31 July 2003
Memberships 401-500 being mailed out tonight

Share certificates and membership cards are being mailed out (second class) tonight. Those whose membership numbers are above 500, ie those who have joined, but not received their cards by Tuesday 5 August, will be able to collect these from the registration desk at the AGM, upon SATISFACTORY PROOF OF IDENTITY or these will be posted out afterwards.

31 July 2003
10 Trust Board Members visit Belfast

It was pleasing to see that no fewer than 10 of the proposed new Board of 20 were in Belfast last night for the friendly match at Windsor Park. As usual, we were all well treated in Belfast, and it was interesting to note in the Linfield programme that not only did the Trust have an advertisement, but also that Linfield FC's own management committee has no fewer than 9 elected representatives. It was a pleasure to attend such a match with a well-behaved crowd, good football and superb half-time entertainment. The Trust would encourage the Club to make this an annual visit as a "thank you" gesture towards some of its most loyal fans.

24 July 2003
Trust Forum Area Goes Live

The Rangers Supporters Trust accepted a kind invitation to be involved in a new Rangers fan forum called GersForum.co.uk.

The new forum is a meeting place for Rangers fans all over the world and includes an area dedicated to the Rangers Supporters Trust. The forum provides yet another access point for Rangers fans to ask questions and make comments regarding the Rangers Supporters Trust. A member of the Trust Board will visit the forum from time to time to answer questions and discuss issues brought to our attention through the forum.

The best place for face-to-face discussions with Trust Board members, however, will be our AGM and our Quarterly Open Days, details of which will appear here regularly. The second issue of The Blue Spirit is also due out in September, and will cover our AGM for those members who can not attend.

Unfortunately, the Trust has decided to no longer utilise this feature but would like to thank the admin at Gersforum for the past service.

17 July 2003
New Trust Board members announced

Our Rules, approved at inception, called for a Board of 20 members, the majority of whom required to be elected by the Membership, and that left us with 12 positions to fill, on top of the Inaugural Board of 8, with nominations closing on Saturday past.

By pure coincidence, we have had exactly 12 nominations, and the details of these are published, in alphabetical order, below. From an expense point of view, this is the perfect scenario, as we seemed likely to have to run Elections, supervised by the Electoral Reform Society, and now the money that would otherwise have been spent on this will be able to buy a further 1,000 Rangers shares for the Trust.

We shall, naturally, be seeking the approval of the Trust Membership of all 20 Board members at our AGM next month, but meantime the post of Vice Chairman is being taken up by one of the new nominees, John Gilligan from Ayr. Full details of all the new Trust Board members will appear on this website in the coming weeks, and also in the second issue of "The Blue Spirit" due out in September.

Trust Chairman, Colin Glass, stated, "I am immensely proud of the Inaugural Board in the way we have got things moving. We have captured the imagination of Rangers fans everywhere, and the policies we have already formed will be aired, and either ratified or rejected by the membership, as a whole, at our AGM next month.

"But now we enter a new era, with the next stage in our development. We are already the fastest-growing Supporters Trust in the UK, and the injection of fresh intellectual capital should see our growth continue.

"In the case of the new (Board) members, I am pleased because we have representatives from both sides of the Irish Border, both sides of the mainland border, all age groups, and all parts of the Stadium - including the Members Section and the Blue Order; fans who are both members of Supporters Clubs, and those who aren't, as well as having both sexes represented . . . and that is before we even look at the individual and collective talent we now have at our disposal.

"I was fervently hoping that the make-up of the full Board would mirror the broad church that is the Rangers family, and that is exactly what we have got, so, yes, I am genuinely excited about our future over both the short and the long term."

You may download the full list of Board Members here (.pdf file 45K)

13 July 2003
Trust Chairman interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday

Along with a representative from the Celtic Trust, our own Trust Chairman was on air for about 90 minutes yesterday afternoon, helping field calls on the issues of the day pertaining to Supporters Trusts. Also on at that time were broadcasters Jim Traynor and Chick Young, and former Rangers star (and now both broadcaster and football agent) Gordon Smith. The feedback from Trust Members (un) fortunate enough to have been listening in has been very positive.

13 July 2003
Board Nominations deadline now passed

Yesterday also saw the passing of the deadline for nominations for the first full Trust Board, and an announcement on this very subject will appear here over the next few days.

