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........and get back to supporting the team BARRY says it's vital the re-elected board members are given time and space to fulfill their promises that can take Rangers back into a position where they can challenge Celtic at the top of the Scottish game. I HAVE no doubt a lot of Rangers fans are angry and disappointed with the outcome of yesterday’s agm which saw the entire Ibrox board survive. But you know what? I am sick to the back teeth of all the fighting, the back-stabbing and the name-calling that has dragged the club I know and love through the gutter for two-and-a-half years. I don’t expect every Rangers supporter to agree with what I have to say today but I’ll say it anyway – it is time to move on and get behind the directors who have been elected in a democratic and legal manner. Yes, we can still scrutinise them and examine everything they do but we have to give chairman David Somers and chief executive Graham Wallace the chance to lead the board and put into place their plans to make Rangers a force again. And we have to give them time to do it. There is very little trust in this board among the rank and file Bears who fill Ibrox every fortnight. I get that. But from even before I could walk and talk, I was told that Rangers fans stick together and support their club through thick and thin. There’s absolutely no doubt they have done that since Craig Whyte set the ball rolling on this awful period in the club’s history and I hope they continue to do it. I hate to hear talk of boycotts and the like. That will cause terrible harm to the team and I don’t see anybody winning out of that situation. Also, it’s not the Rangers way. Look, the directors won the vote. Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch did not convince the institutional investors that they were worthy of a place at the top of the marble staircase. That’s democracy and now the agm is over, I hope a line in the sand has been drawn. We don’t have to like the people who are running the club. But it is vital they are now given a bit of time and space to get on with fulfilling the promises they have made and to set in motion business plans that can take Rangers back into a position where they can challenge Celtic at the top of the Scottish game. They have said the current turmoil has held them back from attracting new investment but now the agm has come and gone and all of the directors got through it with comfortable majorities, they can now go out there and find the funding that is needed to make Rangers strong again. I was encouraged by what I read from Graham Wallace after the meeting. He said the board realises that there has to be greater communication with the supporters and that they have to build bridges. Damn right they do but the way to do that is by proving they have the club’s best interests at heart. Chairman Somers also said the playing budget is way too high for the level Rangers are currently operating at. I can’t disagree with that. Let’s face it, the squad Ally McCoist has assembled will skate League One and will win the Championship with something to spare. I say that with no disrespect to the guys who play in those leagues – some of them are pals of mine – but you look at the likes of Jon Daly, Nicky Law, Lee McCulloch and Lee Wallace and they are clearly top-flight players. So I can see where the chairman is coming from when he says that the budget will have to be looked at. Right now, the priority should be to strengthen the financial position by cutting costs from within the club and by attracting new investment from outside it. But here’s the thing. If the directors want Coisty to slash his team budget then they have to take a hit as well. The climate of taking huge bonuses for winning things in the lower leagues has to stop immediately. It was a disgrace that Brian Stockbridge was getting £200,000 and Charles Green more than £300,000 for winning the Third Division last year. In fact, they should announce that nobody at the club gets a golden handshake or a bonus until Rangers are back in the Premiership winning things or qualifying for Europe. That would send out a message that is in line with the fans’ way of thinking. And there is something else Somers, Wallace, Stockbridge, Norman Crighton and James Easdale have to remember as well. If things don’t change – and I firmly believe they will – and if fans and ordinary shareholders continue to feel ignored and angry at how the club is being run, they can still be called to account at extraordinary general meetings and also at next year’s agm. But I hope it doesn’t come to that. As I said earlier, I’m fed up talking to my mates about all the off-field stuff and I can’t wait for the day we are all sitting praising or moaning about the team’s performances on the pitch. Rangers is a FOOTBALL club. Our football club. And that fact seems to have been forgotten over the past couple of years. I hope yesterday’s events can begin to change all that. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-its-time-forget-2945153

Not going myself so am hoping a few lads I trust to tweet accurately will keep us informed through the meeting. The Rangers board have already arrived ahead of the 10.30am start.

Board v requisitioners – holding an Ibrox agm in pantomine season is truly apt, writes Tom English Life at Rangers did not need yesterday’s drama to put it into the realms of the ridiculous, but it got it anyway. Of course, Rino Gattuso’s comments about committing suicide if he is found guilty of match-fixing in Italy has nothing to do with the events of today, nor, particularly, does Neil Alexander’s mooted legal case against the club for breach of contract, nor, for that matter, does the fact that Craig Whyte lost a £17 million appeal against Ticketus yesterday morning have any great import to the business at hand at the agm. But it’s fitting in a sense that bonkers things keep happening in the wider world of Rangers right up until the denouement of board versus requisitioners. Gattuso, Alexander and Whyte all returned to the headlines on the eve of the agm. In their own unique way they were merely joining a queue of crazy goings-on at their former club. In the last day or so we have had a story leaked – from somewhere – that today’s agm is a foregone conclusion and that the board have triumphed over the requisitioners. We have had Paul Murray’s thunderous response to that story and his wounding words about those he holds responsible for leaking the information. We have the board’s indignant response to the response and a call for Murray to retract. While all this was going on we had the return of the King; Dave King, that is. King has been silent for some months but he re-entered the narrative yesterday when saying that the board should hold out an olive branch to Murray, his words coming at precisely the same time as the board were going to war with him for the umpteenth time. King said that Murray should be invited into the inner-sanctum at Ibrox even though the current board wouldn’t allow him in the same postcode if they had their way. Of course, this wasn’t just a plaintive cry from King. It might have sounded that way, but it’s fair to say that there was a hidden message in what he said and that it could be interpreted thus: “I have millions to invest in Rangers and it’s millions the club is going to need before too long, so do yourself a favour and invite my pal Paul on to the board or else I’ll walk away – and then you’ll have a real problem.” Rangers’ reaction to them may have gone something like this: “Get stuffed.” Last night, Jim McColl backed up King and said that Murray should be invited to join the Rangers board. Murray has got one thing right as head of the requisitioners. He has done a good job in the public relations battle, not that the PR battle matters a damn if it is proven that the board have already won the war ahead of the first sound of gunfire at the agm this morning. He has articulated the feelings of many supporters, not that the supporters’ feelings have been of much concern to the Rangers board for the longest time. Murray has been omnipresent in the media, partly because the media have asked him to be, partly because it has suited him to be. He has done interview after interview and lobbed grenade after grenade about how the board are treating the fans with contempt, how they have refused to answer questions, how they are steering the club towards the rocks again. Some of what he has said is undoubtedly right, but talk is cheap, certainly cheaper than buying millions of Rangers shares that would have given his voice more authority had he, or anybody in his group, put their money where their mouths have been. That has been a huge weakness of the requisitioners right from the start. They talked a lot of sense. They posed a lot of questions that needed to be posed. They highlighted some issues that needed to be highlighted. But they never bought shares. Or never bought them in the kind of volume that would have signalled their intent to seize control of a troubled club. They said that they had backing from the supporters and were also reflecting the concerns of powerful institutional investors. They said they would win the day at the agm not because they wanted to, but because they had to. If they haven’t won, as seems the case, then they have to look at themselves and their strategy and wonder why they couldn’t get one of their earlier members and one of Scotland’s richest men, McColl, to back up the fighting talk with something a lot more substantial. Between them, the requisitioners have less than a 2 per cent shareholding. McColl’s withdrawal from the frontline was damaging to the requisitioners, no question. Even if he wasn’t ready to spend money, he at least had the authority of a man who had money and who might, one day, spend some on the club. King withdrawing to South Africa while still hedging his bets about who he was going to support was also a blow. Yesterday they called on the board to put aside their issues and welcome Murray in the door, forgetting that Murray has already been asked to join the board recently and declined because he didn’t want to abandon his colleagues. The idea that Murray could happily co-exist at Ibrox with Brian Stockbridge stretches credibility. He has said as much himself. Murray’s bottom line in all of this has been the removal of Stockbridge. That’s his one non-negotiable item and if there is a second it’s probably the removal of Jack Irvine, the communications man who has lacerated the requisitioners so often that the idea that Murray can work with him is surely a bit of a joke. Does he deserve to in any case? That phrase “the best interests of Rangers at heart” is one that has been applied to board members and requisitioners alike, guys who wouldn’t have the foggiest notion about the club, but Murray is a bit different. He is a proud Rangers man, no question. But he’s a proud Rangers man with baggage from the David Murray era and you cannot forget that. He was on the Rangers board when Rangers ran amok with their spending. He was on the Rangers board through some of the EBT years. He says that he helped bring down the Rangers debt but that has been open to challenge. He is sullied by the Murray era and to deny it would be to ignore history. As for his namesake, Malcolm. It is one of the greatest examples of cheek that Malcolm Murray can put himself forward as one of the characters to put Rangers on the straight and narrow when he was involved in a board that wasted so much money in the first place. The requisitioners have been far from impressive but they haven’t been up against much, it has to be said. Stockbridge is damaged goods and it’s hard to see how the supporters will ever find him acceptable. Irvine, the same. Both should go because to retain them means no bridge is ever likely to be built between the board and the fans. Irvine has been saying for some time that the requisitioners would not only be beaten but that they would be annihilated and it’s this kind of talk that has dogged the whole episode from the start. It’s been deeply personal. It’s been incredibly nasty. It’s been pock-marked by daftness of the kind displayed by David Somers, the chairman, just short of a fortnight ago when he needlessly got embroiled in the mud-flinging by branding the requisitioners a bunch of “fanatics”. In using such insulting language, Somers was not only getting at the so-called rebels but also those who support them – the Rangers fans. You heard Somers talking about fanatics and you wondered what on earth did he think he was adding to the debate. You heard him saying that he wouldn’t recognise Whyte or Charles Green in the street and you wondered whether such a man was fit for purpose at Ibrox. There is no doubt that the story of the board’s possible victory in the agm would have suited the incumbents. Anything to dampen the spirits of the requisitioners and the supporters would have been welcome. Anything that might make some of those fans decommission their anger and stay away today would have suited the board. If it comes to pass that the board win and that, to a man, they remain in place with no concession made to the will of the supporters, then today might just be seen as the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end. Come the spring, Graham Wallace, Somers, Stockbridge and the Easdale boys will be asking for supporters to part with their season ticket money. Sandy Easdale has already stated that it could be a “fatal blow” to the club if they don’t get that money. Set aside the cheap attempt at moral blackmail and you have a scenario where so much power rests with the supporters. They feel they haven’t been listened to. Well, they’ll be listened to when the board are looking for their money, that is for sure. They’ll have a captive audience in the boardroom at that point and it is up to them to figure out what they do with it. Today will bring anger and probably a victory for the board. You have to think that it’ll be the kind of day where if an olive branch is offered then it will be used as a weapon rather than an instrument of conciliation.

