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I've a Romanian friend who I've got to know fairly well over the years. We found ourselves talking about politics one day and I asked about her memories of living under Ceaușescu and his hated Communist regime prior to the fall of the Iron Curtain. I knew what had happened to him but I was curious what happened to the thousands of others who were party members, supporters and politicians after the revolution. She simply shrugged and said "they became democrats", the same people stayed in power they just did it under a different name. As a Glaswegian I can honestly say I've seen no discernible difference in my local politicians since the SNP replaced Labour as the dominant party in the city. They are basically the same, they just have a different colour rosette. When Labour ran the city and the country there weren't many of their politicians pinning Rangers colours to the mast, but there seemed to be plenty happy to sport green and white and a surprisingly high number of Thistle supporters. Now the SNP run the city and the country it's the same thing. I don't have a particular problem with Murdo Fraser's article other than he's a politician himself and, for me, is clearly hoping it might garner him, and his party, some support. Judging by this thread he might be right too. I'm fairly cynical of his motives though. I don't think he's hoping a couple of SNP MSPs will 'out themselves' as bluenoses, or that Bute House will arrange a civic reception for Gerrard. I worry this is simply another salvo in the ongoing 'culture wars' that make up modern politics these days. In the end there's probably no other subject Fraser could have written about that would have created as much response, that's a very sad inditement on our society currently. In my experience nobody is going to have their political mindset changed by posters on a Rangers message board and so I have no intention of trying to alter any of my fellow posters deeply held political views. I have very few deeply held political views as it happens. In the last 20 or so years that I've posted on various Rangers related message boards the lack of political support the club and fans seem to have is a fairly regular topic. I actually do think it's an important topic. We all know that there are Rangers supporters in the SNP, just as there were in Scottish Labour back in the day, however they largely hide it. For me that's what needs addressed, a proper understanding of why openly supporting Rangers seems to be politically toxic and has been for a long time now. For work and now family reasons I'm a regular visitor to Ireland. Although I lived in Northern Ireland when based there I visited the Republic a lot and was initially wary saying I supported Rangers when conversation turned to football. I'd quickly discovered that certain assumptions were made about me when my football allegiances were known. It was assumed I was an Orangeman, I was a Loyalist and I was a bigot. I realised that most people there had never actually met a Rangers supporter, they'd a stereotype in their head from footage of rioting in Loyalist Belfast or Portadown, a basic understanding of the Glasgow football/religion split and perhaps some overheard song lyrics during a live match on Sky. After a few months I realised I was as much to blame for this stereotype as the disaffected youth covering his face with a red, white and blue bar scarf as he stones the police during a contentious parade in north Belfast. I'm not an Orangeman, or a Loyalist and I try not to be a bigot and yet I'm a huge Rangers fan. So I stopped down playing my football support and let people make their own minds up about Rangers supporters based on their interactions with me instead. Like supporters of all clubs the Rangers support is broad and complicated. We all agree on very little, we hold different views on most subjects and, I believe, for the majority of our support who we want to win a football match has little bearing on who we vote for. I also understand that for some people supporting Rangers is an extension of their political belief system. For them it's an intrinsic part of their identity and belonging. That's fair enough and I don't get to tell them they're wrong to hold those views. At the same time they don't get to tell people they're wrong for holding different ones. I enjoyed my time living in Northern Ireland, it's a beautiful part of the world and I found the people there friendly and welcoming. I didn't care for their politics or politicians though. The politics of identity were dominant there then and remain so. I see shadows of that in the rest of the UK now. The rise of nationalism isn't just confined to Scotland. In my opinion Murdo Fraser's party are nationalist now, just a different type of nationalist. That's my political opinion and I don't expect anyone else to share it simply because we support the same football team.

I used to be reluctant to fork out money for the fairground tat that used to line the shelves of Rangers shops. While not perfect, the improvement in quality of Castore products has been huge and I absolutely can't understand the continuing negativity from a small section of the fanbase. Don't like it, don't by it, but stop running down what has by any measure been a good move to contract with Castore.

It's a little known fact that Lionel Messi has an obsession with deepest, darkness Lanarkshire. He is a huge supporter of the Gow. Never a day goes bye without Lionel indulging his fascination with Lesmahagow. Lionel is determined, his next appearance will not be the Bernabeu, it will be the Bernagow. Messi knows football in it's purest form occurs in Lanarkshire and is excited at the thought of playing out his career in the Buckfast League. You heard it here first.

Genuinely worried about this game tomorrow. Just hope we don’t have a hangover from Tuesday. Simply not like us to concede two goals like we did the other night. And I do worry about us up front without Morelos. I’m not convinced Itten and Sakala have the same number of goals in them as Alfie

I'm not sure many blokes could handle so many boring, inane questions, week after week. A weekly injury update announcement would save a lot of time and would be more informative.

Nobody is saying that you must think the same as everyone else, but you basically made an unsubstantiated claim that he's a liar, presumably about issues that aren't contained in the article. If you disagree with what he says in the article then do so, but being abusive about the guy, when he's being supportive of the club, suggests that you do want to talk about politics and not football.

