Updated Membership Group Proposal

[Copland bear 7,966]

Rst will be a minority voice in the bloody background hopefully.

[JMorrison1872 320]

JMorrision, Could you set something up on here, just to see who would join on here. If so are you season ticket holder or non season ticket holder? Child ticket holder or child without? children must be 15 and under, also if people will not join and ask if they are season ticket holder and non holders? Also ask would they be prepared to make a charitable donation to get it started?

Would do myself but but to be honest would not have a clue how to do it on the ipad. But this could work. On a lighter note, Could we not call it For The People? Orange uniforms? could you imagine the media going into a meltdown?

Yes will do a poll thread later today, I'm on my iphone just now.

[Copland bear 7,966]

JMorrision 1872 Cheers m8

[JMorrison1872 320]

Added a quick thread just there Copland.

It now has the course of a full day.

[trublusince1982 768]

before you ask people if they want to join you need to be able to tell them what they are joining and what we hope to achieve.

personally i think an offical fans member scheme that is open to all with all revenues other than running costs being invested in the club via a members vote on what areas it should be spent on . Membership should come with voting rights. Members should be able to also effect a vote on the board make up on a bi annual basis, and also on new revenue streams the club is thinking of exploring. The club should be encouraged to come to the members to discuss funding or fan participation in any new areas the club is entering. The membership should also have access to the clubs infrastructure to help spread the word and ensure full participation by fans.While the membership exsists no other fan group of any description can talk for the rangers support they can only talk for their own members who cannot be called the rangers support. The membership should be available worldwide. The membership should be for the sole benefit of the club and to talk for the fans with one clear voice determined by democratic vote with all members on an equal footing.

[iang2911 423]

A few bits of info and some points.

I have been doing the rounds for quite some time now on something like this and discussing with a whole range of fans groups etc. I won't disclose details on here on individuals but there is a consensus that something needs to happen.

One of the things that needs to be understood however is that we are in a new world as far as Rangers goes, no longer do we have a single cash rich owner, and that will not change for a while, if at all. Because of this the fans need to re-evaluate their relationship with the club now more than ever and understand and accept the separation between the Club and the Company that owns the Club and how they, the fans, fit in to that picture. The board of Directors of the Company have a duty to see through the business plan agreed and invested in by the shareholders, thats just the way it is, and it is the basis of the fight we are seeing so publicly played out. As far as I can see one side, the incumbents, want to get the club back to the top asap, this is high risk financially but can work if further investment can be guaranteed, the other side as far as I know (I am making assumptions based on the some details put out last year as they have never said anything) were looking at taking 10 years to rebuild the club before getting back. Both scenarios will impact the Club in different ways but neither scenario takes in to consideration the fans opinions. This is also why I believe that the current "high profile" Fans groups are no longer fit for purpose, they are trying to operate as if nothing has changed and are fighting to show their relevance or that they can somehow get back to how things were, no one is looking to the future.

I firmly believe now that a new organisation needs to be created that can bring EVERY fan, wherever they are, together. It needs to be representative, well organised, have clear focus and open to scrutiny. It needs to be set up to support the fans and the club, to engage with the company on how the business plan they have will affect both the Club and the Fans going forward.

There are several already existing models used around the world that we can adopt to achieve this, I have mentioned elsewhere the support that Fans co-operatives are getting and I will be discussing this later today with Supporters DIrect - I know they are helping the RST but I would rather hear it direct from them that they can or cannot support this.

Most of the suggestions already made on this thread are good ones that can be incorporated in to the setup, although I would change a few things around a little....

Ask the Club for contact details of all supporters clubs

Negotiate reseller deals with the retails partners rather than the club to ensure no impact on the Clubs revenue.

Charge a monthly fee via Direct Debit, paypal on this scale is unwieldy and expensive.

Funds to be deposited in a managed trust account.

Share acquisition short term to gain a board seat.

Office bearers elected but have max 2 year seat

If a board seat is gained then a professional experienced director is employed for that role

Legal representation is acquired and used to defend any issues that affects the fans or the reputation of the club, individual fans should be able to use this service - not free.

Membership should be via a verification process, season ticket holder or via a community trust ring, I have done this before world wide and it does work

Membership benefits and offers

I already own www.rangersfirst.org, a name inspired by D'Art and one that symbolises what this organisation should be set up to do.

Plenty more to discuss, I tried to have this sorted out prior to the AGM but too many delays when it came to dealing with certain groups and what is happening now was very much predicted, not saying I have everything right but there is already a lot in this thread and all that is needed now is the energy to get it done.

[iang2911 423]

Here are links to Barca's statutes http://www.uk.coop/sites/storage/public/downloads/barca_statutes.pdf and an article about fan ownership from the co-op http://www.uk.coop/sites/storage/public/downloads/insight3_bara_0.pdf. Long term goals I know but it needs that first step.

[trublusince1982 768]

to add to iang2911 post maybe a link up with the clubs new business scheme would be good, where members are actively encouraged to use businesses who have joined with the club with discounts or priority for members. would help boost both schemes for the club and pretty sure the companies who have already signed up would be happy to have their fellow fans using their services.

Out of context but f**k it...

one of the first areas i would like to see us fund would be the purchasing of hospitality in the name of the membership, with tickets giving out for each home game by random to members. This would bring many benifits.

*help the club in an area we are struggling in. Hospitality.

*give fans access to areas they maybe have never seen or been able to financially afford.