Kenny Macintyre ‏@bbckennymac 33m #BBCSportsound 6.10 - .@RFC_Official fans Paul Murray will join us live. #Rangers Retweeted by

@scotDMsport: Ally McCoist sides with Rangers fans ahead of crucial vote. See tomorrow's Scottish Daily Mail

.............of how crucial Rangers' agm vote will be KEITH reckons the scenario which led to Rangers' League One clash with Stenhousemuir at Ochilview being postponed came at the perfect time for supporters to re-examine what has gone on at their club. AS reminders go, this one was perfectly timed. A league game called off because of an incident involving a burger van. A moment for Rangers fans to pause and reflect on the scale of the damage done to their club by a seemingly endless cast of pantomime villains over the past two-and-a-half years. Of how far these “custodians” have allowed this once mighty institution to fall. It’s not their fault, of course. How could they be expected to notice what was going on around them in their unrelenting rush to scoop up every last blue pound? These people have their priorities you know. As a result, at a time when Celtic were licking wounds inflicted upon them at the Nou Camp, Rangers suffered an altogether different kind of indignity at the weekend. Sidelined, for the first time in history, because a deep fat fryer on wheels crashed into a temporary stand. Such is life in the Wacky Races of Scotland’s lower leagues. But now – with the club’s long- awaited agm just days away – would seem like the ideal time for Rangers supporters to re-examine how on earth they got here in the first place. Perhaps to ensure history is not allowed to repeat itself. Paul Murray couldn’t have planned it any better had he pranged the van himself and made off into the streets of Stenhousemuir under the cover of darkness. If ever there was an episode that sums up the depth of this club’s current plight then this was surely it. In the grand scheme of things, Rangers have become little more than a farce. The Whytes, the Greens, the Ahmads, connections with men on Interpol’s most wanted list, the financial director’s home videos, the bonus culture and large pay-offs, the never-ending investigations and probes, the court cases, the missing millions, the endless spin and counter spin. This is what Rangers of today have become. Meanwhile, in a sporting context, they have reduced themselves to the kind of semi-irrelevance that can have a fixture knocked out by a cheeseburger and chips. Yet no matter how surreal or ridiculous this whole saga has become, in the boardroom battle all sides demand to be taken seriously. And with the shareholders about to shape the future of this club on Thursday, never has the situation required a more studied analysis. The latest offering from inside Ibrox came on Friday of last week when Sandy Easdale invited the BBC and STV round. “I’m no one’s puppet,” was the thrust of his message. But the truth is – with so many proxy votes to protect – he is actually representing the interests of others. In fact, it would seem absurd to expect anything else. Easdale has a duty to do what he is told by those who have entrusted him with their votes. With so much at stake, this is hardly the time or place for him to act like some kind of free spirit. The Easdales swear Charles Green is not involved in their decision making. But Green is in many ways the reason they are slap bang in the middle of this thing. Without him and his old allies at Margarita and Blue Pitch Holdings, the Easdales would hardly have enough votes to merit a say at all. There is another question which might trouble these voters as they prepare to go to the polls. How on earth can the Easdales, chairman David Somers and chief executive Graham Wallace support a financial director, Brian Stockbridge, whose own credibility has been shot to bits among the fans at least? And yet Somers would have these same supporters believe they owe Stockbridge a debt for helping to hold the club together? That they ought to look up to this man as some sort of saviour? That appraisal may come back to haunt him. He claimed also he would not know Green or Craig Whyte if he bumped into them in the street, which displays an alarming lack of knowledge about the main characters in this club’s decline. It may interest Somers to know his predecessor in the big chair, Walter Smith, will have been astonished by attempts to rewrite history. The truth is Stockbridge’s continued presence is one of the reasons Smith – a man who has given most of his adult life to Rangers – cannot bring himself to return to Ibrox, even as a spectator. Come to think of it, John Greig – the man voted the club’s greatest ever servant – has not been back either since being equally sickened by the behaviour of Whyte. Men such as Smith and Greig have been around this club for too long, they care about it too deeply, to accept it in its current form. They struggle to recognise this Rangers. Which is why both will hope their club changes for the better this Thursday. God knows, they can never have seen it any worse.

