24 August 2003
Autographed Rangers Top Now Claimed

Within hours of the news of this unclaimed prize being posted on this page, the winner has emerged. Member # 0652, Stuart Sneddon from Glasgow only joined the Trust minutes before yesterday's AGM, but bought five tickets for the raffle, so deserves his piece of beginner's luck. Welcome to the Trust, Stuart!

18 August 2003
Trust helps to reduce problems for fans using the Clyde Tunnel

The recent closure of half the Clyde Tunnel @ 9pm on the night of the Arsenal friendly, combined with the unavoidable restrictions on the M8 Motorway (eastbound) that same night caused real chaos to fans returning home from Ibrox. A 20 minute journey became an 80 minute journey, etc, - a situation which could have been so easily avoided had the closure of the Tunnel been held back until 11pm. Accordingly, the Trust Chairman wrote a strong letter to the Director of Land Services at the Council, who has ultimate repsonsibility for the Tunnel, and we were pleased to note that not only was the Tunnel was kept fully open after Wednesday's Champions' League game, but we also received a polite letter of apology and explanation from the Council.

The following extract from the Council's response may prove of some comfort to the Trust Members who were so seriously inconvenienced that night.

"On the evening of the match, Tunnel Operations requested from Police Force Control permission to close the Tunnel at 2100 hours and this was granted without objection and accordingly it was actioned.

"Where possible all works programmed for the Tunnel are carried out with due regard to major events, including football fixtures. The events of 5 August 2003 have shown that there is considerable room for improvement and, accordingly, I will seek a meeting with staff at Ibrox with the purpose of establishing better lines of communication with this Department."

It continues, " . . .you can be assured that Officers within my Department will do all in their power to ensure that disruption to the travelling public is kept to a minimum."

Whilst the response from the Council is satisfactory, the point is that it should not be up to the Chairman of the Rangers Supporters Trust to flag up issues like this. Rangers FC has a duty of care towards the fans, and this includes ensuring that fans can travel to/from Ibrox with the minimum of hassle (accidents and emergencies notwithstanding). The Club had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate this duty of care by properly liaising with the relevant authorities, but lacked the will to do so.

18 August 2003
Response received fom Nil by Mouth

Following our recent dialogue with NBM, the final batch of answers was received this morning, and will be digested and discussed by the Trust Board at tomorrow night's Meeting, with the object of forming a collective view in time for Saturday's AGM. It is also our intention to send the answers to the original senders of the 41 questions in advance of Saturday's AGM. Meantime the NBM Chairman and the Trust Chairman have agreed to meet again in the middle of September.