Saturday was a historic day for all those who love Rangers Football Club, as
200 of the most committed fans turned up in the morning at Partick Burgh
Halls for the Trust Launch.
Trust Chairman, Colin Glass, opened the meeting by summarising the spirit
which was driving this initiative, and then intoduced the inaugural committee of Allan O'Brien, Gordon Semple, Stevie Tyrie, Derek McAvoy, David Tweed, Malcolm McNiven and Mark Dingwall.
He then introduced the first Guest Speaker, James Proctor, who is employed
full-time as the Development Officer for Supporters Direct in Scotland, the
umbrella organisation for all Supporters Trusts. James endeared himself to
the audience by explaining that. like a lot of us, the happiest day of his life had been at Ibrox - the 27th November 1994 - when he saw his beloved Raith Rovers (whose Supporters Trust he also runs) defeat Celtic in a thrilling penalty shoot-out to lift the League Cup.
James went on to explain how the Supporters Trust movement had come about,
it's principles and progress, and it was obvious that the audience found his speech to be of genuine interest, as football fans of all clubs have a lot of problems in common. James received a good round of applause for his speech, and we thank him for his input and support.
Colin Glass then went on to explain the next steps in the process regarding nominations and elections to the Trust Board (it is a rule that the majority of Board members must be elected within six months of launching) before throwing the floor open to the main point of the meeting - a Q&A session designed to allow interested fans to pose questions to the inaugural Board.
This session was conducted with great dignity, with no outspoken outbursts amongst a variety of questions. Current club policy was criticised in some aspects, and defended in others, but generally speaking, the answers given by the various Board Members were well received by the audience, who were clearly on the same wavelength. By the time you are reading this article, we hope to have these questions summarised, with their answers, on our website.
Not surprisingly, media relations came up as a major hot potato, and in answer to a question from the Editor of the Number One Fanzine, Colin Glass stated that although the Trust had started issuing Media Releases, Mirror Group Newspapers were omitted from the circulation list, a response which found particular favour with the audience.
The highlight of the day, if applause measurement is anything to go by, was the intoduction of our "Mystery Guest" Mark Walters, who got a spontaneous and rousing standing ovation from everyone present. Mark was interviewed live on stage, and as well as confirming that he was always made to feel welcome at Rangers, then answered questions on how he first felt when he heard Rangers were interested in signing him, his favourite game for Rangers, his favourite goal for Rangers, etc. It was great to hear him pay tribute to the late Davie Cooper, too - a player he had always admired from watching him on TV down south.
Mark was an absolute delight, and became the first (and only) Honorary member of the Trust. He was presented with a framed colour photo of the centre of the universe by our Logo Contest winner, Euan Currie, and stayed behind at the end to sign autographs for the fans, for whom, he is obviously still a hero. On behalf of the Trust, once again, a HUGE thank you to Mark for joining us.
Since then, we have received widespread feedback from attendees - EVERY piece of which has been positive, so we are definitely on the right road.
To find our more, please visit our website,
http://www.rangerssupporterstrust.co.uk
Finally, we should note that the attendance of 200 was (according to Supporters Direct) more than Celtic had for their Launch Meeting
BEARSDEN BEAR