January and Rangers so far..

Ranger’s manager Ally McCoist has confirmed Rangers have made two moves in the January transfer window. Estonian right back Ernaar Jaager has accepted a week, long trial with the club, beginning on Monday. Jaager is currently unattached, although has been rated at £1.5 million by his former employers.
The club have also approached St Johnstone’s Spanish forward Fransico Sandaza about signing a pre-contract agreement which would see the 29 year old join in the summer for free. Although McCoist refuses to rule out the possibility of the striker joining in this window. This however would be the decision of St Johnstone and manager Steve Lomas.

Rangers have been linked with Hibernian forward Garry O’Connor, Spanish forward Javi Guerra and Arsenal youngster Benik Afobe. Asked about these rumours McCoist has said only Guerra has been looked at. The club are not interested in O’Connor and Benik Afobe is currently injured so the club won’t be approaching Arsenal about a possible loan move.

The future of top scorer Nikica Jelavic still remains in the balance. Jelavic has had a lot of rumour surrounding his future in recent weeks having been linked with moves to the English Premiership most notable Liverpool.  McCoist said today though that the club have yet to receive any inquiries, never mind bids, for the Croatian hitman.

McCoist also confirmed US midfielder Maurice Edu was subject to two bids from French side Sochaux. Both however, where rejected and Edu has said he is happy and enjoying life in Glasgow with the SPL Champions. Edu has been a top performer in the first half of the season and Rangers are adamant he’s going nowhere.

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!