Setting the Standard: The Answer to the Gap Between Ideas and Action

"This is my answer to the gap between ideas and action—I will write it out."
Hortense Calisher

We have all now heard the grievances outlined last week for the "We Deserve Better" campaign of the Rangers Supporters Trust. Whilst it is difficult to disagree with the sentiment contained within the document released, there has as yet, not been any offer of solutions or possible affirmative action that could be undertaken to manage or mitigate these frailties of the club.

Internet Rangers website Gersnet, working in tandem with contributors from RangersMedia are looking to address this potential gap in thought. As the quote that this article began with hints at, we are looking to find the bridge between the outlined problems and actions that can begin to lessen some of the problems identified through a series of in-depth written analyses of some of the potential mitigatory measures that could be adopted.

This kind of agenda is not to be considered a "distraction" from supporting the team we all know and love; for clarity, no one is going to be pounding the streets outside Ibrox. The beauty of an internet agenda to find solutions for some of the problems we are faced with is that it can be undertaken silently.

Nothing changes. We all still support the team the way we always have and we will still come onto our respective online communities to discuss the games, players and all other aspects of the club. But the advantage of this kind of programme is that it allows us to focus some of that fruitful discussion towards finding possible solutions to the clubs current plight.

The sensitivity of our situation is very eloquently put within the first article of a series of many released yesterday named "Thinking the Unthinkable: Is the Time Right for Protest?"

It alludes to the notion that whilst we are three results away from disaster, we are also three results away from forgetting a lot of the ill feeling that has caused many to initially subscribe to the sentiments of the Trust's 17 point statement and to consider the advantages of this proposed "Setting The Standard" campaign.

The downturn in our club's finances and our on the park performances recently have quite rightly forced many to ask some very important questions of our chairman, management, and ourselves.

With knowledge of the sensitivity of the situation in mind, a constructive, carefully thought out series of articles or a collated document surmising the ideas and progressive thinking that many of the online fans are capable of is in RangersMedia's opinion our best option or form of "protest".

Firstly, it will show the chairman that as a "group of supporters" and not a "supporters group," we are collectively thinking about what is good for our club. It is far too easy for our chairman to castigate and diminish statements and plans released by individual supporters groups as they only claim to represent small numbers of fans. Opinion differs from group to group; a fact that is not lost on every fan.
A series of documents such as the one proposed in this initiative is not representing anything other than the collective interest of everyone who wants to get involved. If you are not happy with the way something is ran or is continuing to be done by the club, then it is much more constructive for all involved to not meekly complain about it, but to think rationally about it with the mindset of "what could be done?"

Further, we think that a "protest" such as this, carried out by fans representing nothing but their own views in the form of a series of articles can do nothing but add credence to the fact that not all internet posters are wingers, whiners or knuckle-dragging bigots.

This view of us all, held by our chairman and seemingly our manager also, is very much wide of the mark. For them to do so is a sweeping generalisation and in my opinion a wrong one. But that is another argument for another day.

The creation of the title for this drive is perfectly apt, "Setting The Standard." As is hopefully clear from this article, we at RangersMedia see the advantages of protest in this manner as two fold.

Firstly, we as fans can voice the standard that we would love to have for our club and through out of the box thinking, rational thought and discussion, we can propose a set of ideas to meet that end. Secondly, we can set our own 'standards' as online posters that the club simply can no longer turn their noses up to and so easily dismiss.

By way of summary, RangersMedia would like to congratulate Gersnet for their foresight and for driving a project of this nature forward. We are 100% behind the idea and are hoping to work in tandem to ensure that we can cover as much breadth of discussion as possible.

This article began with a quotation describing our collective intent, it is apt now for it to end with one that will hopefully rouse many of you into joining us in this drive;

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

 - We Are The People -