Derek Johnstone: Gough is a man of the people...and he knows people count more than Kings

He is standing for election to the board of the Rangers First supporters’ organisation and has already stated that part of his manifesto will be to bring together all the different strands of the Ibrox support base and form a new, strong body.

It is an idea that appeals to me. But I fully accept that there are some fair and reasonable questions to be asked about Gough’s suitability for the role given his close links with current Rangers chairman Dave King.

He threw his weight behind King a couple of years ago as the campaign to oust the previous board began to gather pace.

He encouraged supporters to hold back season-ticket money and place it into a trust fund.

He said that he trusted King with his life, citing a long association that went back to his days in South Africa.

With such close connections, would he really be capable of standing as an independent representative with the fans’ interests at heart rather than those of the board?

My firm belief is that he would. He is friendly with King and helped him get into power but that does not mean he is going to toe the party line all the time. Indeed, I would say that it will be easier for him to present ideas and solutions to King as a friend.

Gough, for me, is not like that.

The club belongs to the fans. I am sure Gough will make it clear that, if he is chosen as a man to lead them, he will give assurances that it is their interests he will protect. He will act 100 per cent on their behalf.

Of course, there is a democratic process ongoing. No-one has to vote for Gough. He is going to have to meet supporters and supporters’ groups and convince them that he will represent their interests in the best way possible.

He will go out there, speak to people, persuade them and find himself having to answer searching questions.

Gough probably picked up more trophies as a captain than anyone else in the club’s history. There are many different factions and organisations within the club’s support at the moment — but one thing he enjoys from every fan of Rangers is respect.

Should all those different factions of the support band together, Gough would be perfect as their spokesman and figurehead.

He loves the club, knows the game and knows exactly what the supporters demand to see on the park.

This is, in no way, intended to be disrespectful to all the other people standing to be voted on to the board or those currently running the current supporters’ organisation.

What we are talking about here, though, is someone who has the weight and gravitas to speak on behalf of an entire fanbase. He is someone the supporters look up to. As I have already stated, he has earned their respect and that means so much.

Discussions are taking place within the separate fans’ groups about staging some kind of amalgamation — and I think it would be a good move.

Every Rangers supporter is there for the same thing. They want to see their club back at the top and winning trophies.

That is what every one of these groups wants to witness no matter some of the differences that may exist between them. Why not all get together, pool shares and become even more powerful?

Liverpool fans showed last week that is still possible to make a statement by sticking together, via the walkout during the home draw with Sunderland over plans to charge £77 for some tickets at Anfield. The idea was quickly scrapped. The supporters of the club were listened to.

Bigger clubs such as Rangers need the fans. The club cannot live without them. Rangers need their followers to be onside and I think the board have already made their position clear through their pledges to be open and transparent.

John Gilligan, the current director, has been involved in fans’ groups in the past and James Blair, the current company secretary, has connections with Rangers.

Supporters should not underestimate the power that they wield. If they can be represented as a collective by someone who the board knows and, most importantly, trusts, I can only see that as positive.

RICHARD GOUGH is a real Rangers legend and there would be no better man for the supporters of the club to unify behind.

He is standing for election to the board of the Rangers First supporters’ organisation and has already stated that part of his manifesto will be to bring together all the different strands of the Ibrox support base and form a new, strong body.

It is an idea that certainly appeals to me, but I fully accept that there are some fair and reasonable questions to be asked about Gough’s suitability for the role given his close links with the current Rangers chairman, Dave King.

He threw his weight behind King a couple of years ago as the campaign to oust the previous board began to gather pace. He encouraged supporters to hold back season ticket money and place it into a Trust Fund.

He said that he trusted King with his life, citing a long association that went back to his days in South Africa.

With such close connections, would he really be capable of standing as an independent representative with the fans’ interests at heart rather than those of the board?

My firm belief is that he would. He is friendly with King and helped him get into power, but that does not mean he is going to toe the party line all the time. Indeed, I would say that it will be easier for him to present ideas and solutions to King as a friend.

Gough, for me, is not like that.

The club belongs to the fans. I am sure Gough will make it clear that, if he is chosen as a man to lead them, he will give assurances that it is their interests he will protect. He will act 100 per cent on their behalf.

Of course, there is a democratic process ongoing. No-one has to vote for Gough. He is going to have to meet supporters and supporters groups and convince them that he will represent their interests in the best way possible.

He will go out there, speak to people, persuade them and find himself having to answer some searching questions.

Gough probably picked up more trophies as a captain than anyone else in Rangers history. There are many different factions and organisations within the Rangers support at the moment, but one thing he enjoys from every fan of the club is respect.

