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RANGERS chief executive Graham Wallace was today slammed for keeping supporters in the dark about the situation at the crisis-hit club. And Wallace was warned that he risks more fans turning their backs on the Gers unless he tells them what the future holds. Fears for the Glasgow giants are growing after former commercial director Imran Ahmad succeeded in his bid to have £620,000 of club assets frozen last week. There are concerns the Light Blues - who have not repaid £1.5million worth of loans to Sandy Easdale and George Letham - will be unable to pay their wages this month. The financially stricken SPFL League One champions hope to raise nearly £4m from another share offering in the coming weeks. However, a statement to the Stock Exchange last month confirmed Rangers will be unable to pay their creditors if the share offering fails. That has raised the prospect of the Ibrox club going back into administration - a turn of events Wallace dismissed as recently as April. Drew Roberton of the Rangers Supporters' Association has called on him to speak to fans and spell out what the short-term future holds. He said: "Graham Wallace has spoken of fan engagement from more or less day one since being appointed. "He met with us once, but it seems that he doesn't want anything to do with us now. He doesn't seem to want to have any dialogue with any supporters' group. But I think he has to come come out and tell us what the situation is. He could get the fans on board by speaking to us. "There are all sorts of reports about him and Sandy Easdale not singing from the same hymn sheet. "It's all very well the fans throwing mud at the board at the drop of a hat. Some of my fellow-supporters may not agree with me, but I have a certain amount of sympathy for him. "He has always tried to be positive since being appointed. He saw a future for the club and a way forward. He thought the club would not continue like it had previously. It was a new dawn. "From the minute he joined the club, he was adamant there would not be another administration event." Roberton added: "Rangers are asking people to part with their hard-earned cash and buy tickets and merchandise. "But recent reports in the media aren't going to entice anybody to buy shares, season tickets, match day tickets or merchandise." Only 23,000 Rangers fans have renewed their season tickets for the 2014/15 campaign - around 15,000 less than snapped them up last season. And even with spectators paying on a game-by-game basis the last two home games have only attracted attendances of just over 30,000. That is a huge drop on last season when games at Ibrox against part-time club pulled in gates of well over 40,000. Roberton said: "I hate to say this, but there is a real danger of more fans turning their backs on the club if this continues." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-fans-want-answers-from-graham-wallace-179512n.25261148?

"A turbulent week at Ibrox has put the club's future once again at risk. RANGERS face an instant SPFL disciplinary investigation if they fail to pay their players and coaching staff at the end of the month, it was revealed last night. Former director Imran Ahmad’s court victory on Friday, freezing £620,000 of the club’s dwindling £1.2million cash reserves, leaves the beleaguered Gers board struggling to make payroll. Now, if they default, rules introduced two years ago on the back of Hearts’ problems leave them no wriggle room. The potential punishments only apply to the club defaulting on its football wages, not an administrative salaries they have. However with their staff due their cash in the bank on September 25, the last Thursday of the month, sources believe they could be cutting it neat with a monthly burden of around £700,000 to meet. Regulations E17 and E19, introduced by the old SPL and carried into the new SPFL rulebook, cover any breaches of remuneration to players, coaches and management. Any default will be hit by an instant registration embargo. They will also then be subject to disciplinary procedures, which allow the governing body sanctions ranging from a slap on the wrist to docked points to exclusion from the league. The Ibrox club’s hopes of avoiding that scenario now rest with the success of their forthcoming £4m share offer, although from that figure, they’ll have to deduct a six-figure sum for costs plus £1m to cover the loan given to them by businessman George Letham. Director Sandy Easdale claimed in our sister paper the Daily Record in midweek that he wouldn’t be calling in the £500,000 he had lent. However Mailsport understands Letham, who has already given the club one extension on the terms he agreed, which saw his loan fall due from season ticket money, is adamant he’ll now take what he is due because he would rather have his cash back than be left with the car park his money is secured against. Rangers also no longer have any regular retail income following their decision to outsource that branch of their business to Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, a move revealed earlier this week when 51 staff from their stores were TUPE’d acros to the the billionaire’s company payroll. It’s believed that although SFA rules prevent the Newcastle United owner extending his shareholding in the club, he could yet bail them out with loan payments to tide them through the coming months. The potential cost of those, both financially and to the club’s powerbase, is still unclear." http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/revealed-rangers-face-immediate-spfl-4177789? Comment: I realize it may be scaremongering and "the Mailsport understands" sounds almost like "We hope...". It is all so familiar, sadly, this kind of communique

