Jim Templeton has resigned from the RSA

[contacts 0]

As of today Jim has stepped down from his role with the Rangers Supporters Assembly. As far as I know Jim had clear differences of opinion with the club recently on several different issue's.

Over the years I have had a few differences of opinion with Jim but I still remain friends with him. Jim is a good Rangers man who can now go on to support his team without getting involved with all the politics that went along with his role as president of the RSA. I wish him well for the future.

[Poetry_In_Blue 1,043]

Some of the resignations that have been happening recently actually has me a bit worried as it seems to be all of the good/better guys that have been leaving their posts.

[Saudibear 0]

Never had much to do with Jim in his role with the RSA but met him socially many times and whatever people say about him there is no doubt he is a true Rangers supporter. In any leadership post you can never please all the people all the time and it's only when we are not happy with the way things are going that we make a lot of noise. His position was a thankless task but I also wish him well. He is one of the people.

[mondeoman 4]

Jim says:

Hello all.

Recent incidents have encouraged me to evaluate the “relationship” of the Assembly and Rangers F.C., to say this has given me cause for concern is a considerable understatement.

There have been a number of events in recent weeks that I have taken into account and would now like to share my concerns with all of you.

01. Reduced allocation of away tickets to Supporters Clubs.

During a brief conversation with the club, I agreed that Season Ticket Holders should be given an increased proportion of away match tickets. Sometime later I was asked if I was happy with the contents of a letter the Ticket Office intended sending out to Supporters Clubs. I rejected the first letter but agreed to the contents of the second attempt.

The letter that was in fact sent out differed considerably from the one agreed to. The full details of the very considerable cut in club allocations had not been included in the letter I approved and when I spoke to Jim Hannah, I learned that he too had been unaware of the content of the final letter sent to clubs. Had I been aware of the level of cut back I would never had agreed to the proposal hence my reason for asking the club to reconsider.

I have no doubt that the Assembly was mentioned in an effort to deflect blame and criticism and you also have to speculate on the convenience of not providing me with sight of the full letter before sending it out.

02. Rangers demands for a 5% handling fee on away match tickets.

Whilst I agree in principal that Rangers are entitled to be compensated for handling away match tickets, I most certainly do not agree with how they tried to force it on other SPL clubs nor their timing in doing so. I also have to say that I find it unbelievable that the club did not see fit to discuss this with the Assembly prior to “forcing” the other clubs to agree. Ticket distribution is arguably the most important issue to supporters other than the success of the team and yet they chose not to discuss this with us it therefore begs the question would do they see fit to discuss with us.

I have looked at each club who has responded to Rangers demands in turn and would comment as follows:

Falkirk . In general appeared to work okay.

Aberdeen . They agreed to pay Rangers a handling fee, however for the first time in years, Aberdeen decided to implement a price increase. Conveniently they went up by £1 which amounted to a 5% increase. I wonder why? To make it clear to all why they did this, they offered a £1 discount to their own supporters for a future fixture. So who paid the handling fee and which club is looking after their supporters interests?

Hibs. They have decided to sell tickets direct as Falkirk did. Yet again we are faced with a price increase which will no doubt mean Hibs have covered their additional costs and again at our expense. To make matters worse, in spite of Rangers stating they would only handle ticket sales if they received a handling fee they have purchased 300 tickets which will no doubt be distributed to those and such as those. The phrase “them and us” springs readily to mind.

St. Mirren. They have agreed to Rangers request to pay a handling charge and will allow Rangers to distribute as normal. They have however been very clever. The only stand we have sole use of is the West Stand behind the goals and they have increased the price by £2. Prices for he North Stand, which we share, has remained unchanged at £20, in other words only Rangers fans will pay increased prices which I’m sure will go a long way to paying Rangers demands.

Kilmarnock . Although I have not heard officially, I am reliably informed that Kilmarnock will agree to Rangers demands and to offset the cost, will be increasing prices by £1.

To sum up the situation. Rangers have achieved their goal. Clubs who agree to the demands will pay Rangers and those who don’t will cost Rangers nothing but guess who will be paying for all of it? The very fans Rangers claimed they were trying to protect.

