Safe Standing in the SPL - My view

I’ve been the centre of many a debate via Twitter on the suggestion of safe standing within the SPL this week. The SPL bigwigs have openly agreed to listen to ideas on how to make the safe standing scheme work and bring back the terraces to what can only be described as a depleted league, with regards to atmosphere, Old Firm aside obviously. Many journalists have questioned me on why I think ticket entry fees for the standing area would be cheaper than the seated area. So rather than constantly repeat myself, I’ve decided to write this blog on how I personally think it will work.

The obvious reason to bring it back right away is the current lack of atmosphere and attendance within the SPL right now. Most teams in the league now have fans groups and organisations who attend their team games week in week out, they are always being ejected and made out to be hooligans, simply because they want to stand throughout the 90 minutes. Now, if these lads had the safe standing areas they would be free to hold their displays in a safe and secure environment without disturbing those who wish to sit and enjoy the game. They could be safely monitored by police without anyone having to be constantly asked to sit down. So it’s a win, win for everyone!

The question being put to me is the fact teams will have to fork out to install the new areas, which are believed to need fold away seating for European ties etc, where teams would not be allowed to have terracing, so in what way can they afford to offer cheaper tickets prices for this part of the ground? Here is my personal opinion. If I was a Chairman of an SPL club, I’d see it as an investment having the standing areas installed. I think clubs would most certainly fill that section every week, even clubs out with the Rangers and Celtic. If they made the investment at the beginning of a season, come Christmas it will have paid for itself.

To attract people to it though, the prices will have to be cheaper than the sitting areas. You’ll get the young lads there no matter the price likely, but to attract other punters you’ll need to slash the prices. You might ask why because I choose to sit, must I pay more than to stand? I think it doesn’t make sense to charge the same price to stand than it is to sit. You wouldn’t pay the same to sit in restricted view than you would not too at the end of the day. Standing would fill and cheaper tickets would guarantee it every Saturday. If clubs are willing to spend to earn, I feel this could bring in some much needed revenue into the Scottish game.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER 2011

No Bears, not the annual Guy Fawkes celebrations, but the stance being made by all Rangers fans groups, forums and clubs against the constant bias against our club by the BBC. In recent years the BBC have done everything in their power to jeopardise the name of Rangers Football Club. Under previous ownership the club rolled over and allowed this bias to air week in, week out, unchallenged. Last week however new owner Craig Whyte enforced a ban on the BBC from Ibrox. Mr Whyte stated the club would be suspending all co-operation with the Corporation with regards to constant lies about RFC and also a documentary which aired about Mr Whyte himself. The program led to serious allegations of criminality against him and previous company ownerships, it also reported he was banned from being a director of Re-Tex Plastics Technology and could have faced a jail sentence of up to 2 years. Mr Whyte is now seeking legal advice, with a view to sue the BBC for the allegations of what he says are “utterly and completely unture”. He had this to say when asked by The Scotsman newspaper on the matter.

“It’s outrageous. I actually can’t believe that they went with the allegations they went with. We told them. We sent lawyers letters all week, warning them that these things aren’t true and warning them what would happen if they ran with these allegations. They’ve run with things that are totally, completely and utterly untrue. It just proves the case that they are a biased organisation, biased against Rangers. They’ve done it several times this season. They’re completely biased. They did it to Ally McCoist. Every time they show something on sectarianism it’s Rangers fans. One has to wonder if there’s institutionalised bias in there. It’s outrageous what they’ve done. Absolutely outrageous. To accuse me on national TV of criminality is an outrage. I’m suing and maybe the BBC are going to be paying the (HMRC) tax bill.”

Craig Whyte

Now when I said all supporters groups where behind the BBC Protest, that might have been a little informative of me. As once again FollowFollow.com and the RST (Rangers Supporters Trust) are distancing themselves from any supporter enforcement against the BBC. This isn’t the first time they have done so. Back in 2009, fan forum Vanguard Bears, organisers of next month’s protest, had a demo . This was resulting in bans for FF members who posted about it, as is the case today. Any mention of anything not profiteering FollowFollow or the RST will see your comment/thread swiftly removed and your account suspended from posting.  It has even got as petty as Vanguard Bears appearing on the forum like this - **********. Like a swear word. This is the way FollowFollow have been treating fans for years now, if it’s not of their taste or in agreement with their views or in any way helping them earn. They are not interested.  I don’t think it will take any Rangers fan in the know to need encouragement and back the protest at Pacific Quay, FollowFollow are becoming masters of their own downfall within the support and fans really are waking up to their dictatorship, because let’s face it, that’s what that forum is.