Murray claims current board are not at Ibrox for the love of Rangers and insists fans will not put up with it any longer Malcolm Murray has insisted a cleansing clear-out of Rangers must be instigated this week - and implored investors and supporters among the shareholding ranks to seize the opportunity to bring long-lost trust and transparency back to Ibrox. Murray, who stepped down as chairman in May and was ousted as director in July, is among a quartet of Rangers-supporting and highly-respected, successful businessmen hoping to drive through change at Thursday’s AGM and be voted on to the board. His will has been emboldened by the wishes of the Rangers fans he’s met - from City of London boardrooms to supporters’ meetings in Glasgow and Belfast - that the club they’ve supported for life is rid of the mistrust and expensive revolving-door policy involving the hierarchy. ‘The fans are the most vociferous about changing the whole lot,’ said Murray. ‘Yet protests have been elegant and diplomatic. No intimidation. It brings a tear to your eye. I am absolutely astounded by the reaction. I’ve known guys who are self-employed taking days off to go to London, to see people, organise protests, do media. Those fans deserve their club back. ‘It needs a big clean-up. The current incumbents are not there for the love of Rangers and it does worry me. Sometimes you have to follow your instinct. I can’t prove my feelings but I’ve been around long enough to judge managements. ‘This is just a nightmare, the most difficult corporate governance situation I have ever seen.’ Rangers responded to Murray’s claims concerning the board’s motivation, a spokesman insisting: ‘They are there to bring corporate governance to the club, which Malcolm Murray patently failed to do, and to protect the interests of investors which Malcolm Murray failed to do.’ Murray was appointed chairman as Charles Green swept to power in a blaze of bombast and consortium backers in the summer of 2012 but the pair were fated not to get along. Murray speaks of a ‘gradual’ feeling of unease with the people he was dealing with inside Rangers, rather than one dumbstruck moment of fear that the club might be in the wrong hands once again. ‘I said to many investors as early as January that, if this was any other company, I’d have to leave,’ he said. ‘They said: “You’ve got to stick in there”. With hindsight - and I think Walter Smith would agree - we should both have resigned much earlier and tried to sort this from the outside.’ He has been on the outside for five months since leaving with Phil Cartmell when James Easdale was appointed as a non-executive director. Murray has since worked alongside former director Paul Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson who, with the backing of Jim McColl, secured an interim interdict at the Court of Session in October to force the issue of their bid for board representation on to the agenda at the delayed AGM. Paul Murray declared the position of financial director Brian Stockbridge and then chief executive Craig Mather as ‘untenable’ after the defeat of a Rangers board that were savaged by the shareholders’ group QC Richard Keen for engaging in ‘guerrilla warfare’. Mather departed but Stockbridge remained and Rangers went on to bring in new chairman David Somers, chief executive Graham Wallace and non-executive director Norman Crighton. They, along with James Easdale, stand for reappointment on Thursday. Bringing his men to the table, says Malcolm Murray, is the only way to end the cycle of suspicion felt by Rangers fans ever since the full horror of Craig Whyte’s reign came to light. Murray says he is motivated to work on behalf of the fans hurting - from the top suits in his business world to the season-ticket regulars who held up the red cards to tell the Easdale brothers, Stockbridge and company to leave Rangers. Sandy Easdale, however, carries up to 28 per cent of voting power and the biggest single shareholder, the Isle Of Man-based hedge fund Laxey Partners, have declared themselves supporters of the current regime. Murray said: ‘The fans have dug so deep. They did it two years ago, as ever, buying season tickets when Craig Whyte took over. They then put their hands in their pockets when the club was close to going out of business last year. ‘Then, this year, it wasn’t a coincidence that, once the renewal deadline for season tickets had passed, the board moved with Charles Green to remove me and Phil Cartmell. That same week, they sacked Cenkos, who guided us to the IPO and are a blue-chip city advisor, and appointed a firm who had been connected to Green’s acolytes for decades and appointed the Easdales to the board. ‘I don’t think fans will put up with that again. They’ve shown amazing loyalty. I’ve mixed with it so much on the business side. They’ve gone through hell. It’s their hard-earned money that is disappearing quickly. ‘They’ve put up with a lot, so many mysterious characters coming through the front doors of Ibrox. They need to know what these people stand for. And so far they don’t. ‘As for the recent appointments, city institutions have asked me where the new chairman David Somers has emerged from. ‘They didn’t know who he was and I don’t know. Norman Crighton appears to be close with associates of Laxey Partners, who are not known as a long-term investment institution.’ Murray stressed that he enjoys the backing of a number of private and institutional investors prepared to stump up financial support in the event of his group being appointed. They are alarmed by the figures posted by the club which reveal a trading loss of £14.4million for the 13 months until June 2013. Murray was a pivotal figure of Manchester United’s share issue in the early 90s, when he had a stewardship of a 25-per-cent holding. The Rangers launch 12 months ago raised £22m, yet Stockbridge has warned the club could be down to its last £1m by April. Stockbridge earned £409,000 according to the books, although it is claimed he’s in the process of handing back half of that - a £200,000 bonus, apparently at the request of Laxey. When asked if it would be enough for Stockbridge - the prime hate figure among the protesting Rangers fans - to be the single existing casualty on Thursday, Murray said: ‘I don’t think it is. It could be a step in the right direction but that’s assuming you get a totally clean, blue-chip finance director. ‘If that appointment is made by the Blue Pitch Holdings, the Easdales, Margarita, then they just put another guy in there that covers it. Transparency and trust and honesty are what needs to be here. That’s why I came here in the first place. ‘It’s about getting that kind of model of a big board, but one not paying themselves that much money. People that care about the club. We need a balanced view, we need non-execs that are supporters who understand the rich culture and history. ‘The key thing that our group has for the future are private investors, fairly wealthy businessmen, and institutional investors who will put more money up if the board is one that is transparent and trustworthy and they see it as such. They can kick the tyre and know where it’s going. We’re not putting it in our own pockets. They’ll know that the money is being put in the playing staff, the stadium - and not anywhere else.’ Murray, then, is interested in a rewind back to the frustrating days when his thoughts were suffocated in the boardroom, as he and Smith were constantly outvoted and outmanoeuvred. When back on the outside, there were similar blockades as Murray and the requisitioners were turned away from winning an Extraordinary General Meeting to trigger change. ‘They allowed themselves to be talked out of it in late summer, with the board insisting it would prove too costly and a deal was made for boardroom changes to be dealt with at the perennially delayed AGM. That moment is one of regret for Murray. He said: ‘We should have gone ahead with the EGM. We tried to save the club money. You think you’re dealing with honourable people and we got messed about. With hindsight, there shouldn’t have been negotiation and compromise. ‘That’s why I think we need a really big change. There’s no point in me going in with some sort of coalition and conning the fans. I can’t do that. I was in a situation where I was in the minority and I’ll never do it again. Fans won’t accept that either. ‘I was on a board where Walter and I were continually out-voted on almost everything. On a good board, you don’t have to vote. You just discuss it until you get to a decent result. There would be no point being on a board where you are in the minority. ‘If everyone is independent, then you get a balanced view. But on the previous board it was almost always four versus a three of Phil Cartmell, Walter and I. ‘For example, when Green resigned, I put in place a search for a top-level chief executive. ‘We actually had Graham Wallace’s CV in then in April. Interestingly, the current board weren’t interested in an external appointment then. I had the rug pulled under me, with the other four saying they will appoint Craig Mather instead of a straight vote.’ Murray acknowledged McColl’s endorsement of Wallace and believes he could work with the ex-Manchester City chief operating officer. That commendation was voiced at the end of last month when McColl, Murray and Co addressed 500 fans at a meeting in Glasgow - one of two staged without a representative of the club attending, despite being invited by the fans groups. Murray said: ‘Their seats were empty in Glasgow and Belfast at the supporter meetings. I found that a contemptible and disrespectful approach to the customers. In any business, you can’t ignore the customers. ‘We put our manifesto up there. And so far from the incumbents? They won’t respond to the values we believe in. They’ve got to respond to the following questions. How much cash is left? How to plan to refinance that? Are you assuring the fans there will be no sale or lease backs whatsoever? Do they believe in representation and clear transparency on financial performance? ‘Somers has said they will answer at the AGM. That’s like having an election and saying that, once you’ve voted, I’ll tell you what the manifesto is! You’ve got to tell people what you stand for. We stand for honesty and things that will help the club recover - new money coming in, building a team. ‘I don’t want to become a hero. I want it to be a team effort. I’m with three other guys because we think we can help get the club back on the right tracks with shareholders and fans together. ‘We are only doing this because fans want us to do it. It’s not for self-interest because it takes your life away from you. I’ve had no life for a year - ask my wife. We’ve got to get this right.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2523948/Malcolm-Murray-insists-Rangers-need-cleaning--exclusive.html#ixzz2nXRXu0Yh Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

