the gunslinger

The one thing that I have concerns with regards to Green & Co. is how they want to raise the money for the running of the club. As it looks, for the time being, it will be done much like what Walter & Co. would do, tapping into the ressources of investors and hoping on good season/normal ticket sales.

 

On a sidenote, it is interesting to note that neither McColl or Smith were apparently looking to be part of the Blue Knights. Was that e.g. due to Paul Murray's role, history, and behaviour?

I would be amazed if p Murray wasn't part of this bid.

Walters just a much better figure head than p Murray.

the fact that mcoll doesn't rate green is a fact.

I'm not sure what your looking for fact wise.

Didn't say it's a reason to back him, it's a reason why starving the club of income won't work to get him out.

apologies

ok terrible reason not to starve him of income. imho.

I think more than enough will buy season books to see us safe for a while.

I would be hugely impressed if the boycott got us down to only 20k books sold. mor likely 25k at least will be sold.

certainly one way to look at it. mind you as ally never said he was walking I can't agree.

Facts Walter give us the facts or he just sounds like a sore loser.

 

And who are these good safe hands? By his own admission they are going to be gone soon after and will hand it on to someone else.

 

Who is the someone else?

I don't really think mcolls lost yet. he wasn't part of tbk.

he's come into this expecting to be where we are today.

indeed he hasn't said anything. strange really considering traynors repeating his story today.

I'm surprised anyone's disputing the story to be honest.

. Green could just shut us down until he gets the right offer is that what we want.

that's a terrible reason to back him I have to say.

Surely not, he must be concerned about the fans just now never mind sacking a legend which would turn the fans against him even more.

now that's some clear, clever thinking right there

Why? He wa nts him as manager.

even though super hasn't denied the record story?

If Ally is so confident Walter will get in walk away and wait for them, you can't have your cake and eat it.

green can always sack him.

They haven't actually gave an opinion on Green except to say he's not a Rangers man, if they wanted Rangers men in charge so bad where have they been for the last 4 months.

He explained that he had "real concern" Mr Green's takeover would be a "re-run of what has happened before".

He added: "None of us have any confidence that it is a secure way forward for the club. We want to make sure it is in good hands, safe hands.

oh I think you could get almost all to unite behind Walters consortium. even the very staunch amongst the anyone but tbk brigade were excited yesterday.

what does it say of their opinion of green?

rangers only suffer if we are split as fans.

no one renews green has to go.

everyone renews we are fine with green.

a split everyone suffers. green can cling on and the team goes into terminal decline.

Why has he not walked yet?

as I said yesterday he is waiting to see who owns us.

this guy has shyed away from rangers in the past his very involvement says to me we are in a perilous position. tbk probably wanted a bit of fame and even a small profit but not this guy imho.

jim McColl: Why I have to save Rangers

Published on 15 June 2012

Ian McConnell

MILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Jim McColl and former manager Walter Smith were last night putting together a deal to take over Rangers.

The club was bought by businessman Charles Green for £5.5million yesterday as it was plunged into liquidation.

Full coverage

- Green's pledge: "Rangers will rise again"

- Smith's plans: ready to salve the wounds

- The new bid: how it happened

- From now on: Key dates timeline

- History: 140 years ends in nine minutes

- Social media: Stars and fans' Rangers tweets

- Ally McCoist: Sleep walking

However, Mr McColl last night urged Mr Green to sell the club to his consortium, which also includes wealthy car dealership and coach hire business owner Douglas Park.

Mr McColl, a Rangers fan and one of Scotland's best-known businessmen, is lending his expertise to a bid which would see Ibrox hero Smith installed as club chairman.

He explained that he had "real concern" Mr Green's takeover would be a "re-run of what has happened before".

He added: "None of us have any confidence that it is a secure way forward for the club. We want to make sure it is in good hands, safe hands."

Mr McColl revealed his plans after another dramatic day in Rangers' 140-year history.

Mr Green's proposed company voluntary arrangement â?? which would have avoided liquidation â?? was formally rejected at a meeting at Ibrox lasting just nine minutes after HM Revenue & Customs announced it would not support it.

He then bought the club's entire assets through his "newco" firm of Sevco under a pre-arranged deal.

However, Mr McColl, who became one of Scotland's wealthiest men after building up the Clyde Blowers engineering empire, last night said: "I would like to issue a public appeal to Charles Green to strongly consider selling the club to the Walter Smith consortium.

"This would be in the best interests of Rangers, the Rangers fans, and all of Scottish football. Mr Green does not have the backing of the Rangers support and, the longer he delays, the harder the situation will become.

"I don't think he will get the fans' support or the players' support."

