Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Rangers fans act decisively

Thu Oct 29 04:46PM

It's a difficult time to be a Rangers fan.

The Gers are currently sitting a point behind Celtic in the league (the equivalent of the relegation zone for any other SPL side). The players have all perfected their impressions of cones from the training ground, and proudly display those skills on every Champions League matchday. Premier League chief Richard Scudamore has said that, despite him planning to send Wigan and Hull across the world to play competitive games in Kuala Lumpur, he won't be letting the Old Firm into the Premier League. On top of all that, the club has deepening financial problems.

Well, the blue half of Glasgow reckons it can do something about that last point, and woe betide those who try to stop a mobilised and determined army of Gers fans. Just ask the Greater Manchester Police.

Rangers supporters groups have rounded on Lloyds Bank as the main antagonists in the affair, believing the bank are keen to sell off their best players in order to manage the club's estimated £25m-£30m deficit, and have threatened to boycott the bank in their droves.

A joint statement from three fan groups read: "Rangers fans have endured unnecessary and damaging uncertainty over the future of the club and it is now time for this to be resolved.

"The current situation cannot continue - it is imperative that a change in ownership is completed now... Many fans are personal and business customers of the Lloyds Banking Group (which now includes Halifax Bank of Scotland).

"Lloyds must understand that Rangers fans will quickly withdraw business if there is any risk whatsoever of the club's current situation being worsened by their actions."

Which is all very well, power to the people and all that. But ED is confused about one thing; does the lazy stereotype about Scots being tight mean that they won't have hardly any savings to withdraw from the bank, or they'll be too stingy to risk losing a month's interest on their hoard while they switch banks.

There have, of course, been other fan boycotts in the past, with varying degrees of success.

Fans of Wimbledon who had travelled all the way to Selhurst Park for years found the trip to Milton Keynes a bridge too far, and set up AFC Wimbledon.

Manchester United followers, disgusted at the Glazers saddling their debts on to their beloved club decided to set up one of their own, although they shipped a little bit of the club's arrogance out with them when they named their breakaway club FC United of Manchester.

During their struggles last year, a Newcastle supporters group urged fans to swear off Northern Rock (not that hard, admittedly) and adidas products until Mike Ashley left the club, perhaps not realising that by not buying adidas they were in fact depriving their sportswear merchant owner, and therefore the club, of much-needed cash.

But perhaps the most ridiculous example is the threat by Bayern Munich fans to boycott the recent Keanu Reeves apocolyptoporn flick The Day the Earth Stood Still, after scenes of the Allianz Arena disintegrating were included in the film without permission.

"We were not informed and were also not asked for permission," said the club's media director Markus Hoerwick. "It is not to our benefit for the Arena to be represented in such a way."

- - -

BREAKING NEWS: Marlon King has been caged for 18 months for sexually assaulting a woman and causing actual bodily harm.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "(Roberto Mancini) is without doubt a fantastic coach, he could come into the club and do something from a PR point of view and he would put bums on seats. But I did not want a particularly high-profile appointment because we have had a media circus around the club for the last three months." - Notts County chief Peter Trembling reveals how he wanted to avoid a media circus by not hiring a multi-scudetto winning manager but keeping on a firm tabloid favourite in an ambiguous upstairs role.

FOREIGN VIEW: "I would like to send a message to calm the fans. We have to remember that a lot of new players arrived before the start of the season and this requires a period of adaptation." Real Madrid president Florentino Perez isn't kidding anyone is he?

NON-FOOTBALL STORY OF THE DAY: An American woman who was charged with offering sex for baseball World Series tickets has denied she did anything wrong. Yikes.

