As we all know, this site emerged from the ashes of RTC. The wish of the original administrator of the site, one which I wholeheartedly share, was to keep together the wonderful community RTC had built, in terms of both personnel and spirit. There are still many individuals around who were also part of RTC, and regrettably many who are no longer with us. The RTC spirit however, that of a cross-party football site where issues can be discussed in a respectful and insightful manner remains. The “wisdom of the crowd” phenomenon is also with us to perhaps an even greater extent than before, and consequently SFM’s credentials as a formidable alternative to the print media have grown.
In recent times, many contributors have expressed frustration that we are pretty much a talking shop and little else; characterised as “a lot of gum bashing and no teeth”. I think that is fair comment up to a point, but then again our aim – up to now – has been to simply present an alternative view – a view that has increasingly become the fan view as opposed to the industry view (the industry being made up of club officials, players, and press).
In fact the way I see it personally, SFM has evolved to a point where it has become the watchdog (monitor if you will) of an industry which is subject to very little oversight. The Rangers situation will eventually be done with (no laughing at the back please), and like everything else will be consigned to history (albeit more than one). The same self-interest and lack of regard for sporting integrity though will still remain, and the need for oversight will remain also.
Having arrived at those conclusions, we have two alternatives; the first is to remain as we are (which is not a bad place to be), and the second is that SFM has to expand its role.
In recent weeks, the mods have met to discuss this, and we think that we ought to give the latter option a try. As to how we want to achieve that, and we have come up with a skeleton plan as follows;
1. We need to move into the area of gathering news content as well as commenting on what appears elsewhere;
2. We should act as a cross-club portal to get good fan site content from all clubs to a wider audience;
3. We need to highlight the positives in the game as well as the negatives;
4. We should become an actively campaigning body, aligning with fan groups to lobby for the changes we think important.
In order to achieve these objectives, more time will need to be spent on communication like podcasts, adding news content, expanding membership and building links with other fan groups. Time will also need to be spent setting up features, attending press conferences etc. Later in the year, one of the mods will have much more time on his hands to help achieve this.
Podcasts, premium content, labour, organisation and all of the above costs money, and ultimately a subscription based model backed by sponsorship seems to be our best way of achieving that. In order to give us a head start, we will in the next few months be putting together a business-plan and a pitch for Crowd Funding investment.
This is not to say that our existing model has been a failure. We have successfully managed to keep ourselves afloat through the ad-hoc generosity of people in our community, although the inability to keep the podcasts going has been a bit frustrating. Finding income streams which are more solid will allow us to respond to events more quickly (for example mounting an ad campaign to respond to some event or other, or buying new equipment), and hopefully achieve all of our objectives – and build a bigger audience base for our message.
Of course a move of this nature will require that, in the interests of transparency, anonymity of SFM will have to be set aside. That will not affect any of our contributors, and our practice of using (sometimes) imaginative names on the blog will remain. However, for crowd funding to be successful, we will require to have a board in place, and there is no hiding place from Companies House. The make up of the board is also crucial, and in addition to consideration of blog members for that role, we will be looking to have respected people from without.
I imagine there may be a consequent subtle effect on moderation policy to take into account.
The reason I have made this post is to keep the community up to speed with events. Although we have decided to move forward to see if we can get support for our business plan, that plan is by no means finished. As I said earlier, the “wisdom of crowds” has made our community unique and given it its credibility. There’s a lot more wisdom out there we hope to tap into before we go ahead with our initiative.
We already had someone in mind for chairman of the new board, but events have conspired tragically to rob us of that – and had the effect of postponing this announcement. However we would like to hear suggestions for suitable outside candidates for board and committee places.
We also want to hear from you if you have a suggestion to be added to our wish list of SFM function above – or even if you think it is a mistake to embark on this course.
This is a very big move for SFM, so we don’t want to rush into anything. We need to listen to what you folks have to say, because if the merging SFM is not considered a better SFM by our community there is very little point in looking to fund it.
What time is the EGM kickoff? Were previous AGMs broadcast live?
Tartan Wulver
!0:30 Ibrox
Extraorinary Gazebo Meeting
Tartanwulver says:
Member: (201 comments)
June 11, 2015 at 9:12 pm
What time is the EGM kickoff? Were previous AGMs broadcast live?
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Why isn’t Doncaster on the case and adding it to the TV deal?
Scottish Football needs thrills and spills, drama and pathos. i.e. RIFC/TRFC AGMs/EGMs. Add bathos in too.
ianagain says:
Member: (557 comments)
June 11, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Been happening of late Thursdays and Sundays 😀
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Maybe 4 of DCK’s team were injured. 😉
parttimearab says:
Member: (354 comments)
Whilst Ashley using RIFC as a chew toy is undeniably entertaining, I have seen nothing to change my view that Ashley is fundamentally bad news for football.
Even sans Ashley, Kingco just don’t have it in them to rejuvenate RIFC, there are no good options for Rangers fans any more. Starting afresh is probably the only viable route, perhaps now, the only real question is, when, not if, that happens.
Corrupt official
9:29 pm
Maybe 4 of DCK’s team were injured.
—
Maybe they were on loan from Big Mike and were not allowed to turn out against their parent plaintiff.
Billy Boyce at 8.52pm. Yes I think you nailed it as far as Scots Law v English law in this case.
Now how is an injunction served these days.
E mailed ?
Nailed to your mahogany doors ?
Pinned to DKs appalling jaiket ?
