Frankie

And that's a fair point mate. Why not look to expand upon what you've already written and offer an article which disagrees with not only the RST statement but with my post that states the club has to do more....? It would be interesting to have an opposing viewpoint as part of the project.

Shroomz: You make some valid and some not so valid points above. I won't take the time to answer them now as they should be covered within each article. If not, please make the point again and we can have a proper discussion then.

Some excellent feedback so far. We have around 8 people writing articles so far... Now also have these further articles planned to debate: 6. Our transfer strategy and why it isn't working. How can this be addressed? 7. The importance of a major scouting system and how this could be implemented. 8. On the field tactics. Can Walter really take us forward? 9. Supporter Unity - Respect and solidarity are required for any campaign to work. Keep them coming folks..

Looking forward to hearing more about this...

We think we've got it bad with the lack of talent coming through. Celtic are even worse. Only the traitor can be considered a half-way decent player.

Aye, I remember it. Was an excellent Rangers site and one of the first I visited probably even before 2003 in fact. Run by a chap called Redmond perhaps?

Welcome to Gersnet mate!

To expand a bit on what we're planning to do: As it stands I have a few articles lined up from our writers which I intend to release one by one to debate each in turn. 1. An analysis of why the situation has got so bad and why protest may be our only way of obtaining real change. 2. A proposal for how the fans could be persuaded to by into a membership scheme to raise substantial funds. 3. An examination of Murray Park and some simple ideas on how to improve our youth system and extend our scouting reach. 4. How can our club's media/PR be improved? 5. Supporters' Represention - A complete overhaul of the Assembly. I've also got a few more people interested from other sites in contributing - basically addressing the concerns in the RST's 17 point statement and combining them where necessary. Anyone who is interested in writing an article on any of the issues that are not covered already above, please pm me.

True - will they ever be willing though? Hence the reason for analysing the debate and looking for ways of getting round that problem.

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/323733752?-11344 I’m sure we’ve all read with interest over the last week the debate about whether or not Rangers fans ‘deserve better’. I'm also sure not many fans would disagree with that sentiment even if the ‘campaign’ has so far been limited to media criticism without much constructive contributions thereafter. Nevertheless, over the last week since the campaign was launched by the RST, much debate has been had surrounding the principle and the reasons behind it. Indeed, a cursory look at their statement doesn’t show much one can argue about. Our club has under-achieved for the last 8 years and it appears the same financial mistakes have been made (to a smaller scale) than in the early part of this century. Therefore, the RST are quite right to suggest ‘we deserve better’. The reaction to this criticism has been most interesting. Everyone and their lapdogs have had their say on the subject – from wee Chick and big Mark to Walter Smith and Sir David Murray – even Davie Provan has had his say! The papers, phone-ins and forums have been full of talk about the issue and if the RST were attempting to garner publicity then they certainly have been most successful. But surely publicity wasn’t the sole aim of the campaign? After all, if one does want the club to improve then simply complaining isn’t likely to gain the immediate support of the kind of numbers the Trust requires to further their credibility. Further, there have been valid concerns about the arguably premature way the RST have launched the campaign. No consultation with their members, no backing from high-net worth investors and no comments of support from their honorary members – some of whom are ex-players who would have added much weight to their argument. Couple this with a failure to offer any workable alternatives or solutions then the campaign is easily (if erroneously) dismissed or ignored by the majority. I say erroneously because, again, their points of concern are valid. The club does need improvement, mistakes are being made and we are under-performing on and off the field. Therefore, it was most disappointing to read the reaction from key club figures such as the manager and chairman. Instead of accepting the criticism, taking it on the chin and admitting responsibility for the recent mistakes that have been made; more denial and deflection is the result. Deny the problems exist then deflect the issue onto ‘faceless’ internet supporters who are not real fans. Hardly a pro-active reaction when the evidence shows the club can do better. The ultimate result of all this is further division and not the unity the Trust are struggling to provide. Tens of thousands of loyal internet fans insulted and the club retreating further into its shell won’t address Ã?£30million of debt and a 3 year wait for the SPL title. How can we bridge this gap? Well, as leaders of the campaign, the Trust should have expected this result and planned for it. They profess unity but seem incapable of delivering that. They themselves struggle to accept criticism and lack the solutions to increase their small mainly online sourced membership to a level where the offline supporter can appreciate and back their point of view. Not to mention achieve the primary aims they state on their website which seem to have been shelved in favour of a more militant strategy. As such they must go back to the drawing board and provide up-to-date solutions and suggestions for club improvement. References to a 2 year old 15 point plan are all well and good but how relevant is that plan in today’s climate? To pressure the club to improve, they themselves must do better – as must the other supporters’ organisations who are failing their members with under-performance. Meanwhile the club must also take their hands off their eyes/ears and, just once, see where many fans are coming from. Acknowledge the mistakes, take responsibility and provide the improvement requested. Not all of that need take humble climb-downs, apologies or finance we can’t afford. It just takes hard work, imagination and ambition. And don’t forget that the people who have every right to ask questions are the ones that will be buying season tickets in a few months as well as the latest new strips. By all means argue their point but be strong and ask yourself if you can improve the situation. We’re not saying this can be done overnight but there should be a plan of action. The same goes for the fans generally. We can mump and moan our way through games. We can complain about certain players being unable to take a set-piece. We can take umbrage at the club unfulfilling its potential. But, if we’re going to do that, then we should be prepared to examine ourselves and what we offer. Yes, we are the biggest investors into the club – both emotionally and financially – but if we want seats on the board or to own the club then these ambitions must be backed up by intelligent debate. It is on that note Gersnet is launching a new project for fans to get involved in. Yes, we agree with the ‘we deserve better’ slogan but only on the premise that we help facilitate that in a positive sense. Ergo, over the coming weeks, we’ll have a series of articles from our writers discussing many of the concerns raised by the campaign and how these could be addressed. We've got great, constructive ideas we want to develop and present to the club and we're looking forward to debating them with you. We’d also like all our readers to get involved. Comment on the articles using the main site software, join the forums to give your opinion and contact us by email if you’d like to offer more. To that end we hope this project will catalyse change while showing the club that ‘faceless’ internet supporters are capable of more than just sniping. Keep an eye on the site for each article and we look forward to you joining the debate!

