JohnMc

Surely you'd expect a professional keeper to keep their first goal out? Maybe not hold it but certainly palm it away. He might have seen it late and it was well struck but I thought he was at fault for that goal.

I'll try again. What aspects of your traditions and beliefs aren't being catered for? You keep alluding to this.

Go on then, what part of your culture isn't being catered for?

You keep pulling at that thread, you should take it up with UEFA. Was the banner meant as a threat? It was so clumsily written it's hard to know.

Do they? Who are these people?

For the first 40 or so years of our existence Rangers were no more Protestant a club than Partick Thistle or Falkirk or Arbroath were. The later arrival of that Protestant identity was down to a number of factors. Rangers rise from being simply another football club to being recognised as one the most attractive to watch and the success that brought. Queen's Park's decision to remain amateur and not embrace professionalism. Queen's Park were one of the most famous clubs in the country, hugely influential and successful in football's formative years. By the turn on the 20th century they were already struggling to attract the calibre of player they were used to and losing support. Partick Thistle moving from Partick to Maryhill. Glasgow was a city of 'incomers' in the early 20th century. Family allegiances to clubs didn't yet exist in the way we see them today. Men, and it was almost exclusively men, would finish work on Saturday and many would go and watch a game close to them. Maryhill was a lot harder to get to from Partick and the west of the city, Govan had great transport links and an attractive and successful football team. So thousands of men went to watch Rangers and a habit was formed. Rangers started to attract supporters from all across the city. Not being Celtic. Celtic were successful almost from the day they first played. They had lots of money and were clearly looking to attract the Irish Catholic population of the city, something they did successfully. Many of those not from that background didn't see Celtic as the club for them. Irish home rule became increasingly divisive politically and increased a feeling of 'them and us' in cities with big Irish populations, like Glasgow. Protestant immigration from the north of Ireland. Around a quarter of all the Irish who came to Scotland were Protestant. Many brought with them their culture, for some that included Orange institutions, with numbers swelling during the late 19th and early 20th century. So Rangers changed as it's support changed. We became the 'Protestant' club and the unionist club. We didn't set out that way, it was simply that the city changed around us. The city is changing again, those of us who live in Glasgow can't help but notice. At the same time our players are changing too. My formative years watching Rangers the entire starting 11 were Scots. Robert Pryrz and John McClelland were seen as exotic. My son's heroes are Columbian, Moroccan, Nigerian and Cameroonian. Whether some like it or not our support is changing too. I know supporters who have no religion, indeed strongly dislike organised religion. I know supporters who are strong Scottish nationalists. Supporters who are Marxists. I know practicing Roman Catholics who support Rangers, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and or course Muslims. Many of these people have no attachment to loyalism, Orangism, even Unionism. But I've yet to hear one of them say they want to see Red Hands and Union flags banned from Ibrox, or loyalist songs banned. If your culture is so threatened by our club welcoming a small number of its supporters to enjoy a cultural and religious ceremony then maybe it's got bigger problems.

I don't think luck has anything to do with those stats.

