respectfully suggest that it was this kind of attitude which allowed SDM to run our club so recklessly and for the shyster that was Whyte to inflict so much carnage and damage.

We are in a situation now where there appears to be a fight for the heart and soul of our club and no-one in this thread has really addressed what that issue is at all. Furthermore our former chairman, who was correct with his warnings re Whyte, has again issued a warning that there is cancer spreading through our club. I would be less than truthful if I said I wasn't concerned. It's particularly compounded by the false messages coming out of Ibrox - and one is left wondering how long this split/battle has been waged for and what is it either party is trying to attain in respect of our club.

This has been an excellent debate with salient and valid points from both sides, and also those whose opinion falls somewhere in between the two.

Furthermore as some have pointed out - delaying season ticket renewals is the "nuclear" option , and yet , there have been very few alternatives offered - perhaps that in itself is indicative of the need for better communication mechanisms between club and support.

[gmcf 34,516]

Must point out that many walked away in the 80s, and only came back when we started winning things. But without season ticket money, we would end up back in trouble.

Yeah. Unfortunately its a case of timing. And to do that just now , I think , would be disastrous. We need to build ourselves right now. I can see where D'Art is coming from because the customer is God but just feel we would struggle without ST money right now.

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

Yeah. Unfortunately its a case of timing. And to do that just now , I think , would be disastrous. We need to build ourselves right now. I can see where D'Art is coming from because the customer is God but just feel we would struggle without ST money right now.

gmcf

That is a theme which has been recurring throughout this thread - that of money and the dire consequences for our club should there be a delay on season ticket renewals.

This is not addressed at you specifically, but did our former bombastic CEO not repeatedly boast that the club was now debt free ?

And did we not sell over 38,000 season tickets and furthermore almost fill Ibrox every other Saturday much to the dismay of the failing SPL ?

Did our share flotation not raise upwards of £20 million which again was shouted from the rooftops.?

And yet a delay in season ticket renewals might lead to a financial abyss ?

I'm not the greatest accountant in the world but something does not add up here.

[gmcf 34,516]

Allow me to explain then PC...

"People will come" is based on the fans who turned up against all the odds, all the scheming all the lies and failings of authorities being exerted on our club from outside influences.

Love of a club deals with negative influences emanating from within the club itself. Furthermore there has been no suggestion of "walking away" merely being less than punctual when it comes to renewing ST's to make a point.

But before I continue allow me to clarify something which some appear to have missed. In my original post I have not advocated a delay on season ticket renewals - I have said I understand, even empathise with those who are going down this route and will not be critical of them.

But I want to address something with you irrespective of ST's

You stated "I never even knew a directors name, roll on the days when the guys doing the bizz on the park are getting 100% fan focus." - I honestly think that should be be a thing of the past.Might I respectfully suggest that it was this kind of attitude which allowed SDM to run our club so recklessly and for the shyster that was Whyte to inflict so much carnage and damage.

We are in a situation now where there appears to be a fight for the heart and soul of our club and no-one in this thread has really addressed what that issue is at all. Furthermore our former chairman, who was correct with his warnings re Whyte, has again issued a warning that there is cancer spreading through our club. I would be less than truthful if I said I wasn't concerned. It's particularly compounded by the false messages coming out of Ibrox - and one is left wondering how long this split/battle has been waged for and what is it either party is trying to attain in respect of our club.

This has been an excellent debate with salient and valid points from both sides, and also those whose opinion falls somewhere in between the two.

Furthermore as some have pointed out - delaying season ticket renewals is the "nuclear" option , and yet , there have been very few alternatives offered - perhaps that in itself is indicative of the need for better communication mechanisms between club and support.

Sorry D'Art replied to M before I saw your post. Just think that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I think with the performances this season we might already struggle to get enough ST money to do what we want without bringing the boardroom chaos into it. Personally, I am more worried with what's happening on the park. I maybe being naive here but I think this boardroom chaos will soon clear up. Agreed its not what we want our enemies to be laughing at right now but I think once this power struggle is over, we will move forward. I wish everyone in the boardroom would put Rangers first and work together but with so many powerful figures that seems unlikely. Whoever wins its in their best interests that Rangers are successful.We require balance. Money men who know how to make us profitable and football men to look after the football interests.

