Naismith - RANGERS is a family

[ian1964 10,720]

RANGERS is a family â?? and I fear tomorrow it is going to be torn apart.

 

The focus from the fans will be on the players and I understand that but my football club is about so much more than that.

 

On the field through this horrible time we've slipped up and lost at home to both Kilmarnock and Hearts.

 

There's no question the off-field troubles have impacted on the club and taken their toll.

 

Imagine if it were you at work. Administrators stated jobs had to go but for the best part of three weeks didn't specify exactly whose jobs.

 

I'm not talking about just the playing staff, I mean the entire workforce. The uncertainty has been awful. Tomorrow morning we'll at last have some clarity, painful though it will be.

 

A lot of great people work at Rangers and the club provides a living for 177 full-time staff.

 

At Murray Park, Gordon and Stevie at reception are often the butt of pranks from players but they're part of our team. In the Press and PR department Carol Patton and Stephen Kerr. They've their work cut out with us.

 

Carol has been at Rangers for the best part of 20 years and is a consummate pro.

 

Stephen has been at the club for a decade. These two work tirelessly for Rangers and don't talk to them about an eight-hour working day.

 

I am not exaggerating, on some days it's a 14-hour shift for them. I'm thinking too of people like Laura and Nicola, who deal with the admin for the gaffer and the players.

 

The headlines will be on the players but I fear for decent hard-working people who turn out day after day and work to give their families a decent quality of life. Office staff. Kitchen staff. Cleaning staff.

 

What I am trying to say is that EVERYONE employed by Rangers has been affected by what has happened. It has been an awful time.

 

I have been lucky. Forget the injuries â?? I have had the job of my dreams.

 

I've lived the dream. I sat in the stands, walked across the red track, crossed the white line on to the grass wearing the jersey I dreamed of pulling on. Signing for Rangers, the team I supported as a kid, was the ultimate joy. That is what makes the current situation so hard to take.

 

A club with a history like Rangers should never have been put in this position, but we have. Now we have to deal with it.

 

I still have a job. I will be back to full fitness in the summer with the help of great medical care and a patient physio team.

 

I owe them, especially Stuart Collie, who has dealt with my last cruciate injury and this one, and has had a big bearing on my Rangers career.

 

After the game yesterday I sat quietly and knew that the hour was coming when many would lose their jobs in the worst possible circumstances. Little notice, nothing to prepare them for the awful news. Just one day they have a job, the next day they won't.

 

In one of the worst recessions in living memory, many will struggle to find another job.

 

That is what hurts most, the thought that people may be thrown on to the scrapheap.

 

If players are handed their P45s, most will find other clubs. Some may not.

 

The one thing that everyone feels is the hurt for Rangers, for our club.

 

I have to single out the gaffer Ally McCoist. The way he has handled this has been remarkable. His leadership qualities have been immense.

 

His quote 'We don't do walking away' has now entered the fabric of Rangers' history. He is still relatively new to management as this is his first season in the hotseat.

 

Like the rest of us he did not see this coming â?? at least not to the extent it has â?? but he has handled the situation with tremendous dignity.

 

He has also done his best to protect the players, reassure us all. Such is the mark of the man, he has put us before himself.

 

The gaffer has worked tirelessly behind the scenes while trying to keep training and day-to-day business on the playing side as close to normal as possible.

 

Who carries the burden of the blame?

 

Who is to blame is not that important to someone who has just lost their job. All they want is another job.

 

What we have to do now is move on. Take on board what we have to do. Work within our budgets.

 

Pull together â?? the entire Rangers workforce, the players, management and, importantly, the fans.

 

Football? Only a game? It's much, much more than that to an awful lot of people.

 

To everyone at Gers, it is their life, their livelihood, a meal on the table and a roof over their heads.

 

Tomorrow that will change. I wish with all my heart that it didn't have to.

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scot...orn-apart.html

[chilledbear 16]

One of the good guys.

[der Berliner 3,725]

In times of these those with blue blood in their veins come to the fore. And whatever I had to say about their abilities on the park will take a major step backwards and wiped from history by the character shown these last few weeks.