Open letter to the club

Its too vague. Pleading for fans to behave is a total cop out.

Ive suggested many times on here that the club needs to start talking with club reps, SLO, Club 1872, UB etc and sort out the songbook. Simply pleading for a stop to it wont work. How many times do they need to be told?
The Union Bears know not to sing the Billy Boys in Europe. They did just that.

They should be hauled in front of the Board.
 
I’ve got to say, it’s come as a bit of a shock ( maybe tactical by UEFA).
Without any warning that we are reaching a serious disciplinary situation , they want half a stand closed as punishment for singing songs that no knows are the source of the punishment.
Rangers fire out a statement as if they knew what was coming and are quite accepting of it.
Something reeks here.
 
Ok then. Are WATP, FF and Rule Britannia acceptable?. Are the Sash and Derrys Walls? What about Super Rangers or songs about Celtic being paedos?

The point is its not so simple and we need thr club to get talking to fans.
The club shouldn’t have to tell people. Singing about Paedos is obviously not ok. I have never agreed with us signing Ulster songs. The sash etc but it songs about the pope and feniens that are killing us. You must know this.
 
How can Rangers possibly list songs that are acceptable . What do you want them to say FFS. Rangers tell their support they can sing Build my Gallows, Men Behind The Wire, The Sash, Derry's walls however can't sing anything about the Pope or the IRA - how stupid would that make us look.
 
The club shouldn’t have to tell people. Singing about Paedos is obviously not ok. I have never agreed with us signing Ulster songs. The sash etc but it songs about the pope and feniens that are killing us. You must know this.

I keep hearing "the club shouldnt have to tell people". Dont you get it? They DO have to tell people AND they need to engage with them to make sure its AGREED.
 
How can Rangers possibly list songs that are acceptable . What do you want them to say FFS. Rangers tell their support they can sing Build my Gallows, Men Behind The Wire, The Sash, Derry's walls however can't sing anything about the Pope or the IRA - how stupid would that make us look.

Just saying dont sing bad songs wont work. They've tried this and looks where its got us. Time to start talking.
 
YOU need to address this, you need to get ahead of it and you need to show some leadership.

We have supporters who are stuck in the past, we have others who are frustrated and we have all of us who are suffering a skewed and imbalanced level of reporting and sanction.

We have a sizeable number of supporters who will not stop the behaviour that is landing us in bother because they are well aware of the double standards that are at play and see themselves not as bigots, but as people taking a stand against the bigotry they face.

Through all of my time supporting the club, well over 30 years, we have not once had a sensible and adult discussion that involves the club and the support, a forum where you can tell us explicitly, in plain English, what is not acceptable (although I agree 100% if you point out that it should be bloody obvious to anyone with half a brain) and where the support can tell you explicitly what our issues are and the double standards we face.

If you want the singing to stop, you need to engage our support, you need to talk to us and you need to ask us a simple question: what can we do to help you. If you treat this as an 'us and them' situation, you will simply find people retreating further behind their lines, carrying on their behaviour, but if you ask them what needs to happen for them to stop, you might find a healthier relationship with the support and far better results. I think you will also be shocked at the answers you get.

We need you to work with us, not sit in your tower and try to dictate. It did not work for ANY previous board and it will not work for you. You need to work with us here, stand up for us far more than you do.

Maybe the club will be open to discussions about double standards when the troublesome singing stops.

The fans singing/chanting dodgy song (s) are the ones letting down the club & the fans that are now going to miss the game on thursday.
 
4lads have tweeted that a Killie acting CEO was allegedly the guy who grassed us to UEFA

If this is true the following should happen - please do this Rangers

Rangers should insist that the HSE and East Ayrshire Council charge Killie for a safety breach in relationship to the ticketing system failure at the EL qualifier and SPL game v us

Rangers should also ask to see the valid safety certificate for the disabled area for season 2019/20 - if any recommendations to upgrade the facility have not been implemented then this another H&S breach

Rangers also need to refuse any tickets for Killie for the next 5 years to any competition

This c.unt O’Hagan is f.ucking at it and these bastards need nailed
 
I wont be saying how i really feel about the cronyism that is in and around Ibrox now.. i would cop a lifetime ban from FF...
As for the post a few days ago asking if our support has hardened.. id say we have got weaker.. i sometimes dont recognize our support at times especially the online loyal


You read like you're just pissing in the wind without any direct knowledge of the sh.ite you're spouting.

You deserve a lifetime ban if that's the case.
 
*Any song that mentions the word “19th Century Terrorist” or any similar term
*Any song that mentions the Pope
*Any song which gives you even pause for thought

You know that already though, you just don’t care.

I’d add the hunger striker to that list.
 
I keep hearing "the club shouldnt have to tell people". Dont you get it? They DO have to tell people AND they need to engage with them to make sure its AGREED.
The club have asked constantly. It’s up to decent fans to hound these people out. They are wrecking our reputation.
 
We lost the argument many years ago. It's not a level playing field and it never will be. Just accept we can't sing about 19th Century Terrorists, the Pope, nuns, rosary beads. I might be naive, but they cant stop us signing aboutour club, our team.
 
We lost the argument many years ago. It's not a level playing field and it never will be. Just accept we can't sing about 19th Century Terrorists, the Pope, nuns, rosary beads. I might be naive, but they cant stop us signing aboutour club, our team.
It’s ludicrous people actually want to sing about that stuff at football. It’s something I have always hated.
 
I think club should approach individual fans first, gave them a warning and advise any repeat behaviour and it is season ticket revoked/ ban from Ibrox.

It's way beyond a slap on the wrist now or even the re-education that the club was credited for, the ones singing the songs/chants now know the consequences and should be banned.
 
The stand closure is about racism nothing else. If anyone had checked the chargesheets against all clubs the punishment was the same for every club. The issue is race when did 19th Century Terrorists become a race. The answer is never. Someone has bundled our support in with neo nazis from Eastern Europe and punished as the same.

Sectarianism comes under racism in their rules. Wrongly I agree but it does.

Now you could argue that 19th Century Terrorist doesn't mean Catholic all you like but we lost that battle years ago.
 
I’m sorry but people need to waken up and realise that the single most effective way for supporters to engage with the club and stop singing certain songs or add-ons is if the club actually grows a set of bollocks and starts standing up for itself and the fans.

Yes, certain songs or words are outlawed and everyone knows this but we are being singled out and punished unfairly. The support knows this.

People are kidding themselves if they think that our problems will end after a few songs stop. These bast@rds will keep going for more. Banning the billy boys didn’t stop them coming for more and they won’t stop now.

People need to stop deluding themselves and actually start getting real.

You mean that as a fan base we can't get through 90 minutes without mentioning 19th Century Terrorists, the chief paedo harbourer, the skeletal terrorist & any other trashy ditty.

When i used to take my son when he was 6/7, he's now 37, i would take him in a good 40 minutes before the match.There was always Rangers songs being played including one to the same tune as the bb. I don't understand why fans don't/won't sing songs like this instead of the trash that is the bb.

Singing the bb is a comfort blanket for the hard of thinking in this day & age.
 
In truth, given how hard they’ve worked to drag us back from the brink and put a footballing structure in place that finally looks like it’s on the verge of adding to our illustrious history, the only thing the club really needs to do at this point is stress that anyone singing songs likely to incur the severest of sanctions will be summarily banned for life.

Years of dignified dereliction of duty may have led us to where we are now, but we’re at crisis point my friend and crisis points need crisis management.
 
The harsh reality is we are in the hands of any amount of Buckfast fuelled neds who deem it their right to sing what they want when they want. Nothing has changed really.
 
The club have asked constantly. It’s up to decent fans to hound these people out. They are wrecking our reputation.

You dont actually believe this will work, do you?

The club needs to do a lot more than plead for common sense. It needs to start a process of engagement with fans to get agreement on the way forward.
 
You dont actually believe this will work, do you?

The club needs to do a lot more than plead for common sense. It needs to start a process of engagement with fans to get agreement on the way forward.
The club have never engaged with me yet I know how not to be a moron. I’m not sure why others find it so hard.
 
The club have never engaged with me yet I know how not to be a moron. I’m not sure why others find it so hard.

You've answered your own question perhaps. We're all different with different opinions and different ways of thinking. Some of us might be, to use your own words, morons.

The problem is the club just keep coming up with the same old same old. It doesnt work. Cant you see that?

Time for a different approach that involves engaging with fans to find out what they think and to develop a strategy that actually works.

The alternative is to just carry on appealing and pleading for restraint.

Perhaps you've got a better idea.
 
Anything that refers to 19th Century Terrorists or the Pope for a start. Staggered somebody lacks the brainpower to figure even that much out for themself.
This is all very well and good but Celtic are proudly displaying banners declaring their 19th Century Terroristism as a badge of honour. Kind of nullifies the offensive aspect of it, does it not?
 
YOU need to address this, you need to get ahead of it and you need to show some leadership.

We have supporters who are stuck in the past, we have others who are frustrated and we have all of us who are suffering a skewed and imbalanced level of reporting and sanction.

We have a sizeable number of supporters who will not stop the behaviour that is landing us in bother because they are well aware of the double standards that are at play and see themselves not as bigots, but as people taking a stand against the bigotry they face.

