JohnMc

Go Radio, a digital station with a greater Glasgow broadcast footprint, was taken over by (Lord) Willie Haughey and (Sir) Tom Hunter last year. They've fairly big plans for it, plans that have been hampered by the Covid lockdown, but are now finally being rolled out. They see sport, specifically football, as being key to the station's growth and success. They're investing in 'talent' and production people and, if rumours are to be believed, have their eye on securing commentary rights for SPFL matches. Apart from the co-owners having deep pockets they also have excellent connections at Hampden, having helped fund the purchase the stadium from Queens Park a couple of years ago, so getting a sympathetic hearing might not be hard for them, plus the game is desperate for money so any new revenue is likely to be very welcome. I understand they see the dynamic between Rangers and BBC Scotland as providing an opportunity for them to attract listeners. The 'talent' I've heard mentioned doesn't suggest this is going to be some kind of Rangers love-in, but if it at least provides live commentary of matches and interviews with our manager and players it might be very welcome. Time will tell.

I read recently that one aspect of 'no crowds' has been the removal of 'home' advantage. Apparently the presence of a partisan and noisy home support has a bigger affect on professional footballers than was first thought. In theory, with us facing a trip to Parkhead in the first round of matches, this might be of benefit to us. Swings and roundabouts of course as 50,000 at Ibrox must have had an affect on visiting sides in the past, so taking that away might even it out a bit too. Indeed, for a significant number of domestic away fixtures we're hardly in the minority in the ground, so perhaps this won't be of much benefit to us.

I can't speak for Castore but I suspect they've experienced a significant number of production challenges during the last few months. Covid 19 has led to a number of clothing production plants closing completely and on reopening not only have they huge back-logs to clear but doing so with fewer staff due to shielding and social distancing issues as well as supply chain disruption. Again, I don't know for sure if this applies to Castore, but most clothing manufacturing for the UK market is done in Bangladesh. Not only are their issues in transport and import currently but the supply chain into clothing manufacturing has been badly hit too. A lot of fabric, thread, elastic etc is manufactured in China, their lockdown has badly hit the entire garment industry. If Castore are struggling to meet demand it's not a huge surprise and they should probably be cut some slack under the circumstances. With second, third and goalkeeper kits still to be launched far less leisure wear, tracksuits etc I suspect they'll do well to have product ready for the Christmas market, probably still the most important time of the year for retail.

Isn't Donalda MacKinnon a 'Hearach' 26th? I believe she is. A one time pupil and teacher at the Nicolson in Stornoway too. Her husband is Seumas MacInnes. Donalda is a lovely person for what it's worth. I expect the Sport department will feel the squeeze too and will need to make cuts. Whether that will be anything tangible the average listener will notice I doubt, but I expect there will be a few more freelancers on the roster in the coming months.

Why don't you read what I've posted in this thread Stevie and see if you can figure out the answer to that yourself.

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.

We'll see. Hope I am.

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!!

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.

It's a guess based on 20 years working in Northern Ireland and a career in professional communications. Delighted if I'm wrong.

I think you have to acknowledge the post he's taking up in all this and why that matters. He's not been appointed the head of catering, or finance or head of facilities management, he's been put in change of PR and so he'll be in daily contact with the media, so we have to expect the media to take an interest in him and question his background. This man's job will involve working with, and managing, the media. In the same way eyebrows were raised when Traynor got the gig so they're being raised now. Does no one think that's worth considering before it's written off as the work of bigots? A question for you, who is head of PR at Parkhead, or Aberdeen, or Hibs? Or indeed at Man U or Liverpool? I guarantee most of us have no clue and that's how it should be. Good PR is accomplished below the surface and away from the spotlight. Supporters have (rightly) complained about our PR for years, and that's because it's not been managed at all well. PR is a skill, and for an organisation as high profile as Rangers working with a large local media demanding content and access that requires experience and know-how. I'm not sure how being a local councillor in Belfast gives you any of that. My concern is Mr Graham sees us a stepping stone on his way to getting a chance to stand in a safe seat for his current employers. Having a couple of years at Rangers on his CV won't do his chances of that any harm. Employing someone who is closely associated with any political party was always going to cause a stir. Politics is polarising, even more so than football. Whatever party he'd represented he'd have drawn criticism from some. Having lived in Northern Ireland I never felt the DUP were any good at PR, indeed I felt they were pretty poor at it, the only group I can think of worse than them at PR was/is the Orange Order. I doubt Mr Graham was personally responsible for that to be fair but it's the background he's coming from. Anyway, my concern over this appointment isn't that he's an Orangeman or must support most of the DUP's policies, some of which are anathema to me, he's entitled to his own views whatever I might think of them. No, my concern is the direction this suggests we're taking as a club PR wise. At a time when I think the club needs to be building bridges and making friends, I fear Mr Graham's skills lie in the opposite direction. I suspect many of our support won't share my concerns, and that this appointment is being made with them in mind. Fine, but in my opinion that's a very short-sighted strategy. Rangers remain toothless in influencing Scottish football and indeed greater society, I don't see how this appointment will address that.