A job well done I don’t think.

03. Worldwide Alliance Expenses.

Those of you who attended the Alliance A.G.M. will no doubt recall the Treasurer, Sam Morton, reporting on his balance sheet and highlighting the fact funds were very low and required an injection of money from Rangers F.C. The fact was that Rangers had not provided the Alliance with funds to cover expenses for three years. Jim Hannah informed us that as far as he knew there was no budget for this and that I would have to take this up with the Club.

Not long after the A.G.M. I emailed Donald McIntyre requesting clarification. On return from my holiday, I received an email from Jim Hannah, on behalf of Donald McIntyre, informing me that the Assembly would now be responsible for Alliance expenses and that it should come from the Assembly grant. I have responded to Jim stating that in my opinion this is not feasible as it would then legitimately allow the other organisations involved in the Assembly to claim expenses to cover the cost of their own meetings. I have asked that he raise this with Donald McIntyre and await the response.

04. Assembly Grant.

During the conversation with regards to Alliance expenses, I learned that Rangers had reduced the Assembly grant from £30k to £20k as from 1st. July 2008.

Some months ago, I met with Irene Munro who informed me of Rangers desire to reduce the level of support. I refused point blank to accept this and in fact stated that even if I agreed with the request this would not be a decision I could make as it would need to go before a full Committee at our A.G.M.

No further discussions have taken place so it would appear as though Rangers are basically saying take it or leave it. They have attempted to soften the blow by saying we can keep the £10k we did not use last year. Big of them when it is us who have saved the money from being used and in my opinion a totally irrelevant gesture.

Each of the above items on an individual basis is in my opinion sufficient to illustrate the lack of respect the club has for the Assembly. When you consider them as a package then I think it is a fair assumption that they only value our input when they need us to show a united front or when trouble is brewing. The Assembly was formed in an attempt to bring the club and its supporters closer together. The above, I would suggest, shows that this is not happening. You could in fact argue the opposite is happening and that indeed the club are driving an ever widening wedge between us with their actions. To be perfectly honest, I do not believe the people involved in making the decisions highlighted above have the best interest of the Supporters at heart.

Taking all of the above into account, I wish to inform you of my decision to resign, with immediate effect, as President of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, Chairman of Rangers Worldwide Alliance and Chairman of the Scottish Delegates. I would like to thank you all for the time and effort you put in on a regular basis, I appreciate it even if the club so obviously doesn’t, and also for the support you have given me throughout my time in office.

Over the next few days, I will clear the Assembly Office of my belongings and also ensure the finances are in order. Obviously as Vice President, Andy Kerr will take over my duties and I would like to offer him my best wishes.

Jim

[Saudibear 0]

Andy Kerr is a good guy, well liked by all that know him. He does a great job running the Harrogate supporters club and does have Rangers supporters at heart. He is a quiet man so don't expect to hear about fights with the board or anything but I would trust him to put the majority of the fans feelings forward.

[Canadaready 9,437]

So what exactly does the assembly do anyway?

[Saudibear 0]

So what exactly does the assembly do anyway?

RSC from all over the UK are supposed to vote for an area rep i.e. north east or south west etc these reps then meet I think monthly so that any problems relating to any club or area can be brought before the Rangers board. The assembly was started by SDM and he gave them a budget for expenses of 30,000 pounds, delegates had to travel far and wide initially although I believe it is now done by computer conference. JT took a lot of stick at the outset as he was not voted into the job but appointed by SDM.

[Guest Andypendek]

Never ceases to amaze me, how little respect clubs have for supporters.

[British and Proud 0]

Jim says:

Hello all.

Recent incidents have encouraged me to evaluate the “relationship” of the Assembly and Rangers F.C., to say this has given me cause for concern is a considerable understatement.

There have been a number of events in recent weeks that I have taken into account and would now like to share my concerns with all of you.

01. Reduced allocation of away tickets to Supporters Clubs.

During a brief conversation with the club, I agreed that Season Ticket Holders should be given an increased proportion of away match tickets. Sometime later I was asked if I was happy with the contents of a letter the Ticket Office intended sending out to Supporters Clubs. I rejected the first letter but agreed to the contents of the second attempt.