Or served up at an EGM in full view of an audience?
Betting?
Danish Pastry says:
Blog Writer: (1241 comments)
June 11, 2015 at 7:41 pm
Chris Jack (for it is he) quoting extensively from an RST spokesperson.
“Mr Ashley must think the Rangers support are suffering from some sort of mass delusion…”
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Why single out poor old Mike Ashley when there are so many others from which to choose?
Je suis Mike.
This is I think a forlorn hope but I don’t suppose any guerrilla investor will be in attendance at 10:30 tomorrow to give us a JD style feed from the “front” as it were?
See you all on the F5 at 1030 then
suspect there has been a really dark secret behind the ‘ sold for a pound thingy’from the start… king and ashley will both know what it is……. the so called real rangers men who ran away when all it needed was a £2 coin to keep whyte, ashley green and ahmed out their club are hugely to blame ……..
I doubt any of the “faced” players will appear to be booed and shouted down, but Mike will want his questions answered. My choice of disguise would be a very well informed accountant stripped of his Armani suit and rolex, wearing an anorak and bunnet. A wee discreet RFC badge will top it off. He will be flanked by two big fat guys…..Who are not fat, but rather tasty when it comes to it.
scapaflow says:
Member: (1223 comments)
June 11, 2015 at 10:02 pm
parttimearab says:
Member: (354 comments)
Whilst Ashley using RIFC as a chew toy is undeniably entertaining, I have seen nothing to change my view that Ashley is fundamentally bad news for football.
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Too right.
Faced with a choice between a convicted tax cheat like DK, or a ruthless “entrepreneur” like MA, Scottish Football needs to end its addiction to Rangersness.
No currently conceivable form of Rangers does anything but tarnish the image of Scottish Football.
Time to move on without them.
high beeswax says:
Member: (14 comments)
June 11, 2015 at 11:49 pm
suspect there has been a really dark secret behind the ‘ sold for a pound thingy’from the start… king and ashley will both know what it is……. the so called real rangers men who ran away when all it needed was a £2 coin to keep whyte, ashley green and ahmed out their club are hugely to blame ……..
====================
£2 plus the money to pay off the £18M LloydsTSB bank debt, which is where Ticketus came in. Then throw in a medium sized warchest, the wee tax case settlement, and provision for settlement of the big tax and you’d be looking at a sizeable quantum that even Mike Ashley would regard as more than small change.
If the return of the King has shown us one thing, it’s that RRM are consistant in that they only like spending other people’s money and they certainly don’t like paying it back later.
Perhaps tomorrow will be the day that all that changes and Swiss Tony and the Lyin’ King will unveil a warchest of such a staggeringly large quantum that even Harry Redknapp would struggle to spend it in one transfer window, thus totally routing MASH and Sports Direct in a stunning move by the RRM.
Or maybe not… 🙄
I appreciate that RIFC is no longer a listed company, and free from many regulations, but if King is still not listed as a director at Companies House – should he get a seat in the Gazebo ?
Has he jetted in yet ? 😉
You’ve got to imagine that Gash and the Coif are living in the past . They expect to be allowed to ignore anything that inconveniences them in the knowledge that the Establishment will support their stance for the greater good of society as a whole . Big Mick is just “new money”, brash and common .Never going to be accepted and will eventually see their place in the scheme of things and will be ostracised by decent folk . You would think passé, so last century, but maybe that’s the way it still works in SA, Mr King’s abode ?
Copy of a letter issued by ‘Mr’ King to the Rangers support yesterday. Apologies if someone has previously posted. They’re not going to be so stupid for a third time…are they?
=========================================
Dear fellow supporter
Rangers Football Club is about to commence the next chapter of a remarkable 143-year-old story that has spanned the ages and inspired countless supporters over many generations. Our Club has a deep and rich history but Rangers is as much about its future as its past. It is in remembrance of past generations and my hope for future generations that I write to you today. I am immensely proud to be Chairman of this wonderful Scottish institution and I am mindful of the delicate situation the Club is in at this critical juncture in its history. It is absolutely vital that the board and fans join together to restore Rangers to its natural and more recognisable position – both in Scotland and internationally. Like all of you who read this letter, I have always taken pride in being a Rangers supporter. It is something I inherited from my father who, in turn, inherited the legacy from my grandfather. This is what Rangers fans do. We pass on our pride and belief in Rangers to our children. That is why Rangers truly is a Club for generations. Our unrelenting pride and belief in Rangers has helped us through the last few years, which have been the toughest for supporters in the Club’s long history.
The reality is that from the time of the Craig Whyte acquisition the Club has lurched from one crisis to another and it was ultimately the stamina and endurance of our supporters that led us towards the new era that began with the removal of the previous board on the 6th March 2015. I assure all supporters they now have a Board they can trust to restore the Club’s fortunes. It is a Board that will ensure sufficient funding will be in place for Rangers to compete for the Premiership in the coming seasons and the Board will do so in a manner that does not take the Club back to the financial precipice. This rebuilding process should have commenced three years ago but for reasons that we are all too familiar with, this didn’t happen and it is incredibly disappointing to us all that Rangers remains in the Championship. However, we must now turn that into an opportunity.
As a fan I was desperate for us to gain promotion to the Premiership but as a businessman I was alert to the risk that this entailed. The simple fact is that the Club is not yet ready to make a challenge for the Premiership title. Even with the economic gulf that Rangers enjoyed against those with whom it was competing we could not win the Championship.
