Rangers hit back at Club 1872 over 'propaganda war'

Rangers are hitting back at Club 1872 after they criticised the Ibrox board in a statement.

The fan group have taken issue with the club's decision to play a friendly against Celtic in Sydney in November.

Club 1872 also took aim at managing director Stewart Robertson, commercial director James Bisgrove and head of communications David Graham.

They claim the club have shown 'disdain' to the supporters who don't want to see the game go ahead.

Rangers have now responded in a statement of their own where they say all focus should be on what happens on the pitch.

It read: "The rest of this season is arguably one of the most crucial periods in our illustrious 150 year history.

"The men’s first team and women’s team are competing for major honours, both domestically and in Europe.

"It is deeply regrettable that the same small rump of 'supporters' remains intent on causing damage to our club. It is particularly concerning to note the timing they have chosen to launch their latest attack.

"It is lost on nobody that those intent on creating maximum disruption are those who have either enjoyed, or craved, a role within our club.

"The collective desire of our board, management and players, is to have unity of purpose over the coming months. Rest assured, we will address the disruptors and their propaganda war at the end of this season.

"For now, nothing matters but results on the field. Together, we are stronger."

The response came following Club 1872's earlier statement in which they say they have been repeatedly ignored in their attempts to converse with Rangers over the Sydney friendly.

The statement read: "In recent weeks, following the announcement of Rangers’ participation in the Sydney Cup in Australia, supporters have begun to publicly and vocally question the judgement, competence and honesty of the Rangers’ executive team. It is the opinion of the Club 1872 board that not only are they correct to do so, but that it is crucial for the future health of the club that they do so.

"Unfortunately, the contempt shown to supporters over this issue is only the tip of the iceberg and has been ongoing, albeit less visibly to the majority of supporters, for almost two years. It is a source of great regret that we are having to raise these matters publicly – having always attempted to engage privately and constructively with the club – but the current custodians of Rangers Football Club have refused to speak with us privately despite repeated attempts to do so.

"The experience of Club 1872 directors, both past and present, is that Rangers’ executive team, led by Stewart Robertson, James Bisgrove and David Graham, has developed an extremely unhealthy disdain for the Rangers support and that inaccurate information has regularly been disseminated through the club’s own public statements, briefings to fan media and highly selective leaks to a small group of individuals within the Rangers support. This conduct has not, in our opinion, been intended to advance the aims of the club, but instead to serve the interests of a handful of members of the Plc board and executive team and to protect them from healthy scrutiny and justified criticism.

"When Club 1872 attempted to represent the interests and concerns of supporters on a variety of topics such as ticketing, safe standing, disabled facilities, season ticket renewals, Scottish football governance and merchandise issues, the reaction of the Executive team over a number of months between March and July 2020 was dismissive, patronising and at times openly hostile."

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