Should all those different factions of the support band together, Gough would be perfect as their spokesman and figurehead. He loves the club, knows the game and knows exactly what the supporters demand to see on the park.

This is, in no way, intended to be disrespectful to all the other people standing to be voted onto the board or those currently running the current supporters’ organisation.

What we are talking about here, though, is someone who has the weight and gravitas to speak on behalf of an entire fanbase. He is someone the supporters look up to. As I have already stated, he has earned their respect and that means so much.

Discussions are taking place within the separate fans’ groups about staging some kind of amalgamation and I think it would be a good move.

At the end of the day, every Rangers supporter is there for the same thing. They want to see their club back at the top and winning trophies.

That is what every single one of these groups wants to witness no matter some of the differences that may exist between them.

Why not all get together, pool shares and become even more powerful?

Liverpool fans showed last week that is still possible to make a statement by sticking together with the walk-out during the home draw with Sunderland over plans to charge £77 for some tickets at Anfield.

The idea was quickly scrapped. The supporters of the club were listened to. They felt £77 for entry to their stadium was unbelievable and acceptable. They made it clear these were actions that did not represent the spirit and ethos of their club.

They made it clear those were not the principles the club was founded upon and the owners stepped down in the end.

Bigger clubs such as Rangers need the fans. The club can’t live without them. I played during the days when there were only 10,000 folk turning up at Ibrox and it wasn’t good.

Rangers need their followers to be onside and I think the board have already made their position clear through their pledges to be open and transparent.

John Gilligan, the current director, has been involved in fans’ groups in the past and James Blair, the current company secretary, has connections with Rangers.

Supporters should not underestimate the power that they wield.

If they can be represented as a collective by someone that the board knows and, most importantly, trusts, I can only see that as an overwhelming positive.

We won’t know if Foderingham is real deal until he faces top sides regularly

WES FODERINGHAM has said that Rangers are already good enough to compete in the Premiership, but there are still real questions to be asked about both him and the team in general.

For two or three months, I couldn’t have told you whether Foderingham was a good goalkeeper or not. He played more like a sweeper, throwing or kicking the ball out to the full-backs or centre-backs. He had very few saves to make.

Recently, he has been tested more often and done well. He is starting to look like a decent keeper, but I don’t think we will really know until Rangers come up against one of the better sides in the Premiership who will attack and create chances.

Goalkeeper has been a position in which Rangers have had a number of influential players and they need a strong spine to the team. You need a solid foundation built from the keeper and the centre-backs.

If the keeper has confidence in two big centre halves in front of him, that’s great, but it certainly hasn’t happened yet. Things have improved in last four or five games with the side no longer losing such stupid goals, but centre-back is still a problem position for me.

Rangers will soon be up against better strikers than you find in the Championship and I would imagine the manager, Mark Warburton, will be looking for a solid central defender among the five or six players he will be seeking to recruit in the summer.

Alloa entitled to narrow their pitch if they want

MARK WARBURTON has stated that he finds it astonishing that Alloa have been able to change the dimensions of their pitch during the course of the season, but I really don’t see what all the fuss is about.

There are minimum and maximum widths for a football pitch. They are clearly stated within the rules.

As long as you follow those guidelines, you can change the size of your park as often as you want.

I think Jack Ross has been clever in making those alterations since taking over at the Indodrill Stadium. Look at this weekend’s match, for example.

Rangers like get their full-backs going forward.

They like to use width and it is within Alloa’s rights to want to contain teams by narrowing the pitch. Well done to them.

They are sitting at the bottom of the league. They got a good 2-2 draw against Morton in midweek and nobody should criticise them for setting up their own pitch to suit themselves rather than suiting Rangers.

They want to keep it tight and get in about Rangers.

Let’s not forget that Rangers did the same thing to Dynamo Kiev, with their renowned wingers, in a European Cup tie at Ibrox in 1987. It worked — Rangers won 2-0.

They were entitled to do it back then and Alloa are more than entitled to do it now.

From my point of view, they are doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Your question for Derek Johnstone

FRANK MAITLAND from Cathcart asked DJ: Was referee Bobby Madden right to apologise to Andy Halliday for sending him off against Hibs?

He said it to him on the quiet rather than coming out in the papers and going public, but I think it was a good thing.

It will be good for the player to hear that from the official, man-to-man.

These things can help develop relationships between players and officials and that is to be welcomed.

Referees make mistakes and there is no problem with them acknowledging those errors or even standing up for decisions they may have made.

It is progress. I never found myself in a situation where a referee apologised, but you did tend to just accept things in my day.

I still think referees should be able to explain their decisions openly, though.

If you have a question for Derek, just email him at dj@eveningtimes.co.uk and we’ll print the answer alongside the question.