We struggled throughout the season and, despite the best efforts of Stuart McCall we struggled, even in those play-off matches which we did win. We now find ourselves having to restructure both on and off the field and it must be clear to all fans that this could not be achieved easily in the little time we have before the commencement of pre-season training. Spending another season in the Championship is an undesirable reality and we have to start with rebuilding the footballing side so that we end this next season as champions of the Championship and ready to compete for the Premiership title. We must target players who have the quality and desire to play for Rangers. We must also ensure that the football structure we put in place provides a sustainable and successful future for the Club. However, even with new investment your Board cannot do this on its own. That is why I am asking you to take season ticket sales to a record level. The football you have watched over the last season does not justify the price you have paid but we want and need to do better. Our Club cannot, and must not, get to the point where we celebrate mediocrity. The Rangers Football Club has, for over a century, been the biggest Club in Scotland and will be again. That is a non-negotiable for me. Our Club stands at a crossroads and the next season is critical to our future.
This must be the last season we spend in the Championship and an intelligent and realistic strategy to drive Rangers back to the very top as quickly as possible is required. Over the last year I have witnessed just how much so many of you care for Rangers. The last several years have been anything but easy and it has been your unflinching support and love for our Club that has held it together. It has been the historical willingness of fans to back the team by purchasing season tickets and supporting the Club’s retail operations and creating new ventures (such as Rangers Pools, now Rangers Lotto) that ensured long-term success and domination in Scotland. It is not so long ago that Rangers had the second most profitable football brand in the UK. I will be engaging our retail partners to find a way forward to deal with the current concern of fans that purchasing replica kit and other merchandise does not support the Club to the extent that historically has been the case. I will make further comment on that topic in the coming weeks. Although my present focus is on new season tickets I also want to create a way for supporters to participate in the Club that goes beyond what we have seen in the past and creates a new legacy for future generations.
The Club will seek to innovate and grow in partnership with our supporters and more detail will be conveyed in the not too distant future. I ask you to buy season tickets for two important reasons. First, it is vital to the rebuilding of the Club that Rangers is restored to its natural economic power in Scottish football and internationally. As stated above, this is fundamentally derived from supporters attending games because investment from shareholders can make a difference when dealing with funding shortfalls but is not a long-term solution. The second reason is that I believe supporters are being presented with a unique once-in-a generation opportunity to acquire a season ticket and retain it in the family for future generations. The Club is presently at an all-time low but we are on the way back. This is a chance to watch a Championship winning team next season and to look back in the future with satisfaction at the part you played in rebuilding your beloved football team.
This is an opportunity your father never had and one that your children should be spared. There is nothing like watching Rangers playing and winning and it is our duty to make sure our children can experience and enjoy that special feeling without suffering as you have done. In addition to the need to rebuild the first team squad we must stop merely paying lip service to youth development. Auchenhowie must become the envy of all and it is equally important that Rangers recruiting systems are also fully restored after years of neglect.
All of this will require money and that is why I am urging every supporter to buy into what we are trying to achieve for Rangers. All season ticket proceeds will be fully invested in the footballing activities of the Club. The wrong types have been removed from the Club and for the first time in years there is hope. We can all be confident that there will be no more squandering of money. Hopefully we can share the vision to return Rangers to the pinnacle of the domestic game within two or three years and thus become European regulars again. We can and we must do that because our Club is too big to settle for anything less. So, the average price for a ticket for season 2015-16 is £411 representing a relatively modest 5% increase which is necessary if we are to generate the levels of finance required to achieve our immediate goals. I do not believe we should talk in exact numbers because we do not know precisely how much it will cost to rebuild and restore this wonderful Club.
The required funding for this new season alone could change significantly depending on how discussions with our retail partners are concluded. We have to spend immediately to rebuild the football staff at all levels but we can’t say for certain how much it will cost to forge a team to win the Championship. What I can say, however, is that if I, and other investors have to put in an extra £5m for this season that’s what we’ll do. If it requires more, for instance £10m, so be it.
The crucial point is this: We can only do this together. We must all invest in our Club’s future. This is the only way we will regain our pride, status, position and credibility. This is our Club, our time and we must make sure we succeed for the generations who have gone before and for those who will follow us.
Fool me once etc etc.
I love the fact that he feels the need to explain that £10m is more than £5m.
I actually think this whip round mentality might work. Kind of begging bowl meets no surrender! By work I mean in gather funds. Faith in them spending it wisely? Zero.
But the classic has to be the “wrong types jibe.”
Gentlemen I am sorry to have say this but someone in this knick is a thief!
Fletcher. Wormwood scrubs. Circa 1983
Morning, from a clear blue sky and a feast of Danish pastries.
Hoops, I saw that piece referenced somewhere on twitter (probably Clumps) via an RM post. Some of the comments around it were hardly complimentary to Mr Dave. I thought this bit was straight out if the Charles Green Book of Business Witticisms:
If you read the above out loud in a Yorkshire accent and you can’t tell it’s not Green 🙂
Copy of a letter issued by ‘Mr’ King to the Rangers support yesterday.
Do you still have the red buckets handy 😉
What a long-winded letter. So many words when he could just have been honest for once and wrote:
Dear Fellow Bears
Pony up suckers!
Now!
Dave
Just in case the so called bears needed a nice wee good news story
We can always count on that cheap Gossip mag the Daily Record 😳
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/valencia-coach-ian-cathro-quits-5866702
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-management-dream-team-5867618
I noticed that DK in his pure mental letter ( I must be honest – I could only cope with 3 paragraphs!) he stresses the importance of the past and the future but no mentio of the here and now.
