are we now just like the tims?

[bmck 117]

Well at least that makes one of us. Personally, I think our support have been overcome by apathy on one hand and the mhedia onslaught on the other to such an extent that you couldn't tell them apart from the 'petty-rent-a-cause-reactionaries' from the east end.

 

As soon as we missed out on 10-in-a-row the 'tide was turning' for us. Then through the millions spent during the Advocaat era and cash strapped famine of McLeish's reign we managed to win our fair share of titles, but as far as the mhedia propeganda was concerned we were the 'underdogs' to a 'dominant Celtic' ...and the worst of it is that we bought into their bullshit - Not just the fans mind you - The players and management joined in the chorus.

 

I thought it was embarrassing enough for PLG to be declaring that lot as the benchmark, but then when Walter took over (the one man I would expect to stand up to the ba$$as) and spouted the same pi$h I knew we really had hit rock bottom. The truth (as far as I'm concerned) is that for the past decade there has been very little to separate Rangers and Celtic both in terms of ability and achievements. The mhedia however have persistently painted a very different picture and it seems virtually everyone has taken on board their biased revisionist history sensationalism as fact.

 

As a result we're on to our fourth manager in a decade (would have been 5th if it wasn't Walter) and we're still complaining, rioting, protesting and generally making an ar$e of ourselves. At least we're not 'petty' though

 

UCF2008 posted the above in the other thread. my original rent-a-cause-reactionaries comment was about their general make-everyone-love-us philosophy. their persecution complex and immediate support for anything, no matter how contradictory, to maintain their romantic rebels image.

 

that being said, i do think his point is worth a debate. recent times have seen ranting as never before. its seen protesting. a whole culture of complaining has developed - but i do think that there are also valid societal reasons for this (information culture/credit crunch/anxieties about pluralism) as well as good arguments for the fact that everything is not as well as it could be within ibrox (murray wants out/rangers fans consistently paying their money to be called bigots by all and sundry etc).

 

that said, i think the anti-murray/anti-smith tone has just got rabid in recent times - a kind of rabid that can only happen on the faceless internet and in small groups. when it takes itself to real life (like the reported protest the other week) it falters.

 

but, then, i begin to think it is all justified again - the protests seem to have spurred the new signings, and it took for mass protests etc for celtic to get turned around.

 

so, all in all, have we become bitter tims?

[Guest ecosse1]

So have we became bitter like the tims ?

 

I think not, there is freshness in the supporters’ bitterness regarding failure

 

As you have mentioned in another thread “but there is a New Rangers fan, i think, and at the club they'd do well to recognise it. “

 

I believe it obvious why the fans were both protesting and ranting why they are showing dissent toward SDM and WS also I don’t think its societal, methinks it’s all to do with football, football,football.

 

Kaunas bit deeper than SDM and WS understand, despite debate on other threads I am unconvinced that neither WS A M or SDM understand how gutted fans were over that result. It is little wonder fans became rabid in their vehemence against SDM/WS they both deserved it. They both gambled and lost, SDM lost money the fans lost the joy of CL nights, and to make matters worse saw as a consequence celtic getting all the CL telly money.

 

It’s apparent that “new Gers fans” are wiser, no longer prepared to be stoical in the face of disappointment, particularly when it is inflicted on the club through negligence.

 

Both SDM and WS bask in adulation when it’s deserved, ergo when they cock up through neglect they have to accept the condemnation they are due.

 

So if those that are the custodians of RFC are being NEGLECTFUL then protest, I encourage it .that to me is being a supporter. :box:

 

 

 

 

.

[pete 2,499]

To be honest i always think bad times will nourish resentment and bitterness. A winning team is a happy team. With Scottish football scraping for every penny it can get, the price of failure has become almost life threatening. UEFA have much to answer for in my eyes as they have nurtured a monster in the Champions league, where only the strong can get stronger and the weak fall by the wayside.

Football has on a whole blown into a huge bubble and at some point an implosion is imminent in my opinion. There is a new breed of supporter because the days of supporting players is now short term. Here today,gone tomorrow. Money rules our game and society, so the day's of players who will live and die for the club are long gone.

