RANGERS fans have hit back at a claim they should have "celebrated" more when Mike Ashley gave up the naming rights to Ibrox he bought for £1.

 

Rangers football board chairman Sandy Easdale made the accusation at the second meeting of the Rangers Fans Board in the Blue Room last month.

In the minutes of the meeting, Easdale is quoted as saying: "We've gotten these (the naming rights) back and the fans haven't celebrated enough on this topic."

But that remark has provoked a furious reaction among incensed followers of the SPFL Championship club on internet message boards and radio phone-ins.

Drew Roberton, secretary of the Rangers Supporters Association, claimed it was "disgraceful" the naming rights had been sold for so little money in the first place.

And Roberton urged major shareholder Easdale, who was criticised when he called on "loyal" fans to renew season tickets back in April, to get "a new script writer".

He said: "If the naming rights were were sold to Mike Ashley for £1 it was disgraceful.

"The people who represented Rangers Football Club at that time were entirely responsible for that and should be ashamed of themselves.

"So I don't think it's any cause for celebration that Mike Ashley has given them back. Are we supposed to be grateful or something?

"When the naming rights were given back it smacked to me of a PR exercise. What was he giving back? The right to make a killing by using our stadium to advertise his company?"

Roberton continued: "The chief executive who has just departed (Graham Wallace) said the stadium naming rights were a dead duck because of the negative reaction from the fans.

"I am sure fans welcome the fact that any stadium naming rights now belong to the club. But I don't think it's a cause for celebration.

"I think he (Easdale) could maybe do with a new script writer. Let's face it, with the current state of the club it is no reason to celebrate."

Meanwhile, Roberton has expressed sadness that senior officials at the Ibrox club have severed ties with the Rangers Supporters Association - an organisation founded in 1946.

Easdale confirmed at the Fans Board meeting that the club would engage "as exclusively as possible" with the body set up by former chief executive Wallace.

Roberton said: "I fail to understand why Rangers Football Club has disowned the Rangers Supporters Association, an organisation that has been on the go for over 60 years.

"We have enjoyed excellent relationships with previous owners and chairmen. I think it's quite sad the way the club has gone. As far as I know, Rangers is the only club to have disowned its own official supporters organisation."

Meanwhile, the Rangers Supporters Trust has launched another alternative shirt for fans, The Lions Brand, in an attempt to raise money to buy shares in the Ibrox club.

A Red and Black shirt was launched by a group of fans unhappy at the running of the Ibrox club back in May as an alternative to buying official club merchandise.

An RST statement read: "All the profit from the shirts will be given to the RST. That means that around £10 from the sale of each shirt will go to purchasing Rangers shares.

"We have had an incredible response to this online already. It is our intention that all these funds will go directly into the club via a new share issue, if this is approved at the AGM.

"We think this compares very favourably with the current retail deal and is a very effective way of supporting the club financially. But it is one that will give the fans a much larger say in what goes on in the boardroom.

"We've already sold over a thousand red-and-black shirts and indications are that the blue shirt will overtake that in the run-up to Christmas."