The letter that was in fact sent out differed considerably from the one agreed to. The full details of the very considerable cut in club allocations had not been included in the letter I approved and when I spoke to Jim Hannah, I learned that he too had been unaware of the content of the final letter sent to clubs. Had I been aware of the level of cut back I would never had agreed to the proposal hence my reason for asking the club to reconsider.

I have no doubt that the Assembly was mentioned in an effort to deflect blame and criticism and you also have to speculate on the convenience of not providing me with sight of the full letter before sending it out.

02. Rangers demands for a 5% handling fee on away match tickets.

Whilst I agree in principal that Rangers are entitled to be compensated for handling away match tickets, I most certainly do not agree with how they tried to force it on other SPL clubs nor their timing in doing so. I also have to say that I find it unbelievable that the club did not see fit to discuss this with the Assembly prior to “forcing” the other clubs to agree. Ticket distribution is arguably the most important issue to supporters other than the success of the team and yet they chose not to discuss this with us it therefore begs the question would do they see fit to discuss with us.

I have looked at each club who has responded to Rangers demands in turn and would comment as follows:

Falkirk . In general appeared to work okay.

Aberdeen . They agreed to pay Rangers a handling fee, however for the first time in years, Aberdeen decided to implement a price increase. Conveniently they went up by £1 which amounted to a 5% increase. I wonder why? To make it clear to all why they did this, they offered a £1 discount to their own supporters for a future fixture. So who paid the handling fee and which club is looking after their supporters interests?

Hibs. They have decided to sell tickets direct as Falkirk did. Yet again we are faced with a price increase which will no doubt mean Hibs have covered their additional costs and again at our expense. To make matters worse, in spite of Rangers stating they would only handle ticket sales if they received a handling fee they have purchased 300 tickets which will no doubt be distributed to those and such as those. The phrase “them and us” springs readily to mind.

St. Mirren. They have agreed to Rangers request to pay a handling charge and will allow Rangers to distribute as normal. They have however been very clever. The only stand we have sole use of is the West Stand behind the goals and they have increased the price by £2. Prices for he North Stand, which we share, has remained unchanged at £20, in other words only Rangers fans will pay increased prices which I’m sure will go a long way to paying Rangers demands.

Kilmarnock . Although I have not heard officially, I am reliably informed that Kilmarnock will agree to Rangers demands and to offset the cost, will be increasing prices by £1.

To sum up the situation. Rangers have achieved their goal. Clubs who agree to the demands will pay Rangers and those who don’t will cost Rangers nothing but guess who will be paying for all of it? The very fans Rangers claimed they were trying to protect.

A job well done I don’t think.

03. Worldwide Alliance Expenses.

Those of you who attended the Alliance A.G.M. will no doubt recall the Treasurer, Sam Morton, reporting on his balance sheet and highlighting the fact funds were very low and required an injection of money from Rangers F.C. The fact was that Rangers had not provided the Alliance with funds to cover expenses for three years. Jim Hannah informed us that as far as he knew there was no budget for this and that I would have to take this up with the Club.

Not long after the A.G.M. I emailed Donald McIntyre requesting clarification. On return from my holiday, I received an email from Jim Hannah, on behalf of Donald McIntyre, informing me that the Assembly would now be responsible for Alliance expenses and that it should come from the Assembly grant. I have responded to Jim stating that in my opinion this is not feasible as it would then legitimately allow the other organisations involved in the Assembly to claim expenses to cover the cost of their own meetings. I have asked that he raise this with Donald McIntyre and await the response.

04. Assembly Grant.

During the conversation with regards to Alliance expenses, I learned that Rangers had reduced the Assembly grant from £30k to £20k as from 1st. July 2008.

Some months ago, I met with Irene Munro who informed me of Rangers desire to reduce the level of support. I refused point blank to accept this and in fact stated that even if I agreed with the request this would not be a decision I could make as it would need to go before a full Committee at our A.G.M.

No further discussions have taken place so it would appear as though Rangers are basically saying take it or leave it. They have attempted to soften the blow by saying we can keep the £10k we did not use last year. Big of them when it is us who have saved the money from being used and in my opinion a totally irrelevant gesture.