It'd be better if people could focus on the content of the article, rather than getting sidetracked about the political hue of the author. Fraser is pretty much spot on in what he writes and that would be no different if he was a Labour, Lib Dem or Green MSP.

Is it me or has Stevie G been quite tetchy this week during his pressers? Love the fact that he calls Dundee Utd Dundee.

Yeah, tickets in basket but no option to amend basket content (yet) which is frustrating and you still can't speak to anyone in the TO by phone. With the stadium numbers now back to capacity, Rangers need to get all these hard workers back into the office and have a fit for purpose online ticketing platform.

I don't know about that. Do you mean modern hard left (XR with rainbow flags) or a more traditional hard left (Trotsky/Lenin)? Salmond doesn't really align with either and neither do many of his previous or current colleagues. He's a Scottish nationalist and like many of them, nothing else matters. They'd side with Pol Pot, Hitler, Zsa Zsa Gabor or Emperor Ming if it got them their ultimate aim (which is the break up of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Scored 4 in 1 game for the bb in 1983. Career took a nose dive after that.

Now that restrictions have been lifted we’ll be delighted to bring the hugely popular Founders Roadshow to your Pub or Club. As we celebrate our 55th Title hear the incredible story of how it all began. We at the Founders Trail are aware that due to time constraint, distance and cost many supporters can't make the journey to Glasgow to join us on the Founders Trail so back in 2014 we launched the Founders Trail Roadshow which is an alternative format which lets us take our wonderful story out to you. The Founders Trail Roadshow tells the story of our Founders from the shores of the Gareloch, to their arrival in Glasgow and their journey to the front door of Ibrox Stadium This is done by way of a slideshow presentation. We profile each of our Founders and the subsequent growth of our unique club into a worldwide sporting institution. The presentation also provides an insight into the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project and of course the Founders Trail. We hope that by telling this story it will give everyone an understanding of the very foundations upon which those lads built our club. Over the last few years our Founders Trail Roadshow has visited places such as Belfast, Londonderry,Plymouth,Blackpool,Campbletown,Fraserburgh,Thringstone and Aberdeen. The presentation lasts for approximately 90 mins,with a 20 minute interval we also encourage a Q&A session at the conclusion. The roadshow can be booked to coincide with other entertainment you may wish to provide for those attending. We have all of our own equipment,all we need from you is a plug point and an audience. If you would like to discuss us bringing the Founders Trail Roadshow to your supporters club, lodge or organisation then please email us at thefounderstrail @gmail.com or call 07902 855536.

How predictable if he chooses to go to PSG. If he really wanted a challenge then he would go to a club where success is not guaranteed and experience something new in his career. Then again, I suppose he will starve if he gets paid less than £500,000 a week.

Barca reporting a €450m loss, amazing number.

???

I think his preoccupation will be with the possible/probable loss of several first team players and the need to bring in replacements- while trying to ensure the season still gets going positively. Not an easy task.

Having seen the abominations Nike have created for Barca, Inter and Spurs for the forthcoming season, I wouldn't want them anywhere near a Rangers strip.

Just had the same, phew!

I think the issues are more to do with the constitutional matter than any left or right inclinations. The SNP are a collective with one shared interest. There are undoubtedly more left than right in there but it's largely irrelevant when it comes to their dislike of Rangers, which is nationalism vs unionism.

Does having the Castore emblem on the shirts prevent it being in stores worldwide. What did a "leading sportswear company" ever achieve for us that Castore hasn't? From what I can see, the Castore deal was a brilliant decision by Rangers' commercial team.

Sinn Fein are not'hard Left' - they are a nationalist party. Salmond has never been hard left either; more of a nationalist as well. There is much misunderstanding about what constitutes Left; Lenin, for example, always discouraged nationalist movements.

Debatable. I walked past the Castore store in Liverpool city centre yesterday and noted no Rangers products. They're opening a store in Edinburgh (St James Centre) soon too.

Huge numbers indeed. Hopefully this will allow us to get a better contract with a leading sportswear company next time instead of this small time outfit, thus allowing even more reach and into more shops worldwide.

Salmond is traditional hard left with outdated left wing political views aligned with the failing EU He(like sturgeon) has made a fortune from politics. He(like sturgeon) seeks his place in history as the person who created iScotland. I oppose iScotland because I think it was make the majority of us(in Scotland)worse off. The only people in Scotland who’d be unaffected by the economic & fiscal iScotland meltdown would be the wealthy including Salmond & Sturgeon I think most of us Rangers supporters can see the SNP snake oil salesmen(& women) as a bunch of liars & chancers

Sturgeon's 'progressive' psuedo-lib SNP would probably have the fat sex pest down for a hate crime if he didn't grope Laurel Hubbard.

I didn't even know the Nonces were playing today. ?

St Johnston pulled off a cracking result tonight, galatasary 1 - 1 st Johnston.

I see TNS are beating the Czech side Vitoria Plzen 4-0 at the moment. Maybe puts the yahoos result into perspective tonight.

Is there a MotM... ?

A fine report, many thanks for that mate. Apologies for not publishing but I'm on holiday for the next fortnight so not online as much as I'd like to be.