CLUB FOCUS the enclosure club focus

WITH almost 500 registered How was your club formed? you might get back home. We have a good Who are the club’s big characters? We’ve been going for the last 12 years after rivalry with the guys who support Celtic but Mike Smith is our secretary and treasurer and we We’re giving fans the chance to write their very own supporters clubs around the world, former Rangers director Ian Russell set the we’ve got a good relationship too. call him Souness because he looks like an older column for us and this month, we hear from Simon Rangers followers can be found all club up. Norrie McDonald took over after version of the great man. He’s an Aberdonian Brown. If you want to get involved, send us an email over the globe. a couple of years and I’ve been president Are any of your members regulars at bluenose, which is unique in this part of the world, at [email protected] with your idea and ‘Fans with Renowned for their passion and their for just over a year. At the start of last Ibrox? and a huge fan, which we wind him laptops’ in the subject field. Rangers Football Club commitment to following their team, season we had a core of 35 to 40 regular There are actually quite a few season ticket up about quite a bit. Andy, our web administrator, reserves the right to edit where necessary. they travel in great numbers to Ibrox members but we moved to a new pub, holders in the group and they fly back and loves a good wind up and is a bit of a good luck Andy MacDonald and Wes Tweedley set forth to Scotland as much as they can to charm in that every time he goes to the toilet we and beyond to back the Light Blues at up our website and we formed a complete see games at Ibrox. They don’t make it seem to score. Alan (Budweiser) Dearie is another home and abroad. committee to ensure all aspects of running across for all of the big matches but they do stalwart. He’s a big lad but he gives as good as he Each month we’ll take a look at a the club were handled correctly. After the their best to get to as many as possible. gets. Jimmy Henderson is our mascot and we had particular group of fans who devote so club was officially registered, we were able to lift him on to the bar when was Fans much of their lives to cheering on the to push on and we have grown a lot. As well Do you go on European trips? over so they would look the same height. Bairdy as having over 90 members now, we get a Stuart Baird and Stuart Barr are our goes to all the European games with his kilt on SPL champions. lot of tourists dropping in to watch games European tour managers and they’ve helped so you can’t miss him. I like to lead the singing In this edition of Rangers Monthly, with with us at the Centre Circle Sports Bar in arrange trips for us to Barcelona, Stuttgart sometimes and we have The Guzzler – no further we get the lowdown on the Dubai the Ramada Chelsea Hotel. We’ve even had and Florence as well as Manchester for info required on that one. Then there is Norrie and Loyal RSC from their president Jim some guys from the Navy dropping in when the UEFA Cup final. One or two of the his clown shoes, Wes ‘Oh ma back’ Tweedley, laptops Graham. they’ve docked in Dubai and we’ve had guys have been all over the place following Stuart ‘I’ve paid my dues’ Barr and George Wilson soldiers visiting us when they’ve been on Rangers and we always end up with a (the Wichita Linesman) who runs the social side their way home from Afghanistan. handful of people going to matches as and our Golden Goal competition. T’S always hard to readjust the expectations fans of a team might CLUB NAME: Dubai Loyal RSC mainland Europe is actually quite easy to How often do you meet? get to from Dubai. have, especially in the case of the world’s most successful club. PRESIDENT: Jim Graham We gather for every match but we’ve got a I But over the summer when it came to their dealings in the TEL: 00 971 506400760 two-man social committee so we organise What has your best trip been? transfer market, that was exactly the challenge Rangers were faced Indian and Chinese nights and are looking Personally I’d have to say Barcelona in with. EMAIL: at other activities to get more Bears 2007. So many of our guys went to Spain With the days of spending excessive amounts on new players gone, [email protected] involved. We have golf days and take part and from the minute we got on the plane it’s something we as a support have reluctantly had to accept. in an annual competition against the Dubai we had a really good laugh. Apart from the It has been difficult to stomach but with a new owner in place, the WEBSITE: Hoops which has been going for eight years result, Manchester was great too because club has had to embrace a realistic approach to what is spent on www.thedesertbears.org and I’m happy to say we are the current over a dozen from the Dubai Loyal went and new faces. holders of the trophy! The event is always we went to one of the pubs there to meet There’s no doubt Gers must be self-sufficient and speculating to FACEBOOK: pretty civilised and we all have a good laugh up with fellow supporters from Azerbaijan, accumulate is something they simply can’t afford to do any more. www.facebook.compages/Dubai- together. The nature of Dubai as a place Australia and South Africa. It was a That’s not to say, however, it should impact on how successful the club continues to be and I think we’ve all seen plenty in the first few Loyal-RSC/163629343667481 sees everyone work together and there’s cracking day and we managed to keep hold not the same ill feeling towards each other of our flag, which was also a bonus! weeks of the SPL to be optimistic about. TWITTER: @thedesertbears Summer recruits , and Carlos Bocanegra Former Rangers director Ian Russell started have all impressed, despite being signed for smaller amounts than NUMBER OF MEMBERS: 90-100 the Dubai Loyal RSC 12 years ago some may have been used to before. YEAR OF FORMATION: 1999 An old saying dictates you get what you pay for but it’s fair to say Have any past or present players visited your the new men have done much to disprove that theory. club? Kyle Lafferty, much maligned in the past and often unfairly, has John Brown, Derek Ferguson, , Bert also continued to improve and score goals which have led to vital Konterman, and have wins. been to see us while Ally McCoist has joined us The statistics don’t lie and the good run of results the Light Blues on a couple of occasions too. We’ve had many have enjoyed – complete with plenty of clean sheets - have led to an other former players and managers and a referee excellent start domestically, the League Cup loss to Falkirk aside. or two over to sample our hospitality, including Going forward, the squad is stronger than it has been for a while , , John McDonald, and it will be complimented further in time by promising youngsters and Alex McLeish. We have such as Jamie Ness and Kane Hemmings. started to donate to various charities, most recently Indeed, the progress made by Rangers’ youth department is the MacMillan Nurses and the Rangers Charity something which has provided real enthusiasm as cloth has Foundation on the back of Sandra Weir’s Arctic been cut. Challenge exploits. We raise money at our annual While there wasn’t the outlay many expected when the transfer golf event and throughout the year through auctions window was open, I don’t think we should complain too much and and raffles. We’ve had a couple of joint functions there’s a lot to be upbeat about. with the Dubai Hoops where DJ and George Despite European disappointments against Malmo and Maribor, all SHOULD WE FEATURE YOUR CLUB? we can ask in the future is that Gers stay ahead of the rest and so EMAIL US NOW AT [email protected] McCluskey attended. Needless to say, there were a couple of tasty comments that went back and forth far they’re doing a fine job of that. WITH DETAILS but it was all taken in the right spirit!

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