Whether many of us like to admit it or not, we were spoilt under David Murray’s reign. He harnessed the potential and for a while - certainly the Nine In A Row years - most onfield problems could be solved by investing in a decent player or two.
Despite the myths Rangers lived within their means during NIAR - there may have been losses but they were barely worth talking about when compared to what came later.
Like all fans supporting a team on a roll we took our eyes off the ball concerning the culture of the club. Where once fans protests changed managers and policies problems were now solved by money. Little did we realise how much the bonds between players and fans and “the club” were being broken. Somewhere it moved from being our club to being the Murray’s club - the policies the club pursued were decided on one man’s whim.
As we were so successful the prevailing attitude inside Ibrox was simple - you don’t like it then go, there’s plenty more to take your place.
People only make great sacrifices when there is a community to defend. Sadly with Rangers many of us became disillusioned, club ‘politics’ became distance from the punters and many lost interest in what was happening - when you had one man holding 91.8% of the shares that was hardly surprising. People get worn down.
Somewhere along the line the culture of protest went into hibernation. Peculiar for a club supported mostly by people from a PROTESTant background! That was certainly the case - when the FF fanzine started to really question Murray’s stewardship were we looked on askance by a section of the support. But we were right.
When the crisis came with Whyte’s scam unravelling very few of our highly paid former players rallied to the cause. Sandy Jardine towers above the rest - some of us might have had disagreements with him over specifics but in the main he was magnificent. If only we had more like him.
Honourable mentions must also go to Bomber and the Goalie who did their thing - they may have struggled like many of us to comprehend the scale of the serials scams being perpetrated on the club but they got up and did their bit and we should be grateful to them for doing that when so many others remain silent. Some didn’t care and others hedged their bets.
Certainly Sandy, Bomber and the Goalie stand heads and shoulders those players who evacuated the club in order to fill their own bank accounts when they could easily have stayed and let the club benefit from the transfer fees.
But even those three guys are not enough.
If there is one person in whom the vast and overwhelming majority would believe and follow it is Walter Smith. In trying to do the best for the club Walter has had his faith in human nature badly damaged by the behaviour of those who were on the Board at Ibrox during his time and the antics of those with controlling interests in the background. I doubt he will return any time soon to the battlefield and in any event will only do so once he has a team around him he can trust on and who are incredibly well-funded.
What does that mean for the rest of us? It means we have to rely on our own strengths. Whatever the failures or the complaints of the past we have organisations open to us which if the members participate in and support can make a huge difference.
During the run-up to the club AGM those seeking positive change worked well together and as we say at the anti-Spiv card displays the vast majority of Bears in the Stadium supported them.
There is of course the Woe Is Me attitude of criticism and nay-saying that drags down the West of Scotland in particular. For the most part I think it’s lack of personal confidence.
Hence the clamour for The Next Big Thing or the Man On The White Horse to sweep in telling us they have worked out how to split the atom and deluge us with cash.
Little guys like us can only rely on one thing to protect and promote our interests - organisation.
What we need is the ability to stick to a plan instead of throwing our collective hands up shrieking in horror at the first setback. What we need is the ability to abide by agreed policies, rules, constitutions, votes and all those things that efficient organisations take for granted. The problem is in us and it’s up to us to sort it.
The potions of the snake oil salesmen - under whatever guise - are no solution.
The Messiah isn’t coming.