I think there has been an appreciable shift of opinion amongst fans of TRFC recently.
Unlike the ‘invest: speculate to accumulate’ rhetoric featured in the press and by ex-players, the ordinary fans are coming to the realisation that there is no quick fix. There are even murmurings that there may never be a fix which involves their club becoming a competitive force.
Poor management of fan expectations has long been an accusation levelled at the TRFC board by SFM. It is possible though that many fans are beginning to manage their own expectations rather better. There are certainly justifiable criticisms of the manager, Mark Warburton, but alongside that is a realism about the limitations and constraints that he is working under.
There is a rather misguided, and possibly not accurate assumption that another liquidation for a team out of Ibrox would result in having to start ‘yet again’ in the bottom division; but in fact there is a growing acceptance that consolidation in the top league is a much better solution than gambling on huge borrowing simply to stop Celtic adding more notches to the goalpost.
Could it be that the fans are about to do the job that the board haven’t had the balls to do –accept the gap between themselves and (at least) Celtic, and settle for mediocrity on the field as a short term price to pay for continuity?
During the 1990s, in the middle of the Murray/BoS fuelled spending spree, and with Celtic in the doldrums, it seemed to many Celtic fans that their club would never be able to bridge that gap. Of course they did, but at the emotional cost of losing the exclusive 9IAR record.
TRFC now find themselves in pretty much the same position, but their road to bridging the current gap is a more difficult one.
There are similarities of course. Like the Celtic of the 90s, Rangers have major infrastructure challenges to meet. Celtic had a stadium to build, Rangers have Ibrox (and Auchenhowie) to fix and improve. Both required massive investment to improve the team, although I would argue that Rangers have a steeper hill to climb in that area.
Unlike RFC of the 90s, Celtic’s accrued wealth has nothing to do with an intravenous hook-up between their bank account and the chairman’s pals at the bank. Their baseline advantage over the current Rangers predicament is a combination of a stadium which holds 10,000 more fans than Ibrox, no debt, a burgeoning cash balance and the current inflow of European cash.
The Euro cash and the cash balance could be depleted, but the 10,000 extra seats won’t.
It also seems difficult to imagine how TRFC can obtain seed capital – even if they were inclined to gamble – given the combination of barriers to achieving that;
- They have a PLC with no stock market listing
- They have NO executive directors on the PLC board
- The current chairman is a convicted criminal, convicted of offences involving money
- The current chairman and vice-chairman are both directors of a previously liquidated club, and therefore associated with the financial mismanagement which brought that about.
- In that climate, sponsorship deals are hard to come by. Major sponsors want to be associated with stability, success and integrity. TRFC don’t tick many boxes in that regard.
- Banks do not lend to football clubs. Pre Murray/Masterton, football clubs were cash businesses with modest overdraft facilities to cover modest cash-flow peaks and troughs. The banks have returned to that model. 1987-2007 was the exception, not the norm.
- They are at war with a powerful and substantial shareholder in Mike Ashley.
- There is still litigation pending on more than one front which could even call into question the ownership of the club’s assets.
- They are in debt already (estimated at around £15m).
- The current onfield situation may require yet another write-off in terms of contracts.
Any one of those bullet points could be enough to derail any plan to get to the top. In combination, there may even be an existential question to answer.
That is why the fans are starting to look a lot smarter than the board, and ultimately the good sense of the fans may well help the board to find a way out of their current dilemma.
But even with realistic expectations from the supporters, is it possible that they can find a way? Is there for instance someone with a magic wand or bag of cash who could come in and turn it around? Perhaps, but who would risk money on a precarious venture like a football club when one of the most powerful businessmen in the country is in dispute with you?
In order for serious inward investment to happen;
- Ashley has to be reconciled with the board (needs King and Murray to go).
- The debt has to be written off .
- The new investor(s) has to be given control of the club (and this would perhaps require another 75% special resolution where current shareholders would be asked to vote to dilute their own influence).
- If they achieved that (and it is a pretty big if) the new investor cash would go into the club’s bank account – not used to pay off the debt – and they would be free to pursue new and better sponsorship deals, improve the merchandising contract with an onside Ashley, and add new revenue streams.
Even then, any new board would need to see the infrastructure challenges as paramount. Having one eye squinting in the direction of Parkhead will blur the bigger picture.
Their priority should be to reduce the losses (whilst increasing wages for better players), fix the stadium and the training ground (both in need of repair and improvement), build a scouting and youth infrastructure, and free up a (relatively modest) wad of cash to improve the playing squad.
In defence of the current board, the challenges facing them are almost vertical in incline. No matter how skilful they are, nothing other than someone with a barrowload of cash and a very long term outlook can put any kind of fix in place.
£50m might buy the debt and equity, and repair the stadium, but progress requires on-field improvement. It also needs stability, and therefore Ashley’s cooperation. The price of that is the head of Dave King.
Rangers will bring in more at the gate than Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs, but they have a considerably higher cost base than those clubs. With better players, recurring costs will be even higher – much higher.
To square this circle, however unpalatable it appears to be, peace has to be made with Ashley. That is the key to being able to embark upon a journey that has any chance of success. Otherwise, the clocks will have to be reset to 2022, and the end of the SD contract, before progress can be made.
However there is no chance it can go on that long. Rangers fans may be increasingly less demanding in what they expect, but they will need to see some signs – and not just words – that a plan is in place.
The board are getting ready to throw Mark Warburton to the hounds (the MSM lapdogs have already been armed with poison pens to effect that). This will buy them some time, but not enough.
We’ve said it before, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say it again;
For Rangers to have a fighting chance of competing at the top of football, King needs to be gone. If he does go, half of the barriers preventing the club raising cash are dismantled.
So is King’s departure a price worth paying? If he really had Rangers in his heart, he would say ‘Yes’.
Nope. Just that the latest charlatan manager isn’t winning the league ergo he is a charlatan however the boards handling of the sacking of said charlatan shows them up to be charlatans since even the sun can add up that if 30m is promised and 18m is delivered and (only
) 2.6m develops into players then ergo ergo they’re obviously all charlatans who aren’t doing the business so would they mind going away for free and letting the latest messiah in to have his wee shottie.
Typical Fauldhoue ! Is it not enough they come to Shotts and steal our women, now they have to outdo us in this way. I know two of the committee in that particular junior club. There is going to be strong words the next time I meet them in the pub.
