09 January 2006
RST Letter Published in the 'News of the World'

Many members will have noticed in yesterday's News of the World, the RST was at last afforded right of reply to the increasingly inane attacks on us by columnist Gerry McNee.

The Trust will robustly challenge propaganda aimed at Rangers fans and our Club and will do so until we achieve fair, balanced and more objective coverage. Anti-Rangers journalists like Gerry McNee and Graham Spiers should note that we are prepared to do this for as long as it takes to first expose and then successfully challenge those using newspaper columns to exercise their own prejudice and bigotry.

Please find the full version of media spokesman Stephen Smith's letter to NotW editor Bob Bird below.

“The card display involving 38,000 fans before the Rangers versus Inter Milan game on 6 December 2005 was an impressive spectacle whether you are a Rangers fan or not. The flag of Scotland displayed across both Copland and Broomloan Stands and the UK flag across the Govan Stand was a magnificent and colourful prelude to Rangers making history by progressing to the last 16 of the Champions’ League.

So would a reasonable person compare this event with the Nuremberg Rallies?

Gerry McNee did.

He wrote “If we really need to have flags they belong on top of poles. No-one's had such a fixation about these things since the Nuremberg Rallies of infamy."

Rangers fans are used to regular McNee diatribes about our Club and our supporters but this time he grossly overstepped the mark. These, remember, were annual rallies of the Nazi Party from 1923 to 1938. They produced the Nuremberg Race Laws of September 1935 depriving German Jews of their right to citizenship, making it illegal for them to marry or have relations with ‘Aryans’ and was a precursor to The Holocaust –in other words, some of the most shameful events in human history.

After literally hundreds of our members contacted us, the Rangers Supporters’ Trust asked Mr McNee to apologise for his shameful, ill-judged comments. His “get stuffed” reply in the News Of The World on 31 December shows that the ignorance, prejudice and indefensibly poor judgement and bad taste originally demonstrated was not an isolated example.

In the NOTW on 20 November, Gerry McNee accused the Trust of suggesting that the police were “corrupt” because we raised legitimate questions about policing at Celtic Park, questions which Strathclyde Police themselves were happy to answer.

Mr McNee has yet to offer a serious answer about why Rangers fans attending a midweek game at Celtic Park were 90 times more likely to face arrest than their Celtic counterparts, which was why we raised the issue initially.

Mr McNee wrote that Rangers have a “bigger sectarian problem at their home matches” than Celtic, a view at odds with arrest figures and seemingly based on nothing more substantial than his own prejudice. This prejudice was displayed again when McNee wrote disparagingly about the “flaunting of Ulster flags” and the Rangers Supporters’ Trust would like to remind Mr McNee not only that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but also that a substantial number of Rangers supporters hail from there.

Mr McNee made no attempt to contact any member of the Rangers Supporters’ Trust Board to even discuss a press release he has now devoted three columns to. He has since resorted to childish name-calling (“Twerps”) and incited police violence simply because we do not agree with him.

Rather than hide behind a weekly column, we again invite Mr McNee to explain his views to Rangers fans at a public event. Perhaps Chairman David Murray will attend to hear Gerry’s take on describing Rangers FC as “a regime which still clings to bigotry’s root causes”?

Frankly, Rangers supporters and News Of The World readers deserve better than to be subjected to the gratuitous, petty prejudices of a journalist running out of credibility and devoid of new ideas.

If Mr McNee genuinely abhors everything about Rangers FC and Rangers supporters why doesn’t he solve everyone’s problem by refusing to go anywhere near Ibrox?

18 January 2006
RST Announces Third Annual Fundraising Dinner

Following the resounding successes of our previous two annual dinners, the Trust is pleased to announce the date of this year's dinner will be Saturday the 11th March. The venue and guest speaker details will be announced very soon.

Tickets are expected to sell out quickly, so if you'd like to register interest now, then please email joanne@rangerssupporterstrust.co.uk with your details.

Keep an eye on the site for more info regarding this exciting event. Tickets will be available to buy securely online via our site form and PayPal or by cheque. Further details soon.

Please note that Rangers are at home to Kilmarnock that day.

26 January 2006
Play the National UK Lotto and EuroMillions with the RST

Increase your chance of winning a share of the £100,000,000 Euro Millions Jackpot with the RST.

The RST have teamed up with E-lottery to give Rangers fans a new way of playing the National UK & EuroMillions lotteries that gives fans a 3600% greater chance of winning a prize. As well as giving Rangers fans the opportunity to join this new game, the RST will earn a commission on all sales via our website which will help fund trust activities over the coming years.

To find out more click the banner below.

26 January 2006
New Board Member Co-opted

The Trust would like to welcome new board member, Cameron Bell of Glasgow.

Cameron was co-opted onto the board as per our constitution Rules (see downloads page for more info). You can read more about Cameron in the Board Member's section of the site.

30 January 2006
RST Dinner - Book Now to Avoid Disappointment

Following the resounding successes of our previous two annual dinners, the Trust is pleased to announce the date of this year's dinner will be Saturday the 11th March.

The venue is Òran Mór in the West End of Glasgow. Doors open at 7pm and the 3 course dinner (plus coffee and mints) will be served from 8pm. The cash bar will be open from around 7pm till 2am.

Gordon Smith will be our main speaker of the evening and we hope to confirm more names very soon.

Tickets are limited to 200 and are expected to sell out very quickly. These have been kept to a very reasonable £50 per person or £500 for a table of ten. All monies raised will go to further increasing the RST's shareholding in Rangers FC.

You can now buy tickets securely via our online booking form or by sending a cheque (made payable to the Rangers Supporters' Trust) to:

The Rangers Supporters' Trust
c/o Direct Sharedeal
3rd Floor
Sterling House
20 Renfield Street
GLASGOW
G2 5AP

Keep an eye on the site for more info regarding this exciting event. Please contact us through the site regarding any questions regarding the dinner.

Please note that Rangers are at home to Kilmarnock that day.