After the pre-fight hype the contenders for the right to rule Rangers go head-to-head this week IN the middle of August, Sandy Jardine sat in the back garden of his home in Edinburgh talking about the cancer that nearly killed him. The scans, the operations, the radiotherapy and the long, long journey back to health. What strength he showed. What dignity. Towards the end of the conversation he started speaking about the state of Rangers and the bitter in-fighting at Ibrox. He spoke rather plaintively, like a man who could see what his club had become but still couldn’t quite believe it. “What these people have got to remember is that, whoever takes the club, all they are is custodians,” he said. “The life of the place is the fans. Some of the old guys have been supporters for 80 years. Sons, fathers, grandfathers going in there for long before we were born and will be going in long after we’re gone. We’ve had boardroom battles before but it was kept within the four walls. Let them get on with it, but what they’ve got to remember is don’t embarrass our club. I speak on behalf of the fans now. They’re sick of it.” Jardine’s words were heart-felt but they were ignored. A long time ago we started running out of words to describe the scenes at Rangers this year – not to mention the previous year. With the coming and going of so many chief executives, so many chairmen and so many NOMADs it’s been a pantomime, a circus, a freak show. Ibrox has become an Odditorium where all sorts of previously unknown people have fetched up and declared an undying love for the place, one emotional plea after another, usually accompanied by an earnest promise that they have the “best interests of the club at heart”. If that phrase has been used once it has been used a hundred times. Charles Green, Imran Ahmad, Craig Mather, Brian Stockbridge, Malcolm Murray, David Somers, Scott Murdoch, Alex Wilson, Jim McColl, Sandy Easdale, James Easdale – all of them, and others, tell us they have the best interests of Rangers at heart. Quite honestly, you have to wonder what state the club would be in if all these good Samaritans weren’t looking out for it. On Thursday, all of this comes to a head at last. The Rangers agm will see the final act of the battle for Ibrox, if you can call it a battle. In the board versus the requisitioners contest, as it stands, the board have to be considered strong favourites. There’s the 26 per cent of shares represented by the Easdales, the 11.6 per cent from Laxey Partners and the 4.6 per cent from Mike Ashley. The board reckon they have about 46 per cent of the shares in the bag. Not a guaranteed victory, but a pretty good starting point in an increasingly hostile fight, a war of statement and counter-statement, insult and counter-insult. The board see the requisitioners as scaremongers and blowhards, a collection of characters, some of whom had their chance on the board in the past and blew it, and who now want back on the board despite a combined shareholding of less than two per cent. A case of the tail wagging the dog. The requisitioners talk of an impending financial calamity at the club, about the true nature of the peril being concealed, about a club heading for the rocks again under the stewardship of a board that does not want to engage with supporters and that revels in gratuitous mud-slinging, such as calling those seeking change a gang of “fanatics”. The fans, seemingly in large numbers, are on the side of the requisitioners. Does that make them fanatics, too? They want change. Above all, they want the removal of finance director Brian Stockbridge as their main, non-negotiable, item. And, if there is a second, it would be the dismissal of Jack Irvine, the club’s communications man who has riled them more than once. Both sides are now in an endgame. Sandy Easdale is doing interview after interview. On Friday he attempted to shoot down the view that Rangers are running out of money, but then spoke of a “fatal blow” to the club were supporters to boycott season ticket sales. A mixed message and a touch of moral blackmail. There was also a condescending tap on the head of the fans. They’ve been brainwashed, he said. “The supporters won’t hurt the club they love. They’ll see sense in the long run...” Patronising people isn’t a great way of winning them over. The requisitioners have not been impressive either, it has to be said. Since we are nearly at the end of the year, it’s worth recapping some of what has gone on at Ibrox in 2013, for only by looking back over it do you appreciate how tortuous a saga this has become. It might seem like another lifetime but it was only in January when Green banged on about “the quicker we can leave [scottish football] the better”. Green said he was contacting David Cameron. He spoke about using sex discrimination law to sue UEFA for not allowing Rangers to leave Scotland. Where, exactly, he intended taking them was a mystery. Green is but one character in this story with a brass neck. In February, David Murray’s dismissal of Lord Nimmo Smith’s commission as a witch hunt and a futile waste of time, effort and money was the brazen act of a seemingly unembarrassable man. Nimmo Smith’s report was condemnatory of Murray’s Rangers and their breaches of the SPL rulebook on deliberate non-disclosure of payments. The old board, the verdict stated, “bear a heavy responsibility” for the offences. Throughout the Rangers story you have characters who have sought – and still seek – to rewrite history and change the narrative but Murray’s was one of the most shameless attempts. Green was big on shame at times. In the spring he got embroiled in a drama over a racist comment in a newspaper, then attempted to defend the comment about his “Paki friend”, only to later apologise. The club was cast into a nightmare of uncertainty over his possible links with Craig Whyte and the creeping horror that Green and Whyte were in some kind of cahoots after tape recordings emerged. Enter Pinsent Masons legal firm, exit Green. Enter Craig Mather, exit Ahmad, amid a surreal online controversy after it was reported that Ahmad had taken to social media, under an assumed name, in an attempt to dismantle Ally McCoist’s managerial credibility. Whyte, meanwhile, had by then reported Green and Ahmad to the Serious Fraud Office in an attempt to get his hands on Rangers’ assets. At some point, Stockbridge filmed a drunk Malcolm Murray in a restaurant. Alastair Johnston, former chairman, said that the power struggle was becoming a cancer spreading through the club. Enter Walter Smith as chairman. Exit Walter Smith as chairman, citing a dysfunctional board, a board that was spending money like there was no tomorrow, among the cash burned being the £825,000 salary to the manager. Later, there would be an announcement that McCoist’s salary was going to be cut dramatically. Later still, another announcement that, er, it still hadn’t happened. Rangers had spent £7.8 million on their playing budget to win the Third Division. Smith shrugged his shoulders and said that’s just the way things are at Rangers, as if the club was duty bound to flush money down the toilet. Mather made a play for the hearts of an increasingly disgruntled support, a play right out of the Green textbook. In North America, he spoke darkly about the “enemy of Rangers”. He said revenge would be had against the Rangers haters. “We’ve chosen, and we will continually choose, the right moment to strike. Please, never believe that I or any other directors don’t know the names of the people who have tried to damage this club. We know them all. We know what each one’s tried to do and I can assure you we will never, ever forget about that.” His rallying cry was an embarrassment, an obvious attempt to ingratiate himself with the support and galvanise them into buying season tickets. The ones Mather should have had his eye on were not the guys with laptops but the blokes in blazers scurrying out of Ibrox with their pockets bulging. Exit Mather and here we are today with two camps who have being taking potshots at each other for months. The low-point – or one of them at any rate – was a crass comment on Twitter by Irvine, the board’s communications guy, about McColl being a “bullshit billionaire”. There has been no apology. There’s a new cast of characters in recent times, one of them being the new chairman, Somers, who added his own piece of slapstick to this black comedy a week ago when claiming that, up until a month ago, he had never heard of Whyte or Green and wouldn’t recognise either of them in the street. This was part of his “fanatics” statement. What possessed him to release it is anybody’s guess, but it was cringe-making. The requisitioners have steadfastly refused to buy up shares during these past months. It’s been a big weakness. The board have singularly failed to engage with the fans. Another weakness. There is ducking and diving on both sides and, all the while, Sandy Jardine’s words – “Don’t embarrass our club” – have been drowned out. It’s too late. Embarrassment took hold a long time ago. Graham Wallace, the new chief executive, is an important figure at Ibrox in many different ways. He is the one person who seems to be rising above all of this, the one person who has won praise from both sides. Well, there is one other – Dave King. He has been silent of late, but he’ll be watching Thursday’s events with interest and, perhaps, intent. Rangers could do with Wallace’s decorum and King’s cash. The club could also do with a definitive victory, one way or another, and some dignity in the aftermath. If both sides are true to their mantra of having the “best interests” of Rangers at heart, then the board and the requisitioners would find a way of concluding business on Thursday with some kind of compromise, some means of moving forward without taking swipes at each other for months and years to come. Too many bluffers have trotted out too many cheap lines about loving the club. If they really believe it, Thursday might be a good time to illustrate it. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/rangers-boardroom-contenders-gear-up-for-agm-fight-1-3233870

