ian1964 10,724 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) Former Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston has taken a swipe at Celtic fans who claim their rivals are a new club. Many Hoops supporters, and indeed some fans of other teams in Scotland, maintain Gers ceased to exist when it went into administration in February 2012 before going through liquidation. They claim it was another incarnation of the Light Blues which emerged in the bottom tier of Scottish football. Johnston's chairmanship ended when Craig Whyte took over in 2011 before the club's financial implosion but he returned to Ibrox as a director in 2017. He believes the 2-1 win over Celtic on Sunday, the first Gers victory at Parkhead since 2010, demonstrated the self belief at Ibrox going into the new decade. Reflecting on the dark days of 2012 and the fall-out, Johnston told the PA news agency that Rangers not only survived but are now thriving. He said: "I left after we won the title for the third time in a row in 2011 and I wasn't believing my ears about what was going on at the club and where it was going. "You were hearing all the words like the Rangers have disappeared, they have died, it was a new club and all the stuff which self-interested people tried to maintain. "I always wondered about the mentality of certain Celtic supporters, not by any means most of them, who basically said our club died in February, 2012. "You know what? If that was the end of Rangers and Celtic and if that was the end of the big game that started in 1888 (the first Old Firm meeting) all the way to 2012 - we won that game. "The way you determine it by the number of times (54) we won the top division "We were ahead in February, 2012 and in head-to-head victories, we were ahead of Celtic in 2012. "So if you wanted to say the old Rangers of 1872 died - we beat you 2-0 and when the game started again in 2012, it will be 120 years or so before you can tie with us. "So you were dealing with that sort of mentality, with Rangers fans being defensive. "But the reality is Rangers survived and not only did they survive, they started to thrive again. "What we are seeing is much more of a thriving Rangers than a surviving Rangers. "We have left survival behind us and it is now all about thriving and seeing how far we can go." https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/5126295/rangers-news-alastair-johnston-celtic-new-club/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1577972262 Edited January 2, 2020 by ian1964 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger_syntax 4,329 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Sadly this is not how you should deal with trolls. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,627 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, ranger_syntax said: Sadly this is not how you should deal with trolls. Yeah, don't give their views oxygen or the pleasure of a response. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill 13,717 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Johnston might mean well but he clearly doesn't understand life in Scotland as a Rangers supporter. Hopefully he won't be repeating comments like these. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo79 15,294 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Bill said: Johnston might mean well but he clearly doesn't understand life in Scotland as a Rangers supporter. I met Mr Johnston recently and he seemed like a nice chap but I suspect he and other board members don't often encounter low-level yahoos...if ever. We have far bigger problems than the 'new club' jibes (FARE's influence with UEFA and SFA officials are two that immediately spring to mind). Edited January 2, 2020 by Gonzo79 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFK-1 1,693 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Yeah I would agree that he shouldn't even have acknowledged this drivel. And I would agree that it's likely he and others at board level rarely encounter it. In general comes from the lowest of the low on the IQ scale. The mentally challenged of the mentally challenged. The village idiot in a village of idiots. The kind who think their grunt truly inventive who couldn't read and comprehend the instructions on a pot noodle far less the details of a complex tax case. I have a brother who actually is a tax expert. He has worked for HMRC for almost 40 years and used to be in charge of a tax fraud department before moving to customs at Glasgow airport. He has had some of these imbeciles actually accosting him about Rangers when they find out he's a tax man. He answers their questions affirming that in every way it's the same club but is then 'educated' by them on how wrong he is and how obviously more knowledgeable they are on these issues than he and his 4 decades of professional expertise is. It's a pointless exercise. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,724 Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFK-1 1,693 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Anyone such as English latching on this mindless crap is merely an attention begging shit stirrer. English knows there isn't a footballing authority anywhere which goes along with this nonsense. It's an already done to death meaningless concept so why even keep talking about it. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,724 Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,724 Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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