AuldheidFebruary 13, 2017 at 12:47
‘..If football is an important part of the social fabric of Scotland what steps are the SG (all parties, it is not a party political issue) taking to protect that fabric? ‘
_________
As I understood our then First Minister,Auldheid, it was not ‘football’ that was part of the fabric of society, but the ‘in administration’ RFC , which,of course-despite his ‘secret’ intervention- was not rescued from Administration ( perhaps the Administrators were not very good at their job?) but has lain in the limbo of Liquidation since October 2012.
However, your point is well made: football is important in lots of different ways and for lots of reasons. All football clubs (in virtue simply of being ‘clubs’ ( i.e. groupings of people with at least one common interest) are parts of the fabric of their local society. Their existence is beneficial to their local communities, whether at primary school level, or at secondary school level, or at college/university level, or at whatever level, whether amateur , semi-professional or fully professional, or at national, representational level.
There is clear evidence that all has not been well in how the sport of Football has been run in Scotland, leaving aside the whole sorry saga of deceit that is the ‘death of Rangers’ story.
Personally, I am not a great one for Government intervention, whether it is the passing of utterly stupid laws ( there’s an example here in Oz, where there is a proposal to pass a law which makes it a criminal offence to ‘offfend’ someone!).
But I happily accept that we all need to know that even private companies might need to be told to act in accordance with basic rules of fairness and honesty and such like. The concept of consumer/customer rights has been long established.
That concept applies even more strongly when ‘private’ business organisations , such as the SFA , are offered and accept public funding.
It simply will not do that such organisations can carry on doing what they want in whatever way they want. Especially if there are suspicions that they may be less than honest in their governance.
We all know that there are serious questions to be asked of a whole lot of people about how the death of a once important club came about, and about the farcical sale for a pound, and about how a chancer like CW could be believed by some f.ckwit journalist to have ‘wealth off the radar’, and about how a plc seems to be quite happy to accept that the Sport’s governing body may have deliberately done them (and their shareholders) out of millions of pounds, and so on and on.
The Westminster Parliament’s vote of ‘no confidence’ in the FA is a very positive thing.They have had a right good look, and did not like what they saw.
I think we need our Scottish Parliament to follow suit, by having a right good look at the organisation to which they are giving tax-payers’ money, and at the question of whether the Governance of Football here in Scotland has been, and is, prepared to countenance ‘fixing’ things against all notion of any kind of integrity, but especially of Sporting integrity, and at whether they have actually been effective in promoting the Sport.
As for having the Sports Minister participate in a podcast? I suspect that even if an invitation were to be accepted, it would be on condition that discussion of the ‘saga’ would be off limits.
The FA have not, I think, been accused of being anything other than ineffective, indecisive, or perhaps of turning a blind eye to instances of ‘corruption’ and the bending of rules by individual clubs and managers and players and agents…..
I don’t think they actually created a scenario such as the one the SFA created, in which the SFA itself is the alleged ‘corrupter’!
I don’t know about the highest, but the bleakest I’ve ever been to is Accrington, A cold January about 20 years ago, with a blizzard sweeping across the Pennines. They had hot Bovril available, so survival guaranteed.
It seems like an eternity in this saga but it was only 10 days ago that I commented to the effect that MW might be judged to be doing a reasonable job of keeping the footballing show on the road in slightly better shape than might have been the case given the circus that surrounds the Ibrox operation.
I guess the next few months might show if I was right or wrong. If results pick up with the same squad or the wheels come off we will have an answer.
There has been plenty of comment about TRFC’s continuing run of fortune with another home draw but I think it is worth giving a bit of credit to the team that took the field Sunday. Amidst all the chaos they managed to earn a (by all accounts) deserved victory over lower division but in form opponents despite shipping an early goal. At a time when heads could easily have dropped they stuck to their task. I know it is the least that should be expected form paid professionals but we may all have instances of seeing a team that has clearly chucked the towel in. So credit where some credit is due.
TINCKS
FEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 15:31
————————————
I watched the TRFC – Morton game on the box.
TRFC were pretty poor. Morton were well set up & made a real game of it. Had they had cooler heads & better shooting-boots, they could easily have drawn or won.
At times Foderingham appeared to have put his boots on the wrong feet & gloves on the wrong hands. Tavernier was mince for most of the game, Senderos a liability, Halliday, Holt & Hyndman toiled against their counterparts (who weren’t even that ‘robust’), Waghorn was at best so-so, Miller his usual energetic self & the $6m Man, McKay, was rubbish until his direct opponents tired.
I honestly didn’t see much advancement from last season, when they toiled against the better teams in the Championship, like Falkirk & Hibs.
Just an observation on the ‘Rangers’ home SC draws and the probabilities of 10/11 in a row, etc. My suspicions are more on when they have been drawn that is in the last several draws they have been drawn either in the second last or last slot at home. ALWAYS after Celtic, Aberdeen, etc have been pulled out
Looks like Keef now has stiff competition within the DR as the worst, award-winning, sports journo in Scotland.
I give you Mark Walker, and a nugget of an extract from his copy today, [my highlighting] ;
“…Rangers reportedly had an unwritten rule in their signing policy from the 1920s until 1989 where they would not sign Catholic players, although that has subsequently been the the subject of fierce debate…”
The ‘Daily Revisionist’ ?
The Evening Times has an article which purports to give a time line from what happened at Ibrox from 2012 to the present.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/15087869.Rangers_supporters_hit_out_at_club__fiasco__as_five_year_administration_memory_looms/?ref=mrb&lp=5
It is so obviously written for the short of brain cells as the word “Liquidation” is clearly missing from the story. Just how any editor worthy of the name could condone such an article is hard to understand.
It does not have a named writer and comments are not allowed which in itself is suggestive of the fact that the editorial team don’t believe the narrative.
Sums the current SMSM.
STEVIEBC – Who is Mark Walker? I’ve never heard of him.
BALLYARGUS
FEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 16:39
STEVIEBC – Who is Mark Walker? I’ve never heard of him.
==========================================
Me neither.
Looks like he has only written 2 DR articles in recent times.
A freelancer / new DR recruit ?
He seems to have written plenty for The Herald;
http://www.heraldscotland.com/author/profile/74285.Mark_Walker/
STEVIEBC
it might mark warburtons pen name lol
The Clumpany Retweeted Gerry McCulloch @gerrymcculloch1 4h4 hours ago When people in the media start criticising “the media”, time’s up.
