Perhaps it’s being surrounded by yes men who only tell him what he wants to hear, or maybe it’s the insular nature of powerful men who move through the corridors of power. Either one of the foregoing has caused Alistair to Johnston to completely misunderstand the feelings of grass roots Rangers supporters.
As he attempted to usurp the Craig Whyte takeover at Ibrox with the sudden announcement of a £25 million cash injection to the club, (though - where this money was as we lost our top striker mid-season because we couldn’t afford to offer him a new contract – goodness only knows) an attempt of course which was doomed to failure, he then urged Rangers supporters to carefully “police” Whyte’s tenure at Ibrox. As with his takeover bid this comment was part of a suggestion by Johnston that Whyte lacks the financial clout to take Rangers forward.
Johnston would have done well to listen to the words of singer Jesse J in her song Price Tag...
“It’s not about the money,money,money.
Sure like every other Bear I sincerely hope Ally is given a war chest in order to strengthen a squad which is in dire need of strengthening. But as the saying goes “money is not everything”. But if the Rangers support were to “police” the attempts of the recently deposed and selling members of the Rangers board on their abilities to defend this club there would (if any) be few pass marks. So AJ be careful what you wish for.
The last 20 years or so has seen an increasing demonization of this club and its support and please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but I can only remember 2 instances when the previous “guardians” of our club actually made comments regarding the vindictive nature of some of the media portrayal of our club and its support :-
1. SDM advising us that if a publication offended – don’t buy it
2. Martin Bain suing a French magazine journo for suggesting he had taken a bung during a transfer deal
Hardly a robust defence of our club or its support. Let me tell you this there is nothing, absolutely nothing dignified about the silence strategy employed by our previous board in “defending” our club. Yes there have been financial hardships in recent years but again this failure was not about the money. It was a failure of passion, of love for our club, our support and everything this club stands for.
The greatest indictment I can charge them with is that they have systematically failed in the duties bestowed upon them in the immortal words of John Allan....
“May all who look upon the old club with a friendly eye stand prepared, by precept and example, to protect its interests and its good name."
It’s not as if these insulated men were not exposed to the grass roots feelings of the Rangers support. Banners within the ground urging the board to defend our club, questions and statements at AGM’s along with the formation of websites such as this are testimony to how important a subject this was for the Rangers support.
Furthermore it would not have been so difficult to expose not just the lies but the motivations behind some of the lies which were appearing about our club and its support. A small dip sample from the last 20 years provides us with considerable evidence of this.
“Rangers cultivated sectarianism” Anna Smith – Sunday Mirror.
The suggestion that Rangers groundsmen cut the grass at Ibrox in the shape of a sash, that we banned Eggs Benedict from the Murray Park menu and of course that Rangers fans doing the “bouncy” were in fact celebrating a sectarian killing in Northern Ireland – all stories which have appeared in time in the News of the World.
“bigoted troglodytes...almost to a man” – Graham Spiers – Glasgow Herald.
Some of you will recognise the name Anna Smith – she was a member of the Troops Out movement and, for a supposedly social commentator, she seems to spend a considerable amount of time writing about Sporting matters (often Rangers related and almost exclusively negative) in her paper – The Mirror – for those of you with short memories that’s the same newspaper which published falsified pictures of British Troops allegedly torturing Iraqi prisoners of war which resulted in the sacking of the now popular Piers Morgan.
On a side note, it’s amazing how forgiving the media seem to be of their own, for as well as the disgraced Morgan, Kevin McKenna, who was sacked for the Celtic View for suggesting the Enniskillen bombing was “a legitimate act of war” now enjoys a privileged position at one of our country’s popular daily publications. But I digress.
The second publication the News of the World has over a period of time released a series of negative and fabricated stories about our club, with their sportswriter Gerry McNee particularly prone to moralising their readership about the evils of the Rangers support. This, for those of you on the dark side of the moon is the same publication which for years denied allegations of phone tapping and hacking. It is now clear from their own admission (made as the evidence against them became overwhelming) that they have been guilty of criminal activity, of abusing the rights of individuals to personal privacy.We should not therefore be surprised that such a publication has difficulty in determining or publishing the truth.
The last example was Spiers – I will return to this individual in due course.
Many years ago I caused something of a controversy when I wrote an article about Allport’s Theory. Gordon Allport was an American Psychologist who devised a scale of discrimination with different levels showing how it escalated until it reaches the final level – extermination. The treatment of the Jews in Germany during the reign of the Nazis offered a perfect example of all the stages of Allport’s theory. Some misinterpreted the article suggesting it was inappropriate to compare the suffering of the Jews with that of the Rangers support. Which of course it would be. What they failed to understand was that Allport’s theory offers an increasing scale of discrimination, not necessarily as extreme as extermination. Let me give you an example. The lower to middle ranges of the scale suggests that an indicator of discrimination is when a particular group of people are not afforded the same rights as everyone else. I would ask you to consider 2 recent events and draw your own conclusions.
Members of 45 Commando Group were paraded last year at Ibrox following a successful deployment in Afghanistan. The day was a resounding success and the enthusiastic reception given to these heroes reverberated around all our Armed Forces. It is a scene which has been repeated around many many football clubs in the United Kingdom. Yet according to Spiers Rangers motivation for parading these brave young men was motivated by nothing more than one upmanship against our greatest rivals. We have been treated differently to every other club in the land as no other had their motives for parading troops brought into question.
On the week of the Royal Wedding Rangers distributed Union Flags to fans to wave before the match. According to Matt Dickinson at the Times such as display was motivated by sectarian intent. During a week when you could not go into a shop, turn a corner without seeing a Union Flag proudly flying Rangers fans have been singled out for waving the flag of their country. Again we have been treated differently to the rest of the country.
Some may even comment on the extraordinary nature of Dickinson who has never before concerned himself with Scottish football, suddenly taking an avid interest and penning not only sporting but also political and social comment to his article. I think we all know the true motivations and reasons behind this.
It is nothing short of disgraceful after the lies and damage Graham Spiers has done to this club and its support that he is still afforded a place in the Ibrox Press Box.
Let us be under no illusions whatsoever the sectarian debate is not going to go away. And despite the excellent article by Opportunity Knox on the Vanguard Bears website I can see a significant escalation in this issue. The academic research by Prof Steve Bruce is going to be ignored as those who wish to jump on the offended bus are going to cause both politicians and plod to take action. The increase in arrests which have a sectarian aggravator will show in statistics and Scotland will legislate and enforce a problem which is almost entirely confined to football.
It will be at times like this that Rangers and our support need both a strong and resolute guardian. Early suggestions are that Craig Whyte may well be that type of chairman, and will not cower from or ignore those who unfairly besmirch our club and its support.
Those cowards with typewriters who for far too long have printed their malicious and vindictive lies about our club have had their 5 minutes of fame. (Longer in fact) Its time this club produced a chairman and a board who are worthy of John Allan’s immortal words and who carry them to fruition with a sense of duty.
If Craig Whyte turns out to be that man....then that will do for this bear Mr Chairman.
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