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

Sorry D'Art replied to M before I saw your post. Just think that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I think with the performances this season we might already struggle to get enough ST money to do what we want without bringing the boardroom chaos into it. Personally, I am more worried with what's happening on the park. I maybe being naive here but I think this boardroom chaos will soon clear up. Agreed its not what we want our enemies to be laughing at right now but I think once this power struggle is over, we will move forward. I wish everyone in the boardroom would put Rangers first and work together but with so many powerful figures that seems unlikely. Whoever wins its in their best interests that Rangers are successful.We require balance. Money men who know how to make us profitable and football men to look after the football interests.

From the discussions I have had bud you are certainly right about the impoverished product on the park being a factor in some not renewing and I have spoken to quite a few who feel that way.

On the boardroom front - i wish I had your confidence that everything will turn out for the best..

[simplythebest 11,453]

gmcf

That is a theme which has been recurring throughout this thread - that of money and the dire consequences for our club should there be a delay on season ticket renewals.

This is not addressed at you specifically, but did our former bombastic CEO not repeatedly boast that the club was now debt free ?

And did we not sell over 38,000 season tickets and furthermore almost fill Ibrox every other Saturday much to the dismay of the failing SPL ?

Did our share flotation not raise upwards of £20 million which again was shouted from the rooftops.?

And yet a delay in season ticket renewals might lead to a financial abyss ?

I'm not the greatest accountant in the world but something does not add up here.

How long is such a delay D'Art? It doesn't seem that well thought out to me, how long do we hold the money to ransom for and what exactly would be the criteria for ending the delay?

Season ticket money is the club's main source of working capital and has been for some time, without that there is a very serious risk to our future. Yes we might have enough cash left over from other ventures to mean we wouldn't die immediately, but you'd be looking at brutal cuts and pretty much delaying the inevitable.

I can see the points you make but I think it's just far too dangerous a game.

[gmcf 34,516]

gmcf

That is a theme which has been recurring throughout this thread - that of money and the dire consequences for our club should there be a delay on season ticket renewals.

This is not addressed at you specifically, but did our former bombastic CEO not repeatedly boast that the club was now debt free ?

And did we not sell over 38,000 season tickets and furthermore almost fill Ibrox every other Saturday much to the dismay of the failing SPL ?

Did our share flotation not raise upwards of £20 million which again was shouted from the rooftops.?

And yet a delay in season ticket renewals might lead to a financial abyss ?

I'm not the greatest accountant in the world but something does not add up here.

Were out of sync ! I still am a CG supporter. I don't know how authentic that blueprint for the future was but it was one I share. I still hope hell be back cos haven't seen anything insurmountable as to why he left. Now I know the like of The Rangers Standard have suddenly got it in for him but they've never said why. To me, I think he's putting his men in position to come back and I'm glad. Since he's left I've heard nothin from this board regarding money SFA owe us, prize money from SPL, what happened to the bill regarding the ludicrous SPL investigation. Are we just quietly going to pay that ? That's just off the top of my head. It sounds like were just going back to the dignified silence days of yesteryear. At least CG went round fans groups and got a feeling of what we were thinking.

[Long Shadow 18]

Great thread and some good comment on both points of view, On a personal level I'll be renewing my tickets as normal as I would feel if I don't I would be letting the club down even more than I would have by not buying mt ST last year. Feel our support is even more crucial this year

[1st_Jan_1994 4,868]

I'm not renewing this season

It's not the money aspect or work or boardroom struggles its McCoist, his signings, his brand of football, his wanting to be our enemies mates and everything else

For about 8 years now I've took a season book for the season off my RSC - they've had this seat for 25 years and won't ever give it up. They are renewing it next year anyway regardless so the club won't lose out any additional money from me not renewing - maybe sounds like I'm trying to rationale and justify it but its the truth

I've not enjoyed going to Ibrox for years now and McCoist and his chums are the icing on the cake for me

Ill still go to all the aways as I actually enjoy them.

I will take the season book back when either McCoist is gone or he changes the direction he's taking us in

Call me a bad fan if you want. I'm not.

There's only so much I can endure.

Handwringers and the nancy brigade and jobsworth stewards at Ibrox only make my decision easier too in the interest of balance and not lumping it all on McCoist

I'd have done things different if my RSC was giving the seat up but could still see me picking and choosing what Ibrox games to go to even doing that

We need this cleanse McCoist was talking about but unfortunently for its not just at boardroom level

I hear more and more people say to guys like me that people who think and want to support the team the way I want to dont belong at Ibrox anymore, Rangers don't want our kind, no place for people that don't want Jon Daly to sign etc etc

Well, your getting your wish - slowly but surely the heart of the club is dying away and the new agers, happy clappers and handwringers will have Ibrox to themselfs after a decade or so - IMO

Que the abuse ....

