UCF2008

Confirmed - Rangers Announce Graham Wallace As New Chief Executive

Out of all the stuff CF drip fed I've yet to see anything that would cause Whyte any discomfort whatsoever let alone harm.

True, but that's only because his name's already mud. Any shit thrown in the direction of Whyte is taken for granted.

So many of his wrongdoings are hiding in plain sight. He appears to be completely above the law with regards to any crimes against Rangers.

seems clear enough to me green was brought in by whyte and did a deal via cva to hand us back to him. when that failed he got greedy and cut whyte out.

 

lets hope he didn't get greedy early and cause the cva to fail deliberately.

I'm not sure which would be worse tbh. I'm also not convinced that Green did cut Whyte out. It seems as though everyone's had their payday from the way our finances have been manipulated over the past 2 years. I dont believe any of them - forensic investigators included.

I'm also not sure if CF and it's drip feed of insider info is for our benefit or just a RTCB MkII for the purpose of rubbing our noses in it.

their was no intention to dupe whyte if we got a cva. the company (rangers) was loaning whyte the money green was getting a huge cut and a job and we were paying for it all.

Personally, I don't believe for a second that there was any intention to dupe Whyte. I was merely pointing out that Green's version of events make no sense whether he thought a CVA was possible or not. Like I said, Whyte's shareholding was completely irrelevant without a CVA. There was no need to talk to him nevermind dupe him.

Green claims that Whyte's recorded evidence is just them telling Whyte whatever he wanted to hear to get the shares. What he still hasn't shared with us is how that was supposed to work or even the content of the sheet of paper he was waving around claiming to be a written agreement for the shareholding back in May last year.

Whyte held 85% of the shareholding so some way or another he needed dealt with

Whyte's shareholding was only relevant in the instance that the CVA proposal had been accepted. Funny how we haven't heard from Greenco how that would have worked out. Somehow I don't think 'duping' Whyte in that event would have been as easy as they'd like us to think.

A real return to the old days when he was Murray's puppet and presided over record levels of debt.

The level of debt SDM racked up (£52m as announced by McClelland at the AGM a month after taking over) was the reason he was forced to 'step down' as chairman.

McClelland successfully tightened the purse strings, selling a number of our high earners and restricting Eck mainly to Bosman signings. He and Martin Bain are the reasons McLeish's overall transfer activity was hugely profitable for the club. As well as investing less on transfers he invested more on youth development.

The debt did rise under his stewardship, but at that level it was unsustainable. Nonetheless we did still maintain a position in the Forbes rich list over that period.

I'm not saying he was a roaring success, but he's possibly the closest to a successful chairman we've had in the past couple of decades.

Wee Dick's overall net spending in the transfer market was close to £70m, but Eck's was well into the black, so when combined with Murray's share issue in 2004, Dick Advocaat's spending spree was pretty much covered, although it must be said that the wage bill during those years must have been insane.

Walter Smith

Season Expenditure Income

94-95 £7.2m £5.9m

95-96 £11.6m £3.725m

96-97 £9.5m £0m

97-98 £14.45m £4.85m

Total Gross = £42.75m

Total Net = £28.275m

Players purchased who were sold by a successor

Lorenzo Amoruso £1.4m

Antti Niemi £0.4m

Joachim Björklund £2.5m

Gennaro Gattuso £4m

Craig Moore £0.8m

Gordan Petric £0.3m

Adjustment = 28.275 - 9.4 = £18,875,000 loss

Dick Advocaat

Season Expenditure Income

98-99 £35.95m £7.625m

99-00 £5.6m £9.05m

00-01 £30.9m £4.2m

01-02 £11.2m £14.575m

Total Gross = £83.65m

Total Net = £47.875m

Players purchased who were sold by a successor

Kenny Miller £3m

Claudio Reyna £4m

Tore André Flo £6.75m

Neil McCann £1.4m

Mikel Arteta £2.6m

Fernando Ricksen £1m

Adjustment = 47.875 - 18.75 = £29,125,000 loss

NB - Adjustments don't include sales of youth products (ie Barry Ferguson)

In times of trouble, the crown fits old Rangers King - The Herald

'IT would be reasonable to suppose that the Glasgow experience of John Barnes would have been enough to make the former Liverpool player shrink at a Scottish accent and positively bridle at the mere mention of the game north of the border.

However, Barnes speaks of his brief tenure as Celtic manager with some insight and maintains a strong connection to the Scottish game through his role as a media pundit and his friendship with Dave King, the Scottish businessman and former Rangers director based in South Africa, who has been vocal in the unfolding turmoil at the Ibrox club.

Barnes travels the world in his role as a football analyst and met King in South Africa, where the former England internationalist comments on both Barclays Premier League and Champions League matches. He believes strongly that King has a role to play as the power struggle continues at Rangers. The businessman lost £20m when the club was owned by Sir David Murray and has warned they could be in administration by Christmas.

