They seek him here, they seek him there Written &Posted by JCS For Rangers Media When Baroness Orczy wrote her famous play, The Scarlet Pimpernel, in 1903 she must have had a presentiment about James Traynor’s appointment as the Ranger’s Director of Communications. When she penned the original play and, subsequently wrote her popular and timeless novel, she created an endearing, selfless and heroic character in the Scarlet Pimpernel. The Pimpernel is an elusive, almost invisible, character who does his courageous and deadly work in secret, shunning adulation and notoriety to achieve his noble ends. I would like to think that is what James Traynor, our Director of Communications, is doing at this very moment; devising cunning plans, and hatching bold strategies to confound our many enemies and defend the rich history and culture of our great club and its faithful supporters, but I have considerable doubts about that. If he is working in secret, applying his undoubted talents to confound our enemies and refute their many lies and distortions, then very few know about it; and if he is beavering away behind the scenes there is little tangible evidence of it. In fact, if he is doing anything worthwhile at all, then it’s taking a long time to come to fruition! Like most Rangers fans, I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that James Traynor has adopted only one of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s characteristics – the desire for anonymity. I suspect that the Pimpernel’s inherent courage, bravery and tenacity have been overlooked by James Traynor in favour of his legendary elusiveness and invisibility. These are the characteristics that a growing number of Rangers fans believe to be the only ones that James Traynor has displayed thus far, and I think that most Bears would agree that Baroness Orczy’s famous verse seems to sum up his tenure as the Ranger’s Director of Communications to date. “We seek him here, we seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell? That damned, elusive Pimpernel” However, unlike the Scarlet Pimpernel, James Traynor clearly isn’t arriving in the nick of time to defend us against the evil, bloodthirsty rascals who seek to send us to the guillotine, and who never miss an opportunity to denigrate our great club with every word and deed. The sad fact is no one seems to know what James Traynor actually does. He is almost invisible – effectively incommunicado – and that is extremely worrying, and considered by many to be wholly unacceptable in an executive director whose sole purpose is to direct the club’s communications strategy. As each week passes, assault after assault on our club passes without challenge, without a whimper of protest from the club, and Rangers fans everywhere are now demanding to know what exactly James Traynor is doing for the hefty salary he undoubtedly receives. When James Traynor was appointed, in December 2012, most Rangers fans were aghast. For many, James Traynor was firmly in the anti-Rangers camp, and readily identified with serial Rangers haters like Graham Spiers. His Daily Record article of 13 June 2012 is still fresh in our collective memory. Your club is dead he told us, “Rangers FC as we know them are dead. It’s all over. They’ll slip into liquidation within the next couple of weeks with a new company emerging but 140 years of history, triumph and tears, will have ended. No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out Rangers as we know them died.” But to be fair, in the same article, Traynor also had a real ‘go’ at those only too eager to strip us of titles and kick us when we were down, including a belligerent SFA and a hostile SPL. Nonetheless, and in spite of the genuine reservations of many Rangers fans, he was given a cautious welcome at Ibrox, and his appointment appeared to herald a more robust press and public relations strategy going forward. When, in early January, he blasted the SFA and the SPL and labelled their ill-conceived reconstruction plans an ‘abomination’, we were jubilant, and when he responded forcefully to Alex Thompson’s personal attack in February, we thought that, at last, we had someone with the guts and determination to ‘tell it like it is’ and stand up for our club. A series of hard hitting articles throughout January and February seemed to confirm that view, and bloggers were positively ‘glowing’ about Traynor’s immediate impact. Bill McMurdo said at the time, “The ferocity of the blast almost made the need for those of us who blog on behalf of Rangers redundant. Anyone who doubts that Jim Traynor will not be a formidable force in his new role is in for a very rude shock. Traynor is a man on a mission and it is not just about how much of a bluenose he is.” In January and February we all thought that but, alas, it now seems that James Traynor’s ‘mission’ has fizzled out, and the policy of the ‘dignified’ silence has, again, settled on Ibrox. If he is a ‘formidable force’ then he hides it very well. But, I wonder if we are being unfair to James Traynor, after all he’s only in post 6 months? Is his apparent inactivity self imposed, or is he constrained by the policy, direction and dictates of others? Shortly after taking up post, James Traynor told us that he intended to draft a comprehensive communications strategy – a strategy that, when completed, he would share with us. At long last we would have a communications strategy that would define and prioritise our objectives, identify and target audiences and disseminate the right messages to influence public opinion and refute the distortions of our detractors. In effect, what we looked forward to was a ‘joined up’ strategy that our previous PR provider, MediaHouse, consistently failed to deliver. But, unfortunately, James Traynor’s much heralded communications strategy has not yet materialised and we continue to lurch from one debacle to the next in the absence of any co-ordinated and coherent responses from the club. Over the past few months, and particularly in recent weeks, we have utterly failed to confront our detractors or respond to the slights, slurs and inaccuracies of the press and broadcast media. In fact were it not for the valiant efforts of ordinary fans and the many effective internet bloggers that Rangers are blessed with, our detractors at Pacific Quay, the Daily Record and the Scotsman (to name but a few) would have had an uncontested field. In recent months we have witnessed these organisations (and many others) denigrate our club, print blatant untruths about us, and regurgitate allegations that have long since