Armed Forces Day

Armed forces day is coming up at Ibrox and as a serving member of the Royal Air Force its a day to truly enjoy, a packed stadium with thousands of supporters or your club and supporters to celebrate the work carried out by the military. having attended both as a fan and a serving member I can honestly say its the most humbling and noteworthy achievement I have certainly had the pleasure to take part in. I have had the honour of being on the pitch at half time with a few hundred fellow military employees enjoying a rapturous reception from the Ibrox faithful, I don't think I've had a better moment in my career spanning 17 years now and I don't say that lightly. I've achieved some amazing things and been to some unreal places, but will happily trade everyone of them to be stood in the semi-circle at half time. I cant even describe what's its like, seriously. As a fan its probably as close as I will get as feeling like what a player feels when he walks out of the tunnel, prior to kick-off.

Rangers have always been a staunch supporter of the armed forces and for me I will always be grateful for the support the club and fans give each year, not just on the match day but throughout the year with the charity money and veteran support. Unfortunately I cant attend this year as I'm down south with work and I'm absolutely gutted. I volunteer for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund in Lossiemouth (RAFBF) and they asked if i can go again this year and help with the collections before the match, but work being as unpredictable as usual I can't make it. I have also seen RangersFirst are looking for help and I would encourage anyone who can help please go along and offer your services.

The Rangers Charity Foundation has announced a new Armed Forces Partnership with Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, ABF the Soldiers Charity, RAFBF and Erskine. The club are hoping to raise £25,000 to split between the charities which I think is a tremendous effort and only helps cement the bond between the armed forces and Rangers. With Erskine celebrating its 100th anniversary this years its hoping to give £10,000 to a special memorial garden in Bishopton. It's hoping to link The Regimental Walls of Scotland, Japanese Prisoners of War Memorial and The Lost Gardeners of The Great War with a paved walkway between the three sites.

I got to meet Ally last year and despite what has happened previously I cant praise him enough for his time that day, what a gent with great personal pride in the clubs support, prior to the match he came to speak to us and answer any questions we had. Every single one of us queued up for a picture and with one of the Rangers PR men telling him he didn't have time to accommodate us all, Ally wouldn't leave until everyone had the picture they wanted. That for me spoke volumes for his character, shame it worked out the way it did. As I said before I'm working down south for three weeks and I'm also going to miss the Fernando Match at Borough Briggs in Elgin on the 20th of September, just my luck!

I hope everyone who attends the Armed forces day against Livingston has a great day coupled with another fantastic performace from the fans and the team. I know I dont have to ask but please show your support at half time, it means the world to us.

Conspiracy theory

For years there has been the theory that most of the media in Scotland has had a hidden agenda against Rangers. I've always taken these allegations with a pinch of salt and generally laughed at the very notion, but is there any truth in it? I can certainly understand that someone who supports one team might find some extra interest in trying to expose or report with a biased attitude but you would like to think a certain amount of professionalism and pride in your work would overtake the basic urge to try and get one over on your rival team.

Lets take the recent BBC scenario, for example, with Chris McLaughlin being told to stay away from Ibrox, Chris had been accused of reporting on our club with a biased and unfair approach. He decided to focus solely on the fact a few people were arrested for alleged sectarian singing during the recent 6-2 victory over Hibs in the Cup but failed to mention Police Scotland had praised the behaviour of both sets of fans throughout the match and after. Chris was also accused of receiving information from the match delegate George Douglas before he had even left Ibrox. For me this is where my scepticism lay initially, if I was a reporter I would feel the need to report on all aspects of the game which would be trying to gather as much information as possible, not just the stuff that would look bad for the club. He likes to focus on any negativity coming out of Rangers and skip over any positive news, which is where the problem starts. Professional integrity is clearly not a trait Chris has and his bosses in the BBC seem to let him get away with it on a regular basis. and this was the final nail in the coffin when it came to the BBC having their journos inside the ground. The club removed Chris' Journalistic privileges from Ibrox and released a statement saying "the decision wasn't taken lightly, it wasn't a knee jerk reaction." So clearly the club have noticed the unbalanced reports being submitted and felt action was required.

So does this constitute as a conspiracy or just one or two journos having a sneaky pop ? you only really have to have a look at the paper or twitter feeds to get a good indication where certain journalists  fall on when it comes to impartiality and unbiased reporting, what I find hard to understand is how the hierarchy of these employers allow it happen. Tom English, Graham Spiers and Jim Spence are a few more who seem to show no neutrality when it comes to reporting on our club. So maybe I tried to block out the Rangers haters and just believe what I was reading was decent reporting, my own fault for believing it would be done with a degree of respectability. There are a few more so called journalists that I wont mention because I would we completely wasting my time due to the irrelevance and general line of hatred to the club is clear for all to see. As far as a conspiracy goes it certainly seems like the Scottish media has plenty of Rangers haters and I'm not sure why I chose think otherwise. I guess I thought that level of hatred would have been noticed and and not allowed to show through in people's work, especially within the media outlets. 

So with the report coming out soon regarding information being passed from match delegates to members of the press, we will see if anything will come of it, my guess is not a lot really and as per usual it will be widely ignored. I must admit there are so good reporters out there who don't really get the credit they deserve as the majority are tarred with the same brush. So within the last few days I've seen the BBC and Rangers have patched up their differences and Chris is now had is privileges reinstated and is welcome back inside Ibrox, as for Chris I hope he stays away and not have the balls to sneak in like Spiers did not so long ago.