Referring to reports yesterday that manager Ally McCoist was to quit the club after falling out with Mr Green, Mr McColl said: "You saw the announcement about McCoist, indicating that Green was a wee bit duplicitous with him, if that's the right word. Alistair obviously had some issues."

Explaining his reasons for launching a bid to save the club, Mr McColl added: "I think there is real concern about the Charles Green bid and what might happen. A number of people have been approached by him. They feel uncomfortable about the way it is going.

"We wouldn't have come out with this if we had been comfortable, if the deal was going through, the club was being saved and everything was going to be hunky-dory. But I think there is real concern about this being a re-run of what has happened before.

"There is a real concern. The focus here is to make sure this is stabilised and safe, that is all. Rangers Football Club is far too important for Scotland, Scottish football, and Glasgow to be messed up again.

"Our bid is because the group that is involved want to make sure that it is in good hands, in safe hands.

"A number of the individuals in our group have great concerns because of their interactions with Green. The way it is going, there is not enough transparency. There is just worry, with all the club has been through. The group here has decided that something had to be done to fix this â?? to try to recover the situation with the club.

"The question we will be asked now is why didn't we come forward before.

"The answer is that none of us wanted to own a football club, but when we saw the way it is going, everyone has been forced to say, 'Look, we have to do something'."

Mr McColl refused to reveal how much money he was putting into the Walter Smith-led consortium, saying: "I don't want to comment about me or any of the consortium. I have no comment to make about who, or how much, or what. This is a genuine effort to support Walter Smith and the Rangers supporters to secure their club going forward."

Mr Green last night installed Malcolm Murray, a former pensions fund boss and an Ibrox season ticket holder, as chairman of Rangers and vowed the club "will rise again".

Mr Green also said he wants McCoist to remain as manager and "firmly believes he is the man to take Rangers forward."

But Rangers fans' chiefs last night urged supporters not to buy season tickets until Mr Green "steps aside" and allows Smith and Mr McColl's consortium to take control of the club.

I'm not sure who exactly was behind all that carry-on yesterday regarding the FRONT page news about Ally.

 

Who phoned Jim Traynor to put that up? Was Ally used as a pawn or was he part of the plot?

Was Traynor part of it or was he duped like the rest of us?

 

Then the late Walter bid which had EVERYONE on Gersnet wetting their pants myself included and the resultant furore over Green as owner almost reaching fever pitch.

 

Green then named his consortium and one of them, some bloke by the name of Hart decided to say "It's no me" - how silly that made CG look eh?

 

CG after all that had happened yesterday offered Walter the chairmanship starting at 9am this morning, the silence from Walter was deafening.

 

I think Charles Green has one helluva battle on his hands winning over the Rangers fans never mind rescuing the club. He has my full support and for the sake of RFC it's important he gets 100% backing from those who care.

the news about ally was the truth.

I'm nearly in tears myself reading that.

I don't have a season ticket to not renew but if Walter gets in I will buy one and suppost a share issue.

EVERY time Walter Smith thinks heâ??s finally managed to escape the SFA

â?? Scottish Football Asylum â?? he gets dragged back in. The ties that

bind are just too strong.

And his bonds just happen to be with the most dysfunctional inmate in

the madhouse. He keeps leaving but Rangers just keep sucking him back

in.

Yesterday the golf clubs were chucked under the stairs and Smith was

back on the front line, his mission once again to save the Ibrox club.

But Rangersâ?? need this time is greater than at any other moment in

their long history. Huge numbers of their fans believe the club wasnâ??t

removed from danger yesterday when Charles Green took over the newco

and are convinced they are merely heading down another road to ruin.

Yesterday the club was stripped of its name and became The Rangers

Football Club. A small change but one that will likely have massive

consequences.

Newco or not, The Rangers still face troubled times and donâ??t even

know if theyâ??ll be allowed back into the SPL or banished to the Third

Division.

And Green, who announced his new board, minus the big household

football name he promised, has no idea how many season-tickets heâ??ll

sell to a support that doesnâ??t have any belief or faith in him.

But while others played at becoming owner Green was serious and

finally got his hands on Rangers and all the assets for a mere

£5.5million

Already, the fans have judged. They want him out, especially after one

of their legends insists he uncovered a plot to get rid of him. Thatâ??s

certainly Ally McCoistâ??s belief and when the manager confronted Green

with his evidence on Wednesday no amount of bluster from the owner

could get him off the hook.

As Record Sport revealed McCoist has decided he canâ??t continue to work

with Green and when the fans read the story they turned in greater

numbers against the man Duff and Phelps willingly embraced.

