So hot on the heels of the continued abuse of Rangers players who turn out for the Scottish national team, is it time to say we're complicit in our own abuse?
Our fans travel the length and breadth of our country (yes it's still our country too despite the tartan army's desire) filling the ground and coffers of clubs and fans who quite clearly despise us and our club AND therein lies the crux of the issue.
We are partially funding our own abuse and until such time as that stops our abuse will only continue and increase.
Sadly, it is apparent the custodians of our club will not be making a stand any time soon so our fans must take the reigns and be united. Unfortunately that is where we fall at the first hurdle.
There are too many factions, vested interests and lack of genuine cohesion within our fans to use the obvious strength we have at our disposal.
The first, and most meaningful step we should be taking is to be taking no tickets for any domestic game outside of Ibrox and that includes finals and semi finals at the
National Stadium.
We seen our players attacked, our fans provoked and it was downplayed, called lies and joked about because it was Rangers.
Imagine the scrutiny outside, impartial media would put our game under if the biggest club in the country took no tickets for a national cup final, semi final or the biggest derby game in the world. The questions it would raise, the platform it would offer our club to expose the true nature of abuse our fans suffer.
However we know this is hugely unlikely to happen, as the previous
boycott of one of our cheif abusers proved.
There are various reasons/excuses used by our fans to prevent this from happening and the main ones rolled out are;
- The players need our support away from home
- I won't be dictated to and prevented from going to games
In reality the major factor is away days are a jolly and people don't want to miss out on them.
Every other weekend we hear tales of our fans being abused, attacked, treated like animals and all for following our team and whilst I understand their frustrations at how our fans are treated, I struggle to appreciate the complaints as it's become a form of self harm.
Other clubs now know our fans are a soft touch, they turn up in larger numbers than any other club, pay an inflated ticket prices and continually do it. These clubs know they can treat our fans as poorly as they like becasue we'll keep coming back.
Secondly I would offer the bare minimum number of tickets to visiting clubs to Ibrox, as is stipulated in the SPL t&c, and they would be the worst available, as is the norm for our travelling fans every other weekend.
Until such time as we stop financing our own abuse we really cannot be taken seriously.
We will forever be treated like some kind of pariah who won't stand up for itself.