In other words, one foot in the past, one foot in the future and pissing all over the present!
Aye right naw
That’s a bit harsh. Surely that should read,
Feel proud when you pony up.
Suckers.
Yours etc
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-management-dream-team-5867618
“Rangers need a wise, experienced coach, with a track record of success and an intimate knowledge of Ibrox and the expectation of supporters, to lead them for the next 12 months.”
Naw Barry, they need a manager who can work on a shoestring budget, bring on young players and ignore the fact that they are light years behind Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Hearts etc and may be so for years to come. Walter?…seriously?
“The bottom line is football never leaves you. I’m supposed to be on holiday but my phone is still glued to my ear every day conducting business for Clyde. It’s all consuming, but we do it because we love it.”
Presumably in between writing pro Rangers articles In the Daily Record every other day.
From the DK letter
“What I can say, however, is that if I, and other investors have to put in an extra £5m for this season that’s what we’ll do. If it requires more, for instance £10m, so be it.”
The man is a wordsmith. A clear statement that says – what? It may say that he will personally put in £5 million, up to 10 million, as will other investors. There’s your £50-60 million, so don’t worry bears. Or it could be read that If, AND ONLY IF, DK and fellow investors HAVE to put in a collective £5 million they will, stretching to £10 million at most between them (adding in the hypothetical second £5 million from MASH?).
The crucial thing is that both sentences pivot around the word ‘IF’, it’s all conditional on the bears paying their ‘co-investment’ up front, following which DK+3B will put in…an indeterminate amount!
Hmmm, my take on this year’s ST wheeze…
Bears are sceptical. Dave’s been pretty quiet. Bears are raging at big Mike. Dave sends a Tore Andre Flo letter out (utter mince). Bears are less than receptive. Mike and Dave have a pow-wow. Dave secures a favourable deal. ST money floods in. Dave proclaims big Mike to be a decent guy. Merchandise sales pick up. And all was good.
What, seem too far-fetched? :irony:
Could this letter to Sevco supporters finally be a bit of transparency from the South African […] ?
To abbreviate it slightly, it reads as ” it’s an honour to be chairman of this club but we desperately need your money. I don’t have the money to keep this mess afloat ”
Luckily for Dave, your average Bear probably won’t read it that way!
The King letter. It’s the equivalent of the guy at the Barras flogging the net curtains. “I’ll give you not one yard,not two yards not three yards.I’ll give you Five yards for a fiver.Done.Who’s next?”
helpmaboabhelpmaboab says:
Member: (66 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 8:42 am
The King letter. It’s the equivalent of the guy at the Barras flogging the net curtains. “I’ll give you not one yard,not two yards not three yards.I’ll give you Five yards for a fiver.Done.Who’s next?”
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Some people at the Barras might resent that comparison!
Can’t let that King letter go by without comment…
YAWN…I nearly gave up but just kept going in case there was something new 😆
How many times can the same thing be said, in slightly different words, in one letter? One excruciatingly long letter that only says one pertinent thing, sorry two, ‘give us yer money’ and ‘I won’t say how much I am ‘investing’, but here’s a wee taster, maybe’!
I noticed Stuart McColl got a nice wee mention, too 🙄
I see it’s a ‘143 year old club’ now. Maybe Celtic, Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibs etc… should all start, each and every statement they make, with ‘our …year old club’. There must be a reason why they don’t do that, or feel the need to, does anyone know what that reason might be?
DCK letter might impress some by its very length as that gives an impression of indefatigability and George Galloway type grandiloquence but it is that prolixity which gives the game away.
all it says is youse are the people when spending WATP when youse have spent. It is all a grand Version of a Nigerian email scam. I am as fond of a chancer as the next man but only if he knows that he is a chancer and knows that I know he is a chancer. DCK might meet the first limb but appears not to understand the second
I saw this on twitter, it has no ‘Rangers’ content, or does it?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHIngVBWQAA6nag.jpg
Hope the link works, if it does, it only takes a little imagination to see what I find quite humorous 😆
Aren’t You MQoS?
Where did £411 come from?
“So, the average price for a ticket for season 2015-16 is £411 representing a relatively modest 5% increase which is necessary if we are to generate the levels of finance required to achieve our immediate goals.”, King’s letter – see above
What happened to:
and:
Suddenly it’s all “from as little as” on rangers.co.uk
Did I miss that OR has King been misquoted and forgot to correct it OR has someone other then Ashley been employing very sharp pricing techniques? I suspect I didn’t miss it because I’m a cynical old bastard who looks out for that sort of thing.
So 45,000 at an average £411 = £18,495,000 (Incl VAT) or £15,412,500 (Excl VAT)
So King’s numbers still don’t add up to the £12mil – £13mil he talked about for 45,000 STs
The man really is innumerate – or mendacious – or both.
Of course in discussing the details we ignore the fact that I have more chance of being mistaken for Mary Queen of Scots than King has of selling 45,000 STs.
helpmaboab says:
Member: (67 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 8:42 am
The King letter. It’s the equivalent of the guy at the Barras flogging the net curtains. “I’ll give you not one yard,not two yards not three yards.I’ll give you Five yards for a fiver.Done.Who’s next?”
__________________________________________________________________
Good Morning!