Through all of my time supporting the club, well over 30 years, we have not once had a sensible and adult discussion that involves the club and the support, a forum where you can tell us explicitly, in plain English, what is not acceptable (although I agree 100% if you point out that it should be bloody obvious to anyone with half a brain) and where the support can tell you explicitly what our issues are and the double standards we face.

If you want the singing to stop, you need to engage our support, you need to talk to us and you need to ask us a simple question: what can we do to help you. If you treat this as an 'us and them' situation, you will simply find people retreating further behind their lines, carrying on their behaviour, but if you ask them what needs to happen for them to stop, you might find a healthier relationship with the support and far better results. I think you will also be shocked at the answers you get.

We need you to work with us, not sit in your tower and try to dictate. It did not work for ANY previous board and it will not work for you. You need to work with us here, stand up for us far more than you do.
Dear Rangers

If you defend the protestant Identity and songs of our club we will take you seriously

Lots of the love
Rangers faithful
 
We (NI supporters) stopped it at Windsor Park. Now no one would even think of singing any of these songs at an international. The atmosphere is great and the fans are always praised. There was a lot of work with fan groups to make this happen. Rangers officals should follow this lead.
That’s actually a brilliant idea. Look into what the IFA did to solve it.
 
As far as I can see the club haven’t done much at all. There’s a guy in my section who has been reported by three different people over the last three years and what’s happened, nothing it would seem because he’s still sitting in his seat spouting his bile.
 
@Greg Marshall I don’t know if something like this falls under your jurisdiction. But surely the sentiment at least should be passed on to the powers that be?

We as a fanbase need to understand clearly the position we are in.

The club's statement today is consistent with our position for a number of years but this punishment I believe is the first time in a long time the average Rangers fan can appreciate just how detrimental the singing off unacceptable songs is to our club.

As part of my role, we will, of course, be following up with supporters and making the club aware of feedback but we as a supporter base need to be abundantly clear - if we continue to have these songs appear at home and away games we will suffer the consequences.
 
We as a fanbase need to understand clearly the position we are in.

The club's statement today is consistent with our position for a number of years but this punishment I believe is the first time in a long time the average Rangers fan can appreciate just how detrimental the singing off unacceptable songs is to our club.

As part of my role, we will, of course, be following up with supporters and making the club aware of feedback but we as a supporter base need to be abundantly clear - if we continue to have these songs appear at home and away games we will suffer the consequences.

Thanks for getting back to me, appreciate it must’ve been a busy day.
 
Said it in another thread as well. Club needs to do more saying dont sing naughty song lyrics is not enough, making a wee video saying we are welcome to all is not enough.

I totally agree the fans are at fault for singing songs deemed offensive. This does not mean that the club are correct also and its not their fault either.

Also regarding others. If we want to be on a level playing field then wee need to act accordingly as fans and a club as well. Complain about everything and anything en mass to Uefa anything you find mildly offensive because that is exactly what happens to us.

We need to get our house in order that is pretty clear. We also need to address the clear agenda against the club or getting our house in order is pointless.

Good post.
 
We as a fanbase need to understand clearly the position we are in.

The club's statement today is consistent with our position for a number of years but this punishment I believe is the first time in a long time the average Rangers fan can appreciate just how detrimental the singing off unacceptable songs is to our club.

As part of my role, we will, of course, be following up with supporters and making the club aware of feedback but we as a supporter base need to be abundantly clear - if we continue to have these songs appear at home and away games we will suffer the consequences.

Its time the club started talking to the fans AND listening to them. I thought this would have been a critical element of your role. The board need to develop a strategy to engage with UB, Club 1872, TBO, reps from supporters clubs and associations and get AGREEMENT on a way forward. Its not that difficult to do.
 
Its time the club started talking to the fans AND listening to them. I thought this would have been a critical element of your role. The board need to develop a strategy to engage with UB, Club 1872, TBO, reps from supporters clubs and associations and get AGREEMENT on a way forward. Its not that difficult to do.

Fan engagement is critical to every football club - you may have noticed we held focus groups at our recent match against Hibs and have agreed to expand and continue that across many demographics in the support throughout the season.

I think we need to face the reality here - there is no negotiation on this. Any songs or behaviour that have caused us to fall foul of the UEFA roles cannot be tolerated by our club or fans. We engage with all the above (though less so with the TBO as they haven't really been active recently) on a regular basis - Now that we as a club and fanbase have suffered such a severe punishment then we as a fanbase need to see the effect of the actions of the minority have on us as a club.
 
Fan engagement is critical to every football club - you may have noticed we held focus groups at our recent match against Hibs and have agreed to expand and continue that across many demographics in the support throughout the season.

I think we need to face the reality here - there is no negotiation on this. Any songs or behaviour that have caused us to fall foul of the UEFA roles cannot be tolerated by our club or fans. We engage with all the above (though less so with the TBO as they haven't really been active recently) on a regular basis - Now that we as a club and fanbase have suffered such a severe punishment then we as a fanbase need to see the effect of the actions of the minority have on us as a club.