*promote fan unity(spending the day with fans you have never met while enjoying a mutual love. Rangers)

*would allow a club representitive to meet and talk with individual members on a personal basis.

*keeps the group in constant contact with members

what you think? would this be the sort of things the group would be interested in?

[iang2911 423]

to add to iang2911 post maybe a link up with the clubs new business scheme would be good, where members are actively encouraged to use businesses who have joined with the club with discounts or priority for members. would help boost both schemes for the club and pretty sure the companies who have already signed up would be happy to have their fellow fans using their services.

Out of context but f**k it...

one of the first areas i would like to see us fund would be the purchasing of hospitality in the name of the membership, with tickets giving out for each home game by random to members. This would bring many benifits.

*help the club in an area we are struggling in. Hospitality.

*give fans access to areas they maybe have never seen or been able to financially afford.

*promote fan unity(spending the day with fans you have never met while enjoying a mutual love. Rangers)

*would allow a club representitive to meet and talk with individual members on a personal basis.

*keeps the group in constant contact with members

what you think? would this be the sort of things the group would be interested in?

I am already in talks with the business tie up people for my own business but that is a great idea. As is the hospitality, all comes under member benefits.

[iang2911 423]

Before going any further it may be good to have a roundhouse of all those interested to get a consensus of opinion.

[trublusince1982 768]

Before going any further it may be good to have a roundhouse of all those interested to get a consensus of opinion.

if someone can stick all the aims etc down should be easy enough to get a poll going on here and can then be posted on other sites

[iang2911 423]

if someone can stick all the aims etc down should be easy enough to get a poll going on here and can then be posted on other sites

Better to sort it out first before posting a poll etc. get a bit of organisation behind it.

[trublusince1982 768]

Better to sort it out first before posting a poll etc. get a bit of organisation behind it.

on the other thread Jmorrison has started putting it all in writing. need to get something organised or nominated people to start collating all the ideas and putting them down so a consensus can be taken. First thing would be volunteers and jobs assigned.

on another note would like to put forward the name..

TNF.

Then Now and forever .

[JMorrison1872 320]

Bump

[JMorrison1872 320]

Another idea is this group would be more supportive of fans who are wrongly accused by police, FoCus or anyone else.

The group would support the said fan through the legal process and when in a financial position, putting funds towards legal help if necessary.

We the fans are this club and groups heartbeat, this must be protected!!

[NamibianBear 1,851]

Well we will be lucky to get 15,000 season ticket holders to join if it is rolled out to everyone to start with. It will be a lost opportunity, I will repeat this time and again that it needs to be rolled out to season ticket holders first, We also need a donation to get it started as these things cost money? We will need at least 1 maybe 2 staff working on it? There are gonna be overheads, you just can't say, that we have a brilliant idea? Even brilliant ideas fail if not run correctly and properly funded. There is more to this than just starting a supporters trust. I know all fans want to be in it from the off set, that's fine, but say every season ticket holder joins and say another 15,000 fans on t of that, the computer system will go into meltdown. I say we need to learn to walk before we learn to run. We need account knowledge, company law knowledge, Things like do we have the ticket office in charge of our staff? As they do not work for Rangers? What sort of wage will they be on? No more than 22k, Would need to pay Rangers Expenses, ie, use of the office, our share of bills, ie if 40 staff are in ticket office and we have 2, then we pay 2% of all overheads, then their is desks, computers, tables, etc etc. It all adds up, the Fighting fund should cover these funds, but that will be another battle, as other groups will want this to fail of their own agendas, I studied accounts three years and have a certain knowledge! but the truth being told will the fighting fund release any monies? Goodluck with that one.

Sorry mate but you cannot force people to join a fans membership group. It has to be them that wants to join!

Computer system into meltdown? Hardly likely unless you use a 286 or something. I can write a database to do it for well over a million members on my laptop, never mind a top end server. I think you are looking too small and are set on fixing it to force people in. I agree that not everyone will join bu why get their backs up forcing them into something they don't want?

Play devils advocate here: What say a member, who is a season ticket holder, of a (current) well known supporters group doesn't want to join because they are already in another fan group? Now you want to force him/her into that? No, it needs to be voluntary. I think you would be surprised how many would join if it was twenty pounds a year or so (less for ST obviously).

[NamibianBear 1,851]

Also get a PayPal account set up ASAP with an account system in place, get it advertised at Ibrox, over tannoy, round pitch on screens, ask for donations to get it up and running, we have 7 months till may to get a business plan in place and find out what the actual cost it would be to get off the ground. We need a lawyer to deal with contracts for staff also we need a fully qualified accountant to deal with books. I would suggest asking for applications too apply, we could keep the other applications on file for the future. But they need to be Rangers fans to deal with anything. If that was hard then we need to do the impossible and get groups like the rest round the table. Each group can put a member forward for the elections, For chairman, vice chairman and on the board, anyone outwith these groups can run as an independent candidate but to stop all applying to run in the elections each member has to pay 100 to run for election. Only a few suggestions.

BACS systems are far cheaper than Paypal with regards costs etc....

[iang2911 423]

GUYS!!!

Can we keep to one thread? Confusing having multiple threads going.

Technology to support the process is not an issue, I can provide what's needed. As well as payment processing, ID verification and whatever else is needed.

£2 per month Direct debit won't be missed by many. Equates to £24 per year minus fees, good negotiation will get fees down considerably.