http://t.co/SjeWumkUEI

Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace says that he would have no problem working with any of the four boardroom hopefuls who are seeking election at the club’s annual general meeting. Former chairman Malcolm Murray and allies Paul Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson have been seeking support for their appointments and the removal of current board members, especially finance director Brian Stockbridge. Recently-appointed chairman David Somers spoke scathingly of the quartet on Saturday but Wallace was more conciliatory as he seeks the stability required to move the club forward. Wallace, who was appointed on November 20, told Sky Sports News: “If the requisitioners, any one of them, were to be voted on to the board, that’s the will of the shareholders. Should that be the will of the shareholders, as a professional businessman, I would be absolutely willing to work with whoever is appointed.” Next Thursday’s meeting comes after a long campaign for change by the Murrays, which included successful court action in October to force the postponement of the AGM and a vote on their potential appointments. That victory sparked several departures and Wallace, Somers and Norman Crighton have since joined Stockbridge and James Easdale on the PLC board. Wallace, a former chief operating officer at Manchester City, is hoping the vote draws a line under the upheaval. “The club needs stability, it needs the platform to move forward,” said the Dumfries-born businessman, who refuted rumours that former chief executive Charles Green or former owner Craig Whyte may be involved in running the club. “There has been a lot of conversations on the relative merits of particular campaigns and particular areas of interest to individuals. What I’m concerned about is having the stability and opportunity to be able to take the club forward. We need to have that mandate to move the club forward. We will have a wide range of supporters engaging with us in the run-up to the AGM. They want to know the club is in good hands, they want to know that the people in the boardroom have the interests of Rangers at heart. And I can categorically give them that assurance sitting from the CEO’s chair. My focus is 100 per cent to drive this club forward.” Paul Murray has previously acknowledged the attributes of Wallace and had no problem with his appointment, but he urged shareholders to vote for him and his allies to bring trust to the Ibrox boardroom. Murray, who was a director of oldco Rangers before being removed by Whyte following his takeover in May 2011, said: “We are not saying that the whole board has to be ousted. We want the best board to take the club forward. I think the most important thing after the last two and a half years is trust and transparency. People have to trust the people on the board and that has actually broken down in the last two and a half years. “We have a couple of individuals on the board who have been there for most of the last 12 months and we have made our views clear on them in terms of the lack of stewardship and financial mismanagement. “There have been three new directors appointed in the last month and we think, certainly Graham Wallace, looks like a credible individual. “We have to ask the question: who appointed these individuals and why would they want to join the board at this time?” http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/wallace-willing-to-work-with-rangers-hopefuls-1-3231793

Graham Wallace: No Green and Whyte at Ibrox Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace has rubbished suggestions that predecessor Charles Green and former owner Craig Whyte are still involved in the running of the League One club. Former oldco Rangers director Paul Murray told Sky Sports News he believed Whyte could have 'side deals' with Green but thought it unlikely he had 'any legal claim over the club's assets' which include Ibrox, Murray Park and the Albion Car Park. "We are reasonably confident that Craig Whyte doesn't have a legal claim over the assets, but what we don't know is any side deals he may have with Charles Green," said Murray. "The 26% block of shares that the Easdale brothers have largely is the original backers of Charles Green so I am pretty sure he is behind the scenes somewhere." Murray, who is part of a quartet - along with Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson - seeking election to the Ibrox board at next week's AGM, believes his group can bring much-needed change to the troubled club. "I think the fans ultimately want people on the board they can trust and I think they can see our group are effectively Rangers supprters who are here representing Rangers' interests as opposed to self-interest. "We are doing this for the right reasons and I think the fans can trust us." But Wallace insisted his claims were without foundation, saying: "I have never met those individuals and I can categorically say they have no involvement in the running of this club. "The club needs stability, it needs the platform to be able to move forward and the AGM will be a pivotal moment. "There have been a lot of conversations over the recent weeks and months over the relative merits of particular campaigns and particular areas of interest to invdividuals. "What I am concerned about is having the stability and the opportunity to take the club forward and we need to have that mandate. "We will have a wide range of supporters engaged with us in the run-up to the AGM and they want to know the club is in good hands with people in the boardroom who genuinely have Rangers at heart. "I can categorically give them that assurance from the CEO's chair. My focus, 100%, is to drive this business forward." Rangers' eagerly-awaited AGM will take place at Ibrox on December 19 where the current board - Wallace, Brian Stockbridge, James Easdale, Norman Crighton and David Somers - will be seeking re-election.

The Reqs the facts. http://www.rangersmedia.co.uk/requisitioners-the-facts/

Representatives of the Rangers Union of Fans have been in London for the past two days, meeting with a number of significant shareholders in Rangers. We put across the overwhelming wish of supporters for change in the boardroom. During the meeting with Colin Kingsnorth of Laxey, kindly organised by the London Rangers Supporters Club, we explained the severe trust issues which Rangers fans have with some of the current board, most specifically Brian Stockbridge. These issues were articulated clearly at the weekend via the large scale protest at Ibrox. We also impressed upon him the need for the appointment of trusted directors. Mr Kingsnorth is now fully briefed on the fans feelings and appeared to share the majority of our concerns on Mr Stockbridge. He also revealed that he had insisted that Mr Stockbridge repay his £200k bonus from last year or that Laxey may not support his re-election. He believes that in response to this possible loss of significant shareholder support, Mr Stockbridge had returned, or would return, this money prior to the AGM. He also acknowledged that this was far from the only issue with Mr Stockbridge. Despite broad agreement on fans' concerns, Mr Kingsnorth indicated that Laxey were unlikely to change their already submitted and publicly stated vote. We remain unclear on the reasoning behind this, particularly given these shared concerns. Following this round of meetings, it would appear that the AGM result will be particularly close as there are numerous different claims of support. It is clear that the 12% of voting rights held by the Rangers support can be absolutely crucial to the result at the AGM. We urge all fans to make sure your vote counts by attending the AGM in person or, if you cannot attend, proxying your vote to someone who can.

Dear Mr King, This is a particularly difficult letter to write, despite it being penned from one Bear to another. It is difficult because I don’t necessarily believe the model of ownership you would bring to our club – a sole owner – has been particularly successful for Rangers, and if I’m honest I would much rather see the transparency and clarity which I would hope could be afforded by some measure of fan representation on our board. In short, in writing such a letter I am foregoing many of the dreams and aspirations I hoped would be achieved in my lifetime for our club. I mention the foregoing for one reason – to highlight how desperate and concerned I am and the circumstances which gave rise to this letter. Our support is literally ripping itself asunder in the current boardroom battle, the very heart and soul of this club are trading blows with each other and causing rifts, some of which I fear may prove irreparable. For a club such as ours, which attracts so much hatred from others, and whose strength and very survival has often relied upon our unity as a support, this presents a bleak and ominous outlook. Further more I am not convinced that either side emerging victorious from the AGM on the 19th December, will result in a cessation of hostilities, merely a lull in the fighting, which will be renewed, perhaps with greater vigour and further damage to our already fragmented support in the future. But I do not write to you as Dave King the financial saviour of our club. I write to you as the only man on this planet who can bring the much needed unity to our support, whose commitment to this club is without question, and who can capture, inspire and unite our support behind our club. As one. The English writer William Hazlitt once wrote : “No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.” I, and thousands like me, would implore you now to write your page in the history of our club. Yours in Rangers D’Artagnan

How much money has been pocketed by so called board members since Craig Whytes takeover it is an astonishing ammount of money we are talking about close on £100 million pounds has went through the club and what have Rangers football club got for it, well come April we have £1 million pounds left, Now i ask you another question what has Craig Whyte got for it, What has Craig Mather got for it, What has Imran Ahmed got for it, What has Charles Green got for it, What has Brian Stockbridge got for it, What have the Easdales got for it? What will Jack Irvine get for it? Back this board at the clubs Expense as you will need to look yourself in the mirror every morning.