The King letter is quite remarkable. Emotive, substance-light guff designed purely and simply to get the fans to part with their cash. I particularly enjoyed the bit towards the end where it talks about maybe throwing in an extra £5-10m to win the Championship, if needed!
Here are some further thoughts on it!
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/tugged-forelocks-and-tugged-heartstrings/
Enjoy the rest of the day!
Cost to forge a team he says. The word forge has so many possible meanings for this saga it is on the edge of Kafka ..they already have forged a team or should that be a holding company, their team last year was a forgery …and so on ad infinitum
Meanwhile, over in part of Bearland, an amazing u-turn from McMurdo (that’s Merlin to us mere mortals), who has spent the last 6 months backing Ashley to the hilt, and pointing out the glibness and shamelessness of King:
https://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/bringing-the-law/
Does McMurdo have a split personality, or does he know something we don’t regarding Ashley’s intentions?
As regards King’s letter, well clearly his kids have had a few strong words in private regarding the squandering (sorry, investing) of their inheritance on a basket case football club. The figures King are talking about simply make no sense. Even if he gets his £13m for season tickets, and the Board put in £10m, that will barely cover costs and wages. This company needs £30m income just to break even, never mind funding any warchests. Why doesn’t King produce a simple business plan, with all the number boxes completed, and show the world how it all adds up? Because there is no business plan, that’s why. King is just winging it.
And I can’t go without mentioning the Clyde manager’s piece in the Record. The return of the Cardigan? Give us a break, please. Walter would need a £30m warchest for starters- that’s the only management style he knows.
Ahead of today’s entertainment down Edmiston Drive way, I thought I would C&P this little bit of Dave King contradiction doing the rounds on the message boards: Spot the difference if you will.
28 March 2014 – Daily Mail interview
“My father wasn’t at all keen on me becoming a Rangers supporter. He was a Glasgow policeman and because of that he resented the whole football scene in Glasgow. ‘He was actually very anti-football. When we were kids growing up he was very vocal on his dislike of the bigotry in football. The police in Glasgow at that time saw it as a basis for thuggery.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2591251/Dave-King-My-father-anti-football-didnt-want-Rangers-fan.html#ixzz3cplvhkkL
11 June 2015 – begging letter to Ibrox season ticket holders
“Like all of you who read this letter, I have always taken pride in being a Rangers supporter. It is something I inherited from my father who, in turn, inherited the legacy from my grandfather. This is what Rangers fans do. We pass on our pride and belief in Rangers to our children. That is why Rangers truly is a Club for generations. Our unrelenting pride and belief in Rangers has helped us through the last few years, which have been the toughest for supporters in the Club’s long history.”
BBCBMcLauchlin @BBCBMcLauchlin 23m23 minutes ago Glasgow, Scotland
Rangers chairman Dave King will NOT be attending this mornings EGM at Ibrox. #bbcsportscot
Re the Epistle from the King – typical Traynor tripe. Verbosity in excelsis – we’ll use 10 words for every five needed.
The danger of this approach is you start to say things that get you hung.
Here’s a couple :
“…I am mindful of the delicate situation the Club is in at this critical juncture in its history. “
What happened to the King saying “So if I look at Rangers financially, we are one of the strongest clubs in the world financially.” (DR, 22/5/15)
“…The wrong types have been removed from the Club and for the first time in years there is hope. We can all be confident that there will be no more squandering of money.”
Some more trips to Court for Mr King? Suspect L&L, amongst others including players recently departed, may be seeking clarification on these points.
“…I do not believe we should talk in exact numbers because we do not know precisely how much it will cost to rebuild and restore this wonderful Club. The required funding for this new season alone could change significantly depending on how discussions with our retail partners are concluded. We have to spend immediately to rebuild the football staff at all levels but we can’t say for certain how much it will cost to forge a team to win the Championship. What I can say, however, is that if I, and other investors have to put in an extra £5m for this season that’s what we’ll do. If it requires more, for instance £10m, so be it.”
Apart from the dig at SD which is surely helpful in the circumstances, a serious company only weeks away from the start of their core activity does not say things like they “can’t say for certain how much it will cost” to fund their business during the year ahead. To then pluck figures out of the air and say an extra £5M or £10M may be needed undermines any credibility they might have had. This is a serial loss-making business with no credit line at a bank, few if any unencumbered assets and limited options for fundraising. One that is also at daggers drawn with their current funder who is now apparently looking for his own £5M back.
I don’t mean to be flippant but are these guys close to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act?
Scottish Football needs the SMSM to waken up and start doing their job. This really is déjà vu all over again.
What the what?! 😯
I suppose answering unvetted questions from your own shareholders is rather different to the enquiries of a sycophantic press or in-house media team.
TheClumpany says:
Member: (60 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 9:58 am
==================================
Excellent.
I particularly like “the wrong sort of people” – presumably referring to L&L who have run an EPL club without ripping off face painters and crashing the whole damned thing into liquidation – and without needing to deploy multi-million pound Get Out of Jail cards.
We all tell porkies from time to time – some little white ones to oil social intercourse – some mid-grey ones to avoid confrontation and some big black ones to minimise our failings and avoid our just desserts – but it is rare to observe someone so encapsulated in their own little world that they seen unable to manage even a rough approximation of what others see as reality, fact and consistency. Just as alcoholism is a serious medical condition rather than “demons”, so habitual deviation from reality and truth – as seen by the majority of observers, must be regarded as a form of mental illness. Well it is – it’s called psychosis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis
High functioning psychotics are often the people we (the perfectly balanced normal people) are all fascinated by and discuss frequently – because they just don’t play the same game as the rest of us, we find them baffling, unpredictable and intriguing.
melbournedee
Ok lads who siphoned the fuel out of Dave’s Jet?