[Carsons Dog 9,878]

Gibbons take on it......

Sorely-tried Rangers fans in the past couple of years will surely have formed an understanding of the anguish with which the American writer, Dorothy Parker, would react to the chiming of the doorbell or the shrill of the telephone in her New York hotel room: “What fresh hell is this?”.

For the famously acerbic Parker, the pain was merely the easily-remedied consequence of her own slovenliness in the business of meeting the deadlines imposed on her lucrative magazine commissions.

For followers of the Ibrox club, the distress derives from the immeasurably more complicated, questionable motives and actions of others, a series of would-be controllers who are quickly becoming too numerous to count – or even to know.

It will have surprised no-one, not even among those at the heart of the tumult, that the latest eruption of boardroom in-fighting should have prompted a warning from Andy Kerr, president of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, on the danger of alienating the members of his and similar organisations, thereby risking potentially serious damage from a dramatic fall in the sale of season tickets.

Even less of a shock would be registered by the readiness with which the recently-installed chief executive, Craig Mather, rushed into print to assure the club’s regularly alarmed fans that he is to be trusted to work exclusively for the good of the club and that renewing their subscriptions would be a sound move. This plea was a direct follow-up to the announcement that the cost of retaining their books would remain unchanged from last season.

It is not difficult, therefore, to imagine the grimness with which Mather would receive the news that the club’s former chairman, Alastair Johnston, had made public his view that “there is a cancer spreading through the club and it’s not going away”.

But, whatever picture may be formed when the various strands of the Rangers tapestry are eventually pulled together – these comprise mainly investigations and projected court proceedings of entirely uncertain outcomes – even a superficial review of the Ibrox situation at present confirms that the allegiance of the fans and the income it generates are utterly indispensable.

Anyone who recalls the great resurgence of Rangers in 1986, when the Lawrence construction company assumed control and appointed Graeme Souness as manager and David Holmes as chairman, will recognise the present circumstance as a betrayal of the ideals that were incorporated and began to be pursued 27 years ago.

The vibrancy and ambition of the club in those exciting days were articulated by its irrepressible commercial director, the late Freddie Fletcher. He caused rampant scepticism among the less enlightened guardians of the Scottish game (especially the Dickensian mindset of those at Celtic Park) by declaring that Rangers’ objective was to create an enterprise in which “gate money will represent a maximum of only thirty per cent of our revenue.”

A certain dismissiveness among the established order may have been understandable, since gate receipts had provided around 99 per cent of the clubs’ income for almost a century of the professional game and nobody knew anything else. Holmes and Fletcher created the model which Fergus McCann would replicate at Celtic eight years later, taking a potentially huge club that had been rendered virtually dormant and revitalising it with marketing skills and the promise of better times that were founded on sound business practices.

McCann’s legacy would be honoured, while Rangers would pass to the David Murray regime, which appeared for almost two decades to have a pronounced predilection for bravado and financial extravagance at the expense of even reasonable – that is, not necessarily even parsimonious – housekeeping.

Fletcher’s ideal nowadays seems further out of reach in Scotland than it was back in 1986, while the top clubs in England achieved the desired ratio a long time ago. Manchester United’s income from season ticket sales of 52,000, for example, represents only about 12 per cent of their annual turnover of around £350 million.

Rangers, of course, are not alone in their reliance on a large and active fan base. Ironically, however, they have been enjoying substantial attendances in the Third Division, their followers doubtless driven by the kind of rally-round-the-flag mentality that tends to manifest itself in times of adversity.

But it is their very status, with its built-in obligation to charge reduced, lower-division admissions, that necessitates their followers’ attendance in great numbers. The SPL clubs are also in need of a telling resurgence in crowds; the decline, however, is not attributable merely to Rangers’ expulsion, as the waning was evident some time before their present predicament.

Match attendances had been, in any case, impossibly artificial, a result of the aforementioned entrepreneurial skills of McCann and the natural rivalry between the big Glasgow clubs. No city with a population of around 600,000 is entitled to produce aggregate crowds for two football clubs of 110,000, with waiting lists for season tickets. Those heady days have been receding for at least the past four years, with, for instance, Celtic’s season ticket sales down from a high of 53,000 to about 43,000.

It was the success of those earlier campaigns which created the season-ticket culture which led to a reluctance among supporters to spend any more on football. The result has been mass kicking of the habit of attending away games.