The group who organized the protest, Vanguard Bears, organized previous demos which I already stated previously, in 2009. That particular demo resulted in around 40 members attending the BBC HQ. 40 does seem like a low number, but I think back then most fans hadn’t made themselves aware of the BBC’s bias reporting towards Rangers. In 2011 however, there are already over 400 attending according to the official Facebook page for the protest. The BBC’s objective is to put division between Rangers fans and also between them and Mr Whyte. What they don’t know is, FF aside, they are bringing the supporters groups together and uniting the fans against our enemies. So if possible people, get yourself down to BBC HQ on November 5^th 2011, and show the BBC we won’t stand for their lies anymore!

Rangers 4-2 Celtic

Sunday 18^th September, the day we will all speak about for the rest of our lives. The day good triumphed over evil and the day The People were the ones singing and dancing! As you know, it was an almighty rollercoaster 90 minutes, which saw The Rangers show the world why our moto is “NO SURRENDER”. Personally I would have hated to be the one left with picking the Man of the Match, as there were 11 warriors on that park, all fighting for the jersey and most importantly each other. After McGregor’s mistake, Rangers of old would have collapsed, and gone on and lost heavily. After half time however, the lads came out fighting, won every second ball, won every tackle and managed to score 3 fantastic goals to set Rangers up for an absolute dream Old Firm win.

Man of the Match was rightly awarded to Big Kyle Lafferty. Was there a blade of grass this lad didn’t cover? I don’t think so, he closed the Celtic defence down, ran at them and was a general nuisance the whole game. He never let them settle once. The fight and composure he showed for his goal again was brilliant, he’s came under a lot of stick in recent seasons but the big man seems to be settling into the team and a run of games is working wonders for him. It would bring a tear to a glass eye the emotion I felt for him when he grabbed his goal, at the end of the day he is living our dream and is fulfilling it to the maximum with yesterday’s performance.  There was many a match winning performances, again Stevie Naismith worked his socks off and weighed in with two goals, I think he must also have springs attached to his boots, because for such a short fella, he can fairly leap! Stevie Davis an unsung hero for me, doesn’t get anywhere near as much credit as he deserves for my liking. Totally dominant in midfield again and almost equalised early on with and absolute wonder strike which hit the crossbar!

Yesterday the fans were delighted to a rare treat from Maurice Edu. Hopefully a return to form for the American after what can only be describe as an nightmare 18 months for him. He has beed on the receiving end of some harsh criticism over the last year or so, and I don’t think it’s been unfair as he has been woeful! Although I believe yesterday we saw what Mo does have to offer, on his day he can be a great player for Rangers and do his job well. Hopefully yesterday brings him the confidence to kick on and start a run of decent form. To be honest I think the additions of Bocanegra and Bedoya have maybe given him some home comfort and helped him fully focus on his football. On the subject of Bocanegra, something that was worrying me about the game before kick off was, has Boca and Goian have enough time playing together to cope with such a big fixture. I think it’s safe to say they proved my doubt wrong. Both were solid and marked their men out of the game! Big Goian just seemed to stroll the game and he seems like a real steal of a signing.

A lot of respect has to go to Allan McGregor also, as much as we’d have all loved to strangle him at half time after what he would agree was a howler, he had to come back out and stand in front of torrents of abuse. That must take nerves of steel to do, from chants of disgusting accusations in his personal life to the hurling of rolled up paper at him. Greegs though proved why he’s Rangers and Scotland’s number one, by keeping a second half clean sheet and standing back and admiring his team mates rip their opponents apart!

Super Ally has come under some harsh criticism in his short spell as manager, no doubt triggered by the two terrible European results. What people haven’t sat back and noticed is, Ally has lead Rangers to 4 points clear at the summit of the table, won 6 consecutive matches conceding only 2 goals and has now comfortably beat Celtic in his first Old firm match. I think it’s now time to accept any doubt about his ability to manage Glasgow Rangers has been wrong and support him even when times might get hard. We cried for 4 seasons at Walter to attack Celtic, yesterday Ally done that and reaped the rewards! Now we have this lead in the run for 4 in a row, it’s time for us fans to now support the team rather than pick out the negatives.

I am going to finish up with a few comments about the fans yesterday, as we were absolutely superb if I don’t say so myself! Even when we fell behind we sang our hearts out in support of our team and you saw that support take effect on the pitch, we really were that cliché of the 12^th man. A special mention must go out to the Union Bears and Blue Order, the noise and colour in that corner was an amazing sight.  I’ve never hugged or been hugged by so many men in my life, but the joy of the events that unfolded at Ibrox Stadium yesterday will go with me to the grave.