Come on own up…..
TheClumpany says:
Member: (60 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 9:58 am
Another entertaining and head of the nail hitting blog, Clumps 🙂
And so:
The man who brought us the concept of ‘overinvesting’ and is now talking of spending (an additional) £5m – £10m if necessary to get out of the Championship, tells his club’s supporters, ‘We can all be confident that there will be no more squandering of money.’ I get the impression the only money that won’t be squandered is his own.
If King believes anything he says, he is a total airhead; but we know he doesn’t ‘believe’ any of it to be true, he just hopes his target audience does! And, quite frankly, anyone who falls for this con-artist’s so transparent guff, deserves to be fleeced – again!
And just what sort of incompetent manager might need an additional £5m – £10m to win promotion from the second tier of Scottish football? Could it be? No surely not! Have Sports Direct just received an order for new XXL tracksuits with AM on the chest…and ‘Gardener’ on the back?
BBCBMcLauchlin @BBCBMcLauchlin 23m23 minutes ago Glasgow, Scotland
Rangers chairman Dave King will NOT be attending this mornings EGM at Ibrox. #bbcsportscot
————————————
Dave has clearly jetted out….not much on in Govan today anyway…..
Or….is there some other reason he is not attending?
Scottish Football keenly awaits BDO’s overdue report and the next court appearances for SD/MASH.
BDO Creditors report (haven’t read it fully yet)
http://www.bdo.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1347695/RFC-progress-report-12-06-15-WEBSITE.pdf
A few highlights
HMRC were granted leave to appeal in the Court of Session in Scotland in respect of the UTT
decision and this matter will be heard over a four day period commencing on 7 July 2015.
No date has yet been set for matters referred back to the FTT.
The Joint Liquidators intend to make a distribution totalling in the region of £10 million to unsecured creditors by the end of July 2015.
Our current estimate is that, once the relevant provisions are made, this will equate to an
interim dividend of circa 6/7p in the £.
UNSECURED CREDITORS
(20,030,000.00) Directors
Firm…………………….. Fees ……………Outlays
Stephenson Harwood 6 ,091,233.46 423,147.57
Of the legal fees paid to Stephenson Harwood (“SH”), c£5.4 million relates to the Part 7
Claim. As previously advised, in order to pursue the Part 7 Claim it had been necessary to
instruct the Company’s English lawyers, SH, on a Conditional Fee Arrangement basis (“CFA”).
The Joint Liquidators have requested, from the former Joint Administrators, detailed
explanations regarding certain aspects of the strategy implemented by them during the
Administration. There remains on-going correspondence in this regard.
Once full explanations have been obtained, the Joint Liquidators will consult with their legal
agents and the Committee regarding what futher action, if any, will be required in relation to
the matter.
Creditors may be aware that the former Joint Administrators, amongst others, were arrested on
14 November 2014 and charges were subsequently brought against them. The Joint Liquidators continue to monitor the position in case the actions being taken by Police Scotland have any impact on the Liquidation.
Just seen Daves note from his Mother.
Dear EGM
Dave can’t make it today, he is feeling a little bit Glib today.
easyJambo says:
Member: (650 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 10:49 am
So, on the day when his flagship company’s EGM and BDO’s report on his former company’s liquidation progress, one in which he has a claim for £20m, is released, Dave King is not in town!
He may well have nothing to fear from either event, but surely, at this pivotal time, when he is trying to ‘sell’ his club and it’s season tickets, he should be a major presence and showing the world what it means to be a Real Rangers Man!
From Twitter:
Chris Jack @Chris_Jack89 4m4 minutes ago
Rangers GM has now come to a close. Shareholders are leaving Ibrox. Results likely to be posted Monday. Report in @TheEveningTimes today
And
Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 22m22 minutes ago
King, Park et al have spent £8m between them so far.
From the BDO document, the funds remaining total is currently £18.77M, with £169M in claims including £94M from HMRC (£72M related to the EBT claim).
BDO have accumulated £10.77M in costs to date although half of that relates to the Collyer Bristow settlement.
King stands to receive an dividend of approx £1.2M (at 6p in the £) at the end of July, assuming his claim stands up.
The BDO report steers clear of the various legal issues whilst noting that they still await information from various parties.
As we know the Collyer Bristow (“CB”) (“the Part 7 Claim”) had been settled. It turns out that :
“Of the legal fees paid to Stephenson Harwood (“SH”), c£5.4 million relates to the Part 7 Claim. As previously advised, in order to pursue the Part 7 Claim it had been necessary to instruct the Company’s English lawyers, SH, on a Conditional Fee Arrangement basis (“CFA”).”
The gross sum received appears to have been £24M.
Monies from Everton relating to the Jelavic transfer (and subsequent transfer to Hull) have been paid but a further £75k will not now be realised as Hull were relegated from the English Premier League.
The claim for the return of monies (c£3.8 million) held by the Company’s former lawyers (“the Funds Proceedings”) has also been settled – it looks like they received just £550K as there were competing claims. They then seem to have paid £86,469.06 to HMRC as part of the deal.
Scottish Football needs such light reading….
Billy Boyce says:
Member: (58 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 10:21 am
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
I picked up on that as well.