Barnes believes he was a victim of that high-spending Rangers, too, with his coaching career bludgeoned by the reality that he was facing greater resources at Ibrox. He also insists King could be the leader who rescues Rangers from in-fighting and brings the club back to the top league and to financial stability.

Barnes lasted from June 1999 to February 2000 as Celtic manager, with a Scottish Cup defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle precipitating his demise. "I was not there long enough to learn a lot," he says, his sunny demeanour failing to disguise the disappointment of a opportunity that proved short-lived.

Barnes was part of a "dream ticket", coming to Celtic Park in tandem with Kenny Dalglish, his one-time manager at Liverpool. He dismisses any notions he was an innocent thrown into the jungle of Scottish football. "Nothing happened there that I did not expect. I knew the expectations were high. I knew we were second to Rangers and if that continued it would mean that it would not work out."

Standing in the BT studios in London where he is about to give his opinions on the English game, he pauses to reflect on the state of Scottish football then and now. "I think a lot of people are now looking at the dynamics of the game north of the border and saying it is not as easy at it seems. In those days it was very different. In those days David Murray was spending a lot of money. Rangers had better players and much more money than Celtic. They were signing such as Joerg Albertz and Michael Mols to join the good players they already had."

Barnes was consumed by the imperative to defeat Rangers but with lesser resources. "It is strange to see how it has gone with Celtic and Rangers," he says. "The dynamic is different and it shows the way Celtic were doing things from a financial point of view was the right way and the necessary way to do it."

He states bluntly: "Rangers are paying the price for that period."

His friendship with King has given him the inside story on his rivals when he was manager of Celtic. King, who took up his role as a non-executive director in March 2000, began his formal association with Rangers as Barnes was ending his with Celtic but King and he have become close after regular trips to South Africa. "He tells me stories of what it was like back then," says Barnes, now 49 and travelling to the Middle East and elsewhere to talk football. "He tells me of the money Rangers were spending and that has impacted on where they are now. It is shame because they're a huge club."

In March, King announced his intention to sue Murray, stating: "I seem to be one of the few people who actually invested cash into the club. I have made a claim of £20m the basis of non-disclosure by the then chairman, David Murray, of Rangers' true financial position as far back as 2000." Murray said he would vigorously contend any such claim if and when it was lodged.

The past at Rangers is thus clouded with much animosity for King, but Barnes is optimistic on the club's future if his friend becomes involved. "He would be good for Rangers because he is a fan. He wants what is right for Rangers. It is a huge brand that can be hugely successful and it will be successful once again. It may take a few years but the more they can have people like him involved from a footballing perspective the better. If you are a football supporter, you want people like him to involved in football."

Barnes, too, would like to become more closely involved in football. He managed the Jamaican national team for a season, taking them to first place in the 2008 Caribbean Championships, and then joined Tranmere Rovers in June 2009, lasting just five months before being sacked. "I would love to get back into management but it is hard. There are a lot of ex-managers who want to get back in. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to do TV work but if something came up I would definitely look at it again."

And what of a return to Scotland? Has his experience at Celtic soured him? "It was fantastic up there," he says. "Obviously, the politics were not great but the football was good. I loved it, " he says.'

______________________________________________

Excuses excuses Barnes. Not like those associated with the dark side to revise history is it?. There's no denying we spent a lot of money overall during the DA era. However, lets take a look at transfer activity of the season in question....

The Poor Wee Souls

Players In

Stiliyan Petrov £2.8m

Ian Wright - Free?

Rafael Scheidt - £5m

Eyal Berkovic - £5.75m

Olivier Tébily - £1.25m

Players Out

Craig Burley - £3m

Phil O'Donnell - Free

Simon Donnelly - Free

Darren Jackson - Free

Total loss = £11.8m

Us Dirty Cheats that Bought Our Tainted Titles

Players In

Dariusz Adamczuk - Free

Michael Mols - £4m

Tero Penttilä - £0.3m

Thomas Myhre Loan

Billy Dodds - £1.3m

Tugay Kerimoğlu £1.3m

Players Out

Theo Snelders - Retired

Jonas Thern - Retired

Luigi Riccio - Released

Stephane Guivarc'h - £3.4m

Charlie Miller - £0.45m

Antti Niemi - £0.4m

Derek McInnes - £0.3m

Ian Ferguson - Free

Gabriel Amato - £3.75m

Colin Hendry - £0.75m

Paul McKnight - Nominal

Total profit = £2,150,000

They were signing such as Joerg Albertz and Michael Mols to join the good players they already had

Except Albertz had already been with us for 2 seasons at that point.

The simple fact of the matter is that we had a good team and good manager while they had John Barnes who was about as shite as Scheidt.

More like this character

The statement attributed to Mather via the club yesterday tells you what he's all about. It only causes confusion if on one hand, McColl and co are wanting him gone, and Ally/Walter are saying he's doing a good job.