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.

BT Sport and Sky (and their continental equivalents) will want to stay 'onside' with the bigger leagues and clubs and aim to help them as much as they can, expecting something back in return in the future, but they'll have some serious scheduling issues. With no football (or rugby, cricket etc) their channels will be forced to show reruns and while that will draw an audience it will be less than normal. I suspect subscription numbers will remain steady at first, particularly if thousands of people are forced to stay at home for long periods, however advertising revenue will fall without a doubt. That will be compounded by advertisers reviewing when they advertise. Food stuffs and weekly household staples are doing very well just now, but new cars, holidays and gambling, the staples of sport's advertising are in rapid meltdown so expect them to pull budgets and reduce costs in the coming weeks. As such the TV stations can't give money to clubs they simply don't have. The other big unknown for the subscription TV channels is a short term economic hit to the general public. A company I know well just put all of its staff on a compulsory 4 day week, in real terms everyone is taking a 20% pay cut. That forces people to review domestic spending and so things like Sky TV subscription get chopped, particularly if there's no sport to watch anyway. I suspect we'll start to see lots of this in the coming weeks. While it feels callous to speak about the economic impact of coronavirus when people are dying, the reality is a 2 or 3 month virtual shutdown will have a catastrophic impact on many businesses. That will affect all of us, directly or indirectly. In my opinion, Scottish football is in for a very challenging few months. Most clubs, with the arguable exception of Rangers and Celtic, rely on gate money to survive. Rangers and Celtic have a far higher percentage of season ticket holders who have already paid, so they have the bulk of their cash already, although if people start to demand it back, and that might happen if you lose your job, then they'll be just as affected. So for your standard SPFL club like St Johnstone or Kilmarnock, the loss of fortnightly gate receipts, programme sales, catering and hospitality will mean their only source of income is TV money and merchandise. So if the TV companies can't or won't pay, those clubs are in serious difficulties. It's not unrealistic to predict they'll be forced to release players because they simply can't pay them, backroom staff, groundstaff and so on might be forced to leave or work for no salary. We could see good sized, otherwise well run, Scottish SPFL sides forced to play youths when the league starts again. Or, footballers, like everyone else, might accept we're living in exceptional times, and take a short term hit, in the hope of picking up where they left off in a few months time. I'm becoming less bothered about this season now. If the decision is taken to end the season now and award Celtic the title and relegate Hearts then so be it. We've only ourselves to blame for being 13 points behind them after all. I still think the season should simply be scrapped, no one is promoted or relegated, no one is Champions, use the current places to award European places (if that resumes in time) and whatever prize money is being awarded. I'd be open to having a 2019/20/21 season, simply keep playing come September or whenever it all starts again (I can't see things returning to normal before then, but what do I know about anything) and have a 60 game season finishing in April 2021. I mean in the end it doesn't really matter, what we want are meaningful matches to return, so if it's one long but truncated season, or one shorter season I'm relaxed, just bring it back as soon as possible.

Okay, cancelling gatherings of 500 or more isn't because of the danger the gatherings themselves bring for those present, it's to ease the burden on police and ambulance/hospital staff required to attend or deal with these events. While I'd have postponed all 500 plus gatherings before now I think it's unwise to shout conspiracy about it. Whatever your views on politicians let's give them the benefit of the doubt that they're following the best advice, rightly or wrongly. We're looking at 4 to 12 weeks of major disruption, almost certainly many of us will lose people we love in the coming weeks, perhaps this isn't the time for political point scoring. The thought that Celtic won't actually be given the title and that Dundee Utd won't get promotion is almost, almost, worth the pain of the last few months. If we don't finish the season, and I can't see how that'll be possible, the season has to be called void. I'd have no problem with them giving Celtic the Champion's League place as they're currently top and giving the Europa spots to us, Motherwell and Aberdeen, but there should be no title awarded in any division and no relegation or promotion. As painful as that might be for some clubs we're in unprecedented times and that calls for unprecedented measures.