No they can only enforce a yellow card which doesn't take him over the points limit.

Everyone can now enter - mods and previous winners. You'll just have to trust me not to rig the comps...!

Bump for this... Get your entries in folks.

Good stuff. Well done to the ref for admitting his mistake.

Heard nothing. But it's usual club MO to release something 'big' when under fire. No genuine substance to these releases usually of course...

Goes for most people nowadays - high net worth or not...

4-5-1 wouldn't surprise me. 4-4-2 must be retained as the thought of Miller alone up front with McCulloch and Adam supporting from midfield gives me the shakes.

RangersMedia mate...

I post on RM and Gersforum (occasionally) while still reading FF to keep up on some of the quality information contained there. Don't really have time for much more than that nowadays. Always confuses me when some forums get irky about mentioning others. We should be working together even if we may be 'competing' for members. No reason why people can't post on several as every forum I use has their pros and cons. Welcome to Gersnet, Norris. Perhaps you and Chick should get together for a half-shandy? :devil:

Welcome to Gersnet gentlemen... We're certainly not as busier as other forums but we operate on a quality not quantity basis... Much easier to make your point on here as well but expect strong opinions on everything connected to the club.

I can assure you some board members were extremely proactive and diligent. Hence the work done trying to address the communication problem by yours truly and others in the 6-9 months before we resigned. There is no excuse for it not to have been continued after we left as it's all simple, basic stuff which just needs a bit of hard work. Regarding your experience, I used to receive all emails via the website and those I didn't/couldn't personally answer I passed onto others - usually the members secretary or the media gents. I can't understand why they didn't reply. Email isn't always the best form of communication in that regard. I've since seen perfectly valid questions ignored by senior board members canvassing opinion on other forums which is bizarre so that maybe explains why you have been ignored. The Blue Spirit was a quarterly newsletter so of course it was a summary of recent and upcoming activity. Not everyone can receive emails or check the website so that's why it was revamped (to a decent degree). The survey with the renewal pack I was hoping to be a more direct way of communication/feedback but like I say I never got a chance to build on that or the above. Hope this clarifies the issue somewhat.

He is a monster!

Shortly before the resignations there was an attempt at improved communication via a revamped Blue Spirit, regular emails via the Joomla site software and member interaction via a new renewal package and questionaire/survey. It wasn't a perfect strategy but it was workable in terms of the finance, experience and logistics we had available. Further investigations into improvement were also under consideration. As such an email would have certainly been sent to all Gersave member email addresses on record at the time of the initial Gersave tranche submission (November 2007). The request would have also been sent to the Yahoo list (or should have been by the members secretary) and posted on Newsnow, FF, Gersnet, Gersforum and RM which was the full amount of forums I used at that time. We certainly got a fair few ideas back but decided, rightly or wrongly, as a board on putting the money towards Youth Development. I'll stop short of claiming the money has developed John Fleck and Danny Wilson... The new RST secretary Fraser Martin said on Radio Scotland on Saturday evening that the next �£50K tranche was now ready to be put into the club. I've no idea if the board intend changing the way they consult the membership in that regard. In terms of canvassing opinion all members on the database (paid up or lapsed) also recieved a renewal package around March/April last year with the short survey mentioned above inviting answers to ~12 questions as well as any general comments/feedback along with a pre-paid envelope. The resignations happened shortly after this so I've no idea how successful this was or if any feedback was acted upon. There were a few completed surveys received before I resigned that I'm aware of. Unfortunately, the people reponsible for the effort to improve communications and the new renewal package all resigned - other than the members secretary who IIRC also worked very hard to send out the information contained within it via the actual practical work of stuffing several thousand envelopes. The package itself cost a fair amount to put together IIRC. Apparently, these initiatives have not been followed through by the 'new' board so the success of them can't be measured from my point of view as I am no longer a member. I'm told emails have stopped completely (other than to the small Yahoo list once or twice); the quarterly Blue Spirit hasn't been sent out at all since we resigned; and, given the failure to consult the membership before changing their main strategic operations (ie working with/against the club administration), interaction with fans seems limited. Certainly FF seems to be the main place for sourcing info on the organisation - the RST website seems almost defunct nowadays. Rather a poor performance in this area given the personal assurances of the new vice-chair at the July 2008 EGM where he said communication would be improved and members involved in all project decision-making. This, I'm reliably informed, was to be a SD backed initiative called In-Touch (link below for info) which certainly seems a good choice and would have been something I'd have investigated myself. No idea why this hasn't been implemented. 29 other Trusts are using this system with good feedback. https://www.intouchwithmembers.co.uk/background.html As a life member yourself perhaps you should contact them and raise all the above to find out their progress?

Yeah, if you can write up when you get a chance - no real rush - that would be superb. It's exactly the kind of constructive suggestion that the fans should be providing to the club. Of course a similar idea has been investigated in the past (which you may or may not have been aware of) but circumstances are always changing so it would be good to float it again.

Tremendous post above Big Spliff... May I use the content (and edited slightly) for a main site/NewsNow article - obviously you'll be credited as author?