Any pursuit that demands effort, commitment and financial outlay will always be vulnerable to competing distractions. Spending a lot of time travelling appreciable distances at considerable expense to watch mediocre football will be a prime target. All things considered (but, specifically, the number of years the playing standards have been putrid), the dwindling has been long overdue.

[1st_Jan_1994 4,868]

Too many big words there and long winded

Is he a blogger by any chance?

[nachothelegend 1,932]

The Rangers Fans have nothing to prove to anyone.

The Board however have it all to prove and better start pretty soon.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

You say board but I would say shareholders - and there is a definate power struggle for control - but below the hysteria ( my word de jour) induced by headlines, fan led rumour turning to belief that said rumour are facts one has to see the club is still moving on. Ally and Mather are working together to pull a squad together for next year, season ticket prices have already been fixed , plans for Edmiston house are moving steadily along.

the power struggle is not inhibiting the CURRENT operational needs of the club.

The EGM will sort out the board room battle - institutional investors are not (mainly) stupid and they know this needs fixed and the EGM will create a clear mandate for whoever wins that struggle. The board can then, based on said mandate, work on the long term strategy of the club.

However what I don't think aids anyone is a call for a Season ticket boycott? what is the purpose ? to throw our dummie out of the pram cause shareholders are having a spat? do we know which side we want to back and what are we trying to achieve by withholding our ticket money?

The answer based on the OP is NO! A call to withhold our cash with no idea of what we want to achieve is not something I think we should condone. The team is being rebuilt - we all want that - I will not hold back my part of the rebuilding so I will renew - that is all I can do ( plus vote my shares at the EGM ) and that is what I think all of us should do!

[Carsons Dog 9,878]

You say board but I would say shareholders - and there is a definate power struggle for control - but below the hysteria ( my word de jour) induced by headlines, fan led rumour turning to belief that said rumour are facts one has to see the club is still moving on. Ally and Mather are working together to pull a squad together for next year, season ticket prices have already been fixed , plans for Edmiston house are moving steadily along.

the power struggle is not inhibiting the CURRENT operational needs of the club.

The EGM will sort out the board room battle - institutional investors are not (mainly) stupid and they know this needs fixed and the EGM will create a clear mandate for whoever wins that struggle. The board can then, based on said mandate, work on the long term strategy of the club.

However what I don't think aids anyone is a call for a Season ticket boycott? what is the purpose ? to throw our dummie out of the pram cause shareholders are having a spat? do we know which side we want to back and what are we trying to achieve by withholding our ticket money?

The answer based on the OP is NO! A call to withhold our cash with no idea of what we want to achieve is not something I think we should condone. The team is being rebuilt - we all want that - I will not hold back my part of the rebuilding so I will renew - that is all I can do ( plus vote my shares at the EGM ) and that is what I think all of us should do!

Good stuff

Ya handwringing bastert ye

[AlCapone 7,678]

The brown brogues had one plan only dart, green out just prior to ST renewal time making it difficult to oust the board via an egm , financuial suicide if green calls an egm. The devious non financing brown brogues knew this and picked their moment. I say fcuk the brown brogues, especially fcuk malcolm murray, fcuk mini murray, fcuk the so called rangers men and fcuk any legends who allign themselves to this shower. I will be renewing for rangers, not these self serving so called rangers men pricks

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

Gibbons take on it......

Sorely-tried Rangers fans in the past couple of years will surely have formed an understanding of the anguish with which the American writer, Dorothy Parker, would react to the chiming of the doorbell or the shrill of the telephone in her New York hotel room: "What fresh hell is this?".

For the famously acerbic Parker, the pain was merely the easily-remedied consequence of her own slovenliness in the business of meeting the deadlines imposed on her lucrative magazine commissions.

For followers of the Ibrox club, the distress derives from the immeasurably more complicated, questionable motives and actions of others, a series of would-be controllers who are quickly becoming too numerous to count – or even to know.

It will have surprised no-one, not even among those at the heart of the tumult, that the latest eruption of boardroom in-fighting should have prompted a warning from Andy Kerr, president of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, on the danger of alienating the members of his and similar organisations, thereby risking potentially serious damage from a dramatic fall in the sale of season tickets.

Even less of a shock would be registered by the readiness with which the recently-installed chief executive, Craig Mather, rushed into print to assure the club's regularly alarmed fans that he is to be trusted to work exclusively for the good of the club and that renewing their subscriptions would be a sound move. This plea was a direct follow-up to the announcement that the cost of retaining their books would remain unchanged from last season.