Oh dear i think he should be told the news is supposed to be news and if it wrong it needs corrected regardless of who is telling it. The media is the most critical job in the planet it is why you swear an oath of integrity to the people you serve, the public.
TINCKSFEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 15:31
JINGSO.JIMSIEFEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 16:07
I said a few weeks go Warburton had to be given credit for getting a bang average team to the second place spot they then held.
There is nothing wrong with his overall footballing philosophy as far as I can see. Neither is there nowt wrong with Cathro’s. Tommy Wright may want to play a different brand of football but he knows when it comes to the crunch (Saturday excluded) where his strengths lie.
The reality is that because of the bang available for the bucks in their wallets 11 of the 12 Premiership teams are but a few injuries or a few uncovered ‘diamond in the rough’ signings from failure/success.
Like Cathro, Warburton can be regarded as a bit of a punt by a board in getting offered a top job but it was worth a try. Any manager can be up for the chop and fans may not like the cut of their jib regardless of relative success, as Deila found out.
My guess is that the Magic Hat wasn’t given the backing he thought he was promised and unfortunately for him a few of the signings didn’t exactly work out for one reason or another but that is what you get when you are operating at a bargain basement level (See Hearts – Juanma, Oshiniwa, El Hassnaoui, Dauda etc).
Welcome to the reality that the rest of Scottish football has been dealing with for decades.
Couldnae resist it (sorry if previously posted ).
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1869253409955048&set=a.1380798968800497.1073741824.100006112210500&type=3
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38959264
SFA entirely unfit for purpose. Where are you Shona Robison????
BILLY BOYCEFEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 13:25
I see that Bill Leckie has just gone native. In today’s Scottish Sun he is blaming the blind loyalty and gullibility of the Rangers fans for the situation their club now finds itself in. The bold Bill goes on to say the Bears have hailed every new charlatan as a Messiah and attacked anyone who dared question the motives of these so-called saviours.
—————————————–
This pretty much nails it and is why I find it difficult to have any sympathy whatsoever for Rangers fans.
Don’t know if anyone can tweet (twit? To who?) Tom English and ask if he was as embarrassed with tonight’s Sportsound as he sounded. If not, he should have been!
Smugas at 1944
I was tuned in Smugas.
So much hurt and soul searching from the panel (excluding to a degree Tom English) of our supposedly neutral national broadcaster.
Poor wee Richard Wilson truly went into Comical Ali mode. Apparently wee Dick reckons a compensation figure of between 600 and 700k would pose no problems to his beloved team if they were to try and recruit the Aberdeen manager. I’m presuming the only reason Wilson was there was to try and provide a bit of gravitas rather than letting Barry Ferguson hog the show.
Barry had his own belter right at the end right enough with reference to the the new manager.
‘It disnae matter who it is. This is Rangers we’re talking about.’
No Barry, it’s not. (Sorry to stray towards OC/NC but hopefully March sorts all these buffoons out)
In fairness to oor Barry he’d already led with his inciteful belter “I can’t understand why a manager would want to leave Rangers.”
Cue much somber nodding from Dickie (to be fair I’m assuming this. Can you nod on Radio?)
still, you could still see the midfield brains in De Boer. Is he a candidate? (The question was asked of Brother Robert). “I think he’ll wait till April and see…”. So I’m guessing that’s after season ticket renewal then.
If TRFC is worried about meeting February payroll, then it makes sense to keep with Murty as interim for the remainder of the season – if he is up for it of course. [Europe on the back burner for now.]
The likes of McLeish, Davies, etc I’m sure will still be freely available in the summer.
It also buys King a bit more wiggle room: he can loudly promise to finally locate the key to his fabled warchest during this summer…and just in time for the next, permanent manager to splash the cash.
[…& after inflated ST sales have been collected!]
It might even raise a smirk across King’s coupon – if the gullible bears literally buy it [again] ?
blimey StevieBC. What did poor Graham Murty ever do to you to deserve that?
SMUGASFEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 21:21
for me Graham Murty looked very animated on the touch line and the look(to me anyway) of a guy who just did not want to be there. the same look KMc had
Give Kenny Miller a contract to the end of the season as player/manager, or assistant to Murty ?
Might temporarily pacify the bears – and for no additional cost ?
From a reliable source:
“The Silverlands is the highest ground in England at 1,000 feet above sea level.”
Buxton FC play here – currently members of the Northern Premier League.
No class the website still has the mangement team in place, dignity my arse.
BIGBOAB1916FEBRUARY 13, 2017 at 22:09
—————-
they will resign it to the archive soon….ok i’ll get my coat
Where lies the truth of the SMSM?
Sometimes I buy into the conspiracy theory of a certain PR mogul who knows the dirt on ‘major’ sportswriters and spins things in favour of a certain club by distributing feel good factors.
But then I think many , many of that club’s supporters feel the media are against them. I think The Daily Record is proud of the fact that both sets of supporters in Glasgow’s big two hate them. So they seem to be balanced?
I remember when Celtic got to Seville The Daily Record could not have done us more proud! On that day they put together an edition which made me feel proud. Page after page of talking us up. Spurring us on and speaking great things of our fans.
I think the big problem for most of us is the continuation myth. From coffins on the front pages to – they didn’t die – in a matter of Charles Green days. Aided and abetted by Doncaster. And they don’t let up. Defying the obvious truth. All to protect 54 titles.
Are they part of a Masonic based upholder of this nonsense, or just Rangers supporters who like to wind up Celtic supporters? Is it the editors who look after a certain section of the footballing readership? But this doesn’t seem to be working, their sales are plummeting, as a Celtic supporter I don’t know anyone who buys a newspaper anymore. But that is society wide.
One thing I do know, most sports journalists nowadays are not fearless. Don’t ask awkward questions. The ‘succulent’ lamb stink has not gone away. James Traynor rules supreme. Until that poisonous idiot disappears from the scene I fear things will remain the same.
Sportsound tonight was a cracker from the wee bit I heard.
Bazza was just being himself but at least I didn’t hear him tout directly for the Ibrox job other than it would be best going to a RRM.
Richard Wilson done well pointing out the current players wage bill was circa £10m. English and Bazza couldn’t believe that. Bazza may not have had a look at the published accounts and associated notes but I fully expect a journslist like English to be up to speed. A poor show from Tom on the financials Im afraid.
