Club Statement

[esquire8 43,632]

3 minutes ago, The Beast said:

I can imagine Douglas Park and his wee fat son running their bus company like a tinpot dictatorship but some of these board members are international businessesmen who are involved in senior management of properly big multinational organisations.

How are these presumably clever guys signing off on this shit show?

Can only presume its Robertson signing off on something Graham cobbled together whilst having a major stroke. 

Don't think Park is involved much in the day to day running.

[theweebluenose 4,335]

12 minutes ago, tm91 said:

Just read this, what a fucking shambles this is. Just when you think the Board's PR can't get any worse they go and do something else.

David Graham used to be on Heart and Hand and was always fairly decent to listen to, but apparently he's very shit at his job.

Bit of a difference going from a regular on a fan podcast to head of communications at a Football club, who would have thought?

Hands up I was fairly supportive of David Graham's appointment, guy from a traditional Rangers background you would have though he would have been able to at least mirror the wider support in his work - instead we have another inept out of touch imposter stealing a wage.

[The Beast 9,264]

2 minutes ago, esquire8 said:

Can only presume its Robertson signing off on something Graham cobbled together whilst having a major stroke. 

Don't think Park is involved much in the day to day running.

You are probably right but it's a boards job to oversee the running of the club by the executive on behalf of the shareholders.

Either they are on board with this whole clusterfuck or they are not doing their job. 

It has to be one of the two.

 

[esquire8 43,632]

Just now, The Beast said:

You are probably right but it's a boards job to oversee the running of the club by the executive on behalf of the shareholders.

Either they are on board with this whole clusterfuck or they are not doing their job. 

It has to be one of the two.

 

Probably give zero fucks unless it seriously affects their shares or money invested. Robertson n co are just unbelievably incompetent to a high degree, you just have to look at their reaction to our reaction to the friendly.

[Tiger Shaw 30,801]

4 hours ago, Siam69 said:

https://www.rangers.co.uk/article/club-statement-220322/2h9XppImmXcboZdN8fF4kX

“We’ll address the disrupters at the end of season”

Come ahead ya wanks we’ll see who wins 

Edit- Just in from work hadn’t read the thread thought it was a threat to our fans 

Fucking diddys should make it clear who they are threatening.

[Jelavic191 4,535]

4 minutes ago, Tiger Shaw said:

“We’ll address the disrupters at the end of season”

Come ahead ya wanks we’ll see who wins 

Just like they addressed Dornan and Yousaf after they peddled false claims of sectarianism by our players… 

[graeme_4 35,186]

3 hours ago, RFC55 said:

It's not. 

Don't even know why people think that.

C1872 released a statement and within an hour or 2 we have this. It's obvious what its aimed at and who but it's fucking embarrassing

I think C1872’s credibility and reach is so low, that a lot aren’t even aware of their statement. 

Even if you look at the FB post, it’s full of fans thinking this is about the friendly. 

There’s two things for me.

1. The statement is so fucking bad, that it’s not clear who or what’s it’s aimed at.

2. The fact that they haven’t addressed the protests around the friendly is an absolute disgrace. 

[Tiger Shaw 30,801]

3 minutes ago, Jelavic191 said:

Just like they addressed Dornan and Yousaf after they peddled false claims of sectarianism by our players… 

Robertson’s out his depth always has been, time he got himself to fuck back to some shity wee outfit like Motherwell and take a few of these fucking imposters with him. 

[DMax399 3,864]

4 hours ago, The Specky Liar said:

Nowhere to be seen for the past few weeks despite their being a lot of controversy surrounding the club but within a couple of hours of an attack on the board members we release that statement that I'm not convinced isn't intended to be a parody.

Who attacked the board mate?  I’m none the wiser having read that statement who they are talking about.