Supporters have also taken a new step, in that, yesterday's hero is today's shooting target. John Greig is a hero for young and old at our club, carlos Cuellor will be a forgotten name in a few years time

 

Are we now as\more bitter than Celtic supporters, i would think Yes at the moment as we are the team on the low. Only success will change that in my view. The rewards of success determine the level of support.

[Frankie 8,552]

Nah, we've not become bitter tims.

 

Like any facet of modern life, the internet has brought education, awareness and freedom of expression, With these positives come the obvious negatives attached - ignorance, faux leadership and the anonymity of opinion.

 

It's a fine balance and when applied to our club it hardly remains steady. Any issue can really affect it in either way. There is no such thing as a minor topic within internet debate.

 

Thus it can seem like the smallest of issues affect the ripple much more than they should. Indeed, I think most parts of authority are struggling to handle this ripple effect - including RFC. As such, the results from it are very inconsistent and difficult to control.

 

What the club have to realise is that it won't go away.

[bmck 117]

ach, i agree with you all really. think it's worth the debate though. will try the ol' advocatus diaboli approach later though.

[alexscottislegend 2,306]

ach, i agree with you all really. think it's worth the debate though. will try the ol' advocatus diaboli approach later though.

 

Latin scholars on gersnet now! Nil ilegitimum carborundum, mate:D

[bmck 117]

inflected languages are the new sex.

[maineflyer 0]

Nah, we've not become bitter tims.

 

Like any facet of modern life, the internet has brought education, awareness and freedom of expression, With these positives come the obvious negatives attached - ignorance, faux leadership and the anonymity of opinion.

 

It's a fine balance and when applied to our club it hardly remains steady. Any issue can really affect it in either way. There is no such thing as a minor topic within internet debate.

 

Thus it can seem like the smallest of issues affect the ripple much more than they should. Indeed, I think most parts of authority are struggling to handle this ripple effect - including RFC. As such, the results from it are very inconsistent and difficult to control.

 

What the club have to realise is that it won't go away.

Of course it's always possible that the current discontent has more to do with a sustained decline in standards and performance at the club we focus so much of our attention upon. There's a chance that attitudes are hardening because there is good cause.

 

If the internet makes any contribution, it may be to accentuate and accellerate feelings in both directions, discontent and euphoria, simply because it is such an immediate and effective means of communication. However, it is interesting to think that while Rangers web forums have been variously condemning chairman and managers for years (and with some cause), there is still such a large body of opinion amongst our supporters that our leadership can do no wrong. On that basis, whatever your own brand of allegiance, it could easily be argued that, far from sending ripples across our pond, the internet has had the opposite effect.

 

Perhaps the internet actually serves to provide an open but unobtrusive place for the expression of discontent. A bit like a padded cell - everyone knows there is someone in there screaming his head off and pounding the walls but you only see and hear what's going on if you choose to go there, so the majority remain blissfully unaware.

 

Instead of the internet magnifying protest, it may actually diminish it by generally restricting debate to that specific arena, instead of among the wider support. People come on forums to express views and let off steam, whereas in days of yore they did it on the terraces.

 

Of course, whatever we think the effect of the internet, underlying the whole schimozzle is still what we see with our own eyes. Some good but a lot more that is unacceptable for Rangers.

[Frankie 8,552]

Love the padded cell analogy..

 

I don't think the web diminishes debate though. Sure it may make some people lazy but terrace/pub discussion is still prevalent and often more informed than ever before.

 

Unfortunately, the apathetic will be apathetic no matter if they have a mouse or a pint in their hand.

 

In my view the various methods of protest regarding our club's performance in the last 7 years particularly have been recognised (though obviously not addressed) by those in power. When appropriate, extra pressure may indeed help change that disappointing conclusion but the real key is reaching the vast, vast majority who are the ones who will make the difference.

 

And, indeed, that's where the internet could let us down as the 'padded cell' metaphor is most appropriate in terms of airing a credible argument amongst these people.

[Trailio 0]

You are right there is very little between the two of us and the line between success and failure is very thin. I'm sure if we had gone on to win the league last season the media would have been breathing down the backs of our east end neighbours but instead they can sell more papers by preying on the weak. "Strachan must go" would have been the headlines and SDM/WS would have been able to go about their business this summer without the extra pressure applied.