I've no insight into what UEFA might decide but I can tell you it's been pishing down all day (it feels like all year) in Glasgow and the pitch must be a concern. It's not as bad as the day the recent game was postponed but the pitch will be heavy at best tonight.

That depends on who you're comparing up with and your definition of 'big'. We currently compare poorly with Celtic who have 3 or 4 first team regulars who came through their youths. Teams like Motherwell, Hamilton, Hearts and Aberdeen have a higher success rate, albeit there is less pressure and expectation on players there. Our spell in the lower leagues was a chance to build something but our ownership at the time wasn't good and the opportunity was wasted, it seems like we've started again in the last couple of years so we'll see what the next couple of years brings.

That Morelos Tweet reads like it was written by a professional PR. Fine, if he can sort himself out and find his form again most will forgive him. There is no correlation between playing level, ability and management. Zidane was one of the finest players who ever lived and has managed a side to the Champions League while Klopp was a journeyman player in the German 2nd division. My main concern with Gerrard is his ability to relate to 'ordinary' players. He was so gifted and driven as a player I worry he struggles to understand players who aren't. Unfortunately in the Scottish league you aren't going to have a squad full of top professionals. I look at players like Docherty and Murphy, good SPFL level players doing well out on loan, or Jordon Jones proven at this level, and wonder why they can't get into our first team. BTW On John Greig, I've argued before that Greig was a victim of circumstance and actually good have gone on and been a great manager. His tenure coincided with Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean, two freakish geniuses, the rebuilding of Ibrox causing revenue issues, and the ageing of our double treble winning side. Advocaat used Greig quite a bit when he was in charge for scouting and advice on teams, he felt Greig was wasted not being involved in the football side of the club.

Finishing 2nd bottom is Hearts priority this season, it would be a huge surprise if they rested some players.

I don't know if that's true or not but I'm telling everyone I meet this today. Brilliant. ?

A focus on Europe, defending the manager and a mention of kebabs, the old tropes remain I see! A great read.

Fat Eck is a great writer, well done getting him Frankie.

There was an interesting interview with Roy Keane a few years ago when he spoke about his regret over how he'd treated Sebastian Veron when he was Man Utd captain. He'd been delighted Utd had signed Veron, Keane felt he was one of the best midfielders in the world at the time, Keane had played against him in Europe and really admired him and was really looking forward to playing alongside him. But Veron's form was poor and Keane was really on his case about it. Veron complained that his family weren't settled, he was living in a hotel, his wife and kids missed 'home' and their friends there and they were finding the language barrier a big problem. Keane dismissed all this poor excuses, Veron was being handsomely paid and was a top professional, he should be able to switch off from domestic issues when on the pitch and Keane told him so on a number of occasions. It didn't work out with Veron and he eventually left Man Utd. Later Keane joined Celtic, his family stayed in Manchester and Keane lived in a hotel when in Glasgow. Keane was amazed how much it affected him, he didn't appreciate it how having his family and friends around him created the right atmosphere for him as a player. For Keane there was no language barrier, no time difference and he could pop home every week, yet still he struggled for form and was unhappy in Glasgow. Keane thought back to how hard he'd been on Veron, and how he'd not appreciated how some players could be affected by off-field stuff. Morelos isn't living in a hotel, but his domestic life must be fairly turbulent currently. None of us can say how that could affect them because we're all different and we all react differently to similar situations. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure when my wife was expecting our first child, I was so uptight about everything (her blood pressure was fine!). I don't think it's fair to dismiss the off field issues Morelos is experiencing simply because he's highly paid. Robert Enke was highly paid and highly successful, that didn't stop high standing in front of an onrushing express train. Morelos is off form, I think he should be benched for a couple of games, but he needs our support just now, none of us really know what he's going through.

It was a good listen, worth downloading. Sheils speaks well and there were some good insights into what was going on behind the scenes. I'd never heard it confirmed that we 'had' to play the five boys from Newcastle if they were fit, I'd only seen that as rumour and one I was sceptical about. His end with Rangers doesn't cover anyone in glory.

I'm ignoring the depths some of you are going for fish puns and instead highlighting this, the line of day by far. Bravo.