Written by Scorchio Rangers fans attending Ibrox to watch the Rangers team play Ayr United yesterday made me truly proud to be a Bear with what can only be described as one of the largest and most successful protests against our Club's boardroom which I have ever witnessed. While the team went about it's business and did us proud on the pitch, our fans yet again did us proud in the stands by going about the business of supporting the team while also getting involved in the protests. Literally thousands upon thousands of red cards being held aloft by disgruntled fans in all four Ibrox stands accompanied by chants which were led by the BF1 section sent a strong message to the boardroom and shareholders. Many thanks to Sons Of Struth for organising this and other recent protests and also a huge thanks to all the fans who helped SoS and everyone who took part, even if only by holding up your red card. That display of our strength and feelings in such sizeable numbers sent the boardroom the message that a very notable percentage of the Club's lifeblood, the fans, are still far from being satisfied with the make up of our Club's boardroom. The men who've been given the privilage of director seats in our Club's boardroom may well ignore the message, but if they do then they would be ignoring it at their peril because the size of yesterday's participation signalled an end to apathy for a very large portion of our support and a move towards action. Our Club and fans have been through turmoil and have clearly had more than enough, so as the Club's AGM rapidly approaches, the men in the boardroom should pay attention to the Club's lifeblood and pay very close attention to the wishes expressed by such large protests at Ibrox. Below are what I consider to be three of the most important changes urgently required at Ibrox: No.1: Brian Stockbridge MUST GO !!! His position is completely untenable for too many reasons to count. Most importantly, he was (and potentially still is!) a cohort of Charles Green & Imran Ahmad before the questionable takeover last year. There are also recordings in the public domain of Stockbridge, Ahmad & Craig Whyte plotting a £5m sale of shares in our Club to Rafat Rizvi who is a convicted fraudster and a wanted man. A large majority of Rangers fans cannot and do not trust Brian Stockbridge for a multitude of reasons, so it is a total and utter disgrace that he is still acting as our Club's Financial Director sitting on our board and it is NOT acceptable for the current board to prolong his stay. He needs to go, now. No.2: David Somers MUST GO !!! David Somers is clearly not independent as claimed and clearly not good enough, nor suitable enough for the position of Chairman at Rangers Football Club. Mr. Somers has had plenty of time to get a feeling for the political landscape that he's being paid to traverse, but instead of navigating it skillfully or even remotely carefully he comes across as clueless, acting with no care, no tact and no class. From the statements released so far including the embarrassing nonsense released in the guise of a Chairman's statement on Friday, the Chairman has already displayed total disregard for the fans who've been trying and are still trying to cleanse and improve our boardroom and Club as well as total disregard for the current political landscape and bigger picture at the Club. He may not have been here long, but if David Somers thinks that releasing official statements defending Brian Stockbridge whilst attacking influencial Rangers fans who are trying to improve and most importantly safeguard our Club is acceptable, then he most certainly is not a man suitable to be the Chairman of our Club. No.3: Jack Irvine and Media House MUST GO !!! The position of this man and his PR company is completely untenable. They have repeatedly attacked and worked against our Club for the benefit of individuals and for their financial gain. Rangers Football Club has been embarrassed and mistreated by the spin doctor work of Jack Irvine and Media House for far too long and it needs to stop. His and the Media House work for Rangers must come to an end as soon as possible because it is completely unacceptable for their contract/s and work for the Club to continue. http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/202-stockbridge-somers-irvine-and-media-house-must-go

AS a listed company, the members of the Rangers Board have to be very careful and professional in the way in which we communicate information. This is clearly not the case for the requisitioners, who can make all sorts of wild and spurious allegations. My concern is that these unprofessional, wild allegations are being used just like bogey men were used when I was a child. But in this case, they are being used to frighten our supporters and shareholders. So, within the bounds of what I can say, I would like to put some of these bogey men to rest. Firstly, I read wild accusations that I may not be independent. This is usually accompanied by a list of names from the club’s past. Let me say categorically, that until I joined the Board a mere 4 weeks ago yesterday, I had never heard of Charles Green, Imran Ahmad, Craig Whyte, or any of the other characters in Rangers’ history. To my knowledge, I have never met them, nor had business dealings with them. Nor would I recognise them if I passed them on a street. When I was approached to join the Board, the Company had only two directors and the immediate priority was to preserve the AIM Listing. Surely it is naïve to think that there is any way the Nominated Adviser could have allowed anyone not totally independent to take on this position at that time? I have now read over two years of board minutes and they make very depressing reading in terms of the scale of their lack of professionalism and worse. The minutes make it clear, in my mind, that the boards of recent years have been totally unfit to run this club. The mystery to me is why people should now be considering that members of these boards, which presided over the problems we face today, should be considered for re-election. Although I have learned one lesson, which is that if you shout long enough and loud enough in the media, you may be able to reinvent yourself. Recent inaccurate and, in fact, completely untrue allegations have included a new bogey man about Jack Irvine's contract. I have looked at this and can say that he has a normal contract, with no bonuses attached and the figures quoted by Mr Scott Murdoch are utter nonsense. Let me also say that Graham Wallace and I are beginning a complete review of every contract that is in place. You can imagine that this is going to take weeks and then more time where contracts need to be changed. I have been on board four weeks yesterday and Graham less than that, but we have already begun this critical process. One area, where we are conscious that we need to focus, is in improving our communication and engagement with all Rangers supporters. We have already commenced work to identify what is required to fully engage with our fan base and we will be bringing forward some significant proposals in the near future. The Board is fully behind improving the communication and engagement with the fans. Another bogey man relates to the club's finances. We have said publicly a number of times that any talk of the club going into administration is completely untrue. Yes, we will need to make decisions to improve cash flows and strengthen the business, but these will be the right decisions at the right time. Another new bogey man thrown about by the Gang of Four is the suggestion that we might be thinking of selling Ibrox. We are not thinking about this. Where do the requisitioners get these ideas from? I promise you we have no intention of a sale. Brian Stockbridge suffers most from the lies thrown around by the people in the process of reinventing themselves. Even the requisitoners must understand that finance directors are members of boards and their actions are largely dictated by the board. Reading the minutes of the last two years or more, I see that Mr Murray was involved at board level for long periods covering contract and financial negotiations. It is not that Finance Directors make mistakes, rather that boards make mistakes, or worse. Without Brian, the club would, in my opinion, have been de-listed months ago and ironically the club should owe him a debt of gratitude for holding things together. Going forward, his new CEO, Graham Wallace, needs time to evaluate the whole structure within the business and the people within it. This will be true for Brian as for everyone else. For the good of the club, for the good of the supporters and for the good of the shareholders, I sincerely hope that the shareholders will get behind the existing board and vote for us. In addition, I encourage shareholders to vote against the four requisitioners. Firstly, because some of them were members or chairman of boards which failed this club in the past. Secondly, we need a Board selected from the best available people. Not just from fanatics who put their own personal interest ahead of the greater good of the club. If these people were to join the board they would be taking up positions which should be held in future by the best, professional people with Rangers true best interests at heart and not having their involvement driven by their own personal self interest. Best regards, David Somers http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/5759-an-open-letter-from-the-chairman