10 July 2003
Membership Cards and the AGM

Whilst these MUST be shown in order to gain entry, these have not all been issued yet. However, we can confirm that those applications for memberships already received, will have their cards and individual share certificates issued by the end of this month. Those new members who join between now and the AGM will be able to collect their membership cards on the day of the AGM, subject to satisfactory proof of identity.

09 July 2003
Trust Board meets Nil by Mouth Chairman

Fred Shedden, Nil by Mouth Chairman, received a courteous reception from the seven members of the Trust Board present on Tuesday night. He proceeded to explain the surprisingly small size of the Charity (only one full-time employee) as well as explaining their stance on a number of important issues. Football-related initiatives form only a relatively minor part of their activities, but he conceded that, inevitably, this became disproportionately high profile. The Trust Board then went on to explain their genuine concerns regarding some of the misinformation which has appeared in the media, and one disturbing conclusion which emerged is that there are certain sections of the media who only seek NBM's comment when an attack is committed by a Rangers fan. The most important feature of the meeting, however, was that Mr Shedden left the Meeting with a list of no fewer than 41 questions - some short, some long - submitted by Trust Members (as well as the results of some in-depth research into these issues from America kindly supplied by one of our Members) and the Board believe that the response which we receive to these questions will yield the real verdict on just how worthwhile the Meeting was. At this stage, however, we feel that the Meeting was far from a waste of time, would like to thank Mr Shedden for accepting our invitation, and will advise Members further in due course.

03 July 2003
Trust AGM details announced

In accordance with our promise to hold our first full AGM within six months of our official launch, we are pleased to confirm the following details:-

Saturday 23 August at The Mitchell Theatre, Granville Street, Glasgow, starting at 11am, and finishing by 2pm at the latest.

Members will note that we have a Premier League match against Hibernian at Ibrox that day, and the SPL have today confirmed that it will definitely kick off at 3pm that day.

This lovely theatre is situated at the back of the world famous Mitchell Library, opposite Charing Cross railway station.

Fo those wishing to remain in the Theatre until 2pm, we can confirm that our Trust Chairman (far from a young man!) today walked from the Mitchell Theatre, up St George's Road, to St Georges X Underground station in under 10 minutes, so arriving in plenty time for the kick-off should not be a problem.

The Mitchell Theatre has a coffee/snack bar inside it, and it is hoped that the Licensed Bar will also be open from 12 noon until 2pm that day, so Trust Members can enjoy a pre-match refreshment, although may not bring food or drink into the Theatre itself.

The most important matters discussed that day will be the formation of future Trust policy, so that is why we were so keen to hold the meeting on a matchday, in order to give as many of our members as possible a good chance of attending.

Late admissions will be permitted (especially for the benefit of fans travelling from afar) although we hope these are kept to a minimum.

Finally, the most important point of all - unlike the Launch Meeting, which was open to the public - this Meeting is a strictly "Members Only" event, so Trust Members are reminded that they MUST have their Trust Membership Cards at check-in in order to gain admission.

01 July 2003
Trust to meet Nil By Mouth

Given the level of concern expressed by many Trust Members over the neutrality of this organisation, we have already held a Meeting on a Chairman-to-Chairman basis with Nil By Mouth, which has proved helpful to both organisations. The next stage is that the NBM Chairman is to meet with the Trust Board on Tuesday to give us more details of how they work, and to answer questions put by Trust Board Members. If any Trust Members wish us to put any specific questions to the NBM Chairman, here is your chance to do so - and unlike what has been the case in the past, you will be guaranteed a response. (Following the original meeting, NBM have now changed their policy and will reply to all non-abusive e-mails in future.)

So the question we pose to Trust Members today is:

"What would you like to ask Nil By Mouth?"

Please e-mail any questions you may have, quoting your Trust Membership Number, to

gordon@rangerssupporterstrust.co.uk

by midnight on Monday, and we shall raise them for you.

01 July 2003
Delay to ShareSave Scheme

We apologise for the delay to the start of the Sharesave scheme as we are still awaiting approval for the scheme from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), who regulate the financial industry. The Trust took the step of seeking full approval of the scheme which adds credibility and is likely to attract more participants. "Bear" with us in the meantime and watch this space for further news.