New Traynor appointment raises questions for 140 year old Club

08 December 2012 17:28
As our Twitter correspondent noted last evening, the appointment of Jim Traynor at Rangers inspired a very strange feeling indeed: a bit like seeing Hulk Hogan join the NWO.

Today Mr. Hogan (you’d call him that too if you saw how big he was) took to wishing RFC all the best on their anniversary.

Meanwhile, back in the almost-real world the Club and fans provided a magnificent spectacle off and on the field (at least at half-time) as we came together to pay tribute and to celebrate a remarkable anniversary. It was a day to be proud; to reflect; to gain strength from the way people have reacted in these dark times and to look forward to another 140 years of success.

There will be many great videos and pictures to follow (follow).

But sometime tomorrow or perhaps the day after we’ll be back to reality and coming to terms with the appointment announced this morning.

It’s fair to say that – like many Scottish journalists – the relationship between elements of the Rangers support and James Traynor has been mixed. The ongoing myth-making and back-pedalling re comments made post-Osasuna has done little to fix fences and mend bridges, but there will be some within the support who feel that many of Traynor’s recent articles – wherein he has skewered Messrs Doncaster, Regan, Lawwell and company – have been rare examples of someone prominent within the wider Scottish media corps making the case that Rangers has been treated abominably in recent months.

The problem, and it’s a significant one, is that if you read those articles you also have to accept that Mr. Traynor believes – like some demented opposition fans and many of Jim’s ex-BBC colleagues, flying in the face of the SFA/UEFA – that Rangers is a ‘new’ club.

The Club’s ongoing refusal to co-operate with the BBC beyond existing contractual agreements is at least partly due to their childish and inaccurate editorial bias which is all too evident in almost every piece submitted and posted on their website.

Indeed, Andrew Dickson, club employee and one of the men who helps make the RFC online team so efficient and fan-friendly, has taken in recent weeks to lambasting those who continue to peddle this form of propaganda, paying particular attention to those at Pacific Quay but offering the same committed and sustained rebuttal to all within the media who can’t resist the ‘new club’ mantra.

And yet...now we’ve gone and employed one, and he in many respects be Andrew’s boss.

The following is a mere sample of the work of Traynor in recent months. All are direct quotes from articles written for the Daily Record, with links and dates. Bold comments are my own.

 

3 September 2012

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/lawyers-set-to-cash-in-as-spl-and-rangers-1299399

 

McCoist and Green are committed to opposing any move to have history books rewritten even though they accepted they had to begin again as a new concern after Rangers, the club with history, slipped into liquidation and closed. That should mean the titles aren’t really any of their business.

 

 

23 July 2012

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/james-traynor-rangers-new-season-1189199

 

And I believe concern over the new club's finances has prompted Brian Kennedy to make a £5.6million bid for a controlling interest.

 

 

13 July 2012

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/clubs-must-do-the-right-thing---1189286

 

It's not even about the cause of the current crisis, the club formerly known as Rangers. In an ideal world their offspring would have been forced to apply for membership of the SFL, starting at the very bottom of course. But Scottish football has never been the perfect environment.

 

2 July 2012

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/if-spl--sfl-kick-gers-1189367

They have the power to deny this new club any chance of life but they'll be condemning themselves to a miserable, empty future. Without the millions a healthy Rangers and their fans help generate, Scottish football will decline rapidly. All credibility at home and abroad will be lost.

 

20 June 2012

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/james-traynor-posturing-businessmen-should-1112187

 

One time was probably once too often for the old club's former manager, who was tempted to take the lead in a group involving Jim McColl and Douglas Park.

 

However, the fans are not powerless because despite all the nonsense about tens of millions of pounds set to flow into the new club it's season-ticket revenue which will make or break this regime. The fans must choose but they should stop listening to all the people on the sidelines.

 

15 June 2012

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-in-crisis-ibrox-fans-to-snub-1129316

Green bought Rangers and their assets yesterday for £5.5million, just hours after Smith revealed he was spearheading a group to buy the new club.

 

Allof  this is bad enough but the very best (worst) example is found in the Record on June 13th.

 

13 June 2012

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/james-traynor-spl-will-not-be-able-1129166

Rangers FC as we know them are dead. It’s all over. They are about to shut down for ever but not a single person among the game’s hierarchy was open for comment.

No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out Rangers as we know them died.

They were closed and a newco must start from scratch although their fans will insist the history will be boxed up with the strips and balls and carried into the future with the new club.

Technically that history belongs to something else, some other company but even though the governing bodies appear consumed by technicalities and protocol supporters have other priorities.

Of course, they could let them back in while insisting the new club has to accept penalties for the behaviour of the old, especially if the SPL enquiry finds Rangers guilty of issuing players dual contracts with their EBTs.

 

Jim’s not and never has been a fan of Rangers, but was clearly close to successive members in the boardroom and in the manager’s office and has built up impressive contacts over the years. He knows how the Scottish media works. And who cannot be trusted.

It doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference if an employee – in this case Traynor – is a fan of the Club if they can 1) do their job properly and 2) put aside any allegiances in favour of the protection and promotion of the Club, its fans and its good name and brand.

How Traynor manages to do the latter when he seems on at least one important issue to be in direct conflict with the fans and employees of this Club remains to be seen. His appointment is a risk for Charles Green, whose recent rhetoric – occasionally backed magnificently by actions as in the Dundee Utd/ ticket affair – has impressed many supporters. Traynor seems too often to be convinced that he is the story and all the recent sucking-up to the fans (which is equally noticeable in recent Record scribbling) won’t save him if our media mastery and control does not dramatically improve.

We wish him luck. He might need it.

 

Source: FollowFollow.com

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