It’s over 25 years since Follow Follow fanzine first hit the streets. One of the main reasons it was started was that we wanted to address media bias - I, for instance, saw no portrayal of the club or the fans that matched the reality i experienced as a fan going home and away. Instead we were served a diet of hate and bias.
The hate agenda costs us millions - in commercial opportunities, in new fans - the climate has been created in which there is massive cultural pressure on people not to become Rangers fans or financially support the club. It has to be challenged properly.
Years of neglect under David Murray - ‘we’re above this’, the Dignified Silence - have if anything, made the poison worse as it has been allowed to mature and take on new forms rather being strangled at birth.
We start this season with a blank sheet of paper. There are some modes of behaviour by the media and governing bodies or public figures which should now be effectively outlawed. It’ll take time as we try to claw back territory that has been abandoned for decades.
I recall one FF contributor telling me of his arguments with Bill Leckie - he felt he had backed Leckie into a corner and then Leckie came back with ‘why don’t you ask your club if they are unhappy with what I’ve written and what they are going to do about it?’ This argument was over at that point, and both knew it.
The fans will have to play their part in this and frankly some will not be up to it. Some fans will be happy to see the campaign fail - taking on the the tasks means not getting your own way 100% of the time, it means living in the real world and being practical. It’s a great comfort blanket to be negative and snipe or declare yourself unimpressed. That’s fine - but when it takes on the hysterical tone it often does on the internet - “this is the worstest thing ever since the last worstest thing” - then it’s as much a problem as the haters.
We’ll just have to leave those so minded to content themselves with failure and negativity. But let’s not kid ourselves - it’s usually a smokescreen for inarticulacy disguised as militancy. It’s insincere militancy because we all know its an excuse for doing nothing.
Things will not be perfect. Get used to that - it’s real life. Some won’t like Jim Traynor being in charge of the media arm of the club. Over the piece in recent years however his behaviour while at the Record and making sure stories about Whyte saw the light of day, leaving the BBC, leaving Rangers once he realised what Green & Co were up to, and his subsequent actions during the campaign to removed the Easdales et al mean that he has more than proved his worth. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, he’s mercurial, he’s not a Rangers fan - but he’s done far more than many who call themselves Rangers fans for our club.
Traynor will, of course, have to be on his game - we can’t ask for the media behave if our press and public relations functions aren’t up to the job. Long-winded articles on the club website after the horse has bolted are no use. It has to be pro-active in all areas and seen to be so. The task is absolutely massive.
Personally, I’d have prefered to see the person in charge of media made Director of Communications and given a seat on the Board of the club and given the ability to intervene in every department of the club which interacts with the press and public - I think it is that vital. However, what I want may not be what others want and if after debate in the Boardroom they have decided otherwise then so be it - it can’t be an excuse for throwing my rattle out of the pram.
Other people have a different view. Ho hum - get used to it.
At a very basic level we need to define what it is we are trying to sell - we need to popularise and promote the story of the founding of the club. We need to define for ourselves what Rangers is - not continually be on the defensive or give into stereotypes.
We need to turn up the heat on the haters. It’s not healthy to try to micromanage debate or ban everything - but with the means at it’s disposal the club can slowly turn the screw and squeeze out the haters and their poisonous message. You won't get results overnight - you’re trying to change behaviour that has been tolerated for decades - the haters are certain to resist. But what you must make absolutely clear is that over time behaviour will change or else access to the club, players, etc will be choked off both for the individual and the entities they work for.
BBC Scotland will be a particularly hard nut to crack - firstly, its not a commercial organisation. Secondly, it has massive resources in terms of budget and personnel. And lastly, the anti-Rangers hate culture is so ingrained in there that they themselves will find it difficult to take any fightback seriously and imagine they can simply tough it out.
BBC Scotland, despite being a public service broadcaster often acts like a fanzine where football is concerned. Behaviour is tolerated which would be unacceptable anywhere else - it’s a safe haven for the likes of Spiers whose work over the years will be rewarded with TV appearances and hosting radio shows (sometimes not connected with football) and punditry precisely to encourage, protect and reward him.
The BBC has also been a platform on which the wildest ravings of Celtic message boards are presented as legitimate points of view - hence the repeated appearance of the term Hun, the use of the word Sevco and the deranged promotion of the idea that Rangers are “a new club.” Because of it’s power on the web, on TV and radio the BBC is a major boil that needs to be burst.
I’ve no doubt things will improve - but we as fans need to support these moves to improve and not go off the rails at the first setback. We’ve seen that there is an element in the support wounded by the defeats of their heroes Whyte, Green and Easdale - they back Ashley and his cohorts - in fact they’ve backed everyone apart from the Rangers fans who wanted to protect the club.
We want progress. We don’t want the obliteration of reasoned debate or the ability to hold a contrary opinion. If there are reasons for certain actions (or inaction) then they need to be reasons and not excuses. Real change requires the application of resources in a profession way, backed up by legal muscle when needed and by the fans using their power to back up the club.