If that man told me my own name, I would ‘phone my mother to make sure.
Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 22m22 minutes ago
King, Park et al have spent £8m between them so far.
That £8 million must include share purchases (not going to the Company/Club) and Dave’s jet fuel bill! Nothing is ever straight forward and honest with is crowd.
Billy Boyce at 10.21am. Nailed it again BB, If you want to be a convincing liar, you must remember the previous ones you told. GASL has no such memory, they will all come home to roost eventually.
melbournedee says:
Member: (46 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 11:33 am
Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 22m22 minutes ago
King, Park et al have spent £8m between them so far.
—————————————–
Correction “King, Park et al have INVESTED £8m between them so far.”
And the rest is made up of the 3 pay day tranches of 1.5m each. The first was definitely a loan to be repaid in December. I don’t think the terms of the others were announced, but presumably they were loans too.
Looking at the BDO report: stripping out the EBT claim, we have £97m of debt, of which £22m is to HMRC, ie, the hard working taxpayers of this country. Something to remember the next time a “decent bear” starts labouring the “we done nothing wrong, it was all Craig Whyte’s fault” line. And leave us all remember, this was RFC, incorporated in 1899, number SCO 04276. 113 years they had, to come up with a cock and bull story about it not being their club. And they didn’t.
All very honourable. But the Sports Direct retail contract, they can get to [insert_preferred_expletive].
Ah, good old daily record living up to the reputation as stated by the judge yesterday. They offer up a poll to gauge todays EGM performance, so would you vote A, B or C folks???
What did you think of the board’s performance today?
A Completely happy with it – I’m buying a season book
B Did as well as they could, considering gagging orders
C Would loved for them to have given us more on manager
D Dodged all the important issues and were slippery as a slippery thing covered in the slipperiest lubricant known to man/woman
Aye ok, I added D
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/u/rangers-gm-ashley-will-still-own-49-of-clubs-retail-after-his-5m-loans-been-paid-back.1434102932
“Ashley had no representative present at the meeting,” – aye right !
What was said about the AIM listing, replacement Nomad, terms of Three Bear loan terms ?
All of crucial interest to saga followers. If nothing was said, that speaks volumes and will be used against them by Ashley QCs.
When are the minutes due out ? Can’t rely on MSM pick and mix !
The RIFC line on the SD loan is that it is not in the Compamy’s interest to repay an ‘interest-free loan’ and we don’t have to. Let’s move on. However, it isn’t quite so as they have given up 26% of RRL which last year had a pre-tax profit of more than £1 million. Plus SD has been granted a floating charge/security on all of the assets of RIFC except Ibrox although it appears that they have a veto on it being offered as security to any other party. So on the face of it, RIFC are paying an effective interest rate of more than 5%, reducing their commercial income as a consequence of the fans’ attitude to the loan and have no assets to secure further working capital. So how is it in their interest to retain such a facility? I guess only if it can’t be replaced. No banks, it would appear, will offer such a credit facility which leaves the responsibility with the new Board who swept to power on the promise of £30 million + of investment. Something doesn’t add up.
Also struck me that there was a great song and dance about the new TRFC manager being announced today. Surely if you had a manager lined up you would use this EGM to reveal all.
If nothing else it would be a perfect squirrel to release so you can hide behind it’s big bushy tail? Seems that today they present their fans with yet another big porky tail instead.
So the DR were reporting live from the shareholders meeting
And also boasting about being at the last shareholders meeting although All press were banned
Tut Tut.
So the DR or 1 or more of their so called independent journalist’s Must be shareholder’s
Explains all the tripe they print in their so called paper right enough
Edit
Could they be Margarita?
Well their jurnos must be drunk to print half the tosh they do
Or
More likely Blue Pitch 😉
mcfc says:
Member: (1374 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 12:02 pm
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/u/rangers-gm-ashley-will-still-own-49-of-clubs-retail-after-his-5m-loans-been-paid-back.1434102932
“Ashley had no representative present at the meeting,” – aye right !
What was said about the AIM listing, replacement Nomad, terms of Three Bear loan terms ?
All of crucial interest to saga followers. If nothing was said, that speaks volumes and will be used against them by Ashley QCs.
When are the minutes due out ? Can’t rely on MSM pick and mix !
______________________________________
Interesting article, that. Tells us very little of substance, but tells us a lot about the quality of this ‘newspaper’.
The article mentions the questions over the AIM delisting/NOMAD but makes no reference to any response or lack of any required response. Surely much more important than the fact MA/SD had no representative present. Was there actually any point in mentioning the lack of representation if they weren’t going to comment on why no one came from the Ashley camp. Like advised no to by their security advisors!
This lack of representation suggests to me that Ashley had no real interest in the meeting itself, but rather expected it to be a non-event, which may well suit his purposes. No doubt this latest EGM will be portrayed as a victory for the board and the bears by the SMSM, and a bloody nose for Ashley! They will forget, or perhaps just not realise, that Ashley won a far more important victory, for him, yesterday, and that the impending EGM probably helped him to this end. Remember folks, a gagging order is not just for Xmas, even in June! It might come in very handy if a war of words breaks out, and Ashley is in a position to know RIFC/TRFC’s secrets (L&L), while all that the RIFC board know about SD is effectively gagged!