Comments1 - 26 of 26

1st
From kunaln_shah on Thu Oct 29 04:51PM
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silly huns
From rp_gillen on Thu Oct 29 05:39PM
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up the celts!
From seandoherty1969 on Thu Oct 29 05:45PM
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hey , I have a pair of UTD v Gers tickets, and if any attractive young ladies need them mail me at
bangforaticket.69er@. hothothotmale .com
From niceguyrichy.t21 on Thu Oct 29 05:47PM
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Lloyd's shouldn't worry about the Gers supporters trust - cancelling their business accounts can only be a bluff as everyone knows Ranger fans don't have bank accounts
From seaniebhoy163 on Thu Oct 29 05:54PM
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I think us Rangers fans should start our own bid for the club. Surely £5 - £10 from as many Rangers fans as possible could more than pay for it. For the supporters owned by the supporters.
From ellis27475 on Thu Oct 29 06:17PM
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f. uck rangers. hope they'll be folded sooner than later these idiots. and then there be no rangers any more, they can spend all the free time tey have kissing queens @#$%. they'll love it, f.ucking traiters
From minimalas on Thu Oct 29 06:22PM
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then rangers will be gone, then they(fans) can enjoy kissing queens and prince charles @#$%, they love the f. ucking queen init.
From minimalas on Thu Oct 29 06:24PM
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F.UCK THE HUNS!!! UP THE HOOPS!!! C'MON CELTIC!!!
From mrk_ck on Thu Oct 29 06:59PM
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Who cares about Rankers.......when they slide into oblivion they will soon be forgotten
From offmymash on Thu Oct 29 07:01PM
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though I would like to remind those stupid tims that they should think back a few years does to speckie freak fergus mccann ring any bells , well done the jam tarts see you in yet another final
From jrrawlings on Thu Oct 29 07:49PM
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NOW WE KNOW WHY THEY ARE CALLED THE HOOPS .ITS BECAUSE THEY ALL TAKE IT UP THEIR HOOPS THE BENT PRIEST HUMPIN TATTIE MUNCHERS,
From garyshields58 on Thu Oct 29 08:50PM
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Recently, I found an age-gap site called ~~~ Agegapmingle--C O M ~~~ It's a nice and free place for Younger Women and Older Men, or Older Women and Younger Men, to interact with each other. Age gap is not problem there. You may check out or tell your friends.
From hellojessicajones on Thu Oct 29 09:12PM
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David Murray said years ago a big club would be in massive financial trouble, I thought this might have ben Leeds or Fiorentina, but seems it might be Rangers
From g.batistuta on Thu Oct 29 10:07PM
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hail hail the celts are here
From christine.woods07 on Thu Oct 29 11:04PM
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WTF would a Gers fan do with a bank account ?
Most probably can't even fill in the application form and of the remainder an address 'under the arches' or 'in the back of Jocks white van' would be probably invalid without a proper post code
Has Al Fayed been elected first President of Scoatland yet ?
From arttidesco on Fri Oct 30 12:10AM
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Feel free to find sexy sport babes' pictures @ Af-- roMi ng le @ c- o - m ... You will like it...........d
From shierlyyosmtih on Fri Oct 30 12:18AM
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@#$%
From inverkenny on Fri Oct 30 12:47AM
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If you jaffas all donate your giros to the huns you might just scrape through it!!!.......HAIL HAIL...CMON THE HOOPS!!!
From brian.doyle on Fri Oct 30 01:01AM
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100,000 Gers fans were asked if they thought Britain should change its currency. 99% said no. They were happy with the Giro.
From eliotot on Fri Oct 30 05:42AM
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Scottish footballl f***king cr@p who gives a monkeys t*ss. 2 teams that compete every year how boring. and then when they play decent opposition in Europe look what happens ?? I admit that Rangers were humbled at home by a giant of Europe...Erm ? sorry cant remember their names. The Romanian league obviously is much stronger than the SPL.Elgin for Europe.
From n.gummery on Fri Oct 30 08:16AM
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thats going to be a lot of work for the lassie as the dss changing all those bank accounts from lloyds to bank of scotland.lol
From douglas.farquharson on Fri Oct 30 02:46PM
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25 - funniest part though - Lloyds own the HBoS!!
From steven.rowan on Fri Oct 30 04:03PM
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soon to be defunct rangers..............good riddance.
From kilcorkey on Fri Oct 30 10:11PM
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borrow borrow ..
From zzgusf on Sat Oct 31 12:40AM
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UEFA Cup Finalists with the BIGGEST travelling support EVER recorded,League Champions,Cup Winners,pumped the tattie munchers a few weeks ago (short memories tims) WE ARE THE PEOPLE and we're not about to disappear!! Oh and minimalas best change yer name to HUGEASS!
From bigsandy1314 on Wed Nov 04 05:31PM
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