During the Battle of Aisne, on the Western Front of WW1, two men were given the unenviable task of capturing an enemy machine gun post. It was a suicide mission, nevertheless the soldiers followed their orders and attacked. One of the men was Private George Wilson of the Highland Light Infantry, the other man’s name hasn’t been recorded for posterity. Private Wilson received the Victoria Cross for most conspicuous gallantry, a medal you can still see today as it’s displayed in the HLI museum in Sauchiehall Street. Wilson survived the mission and the war. His comrade that day was killed before the enemy machine gun post was secured. Writing about the nature of fate and luck Sergeant Thomas Painting, who was present at the battle, retold the story “Private Wilson from the HLI and one our men attacked a machine gun. Our man got killed but Wilson captured the position. Wilson got the Victoria Cross and our man got a wooden cross, that’s the difference.” Luck, fate or whatever you want to call it is that most elusive and valuable of commodities in football too. Sure, you make your own luck. 30 years from now history will record that Cyriel Dessers scored an injury time winner in a classic 4-3 victory. It’s unlikely anyone then will care that he had 10 or so good chances to score before that. He scored the winner, that’s the only stat that counts. Lucky Cyriel. Lucky Rangers to have him. Unlucky Dundee to keep allowing him to get chances. Luck has been on my mind watching Rangers this year. Had James Tavernier not missed a stoppage time penalty against Queens Park we’d probably have gone on and won that cup tie. Lucky Rangers would have been the gist of the headlines. Clement would have hung on for at least another few weeks, almost certainly until the Fenerbace tie. Luck had something else in mind, no VCs for Phillipe. Barry Ferguson might just be a lucky manager. Certainly he’s incredibly lucky to actually be the Rangers manager. He’s not nearly qualified for the job, indeed I’d argue he would have been lucky to ever get another senior managerial job following his stints at Kelty and Clyde. Yet now he’s managing the biggest club in the country. Not only was Ferguson out of work and available, but so were Allan McGregor, Neil McCann and Billy Dodds, who along with Issame Charai have been unable to fix our defensive frailties but have found a bit of steel from somewhere. A lucky find. Incredibly, Ferguson’s Rangers have yet to win a match at Ibrox. The Fenerbace game was actually a horrible performance, lacking in everything we’ve come to expect from Rangers in the Europa League. Yet we’ve all forgotten about that because Jack Butland chose that moment to re-find the form that made him an England international once upon a time. A 2-0 defeat that felt like a win. We left Ibrox relieved and ecstatic, almost forgetting we’d carried a lot of luck that evening. Our support returned to Parkhead and watched Rangers deservedly go in ahead at the break, before succumbing to Celtic’s Japanese footballers once again. We know how this story normally ends, yet this time it didn’t. Celtic’s defenders decided defending wasn’t for them, Igamane got the break of the ball and delivered a finish so beautiful that should also be displayed in a museum in Glasgow for everyone to admire. Ferguson’s Rangers seem to have all the same weaknesses as Clement’s, yet somehow they feel different. I think, and I say this quietly so as not to break the spell, but I think we’re carrying some luck for what feels like the first time in years. The Dundee disallowed goal, their point blank miss in the second half, oh we’re definitely carrying some luck. It’s about time frankly. Napoleon was once criticised for winning battles through luck. He replied that he’d ‘rather have lucky generals than good ones, lucky ones win battles’. Is Barry Ferguson a lucky general? I hope so. Unlike 8,500,000 others Private Wilson VC survived the First World War and returned to Scotland to resume his life. However, Wilson was taken by TB in 1926 without reaching his 40th birthday. Everyone runs out of luck, eventually.

Do you mean 'why'? Or are you actually a native American saying hello to me? Maybe that's what you mean by Western cultures.

Who decides what's "incompatible with Western cultures"? Indeed, perhaps you could explain what you mean by Western cultures? Is that yogurt made by cowboys?

Seems the right thread. https://x.com/RangersFC/status/1906753357789929803

Maybe, but it's semantics and I doubt UEFA will see it that way. I also doubt the club will make a defence based around whatever the banner meant, I suspect they'll point to the fact the club aims to be as inclusive as possible and the banner wasn't sanctioned and has been criticised and hope for leniency.

"Further, the club has also been charged by UEFA for the throwing of objects at the home match with Fenerbahce. This is becoming a regular occurrence, not just at Rangers matches, but across stadia in Scotland. Indeed, our players and staff were targeted with missiles at Parkhead on Sunday." Literally in that statement.

I've no idea what 'defend Europe' means either, but it's open to interpretation. Keep - retain, maintain, resist Woke - fuck knows what they mean, dog whistle term for something that wasn't around in the 1950s. Foreign - something not of this country, not of this culture, different from 'us'. This is the problematic word for me. If it had said 'keep woke ideologies out' it's political, the use of the word foreign changes the meaning for me. Ideology - a concept or system of ideas. Out - away, not near us. As I said only those who wrote it know what they meant, but its ambiguity is a problem, it can be read a number of ways and one of those ways is as racism.

Did you actually read the club's statement?