I know I will get Pelter's for posting this, but thought I may get the other side of the coins thoughts. It was taken from RM and put together by a poster called TheLawMan "I recently posted about the Murray myths around debt reduction and Break even Domestic policy however i see today he is still claiming he helped reduce debt. His fans appear to believe him as well, despite the facts disputing what he says. Anyway, i thought i would take things a little further and look at the facts and figures of the people we are being asked to vote for. I know this type of thing normally bores people but I would urge you to read through Murrays CV. First an in-depth look at Paul Murrays Directorships – Past and present. Source : http://companycheck....ector/907102823 Lets start with his current active Directorships: Delamore Holdings (2007 to present) ( -£5m Net worth) – A flower and plant wholesaler – Assets of £1.68m and Liabilities of £1.78m. Cash in bank depleted from £652k in 2008 to £184k in 2012 year end accounts. Points to note. 2012 was a £973k loss following on from a £733k loss in 2011 and a long term loan was taken out to repay short term commitments. R.Delamore Limited (2007 to present) (£1.4m Net Worth) – A flower and plant wholesaler – Assets of £1.5m and Liabilities of £1.45m. Cash in bank depleted from £652k in 2008 to £0.8k in 2012 year end accounts. – Points to note. Due to cash depletion and a Going Concern issue, the company took out a new £2.25m loan to repay other loans and made a £628k loss last year. MGI Investments Limited (2004 to present) ( -£64k Net Worth) – A Management Consultancy firm – Assets of £23k and liabilities of £90k. Cash in bank depleted from £91k in 2008 to £3.6k in 2012 year end accounts. Vicast Limited (2013 to present) – A Business and Domestic Software Company – No information as no accounts filed but should be noted that fellow Directors are Martin Bain, John McLelland and Jacqueline Gourlay. St Marys School, Melrose (2009 to present) – (£2.85m net worth) – Education – Assets of £99.6k and Liabilities of £91.2k. Cash in bank depleted from £85k in 2008 to £6.7k in 2012 year end accounts. In summary, he holds 5 active directorships(there is a duplicate listing for MGI on the website) with a total Net Worth of Minus £814,000. Assets of £3.3m and liabilities of £3.4m. Total Cash of £189k. Now lets look at Past Directorships. Urban Life Properties Limited (2003 to 2009) – Dissolved in 2009 RFC 2012 PLC (2007 to 2011) – In Liquidation Wireless Systems International (2000 – 2002 ) – Dissolved in 2004 Martin Currie European Partners and Martin Currie Investment Management Limited (2003 – 2004) – Dissolved in 2007. Paul Murray was brought on board as MD of this business to launch a new £200m private equity fund. He only managed to raise 10% of target and left the business in 2004 after Currie suspended the launch of the fund. 3i PLC (September 1999 to April 2000) – Still active and a huge business with a £80m deficit of Liabilities v Assets Scientia Ferovia Limited + Scientifics Group Service Limited + Harwell Scientifics + Atesta Trustees Limited + Atesta Holding Limited + Scientifics Limited (all 2005 to 2006) – All non trading. It isn’t rocket science but looking at the above list, his Executive Directorships have been an absolute failure. 3 Dissolved, 1 liquidated, 6 non trading and the only 1 of any note, he only lasted less than 7 months in, and that was 13 years ago. Add that to his current directorships and we really need to ask...... WHY PAUL MURRAY ?? Anyway, lets now look at the total current directorships of Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson from the above source. 10 COMPANIES NET WORTH = Minus £27.3m ASSETS = £29.4m LIABILITES = £86.3m CASH in bank = £2.23 million Now lets look at the other half which is principally Somers and Easdale. 13 COMPANIES NET WORTH = £294.9m ASSETS = £3.5 billion LIABILITIES = £3.4 billion CASH in bank = £1.3 billion SUMMARY The current record of Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray and Scott Murdoch is dreadful. Liabilities running at 300% to assets, dissolved companies, liquidations, cash only going one way over last 5 years in all of their companies yet we are expected to believe they are the team to take us forward. Contrast that with Somers companies whose cash has multiplied by millions and hundreds of millions in his companies. Huge assets, huge network, just huge all round."

A statement from the four, who include former oldco Rangers director Paul Murray plus Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson, read: "He started by making great play of having never heard of Charles Green, Imran Ahmad nor Craig Whyte. "You would have thought that a man who made a big deal of having been to big European nights at Ibrox, would at least have had a passing knowledge of central characters in our club's recent history. "He then talked of having read board meeting minutes from the last two years which show a 'lack of professionalism and worse' and concluded that the boards have been 'unfit'. We agree with him and that is why we have been campaigning for change. "He went on to say that it was a 'mystery' to him that members of these boards should be put up for re-election but yet he has two such members on his board at the moment. "Is he now recommending to shareholders that they should vote against Brian Stockbridge and James Easdale?" The statement added: "If he had taken time to read the minutes properly he would have noted that Paul Murray was not even on the board over the time period he refers to and he would also note that Malcolm Murray and Phil Cartmell, two of the non-executives, were voted off the board for challenging the lack of corporate governance and financial transparency in the club. "It is not entirely surprising to us that Mr Somers seems to be a bit vague on the detail on the basis that this is the same man who when we asked him how he had come about being appointed said that 'he couldn't really remember'. "Mr Somers then went on to defend Brian Stockbridge and Jack Irvine. "In the same breath he talked about improving communication with the fans. What a ludicrous statement. "As the chairman of the club he has had many opportunities to engage with his customers over the last month and he has chosen not to. "Had he taken the time to listen and engage rather than adopt a siege mentality he would have quickly found out that the fans want truth and transparency not spin and bluster. They also want the removal of Brian Stockbridge and Jack Irvine. "Mr Somers finished his rant by describing our group as 'fanatics'. If a fanatic is someone who, for no personal gain, stands up for his club's interests after two years of some of the worst corporate behaviour in modern history then we plead guilty as charged." The statement challenged Somers to prove he is "truly independent" by disclosing who is behind the Blue Pitch and Margarita shareholdings; get his board to commit to pledges they made in their 'Rangers Constitution'; stop "defending the indefensible with Brian Stockbridge and Jack Irvine"; be "transparent" on his appointment; and to meet the fans and explain his vision. The statement finished: "If you do that then people will start believing that you are independent. Until then it is just words." http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-rebels-challenge-chairman-david-2901228?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Rangers supporters' groups threaten to call time on financial support if boardroom battle continues after agm HAVING poured £10milllion into the club the Rangers Supporters Trust, Rangers Assembly and Rangers Supporters Association believe they have the power to force change in the boardroom. RANGERS fans’ groups last night threatened to pull the plug on financial support if the Ibrox boardroom battle continues to rage after the annual general meeting on December 19. A statement from the three main organisations – the Rangers Supporters Trust, Rangers Assembly and Rangers Supporters Association – came just hours before new chairman David Somers plunged into a new war of words with the four shareholders hoping to be elected onto the board at the agm. But even before his comments Ibrox supporters’ groups made it clear they’ve had enough. And having poured £10million into the club through season ticket sales this season, they believe they have the power to force change. Their statement read: “It is evident significant portions of the support want as a matter of urgency to see a RIFC board working efficiently as a unit to take the club forward effectively commercially and on the pitch. “Failure to achieve this will potentially result in fans disengaging with the club and the effect this would have on income streams would be disastrous.” Somers later issued an open letter defending himself against claims he had not proved his ‘independence’ from previous regimes operated by Craig Whyte and Charles Green. Somers’ intervention – in which he calls Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson the ‘Gang of Four’– appears to have blown any chance of them working together should the quartet be elected. The newly appointed chairman claimed many of Rangers’ problems over the last two years came during periods when the Murrays were directors. He accused them of ‘wild’ allegations to frighten fans and shareholders. Somers said: “Brian Stockbridge suffers most from the lies thrown around by the people in the process of reinventing themselves. “Even the requisitoners must understand finance directors are members of boards and their actions largely dictated by the board. It is not that finance directors make mistakes, rather that boards make mistakes, or worse. “Without Brian, the club would in my opinion have been de-listed months ago and the club should owe him a debt of gratitude for holding things together. “Going forward, his new CEO Graham Wallace needs time to evaluate the whole structure within the business and the people within it. This will be true for Brian as for everyone else. I read wild accusations that I may not be independent. “Let me say categorically, until I joined the board a mere four weeks ago yesterday, I had never heard of Charles Green, Imran Ahmad, Craig Whyte or any other characters in Rangers’ history. “To my knowledge, I have never met them, nor had business dealings with them. Nor would I recognise them if I passed them on a street. “I have now read over two years of board minutes and they make very depressing reading in terms of their lack of professionalism and worse. The minutes make it clear in my mind the boards of recent years have been totally unfit to run this club. “The mystery to me is why people should now be considering that members of these boards, which presided over the problems we face today, should be considered for re-election. “I encourage shareholders to vote against the four requisitioners. Firstly, because some were members or chairman of boards which failed this club in the past. Secondly, we need a board selected from the best available people. “Not just from fanatics who put their own personal interest ahead of the greater good of the club.” But Rangers Supporters Association, Assembly and Trust last night jointly accused Somers of being out of touch. In response to his comments they issued a statement that said: “The comments from the chairman are deeply troubling and we call for an urgent meeting so he can acquaint himself with the reality of the feelings of the support.” Somers’ comments came on the day the four requisitioners made a statement to shareholders ahead of the agm. It read: “We have been relentless in our pursuit of change, as have the fans with whom we are completely aligned. “There are not many businesses who can choose to ignore their customers. This is what the past and current board have done and are still doing. All shareholders should be worried about the impact this may have on season ticket sales and other commercial revenues. “We would ask shareholders to support further board changes.” I would like to know how they get to the £10m figure, and if it wasn't the groups why they haven't corrected the journo.

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/200-statement-to-rifc-shareholders-from-murray-et-al Too long to post to please click the link...

