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I, for one, will certainly defer to your experiences that I don't have but, for what it's worth, I do believe that Rangers have tried to build bridges in recent years (hence the appointment of Stewart Robertson rather than a more aggressive personality) and haven't got far in terms of said aim. In fact, when it comes to the media and, indeed, in the Scottish political arena, stakeholders have doubled down on their approach to us and we've all seen the content aimed at Morelos in particular which goes beyond the constructive criticism that player has merited on occasion. Meanwhile, politician after politician from councillor level to the upper levels of Scottish Government have not treated Rangers in the same way they would other football clubs. Indeed, we only need look at the reaction to this appointment, where DG's religious and political beliefs are talked about more than his skillset which seems fairly good to this layman. You say we don't know the identity of other club's spokespeople which is a fair comment but that's because other clubs don't suffer from the same scrutiny that we do - which is often unfairly negative and certainly without balance. At the very basic level, there wouldn't even be discussion of another club's change of PR, never mind drilling down to their personal preferences which, should be unrelated to the job. As such, why not go on the offensive for a change? Why not stand our ground? Why not put ourselves first? Ultimately the guy could be good or could be bad - we just don't know. I'd simply suggest we give him time for us to find out. But, one thing I'll guarantee in any case, there will be no building of bridges towards us, no matter who is our PR.

PR has a reactive and proactive element to it. For the proactive side I feel a large part of it should be about rebuilding the influence a club the size and importance of Rangers should have. That needs to start with the SFA and the SPFL and UEFA. We should also look to have very strong relationships with the main sponsors, potential sponsors and broadcast/media partners for the various leagues and competitions we play in, ultimately they hold a lot of clout so should be a main focus for us. Follow the money, always follow the money. Secondly we should be looking to at least punch our weight politically and in greater civic society. That will require forming relationships with individuals and organisations within those realms. We’ve not been good at that for a while now, we need a very different strategy to what has gone before to see any improvements in this. In my experience politicians hate surprises and like to be be seen to have influence and be in the know. Facilitate that as much as we can, build relationships on a personal level and on a corporate level, no matter how unpopular that might be with some supporters. Thirdly the media. Whether we like it or not they influence and shape opinion. Anyone who thinks there are no Rangers supporters in the Scottish media is very wrong. There are also a number of people who are not Rangers supporters but are professional enough to do their jobs well. Without the media it is harder to build influence with sponsors for example. So somewhere along the way compromise needs to be found. Reactive PR generally requires excellent relationships with the media. For a football club negative PR tends to come from player or supporter behaviour. Having the ability to manage or control to some extent how that’s reported is essential. I think it's all very well keeping Rangers bloggers and podders onside, and they do have influence with the support, however whether we like it or not mainstream media hold far more sway with sponsors and governing bodies, we need them, for now at least. That’s my 20 minute PR strategy. Edit - to achieve that you need people who know the landscape and know the personalities in it. Ideally they've done some, or all of it before somewhere else. These people exist.

the new PR team

Look, let me be clear, I have nothing against David Graham and genuinely wish him every success in the new role, and I mean that. If my comments on this thread have been read as criticism of him then let me apologise and clarify. This is a messageboard for fans to get things off their chest and waste some time, I'm under no illusions at all that I have any influence, nor do I want any. I, perhaps mistakenly, view this is place as a chat among friends (or at least acquaintances). I think Rangers PR strategy has been flawed for a long time and I'm not convinced our PR strategy is changing in the direction I think it should. I expect the head of PR or Communications (or whatever the title is) will have input into our strategy but ultimately it'll be decided by our board and they'll be tasked with delivering it. For that reason I think David Graham has been chosen because the board feel he'll be good at delivering the strategy they've decided on. So, to be clear, it's the strategy, not the individual, I have issue with. As I've said in both posts before this one I expect the strategy will be popular with a good percentage of the support. The replies on this thread already testify to that. No one likes us, we don't care, is, for me, a terrible PR strategy, but it's what I think we're going for. I could be wrong, I'm simply guessing like everyone else. Again, I genuinely wish David Graham all the best.

Lifted from FF, looks like a good website for Rangers matches, I've not tried it yet. https://footballia.net/teams/rangers-fc

One thing for DG to get his teeth into is the possibe award of this season´s title to Celtic without having completed the fixture list. The aim being to put the asterisk in as bold and large a print possible print alongside it and push a general acceptance that morally it doesn´t count as a ninth consectutive title #buyingtime

buster’s back. No bad thing. We all need to have our opinions tested. He needs to get shot of that bigoted avatar, though. No he doesn’t.

Your expectations and base of your argument are completely wrong You’ve come to a conclusion and stand point because you think something will happen and be our strategy Well it isn’t and you are wrong

I don't see the PR function being used for building bridges with other clubs. That's done at Director and coach/manager level, and if we wanted to do that we could with the people we've got now. The PR function can be used to build bridges, or at least influence, with media, politicians, supporters, local community, UEFA and other groups and organisations with the ability to help the club. But, as Frankie, and others, have eloquently explained, there's not much appetite for that among a good percentage of the support. This is not the first time I've held an unpopular opinion on Gersnet!!