[The Specky Forum Organiser 66,215]

3 minutes ago, DMax399 said:

Who attacked the board mate?  I’m none the wiser having read that statement who they are talking about.

https://club1872.co.uk/news/club-1872-concerns-over-rangers-executive-management/

[esquire8 43,632]

Club 1872 concerns over Rangers’ Executive Management

March 22, 2022

In recent weeks, following the announcement of Rangers’ participation in the Sydney Cup in Australia, supporters have begun to publicly and vocally question the judgement, competence and honesty of the Rangers’ Executive Team. It is the opinion of the Club 1872 Board that not only are they correct to do so, but that it is crucial for the future health of the club that they do so.

Unfortunately, the contempt shown to supporters over this issue is only the tip of the iceberg and has been ongoing, albeit less visibly to the majority of supporters, for almost two years. It is a source of great regret that we are having to raise these matters publicly – having always attempted to engage privately and constructively with the club – but the current custodians of Rangers Football Club have refused to speak with us privately despite repeated attempts to do so.

The experience of Club 1872 Directors, both past and present, is that Rangers’ Executive Team, led by Stewart Robertson, James Bisgrove and David Graham, has developed an extremely unhealthy disdain for the Rangers support and that inaccurate information has regularly been disseminated through the club’s own public statements, briefings to fan media and highly selective leaks to a small group of individuals within the Rangers support. This conduct has not, in our opinion, been intended to advance the aims of the club, but instead to serve the interests of a handful of members of the Plc Board and Executive team and to protect them from healthy scrutiny and justified criticism.

When Club 1872 attempted to represent the interests and concerns of supporters on a variety of topics such as ticketing, safe standing, disabled facilities, season ticket renewals, Scottish football governance and merchandise issues, the reaction of the Executive team over a number of months between March and July 2020 was dismissive, patronising and at times openly hostile.

Rangers’ MyGers scheme, rather than being presented honestly as a commercial levy on away and European tickets, has been marketed around a false concept of loyalty that is based purely on fans’ ability to spend and from which the vast majority of supporters have not seen a single benefit. MyGers has falsely been positioned by the club as a form of meaningful fan engagement when the reality is that it has simply been a vehicle to try to find more and more ways to monetise the support. It has also had the effect of marginalising Rangers Supporters Clubs who, despite facilitating the attendance of thousands of supporters at games, have seen their allocations cut.

We have also been extremely concerned to see Rangers, under Commercial Director, James Bisgrove, sign up to dubious commercial partnerships with cryptocurrency and NFT providers despite the obvious pitfalls of promoting these types of high risk, unregulated, third party ‘investments’ to supporters. The ‘Fan Token’ which Bitci launched in partnership with Rangers has, in common with many similar schemes, dropped in value by around 90% since its high shortly after launch in August 2021 – leaving supporters who purchased them out of pocket.

Club 1872 also has documentary and other evidence that over the past two years, since the appointment of new Communications Director, David Graham, supporters have been regularly fed inaccurate information on issues ranging from player transfers, commercial activities and merchandise to shareholder relations. Stewart Robertson even went as far as to fabricate a grievance with Club 1872 and falsely accuse Club 1872 Directors of breaching confidentiality. It is the Club 1872 Board’s opinion that this was simply an excuse to cut off all dialogue with us as it became apparent to Mr Robertson that we would not accept supporters being misled on important issues. Mr Robertson then attempted to force Club 1872 into signing a blanket Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which would have had the effect of preventing us from making any public comment about Rangers and required us to report any information we received from third parties to Rangers’ Executives. When Club 1872 took legal advice, and on the basis of that advice declined to sign this agreement, Mr Robertson refused our offer to sign amended NDAs for specific, commercially sensitive matters. This was a clear and obvious attempt to silence Club 1872 and restrict our ability to effectively represent our Contributors and the wider support.