Despite having some idea of financial matters Wilson then went downhill by implying the board at Ibrox have a never ending flow of cash to flush down the pan.
Kris Boyd then came on claiming his old new club didn’t have cash to pay compo for McInnes if they did want him. A good start but then despite talking up Davies as coach of the century couldn’t answer English’s question ‘re his apparent run ins with authority thus leading to 3 years out of the game.
Wilson however played the joker in the pack near the end by saying the vacant post at Ibrox would attract foreign coaches as it could put them in the window for an EPL job.
Despite being a journalist he clearly didn’t get the drift of King’s attack on Warburton or he has had an irony bypass.
Or maybe he is just a fud?
Absolutely shocking stuff from all at some point in the show.
WRT Traynor ;
As a journalist, as RFC Comms. Director, and now as a freelance PR guy (and corporate troubleshooter ?!) he has never come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Admittedly, I’ve never met the chap and that might be grossly unfair on my part.
But that is simply the lasting impression I have of Traynor.
And now he seems to have a disproportionate amount of influence at Ibrox, and by default perhaps, on the Scottish game.
So, is anybody pulling Traynor’s strings?
For the sake of balance I think I should talk about team support and reportage outwith Glasgow.
I worked in Edinburgh for about 5 years recently. Mostly Jambos because of the geography of where I worked in our Capital. But a fair sprinkling of Hibees.
I got on with them all. Probably because of my good nature.
I used to go out for a smoke every morning with an old lady who was a Jambo through and through. She hated Celtic with a passion, didn’t like Rangers much but Celtic were her thing that got her goat. But we loved each other, when she was getting annoyed I would bring Hibs into the conversation.
I used to buy the Edinburgh Evening News – early edition – honestly 2 pages of Hearts & Hibs. A wee corner for what was happening in Glasgow.
I once worked in Paisley in the 90s, my assistant manager was a Dundee Utd. supporter. He was insufferable but a great assistant manager. Hope he’s reading.
The_SteedFebruary 13, 2017 at 12:41 I see JJ is running with an exclusive that Ashley was away to pump some serious cash into Rangers when Easdale & Llambias were in charge – at least £50m until they were all hounded out by the GASL.
***********************************************************
In his “exclusive JJ goes on to tell us the reason behind MA’s investment was to further Sports Directs business interest throughout Europe
“I can exclusively reveal that Mike Ashley was about to give Sandy Easdale and Derek Llambias up to £50 million to restore the fortunes of Rangers Lite. This quantum was just seed capital. The total spend could have quickly escalated to north of £100m
Ashley trusted them and was convinced that they would spend his money prudently and deliver the desired result of taking his brands into Europe. Champions League nights would have provided the perfect platform for Ashley’s retail putsch against Adidas.”
The blogs were awash with this sort of speculation before King and his concert party took control, the fly in the ointment in this supposed masterplan was pointed out time after time,
Sports Direct’s advertising would be prohibited on Champions league nights, only official champions league sponsors are allowed advertising space in the stadiums on CL nights, Uefa
Win the Scottish cup
Overtake Aberdeen in the league, and open a gap
Close the gap on Celtic at CP in 3 weeks
3 month contract
No holiday entitlement
Free uniform with MW scratched off it, and stab holes in the back
Mmmmmm. Tempting.
I caught some of BBC Sportsound last night. Richard Wilson stated that there was no crisis at Ibrox but then went on to say that every month there was a cash shortfall concerning the club and this had to be met by the shareholders (basically debt and soft loans). Tom English had the chance to jump all over this but chose not to. No mention of a NOMAD, FFP or up and coming court cases with Mr Ashley and Mr Whyte. If this was my club I would class this as a bit of a crisis. Then we had RRM and one of the top EBT earners wee Barry stating for all readers of the Daily Record (aka the Beano) that hunners of managers would want the job at Ibrox. Back to Mr Wilson who made the point of Mark Warburton leaving Brentford in a very unsatisfactory way (similar to what he is doing now at Ibrox). The campaign against MW will now be relentless and may effect his chances of becoming the next England manager and maybe they will take back his manager of the year award from last season. Also good old Mr (sons of struth ) Houston stated on sky that all fans of the Ibrox club where disappointed and felt CHEATED by MW proposed leaving of the club and then when asked by the reporter who should be the next manger Mr Houston said ME. Good shout throw your hat in and if successful then magic. Five year anniversary and still I am blessed with the joy of laughter that emanates from Ibrox, I thank them all from the club to the smsm and any cheerleader that promotes them. Will it be the same in another 5 years, I might visit Corals and put a wee bet on because the saying goes all good things must come to an end.
A wee bit of a ’round-up’ post. Apologies in advance for the scattergun approach
Re Murty: He could well get the opperchancity until the end of the season. He’s already there & he’s cheap.
Re Traynor: I’ve met him only once, but ‘supercilious’ doesn’t begin to describe him on that single occasion.
Re the SMSM: Read Gannon’s even-toed ungulate inspired column in today’s Record Online. Astonishing stuff in a newspaper. McCulloch fails to recognise that the media is in danger of eating itself.
Last month we got blanket coverage of the anniversary of Paul le Guen’s tenure as Rangers manager, with the coverage centring on the disaster he had been for the Ibrox club. No one could understand the significance of this non-event, with at least Ally McCoist proving to be, in his turn as manager, a far greater disaster, so no genuine reason for picking on the Frenchman.
I wonder, then, if, to mark the 5th anniversary of what was undoubtedly the biggest event the club has ever known, entering administration (even if we ignore the fact they never exited it), the SMSM again give us blanket coverage, or will there be so little coverage it could be hidden under a sweetie wrapper instead!
I doubt even the most staunch of the staunchest, real of the realest Rangers man could deny that February the 14th 2012 was far more significant in the history of Rangers than anything any failed manager ever created, and certainly more deserving of dredging up than Paul le Guen.
In truth, I’m not saying the SMSM should make a big deal over it, just that if they felt Le Guen’s ‘anniversary’ of failure was in the least newsworthy, why not a much bigger, cataclysmic one like this?
Its Moonbeam time all over the back pages, on Radio Shortbread and on the sports programmes.
Our newest club, the ones who play in blue and who are still without any line of credit from their financial partner are dominating the thoughts of our wonderfully intrepid sports journalist community.
They are focussing and salivating on their fantasy beauty parade and filling the padding at the back of their titles.