Each of the above items on an individual basis is in my opinion sufficient to illustrate the lack of respect the club has for the Assembly. When you consider them as a package then I think it is a fair assumption that they only value our input when they need us to show a united front or when trouble is brewing. The Assembly was formed in an attempt to bring the club and its supporters closer together. The above, I would suggest, shows that this is not happening. You could in fact argue the opposite is happening and that indeed the club are driving an ever widening wedge between us with their actions. To be perfectly honest, I do not believe the people involved in making the decisions highlighted above have the best interest of the Supporters at heart.

Taking all of the above into account, I wish to inform you of my decision to resign, with immediate effect, as President of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, Chairman of Rangers Worldwide Alliance and Chairman of the Scottish Delegates. I would like to thank you all for the time and effort you put in on a regular basis, I appreciate it even if the club so obviously doesn’t, and also for the support you have given me throughout my time in office.

Over the next few days, I will clear the Assembly Office of my belongings and also ensure the finances are in order. Obviously as Vice President, Andy Kerr will take over my duties and I would like to offer him my best wishes.

Jim

Where is this from? Interesting.

[Fixxxer 4]

Never ceases to amaze me, how little respect clubs have for supporters.

The big clubs don't have much, as said, it's about politics and money now.

[Bluedell 14]

Should the assembly not be looking at refunding the £10K back to the club? It's better off with the club than sitting unused in the Assembly's bank account.

Should saving the club £10K not be a prioirty of JT's, rather than him looking to take more money out of it?

[Saudibear 0]

Should the assembly not be looking at refunding the £10K back to the club? It's better off with the club than sitting unused in the Assembly's bank account.

Should saving the club £10K not be a prioirty of JT's, rather than him looking to take more money out of it?

This is expense money for the whole alliance not JT's personal account. Potentially shared between all the RSC's for a years operation and about the same as Charlie Adams weekly wage.

[Bluedell 14]

Should the assembly not be looking at refunding the £10K back to the club? It's better off with the club than sitting unused in the Assembly's bank account.

Should saving the club £10K not be a prioirty of JT's, rather than him looking to take more money out of it?

This is expense money for the whole alliance not JT's personal account. Potentially shared between all the RSC's for a years operation and about the same as Charlie Adams weekly wage.

I wasn't meaning to imply that it was JT's personal account and it's actually for the Assembly, rather than the Alliance. No, it's not shared between the RSC's as far as I am aware. It's for the running of the Assembly. Pays for the travel expenses of the board members of the Assembly, the costs of their meetings and other such expenses.

I'm glad you're not in charge of the club's finances if you can treat £10K with such a carefree attitude.

[numansnewman 25]

Jim says:

Hello all.

Recent incidents have encouraged me to evaluate the “relationship” of the Assembly and Rangers F.C., to say this has given me cause for concern is a considerable understatement.

There have been a number of events in recent weeks that I have taken into account and would now like to share my concerns with all of you.

01. Reduced allocation of away tickets to Supporters Clubs.

During a brief conversation with the club, I agreed that Season Ticket Holders should be given an increased proportion of away match tickets. Sometime later I was asked if I was happy with the contents of a letter the Ticket Office intended sending out to Supporters Clubs. I rejected the first letter but agreed to the contents of the second attempt.

The letter that was in fact sent out differed considerably from the one agreed to. The full details of the very considerable cut in club allocations had not been included in the letter I approved and when I spoke to Jim Hannah, I learned that he too had been unaware of the content of the final letter sent to clubs. Had I been aware of the level of cut back I would never had agreed to the proposal hence my reason for asking the club to reconsider.

I have no doubt that the Assembly was mentioned in an effort to deflect blame and criticism and you also have to speculate on the convenience of not providing me with sight of the full letter before sending it out.

02. Rangers demands for a 5% handling fee on away match tickets.

Whilst I agree in principal that Rangers are entitled to be compensated for handling away match tickets, I most certainly do not agree with how they tried to force it on other SPL clubs nor their timing in doing so. I also have to say that I find it unbelievable that the club did not see fit to discuss this with the Assembly prior to “forcing” the other clubs to agree. Ticket distribution is arguably the most important issue to supporters other than the success of the team and yet they chose not to discuss this with us it therefore begs the question would do they see fit to discuss with us.

