A TREBLE IN THE TROPHY ROOM BUT NO SONG IN MY HEART

The club has become engulfed by an image of a footballing fiscal Fawlty Towers. Eighty million in debt and our best players departing to a mediocre English club in "deals done between friends" as Big Eck so uncryptically portrayed the Murray-Souness axis. The current downsizing of Rangers FC by the appointed yes men of our absentee landlord is begging the question "will we ever know how good a manager Alex McLeish could become for Rangers?" Like many Bears I wish David Murray was available to answer our questions and allay our fears, but he won't be at the AGM and he is only likely to make cameo appearances for the Champions League cameras in shot with Sir Sean.

What happened Davie Boy? Did your vision for Rangers become clouded by corporate glaucoma? Perhaps like other rich men you just became bored with your toy? Maybe when the bankers said no more global private plane hopping, putting Rangers in serious debt, it was a case of 'the ego has landed'.

I know some good bears out there don't like washing dirty linen in public but loyalty is one thing, blind peasant obedience is another.

The days are gone for David Murray when criticising his stewardship was akin to heterodoxy among Rangers fans, but if there are any people who still regard his every utterance as doctrinal truth and believe in his infallibility, boy, do you support the wrong club.

Ever more we see the assets and interests of Rangers FC and their supporters disappearing into the labyrinth that is the David Murray financial empire. The potential for a conflict of interest between the wellbeing of Rangers and Mr Murray's worship of mammon in the temples of Carnegie, Azure Catering and Response Handling are readily apparent. Come on! 'Bringing the catering in-house'. I didn't know he was being so literal and meant his own financial house. Response Handling et al get Edmiston House and we get a shanty town portacabin for our ticket office. What next? Ibrox Stadium sold off to a property company (I wonder whose?) at a competitive price and leased back to Rangers FC. I bet that won't be at a peppercorn rent.

So what of the future? Will Rangers and their thousands of supporters just become a cash-cow to be milked by the banks and various Murray companies or will the honorary chairman have a 'road to Damascus experience' and put everything right? "Sorry Rangers fans for running this great club in a manner I would never have managed any of my other companies, here's £80m out of my own personal fortune". This scenario is as likely as Jackie Bird winning a wet t-shirt competition or a Glasgow Lord Provost who is not a Parkhead season ticket holder.

The reality is Mr Murray is a hardnosed Thatcherite entrepreneur of the fundamental kind. They don't do altruism. Philanthropy is just a guy he has never heard of .

Whether you believe our present predicament is the result of Murray mismanagement or malfeasance or neither. Even if you are the most forgiving being on the planet Teddy Bear, even if he makes good his financial and moral dues to Rangers FC and their supporters, he will go to his grave guilty and banged to rights on one account.

During David Murray's tenure, Rangers and their supporters have been subjected to lies, vilification and a campaign of black propaganda by sections of the media that would have embarrassed the Celtic-minded Joseph Goebbels himself. Silence from the marble staircase and a PR department that consisted of well-meaning but amateur ex-playing stalwarts was cue for Rangers haters to give us a collective kicking in any subject they chose. They told lies about sectarianism, racism, politics and the history of our great club that have been highlighted by the Gub, GS and other contributors more eloquently than I can achieve.

Shame on you David Murray, all you had to do was care.

I once believed that the way forward for Rangers was a benevolent dictator gaining control of the club. I was wrong on two counts. David Murray was not that man and a great club like Rangers should be responsible and answerable to it's loyal fans. This can only be achieved by embracing legitimate and democratic supporters groups and incorporating them into all aspects of the club up to and including boardroom level. Why? because We Are The People.

I'M SPARTACUS