The Journey !

[Carsons Dog 9,878]

Nope, all fans.

At the start of this journey we hosted journalists from every corner of the globe lauding the fans who turned out week in week out, purchased ST's and packed every little ground we travelled to.

Wind the clock forward two years and our stadium is a hollow shell of its former self with so called fans, ex players and failed directors actively advocating boycotts.

I'm just glad none of those reporters returned as their articles would have been far from complimentary.

In 20 years time when this period in our history is reviewed we must never let the boycotters revise what went on.

They deserted the club and enabled Ashley to tighten his grip on us, a grip the boycotters heroes seem unable to afford to loosen.

The deserters should get no credit but only scorn and ridicule for abandoning the club in its hour of need.

The 23k loyal ST renewers are the true heart of this club.

[BigJig 76]

"The Journey" was a chance to rebuild the club, get a team on the park playing a style of football that would develop throughout the seasons. Put the youngsters in and let them develop. I don't think anyone would have minded losing a few games along the way as long as we got promoted and the fans could see that there was the makings of a good footballing team there. At least when we made it back to the top league we would have had an established squad and a good style of football.

Three years on and in actual fact I think we are worse!!

[writingranger 1,427]

To be honest it has brought back the love of football for me.

I had overlooked all the other divisions for as long as can remember.

Some of the lads in the "Diddy" teams I used to call them showed above average skill. I gor me to thinking of how some had probably never gotten the opportunities our guys seem to take for granted.

Excellent point

[insider 123]

Are we there yet?

[GOAT 30,449]

Third division season was the best season I've ever had following Rangers. It seems we were up at 6 in the morning every other weekend for brilliant away trips and pished by 7. The amount of games times you went to Elgin and just fucked off to the pub after 5 minutes or never even went was unreal. Plus some of the stories from that season were hilarious on our bus. Was just a great season trips wise. It's been fucking terrible since.

[RFCstuart 317]

Mixed. Some of the away trips have been amazing, and as said above getting up at daft times in the morning to go to Elgin or Forress or wherever was some experience

Obviously the football has been soul destroying along the way, and there have been a lot more negatives than positives. So many missed oppurtunities.

[IbroxBurnzy 484]

Biggest highlight for me was taking my son to his first Rangers game and there has been other highlights with some decent performances chucked in.

unfortunately our ability to be completely inconsistent meant the embarrassments far outweigh the good times.

Some of the teams that beat us I never in my wildest dreams thought could/would happen even with a shit Rangers team

[Fiogh 178]

That first home game in the cup vs East Fife, with Sandy's speech was undoubtedly the highlight - the sense of togetherness and optimism was incredible.

Pretty much everything after that has been either mediocre or downright dreadful.

[Ozblue 4,332]

From an Australian point of view, about the only highlight was my wife finally got to see us play at Ibrox on Forces day when we humped Stenhousemuir 8-0. The other side of the coin was having to stay awake all night watching games against teams we should have been putting to the sword make an absolute fool of us; that was embarrassing and soul destroying especially when we had young guys who would have ran through a brick wall to prove their worth not getting a run,or a spot on the bench when players on big money just appeared to go through the motions.

There's nothing to say these kids would have improved our fortunes, but as the old Northern Territory tourist promotion says..."You'll never ever know if you never ever go"

We have wasted 3 years to end up with no decent players, no scouting programme, no direction in our long term football ethos and no sign of improvement from our "custodians"

[MuirhouseBear 291]

Only missed about 3 away games and a handful of home games over the last 3 years. Met some great folk and had some of the best days of my life.

Third division was definitely the best, the turgid football was horrible to watch but the away trips to places like Peterhead, Elgin, Berwick, Annan definitely made it a season that I'll remember forever.

The sheer relief that day in Brechin for the first game not even 24 hours after getting our license to play was unbelievable. Had tears in my eyes when the players came out because I genuinely thought that summer that id never see a Rangers team run out a tunnel again. And then it all went downhill from there....

[NeoGeo7 10,667]

I can't help but feel cheated. Those in charge have managed to blow a chance to reinvent the football we play and are synonymous with, instead we've had 2 and a half seasons of long ball with overpaid and undermotivated players followed by some slightly better football with the same bunch of players.

We've seen 1 player come through the ranks and then get sold for buttons and we've seen another youngster jump ship and do relatively well in the SPL.

At the end of a journey the call is usually "All change!" which is about as fitting an expression as I can muster up just now. Everything next year has to change regardless of division.i only hope that this sorry excuse of a squad can drag themselves over the line and get up.

[cushynumber 25,178]

Not sure how the journey is over - we could easily still fail to get promotion. That aside, I felt the supporters took a real kicking but have by and large shown great character. However the romance of the journey very quickly faded as we realised how Mccoist wanted to go about his business.

In the end the man charged with the football - the manager - showed himself to be a witless fool with no vision or strength of character, who appeared to regard it all as a bit of a laugh, and who became a political lickspittle happy to bleed the club dry while taking the path of least resistance at every juncture - ably supported by an equally indolent back room staff.

With no managerial leadership or drive or ambition, 3 years down the road we are still talking about scouting, about bring youth through and how best to do it. With recent appointments at head youth level we appear to be making progress at that level - but its only recently that appointment was made - and in 3 years we went backwards at youth level. Indeed the only youth to progress appear to be ones we loaned out.