There then followed a concerted campaign by individuals very close to the club to forcefully remove Club 1872 Directors. Although this attempt ultimately failed thanks to our Contributors, the smears and lies which were regularly broadcast created a false, negative perception of both Club 1872 and our attempts to reach a 25% shareholding for supporters through the purchase of Dave King’s shares. This was nothing more than a dishonest attack on Club 1872 and fan representation which started immediately after it became clear to Rangers’ Executives that we would not collaborate with the way in which they were conducting themselves. Indeed, on more than one occasion we had to refuse David Graham’s urging to disseminate information to supporters that was simply not true.

We have today written to Rangers’ Vice Chairman, John Bennett, Plc Board members Barry Scott, Alastair Johnston and Julian Wolhardt and major shareholders Stuart Gibson, George Letham and George Taylor, asking them to enter into dialogue with us as a matter of urgency so that we can present the information we have gathered on the issues raised above. The financial contribution that these individuals have made to the club is considerable and to be commended and we hope they will work with us to improve the way the club is being run. We have also extended an offer to a number of fan media outlets to meet them and outline the information in our possession which shows the way in which they have been manipulated by Rangers’ Executives.

Rangers supporters did not go through the events of 2012 to find ourselves back in a situation where individuals at the club put their own interests ahead of Rangers. April is a huge month for the club and the ongoing behaviour of the Rangers hierarchy and their refusal to engage properly with supporters is threatening to distract from important matters on the pitch. As supporters, we unconditionally support the team, the players and the club but the days of blindly following the club’s custodians when they are not, in our opinion, acting in Rangers’ best interests are long gone. We sincerely hope that the required changes can be made sooner rather than later, that the club’s hierarchy can reconnect with supporters and we can move forward together. In the meantime, we would urge supporters to continue to critically examine all information released by Rangers’ Executives or their proxies.

 

I know club1872 is miles from being the best run fan group but what have they got wrong here? Also pretty clear its Park behind the ripping up of 1872.

[superallysbears 7,846]

"Propaganda war" 🤦 talk about reading a room 😂

[graeme_4 35,186]

What’s annoying is it’s two sides off the same coin going against each other for financial or reputational gain (and making a cunt of it), while the actual paying fans are left in the lurch again. 

Both claim to speak for the ‘fans’ or ‘the club’, but neither do.

[Real Ranger 3,195]

Will always be grateful to the men who took over Rangers, pumped millions of their own cash into the club, which has seen us going from a complete shambles to Scottish champions and the quarterfinalists of the Europa league, but for all that on occasions they’ve also got things badly wrong such as My Gers and the way it was marketed, stating show your loyalty like never before and dividing supporters into different categories.
Although I understand the Australian tournament makes business sense, playing the supporting act to a club that can’t even bring itself to acknowledging we’re the same club for 150 years. For me they’ve sold out the good name of Rangers for a few million quid.

The subsequent digs from Bisgrove and today’s statement have been nothing short of embarrassing and a kick in the baws to the fan base. 

[esquire8 43,632]

 

[Inigo 32,675]

Soooooo... is Dave to be our saviour again?

[RDB14 2,809]

Bizarre statement more fitting to when we had that joker Charles Green involved. Unprofessional and completely unnecessary. It doesn’t achieve anything whatsoever.  If all the focus is on the park then just ignore C1872 and get on with it.  I thought C1872s statement was ridiculous but this is even worse. 

[graeme_4 35,186]

1 minute ago, Inigo said:

Soooooo... is Dave to be our saviour again?

Dave King only cares about Dave King.

[The Beast 9,264]

8 minutes ago, esquire8 said:

Club 1872 concerns over Rangers’ Executive Management

March 22, 2022

In recent weeks, following the announcement of Rangers’ participation in the Sydney Cup in Australia, supporters have begun to publicly and vocally question the judgement, competence and honesty of the Rangers’ Executive Team. It is the opinion of the Club 1872 Board that not only are they correct to do so, but that it is crucial for the future health of the club that they do so.