WE ARE THE PEOPLE

The Rangers Haters

This week has been eventful to say the least, with the closure of the transfer window last week a lot of attention has been on the £9 million bid for Nikicia Jelavic and the questioning of was it a legitimate bid or, was it made up to cover the fact we made no deadline day signings. The answer? We'll never know I don't think, but to keep hold of Jela has been a massive boost for the season, considering we know Leicester City did put in a £6.5 million bid. Now over in the east end of the city, the usual was going down. Obsessing over everything Rangers. Peter Lawwell sat in a press conference and claimed they had received a bid for Gary Hooper for the sum of £29 million. This was to mock Rangers’ claim of an unknown bidder putting in the £9 million Jelavic bid. What puzzles me is why? Why come out and make these comments, when we’ve just had Government meetings about the tensions between OF fans, players and officials. It seems very unprofessional from my point of view and following John Reids comments at their AGM last year I think it’s safe to say the board of Celtic Football Club need to learn to keep their mouths closed and start doing some talking on the pitch.

This week saw another fans clash with The Odious Creep himself Graham Speirs. It’s not a secret in Scottish Football or Press that Speirs has a hatred of everything Rangers FC. The OC outdone himself this week though by claiming that reference “hun” used to describe Rangers fans by opposing support, was not sectarian. His backing of his comment was that Rangers fans called themselves it, so it couldn’t be sectarian.  Now, I’ve supported Rangers since I can remember, and never in my time at Ibrox, away or abroad, NEVER has a fellow Ranger called or referred to me as a “hun”. Spiers next back up was he heard Andy Cameron use it. A man who has been disowned by Rangers fans for exactly that and also his apologist views about our support. The OC made this claim at Holyrood Parliament, now I don’t know and never will know, why this one sided, Rangers hater was anywhere near a sectarian meeting with Government officials. What has he ever achieved to constitute this, except lie after lie and bias reporting towards our club and also the selective hearing when it comes to sectarian singing during football matches in Scotland! Another football pundit who attended the meeting was Pat Nevin, now as much as I have a strong dislike for this man, he has to be commended for being the only journalist/pundit in Scotland, to speak out against the Terrorist  glorifying that goes unchallenged week after week at Parkhead. A question I’d like to ask Speirs is, how come Nevin can hear it, Sky can hear it, opposing fans can hear it, but when he attends Celtic Park he’s seems to develop a hearing deficiency? Come on Graham, don’t the fans who are on the receiving end of your lies and bile, week after week, deserve that much?

Now the latest statement against Rangers FC comes from the editor of online fans mag Scotzine. Rangers today announced they will be paying tribute to two fans who were crushed at an OF game in 1961. After the release of this statement, Andy Muirheard disgustingly claimed, Rangers were only doing this to intimidate Celtic fans inability to remain quiet and show respect during a minutes silence. I’m beginning to wonder if all clubs planning a silence of respect need to run it past Celtic FC to make sure it fits in with their agendas. Why is it they think the whole world evolves round them? I mean after all, this is the same team who postponed an OF game for a fringe players death and played the weekend after club Legend Tommy Burns dies. Simply because they had many injuries for the January game and they saw fit to postpone it. My opinion is that Muirhead is worried his beloved team are going to show themselves up for the evil vile scum that they are and disturb the silence. Now I said when I started this blog I would keep it simply football, but when people like this are out to get my club week in and out with there lies, then a I feel I have to speak out in any which way I can to defend myself and fellow fans. As for Muirhead and Speirs, I doubt you’ll ever read this blog but the Bears are on to you both and your downfall is imminent.

WATP

Time to rAlly!

I understand everyone must be angry and frustrated at the Maribor result, as I am I. But the over reaction towards the players and the management team over the last 24 hours has been nothing short of disgusting. I'm not trying to hide from last night or deny it wasn't a disasterous result, but at these times especially so early in Ally's reign I feel we should be supporting him and the team through it so we can kick on in the SPL. Let's face it, football in Scotland is on a downward spiral and has been for years, but through this time Rangers FC has carried this countries co-effcient practically on our own. So for the media to call us failures and our result embarrassing is a disgrace when you think how bad it could have been without the efforts of our team the last 3 or 4 seasons. Kaunas aside obviously.

