Rangers: Not the Establishment Club.

03 April 2011 13:52
It's a headline thousands of Rangers fans thought they'd never see. With stories about the possibility of Rangers going bust doing the media rounds - on April 1st of all days - the reaction from our support has been wide-ranging. Shock, horror, a refusal to believe it, and a quiet and growing concern for the health of a club that is an intrinsic part of the identity of a significant portion of Scotland's population, have all been in evidence. I'm not unhappy that this story is out there. The Rangers support, in my experience, has steadfastly refused to accept that the club could ever fold. 'It'll never happen". "It would never be allowed to happen". "Rangers are looked after - don't worry about it". The above sentiments have all been expressed when this subject crops up, and I could never understand the logic of this position. If we can't pay our bills, we'll fail. If we can't service our debt, we'll fail. If we can't pay our way in the world, the world will continue without us. Rangers has been open to buyer-interest for six years and there's hardly been a stampede of prospective buyers to Sir David Murray's door. Perhaps a change of ownership is close now, but no-one can speak with certainty about any part of this sorry saga. The message that the club could actually cease to be must surely hit home. Our existence is not, and never was, guaranteed. Our support needs a jolt. It needs a reality check. It needs to stop believing in the fairytale that an unseen hand guides us through troubled waters. It needs to stop putting total faith in just one man to bring success and glory. The adulation of Sir David Murray, at times, has been embarrassing. It is partly our fault that Rangers is now a complex web of debt and doubt. We never wanted to know the details, or probe too deeply into how the club was being run, or even to expect accountability from the Rangers boardroom. We just wanted someone to write the cheques. We invited trouble and have flirted with disaster. Even if a new broom sweeps in to make Sir David Murray history, we cannot be sure that a new regime will be as impressive as we surely wish it to be. These are troubled times for Rangers and we shouldn't expect quick-fix solutions. We must expect, and insist on, accountability in the years which will hopefully lie in front of us, and the club, under new ownership, will surely learn to embrace the Rangers support and recognise its value. No more should anyone believe the oft-repeated guff that influential forces in society look out for Rangers. Influential forces in society would close us down now. It's time for the Rangers support itself to be influential if our club is to have a meaningful and successful future. As a collective boot gets aimed at Sir David Murray's rear end, and make no mistake, blame belongs at his door, remember one thing - when the ship was heading for the rocks, we hoped that someone else would steer us to a safer place. We sat on our backsides and did nothing. The Rangers support should never again be so passive and compliant. If we get through this, the future will hopefully be healthy and bountiful, but the days of bowing and scraping to the Rangers top table must end forever. Let's borrow from that famous speech and be a club, truly, of the people, by the people, and for the people. Never again should Rangers be a one-man band.  

Source: FOOTYMAD