Unfortunately, the contempt shown to supporters over this issue is only the tip of the iceberg and has been ongoing, albeit less visibly to the majority of supporters, for almost two years. It is a source of great regret that we are having to raise these matters publicly – having always attempted to engage privately and constructively with the club – but the current custodians of Rangers Football Club have refused to speak with us privately despite repeated attempts to do so.

The experience of Club 1872 Directors, both past and present, is that Rangers’ Executive Team, led by Stewart Robertson, James Bisgrove and David Graham, has developed an extremely unhealthy disdain for the Rangers support and that inaccurate information has regularly been disseminated through the club’s own public statements, briefings to fan media and highly selective leaks to a small group of individuals within the Rangers support. This conduct has not, in our opinion, been intended to advance the aims of the club, but instead to serve the interests of a handful of members of the Plc Board and Executive team and to protect them from healthy scrutiny and justified criticism.

When Club 1872 attempted to represent the interests and concerns of supporters on a variety of topics such as ticketing, safe standing, disabled facilities, season ticket renewals, Scottish football governance and merchandise issues, the reaction of the Executive team over a number of months between March and July 2020 was dismissive, patronising and at times openly hostile.

Rangers’ MyGers scheme, rather than being presented honestly as a commercial levy on away and European tickets, has been marketed around a false concept of loyalty that is based purely on fans’ ability to spend and from which the vast majority of supporters have not seen a single benefit. MyGers has falsely been positioned by the club as a form of meaningful fan engagement when the reality is that it has simply been a vehicle to try to find more and more ways to monetise the support. It has also had the effect of marginalising Rangers Supporters Clubs who, despite facilitating the attendance of thousands of supporters at games, have seen their allocations cut.

We have also been extremely concerned to see Rangers, under Commercial Director, James Bisgrove, sign up to dubious commercial partnerships with cryptocurrency and NFT providers despite the obvious pitfalls of promoting these types of high risk, unregulated, third party ‘investments’ to supporters. The ‘Fan Token’ which Bitci launched in partnership with Rangers has, in common with many similar schemes, dropped in value by around 90% since its high shortly after launch in August 2021 – leaving supporters who purchased them out of pocket.

Club 1872 also has documentary and other evidence that over the past two years, since the appointment of new Communications Director, David Graham, supporters have been regularly fed inaccurate information on issues ranging from player transfers, commercial activities and merchandise to shareholder relations. Stewart Robertson even went as far as to fabricate a grievance with Club 1872 and falsely accuse Club 1872 Directors of breaching confidentiality. It is the Club 1872 Board’s opinion that this was simply an excuse to cut off all dialogue with us as it became apparent to Mr Robertson that we would not accept supporters being misled on important issues. Mr Robertson then attempted to force Club 1872 into signing a blanket Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which would have had the effect of preventing us from making any public comment about Rangers and required us to report any information we received from third parties to Rangers’ Executives. When Club 1872 took legal advice, and on the basis of that advice declined to sign this agreement, Mr Robertson refused our offer to sign amended NDAs for specific, commercially sensitive matters. This was a clear and obvious attempt to silence Club 1872 and restrict our ability to effectively represent our Contributors and the wider support.

There then followed a concerted campaign by individuals very close to the club to forcefully remove Club 1872 Directors. Although this attempt ultimately failed thanks to our Contributors, the smears and lies which were regularly broadcast created a false, negative perception of both Club 1872 and our attempts to reach a 25% shareholding for supporters through the purchase of Dave King’s shares. This was nothing more than a dishonest attack on Club 1872 and fan representation which started immediately after it became clear to Rangers’ Executives that we would not collaborate with the way in which they were conducting themselves. Indeed, on more than one occasion we had to refuse David Graham’s urging to disseminate information to supporters that was simply not true.

