Doing the Arithmetic.

[26th of foot 6,082]

The first two years of the American Civil War saw the Confederates win most of the battles, but continue to slowly lose the war. They benefitted from consistency of selection in General Officers, Robert E Lee was the very man to command the Army of Nothern Virginia. The Union had utilised several GOCs in the same period. Despite the Army of the Potomac being almost twice the size of Lee's command, McDowell, McClellan, Meade, Hooker, .... et al could not bring superiority to bear. President Lincoln was asked why he appointed and subsequently dismissed so many GOCs?

 

Old Abe outlined an objective appreciation of the situation, the Union possessed four times as many men in the field, similar dominance in armaments, a massive superiority in production, and several times capacity in railways and logistics. He concluded by saying, "I am searching for a General that can do the arithmetic". He found him in Ulysses S Grant and the end game was inevitable. The wisdom of Abe ie 'doing the arithmetic' is something all parties in the on going Rangers crisis, could benefit from.

 

If we accept the club sold 38,000 season tickets last season, what will the break down of this coming season's briefs be? Let's say the submission date is extended again, beyond this Friday. Would 15,000 renewals be a reasonable assumption? Given the UoF, Blue Order, Union Bears, ... etc have subscribed to the Dave King Trust, can we expect 5,000 to sign up to that perception of progression? The residual is 18,000, the biggest grouping and their decision might be based on style of football, prefer the option of game by game attendance, have had enough, ..... etc.

 

I know other Gersnetters will have differing views on the numbers allocated to each grouping but I think we should recognise the three groupings. Weighting the random variables in the equation will be coloured by preferred prejudice, but we should attempt to be objective. Can either the Board or Dave King do the arithmetic?

[Frankie 8,562]

It will be interesting to see how the various groups approach Friday.

 

Will UoF reveal their numbers? I suspect not unless they're at least 5000 (and I don't think they will be).

 

Will the club reveal their numbers? I suspect not unless they're at least 20000 (and I don't think they will be).

 

There's certainly a huge amount of people to be reached by either group but, so far at least, I don't see much reaching. Who will fill the vacuum or will the lack of oxygen slowly just take the life out of the club?

[Anchorman 0]

I think both sides have probably already done the arithmetic, but no side wants to be the first to 'draw'. In keeping with your theme - as Josey Wales once said - "are you going to pull those pistols or just whistle Dixie?".

 

[26th of foot 6,082]

It will be interesting to see how the various groups approach Friday.

 

Will UoF reveal their numbers? I suspect not unless they're at least 5000 (and I don't think they will be).

 

Will the club reveal their numbers? I suspect not unless they're at least 20000 (and I don't think they will be).

 

There's certainly a huge amount of people to be reached by either group but, so far at least, I don't see much reaching. Who will fill the vacuum or will the lack of oxygen slowly just take the life out of the club?

 

The oxygen analogy is interesting. I remember grainy footage of potential astronauts being tested on increasingly thinning oxygen levels by monitoring their performances on simple arithmetic questions.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Will the UOF be counting the pledges given in with actual season ticket deposits, or will they be counted separately?

[buster. 5,184]

Arithmetic: Important

 

Trust: There is none

 

Credit: Not available ......................( Trust issue but at a different level)

 

Pain: Inevitable

[the gunslinger 3,366]

i thank thats a fair assessment and a nice bit of history thrown in.

 

your numbers seem fair enough. no sense quibbling over them, more important is your correct categorising of the 3 groups.

 

we need a leader we can all get behind. can we categorise that person.

 

rangers fan, or at least creditable belief they have the club at heart not hedge funds.

 

experienced in football or business.

 

money to get us back to the top, his or investors.

 

what else?

[Hildy 0]

If the Union of Fans doesn't hit 5,000, it will be perceived to have failed, however its campaign has been difficult to ignore and people who previously never bothered with Ibrox politics have effectively been forced to think about issues that usually pass them by.

 

Renewals seem to be at a very low level, and the King campaign could be a factor in this by raising awareness about the way the club is run. Even though people might not be attracted to the King scheme, they are more aware than ever that Rangers is not in safe hands.

 

People don't like to be taken for mugs, and many now feel that handing over £400 or more for a season ticket to a board that has little respect and even less trust is an unwise way to proceed.

[True_Ger_1872 2]

It is an interesting point about the 'third' group of supporters who are caught in the middle and have not yet declared their intentions. As the OP suggests, I also believe that there will be a segment of the support who will be put off by the current style of football etc.

 

I also think that this portion of supporters (whom i consider myself to be part of) would have taken great interest in the actions of Ann Budge yesterday in how after controlling Hearts for short time - has managed to ring much needed, albeit perhaps brutal, changes to the way the club will be moving forwards. I believe this is what Rangers needed for the past 2 years and I have wondered how the three groups identified in the OP would react if a similar exercise took place at Ibrox.

 

It was also interesting to note the responses of some of the HMFC fans over the announcements - for one of the first times in their efforts to save their club....there was a visible, albeit slight, divide of opinions which has been reserved only for Rangers supporters over our recent history.

 

Perhaps the board of Rangers and Dave King may have been paying some attention to these events and are currently considering their next moves.....

[buster. 5,184]

If the Union of Fans doesn't hit 5,000, it will be perceived to have failed, however its campaign has been difficult to ignore and people who previously never bothered with Ibrox politics have effectively been forced to think about issues that usually pass them by.

 

Renewals seem to be at a very low level, and the King campaign could be a factor in this by raising awareness about the way the club is run. Even though people might not be attracted to the King scheme, they are more aware than ever that Rangers is not in safe hands.

 

People don't like to be taken for mugs, and many now feel that handing over £400 or more for a season ticket to a board that has little respect and even less trust is an unwise way to proceed.

 

Whether the arithmetic reaches 5,000 or not, I think the most important aspect of the UoF's influence, at this point in time has been to make thousands of fans think about the whole shooting match. To take a step backwards, see that you can't Trust the current board and question the logic of handing them up-front money to take control of.

 

That is to say, for a fan to be in the 'middle group', they've taken an important step away from the conventional.

This is huge in that we are talking about the 'rump' of the support, the supposed middle ground that were largely onside with the club and/or simply not interested in the politics.

 

The biggest single reason for this IMO is TRUST, or rather the lack of.

 

Over an increasingly long period of time Trust has been eroded and the word 'scunnered' comes into play.

For some within this middle ground 'scunnered' includes the football on the park.

 

IMO......... Trust (or lack of) is the basedriver for the arithmetic.