I have looked at each club who has responded to Rangers demands in turn and would comment as follows:

Falkirk . In general appeared to work okay.

Aberdeen . They agreed to pay Rangers a handling fee, however for the first time in years, Aberdeen decided to implement a price increase. Conveniently they went up by £1 which amounted to a 5% increase. I wonder why? To make it clear to all why they did this, they offered a £1 discount to their own supporters for a future fixture. So who paid the handling fee and which club is looking after their supporters interests?

Hibs. They have decided to sell tickets direct as Falkirk did. Yet again we are faced with a price increase which will no doubt mean Hibs have covered their additional costs and again at our expense. To make matters worse, in spite of Rangers stating they would only handle ticket sales if they received a handling fee they have purchased 300 tickets which will no doubt be distributed to those and such as those. The phrase “them and us” springs readily to mind.

St. Mirren. They have agreed to Rangers request to pay a handling charge and will allow Rangers to distribute as normal. They have however been very clever. The only stand we have sole use of is the West Stand behind the goals and they have increased the price by £2. Prices for he North Stand, which we share, has remained unchanged at £20, in other words only Rangers fans will pay increased prices which I’m sure will go a long way to paying Rangers demands.

Kilmarnock . Although I have not heard officially, I am reliably informed that Kilmarnock will agree to Rangers demands and to offset the cost, will be increasing prices by £1.

To sum up the situation. Rangers have achieved their goal. Clubs who agree to the demands will pay Rangers and those who don’t will cost Rangers nothing but guess who will be paying for all of it? The very fans Rangers claimed they were trying to protect.

A job well done I don’t think.

03. Worldwide Alliance Expenses.

Those of you who attended the Alliance A.G.M. will no doubt recall the Treasurer, Sam Morton, reporting on his balance sheet and highlighting the fact funds were very low and required an injection of money from Rangers F.C. The fact was that Rangers had not provided the Alliance with funds to cover expenses for three years. Jim Hannah informed us that as far as he knew there was no budget for this and that I would have to take this up with the Club.

Not long after the A.G.M. I emailed Donald McIntyre requesting clarification. On return from my holiday, I received an email from Jim Hannah, on behalf of Donald McIntyre, informing me that the Assembly would now be responsible for Alliance expenses and that it should come from the Assembly grant. I have responded to Jim stating that in my opinion this is not feasible as it would then legitimately allow the other organisations involved in the Assembly to claim expenses to cover the cost of their own meetings. I have asked that he raise this with Donald McIntyre and await the response.

04. Assembly Grant.

During the conversation with regards to Alliance expenses, I learned that Rangers had reduced the Assembly grant from £30k to £20k as from 1st. July 2008.

Some months ago, I met with Irene Munro who informed me of Rangers desire to reduce the level of support. I refused point blank to accept this and in fact stated that even if I agreed with the request this would not be a decision I could make as it would need to go before a full Committee at our A.G.M.

No further discussions have taken place so it would appear as though Rangers are basically saying take it or leave it. They have attempted to soften the blow by saying we can keep the £10k we did not use last year. Big of them when it is us who have saved the money from being used and in my opinion a totally irrelevant gesture.

Each of the above items on an individual basis is in my opinion sufficient to illustrate the lack of respect the club has for the Assembly. When you consider them as a package then I think it is a fair assumption that they only value our input when they need us to show a united front or when trouble is brewing. The Assembly was formed in an attempt to bring the club and its supporters closer together. The above, I would suggest, shows that this is not happening. You could in fact argue the opposite is happening and that indeed the club are driving an ever widening wedge between us with their actions. To be perfectly honest, I do not believe the people involved in making the decisions highlighted above have the best interest of the Supporters at heart.

Taking all of the above into account, I wish to inform you of my decision to resign, with immediate effect, as President of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, Chairman of Rangers Worldwide Alliance and Chairman of the Scottish Delegates. I would like to thank you all for the time and effort you put in on a regular basis, I appreciate it even if the club so obviously doesn’t, and also for the support you have given me throughout my time in office.