If we get promoted then the footballing journey could in one sense be seen to be over, as we will be back in the top flight. However, the way the club manufactures/scouts/buys/sells players has a long and difficult road ahead of it.

I have tried to leave the boardroom to one side - but doing that with Rangers these days is impossible and ridiculous as they are inextricably linked:

We have no money, a chunk of our squad out of contract and and all our hopes now lie with a convicted criminal who has already back slid on a number of promises while blaming everybody else. We have a shareholder who sees the Rangers brand as nothing more than a vehicle to drive Sport Direct profits while giving the club as little as possible in return. In short, the business side of the club is still a shambles and we have a ways to go before thats sorted as well.

The Journey has been an unmitigated disaster for Rangers as we choose the wrong turn every step of the way.

[Brian Fantana 28,894]

it's been hellish and we have turned off generations of fans in the process.

even if we go up, Ibrox will only be full for OF games next season, other than that we should expect to see 32-37k attendances until we are seriously competing.

[The Godfather 72,864]

it's been hellish and we have turned off generations of fans in the process.

even if we go up, Ibrox will only be full for OF games next season, other than that we should expect to see 32-37k attendances until we are seriously competing.

If we stay down we will be lucky to get 20-25k fans inside Ibrox.

[centenarystand 2,229]

Was never excited about it and never embraced the idea of "the journey" at all.

For me it's been 3 years wasted that have allowed that lot across the city to get a head start towards 10 in a row and, quite possibly, stash away enough cash to blow any title challenge from us out of the water should we actually get any money to spend as they haven't exactly had to spend to win their last few titles.

Glad you posted this. There is no romance and no journey its been living hell.

[RangersMedia 35,961]

3 of the worst years of my life. I fear it will continue into a 4th year following the play-offs.

[cumnockbear 2,446]

The whole journey has been shite, a terrible manager, overpaid SPL rejects, unattractive Football, 3 years of squabbling at Boardroom level, a total nightmare.

[NeoGeo7 10,667]

If we stay down we will be lucky to get 20-25k fans inside Ibrox.

I guess these figures would depend on the manager for next year, the signings made over the summer and the style of football on show.

Let's say we managed to get a marquee signing midfielder or attacker who was creative and gifted (now that's a far stretch of the imagination that they'd sign of us in the second tier of Scottish football but this is just hypothetical). I'd imagine that would keep the numbers above 30k provided we had moved away from the dull football.

I want to see this season end for better or worse so that we can hopefully see the pieces fall into place for next year. If we are in this division next year with McCall in charge I can see your prediction being right. He is better than mccoist of that there is no doubt in my mind I just don't believe he's the man to take rangers forward again nor put bums on seats.

[one55 1,510]

might have played every park but the journey ain't over. still a long way to go. need to get into the premiership then put celtic in 2nd place where they belong.

at first i was excited about playing all these lower league teams but now i'm just sick of it. we need back into the premiership asap. not looking forward to the thought of playing all these teams again next season. there are gonna be a lot more lows before we rise again. honestly i'm starting to doubt if we'll ever manage to get back to what we once were. we seriously need investment and lots of it.

[BridgeIsBlue 66,666]

Could sum it all up perfectly in one sentence and that is as follows.

I thought the PLG days were bad.

[cushynumber 25,178]

Could sum it all up perfectly in one sentence and that is as follows.

I thought the PLG days were bad.

you must be about 12 years old, if thats the worst you can remember!

[NamibianBear 1,851]

In three years we have learned nothing nor moved anywhere.

The football, by and large, has been appalling to watch.

Fans are deserting the club in droves due to the crap football and the issues with our custodians.

Our custodians have literally taken the piss out of us for the last three years, and continue to do so.

Our own players and management team have taken us for a ride with their exorbitant salaries.

Our standing in Scottish football remains subservient to the scum from the east (who continue to run Scottish football and get away with just about everything).

We continue to be a source of amusement daily with the newspapers.

We have really gained little, if anything, from the last three years.

Apart from that, its been a blinder

[Smile 26,622]

Its been poor you only have to look at shite teams like Hearts although just dropped down one league who have turned there shite club around on the field and in the boardroom.

Us we have went back the way and are getting in the same hangers on we thought we'd left behind who were just as responsible for ruining our club.

We are still no further forward on the field and are still paying for two managers and two directors to sit on their arse doing nothing.

Granted it was harder for us dropping down to the pits of Scottish football but we seem to have attracted the vultures and the users rather than decent businessmen or Coaches to take us forward.

Its impossible to talk about the journey without mentioning the boardroom shite, sorry if it spoils your thread.

[bingboyBLUE 72]

The first season was a bit of a novelty. Thereafter, the notion wore off very quickly, with the turgid football, the very noticeable incompetence of our manager, the overpaid dross that we watched week week out and are still watching.

A bad experience that I would never want to repeat.

This. 100% mate

[BridgeIsBlue 66,666]

you must be about 12 years old, if thats the worst you can remember!

Add 12 and you've got it right squire. Suppose Big Ecks last couple of years were a horror show as well but it seemed as though big things were on the horizon when PLG came,and we all know how it ended.