So fresh from their first appearance in court the DR spouts forth:
a) No Ashley presence – in other words they couldn’t find the person;
b) Crowd of several hundred – wonder how much that figure has been inflated;
c) ISDX – they HOPE to list in the coming months – months, not weeks, so any chance by Xmas 2015/16/17….?
d) New Manager – This week, next week, or when they give up looking and appoint McCall just before the first Petrofac game;
e) Rangers First SD contracts not to the benefit of either party – surely they mean not to the benefit of Pretendygers and forgetting they still pay SD even if nobody buys the tat!
f) DCK and others have put in 8m already – Does that mean if 8m worth of season tickets are sold then DCK will say they have matched the fans investment and duly jet out?
All in all it seems like MA is just waiting for the result of the vote before taking the next [legal] step. Gilligan’s statement about adhering to the gardeners contract might also come back to bite them in respect of the SD contract.
At least it brings some comedy to entertain during the close season.
King not there? How long has this meeting been planned? No stomach to answer questions on the record? Could his other business not wait until the afternoon or tomorrow or Monday? King really does not have a clue about leadership. I think the shareholders and fans have the man they deserve. He’ll break their hearts and liquidate their club (again) and they still won’t get it – because he’s a Real Rangers Man – it will be someone else’s fault – probably us bamposts. BTW there is some doubt about his Dad’s RRMness – is there not – come on MSM – chase it up
For years now we’ve had the clumpany from Govan staggering from one crisis to the next,tarnishing and embarrassing the Scottish game and yet our football ‘authorities’ don’t see fit to take any kind of action.How much evidence is needed to prove that the Edmiston entity is not fit and proper to operate as a going concern?
Without the Grand Unveiling of the Monstrous Sports Direct Conspiracy, the EGM devolved into a predictable and pointless ObfuscationFest. No-one learned anything new, though, acres of newsprint will be sacrificed in a futile attempt to show otherwise.
Re theMcMurdo piece.
One could say a lot about Merlin, but his devotion to Rangers cannot be doubted. His latest piece comes across as recognising two realities:
1. In any war between Ashley & King, there can only be one winner
2. But, the biggest loser will not be Mr King, but the ground over which they fight. By the time the Sports Direct Tank divisions stop rolling across Govan, you won’t even be able to grow tatties there.
That vision of the future, clearly worries Bill McMurdo, as it should. It should also be a terrifying prospect for all those Rangers fans currently caught up in Kingco’s Dance Macabre. For the moment, they seem happy to dance behind the Judas Goat.
Danish Pastry says:
Blog Writer: (1243 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 7:11 am
Morning, from a clear blue sky and a feast of Danish pastries.
Hoops, I saw that piece referenced somewhere on twitter (probably Clumps) via an RM post. Some of the comments around it were hardly complimentary to Mr Dave. I thought this bit was straight out if the Charles Green Book of Business Witticisms:
“…The second reason is that I believe supporters are being presented with a unique once-in-a generation opportunity to acquire a season ticket and retain it in the family for future generations. The Club is presently at an all-time low but we are on the way back…”
======================================================
I’m sure that the debenture holders of the former Rangers FC were really happy to read that.
I had my doubts that King would appear in the Gazebo, [must be on eBay by now !], but I am surprised that he didn’t actually attend.
He could have got Murray to give some waffle at the start of the EGM to explain that King couldn’t participate / take any questions ‘for legal reasons’, or some such tosh.
But I think he has scored a major own goal on the PR front by ‘being too busy’ to attend. He could have done a video conference call – if only to show his mug to the bears.
He is presenting it as a battle/war with MA/SD, but he fails to turn up to lead the troops ?
King’s Waterloo…? 😉
tayred says:
Member: (127 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 12:01 pm
Ah, good old daily record living up to the reputation as stated by the judge yesterday. They offer up a poll to gauge todays EGM performance, so would you vote A, B or C folks???
What did you think of the board’s performance today?
A Completely happy with it – I’m buying a season book
B Did as well as they could, considering gagging orders
C Would loved for them to have given us more on manager
D Dodged all the important issues and were slippery as a slippery thing covered in the slipperiest lubricant known to man/woman
Aye ok, I added D
==============================
If past performance is anything to go by, they’ll need to build another tier on all four stands to accommodate all the fans of other clubs that will be voting A.
I’m surprised that there isn’t a poll on the “club” website that charges 10p a pop.
would have had it up in the space where the Blue Battlebus of Diginity virtual tour link once sat, within minutes of the Gazebo emptying..
This reminded me of someone-can anybody help?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/jun/12/boeing-787-dreamliner-take-off-vertical-video
tayred says:
Member: (127 comments)
June 12, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Also struck me that there was a great song and dance about the new TRFC manager being announced today. Surely if you had a manager lined up you would use this EGM to reveal all.
If nothing else it would be a perfect squirrel to release so you can hide behind it’s big bushy tail? Seems that today they present their fans with yet another big porky tail instead.
======================================
Surely, the new manager will be announced at a pre-announced presser attended by the world’s top sports journos (and the SMSM), where the newly annointed (sorry, appointed) manager of the 140whatever years old “club” will set out his vision for the return of the “club” to its righful place in the early qualifying rounds of the Europa League (or wherever is deemed as rightful at the time)? :irony:
A crappy gazebo is hardly the place for such a world-changing event.
http://spfl.co.uk/clubs/
Has the question been raised on here before as to why the SPFL website shows the club crest of the old Rangers FC instead of that of the new Ibrox club?
The link goes to the club page that shows three shirts all with the correct badge and a prominent reminder of their last result (ouch).
The OC/NC thread is the place to discuss the formation date shown.