Over the next few days, I will clear the Assembly Office of my belongings and also ensure the finances are in order. Obviously as Vice President, Andy Kerr will take over my duties and I would like to offer him my best wishes.

Jim

i think you were misled jim,the cuellar issue was a prime example,the people attending that meeting, to my knowledge were wined and dined,and paid expenses. they also came from far and away places,this does not mean they are not fans,but the away support in scotland were not fairly represented and the chairman and martin bain would have had a far tougher night had they been.

i also totally agree with your 5% issues.well behaved away supporters,who have built up good reputations through well run buses,have been let down,and in some instances,as you point out,are paying for their efforts.

i wish you well jim,the tough times you had on the media,whilst the chairman stayed silent,must have taken its toll.

just enjoy the games now,,thanks

[mccoist355 4]

Sorry to read this - Jims a top man and his head was in the right place as well as his heart - a shame to see him go, and to be honest id rather he'd stayed to fight these issues - but thats his choice,

[nvager 498]

A sad reflection on RFC and its relationship with the fans. This 5% stuff was not well thought out by Bain at all. It has done nothing but create problems and costs.

[mccoist355 4]

A sad reflection on RFC and its relationship with the fans. This 5% stuff was not well thought out by Bain at all. It has done nothing but create problems and costs.

a stupid idea. thinking about it now, surely anyone could see the clubs would only pass on the costs to the fans. Bains an idiot.

[MayboleLoyal_atb 3,772]

Some of Jim Templeton's commetns recently over the whole Uefa cup thing and stuff were shocking. Don't like slagging off good bears though so I will leave it at that.

[BLUEDIGNITY 33,714]

Gap between Fans and Club gettin wider he says !

[British and Proud 0]

I think there was a thread on it earlier mate

edit:

http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=80775

[BLUEDIGNITY 33,714]

I think there was a thread on it earlier mate

edit:

http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=80775

[numansnewman 25]

Some of Jim Templeton's commetns recently over the whole Uefa cup thing and stuff were shocking. Don't like slagging off good bears though so I will leave it at that.

you just have..but david edgar made good points too..both misled ..on purpose,by you know who.

[donmac 0]

he has obviously decided he has had enough and i hope he enjoys the rest. at least he does not have to put up with answering questions about our wee gem the famine's over

[Jimenez 1]

Should the assembly not be looking at refunding the £10K back to the club? It's better off with the club than sitting unused in the Assembly's bank account.

Should saving the club £10K not be a prioirty of JT's, rather than him looking to take more money out of it?

Fuck the club. Not Jim's greatest fan by any streach of the imagination but I'd be happy for him to use the £10k for a personal holiday as far away from 'the bastard Dave' as possible.

His time as head of the RSA will always be a time simply as a 'yes man' in my opinion. It's actually terrifying that Murray would treat one of his lap dogs so appallingly. If that's how he treats his friends Christ knows what he thinks of the average Rangers supporter.

Murray out.

[CanadianBacon 2,088]

Should the assembly not be looking at refunding the £10K back to the club? It's better off with the club than sitting unused in the Assembly's bank account.

Should saving the club £10K not be a prioirty of JT's, rather than him looking to take more money out of it?

Fuck the club. Not Jim's greatest fan by any streach of the imagination but I'd be happy for him to use the £10k for a personal holiday as far away from 'the bastard Dave' as possible.

His time as head of the RSA will always be a time simply as a 'yes man' in my opinion. It's actually terrifying that Murray would treat one of his lap dogs so appallingly. If that's how he treats his friends Christ knows what he thinks of the average Rangers supporter.

Murray out.

God I wish I had said that first. My thoughts exactly.

Murray has shown once again he cares more for the opinion of Celtic fans (* see the Famine's Over backlash and the Club's response) than he does the opinion of Rangers supporters.

Jim Templeton has brought to a head what a sham the Assembly really is - it was first and foremost a Murray-built organisation whose sole aim was to strangle the RST at birth. It failed and Murray was always going to wind it down.

This reduced funding JT speaks of is the beginning of the end for Murray's support of the RSA.

Murray must go.