For some strange reason the real story hasn’t crossed over to the front pages or real headlines and it won’t.
Are the journos asking about the particular details that gave the board the confidence to terminate a perfectly adequate manager on a contract, his real rangers man whose stock was high with the fans side kick and a third member of their team?
Have they asked questions about some frankly absurd releases on the official Rangers site?
Are they interested enough to ask the “resignation trio” to communicate their alternative view?
Or speaking to employment lawyers about the likely scenarios?
Or to the professional football employment associations for their views?
Thats what any journalist would do.
It might even unearth news enough for me to buy a newspaper or stop shouting at the radio with their hackneyed “experts” straight from central casting,talking pure unadulterated blue flavoured and scented nagumbe.
No they are fantasising on who the mighty Scottish establishment club might consider hiring in their quest to hear the Champions League anthem playing out at Ibrox once again.
Because everyone in world football wants this job.
I’ve read seen and heard the pros and cons of another bunch mostly of central casting manager types but also some creative suggestions hankering back to the hovering pitch moonbeam days.
People like Billy Davies, Alex McLeish, Derek at Aberdeen (because he played for Rangers), Tommy at St Johnstone (because he hails from Norn Irn), and others fit the usual suspects file.
The De Boer brothers made me laugh at loud when I saw it in The Times today.
There is a real story guys.
Its about a club that is still being asset stripped.
Its about a cash trail.
Its about no bank or nomad wanting to touch the people that are running this company.
Its about a potentially catastrophic court case on the horizon.
Its about fans being ripped off too.
Systematically ripped off under a confused banner of loyalty to their deep felt cause.
Its real news – not the alternative facts you collectively create and hide behind.
An extract from JJ’s latest “exclusive”
“Easdale and Derek Llambias up to £50 million to restore the fortunes of Rangers Lite. This quantum was just seed capital. The total spend could have quickly escalated to north of £100m”
**************************************************
Can anyone else remember who said, given the right circumstances that 100m would be a very viable investment?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/8792112/Craig-Whyte-actively-seeking-to-leave-the-SPL-to-secure-Rangers-financial-future.html
“We are in Scottish football so it is not a viable proposition to go put £100 million into the team. If we went forward into another league set-up, say the English Premier League, then it is very viable to put £100 million more in. We are not there at the moment, but we would like to be.”
5 months later the roof fell in ( was that not another exclusive?)
Happy anniversary, 5 years of jelly and ice cream, is enough, please stop, sort it out.
I was going to post about Solomon Warby. Then I happened upon a Daily Record article from 14th March 2015 about Chris Ze List Graham’s enforced return of his blazer and brown brogues due to his cartoon collection.
The article refers to CZLG as “…a financial advisor from Kirkintilloch…”
Whit?
He seriously gives other people advice?
On finance?
Do the good people of Kirkintilloch know about this smearing of their good name?
I think all questions have now been answered.
Happy Administration Day.
While I was trying to find a link to the Craig Whyte 100m investment fantasy I found myself opening a link to “do the bouncy ” forum,
this is a link to the page I was directed to,
http://dothebouncy.com/main/threads/rangers-are-exploring-possibility-of-leaving-the-spl.39317/
what caught my attention when i scrolled down into the comments section was the fact that Rangers fans were already discussing administration 5 months before it happened,
this one was a standout
“If Rangers go in to administration we should pull out all the stops to get in to English football. If we changed the name a wee bit like ‘The Glasgow City Rangers’ and called ourselves a new Club could we not get in that way?”
AllyjamboFebruary 14, 2017 at 11:26
In truth, I’m not saying the SMSM should make a big deal over it, just that if they felt Le Guen’s ‘anniversary’ of failure was in the least newsworthy, why not a much bigger, cataclysmic one like this?
——————————————————————————————————————–
The Herald (Graeme McPherson) has an article headed FIVE YEARS ON. At one point it states “In the four months between administration and the club calling in the liquidators on June 12th—————“.
FinlochFebruary 14, 2017 at 11:32
You wouldn’t want the truth out there, would you, Finloch, not during this run-up to the ST renewal period?
Somehow a negative has to be turned into a positive, and the message put out that, whatever happens next, is just preparation for a big named manager who will, with his amazing reputation and contacts, bring Champions League football to Ibrox. Of course, his biggest attribute will be that he ‘gets ‘Rangers’!’ as though that’s all he needs to be successful, completely ignoring the fact that nobody ‘got’ ‘Rangers’ more than Ally McCoist, and he couldn’t even win the Championship, let alone the Premiership!
Something they don’t seem to take into account is that they could bring a de Boer in as manager, give him a great coaching team, and spend £5m on transfer fees, we’ll ignore the obvious financial difficulties there, and still they won’t be able to field eleven players who are better than their opposite number in the Celtic first eleven, or twelve, or thirteen, or…
One day, Aberdeen or Hearts (or another club) might, by steady progress, and a huge lump of luck, manage to put in a decent challenge to Celtic, for their supporters only look for steady progress, not bloody miracles, so are giving them time…again…and again…and will go on giving that time, because we always have done, despite all the moans. If either of those two clubs were to magic up £5m to sign players, the supporters would still be aware that automatic success is not a given, and that Celtic could spend double that if they felt it necessary.
TRFC don’t have that luxury, and certainly wouldn’t deserve it if they had, for they know that the bears expect success as their right, and are blind to the far superior qualities of their Glasgow rivals, so they keep on lying, because they have to. The rest of us might hate that superiority, but we know it’s there, and don’t blame our clubs, or anyone else, for that fact. We at Hearts don’t even blame Romanov for Celtic’s superiority, but could the same be said of how the bears view Whyte, Green or Ashley’s part in Celtic’s dominance?
To realistically challenge Celtic in the time scale expected, any new manager, no matter how talented, is going to need a lot more than £5m transfer money, plus all the additional costs that that brings, and then a huge slice of luck amounting to a lot more than continuous home cup draws!
I continue to applaud TSFM primarily because, in all parts of our lives, we need an alternative to the mince that passes as journalism. In the case of Scottish fitba we’re talking serious alt facts well before it became the political norm.
The latest sh*te is off the scale. Frank de Boer left Inter with a 1.2m euro severance, after 85 days in the job. His salary was 2m for year 1 and 3m for years 2 and 3. In the week or two left in the transfer window that he arrived they spent 70m on two players. They might as well tout Mourinho for the job.