Figurehead

McCoist or Green? No contest, you donâ??t mess with a legend and even

though Green met McCoist yesterday afternoon there was no healing

process.

McCoist was ready to leave but the

developments that hauled his mentor, Smith, back into play started to

unfold and so he held off.

Green unveiled his investors, a mere handful despite claims at the

start that he had 20 lined up, but it wouldnâ??t have mattered if heâ??d

enlisted Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Rangersâ?? fans still wouldnâ??t

have been won over. Not now that Smith has broken cover as the

figurehead for a group that includes bus tycoon Douglas Park and Jim

McColl, one of Scotlandâ??s

seriously wealthy men.

And as soon as Smith spoke, promising transparency and honesty at all

times, the support demanded that Green, who said he would be in charge

for no more than a year, should go right now.

The former manager, who won 21 trophies over two Ibrox stints, is

revered by Rangers fans. In this their time of need they see him as

the only one who can save their club. But he doesnâ??t see himself as a

saviour, just someone who cares passionately about the club and who

felt he had to step forward.

Smith was approached early in April and asked if he would front a

group desperate to prevent Rangers from plunging deeper into trouble

but a solid and transparent plan couldnâ??t be pieced together in time

and Green made his blindside run.

Administrators Duff and Phelps made a binding and legal pact with the

former Sheffield Wednesday chief executive and at that point Smith, in

common with just about every other Rangers fan, thought that was it.

He feared the worst because, despite his charm and airy waffle, Green

just didnâ??t connect with the masses.

But he chimed with the administrators, especially his £8.5m CVA offer.

It isnâ??t known if that exact amount was ever deposited with Duff and

Phelps but when HMRC refused the CVA on Tuesday, Green was able to

secure the assets and transfer of ownership for £3m less.

After yesterdayâ??s meeting of creditors, Green believed his route was

clear. But it had become badly rutted, especially after the McCoist

bombshell went off. Then Smith stepped forward and within minutes of

releasing his declaration of intent, the Rangers fans reacted with

unbridled joy.

They assumed Green would accept the first offer and step aside. But of

course Green, who has put a lot of time and effort, if not a penny of

his own money, into buying the club isnâ??t easily fazed. Heâ??ll bluff

this out if he has to and last night one of his investors was

suggesting anyone who wants to buy them out will have to come up with

£20m.

Thatâ??s just not going to happen and Green will be in a vulnerable

position if he canâ??t sell season-tickets.

Greenâ??s problem is that because he is an unknown he lacks credibility

and football fans need to believe in their leaders. When Smith speaks,

fans listen and believe.

He said: â??I would hope that this offer is fully supported by everyone

in the Rangers family as without them the club cannot and will not

survive.

â??We therefore want to ensure honesty and transparency in everything we

do. We want to rebuild Rangers Football Club and in doing so return

the institution to the standards it is known for.�

He could have delivered that in Russian and heâ??d still have been

hailed. And this is what Green is up against now. Smith isnâ??t just

another bidder, heâ??s the real thing. Heâ??s a fan, a stalwart and

someone who has nothing but the clubâ??s interests at heart.

In return for his support Smith demanded his group sign up to an open

policy which would never exclude the fans. He insists they must be

kept in the loop and that they get the truth no matter how painful it

might be to hear.

Theyâ??ll love him for that and the men who kept asking him to come off

the golf course and get back to work knew they needed him. But until

only a few days ago he was still unsure if he needed this gig.

One call changed everything. He phoned his best mate at the beginning

of the week and when the conversation turned to Rangers the bloke on

the other end of the phone broke down.

Smith told me: â??I was holding the phone listening to a mate crying

because he feared for his club and I knew then I couldnâ??t stand idle.â?

He made another call and said simply: â??Iâ??m in.â? But so is Green, who

gathered his men around him and was standing firm last night.

Smithâ??s lot didnâ??t expect to breeze in but they know the fans who

wonâ??t buy into the Green party will subscribe to them, knowing they

can generate power together. And that people power can be a formidable

force.

Someone should put this thread on FF, just so I can get a laugh on this miserable wet Friday.

 

Any slight question of Walter & Co on there and you get dragged to the pyre and thrown on.

 

If Walter & Co want us so bad buy us it won't take 20mill, I would think 12mill would get the job done, it's still a bloody good deal for a debt free Rangers and the full backing of the support with none of the stigma of Newco hanging over them.

 

It's a game of poker will be interesting to see who blinks first.

your wrong about ff I went on last night and it was full of stuff like he's to late and greens done nothing wrong.

I'm a boss believe me they don't.

mine used to call me the orangeutang. but never to my face.

actually I would say letting green stew while sponsors pull out etc wound be the way to go.