Some Rangers fans should be ashamed of how they abused John Bennett | OneFootball

We can’t actually recall the last time someone at our club had to resign due to poor health, and we are extremely happy that our fanbase has been largely supportive of John Bennett and his health issues.

Rangers’ support has been a speck ‘toxic’ in recent times, few would argue this point, but even though the fans were constantly posting the anti-Bennett memes, we’ve not heard a single word against him at this time, with only messages of good wishes and hopes for a quick recovery.

As manager Philippe Clement confirmed, John Bennett did not resign willingly, his doctor told him he had to.

His private health matters are obviously his concern, but if a doctor instructs you to quit a position for the good of your health, then it’s a must-do.

Which means that (some) fans, for a bad reason, have got what they wanted. First it was Ross Wilson, Douglas Park and Stewart Robertson suffering the ‘keep out’ memes, then it became Bisgrove and Bennett. Fans just keep targeting the board unless the team is winning. In fairness, Dave King never suffered this, but he seems to be a different case.

But what do we feel of Bennett?

An honest man, who put big money in our club, who is one of us, and who stepped up to replace Douglas Park when no one else would, and found himself drowning when he lost his CEO and had no Sporting Director.

Add to this the Ibrox shambles of recent, and we wouldn’t be at all shocked if Bennett was suffering stress-related ill-health. Most of us can relate to this now and then.

But we shan’t speculate – Bennett did the best he could, in trying circumstances, and even Dave King himself had kind words to say on the chairman when talking about the club’s situation.

Bennett didn’t deserve the abuse, the protests, the memes.

He did an honest job, and tried his hardest in impossible circumstances, unprecedented in this club’s proud history.

And (some of) the fans attacked him for this, maliciously and a bit personally – very toxic.

He is no longer chairman, so they got what they wanted.

Did they cause his health issues? Well they sure didn’t help, did they?

Some fans can feel a bit ‘proud’ of themselves – they forget these people are just that, people, human, frail. Susceptible to suffering mental or physically ill health at sustained abuse and criticism.

Ibrox Noise gets it too, we receive our (more than) fair share of abusive disagreements, much like Bennett got, so we can definitely relate.

So what are we saying?

As ‘hippy’ as it sounds, be kind. Be nice. Offer constructive criticism when needed but keep it civil and with courtesy.

John Bennett did not deserve the nonsense he took, and now Rangers lack a chairman, or indeed any leader at all.

Hardly ideal.