I know it’s being covered elsewhere but worth repeating that I have even more genuine concerns than before re Richard Wilson’s input to Sportsound last night. For a BBC employee there’s a limit, there’s pushing the boundaries and then there’s just down right lying. Genuine car crash radio. Tom English even sounded taken aback at times.
I had visions of John Clark swimming home to plant one on him!
Smugas, I know we shouldn’t get personal but I also don’t get it with Richard Wilson. The first couple of times I heard him on the beeb I genuinely thought he was The TRFC spokesman. Someone on here explained he was a journo and had some repute. Can anyone suggest the, presumably demographics based, logic behind the beeb using this mince spout?
bordersdonFebruary 14, 2017 at 12:34
‘The Herald (Graeme McPherson) has an article headed FIVE YEARS ON. At one point it states “In the four months between administration and the club calling in the liquidators on June 12th—————“.
________
I’ve just read the article.
He mentions the liquidators being called in, certainly. But was too cowardly to explain that means that RFC ceased to be able to trade as a football club, losing automatically their entitlement to a place in Scottish Football.
There is not to my knowledge one journalist in the ranks of the SMSM who has been prepared to tell the unvarnished truth about the death of old 1872 Rangers as a football club. ( except perhaps Jim Spence, allegedly: who was certainly punished as if he had said in so many words that TRFC are not RFC(IL))
Or the truth about the SFA’s panicky denial of that death, and their desperate attempts to convince us that that death did not happen.
(And, while I’m on, I listened an hour or so ago to the Sportsound podcast that has the mindless , motor-mouth of a blithering, blinkered, self-contradictory apologist for TRFC who is too ignorant of the facts of the “£18million” “investment” to be able to talk sensibly about the true state of TRFC’s finances, and prate on foolishly about the new club not being in any kind of crisis-because the chaps on the Board will be prepared to lend if lending gets them a decent manager at a decent price and a decent wage, in the hundreds of thousands, if need be.
God Almighty: that such an one should be being paid by us for talking such excremental balderdash!)
Re. Richard Wilson, in the Sportsound programme yesterday evening, on matters Rangers, he appeared to lack an inquiring mind, offered no critical thinking, displayed no scepticism. Calls himself a journalist.
Football songs.
What is the point of singing songs which have nothing to do with your team or players? Celtic have a song book of fantastic songs which surround our history and players/teams. There is no need to sing about Ireland’s troubled history. Our foundation was based on Irish imigrants, of that I am very proud, but what has ‘Grace’ got to do with Celtic in 2017? It’s an innoffcensive (sp) song but about the Easter uprising in 1916. It breaks my heart when I hear it but why at Celtic Park?
Don’t even get me started on the songs from the dark side. Really, up to your knees?
Sorry to say that neutral teams, or who should be neutral, don’t get away lightly either. Singing songs from the Ibrox song book just to noise up the Celtic fans. Disgusting.
Sing songs of celebration, of joy, happiness.
I rarely listen to the TRFC show on Radio Scotland but did so last night. It was like a mirror image of Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast the difference being that folk believed Welles fiction.
One knows that it is a particularly dignified moment when the RRM lowers his tone and makes the prayer it pause is pause pause Glasgow pause pause Rangers. It isn’t and the magic beans are dead.
frank de Boer was asked on Sky TV at the weekend if he would be interested in becoming the high priest at Glasgow pause etc Rangers. Give the man his due, he did not laugh but his bemused amusement could be seen as the the Dutch equivalent of “Whit, aye very good ” went through his mind before he said No.
On another topic one might make a case that the heritable assets at TRFC might be worth £29 million in use by a Football Club using them but not that to any other party in the open market. I am making the distinction here between value in use and exchange value the first derives from cost of provision the second on underlying profitability. Only a football club might be prepared to pay the value in use figure or near it, that suggests that Sevco was not buying a football club.
The paragraph above is a bit incoherent and does not follow the whole argument fully or step by step but it is an exclusive.
bordersdonFebruary 14, 2017 at 12:34
AllyjamboFebruary 14, 2017 at 11:26 In truth, I’m not saying the SMSM should make a big deal over it, just that if they felt Le Guen’s ‘anniversary’ of failure was in the least newsworthy, why not a much bigger, cataclysmic one like this?——————————————————————————————————————–The Herald (Graeme McPherson) has an article headed FIVE YEARS ON. At one point it states “In the four months between administration and the club calling in the liquidators on June 12th—————“.
_______________________________
And I think, there, is where they’ll place that sweetie paper!
But unless that is quite out of context with the rest of the article, Graeme McPherson appears to have a grasp of reality.
Tincks February 11, 2017 at 11:56
free interview that I would love to read. If only wishing could make it so.
I seem to recall from one of PMG’s blogs a few months ago that he and MW have each others phone numbers.Now that’s an exclusive
——————————————————————————————
PMG dropped a subtle hint last night on twitter that contact may have been made. Linking to the above mentioned blog.
Also stating categorically today that legal missives were delivered to the Blue Room yesterday on behalf of the Ibrox Three outlining a series of possible steps ahead. Wwith ring-fencing mentioned in the absence of prompt settlement.
SmugasFebruary 14, 2017 at 13:33
‘…I had visions of John Clark swimming home to plant one on him!’
__________
Ha, ha, Smugas.
But apart from the fact that, man of peace as I am, I eschew violence, I wouldn’t dirty the toe of a pointy-toed boot on the fundament of such a one, far less soil my personal flesh by touching him, even with a balled-up fist.
Guys like that, they bring their own come-uppance on themselves, sooner or later.
Also, of course, although I can swim ( and have been doing a fair amount of swimming) I couldn’t quite manage the ( what is it? 16, 000 miles?) frae Brisbane to the Clyde and still have energy enough to throw a punch!
That is astorming neologism Jimbo “innocensive” a song which is innocent for the singer but incites a negative response from some steady of the hearers, indeed it may only be. Innocent proms facile but intended to incite a response from the hearer.
Don’t know if I’m right,but I am under the impression that TRFC players(and management ?) are on 10 month per annum contracts .That will surely have some impact on their pre-season training and participation in the Europa league (or early league cup rounds should they fail to qualify for EL). I would imagine that training would have to begin at the start of June . Would new contracts be required (and to beregistered with SPFL ?).
I’d love to know what’s going through Mr Park’s mind just now.
He’s a successful businessman who’s had to work for what he has got.