Your not really expecting the fans to just suddenly stop singing these unspecified songs are you?

As for fan engagement. You're hardly scratching the surface. How many fans have you met and what was the outcome?

Im talking about the club developing a network of contacts/reps that reach and meet on a regular basis with the vast majority of fans. Not a few one off focus groups. The purpose of this network would be to discuss and develop a strategy for dealing with songs and the way we're being targeted unfairly by the authorities.

To be honest Im sick of the shit we get thrown at us and Im sick of the lip service and excuses coming out of Ibrox claiming that something is being done. You cant fool all the people all of the time. Its time the club took responsibility and showed some leadership.
 
Your not really expecting the fans to just suddenly stop singing these unspecified songs are you?

As for fan engagement. You're hardly scratching the surface. How many fans have you met and what was the outcome?

Im talking about the club developing a network of contacts/reps that reach and meet on a regular basis with the vast majority of fans. Not a few one off focus groups. The purpose of this network would be to discuss and develop a strategy for dealing with songs and the way we're being targeted unfairly by the authorities.

To be honest Im sick of the shit we get thrown at us and Im sick of the lip service and excuses coming out of Ibrox claiming that something is being done. You cant fool all the people all of the time. Its time the club took responsibility and showed some leadership.

I've read the debate in regards to whether the club has to be explicit on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour by naming individual songs.

The UEFA rules are clear:
skin colour, race, religion, ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation (latter two were added after the image from below which is the 2017 regs)

Bsu59dx.jpg


We have hundreds of thousands of fans - we can't meet with the majority of them.

Its time we faced up that the songbook has to adapt to focus on the pro Rangers songs - no ifs, buts, or maybes. The club can't be clearer on this front. We need to celebrate what is best about our club and fanbase.
 
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I've read the debate in regards to whether the club has to be explicit on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour by naming individual songs.

The UEFA rules are clear:

skin colour, race, religion or ethnic origin

Bsu59dx.jpg


We have hundreds of thousands of fans - we can't meet with the majority of them.

Its time we faced up that the songbook has to adapt to focus on the pro Rangers songs - no ifs, buts, or maybes. The club can't be clearer on this front. We need to celebrate what is best about our club and fanbase.

Ok, with that said and understood I will change the request in the op to a demand; get off your fucking arses and start to do something about the fact one set of supporters can sing about murdering British soldiers but we cannot answer in kind. The songs and add ins have to go, absolutely. Until you start to address the issue holistically, they more than likely will not.


Just another occasion where the club are not even willing to show a single hint of interest in what the paying punter wants.
 
So much posts about our enemies, what they are trying to do to us, what they get away with etc etc etc.

Whether that’s true or not, we play right into their hands by continually singing certain songs.

I have never imagined PL has as much power as some on here say he has, but if he has, he is obviously going to look after his own and make his enemies look as bad as possible. If one of our own had that much power we would expect the same.

That doesn’t mean the battle is lost, it just means as a support we have to play smarter, and a big part of that is cutting out the songs that have now cost 3000 supporters a seat at what is no doubt a massive game.

For those calling for the club to come out and tell us exactly what songs we shouldn’t be singing, is quite frankly laughable.

Why not keep those songs for the buses or wherever that the club can’t be punished?!

I feel for those who are going to miss out on the game who have done nothing to deserve it.

Time to smarten up bears before the club ends up in further trouble.
 
I've read the debate in regards to whether the club has to be explicit on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour by naming individual songs.

The UEFA rules are clear:

skin colour, race, religion or ethnic origin

Bsu59dx.jpg


We have hundreds of thousands of fans - we can't meet with the majority of them.

Its time we faced up that the songbook has to adapt to focus on the pro Rangers songs - no ifs, buts, or maybes. The club can't be clearer on this front. We need to celebrate what is best about our club and fanbase.

I thought the club had been doing this for years and years and years. So thst doesnt work.

As for meeting all the fans. Really Greg? You dont need to meet with all of them but you do need to engage with them all. Maybe its because Im a Community Worker but it doesnt seem difficult to do. You simply get reps to meet them then you arrange for the reps to get together in groups and they then elect other reps.

I worked in a school with a pupil council consisting of a dozen hand picked kids. It wasnt representative and was basically tokenism. I set up a proper forum that engaged with and consulted with over 500 pupils. It isnt that hard to do if there's a will to do it.

As for the Uefa list. Will you be handing this out to all 50k fans at Ibrox and talking them through the main points highlighting ALL the songs and chants that are out? I suspect not and I think we'll be back here again because its simply not good enough.
 
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