It is not difficult, therefore, to imagine the grimness with which Mather would receive the news that the club's former chairman, Alastair Johnston, had made public his view that "there is a cancer spreading through the club and it's not going away".

But, whatever picture may be formed when the various strands of the Rangers tapestry are eventually pulled together – these comprise mainly investigations and projected court proceedings of entirely uncertain outcomes – even a superficial review of the Ibrox situation at present confirms that the allegiance of the fans and the income it generates are utterly indispensable.

Anyone who recalls the great resurgence of Rangers in 1986, when the Lawrence construction company assumed control and appointed Graeme Souness as manager and David Holmes as chairman, will recognise the present circumstance as a betrayal of the ideals that were incorporated and began to be pursued 27 years ago.

The vibrancy and ambition of the club in those exciting days were articulated by its irrepressible commercial director, the late Freddie Fletcher. He caused rampant scepticism among the less enlightened guardians of the Scottish game (especially the Dickensian mindset of those at Celtic Park) by declaring that Rangers' objective was to create an enterprise in which "gate money will represent a maximum of only thirty per cent of our revenue."

A certain dismissiveness among the established order may have been understandable, since gate receipts had provided around 99 per cent of the clubs' income for almost a century of the professional game and nobody knew anything else. Holmes and Fletcher created the model which Fergus McCann would replicate at Celtic eight years later, taking a potentially huge club that had been rendered virtually dormant and revitalising it with marketing skills and the promise of better times that were founded on sound business practices.

McCann's legacy would be honoured, while Rangers would pass to the David Murray regime, which appeared for almost two decades to have a pronounced predilection for bravado and financial extravagance at the expense of even reasonable – that is, not necessarily even parsimonious – housekeeping.

Fletcher's ideal nowadays seems further out of reach in Scotland than it was back in 1986, while the top clubs in England achieved the desired ratio a long time ago. Manchester United's income from season ticket sales of 52,000, for example, represents only about 12 per cent of their annual turnover of around £350 million.

Rangers, of course, are not alone in their reliance on a large and active fan base. Ironically, however, they have been enjoying substantial attendances in the Third Division, their followers doubtless driven by the kind of rally-round-the-flag mentality that tends to manifest itself in times of adversity.

But it is their very status, with its built-in obligation to charge reduced, lower-division admissions, that necessitates their followers' attendance in great numbers. The SPL clubs are also in need of a telling resurgence in crowds; the decline, however, is not attributable merely to Rangers' expulsion, as the waning was evident some time before their present predicament.

Match attendances had been, in any case, impossibly artificial, a result of the aforementioned entrepreneurial skills of McCann and the natural rivalry between the big Glasgow clubs. No city with a population of around 600,000 is entitled to produce aggregate crowds for two football clubs of 110,000, with waiting lists for season tickets. Those heady days have been receding for at least the past four years, with, for instance, Celtic's season ticket sales down from a high of 53,000 to about 43,000.

It was the success of those earlier campaigns which created the season-ticket culture which led to a reluctance among supporters to spend any more on football. The result has been mass kicking of the habit of attending away games.

Any pursuit that demands effort, commitment and financial outlay will always be vulnerable to competing distractions. Spending a lot of time travelling appreciable distances at considerable expense to watch mediocre football will be a prime target. All things considered (but, specifically, the number of years the playing standards have been putrid), the dwindling has been long overdue.

That quote from Kerr Swally - which is significantly edited on the official Rangers website I may add - is what I was referring to when I said such a groundswell of opinion went beyond this forum.

[Carsons Dog 9,878]

That quote from Kerr Swally - which is significantly edited on the official Rangers website I may add - is what I was referring to when I said such a groundswell of opinion went beyond this forum.

Like I mentioned earlier I think that kind of talk from people in positions of 'influence' is irresponsible.

Fury took the same line last year right up until the last minute.

I've actually got a bit more sympathy (but not a lot) for the position 1st Jan takes over the standard of 'entertainment' and the performance of our manager than someone who would not renew over boardroom disputes.

I've watched some absolute shite in Rangers jerseys over the years and we've had some real tossers in the boardroom.

Neither discouraged me from supporting the club (of which the ultimate 'support' is front loading your ticket money) before and neither will discourage me in the future.

For my grandkids sake if nothing else.

All these people in the boardroom will be gone long before I gasp my last breath - we, the fans are the only constant in this club.

Not renewing or even delaying the renewal is not an option for me as a fan and as a shareholder.