He employs a lot of people.
He has HR policies because he needs them for his business.
He knows that the hire and fire stuff from the old days would just no longer work today but would cost him and his business money and time.
He has a “friendly” bank relationship and a normal commercial relationship with them that covers basic business package options like arranged overdrafts, loans and the like.
He has a deep Rangers leaning despite being at one time on Wallace Mercer’s Hearts’ board.
He’s somehow become a provider of soft loans to a company who ……
…. Don’t give guarantees for his loans or give him shares, because they can’t.
Run roughshod over basic good business processes like planning, budgeting and basic HR and contract management – like “Getting Rid Of” without having the money to buy the departees out.
Don’t have an overdraft facility.
Don’t make enough to pay their monthly bills and have leakages everywhere.
Think the solution is to pay an intermediary to get the MSM to spout footballese bull to a fan base to stop them asking the real questions.
Basically a suicidal business strategy and anathema to someone like Mr Parks who has skin in the game but deep down knows it can only go one way.
People in the know like Mr Parks owe it to themselves and the fans to be honest about how they go about their business and the real options facing their team.
Latest BS from the Daily Revisionist is a ‘guest’ article, apparently written by Andrew Dickson, the ex-Ibrox media guy.
The usual glaring omissions: don’t mention ‘liquidation’, ‘David Murray’, etc.
But the icing on the cake;
“…With little more than suspicions about him [Whyte] at that stage [Admin. Day itself] and so few of us understanding how such scenarios worked, it was understandable many took his word for it…”
So the media guy, with his finger on the pulse, was oblivious about Whyte’s background right up until Admin. Day ?
Dickson is either thick as mince, or an apprentice, glib and shameless liar.
King should re-hire this guy.
And the sooner the DR goes bust, the better: for the good of all Scottish football supporters !
PADDY MALARKEY
FEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 14:45
Don’t know if I’m right,but I am under the impression that TRFC players(and management ?) are on 10 month per annum contracts .That will surely have some impact on their pre-season training and participation in the Europa league (or early league cup rounds should they fail to qualify for EL). I would imagine that training would have to begin at the start of June . Would new contracts be required (and to beregistered with SPFL ?).
——————————————–
I suspect that it’s a bit simpler than that.
Players’ annual salaries are paid in 10 instalments over the year (no dosh end of June & July, when the club has no/little income), rather than twelve ‘monthly’ payments, or as I was paid, thirteen four-weekly payments.
Contracts, as a general rule, run from the date of joining the club to the 31st of May in the first year & ‘roll on’ from the 1st of June in subsequent contracted years.
JINGSO.JIMSIEFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 15:44
Cheers . I’d imagined a scenario where players would be asked to train and play but not necessarily be paid (I’ve maybe given DCK food for thought ! ).
ERNIEFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 13:54
Smugas, I know we shouldn’t get personal but I also don’t get it with Richard Wilson. The first couple of times I heard him on the beeb I genuinely thought he was The TRFC spokesman. Someone on here explained he was a journo and had some repute. Can anyone suggest the, presumably demographics based, logic behind the beeb using this mince spout?
==========================
RW is a full time BBC employee, who started around the same time as Tom English, with both having left the Herald and Scotsman respectively. However, it is notable that the BBC do not employ cheerleaders for any other club other than RW for TRFC.
UPTHEHOOPSFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 18:30
Didn’t Wilson join BBC Scotland soon after they were reprimanded by the BBC Trust for reporting Sevco as a new club? Presume it was a gesture employing a Sevco cheerleader given Spiers and Tom English refuse to toe the party line on the same club narrative.
still the mangement are in place now 14th Feb 2015
ALLYJAMBOFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 11:26 20 Votes
Last month we got blanket coverage of the anniversary of Paul le Guen’s tenure as Rangers manager, with the coverage centring on the disaster he had been for the Ibrox club. No one could understand the significance of this non-event, with at least Ally McCoist proving to be, in his turn as manager, a far greater disaster, so no genuine reason for picking on the Frenchman.
—————————–
At the time it never seemed quite right……why?… blanket coverage of the anniversary of Paul le Guen’s tenure
could it have been Paul le Guen bad and someone who played under him good?
As i can’t see Barry being the next manager. Not with an EBT hanging over his head(or could it now be the desperate stage,take the job and we will pay the tax you owe).
or maybe barry being so blind that he cannot see what is coming down the pipe line.
who else in a Paul le Guen squad could be portrayed as management material, and it was all Paul le Guen’s fault the player under him was not that good during his time at ibrox.
EASTWOODFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 18:48 Didn’t Wilson join BBC Scotland soon after they were reprimanded by the BBC Trust for reporting Sevco as a new club? Presume it was a gesture employing a Sevco cheerleader given Spiers and Tom English refuse to toe the party line on the same club narrative.
==========================
Spiers has stated on Sportsound he ‘is not prepared to have his intelligence insulted’ by people telling him Rangers are the same club. However, he does treat the new club with the same reverence he treated the old one. I find Spiers incredibly frustrating as a Journalist. On the one hand he is prepared to go against the grain and tell it as it is, then he quickly reverts to type and reveres people like Walter Smith and Alex McLeish who benefited so much from Rangers financial cheating over the years. Spiers in my view holds views more akin to the 50’s and 60’s minus the bigotry, by appearing to hold Rangers people in higher regard than others, simply because they are Rangers people.
Tom English on the other hand believes Rangers are the same club. He stated on Sportsound ‘if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck then it’s still a duck’. Having said that he has said more than once if Rangers fans want to think it’s the same club then they have to accept all the disgrace as well as the good parts.
I wonder if there is any chance that the Ibrox 3 will go to court and seek to ring fence the quoted £1.2m plus any other sums due to the three, e.g. Warburton’s claimed £500k.
They are, after all, a loss making business without a credit line to a bank, and only being kept afloat by directors loans.
EJ,
I’m surprised that hasn’t happened already.
I can only assume that the (English) League Managers’ Association are going to try to negotiate with someone in authority in RIFC/TRFC before legal action is taken.
I’m not sure who that person would be at RIFC/TRFC & if the LMA will have any luck doing so.
EASYJAMBO
FEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 19:30
I wonder if there is any chance that the Ibrox 3 will go to court and seek to ring fence the quoted £1.2m plus any other sums due to the three, e.g. Warburton’s claimed £500k…
=====================================
Or, I wonder if TRFC will be scurrying over to Hampden to get bailed out again – seeking a ‘de facto guarantor’ for any financial arrangement agreed with the 3 ?
