'Murray is entitled to dismiss those who won't give their real names'

IF THE disaffected of Ibrox really want their voices heard there is one thing they can do that might help, one thing above all others that might have Sir David Murray, Martin Bain and Walter Smith giving them the time of day. When they go on their websites with their thoughts on the state of the club they could start using their real names instead of the ridiculous monikers they carry on with.

Is it any wonder that Murray and Smith have barely concealed contempt for these people when one of the leading voices on one of the leading fans' forums calls himself Grandmaster Suck?

Murray, and everybody else at Ibrox, is entitled to dismiss as irrelevant the thoughts of somebody who doesn't have the maturity to put his name to a posting. It is absurd that the chairman should be expected to pay attention to a lobby that won't even tell him who they are. If actual names, checked and verified, start appearing at the end of these messages on places like Follow Follow then Murray would sit up and take notice, for certain. You'd be talking about a captive chairman at that point. Once these guys climb out from behind the cloak of anonymity and say to Murray "right, here we are, out in the open" then they might get the respect they believe is lacking right now.

You only had to look at one of these websites last week to realise that those who think that Murray should be taking them seriously are deluded. For instance, would any of these revolutionary voices (a fair chunk of them making absolutely valid points) take to heart any criticism of themselves in their own day jobs if the analysis of their performance was signed by somebody called SpongeBobSquarePants as one of the more cogent evaluations of Rangers' plight was on Follow Follow last week?

Rangers people may indeed Deserve Better as the Rangers Supporters Trust motto goes, but if they feel that strongly about it they could at least identify themselves. They all know that Murray looks at Follow Follow. He complains about it from a position of strength. He checks it out. Quite often, I would suggest. If their club is going down the toilet, if the situation is as grave as all that, then why wouldn't the members stand over their own remarks instead of hiding like children behind nicknames?

Here's what I mean. After the RST made their announcement last week many threads started to appear on the website. The cyber fans formed a queue to endorse the We Deserve Better campaign, each one posting their thoughts. Here's a list of some of the contributors...

Mr Super Bad

The Gunslinger

tartan penguin

TheSnowman

JohnDarwinsCanoe

wordy rappinghood

Franky Four Fingers

Now, seriously, can any of these guys see a day when they're going to get a dialogue going with Murray?

"Ah, Mr Snowman, come in, sit down. Now I've read what you and Mr Canoe, Mr Gunslinger, Mr Penguin and Mr Rappinghood have said and as grown-ups I respect your opinions"

Get in the real world, chaps.

There was also a debate at one point, in the wake of Walter Smith questioning how many fans actually support the RST, and here again we had a long stream of people either saying they were members or saying they were going to join and not one of them appeared to use their real name, unless there's been a massive run on the Deed Poll office headed by Mr Runningbear and Mr Bubablue.

Now, there are people on websites who won't reveal their identity because they are bigots, because they have nothing at all to contribute bar their warped take on the world. I'm not talking about those clowns. I'm talking about the supporters who have something sensible to say, who are deeply worried (but not abusive or hysterical) about the recent developments at Ibrox – and there are loads of those. On Friday, I had a look for myself and there is plenty of lively debate and interesting thinking, plenty of heartfelt pleas and strong analysis of Rangers' plight.

Website convention dictates that you don't use your real name. Fair enough, change the convention. Make a statement. If you feel strongly enough about this then put your name to it instead of pretending to be a Gunslinger when, in fact, you're a bit of a coward. Banners calling for Murray to go will have zero impact on the man. It's a vacuous statement. As we've said here before: fine, Murray Must Go...and then what? Who takes over? Who stumps up the salaries? Who drives the operation? Nobody wants in. Nobody with money or the ability to take the club forward wants anything to do with it. Not now and not for the foreseeable future.

As Murray and Smith have pointed out, it's difficult to say how many people actually support the RST. Personally, I find them a hard lot to warm to what with David Edgar's stuttering and stammering in the past whenever my pal Graham Spiers asked him to explain why the singing of the Billy Boys was acceptable to some Rangers people.

Also, one of Edgar's deputies sent me an e-mail late last year which, to be frank, was pretty gross. I wouldn't be a huge fan of the RST, but each to their own.

They have followers, no doubt. There is concern, that's evident. But too many football supporters are faceless cyber warriors, all fire and brimstone with a keyboard at their fingers and as quiet as church mice when they're asked to go public. Franky Four Fingers will open no doors. Start naming names, boys. That's my advice. Really and truly, I can't see Murray taking a blind bit of notice of you otherwise.