Kmcalpin

Thats the key Flow. As others have said the club needs to let us know the most effective ways to donate. We also need to try to get support and money from the wider community - maybe some kind of raffle with non football prizes? We need to offer a wide variety of schemes from voluntary ones to more formal ones; from ones involving a large amount of cash to ones involving only a pound or two. In short schemes to suit everyone and every pocket. As Jay says don't overlook the simple bucket collection - it has its place.

I'm pleased and proud our club has done the right thing and listened to the fans. Now we must stand up and be counted and I've been very encouraged by the posts so far from everyone. As a start I'm going to hand back my early bird ST discount and make a small donation to the Society to cover the costs of the ballot. Just athought though about ST holders paying in at the gate to the odd games. A very commendable idea but is there not another way of handing over the gate money. If we physically pay at the gate then part of the monies will go to the Government in VAT - but if we say make a "donation" of the same amount or even slightly less then the club will make more from that as no VAT would be involved.

I can only echo the thoughts of others and remember the fallen. It was only recently that I really learned of the absolute horrors of WW1. Sadly much of thew message has been lost, understandably, through sanitisation of events. Traditional poetry, films and written records never really portrayed life in the trenches as it actually was.

Media reports say that the Joint Statement issued to SFL clubs was drawn up jointly by Messrs Doncaster, Regan, Longmuir and Rod Petrie. This corroborates the relevant part of Flow's statement. No mention of Ralph Topping but surely as CEO of the SPL its inconceivable that he wasn't aware of it.

Thanks for the statement Flow. I'm happy to admit that I've changed my view a few times recently as different developments have occurred and more information has become available. Its clear to me now that Rangers should start life afresh in the 3rd division, not in the 1st. To date I've been more than happy with the way in which our own club has conducted itself. I'm not at all happy with the way certain parties within the SFA and SPL have behaved. IF Rangers are "accepted" in the 3rd division then I'll pull out all the stops to help MFC. IF that scenario occurs then its time for we fans to put our money where our mouth is. With power comes responsibility.

On your first comment yes, but to a far lesser extent. On your second comment everyone is entitled to renew or not and shouldn't be criticised for their decision. However many have chosen to publicise their thoughts on renewal, as they're entitled to do, and however you dress it up they are tantamount to threats of non renewal...thats a fact. Some others may not renew but have not made that public on forums. One or two such as AlanR have decided not to renew because the club was too slow in announcing its position and fair play to him.

Poor journalism from the Herald. Hearts season ticket sales went through the roof in the run up to the Cup Final. Final tickets were tied, to a large extent, to purchase of season tickets. There may well be other factors at play of course but the Cup Final was, at the very least, a very significant influence on sales.

Given that some fans are talking of walking away/boycotting SPL games in view of the current Rangers situation, I wonder now if this will have a domino effect on attendance at international matches. The SFA have stepped into the fray with rushed and controversial proposals for restruturing - in view of that will some fans stop attending Scotland games? Events could snowball.

That seems about right Iain. I believe that a ticket printing machine is on order or has been purchased. Until JB completes the legal formalities then it would be wise not to proceed too fast. It might be helpful though if the club issued a short statement to members to say something along the lines of "membership continues to rise/legal formalities still be confirmed etc etc"

One of my favourite colours after C & A of course. Maybe some folk would refer to it as a "Prussian Blue".

Yes, excellent sales so far. Ok, it may in part just reflect quicker sales due to the Early Bird offer but it is what it is. Onwards and upwards.

Great post Wullie. I still have not made my mind up and won't until I'm in possession of far more information.

Ian Murray is a bombscare. Lacks pace, and the Emma Maersk can turn quicker. Time and injury has caught with him and like others in a similar situation before him has turned to thuggery to stop opponents. No thanks.

