Jump to content

 

 

SteveC

 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,389

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by SteveC

  1. SteveC
    Welcome, jukebox and thanks for your first post - depressing reading, but that isn't your fault!
  2. SteveC
    He's just worked out that if McDowall leaves he's closer up the chain to collecting the poisoned chalice and becoming manager himself
  3. SteveC
    Overall I agree but the big problem here is that damn little word "if", again. "if it made it a priority" - It won't They don't care far less care enough to make it a priority. We'll have Warnock, Wise and Kinnear rotating through the mangers chair in the next year or two unless there is a change.
  4. SteveC
    Before Feb 1st, preferably!
  5. SteveC
    In the midst of off-field turmoil, action on the pitch routinely provides light relief for supporters. Not so at Rangers, where seemingly endless background chaos was replicated only by a team performance – in the loosest possible sense of the word – at Hibernian. A Rangers week that opened with a tempestuous AGM ended in similarly embarrassing fashion with a 4-0 defeat. The dysfunction of the club’s business affairs is well known; of perhaps more concern to battle-weary fans was the glaring lack of shape, style, confidence or commitment that was evident here. Not since January 1912 had Hibs beaten Rangers by four or more goals. They did not even have to try particularly hard for this success against a group of individuals who barely looked interested in what should have been a significant fixture. When boardroom machinations transmit to a playing staff, there really is a problem. Needless to say, neither Mike Ashley nor his trusted lieutenant Derek Llambias were in Edinburgh to watch this shambles unfold. Ashley has been prevented by the Scottish FA from increasing his stake in the club to 29.9% but there should be no doubt that the Newcastle United owner is already calling the shots at Rangers. Quite how he formalises that arrangement in the coming weeks, and before a hearing with the governing body over allegations of rule breaches, remains to be seen. Typically, Ashley has offered no clue as to his intentions in Glasgow. Nor is he expected to. There is not so much of a shred of evidence that the Sports Direct tycoon plans to do more than protect a highly enviable commercial position. To their credit, the Rangers supporters have made their opposition to Ashley plain. Their current problem – Ashley’s stranglehold aside – is the lack of a viable alternative for a business that claims to require £8m merely to continue trading throughout 2015. History tells us Ashley will not be altogether bothered by this result. It also points to those AGMs, stormy or otherwise, soon becoming a thing of the past. All the while, the assertion that Rangers will inevitably return to the summit of Scottish football is becoming trickier and trickier to offer. Rangers lack the funding that would be required to overhaul their football department. With Ally McCoist on gardening leave and receiving more than £14,000 a week for his trouble, Kenny McDowall has stepped forward to preside over first-team affairs. McDowall’s first post-match act was to “apologise to the support” for a woeful display. He looked shell-shocked rather than angry. “I can’t deny that the goings on haven’t helped,” McDowall said. “But we are all professional people. I’m not going to sit here and offer excuses. Hibs were the better team on the day.” And some. David Gray and Jason Cummings put the hosts two in front after 12 minutes. It took 25 for the first rendition of “Sack the board” to emanate from the Dunbar End of Easter Road. Scott Robertson and Liam Craig added Hibs gloss in the second half. It was another of their players, the former West Bromwich midfielder Scott Allan, who proved the star of the show. It is to the credit of Alan Stubbs, the Hibs manager, that he has backed up promise with results at a club that had been in the doldrums. Next weekend’s Edinburgh derby at a sold-out Tynecastle promises to be an eye-catching affair. Rangers, by contrast, look an unmitigated mess. The most damning indictment of McCoist’s tenure is the lack of any positive legacy. Highly paid players look not only devoid of inspiration but, in several cases, basic fitness. For all that McDowall is a decent guy with a reasonable reputation as a coach he is implicated in the dismal standard of affairs by virtue of the fact he was in the Ibrox dugout throughout his predecessor’s reign. For now, McDowall is little more than Rangers’ soft option. By the time McDowall’s players slinked from the field, only a small pocket of Rangers fans remained. Having won 11 from 18 fixtures in Scotland’s second tier, a playoff looks Rangers’ most likely route back into the top flight. On current form, it would be a serious leap of faith to presume they would survive such a scenario. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/27/turmoil-rangers-shell-shocked-heavy-defeat-hibernian?
  6. SteveC
    I said that when Whyte's delight at D&P being appointed was reported. The vicious cycle was inevitable from then on. We'll have had a few managers by this time next year. Warnock, Wise, Kinnear....
  7. SteveC
    4th time lucky for the Ramsdenswhateveritscalled?
  8. SteveC
    Only other possibility is that the players have all been told they are being off loaded and McDowall clearly doesn't want to be the manager in any circumstances (I'd guess from his manner) but especially these.
  9. SteveC
    Too modest! I'd call that a draw
  10. SteveC
    If they do get into power, which I doubt, I expect Ally to be reinstated. Gruesome though the thought is, it is a price worth paying to get our Rangers back
  11. SteveC
    Yes but we really, really wouldn't. There is a forum (or more?) absolutely aghast at this news this morning, for starters and then there's our history of letting crooks wreak havoc on our club with impunity for finishers.
  12. SteveC
    It seems unlikely but in the leaked e-mail Somers clearly had a way of endangering one or more of Ashley's onerous deals - he was threatening to do so. I think there's an - altogether understandable - rush of hope at this news and I fear it will be unfounded. Every time anyone we trust has got near the "inside" doors have been slammed, it's almost as if there is something they don't want normal folk to see (cough, cough) in the inner sanctum of the corrupt cabal. People seem to think they'l find it difficult to refuse this offer. I don't think that is necessarily the case, I think it far likelier they'll protect their gravy train to the bitter end regardless of how clear their self-interested deliberate mismanagement and misappropriating of funds becomes.
  13. SteveC
    Yes, then you immediately worry about it all going wrong. We are conditioned to doubt any hope...
  14. SteveC
    Sorry Ian64, I didn't see the other thread. I checked before posting - perhaps I was only being shown a cache version of the forum when I did so.
  15. SteveC
    Craig is also stating that he has reliable evidence of Ashley being involved with Whyte and Andrew Ellis in 2011. At what point one wonders does this become part of the cops' investigation?
  16. SteveC
    And Easdale complained we were not celebrating this enough, let us not forget.
  17. SteveC
    As posted on FF: "Sons of Struth have received information that in return for the naming rights deal Sports Direct now own the shirt sponsorship rights when the 32red deal expires, this deal has in practice cost Sports direct £1. Sports Direct can do two things now, the can become our shirts sponsor for £1 or they can sell the rights to another sponsor and they they will receive the money Our board have now handed away yet another income stream to mike Ashley for no financial advantage to our club He now owns our shirt sponsorship for a quid, our shops, our merchandise, our carpark, our edmiston house which was paid for by fans via Rangers Pools, almost half the adverts at ibrox (no one knows how much if anything was paid for these0 and he attempted to own our badge and crest and we still have no answer from the board if this has actually happened I dont think his shops run BOGOF offers but it appears he managed to get one when he bought his original shares, I wonder why and more on that as we clarify it. Most fans would consider his involvement only occurred after admin, you are wrong, more on that to follow soon also......... Craig"
  18. SteveC
    Further message (not statement) from SoS (lifted from FF): Lets have a look at Ashleys timeline with Rangers 15-02-2012 Ashleys man Llambias is introduced to a group of rangers fans to explain why selling the name of the stadium isnt such a bad thing 2012 A short time later Mr Ashley gains the naming right for £1 22-08-2012 the club signs a joint venture deal with Ashleys Sport Direct no details are confirmed by the club 05-12-2012 Pre IPO it is declared Ashley owned 8% of club. other initial investors are shown to be BPH, Marg, Mather, Green and Ahmed. Esteemed company and would suggest they were all involved at initial take over to buy club for Green. 29-08-2014 rangers announce new share issue to attempt to raise £4m As posted two days ago Mike Ashley and Steven Mucklow guarentee to underwrite this share issue and agree to buy any unpurchased shares, they remove this under writing days before the issue and as a result Rangers only sell just over the required 75% of available shares and are left with a cash issue. Ashley refused to buy shares at issue 03-10-2014 Ashley buys shares from Hargreave hale and gives them £400,000 which he could have gave the club weeks earlier in the share issue 10-10-2014 The email we put out recently shows Somers beg Ashley to make a better loan offer as Kings deal may be accepted by other board members 26-10-2014 rangers borrow an initial £2m from Ashley, this sees Wallace and Nash leave the club and shortly followed by Crighton, oddly the three directors who wanted to accept kings offer. it is agreed Ashley will receive securities and 2 directors. kennedys £3m loan offer is declined and this included putting security of Ibrox in trust for fans 13-11-2014 Story breaks that Llambias meets ex director Stockbridge at Mar Hall Bishopton 27-11-2004 Annual report comes out and it shows for every £10 spent on merchandise only 75p goes to club, our merchandise deal is with SD 19-12-2014 Llambias is appointed CEO 22-12-2014 Somers claims at AGM Llambias was selected after thourough recruitmant process and was best candidate, not selected as he is ashleys man Does the connections go further back than administration? We are currently looking at information that suggests it does and depending on who answers their phones tomorrow, we may be able to break this info to the Rangers fans shortly. Remember Craig Whyte and Andrew Ellis? Surely not Craig *** Ellis and Whyte....Yikes
  19. SteveC
    I didn't want to say anything negative when I posted the SoS message yesterday. It was posted late Christmas Eve and I think it shows signs of that. I admire Craig and the work the SoS do immensely, but I think this shows a lack of restraint that weakens its important message. I know many people find an insistence on correct spelling and grammar to be pedantic. Whether that is true or not regarding forum posts, there is no argument when it comes to public statements. It is difficult to take seriously messages that have not been proof-read, especially when the mis-spellings result in entirely different words: "Low and behold". This statement is partly written in Easdale speak. We do not want our fan groups to sink to the level of our directors (oh, how painful to have directors like ours). Also, the "Roland Ashley" remark would have been very funny in the pub, no doubt, but it demeans the statement. It turns the message away from its primary aim and into schoolboy name-calling territory. Now, before anyone shouts at me (I see the forum temperature level is still rising), I know they are doing good work and putting something out there while I am only commenting on their work. It is meant to be a helpful contribution, however. If anyone knows them personally, tell them, when they write a statement, to step back for half an hour and think about the content before uploading it and get a second pair of eyes to proof-read it. Spotting mistakes in something you have written yourself is very difficult. Your brain reads what you meant to/should have typed - not what you actually did. Their other message above is excellent and, indeed, so was this one, if only ....etc.
  20. SteveC
    Some paragraphs deserve a like, LIKE, REALLY LIKE button
  21. SteveC
    Re the photo - "2-1" to whom and against which team?
  22. SteveC
    Yes, fair point - sorry, my answer was all that I could think it could be.
  23. SteveC
    Journalists are routinely banned from NUFC. The Telegraph, though, is banned in its entirety (not for the first time). It's more or less open war between the Telegraph and Ashley. Forsyth is using this opportunity to do his career at the paper a lot of good by spreading their anti-Ashley campaign into Scotland. (He might also see it as being the right thing to do, one hopes so). This also benefits us as the other papers made no move until he did and now they can't be seen to be missing out on the stories he is covering. As ever with us though, it's only partly good news. Boycott or no boycott - either way bad; Ally leaving was good because he's a terrible manager but it still felt bad, Opposing Ashley is obviously good - but where will it lead us (fearful thoughts here)?
  24. SteveC
    Wasn't it just put there to show that they had given the opportunity for other investors to be allowed in bu the shareholders rejected it (as they knew they would)?
  25. SteveC
    http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30571648 Wilson has updated his Somer article for the BBC by incorporating the Mucklow story.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.