A la Barton.
Would make sense.
No hefty legal costs, cash flow-friendly staged payments, and the rusty can is kicked that wee bit further down the road…
And of course, it will be for the good of Scottish football.
Re the new manager at ibrox.
Is MW going with
Constructive dismissal
Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to quit their job against their will because of their employer’s conduct.
——————-
unfair dismissal?
•your employer did not follow the correct process when dismissing you (for example, if they have not followed their company dismissal processes or the statutory minimum dismissal procedure)
———————-
If MW wins his case could he demand his job back? He may not want it back, but to put more pressure on the ibrox board he could demand it back.
could you imagine the SMSM
EASYJAMBOFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 19:30
Put that forward the other day given the ‘ tradition’ of bad financial news on Valentine’s Day.
However looking back 802 Ltd tried to get £300k ringfenced in Jan2016 and that was knocked back.
While the sum for the Ibrox 3 will be more, you yourself has said the financial position had improved a little since last year. Therefore a judge will need some convincing that the club can’t cough up and ring fencing is warranted.
Sportsound tonight spoke of why McInnes would most probably go to Ibrox if asked and the terms were right.
Similar to what I said ‘re Warburton, the ‘big’ clubs only come knocking once so it is difficult for a manager/coach to say no regardless of the warning signs and potential difficulties.
The pity is however that the debate was one sided and no-one pointed out that given recent history, someone like McInnes could easily be the next McLeish sniffing around for scraps from the table and a move to T’Rangers could also be fatal to his career.
I see amid the race for the biggest manager’s job in world football, the appointment of a Director of Football has been thrown into the mix. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just the latest squirrel to keep the bears saving for their STs, but such a sudden change in direction might not be wise, anyway, looking as it does as more of a knee jerk reaction than a well thought out strategy. They’d need to appoint someone who fully understands the role, as well as someone able to work under/along with whoever they appoint.
Assuming the board want to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes over the next appointment as King was at pains to tell us they made in the statement of the year (so far), when they appointed Warburton and co, I would also assume they are looking to appoint a management team with a greater level of experience and a track record superior to that of the last lot. It’s, therefor, going by their own words, apparent that they are preparing to spend even more than they were on the departing trio, which hardly fits in with their plans to cope with the ‘going concern warning’ in the Report and Accounts. Their plans, I’m sure, stated that they would be seeking to reduce costs significantly (I think it said significantly) during the January window, but they failed in that task quite spectacularly!
Things, were, to say the least, extremely tight financially when the accounts were signed off, have since clearly got tighter (but not as tight as they would have been without, ahem, un-budgeted for home cup ties), so just how much more are they going to require in the way of loans?
However accurate, or not, the projected shortfall was, if I remember correctly, it only allowed for one major outlay of £500,000 for repairs (we don’t know if they’ve even been started) and contingent liabilities of £1m in respect of the court case v SD/Ashley and £300,000 for the wifi guys. Now, potentially, these figures have been doubled should all the cases go against them, with the possibility of much heavier costs, particularly in the SD/Ashley case.
And here they are, still talking as though money’s no object! Mange tout
, as Delboy Green might say!
wottpiFebruary 14, 2017 at 20:39
EASYJAMBOFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 19:30 Put that forward the other day given the ‘ tradition’ of bad financial news on Valentine’s Day. However looking back 802 Ltd tried to get £300k ringfenced in Jan2016 and that was knocked back. While the sum for the Ibrox 3 will be more, you yourself has said the financial position had improved a little since last year. Therefore a judge will need some convincing that the club can’t cough up and ring fencing is warranted.
_____________________
I’d imagine a ‘going concern’ note in the Report and Accounts might weigh heavily in a judge’s thoughts on the matter this time round, with the judge more likely to decide that, with the club existing on monthly loans, there isn’t actually any money to ring-fence, and so deny the request! Queue alarm bells!!!!
ALLYJAMBOFEBRUARY 14, 2017 at 21:09
I’d imagine a ‘going concern’ note in the Report and Accounts might weigh heavily in a judge’s thoughts on the matter this time round,
and if he read they offered instalments to sign a goal-keeper
Heard tonight that Warburton has been advised by m’learned friends that (euphemistically) his terms of contract have been breached (probably due to the need for a desperate gamble on behalf of the board) – and that he will be due the entire amount of his contract.
RIFC/TRFC’s official response to a letter worded accordingly is awaited. Ring-fencing is most definitely on the agenda.
It has been suggested that his case is so strong, he should not accept a negotiated settlement.
Also been advised that TRFC simply cannot afford a full settlement.
We will of course wait and see, but in the meantime, TRFC will have to settle for an already unemployed manager or DoF as payment of compensation, despite what certain BBC ‘journalists’ may allege, is just not an option.
Quite simply, there is no money unless an urgent injection of soft loans is administered. There are brave words from Mr Robertson, and you can hardly blame him for that.
The facts are that with revenue already maxed, and the reality that they now have trade up in both management and playing squad terms, there is an impossible circle to square.
Kingco are now almost certain to lose control, or will have to convince the fans to accept less than now.
Conundrum.
From the website of Aye Write, Glasgow’s Book Festival:
Graham Hunter & Alex McLeish – The Big Interview Live9th Mar 2017 • 6:00PM – 7:30PM • Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Former Rangers, Scotland and Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish in conversation with Graham Hunter.
Former Rangers, Scotland and Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish joins Graham Hunter for a ‘live’ episode of the popular ‘Big Interview with Graham Hunter’ podcast. McLeish will reflect on his decorated playing and management career: How his Football Manager-obsessed son alerted him to the talents of a teenage Leo Messi before the world knew of his genius; And how he would later enquire about bringing Messi to Rangers on loan, only to be told by Frank Rijkaard’s assistant to try and secure a deal for Andres Iniesta instead. Sir Alex Ferguson, McLeish’s first manager at Aberdeen, will pop up in stories and there will be an audience Q and A.
If there is, as Mr Robertson has said, ‘a plan’, and that plan involved a radically different management model of coach and DoF, how would they have begun to implement that plan had Mark Warburton not fortuitously ‘resigned’?
That plan would not have been possible with Warbs in charge, so one must assume that it was only formulated on Friday evening.
Proactive?