Not sure about that at all. Its by no means uncommon for a manager to take a different view from his directors and its already happened at a few clubs recently and in the past. Its Stuart McCall's personal opinion. As outlined in the recent public statement the club has not yet formed a view but will consult with supporters' groups. The fans of MFC have not yet been consulted or voiced their collective opinion and until they have we cannot say for sure whether his views are out of step or not. I for one am not about to prejudge my fellow fans views. I have done that in the past and been totally wrong. For those who have cancelled their Society membership on the basis of what the club has not yet said or has not done yet - be careful what you wish for. When fans groups, including the Society, are consulted you will not be able to voice your view, and nor should you, as part of that process. As we have found out today through the Court of Session ruling, this is an extremely complex issue and its quite wrong to jump to conclusions until all the facts are known. We may all have our own personal views but there's no point in being impetuous. The Directors of MFC and other clubs may be legally liable if they take decisons based on wrong or incomplete information and simply rush into a decision.

One reason - a lot more cash.

Apparently Tansey is 6-1 so he would give us more badly needed height. Still he appears to be more of a playmaker. Maybe just paper talk - who knows?

Tim Clancy was a good stop gap signing who did us a turn. We'll now need some new cover in defence. Central midfield is a different issue. I've been expecting Steve Jennings to move on before now but he hasn't - this year may be different. Keith Lasley is 32 going on 33 and won't last much longer - he was beginning to show his age a few months ago after a vintage season. I'd guess Stuart Carswell is being groomed to step up although he has to prove that he can do it (he hasn't yet in my book). So, we will need to bring in another midfielder. Ideally you'd want a turnover of about 3/4 first team players per year and I think we'll be close to that. The big unknown is if we lose any of our top players late in the transfer window. Thats my big concern.

Are we any further forward Andy?

I've said that all along Special. Folk with an axe to grind assume that a decison has been made when in point of fact it may not have been. I would ask those pressing hard for an answer now "Will any answer do so long as its an answer or do you want to wait until the club has made a decision?" We all need to be patient.

What about Rangers?

Good move by the club. I wish they'd done that in years gone by - it would have dispelled all usual nonsense churned out by agents and mischiefmakers thats siezed upon by the fans and used by them to have ago at the club.

I'd suggest Celtic are in a different situation here. If the club alienated some fans by siding with Rangers and lost say 4,000 season ticket holders in the process, then all that would happen is that another 4,000 currently on the waiting list would step in and snap them up. From Celtic's point of view no difference - same level of sales, those who want to attend attend and those who want to walk away do. The proof of the pudding is how Celtic vote not what they say (if anything) in public.

For some time now they've had a loyalty scheme in operation giving preference to those who bought season tickets, hospitality and individual game tickets. When their place in the Cup Final was confirmed, they announced that fans with say 12- 25+ points would be guaranteed a ticket. Despite the currant furore over a Rangers newco, season ticket sales for 2012-13 then went through the roof. PROBLEM! They then hastily upped the qualifying points limit to say 20 points causing mayhem. In other words the goalposts were changed halfway through ticket sales. Quite a few fans who thought that they tickets in the bag were disappointed. I now believe that the limit has been reduced again. The usual bickering and squabbling broke out in the support over who had the best claim to tickets/why those who had been threatening to walk away next season over the Rangers situation were snapping up season tickets etc etc.

Nothing in Society membership about this so I guess that preferential ticketing for members is not guaranteed. That said I'd hope the club would consider this. A shortage of tickets could be a problem if we draw an attractive tie away from home. There was quite a panic before the AS Nancy game when it was announced that we'd only get the UEFA allowance of about 500 tickets (?) if recall correctly. AS Nancy did not have to accede to MFC's pleadings for an additonal allocation, but they did. Even at that a few of our fans had to make do with seats in the home end. I hope that club introduces a permanent and transparent (going off that word now) loyalty scheme for all big game tickets but avoids the Tynecastle debacle at all costs - an absolute nightmare for Jambos apparently, that has caused a lot of ill feeling in Embra.

Yes, the club secured a grant to pay for this renewal.