RANGERS fan group the Union Bears are to conduct a silent protest in a stance against Ibrox "mismanagement".
The ultras group, which organised the controversial Goodnight Green and White banner march last month say it is launching the new demonstration during Rangers' match against Hearts at Ibrox this Sunday.
It said that it was a response to "issues at the club, at all levels" which it said "need addressed urgently", adding that "we will do everything in our power to ensure this happens".
Rangers were beaten 4-0 by Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi final and since then stars Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace have been suspended by the club in the wake of a row with manager Graeme Murty.
Last month it emerged that a wide-ranging review of operations at the club had been launched after chairman Dave King was forced to bid £11 million for 70 per cent of the club's shares.
The bid being made by Mr King's South African-based Laird Investments (Proprietary) Limited comes after a court agreed that he and others acted together to force their way into the Ibrox boardroom three years ago.
A statement from the Union Bears read: “We would like to make our position clear regarding the club in its current form.
“Issues at the club, at all levels, need addressed urgently and we will do everything in our power to ensure this happens.
“We will take action and protest in various ways in the coming weeks, months or however long required.
READ MORE: Video: Hundreds join Rangers v Celtic game march in defiance of police
“We will not stand idly by as our club is being so obviously mismanaged at the highest level.
“We do not expect instant success, but we do expect progress, something which this board has failed to deliver in every aspect since taking power, despite promising the world.
“We will be attending this weekend’s match against Hearts, however we will not have a vocal presence.
“This is part of a long line of planned protests that we have organised. The club have taken us, the Rangers support for granted for too long and have left us with no choice but to take action.
“The Union Bears seek to support Rangers in a positive, colourful and vocal manner.
“However, the obvious lack of desire, fight and leadership on the pitch on Sunday is a clear sign of a much more deep rooted problem within the club.
“This decision was not taken lightly, as to support the team is our ultimate aim, however the long term security and success of our club is vital.
“We deserve better.”
Hundreds joined the Union Bears march promoted by a sectarian flyer that had been at the centre of a criminal investigation last month.
With a "Goodnight Green and White" banner draped across the balaclava-clad marchers at the front, the group sang both celebratory Rangers songs but also offensive songs including Follow Follow containing the "f*** the Pope and the Vatican" and the Billy Boys chant featuring the line "we're up to our knees in Fenian blood".
The Union Bears, which organised the march had insisted the march before the Old Firm derby would go ahead, despite calls for it to be stopped, while claiming members have been visited by police.
A poster plugging the march showed a silhouette image of someone wearing a green-and-white hooped jersey appearing to be being kicked in the head while on the ground, surrounded by text reading: “Good night, green white.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel