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barca72

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  1. barca72
    No worries.
  2. barca72
    He's now a star. and you? ... reduced to sarcasm !
  3. barca72
    What do we mean by success? Everything is relative, right? Success does not have to mean that we go from the doldrums of the Championship to the CL in one season. Right now I'd surmise that many Rangers' fans who see their team skate the Championship and make an honest attempt at winning the Premiership would consider that to be a success. Would Ashley consider that a success? If it brought crowds of 30,000 + and who were buying merchandise, I suppose he would. Those figures quoted above will not continue if the present trends continue. Falling crowds, boycotters, parallel merchandising and negativism everywhere will impact on sales. Will Ashley see that as a success? We are a very small niche in his overall interests, but he has already shown us that the present situation is unacceptable. He has sent in Llambias to cut away the driftwood. Who's next? You would have to think that come January he will cut away about six of the dross playing for us, and bring in a few energetic souls. Not stars, but certainly an improvement on the present incumbents. Save on salaries, expend a few million £s here and there, and put a temporary stay on the sp*vs feeding from the trough; is that success? This is a global brand we are talking about here, do you think Ashley likes to lose? Yes, John, mediocracy can be sold but it must appear to be a success. Those of you who are dripping in cynicism when you talk about Rangers' success, I think you want Rangers to be successful so badly you can taste it.
  4. barca72
    Here's an interesting piece on how Ashley operates, lifted from Ozblue's post on RM. If he fully acquires Rangers we will still be a very small piece of change to him. However, it still seems to me he would want Rangers to be successful. I don't think he has time for losers. By Neil Maidment LONDON (Reuters) - "If you don't want to play, we'll come to your country and smash you to bits," Mike Ashley, the billionaire founder of British retailer Sports Direct said earlier this year. That's not the language you'd expect from a business leader laying out plans to expand across Europe. But from a man who turned a 10,000 pound loan from his parents into Britain's biggest sporting goods chain -- buying a football club and stakes in major competitors along the way -- it is not to be taken lightly. Ashley, and many analysts, believe Sports Direct's model of cut-price offers on top brands such as Nike and Adidas, subsidised by high-margin sales of own-brands including Dunlop and Slazenger, can be replicated across continental Europe. That could spell bad news for the big sporting goods chains there, such as France's Decathlon. "Sports Direct is incredibly focussed on the European story," Trevor Green, head of UK institutional funds at Aviva Investors, the company's sixth-biggest shareholder, told Reuters. Ashley's unconventional style -- he's usually dressed in jeans and a white shirt and makes clear his reluctance to explain his decisions -- has unsurprisingly attracted critics: Not least in 2007, when Sports Direct shares floated at 300 pence apiece, netting Ashley around 900 million pounds, only to plunge to 31 pence less than two years later. The stock has since bounced back to more than double its debut price, however, far outperforming the UK benchmark FTSE-100 index <.FTSE>, and helping to win over many doubters. "In terms of retail, he's got control of that sector in his own way, in his own style ... and clearly proven that he's done a very good job of it," Topshop owner Philip Green, Ashley's equally abrasive entrepreneurial friend, told Reuters. "TOTALLY UNCONVENTIONAL" It currently has a near 12 percent holding in its main British rival JD Sports , as well as investments in departments stores House of Fraser and Debenhams, online retailer MySale, and even Britain's biggest retailer Tesco. Having seen off competitors such as the once-mighty JJB Sports in Britain, Sports Direct now has 434 stores at home, as well as 270 more in 19 countries across mainland Europe. But it lacks the scale to take on a pan-European industry about eight times the size of Britain's 5-6 billion pounds a year sporting goods market, and has said it could do takeovers. Analysts have tipped Dutch rival USG and Exisport in Slovakia as potential targets. "TOTALLY UNCONVENTIONAL" Ashley's not just interested in acquisitions, though. The 50-year-old, who owns English soccer club Newcastle United despite the misgivings of many fans, has a track record of using Sports Direct to take stakes in rivals -- a move that blurs the lines between strategic investor and activist hedge fund. "For a public company it's totally unconventional, and that's what he is," said a banker familiar with Ashley, whose 57.7 percent Sports Direct stake is worth 2.3 billion pounds. "But if you invest in this business you should go in with your eyes open. If investors complain -- well I'm sorry, but Mike Ashley was there when you bought the shares." Over the years, Sports Direct has held stakes in companies such as Finland's Amer Sports, JJB Sports, kit maker Umbro, and Adidas -- the latter two raising its profile with two key suppliers, before being sold for big profits. It currently has a near 12 percent holding in its main British rival JD Sports , as well as investments in departments stores House of Fraser and Debenhams, online retailer MySale, and even Britain's biggest retailer Tesco. Sometimes it's because Ashley has seen an opportunity to make money, and sometimes it's because he hopes to influence or cooperate with a rival. But usually it's all of these. In January, for example, Sports Direct sold a stake in Debenhams it had bought days earlier, making a profit of about 4.6 million pounds. It then replaced that with derivatives deals which tie up less capital but still give it an influence. Since then, Sports Direct has opened four concessions in Debenhams stores, securing a platform to sell top-end products of key brands such as Adidas, Nike and Puma that are unlikely to be distributed to its own shops until later. "In the majority of cases over the years we have found that taking those stakes has helped rather than hindered the developing of a relationship and that's why we do them," Sports Direct chief executive Dave Forsey told Reuters. "I don't want to take any credit for the visions that come along, primarily they will be ones that he (Ashley) has spent time puzzling out," added Forsey, who joined Sports Direct as a Saturday boy in 1984 and now oversees the day-to-day running of the business, while Ashley focuses on strategy. At Tesco, where Sports Direct has a 0.3 percent interest via another derivatives deal, it leases unused space in 11 UK stores as well as eight in mainland Europe and four in Malaysia. It has done the same with furniture chain IKEA in central Europe, and more such deals could be on the cards, with big European retailers such as Germany's Metro and France's Carrefour looking to address underused space. Not all of Ashley's bets have paid off. In 2008, he was reported to have personally lost up to 300 million pounds by backing shares in HBOS before the British bank collapsed. But that hasn't deterred him. "It's about putting shops down in a few places and seeing who wants to play ... That's the message we'll be putting out in Europe," Ashley told analysts in July. And if rivals don't want to play, they can't say they haven't been warned.
  5. barca72
    No we didn't let them in. The fans were neither in a state of anticipation nor were they prepared for what was about to happen to us. That is all down to SDM and the sp*vs that followed him.
  6. barca72
    Says it all.
  7. barca72
    The current SPFL Board is made up of Neil Doncaster (CEO), Ralph Topping (Chairman), Eric Riley (Celtic), Stephen Thompson (Dundee United), Duncan Fraser (Aberdeen), Eric Drysdale (Raith Rovers), Mike Mulraney (Alloa Athletic) and Ken Ferguson (Brechin City). { from their website } Why would anyone on this board wish to overturn a decision - as Frankie points out - that the club is not liable for according to LNS? Then we have these bogus charges which were dreamed up by the SFA just because both Rangers and MA ignored righting back to the SFA with an explanation in their timeframe. We know that part of the SFA board is Regan, Petrie, the 'Lundyish' Ogilvie and Lawwell among others. Why would they wish to see us put in a position where we can be fined, sanctioned with point deduction or even have our licence withdrawn? Scotland's governing bodies assisting a club for the good of Scottish football - has to be.
  8. barca72
    He wanted Rangers in the premier division and he didn't care how they got there. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/530715/Gordon-Strachan-league-engineering-Rangers-Hibs-Hearts
  9. barca72
    Did Chesney know something?
  10. barca72
    Here's Roddy Forsyth's take on it ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/11295462/Mike-Ashley-could-control-Rangers-and-Newcastle-United-within-weeks.html Mike Ashley could control Rangers and Newcastle United within weeks Ashley could be in control with SFA's approval – in spite of outstanding charges for breaching club ownership rules as he looks to take shareholding to 29.9 per cent Making moves: Mike Ashley is expected to increase his Rangers shareholding to 29.9 per cent Roddy Forsyth By Roddy Forsyth 8:23PM GMT 15 Dec 2014 CommentsComment Mike Ashley could be in control of Rangers as well as Newcastle United within weeks with the Scottish Football Association’s approval. The development looks increasingly possible despite Ashley being charged with breaches of club ownership rules by the governing body of the game in Scotland. The Newcastle United owner has been cited under two disciplinary rules and Rangers under three rules but Telegraph Sport can reveal that Ashley plans to increase his stake at Ibrox to 29.9% – which would give him effective control of the beleaguered the club without triggering Stock Exchange takeover rules. Such a move seems likely to be approved, albeit cautiously, by many in the game, because while Ashley plans to use Rangers as a branding vehicle for his sportswear chain Sports Direct, a healthy, competitive Rangers – in the Champions League with the Old Firm rivalry renewed – would attract more interest, sponsors and broadcast revenues across the board. The SFA compliance officer, Tony McGlennan, believes that there is sufficient evidence to charge Ashley and Rangers under rules which prohibit a person involved in the management or administration of one club from being involved in the same or similar capacity in another club. Under SFA rules, it makes no difference whether the clubs are in different football jurisdictions and the charges will be considered at a hearing on January 27. Ashley signed an undertaking with the SFA that he would not become involved in the management or administration of Rangers without the prior written consent of the association’s board. Since September, however, Ashley has executed a series of coups designed to put him in charge at Ibrox. Having been thwarted by the former chief executive, Graham Wallace, and finance director, Philip Nash, in at attempt to acquire the rights to the Rangers trademark and crest, he bought 4.16million shares for a total of £850,000 to increase his holding in the club to 8.92 per cent. He thus avoided having to invest in a share issue launched by the club with the intention of raising much-needed cash but which, in the event, brought in only £3.1million. In alliance with Sandy Easdale, Rangers’ football board chairman – who acts as proxy for a number of other shareholding blocks – Ashley had the 51 per cent investor approval to requisition an extraordinary general meeting in order to get rid of Wallace and Nash. In the event, the pair quit, leaving Ashley free to nominate two board members in return for a loan of £2million, later increased to £3million. He installed Derek Llambias – his former managing director at Newcastle United – to conduct a review of the business and stem annual losses of over £8million, as first revealed by Telegraph Sport. In recent weeks several non-playing employees have lost their jobs or will soon do so, including Ally McCoist’s secretary, who has been in place for 30 years. It is the sum of those actions which prompted McGlennan to cite Ashley and Rangers on dual ownership or administrative interest charges. However, early speculation that this would prompt Ashley to pull out of Rangers is wildly off the mark. The SFA’s position is that it could not continue to ignore what it construes as obvious breaches of its rules. The question of Ashley’s ambitions for Rangers is entirely separate. Ashley already controls sales of the club’s merchandise through his Sports Direct retail chain and a revived Rangers, capable of playing in the Champions League once more, would be a vehicle for brand advertising on a European scale. He is not immune to business setbacks – he lost a notional £6million when the online fashion retailer MySale issued a profit warning on Monday – but in pursuit of his aims at Ibrox Ashley is prepared to take his shareholding up to 29.9 per cent. The club’s annual general meeting will be held next Monday and will be asked to approve a fresh share issue designed to raise £8million. An open issue will require 75 per cent shareholder approval but an offer to existing investors requires only 51 per cent – and, as has been demonstrated by his previous request to requisition an EGM targeted at Wallace and Nash – he has the necessary support. Such a move would then require the agreement of the SFA board. No meetings are currently scheduled but if the Rangers share issue is agreed, Ashley’s lawyers will ask the SFA to call the board together to consider his position. There is no certainty of anything like unanimous approval, but many in the higher reaches of the Scottish game acknowledge that a revived Rangers, capable of resuming the Old Firm rivalry and renewing the club’s presence in Europe would make Scotland more attractive to broadcasters and league sponsors, with general benefits. In fact, by the time the SFA’s disciplinary hearing convenes at the end of January – five days before Rangers meet Celtic in the first Old Firm derby for almost three years – Ashley’s alleged infractions could have the status of a prior offence, committed before he completed his tactical strike on a badly battered club.
  11. barca72
    Just seen Zappa's post on the Compliance Officer.
  12. barca72
    Whatever happened to the SFA's meeting with Ashley in regards to his intentions? http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/sfa-write-to-mike-ashley-and-rangers-187169n.25777223 "Ashley has signed an undertaking pledging not to have an influence in the running of the Gers and limiting him to owning 10 per cent of the shares in RIFC plc. "
  13. barca72
    It's entirely up to you with what, and with whom you take umbrage. I am sure your supporters will be impressed with your other news.
  14. barca72
    I agree, however, it's not that easy to dump onerous contracts, you have to get someone willing to take them off of your hands or pay them out. We know how that goes.
  15. barca72
    I simply do not trust the RST. If you say so.
  16. barca72
    http://www.rangers.co.uk/fans/fans-board Contact the Rangers Fans Board The Rangers Fans Board was set up to help improve communications between fans and the Club and the 12 members selected are there to represent you, the supporters. If you have a question for one of the members or something you would like raised, please contact the relevant member via email - see below for details. You can contact any one or more of the 12 elected candidates on any issues - they do not have to be issues for that particular category only. Please note, Elected Representatives will not be able to reply to every correspondence they receive and more urgent day-to-day issues or questions should be directed to the Club. Female Fans: Alison Clark-Dick Email: alisonclarkdick@rangersfansboard.co.uk Families: Christine Murdoch Email: christinemurdoch@rangersfansboard.co.uk Overseas Fans: Gary Gillan Email: garygillan@rangersfansboard.co.uk Fans in Glasgow/Govan Community: William Gillan Email: williamgillan@rangersfansboard.co.uk Disabled Fans: William Paterson Email: williampaterson@rangersfansboard.co.uk Ethnic Minorities: Zia Islam Email: ziaislam@rangersfansboard.co.uk Under 18s: William Findlay Email: williamfindlay@rangersfansboard.co.uk Ibrox match ticket purchasers: Robert Callaghan Email: robertcallaghan@rangersfansboard.co.uk Corporate Fans: Tom Clements Email: tomclements@rangersfansboard.co.uk Rangers Official Members: Tom Johnstone Email: tomjohnstone@rangersfansboard.co.uk Season Ticket Holders: Alan Fraser Email: alanfraser@rangersfansboard.co.uk
  17. barca72
    Addressed by whom? And before you say the board, what board?
  18. barca72
    When you get right down to it, who cares? The objective was achieved, i.e. to expose Thompson for the shallow little money-grabber that he is. Once a word is printed it cannot be unprinted, so the impression of Thompson has been reinforced. Bottom line is we get money for a kid, that may have been a good 'un, that was already lost to us. Not only that, but Thompson's rape of the youth of our leagues is now put on hold because his profit margin has now been reduced and he won't take so many on now in the hope that he gets sell-on profits out of them.
  19. barca72
    from twitter, Thompson has pulled this before ... http://www.thecourier.co.uk/sport/football/dundee-united/dundee-united-in-row-with-queen-s-park-over-youth-signings-compensation-1.94601
  20. barca72
    Getting lost in all of this, is the fact that our board has finally stood up and fought for a point of principle, albeit they got their payoff. Is there any hope for the future in that?
  21. barca72
    Why are you even reporting this? In lieu of post #2, I can't make up my mind if you are being petty or attention-seeking. As to losing the PR war, maybe the people who are winning the PR war have the same mindset as was given to Kieran Conway which he writes in his book ... http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/southside-provisional-how-a-blackrock-boy-joined-the-ira-1.2025633 " ... Soon after, I felt it important to follow the logic of the convictions so recently acquired and began my nine-month quest to join the IRA. This proved much more difficult than people might imagine. The Officials, unkindly, told me that my ambition was evidence of an immature adventurism, that the IRA had plenty of members, and that what they wanted students like me to do was to get our degrees and be assisted into positions in the media, trade union movement, and public service, places where we would be of real value to the revolution. "
  22. barca72

    Who then?

    barca72 replied to compo's topic in Rangers Chat

    I don't dispute the player sacrifices nor do I dispute McCoist being reluctant to let them go. However, with the layoffs we've seen I am more concerned that this board will let the players go and barebone everything else.
  23. barca72
    Do you mean this statement? ... http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/charles-green-claims-mike-ashley-will-earn-rangers-10m-a-year-1-2461089# “I don’t think Mike needs to throw (money into the club) and that’s not the model that I think is sustainable for any football club and not Rangers, Green told Sky Sports News. What Mike will do, subject to all the agreements going through, is bring the might of Sports Direct and that in itself, in my mind, will bring £5-10million a year from merchandise in revenues back into the club. That is far, far more worthwhile than Mike individually signing a cheque because that’s not the right way to run football clubs. It’s about sustainability, it’s about continuing revenues, it’s about brand awareness and it’s about developing the brand and doing it worldwide.” Yeah, we sure fell for that line !!
  24. barca72

    Who then?

    barca72 replied to compo's topic in Rangers Chat

    That's fine, but who is going to finance the scouting network?
  25. barca72
    I am not a fan of the RST, but give credit where due. Any light than can be shone on the dark side is welcome. Good, positive statement. Pity it didn't come from our board.
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