Unless the league games can be completed(which now looks extremely doubtful) then I cannot see any alternative to null & void.

I do believe Peter has blinked first. A couple of weeks ago, he set a couple of hares running. Both Broonaldo and the Lurgan Bigot claimed the title, demanded they be crowned Champions, "and rightly so". Neil asked if Liverpool would be denied? Peter expected the Holicom on message Journos to run with it, build the momentum and pile on the pressure. Events intervened, people are perishing throughout Europe. It would appear some Journos, or their Editors see the bigger picture. Yesterday, an influential Sellik website was floating an idea(Peter's idea) that Sellik would be open to soft loans for other SPFL Premiership clubs. Rangers and Hearts would be excluded because they were null and voiders. I suspect information filtered through last evening that other clubs were not for the much needed finance if it meant losing their independent voice? Peter has to get this back on track and knew his intervention was required. The medical crisis continues to deepen and Sellik's demands and claims become more shrill. Liverpool deny themselves such self-serving embarrassing nonsense. Talking of Liverpool, ra Sellik have decided to show solidarity with those enduring the coronavirus by playing and broadcasting the Kop's anthem on ground screens and club website this coming weekend. 'You'll never walk alone', a song about suicide from the musical Carousel, is the message of green'n'grey solidarity. Liverpool's silence becomes more dignified. Next, Peter will demand both Maxwell and Doncaster lead the singing at the weekend.

The fact that we are talking about whether Orange Lodge members can marry Catholics, or whether Catholics can participate in the Free Masons suggests to me that this appointment could be more hassle than it's worth. We have just launched an Everyone and Anyone campaign - so for me it is hypocritical for David Graham to be part of this when he is a member of a group who openly discriminate against another group.

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You're a cheap date compo ?

Please allow me to remind Gersnetters of BBC Scotland's mantra for three years : "Hearts are a model club".

He's one step away from offering an outright bribe in return for the league flag.

Stendel has offered to work for free. Very magnanimous of him. Bravo

If they downsize to Junior level that would be ideal?

All jokes aside I think that it is a sensible move. Any club that has a lot of empty seats should group supporters together in an attempt to improve the atmosphere. If Aberdeen had any sense it would combine this with larger away allocations for Rangers and Celtic.

At board level, I think unsurprisingly the biggest current issue is finance. On the face of it, I´d agree regards the appointment being made in an effort to foster seige mentality with ST renewals in mind. Five years ago was the time to start building at least some bridges but when Paul Murray talked of this it was loudly dismissed by a largely angry support. Ever since we´ve been going one way into a lonely corner with a political situation that has put the tin lid on it. I agree with pretty much all you say about David Graham. I hope he´s a miracle worker at what he´s been hired to do, he´ll need to be very good just to PR himself into a position where he starts actually working for the club. Good luck to him. For years now, my impression has been that a lot of the attitude you see in social media from our support is taking us to a place where our enemy are happy to see us to go. The board have to a degree, been riding on this wave. In the short to medium term it´s helped with finance and if we win the League title next season then, no problem....war footing but happy....the potentially BIG problem is if we don´t.

I don't think that will necessarily be the strategy at all and, with the greatest of respect (and I respect your opinion more than most), I think you're making unfair assumptions based on the guy's background. I think we all wanted a change from Traynor and the baggage he undoubtedly brought. And, to a certain extent, I agree with you that moving from him to a former DUP councillor is hardly something that was going to be ignored or applauded by those that scrutinise our club on a daily basis. I'm also to be convinced that the guy has the relevant experience and gravitas for the job. It's fair to say I'm sceptical. However, it's also fair to say the guy speaks well whenever I've heard him and certainly doesn't come across as the bigot some are inferring. I'd also argue that just because he's clearly a fan and from a loyalist background, he's automatically going to yield to the hardliners in our support. Perhaps his life experiences may make him more inclined to be inclusive or to understand one-sided politics don't work? Certainly he'll understand what's it's like to be in the trenches and that's where our club have been for the better part of 10 years. Right now, we just don't know how good he's going to be so, whilst it's entirely fair to speculate on a forum such as this, the reaction to his appointment tells its own story in terms of where bridges cannot be built; no matter the builder.

Now we'll see if our new man has the minerals to take on Lawwell.

I take my hat off to the author of this. If any students of Creative Writing seek an example of unctuous, sanctimonious, and hypocritical prose, look no further. Nailed.

Appointing someone with this background suggests to me this is a war footing. It signals no attempt is being made to speak to anyone but our own support, and even then perhaps not all of them. I suspect that will be popular with a number of vocal and influential supporters. With a share offer mooted it probably makes sense to to keep the support largely onside and encourage a siege mentality. For me though this smacks of short-termism and will not address the very real PR issues we have as a club.

Ah yes, the DUP, they're just PR masters. I'm disappointed at the direction we're clearly going in.

I didn't realise the top tier was open. ?