keevins

[Steve1872 4]

This is the season for Old Firm fans to banish battle hymns and turn to songs of redemption

 

 

 

THE crowd at Ibrox the other night was so huge as to highlight the fact that only a fool would pretend the Rangers support wonâ??t be missed in the meantime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Marley

 

 

BOB MARLEY was a football fanatic but he could never have imagined rousing tens of thousands inside Ibrox before a League Cup tie on a Tuesday night.

 

The atmosphere inside the ground before Rangers kicked off against East Fife was electrified when the Rasta manâ??s Three Little Birds â?? and itâ??s memorable lyric â??Donâ??t Worry â??Bout a Thingâ? â?? was played on the public address system.

 

The message wasnâ??t lost on the fans who had turned up in numbers that were astonishingly high and, in the estimation of some, so great the club couldnâ??t keep proper count. But the mental arithmeticâ??s neither here nor there for the moment.

 

The rallying cry set to music was that, for all the club has been through, there was an immovable belief that Rangers would one day return to their former status.

 

The crowd embraced the sentiment wholeheartedly and joined in with Marleyâ??s song to establish a mood that was positive and as far removed from resentment as it was possible to get.

 

The Ibrox support have maintained that theyâ??ve been the innocent victims of corporate deception and been wrongly punished while watching their team be stripped of dignity and league standing.

 

Theyâ??ve insisted there was nothing they, or the Rangers management and players, could do to curb Craig Whyteâ??s worst excesses while he was at the helm.

 

And theyâ??re absolutely right. But what they can do is take responsibility for themselves. The period of time Rangers are removed from the SPL is a great opportunity for the fans to rebrand their image.

 

Tuesday night offered the prospect of a fresh start in the sense of getting the club away from the old, discredited songbook.

 

And â?? at the risk of being banned again during the lifetime of my current ban from Rangersâ?? historic rivals â?? Iâ??m only too well aware the Celtic support could be doing with accepting the same challenge.

 

The quickest way to start an argument is to suggest either set of fans is anything less than morally upright and a credit to themselves, the community and the clubs they support. But anyone not delusional knows that simply isnâ??t the case.

 

Rangers have the prospect of fresh money from Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and the fans say thereâ??s a feelgood factor that has been created by getting away from the â??staleâ? environment of the SPL.

 

The club will be accused by their critics of having behaved disreputably and sidestepped a trail of debt.

 

Supporters canâ??t be held to account for that but they can get behind their team in a way that doesnâ??t draw disapproval.

 

Tuesday was an example of how it can be done. And it did the team no harm to be without songs that have nothing to do with football or the 21st century. This weekend is when the clubs in the SPL attempt to show thereâ??s life after the disbandment of the Old Firm.

 

The crowd at Ibrox the other night was so huge as to highlight the fact that only a fool would pretend the Rangers support wonâ??t be missed in the meantime.

 

But, rather than count the days until they can boycott their alleged tormentors and re-emphasise their â??No one likes us we donâ??t careâ? image, wouldnâ??t it be better to hold on to the mood of the other night and move on? You can still have a cause without bothering about all that stuff.

 

Somebody inside the club had the inspired notion of letting the words of a Jamaican singer galvanise a traditionally uncompromising support.

 

Surely weâ??ve all had enough of the outdated nonsense that attaches itself to Rangers and Celtic?

 

This is Scottish footballâ??s last chance to sort out its future. Our European results, Celtic apart, show weâ??re not very good. But we can be respectable.

 

Ibrox offered the possibility that the soundtrack to change neednâ??t be a source of concern to the police and an affront to decency.

 

Any other takers for sanity?

[Guest Bluenose80]

One question Keevins why the need to put a negative slant on a positive night for the club. Can't you let one week go where you don't try to run Rangers down if you can't think of anything worthwhile to write do us all favour and retire.

[andy steel 0]

'No-one likes us' either has to lose the line about celtc or go. There's no other option. After that, I can't think of a single song which we need to edit, suppress or ban. But not because people like Keevins say so, because its the right thing to do in 2012.

 

But that one song will still be used to beat us as long as we include the word fen... in it. I don't see what's wrong with 'scummy bastards'; it is, after all, accurate.

[26th of foot 6,054]

Nuremberg Hugh spent a quarter of a century touring Sellik supporters club making speeches and culminating with, "our day will come".

 

He played to the gallery, was cheered to the echo, and took home the cash wedge. Truly, he is one to moralise.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

a caller on Clyde recently lamented on the old days of shug in Molly malones singing all the rhebel songs.

 

so I guess Hugh would know.

[Guest Lloret1972]

I thought it was a positive and constructive article from Keevins and we should take note.

 

I’m only too well aware the Celtic support could be doing with accepting the same challenge.

 

This is a new era for the Rangers support and unfortunately the 'Boyne' is bad karma. Dump it and cultivate our Div.3/2/1 competitors for their friendship. Every vote will count in the future when the SPL implodes as it surely will.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

I prefer oor Wullie, Keevins 'pales' into insignificance against the wee man's musings.

[der Berliner 3,716]

 

Surely we’ve all had enough of the outdated nonsense that attaches itself to Rangers and Celtic?

 

Maybe I am wrong, but from the early 90s onwards we sang our songs as - cynical - banter and great rousing songs for our club. And hardly all of the Bluenoses were dreaming up images of the 1690s wars or Derry siege when singing those songs. But it was you and your ilk who started to link us time and again to a past that was not really relevant any longer, made a grand display of the Union Jack - i.e. your country's flag - out as akin to a Nurembourg Rally (I still cannot fathom that he got away with that) and harrass us more than those who proclaim their love for the murderers of your countrymen. If I had any say in the accreditation and PR stuff at Ibrox, you would have been a persona non grata for more than a decade. You should stick up your ear at the Hooped Horrors next away game and see whether they go on with their IRAoke bile. And you should instantly ask whether the SFA and SPL goes by their new rules, whether both authorities will finally follow the Terrorist Act 2006. And once you done that, we may speak again about your opinion on the Bluenoses' songs.

[andy steel 0]

We still have to lose the line about celtc in Super Rangers and then, well, afaics, all's well.

[Kenzie1 0]

Keevins has more faces than the Town Hall clock.