Last night we had 23 attempts on goal and 17 on target, Jelavic and Lafferty could have had a hat-trick each. How can anyone blame Ally McCoist for the defeat with stats like that? The players have to take the blame, because of the chances we didn't take. The last three SPL games we have looked comfortable and conceded no goals in three away matches, all of which are usually three very difficult places to get results, but Ally has strolled them. To judge his managerial start on the European results I think is unfair. The league and 4 in a row is the one we all want at  the end of the day, and if we continue our current domestic form I have no doubt in my mind we can achieve this. It's time for us Bears to get behind our manager and help him lead us to title glory, leave the criticising and in house fighting to the dark side.

Looking on to our next game on Sunday, Rangers must not fall victim to the dreaded European hangover and hold on to our lead at the summit of the league. It will be a tough game as it always is when Aberdeen stroll into town, as no matter what form they are in we all know this is one of there four cup final's a season. Although with Steven Naismith back and Aleandjro Bedoya likley to make his debut, I can't see past a Gers win. One thing that has concerned me and will do on Sunday, is the lack of confidence we seem to have playing at Ibrox. Three draws so far isn't the type of form we're used to seeing there, but again I have every confidence the team will find the net soon and the floodgates will open.

I'll finish up with the point behind my title if I haven't already made it clear throughout, it's time the fans started getting behind the team rather than writing us off four league games in. I know last night was hard to swallow but like every good Rangers team have done, we'll stand up dust ourselves down and move on to the next opponent! As of Sunday our aim is to bring title number 55 home, and it's also time we helped Ally through what has been a difficult couple of days and start supporting the best team in the World!

We Are The People.

First Blog

As this is my first blog and I'm just learning the ropes I hope you all go easy on me. I feel after the events of the past week my first post should be about new signings from USA and the stir caused by Mr Carlos Bocanegra. Now not Carlos or Rangers themselves caused this, but a certain club across the other side of the city and there constant hate of everything Rangers did. Nk Maribor picked up on rumours from the dark side that maybe Bocanegra hadn't been properly registered for the 1st leg tie in Slovenia and put in an official complaint to UEFA. Today however, Uefa have said that Rangers have no case to answer and that everything was done according to the rules.


Now Celtic fans, can I ask you what is your motive against Rangers? You are concentrating on everything we do and shout about how p*sh we are. When your own club have won 2 domestic trophies in 2 years and coming of the back of an embarrasing home defeat to St Johnstone, shouldn't you be looking and worrying about matters a little more close to home? This week fans of Celtic have written to UEFA to complain about the same matter involving Bocanegra when they have a tough tie in Switzerland to get through, but again all there focus and effort seems to be towards The Rangers. In some ways you pity them, and it is quite sad. Their own Messiah Neil Lennon is even having a go at them for there abuse at players and says he's sick of it. Anyway my point in this here, is to say to the Celtic fans, you deal with your own house before knocking on the doors of others and come back when you have won or achieved something worth shouting about.


On to Rangers' newest signing Alejandro Bedoya now. When I heard we signed Bocanegra I knew we were getting an established defender as I had seen him play a lot at Fulham. With Bedoya I know very little, I have see some good reviews from American press but never actually seen the lad play. He said this week if he could emulate half of what Claudio Reyna achieved he would be happy. Maybe the fans would to, and I hope he is a hit for us. Now that both players have sealed visa's we might see them on Sunday at Ibrox against Aberdeen, although I would predict Carlos will feature on Thursday against Maribor. That game might come to soon for Bedoya as I don't know how much training he's done, although with Naisy suspended and a depleted squad already he might make the Bench.


Last but not least our other signing from down under Matt McKay is not being so lucky with the required documents and might have to wait another week to make his Rangers debut. Matt is another player I had seen literally nothing of until Australia played Wales a few weeks back. On that game it looked like Mckay was a decent box to box midfielder with a good eye for a pass and hopefully adds an attacking edge to The Rangers and we rid ourselves of this defensive approach we have played the last few years.


To finish of my first post, I'm going to write a bit about Mr Craig Whyte. Over the last few months more and more were beginning to doubt if we had the cash at all, after the Goodwillie saga. What people weren't taking on board I don't think was what Ally and Whyte said at the start, Rangers will not be held ransom over any player and we have our price. Unfortunalety Stephen Thompson at Dundee United tried exactly that. And at the end of the day led us on a wild goose chase as he was never going to sell Goodie to us. In the end he moved to Blackburn Rovers and we moved on. Since then we have got all our first team regulars tied down to contracts and made some tidy additions in between. So in my opinion, opinion after a disappointing defeat to Malmo yes, we've only gone from strength to strength and heres looking forward to Ally making it 4 in a row.