He and ex-board member Paul Murray – who is also a member of the group that is trying to win control at Ibrox – met with representatives of 60 Rangers supporters clubs in Belfast last night. And he didn't sugar coat the message that an institution that had designs on being kings of Europe less than 20 years ago remains on the precipice – 18 months after it entered administration. The future can be bright, however, with ambitions to play in a European Super League down the line – but only if the club is on a secure footing. "I personally think that the club is in danger if we don't get a win here," said Malcolm, who is likely to return as chairman if the vote on December 19 goes the way of his group rather than the current board being re-elected. "I don't see how it's going to be funded. The official statement from the last fans meeting with the current board said that they would have £1m cash left in April. "They spent quite a lot of that already in pay-outs so I don't know how much longer it will be before it runs out – probably before Easter if things don't change dramatically or unless they have investors lined up, which they haven't said they have. "We do have, both private and institutional investors, who will back us." The picture in Govan has never looked bleaker. Craig Whyte bought the club for a mere £1 in May 2011 from David Murray. By February the following year it was in administration and within six months Rangers found itself in the Scottish Third Division for the first time in its illustrious 140 year history. While things are improving on the pitch after last season's promotion success, off the field uncertainty remains. Paul and Malcolm are working to put Rangers back on an even keel and rallying the support of the club's Northern Ireland fanbase is crucial to them – hence the reason why they made the trip across the Irish Sea. Paul Murray said: "These are the customers of the club and unlike an English club, in Scotland the fans are the lifeblood of the club with the money they spend on season tickets, merchandise etc. "What I find disappointing is that last Thursday in Glasgow nobody from the current board came to address the fans and they didn't even reply to the email invite to come to Belfast, which I think is a really shoddy way to treat the customers."The fans saved the club last year and to not engage with them just isn't right." Their attempts to gain control of Rangers have met a number of barriers already. Paul was removed from the board almost three years ago. Malcolm was ousted as chairman earlier this year. They are, however, refusing to give up. Even in the last few weeks they have to go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to win the nominations at the AGM. "I want to get involved to help save the club," said Malcolm (pictured). "This time last year there was a short period when we thought that things were looking pretty good. We raised £22m, had a clean balance sheet, had full asset ownership. Unfortunately with all of our difficulties most of that cash has disappeared on non-investment activities. "Investment activities mean spending money on the stadium or players – that's what a football club does – but the money has been spent elsewhere and it needs tight cash control for the future, new funding – which we have access to -and get the faith of the fans back." "This puts us in a position to go to any of the institutional investors who are still wavering and say we have the customers overwhelmingly behind our group to clean this up for the future. That's why it's important. "I was an institutional fund manager for over 30 years. In 30 years of trying to sort companies out this is the most complex situation I have ever seen, Ending up in the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh to get nominations at an AGM is outrageous and a waste of company funds. It could have been done months ago." It's only five years since Rangers were in the Uefa Cup final. Twenty years ago this season they were in what was effectively a Champions League semi-final against Marseille. Those days can return according to the Malcolm. He said: "Anything can happen, but we have to be in financial health to be involved." That's my mind made up then

KEITH reckons Rangers fans should remember that Paul Murray has always had the best interests of the club at heart ahead of agm on December 19 AFFAIRS of the heart can be complicated things. There must have been times over the last two and half years, for example, when Paul Murray will have wondered why he bothers. When loving his club may have become altogether just too bruising. When negotiating his way around this unrelenting Rangers saga must have exhausted him. As if he was playing five-dimensional chess. Trying to disseminate the filthy lies of the Craig Whyte takeover, see through all those murky, multi-million pound deceptions, get his head around the shameful cheating of the public purse and then suffer the eventual agony of watching his club being tipped over a financial abyss. It must have messed as much with his head as with his emotions. From day one Murray cried foul but found hardly anyone who was willing to listen. He was denounced as a trouble- maker, derided as a fantasist and turned upon by Rangers fans who had no wish to be confronted by such unpalatable truths. That kind of brutal abuse would have been enough to make most walk away. But when Murray’s nightmare scenario actually became reality and Whyte called in the administrators on February 14 last year he summoned up the will to keep on fighting. Then when his Blue Knights were blocked by Duff and Phelps from saving the club from Whyte’s clutches, Murray was savaged again for allowing his consortium to be trumped by Charles Green who had appeared on the scene at the very last minute, as if from nowhere. The rancid stench from that closed-shop sale – and the crescendo of criticism which came his way after – should have been enough to sicken Murray for life. He was humiliated. His credibility called into question by the very supporters he was trying to help. Many thousands of them hailed Green as some sort of gruff- talking, big-handed messiah. Perhaps they know better now because, finally, after all this time the fog of confusion around this Rangers debacle is beginning to lift. At last, Murray’s place in all of this is becoming clear. In fact, with little more than two weeks to go before the long-awaited and defining agm, it has never been so straightforward. On December 19 he will either be voted on to the board or he will not. The club’s shareholders must now decide if they trust Murray and his fellow rebels Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson – or if Rangers would be safer left in other hands (be they big Yorkshire ones or otherwise). Perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight, now would be an ideal moment for some reflection on Murray’s role in all of this. They say you can judge the calibre of a man by the company he keeps. In Murray’s case, perhaps it’s even more pertinent to consider the enemies he has made over the last two and a bit years. Let’s start with Whyte, Duff and Phelps, David Grier, Green, Imran Ahmad, Craig Mather and Brian Stockbridge. None of them has a good word to say about Murray. Which might be his biggest single validation of all. This is the definitive Who’s Who of the bogeymen in this unrelenting Rangers narrative. With that in mind, it is interesting to note Murray has expressed support for the club’s new chief executive Graham Wallace, whose appointment has been broadly welcomed by all sides. But while it is entirely possible that these two – and new non-executive director Norman Crighton – might yet find common ground, Murray has beaten most of the rest of them into retreat if not entirely into submission. Now two men are fixed firmly in his sights – Stockbridge and the PR consultant who helped bring about this whole collapse by acting in the interests of his client Whyte. Or, if you prefer, the onset of the Cuban Heeled Crisis. Last week it was alleged publicly by Murray’s team that this master of the dark arts is currently being paid £40k a month to spin on behalf of the Rangers board, with another £100k bonus to come for a favourable result at the agm. The man himself denied these figures on Twitter but declined numerous invitations to clear the whole issue up by declaring his real bottom line. There is no doubt whatsoever, though, that his company has been handsomely rewarded by the Whytes, Greens and Ahmads. As a result, at one time or another some or maybe even all of these characters have enjoyed a certain amount of backing. But at no point did they receive Murray’s. That’s chiefly because their priorities clashed directly with his. While they have all sought to exploit Rangers for financial gain, Murray’s motivation has always been to protect the club. Perhaps understandably, even now there will be Rangers supporters out there who cannot take to Murray, possibly because they think he has brought their club nothing but trouble. Perhaps, though, it is time for them to stop and think about why Murray bothered. Maybe now, in retrospect, they may wish they too had done more to stand up against this cast of opportunists and mercenaries. Murray bothered because of his love for Rangers and his deep-rooted determination to do the right thing. The rest? They have dipped in and out of this long-running debacle with the common goal of getting out with as much of the club’s money as they could stuff into their pockets. He clashed with all of them because his good intentions jarred with their greed. There are other central figures around this story who, with good reason, have lacked the courage to speak out in public about what they have known to be going on behind the scenes. Some of them have secretly reached out to Murray from within the heart of Ibrox and pleaded with him to continue his pursuit of the truth. Maybe one day soon these people will find their voices but, then again, some of them have been placed under enormous levels of intimidation, like the former senior employee who reported Rangers to the Serious Fraud Office earlier this year – offering information on alleged irregularities around last December’s £22m IPO. In an ideal world, this individual and others who are far more familiar to the Rangers support, will break cover and tell all before the shareholders go the vote. After all, a great deal more than just Paul Murray’s reputation is about to go on the line. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-ibrox-whistleblowers-must-2874396?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

VoiceAndColour footballfansceneUK 1h #Aberdeen fans with banner outside #Hampden today in protest against corrupt SFA & SPFL leaders. pic.twitter.com/DlSq47Y6g3 https://twitter.com/VoiceAndColour/status/407131705959411713/photo/1/large

Here's the latest bitch-fest from our Club's board of directors... http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/5670-board-statement