Apologies first off for mixing quotes from John Steinbeck and Lewis Carroll in the title of this article.
One of the most depressing things about the last few years has been the ability of Rangers fans to eat themselves alive whilst the club was burning down around them.
For instance, you may not have supported the Blue Knights, you may thought them inept, you may have thought they should have chipped in a few more million - but the vitriol some have spewed against them is a clear sign that many in our support have lost any compass with which to position themselves.
While Ibrox was in crisis some acted - some sat meek as mice. While some spent months in hard graft others impersonated cabbages in a field.
Let’s suspend my own personal support for the Blue Knights and just ask a simple question - “Are you really saying you would prefer your club to be owned by non-Rangers fans?”
I’m not even asking whether its right or wrong, legally or morally. I’m just pointing out that it’s incredible that a club with around half a million people in its' databases, with supposedly 1.2million fans in Scotland and around 5 million worldwide, isn’t owned by people who actually support it.
They didn’t need to be the Blue Knights, the floor was open.
Instead we had the incredible sight of the club lurching towards oblivion and some spent their time slaughtering both the Blue Knights and fan groups trying to help - not offering advice or contrary opinion - but only destructiveness. More concerned for their own egos and imagining that internet hardman acts do anything more than raise rolling eyes amongst those unfortunate enough to witness the spectacle.
And so instead of getting behind the only bid by Bluenoses we had sections of the support welcome Bill Ng and Bill Miller as potential owners despite knowing nothing of either gentlemen or their ability to finance the club other than what the tabloids told us. We even had head honchos of one group tell all and sundry they would rather see the club go under than be controlled by the Blue Knights.
If you fail to believe that we could have a club owned and operated by Bluenoses then what does that say about your faith in your fellow fans - with the size of our support it should be a no-brainer. Saying that is not to dismiss or disregard a lot of what Green and his group have done, it’s just a simple statement of fact.
Having seen some of the Blue Knights and their supporters at work over the last few years I have found them to be the sort of people in whom I could place absolute trust - in some cases despite my previous opinion of them - and whose motivation was only the safety and prosperity of the club they love.
Of course, Bluenoses are not immune from stupidity - but I always think when in doubt it’s best to work from first principles - and Bluenoses by and large will do what is best for the club rather than for themselves as individuals.
Sadly, we now have a state of affairs - brought on mainly I think by the trauma of the sale of the club to Whyte and it’s aftermath - where some now use the term “Rangers man” as a term of abuse oblivious to the damage such cancerous vitriol is doing. It creates the atmosphere where belief in fellow fans is damaged and leaves the way open for others to run Rangers not merely “as a business” but as “just a business” bereft of any feeling of uniqueness.
In this regard we have the bizarre situation where fans are openly talking of the Green Camp and the Rangers Men on the board of the club and backing those with no sentimental affection for the club. We really need to look at ourselves and sober up.