FANS have criticised the Rangers Football Club board after supporters' clubs received warnings they could face a lower allocation of tickets for away games if they do not get enough season ticket holders.
The club circular sent to registered secretaries has been widely criticised by fans' organisations, described as "blackmail" by one group leader and "heavy-handed" by another.
The development comes as fans were urged not to hand over season ticket cash amid claims the board were stalling on a move to safeguard the future of Ibrox and Murray Park, the club's training complex near Milngavie.
The circular came in a briefing that talks about how the club chief executive Graham Wallace and club manager Ally McCoist were "working closely to ensure they are capable of challenging for future honours in the traditions of Rangers Football Club".
It refers to supporters' club gradings based on the number of season ticket holders which determine how many or how few tickets will be given for away games.
The email says: "It will ... be in each supporters' club's interest to ensure you have listed all of your season ticket members. Failure to do so could affect your club's category for the coming season.
"We know your patience may have been tested over the last few years - but we are all in this together and your loyal support is vital during this crucial time, as we endeavour to take this great club back to the SPFL."
Drew Roberton, secretary of the Rangers Supporters Association, said: "It sounds like an empty threat to get you to renew. It's heavy handed."
No-one at Rangers was available to comment last night.
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 hereComments are closed on this article