The Rangers Family ââ?¬â?? Estranged or Non-Existent

[Frankie 8,552]

After another appalling and heartless performance at Ibrox on Saturday I read with interest that many fans felt booing wasnââ?¬â?¢t suitable and that we should be supporting the players as opposed to criticising them so publicly. In addition to that, there were further complaints of the general atmosphere being poor as well as the usual complaints about the ââ?¬Ë?Subway Loyalââ?¬â?¢ leaving early.

 

Generally, one can understand these points of view but I think the prevailing reason for such differences of opinion is merely another symptom of the Rangers family breakdown. After another season of disappointment and under-achievement, player/club/fan relationships have never been so strained. Perhaps it�s one symptom of such declining communications but it really is becoming incredibly hard for the fans to find anything to relate to and indeed support per se.

 

In decades past, players were fans and lived similar lives to the support. Football wasn�t so glamorous and the money was nothing special. Hero worship was evident but not to the extent it is today. As European competitions begun and the TV and mass media started to take a real interest, profiles began to rise and higher reputations increased egos dangerously. From the Jim Baxter�s to the Willie Johnstone�s star quality was now part and parcel of a Rangers footballer�s life. As we approached the 21st Century the TV finance boom and the subsequent worldwide exposure of that and the internet meant footballers were front page icons and loved by people all over the world.

 

The Ally McCoist and Paul Gascoigne age started to take the players out of the reach of the fellow fan. Annual wages were now millions of pounds not thousands and fans werenââ?¬â?¢t as important as the agent or journalistic friend. The Bosman rule was next and money really started to take hold of our game. Not only that, it wasnââ?¬â?¢t just Scotsmen playing for Rangers but players from all over the world ââ?¬â?? many whom couldnââ?¬â?¢t even speak English never mind understand our traditions and history.

 

As such, with every passing year attitudes and relationships are changing. Who are our Rangers heroes nowadays? Barry Ferguson ââ?¬â?? a captain who doesnââ?¬â?¢t appear to be a leader? Dado Prso ââ?¬â?? a likeable chap whose career is all but finished? Nacho Novo ââ?¬â?? well he did say no to Celtic 3 years ago? Will we even have any great players next year? The kind of ability, charisma and pride that makes a player a Rangers legend certainly seems in short supply nowadays.

 

At the same time, these players are further from our reach. Increased technology and the problems that can bring means they are not allowed to attend RSC functions. VIP lounges means we can�t even buy them a pint and have a chat in our local pubs and clubs. Even when we do, we can�t understand what their life is like just as they can�t understand ours. Even the most average of players can earn more in a month that even the most skilled of us do in a year. Never have we been so far apart at the most basic of levels.

 

Ergo, do the players really care when we boo them? Do they even care when we cheer them? Similarly, can kissing the badge or the odd fleeting gesture appease us?

 

What about other figures at the club? An owner and chairman now semi-retired in France leaving an ill-equipped non-Rangers man to do a job he obviously struggles with. Even the so-called Rangers men still around prefer to lie and cover their boss�s tracks instead of standing up for the very people that loved them so much in years and eras long gone. Has the game changed so much that our greatest ever players are silent while our fans are kicked from pillar to post by sensationalist figures in the media? Or, like their fellow modern players, does the pound come before loyalty to the people who pay their wages?

 

All this is rather depressing but itââ?¬â?¢s also realistic and relevant. Last week our chairman appeared from nowhere to again plead with a small section of our fans to stop letting the club down. Of course he is right ââ?¬â?? the club should take priority over everything else. ââ?¬Ë?Rangers Firstââ?¬â?¢ is the admirable message.

 

Perhaps the chairman and some of the highly paid strangers now at our club could use that ethos themselves. Then we might just be more of the family they often talk about enabling us to face the many challenges ahead of us as a bonded unit instead of a divided and despondent one.

[Gribz 850]

As such, with every passing year attitudes and relationships are changing. Who are our Rangers heroes nowadays? Barry Ferguson ââ?¬â?? a captain who doesnââ?¬â?¢t appear to be a leader? Dado Prso ââ?¬â?? a likeable chap whose career is all but finished? Nacho Novo ââ?¬â?? well he did say no to Celtic 3 years ago? Will we even have any great players next year? The kind of ability, charisma and pride that makes a player a Rangers legend certainly seems in short supply nowadays.

 

 

Agree with your post Frankie, but no more so than this. Ive raised this point a few times in my 3 years on GersNet. We no longer have a hero status player IMO, or the ones who are potential our favourites are becoming scarce.

 

They have been phasing out over the last few years with the likes of Klos, Lovenkrands, De Boer, Ferguson (before transfer) and Prso our last lot.

 

Maybe we were too spoilt in the 80s and especially 90s. The 90s is the era I grew up as a kid and into my teens watching Rangers and I know I was spoilt by McCoist, Hateley, Gough, Goram, Laudrup, Gascoigne and Albertz. I feel for the kids watching Rangers just now, its scary that if your around 16 years old you wouldnt remember much about Gascoigne and Laudrup - It feels like they graced our pitch a few short years ago.

 

Looking at the current Rangers team Im a huge fan of Prso but as stated by Frankie the big man's career is over. IMO Ferguson has never been the same player as he was from the period 1998-2003 and been far too inconsistant to warrent any hero status. On his day he can still run a football match but on an off day he can be rotten. But to Fergusons credit he is maybe the 1 who knows what its all about pulling the shirt on, however being captain he sometimes goes about things the wrong way but thats getting into another story.

 

However, we have pulled in 2 legends in Walter and Ally to run the team and as it currently stands they are probably the fans favourites at the moment. They have a huge task with minimum funds to knit a new team together which the Ibrox faithfull can get right behind again. The door is open for new players to stand up and take this mantle however!!!

[pete 2,499]

I am afraid Walter Smith is not a legend for me as i believe he got handed a great team on a plate and watched it slowly huff and puff until it died against the worst celtic team ever. Mccoist is only a legend on the park and at the BBC he still has to prove he can be a coach. Great players are not always great coaches, in fact most good coaches were mediocre players.

Whether Walter and Ally can become legends will start in August 2007.

[Gribz 850]

I am afraid Walter Smith is not a legend for me as i believe he got handed a great team on a plate and watched it slowly huff and puff until it died against the worst celtic team ever. Mccoist is only a legend on the park and at the BBC he still has to prove he can be a coach. Great players are not always great coaches, in fact most good coaches were mediocre players.

Whether Walter and Ally can become legends will start in August 2007.

 

Disagree Pete, Walter is a Gers legend IMO for leading us to all the domestic success in the 90s. He did get handed a good side but in 1991 he changed the face of many players in the team with the likes of Goram, McCall, Miko, then the likes of Huistra, Durie etc followed before the big ones of laudrup and Co.

[fraser54 0]

 

Ergo, do the players really care when we boo them? Do they even care when we cheer them? Similarly, can kissing the badge or the odd fleeting gesture appease us?

 

.

 

Of course they care how do they feel when fans are booing them of the park, it will just get them down. If you look when we beat Celtic the players all loved and celebrated as we won the league, Walter and Ally has already told them what it means for playing at this club and the ones he canny be arsed will be out the door in the summer

[Frankie 8,552]

Fraser:

 

Perhaps, if they applied themselves properly over 90mins and a whole season instead of just when it suits them, the booing wouldn't happen.

 

Do you think Saturday's performance against 10 men for 90% of the match was acceptable?

[fraser54 0]

It wasnt a great performance but we still created chances which we couldnt put away and sometimes you have to be fair the opposition Calie defended very well as they usualy do. I dont agree booing the players after one bloody match that we dont win after we went on a good run beating good teams. Next they will be calling for Walter's and Murray's head

[Frankie 8,552]

Oh some of us have been calling for Murray's head long ago...

 

Saturday's performance was awful and I, for one, have no issue with some fans making their feelings known after the final whistle. During the match, support the team fully I agree but that doesn't mean we can't boo afterwards.

 

Too many players didn't put in any effort until after Caley equalised and that isn't good enough. More importantly, it's not as if it's just after one game - this has happened far too often over the last 2 years and it exactly why we havm't won a thing.

[bmck 117]

Too many players didn't put in any effort until after Caley equalised and that isn't good enough. More importantly, it's not as if it's just after one game - this has happened far too often over the last 2 years and it exactly why we havm't won a thing.

 

this is what most rangers fans seem to forget. murray creates a world for us where we are either in temporary decline, or on our way back to the top. we've taken the last few years because we've been in temporary decline - the decline plg was going to bring us out of. when the decline continued under him, then all-shall-be-restored with the comeback of the club greats - we're definintely coming back now! we think.

 

but its all nonsense. all the while this temporary-bloody-decline has been happening for years now and has become indistinguishable from our situation - decline is the new general state of affairs. and whats changed with walter smith back? whats changed to birth this idea (in time for season ticket money) that we're about to spring back into the transfer market and renew domestic and european success?

 

nothings changed. murray's not committed any money - he's still running on this absurd dichotomy that you either SPEND-SO-MUCH-MONEY-AS-TO-GET-INTO-CRIPPLING-DEBT or SPEND-NOTHING. in his reasoning there's no such thing as manageable debt - no idea of speculating to accumulate.

 

and nothings changed. nothing at all.

 

even if some players didn't put enough effort in - all the effort in the world is simply not going to make up for the general lack of quality that underlies it. players who realise the value in industry - the value tactically - simply dont need to be motivated. but even for this modest level of sense in a football player you've got to pay money. we wont. and the boy-captain isn't going to install it in anyone by bitching at them like constipated toddler.

 

rangers are doing my nut in right now. the streets are narrow.

[johnnyk 158]

It wasn't a great game (what I seen anyway), we should've won the game as we missed a few sitters in the first half, but we should be winning these games easy against 10 or 11 men at home and no disrespect to ICT. we don't work as hard as other teams like ICT, why? we don't seem to have any urgency about us at any point in the game, why? Walter sorted out the main problem quickly when he came in and got the defence sorted short term anyway, but there needs to be a massive change in personnel and everyone's attitude (as my m8 hastie kept telling me on the way home) but he is right it's shocking that most of these players have no great work ethic, why ?? Do they actually care? not for me they don't!

 

Walter and Ally are legends for me as I was there right though both their first time round Gers careers and if given a chance and the right backing from fans and quite a bit of money from the chairman I think they can lead us back to the top.

 

Barry is IMO our best player and for me that is sad, he plays ok the majority of the time and has some great games but nothing else, if he had better players there with him I'm sure that would help him . some younger guys can improve but how far they can go I don't know. the rest are average overpaid players, we don't have any superstars like we did no that long ago and can't see us having many more for a good while.

 

Our best player over the last few months is someone who's attitude seems to have got better and that's Hutton, a guy who was the boo boy for a while but has been consistent for me the last while. how much better he can get only time will tell but he is still young with time on his side but is he good enough for us? just now yes but he wouldn't get near teams we have had in the past but that just shows how bad the standards have dropped over the years.

 

This season I have never left so many games early in my time of watching Rangers as there is nothing great to watch or excite me these days.

 

We need to invest a vast amount of money in new players but how much we get from SDM I don't know as he is not interested one bit!