ian1964 10,720 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Bill Leckie; Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If they don’t heed those words as the vultures circle Ibrox once again, then hell mend them. First time their club went to the wall, they manned the barricades to protect it from a big, nasty outside world. For that, no matter what other thoughts you have on the matter, their loyalty surely deserves to be applauded. But now? Two-and-a-half years on? If, despite being given a second chance to repair the horrendous mistakes of the past, a club with this level of support goes into administration AGAIN? Sorry, but if it was me I wouldn’t give them another penny. On Saturday, once more, thousands turned up brandishing red cards to express their unhappiness at the way the love of their lives is being mismanaged. And, once more, those responsible for the mismanagement laughed up their sleeves at the pointlessness of the protest. Because to brandish those red cards, you have to pay your money to get inside the stadium. Which hands yet more cash to the people you’re protesting at so they can go ahead and waste it. Listen, what do I know? They’re not my club and the one I do follow has never been to the heights Rangers have reached to suffer such a humiliating, disorientating fall. I’m just someone looking in and wondering how the hell, in all good conscience, Bluenoses can carry on regardless if and when the accountants take over the asylum once more. Actually, don’t answer that. It’s not a can of worms that’s worth opening, this We-Are-The-People, Rangers-Till-I-Die, stick-your-fingers-in-your-ears-and-sing-Follow-Follow mindset. So, for what it’s worth, let me instead pass on my suggestion for what they should do if their club re-enters the abyss. Sod it. Turn their backs on it. Give it, as a man on the other side of Glasgow once said, not one more thin dime. And instead, invest in the future of Scottish clubs who DO run their affairs honestly and who DO have respect for those who click the turnstiles. Go and back your old skipper Barry Ferguson as he tries to make things happen at Clyde. Go and see what another ex-player in Gary Bollan’s doing with Airdrie. If you’re from Fife, go and watch East Fife or Cowdenbeath. If you’re in Angus, hand your tenner to Arbroath or Brechin, Forfar or Montrose. If you donÂ’t want to give up your wee jaunt over from Northern Ireland, get off the ferry and stroll up to Stair Park. There’s been a school of thought among some these last couple of years that Rangers being forced to do the grand tour of the colonies meant the lower divisions should have been grateful for the gate receipts and the TV handouts. For me, this always got it the wrong way round. It was those inside Ibrox should have been thankful that they were in still in business and ABLE to head for Elgin and Berwick and Stranraer. Now, as fresh financial catastrophe looms, I’d put it to Rangers fans that they could do far more good for far more people if they stopped pouring money into what has long since ceased to be “their” club and started drip-feeding it to those who genuinely are the game’s lifeblood. Why? I’ll give you three good reasons. One, those halfwits in your directors’ box shouldn’t be trusted with the remote for the telly, never mind your wages. Two, that 30,000-odd of you spread among the country’s 20-odd part-time clubs would not only create better atmospheres but also help to cement football in communities for the long term. And three? You might just get to relax and enjoy the game, rather than always being angry and stressed about it. Watching Ayr United play Stenhousemuir might just extend your life. The alternative to this is a simple one. Stand your ground and, by your very presence, condone the halfwits in the directors’ box. Two-and-a-half years on from that first administration and the liquidation that followed, these halfwits need to scramble together £4million in a matter of days to keep their heads above water. To achieve this, they may need to flog their saleable players before the transfer window closes, which will hamper your hopes of promotion back to the top flight. If they don’t raise the money, they stand to suffer a 25-point deduction as punishment for a second spell in administration, all but ending those promotion hopes. How, with the wages they pay and the crowds they attract and the sheer intimidatory force of their name that is a two-goal start against far smaller opposition, can this possibly be? How the lumping hell can the people running a club the size of Rangers be handed the chance they were to start again, to build sensibly, to tool up for their return to where they want to be, and yet fail so utterly miserably? How? The clue is in the word halfwits. So maybe I’ve got this all the wrong way round. And it’s those Ibrox directors who should be sent to the outposts of the footballing empire instead. Maybe Graham Wallace and the Easdales and whoever else is a player in this embarrassing saga are the ones who need to go out into the real world and see how real football people operate. Trust me, if a month shadowing the treasurer at Albion Rovers didn’t shame them into living within their means, liquidation’s too good for them. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 He's certainly right about our directors being halfwits. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangersitis 0 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 He's certainly right about our directors being halfwits. Two of them would need to be combined to reach those dizzy heights. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinstein 294 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 wonder who Leckie's team is ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 wonder who Leckie's team is ? He supports St Mirren. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannochsidebear 2,405 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 I dont think I have read a bigger load of tosh this year. Football fans dont change their allegiance based on geography, fortunes of their club, or journalistic peer pressure, and well he knows it. He has used it as just another attempt to have a dig at us. The only thing you can say about Leckie is he seems to hate the scum as much as he hates us. A true anti-OF kind of guy. Of course if the OF were not as big news in this Country as we are, Leckie would have nothing to write about and nobody to care to read it. He COULD have just as easily penned a similar piece against the scum in saying that their season was effectively over now that they are out of the CL and even Delia can't fail to win the title, and therefore scumtic fans should go and watch their local team this season instead. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,743 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 If you’re from Fife, go and watch East Fife or Cowdenbeath. If you’re in Angus, hand your tenner to Arbroath or Brechin, Forfar or Montrose. If you donÂ’t want to give up your wee jaunt over from Northern Ireland, get off the ferry and stroll up to Stair Park. ... Two, that 30,000-odd of you spread among the country’s 20-odd part-time clubs would not only create better atmospheres but also help to cement football in communities for the long term. That is a romantic idea, support your local club and all. A rather heinous idea too in saying "give up the team you have loved for 30odd or more years" because of the current regime - a regime that will sooner or later be replaced, as was Marlborough, Holmes, Murray, Whyte et al. And go to your small local club and enjoy the pub football that has been on offer there for the last 40odd years. Your pounds will ensure that they will become better and grow and one day might end up in a whole different world (i.e. a league or two above their current biotope). And there - sure as hell - is no chance that your local club might be taken over by such reckless individuals like we see at Ibrox these days. (And should they be, you could obviously switch to an even more local team or indeed start kicking the round thing yourself!) During our return to the top the Bluenoses have sure ended up financing the lower league teams better than 5 to 10 years of SFL, SPL, and SPFL money would have done. And this money was sure well invested by those clubs, wasn't it? Only a few teams did not participate here and stare at financial losses galore. Teams that to a "man" voted us out of the SPL. But you have to give it to Leckie, he strung a neat cord with that "local" stuff ... Sidenote: given that the SFA/SPFL has moved quite a few of our home games to Fridays and Mondays, we are sure down to our more local supporters anyways, at least at times. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barca72 440 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Just another article in a long line from the mhedia designed to cut at the will of the fans to support Rangers. Insidious. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmu 0 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 He supports St Mirren. Take it he still lives in Paisley then! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Take it he still lives in Paisley then! No idea, I'm just certain that's who he supports and has done for a long time apparently. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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