Which statement are you referring to? This one? How was that statement attributed to Mather? Like I said at the time it repeatedly refers to Mather in the third person and it's got Easedale's fingerprints all over it.

As for blaming Walter and Ally, I'm not sure where you think you're going with that one.

Ally and Walter have questions to answer with regards to their backing of Mather. A lot of our support are still backing Mather on the strength of this alone. It's getting beyond a joke now. Jack fucking Irvine getting a years contract? Did I read that correctly?

I think Walter and Ally probably share the opinion that Mather could do a decent job under different circumstances. Like Walter said, the board is completely dysfunctional. We have no chairman and a rag-tag crew of directors who all as individuals seem to think they're running the show. Easedale and Stockbridge have both been particularly dissruptive. I think Mathers inability to assert his authority will be his undoing. How can we expect him to do a good job of running the club when he can't even get a board of four other directors to toe the line?

It's been going on for years, surprised you disagree with my point.

He might be the first and may well be the last for some time to be charged with these offenses, but no amount of whataboutery is going to change the fact it's against the rules for a sportsperson to bet on their own games.

If he's found guilty you could maybe give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't aware of the letter of the law, but it's common sense and common knowledge that you can't bet on (or against) yourself in any sport.

...And no. Poker doesn't count.

A very poorly written statement indeed.

I don't think it was Mather who wrote it though. Not unless he's gone mad with the pressure and taken to referring to himself in the third person. It reads to me more like the petty amateur hour language I'd expect from Easedale when he doesn't have JI there to polish it up.

The lunatics have well and truely taken over the asylum

think we should be looking to remove easedale from the board before anything else.

I'd have prefered to see Easedale's name on the requisition ahead of Mather. That much is for certain. I'm guessing they probably think Easedale's position at the club is irrelevant for now. Either that or for some reason unknown to the rest of us they think they can get him on side.

Green stole the club while he couldn't put up 500k to get exclusivity.

Fixed that for you :fish:

So p murray is to blame for debt going up but not down?

I think all of the directors have to take part of the blame for the debt going up. I don't buy their excuse that SDM called all the shots and they thought he had it covered. They knew the level bank debt and they wrongly assumed SDM would be in a position to bale the club out again and again. They took the risk of that assumption and should be blamed for it.

I'll be honest and say I'm not sure about Paul Murray. I don't know if he's the best man for the job. Clearly plenty of other respected businessmen with the best interest of the club at heart seem to think so though.

Easier to have removed at an EGM than sack him, perhaps?

..and cheaper possibly. Although I don't doubt he's got a healthy pay-off lined up for himself just in case.

I'm not defending Donald Muir, just saying he and Lloyds' presence is what brought the debt down.

SDM's absense is what brought the debt down, just as it did when he previously stepped down. That's not to say Lloyds didn't tighten the purse strings more than our board would have done otherwise. Lloyds were overkeen to reclaim the debt to the point of negative publicity and forcing the sale of the club to Whyte.

Spot on.

 

There should be no place at Ibrox for Stockbridge for a whole bunch of reasons including his blunders & lies at the recent meeting with supporters.

Taking that into consideration and his general performance in his duties as financial director (£30m gone with no acceptable explanation) he is either a coward, a liar, a thief, incompetent or all four combined. Not to mention his ties to Green & Ahmad and involvement in their little 'deal' with Whyte. How he's still in a job is beyond me.

Don't be daft. Miller used the (albeit silly) banners as a convenient excuse. He didn't have the money.

None of them had the money. I don't agree that the banners were an excuse. They may not have been what ultimately caused him to pull the plug on the deal, but they did without a doubt play a part.

One thing I will say for Miller's plan is that as much as I was apprehensive at the time, it would have made the issue of transferring our SPL share to his newco 'incubator' company a lot more tricky for the SPL and SFA to screw us over.

I should probably add of course that the date of the EGM hasn't been set yet. However, if it does go ahead then I believe it would have to be held no later than the 12th Sept. So it is pure speculation to suggest any funny business regarding a possible albeit likely coincidence with the date.

That's what is the interesting bit,why now if he has been doing it for 7 years?,and just before a board meeting!,the timing is very strange.

The timing is indeed very strange. Not to mention the date of the hearing being set to the same day as the EGM if I'm not mistaken.

It would be interesting to find out when the SFA were made aware of this,is it just recently since he joined Rangers?

According to a couple of media reports I read it was Ladbrokes that contacted the SFA. Apparently they have some sort of arrangement in place to 'protect the integrity' of the game. I'm not sure when it happened though.

It does of course leave us the position where we're potentially down an experienced CM for the season. I think we'd manage OK without him though. Ideally I'd like to see us revert back to a straight attacking 4-4-2 with Macleod and Law as 1st choice CM's anyway. Plus we've got cover in Crawford, Hutton, Peralta, Jig, McAusland and Faure to name a few.