When I received the article of fan loyalty (Finding Better Things To Do) by Charlie Horse it got me thinking.
There’s a slim volume (only 61 pages) on my bookshelves called The Destruction of Loyalty - written by Anthony Burton in 1976 for the Foreign Affairs Research Institute. It concerned the undermining of the West’s armed forces by Soviet propaganda.
The phrase has always stuck in my mind with regard to politics - in fact, you might argue that the behaviour of successive British governments with regard to Northern Ireland was a textbook case of trying to sicken an entire community and get them to give up on what they hold dear. Which brings us to Rangers.
It’s rare to see a football club - or at least it’s transient directors - so despicably at war with it’s own fans. Legal threats, physical threats and demonisation have all been employed either directly by them, their paid lickspittles or by their admirers to grind down opposition. They don’t want their comfortable little plans, and access to mountains of cash, interfered with.
We’ve seen one stage villain after another make the trip up the Marble Staircase with integrity dripping from every pore only to have the mask of respectability ripped off on the way out the door with their briefcases stuffed with the proceeds of a pay-off. If you and I behaved like most of the directors in the last three years we’d die of shame, these people have no shame.
It’s all about dollars and cents, that’s their God, that’s what matters to them. The idea that those who preside over this debacle are in it ‘to help’ is laughable.
By their own behaviour the current Board have lost the faith of many fans. Not only of the 10 to 15 thousand who didn’t renew season tickets or who are otherwise refusing to part with hard cash - but very many season ticket holders who renewed under protest and in fear that not to do so would mean the end for the club. And has there ever been a more shameful site than a director threatening fans on the steps of Ibrox that the club will die if people don’t renew?
This season should have been by far the most exciting of “The Journey” - the prospect of returning to the top tier, the participation of Hibs and Hearts, most of the opposition being full-time teams, etc. Instead seasons ticket sales have nose-dived. All because of the current Board and those who direct them.
The problem we face with this Board is now not just for the immediate future but in the long-term damage they have inflicted - and will continue to inflict.
They and the faceless and nameless clique of shareholders who control them have to face facts - their behaviour is now crippling the club not just for the next few years but for decades to come. Rangers will only recover if they go, all of them.
ALTERNATIVES TO ASHLEY
You may care to invest in Black and Red shirts or scarves - the profits from which will be used to buy Rangers shares for fans.
http://www.redandblackshirt.com
http://redandblackscarf.co.uk