Statement to the Rangers Supporterâs Trust â 23rd September, 2012 A meeting was held by various Supportersâ Groups and Websites in Glasgow on Saturday afternoon (22nd of September). Those invited were deemed as fit and proper to represent the majority Support; and are perceived as committed to Rangers Football Clubâs wellbeing; and have consistently demonstrated this in both the short and long term. There were significant representations from the following Groups: The Rangers Supporters Assembly; The Rangers Supporters Association; The Rangers Fans Fighting Fund; Vanguard Bears; Copland Road.org. RangersUnite invited these Groups with the sole purpose of uniting all Rangersâ Supporters under one Unified Supporterâs Platform; and considered them to have a shared purpose, that is, to have the best interests of Rangers FC and its Supporters at the forefront of everything they do. A Platform those Fans can both believe in and trust. There was a unanimous agreement by âallâ representatives that Rangers âwillâ be stronger with both a âunifiedâ and âfully democraticâ Support. Therefore, we agreed that a Unified Supporters Platform (USP) is best placed to represent the support as a cohesive voice to help serve them with both âintegrityâ and âtransparencyâ at all times. To this end, the meeting was an overwhelming success, and a further meeting is planned to clarify the joint strategy of the Groups. We will then be in a position to ballot the worldwide Rangers Support for their endorsement of this union via a fully âdemocraticâ vote. Rangers Supporterâs Trust (RST) was not invited to todayâs meeting. The reasons for this are as follows: It has been deemed that RST are pursuing a âconvenientâ plan for buying âstockâ in Rangers FC. They are pursuing this avenue with the assistance of Supporters Direct. In our opinion, the RST, at the present time, lack the credibility to be leading a fanâs takeover of the Club. The main problem with their âproposalâ is the caveat that, to buy Shares in the Club, âallâ Fans would âneedâ to become members of the RST. We consider this to be both unwanted and unnecessary. We also feel that this âplanâ has elements of self interest attached to it. We, therefore, cannot endorse it. Certain RST Board members are also perceived as divisive within the Rangers Support â most notably, Mr.Dingwall. A number of groups also made it clear that they would not engage in the USP process if Mr. Dingwall was a part of the USP process. There was also a unanimous view that this antipathy was reserved to only some members of the RST Board (not to its Members). This âminorityâ are perceived to have a self-serving agenda that is not in line with the vast majority of Rangers Fans. This assertion was unanimously agreed by all Groups who attended Saturdayâs meeting. For the avoidance of any doubt, when we use the phrase âUnified Supporterâs Platformâ, we mean ALL Rangersâ Supporters Groups, Websites, Blogs, Forums and Funding Groups who have the wellbeing of Rangers FC and its Supporters as core to its purpose. This is without exception, and to this end, RST will be welcomed into the fold âas fully participating equalsâ at a time which is deemed appropriate by the âmajorityâ of the Supporterâs Groups who attended Saturdayâs meeting. It is essential that all parties in the USP are happy to cooperate positively with each other. It was also made clear, by every Group in attendance, that all motives and actions of the USP should always be based on the welfare of the Club and its Supporters. We believe there are steps that the RST could make and apply in order to satisfy the requirements of the USP Group and be involved in the project moving forward. However, such was the strength of the sentiment throughout Saturdayâs meeting that we feel concerned that failure to make the necessary changes could lead to the permanent exclusion of their Group from the USP. We sincerely hope that this can be avoided. In order to prevent the occurrence of this scenario, we would recommend RST to open dialogue with RangersUnite in order to clarify the âminimumâ standards that RST would need to fulfill in order to be integrated into the Unified Supporters Platform. RangersUnite are asking that RST begins a new chapter in its history and attempts a âclean slateâ with the Fans.This is a vital opportunity to initiate that change. Whilst we realise this will be challenging and will require some tough decisions to be made, in addition to significant structural reform, we hope that, for the greater good of our Supporters, it takes these valiant steps. WATP
1st 3 responses from Celtic fans. Any case you hadn't noticed, the article wasn't intended for you buoys.
They convene a meeting to unite all supporters' groups, but decide not to invite one of the biggest. Brilliant.
These are the guys that fell out with everyone else at the last meeting like this ('twas on the champs board). RangersUnite
madro,guilty as charged. you have not died enough for my liking. so will have to do with pissing ourselves at you in the mean time.
The Northern Ireland Rangers fans do not support this, infact they asked for their name to be removed from original statement #00Mindy
There is a horse running about the field and the doors of the stable are wide open.....someone should think about closing them
Christina is a fine lady and our conversations about what belonging to her is "open" shall remain private.