been proven to be utter nonsense. Where these lies and distortions have been challenged, they have been challenged by Rangers fans. The recent triumph over the BBC is a case in point, and had it not been for the determination and tenacity of a few dedicated Rangers fans the BBC’s biased and inaccurate reporting of the Rangers story, and the status of our club, would still be the order of the day. Similarly, the club has relied on the fans to respond to the wilder excesses of the anti-Rangers press, and Tom English’s recent article in the Scotsman is an ideal example of an article that should have been dealt with by the club rather than by its fans. Thankfully, we have been able to rely on The Rangers Standard (TRS), Rangers Media (RM), the Copeland Road Organisation (CRO) and other excellent internet bloggers, to deal with such slanted articles. And nor should we forget those like Chris Graham who regularly appear on television to defend the Rangers ‘position’, often outnumbered by prominent Rangers haters, and usually in a hostile atmosphere. There are, of course, many other examples I could cite where the club appears to have abrogated its responsibilities to the fans. For instance; the unwholesome ‘machinations’ of the SFA and the SPL that have characterised the recent Reconstruction debate; the posturing, prevarication and utter incompetence of those organisations on a whole range of related issues; the consistent refusal to accept our history and status; the often unwarranted and unjustified speculation that has attended our Boardroom wrangles; the malicious speculation about our finances and the recent highly successful share issue. These are but a few of the core issues that many supporters feel could, and should, have been addressed by the club. Indeed, the club often seems unable or unwilling to defend its position, present a written rebuttal or offer up a spokesperson. These are clearly circumstances in which James Traynor and his team should be taking the lead. No, we can’t – and shouldn’t – respond to every statement critical of Rangers, or challenge every utterance made on TV or in the press, and James Traynor is right to make that point. To attempt to address every crack-pot blogger and anti-Rangers ‘head-banger’ would be a futile and unproductive exercise. But that, of course, is why a communications strategy is so vitally important and why it must be shared with the fans. There must be a strategy to confront the serial detractors, and it must be a collaborative one. We must co-operate to ensure that we make our voice as strong and effective as possible. The club must have a set of guidelines – clear criteria – by means of which it can identify those issues that demand a formal response. The club can’t, of course, respond in every case, and rightly so. But refusal to confront the major issues – major detractors such as the BBC – is unacceptable. Locking a few BBC personalities out of Ibrox was, undoubtedly, a popular measure, but it utterly failed to confront the fundamental problem of the BBC’s consistently inaccurate and biased reporting. Dumping Chick Young on the Edmiston Drive sidewalk was amusing, but hardly a serious, or substantive solution to a difficult ongoing problem. We know little of James Traynor’s role at Rangers, and the fact that he has, effectively, went AWOL since February has not helped us to a greater understanding of his role and responsibilities. All we know about his job is the brief statement made on the official club web site early last December, that the Head of Media will, “oversee the development of all media platforms including Rangers TV, digital, online and print publications” James Traynor has been in post for 6 months now, yet we have not had sight of his job description and we still have no idea of his plans. It may be that his commitments to Rangers TV, digital media and online facilities render it impractical for him to deal with the more damaging media attacks upon the club. Perhaps he under-estimated the magnitude of the task that confronted him or perhaps, his position has been undermined by the unforeseen, and sudden, departure of Charles Green who brought him to the club in the first place. Perhaps, the demands of the job, and the often unreasonable expectations of the fans, have overwhelmed him – I simply don’t know. But what I do know is that we continue to lurch from one media debacle to another in the absence of any coherent and cogent response from the club. The promised communications strategy hasn’t materialised, and our infrequent responses are reactive rather than proactive and, more and more we resort to the traditional ‘dignified silence’ – a silence that is more embarrassing than dignified, more often ignored than acknowledged, and simply dismissed by all and sundry as inappropriate and irrelevant. I do not rush to condemn James Traynor, because I simply don’t know what the circumstances are within his Directorate at this time – a time of great upheaval and significant change at the club. Perhaps he has been ‘muzzled’ or perhaps he has decided to extend his prohibition on responding to internet bloggers to the mainstream media. It may be that he is constrained in what he can say and do or, that the role initially envisaged by Charles Green has since been revised and circumscribed. Who knows? But what we do know is that James Traynor is anonymous; the club is anonymous and we are being savaged regularly by all comers! It may be that James Traynor has developed the communications strategy that he promised, but has not yet had an opportunity to share it with us, or it may still be in the developmental stage. Either way we, the fans, deserve to know what is going on. The anonymity and invisibility of our Director of Communications is unacceptable. We should not have to “seek him here and seek him there”to quote Baroness Orczy’s famous book. We should know what James Traynor’s objectives are, and be an integral part of helping him to achieve them. We can offer him practical assistance to defend the club against the spurious and damaging claims of our enemies. We can help James Traynor, but only if he is prepared to share his vision with us. We can offer practical help and support, but he’s got to listen to us. We can work collaboratively and co-operatively with him, but that means we must be a partner rather than a perceived problem. It’s time that we knew what JamesTraynor has in mind – it’s time to get across the table and talk! #Clark#
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:37:28 +0000
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