We have today written to Rangers’ Vice Chairman, John Bennett, Plc Board members Barry Scott, Alastair Johnston and Julian Wolhardt and major shareholders Stuart Gibson, George Letham and George Taylor, asking them to enter into dialogue with us as a matter of urgency so that we can present the information we have gathered on the issues raised above. The financial contribution that these individuals have made to the club is considerable and to be commended and we hope they will work with us to improve the way the club is being run. We have also extended an offer to a number of fan media outlets to meet them and outline the information in our possession which shows the way in which they have been manipulated by Rangers’ Executives.

Rangers supporters did not go through the events of 2012 to find ourselves back in a situation where individuals at the club put their own interests ahead of Rangers. April is a huge month for the club and the ongoing behaviour of the Rangers hierarchy and their refusal to engage properly with supporters is threatening to distract from important matters on the pitch. As supporters, we unconditionally support the team, the players and the club but the days of blindly following the club’s custodians when they are not, in our opinion, acting in Rangers’ best interests are long gone. We sincerely hope that the required changes can be made sooner rather than later, that the club’s hierarchy can reconnect with supporters and we can move forward together. In the meantime, we would urge supporters to continue to critically examine all information released by Rangers’ Executives or their proxies.

 

I know club1872 is miles from being the best run fan group but what have they got wrong here?

Not much from what I can tell. I have been and will likely continue to be a huge critic of C1872 and Chris Graham in particular but they have hit the nail on the head here.

WRT the highlighted statement above, have C1872 reached out to RM? Especially given the entrenched position at FF via fat Dingwall, I would have thought that them engaging with the other major fan forum would have been high on their agenda.

[esquire8 43,632]

5 minutes ago, Real Ranger said:

Will always be grateful to the men who took over Rangers, pumped millions of their own cash into the club, which has seen us going from a complete shambles to Scottish champions and the quarterfinalists of the Europa league, but for all that on occasions they’ve also got things badly wrong such as My Gers and the way it was marketed, stating show your loyalty like never before and dividing supporters into different categories.
Although I understand the Australian tournament makes business sense, playing the supporting act to a club that can’t even bring itself to acknowledging we’re the same club for 150 years. For me they’ve sold out the good name of Rangers for a few million quid.

The subsequent digs from Bisgrove and today’s statement have been nothing short of embarrassing and a kick in the baws to the fan base. 

From what's been said, it looks like it's only one person who has pumped money into the club that has these issues. The executives who haven't put money into the club are doing the bidding of that one person. 

[RFC55 110,177]

2 minutes ago, Inigo said:

Soooooo... is Dave to be our saviour again?

Think he's fucked having been cold shouldered 

[Malkytfp1 18,770]

I don't get involved in all the bureaucracy and bullshit with the board. I probably stick up for them more than I should too. However, the decision to have the friendly was such a kick in the balls and really emphasised the disconnect between board and fans. Even then, I remained relatively quiet as I honestly believe(d) common sense would prevail and the club would back down over the fucking ludicrous idea of playing them in a friendly. They then seemed to happily show they don't give a fuck by not addressing fan concerns. Now this latest statement is a fucking shambles and looks like it was written by an intern. This board has created a civil war at the worst possible time.

[STEPPS BOY 75,046]

Has Chris Jack sorry Dave King released his statement yet?

[Drunk and disorderly. 14,677]

12 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Not much from what I can tell. I have been and will likely continue to be a huge critic of C1872 and Chris Graham in particular but they have hit the nail on the head here.

WRT the highlighted statement above, have C1872 reached out to RM? Especially given the entrenched position at FF via fat Dingwall, I would have thought that them engaging with the other major fan forum would have been high on their agenda.

Never gonna happen. FF wouldn't have it. Egotistical blazer chasers. 

Dingwall for head of RM MOD team next. 

That would be 99 percent of us banned for daring to think. 

His ban finger is clearly the only exercise the fat ride gets. 

[Don81 2,846]

Wish the board, club 1872 and some of our fans would fuck up until the end of the season at least. Far more important things to focus on until then. We're in real danger of imploding over a lot of shite which 9 times out of 10 trickles it's way down to the team.