September 6, 2014 / billmcmurdo The Ibrox boardroom wars are still rumbling on, with the board doing more damage to themselves than the rebels can inflict. I am dubious of the so-called latest revelations – that Sports Direct magnate Mike Ashley was sold the naming tights to Ibrox for the price of 8 AAA Sony batteries. My feeling is this is an attempt to get the directors to release the real figure but if it turns out to be true, it is a massive hit against the beleaguered board. If the deal was made based on projections of Sports Direct selling boatloads of RFC merchandise, then it was still a poor one. The ball is now in the board’s court to reveal the true price of re-branding Ibrox. I have always backed the present regime but it is increasingly hard to muster confidence in their ability to steer the club through this difficult year. It doesn’t help that the board is hopelessly split, with CEO Graham Wallace having been “Matherised” i.e. converted to the rebel cause. Truth be told, Wallace has failed to provide the leadership and bring stability to matters behind the red brick facade on Edmiston Drive. The grand plan of the Fans Board has not galvanised the fan base but has been a monumental waste of time, effort, money and energy. Wallace’s alignment with those who have choked the sale of season tickets so necessary for the club to progress is a cave-in of epic scale. That said, the board’s feeble response to this has not helped engender confidence. I championed another contender for the post of CEO but was more than happy to support Graham Wallace when he took the reins. Now it is all a cod and the vultures are circling, ready to swoop in for the kill. It looks like the next phase of the Ibrox Civil War will be a head-to-head between Mike Ashley and Dave King. Question marks arise over the ability of either to invest substantially – both may be curtailed by football rules and in King’s case, he could be blocked by regulation here and in South Africa. Ashley will no doubt be turned into the antichrist by a Rangers-hating media here in Scotland. There is a consortium of people who are desperate to get hold of Rangers and if they cannot get control of the club on their terms, then they would rather see the club go under. King is their champion and this means he is their weakness. You get the feeling that when and if he is ever asked to actually pony up the money, he will not produce. Should the consortium prevail, with or without Daddy King’s involvement, Rangers will probably never be as dominant as they were at the peak of the SDM years but they will challenge Celtic for the Premiership. Success in Europe will be a pipe dream. Ashley and others are Rangers’ best bet of going to a higher level. Their vision and collective financial clout exceeds by far the grasp of the consortium. It is all about a clash of ideologies and visions. The problem for this board and investors like Mike Ashley is that they are trying to fight a battle based on AIM regulations against people who are not bound by these. The battle for Rangers is a street fight, a rammy, not a game of bridge in a gentlemens’ club. It’s time the board at Ibrox realised this. “Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is deadly ground.” SUN TZU

you really cant make the fiasco that were in up. 70 million pissed up a wall in 18 months. Money being shipped out the club at all angles. Inflated salaries on and off the park with gross mismanagement being being the order of the day. We now find ourselves living on the edge of oblivion once again. Our current board are way out of their depth. Backed by shareholders who bought into the charles green revolution, only to find out that in the grand scheme of things that hes taken everyone for a ride. We are being run by a board who are guilty of stupidity, niavety and downright arrogance. These guys get to see the books. They knew about mike ashley and the incredible deals he struck with Green. The ones with no benefit to the club whatsoever. They lie to the the fans promising things that they cant produce when the chips are down but still expect the fans to come through the gates to finance their incompetence. Now we are living on a week to week basis with the club being run by the seat of its pants. There is only one way the club can go from now on and that is down. No amount of share buying from supporters groups or anyone else is going to save the club. it will only prolong the agony. Administration looms again and its not if, its when. and it will be back to the drawing board again.

Do you remember when we knew what Celtic players looked like? Do you remember how we would listen in nervously when they played, hoping that they'd falter? The football landscape has changed so much in Glasgow that the city is no longer an Old Firm goldfish bowl. Instead, the two sides function in separate atmospheres. With no Old Firm interaction, each has become a stranger to the other. The current Celtic team could walk past me in the street and I probably wouldn't know who they were. For Celtic fans, due to Rangers being run as a retirement home for elderly footballers, they have no difficulty in recognising Rangers' established guys, but many of our players are unfamiliar faces to them too. There was a time when fans of each side knew the other lot almost as well. They didn't need to learn the enemy team, they just knew it. Not so long ago, a Rangers-supporting friend of mine used to chat fairly regularly to a fellow dog walker. It turned out that he was talking to a leading Celtic player, and yet he had no idea. This surely couldn't have happened in the past. We knew them and they knew us. Now, Celtic's profile has dipped as a consequence of Rangers being in the football wilderness. Ours has dipped too, of course, although Rangers is such a dysfunctional entity that it retains a profile of sorts by providing a daily source of amusement to the nation. Apart from the obsessed element in the Celtic support though, which keeps Rangers under intense scrutiny at all times, there is a realisation within the Celtic fraternity that the game is up for Rangers. The laughter has abated and they even feel a degree of sympathy for us. They are looking at a future now that might not be seriously challenged by Rangers, and as they come to terms with it, there is a grudging realisation that they are poorer for it. Now that the big two has been reduced to the big one, the intensity has disappeared, the temperature has cooled and the colour has faded. Celtic fans are living in a monochrome world where the competition is either walkover material or too good for them. It is a bore. It's not boring being a Rangers fan, though. The football may be rotten but when was clinging to a life raft ever boring? Rangers fans are living out an outrageous soap opera where each twist is more absurd than the last one. This Rangers saga could not have been made up or engineered even by a bitter and hateful enemy. It is a tale of woe beyond imagination and comprehension, and with every day that passes, the realisation dawns that bouncing back is hard to do when the ball is burst. The leading figures at Rangers have become cartoon characters. There is nothing that they do which shocks or surprises. Talk of the stadium being sponsored for the grand total of £1 is eminently believable. This is the calibre of people Rangers FC is run by in the 21st century. Every statement, announcement or comment from the club is greeted with ridicule and dismissed as being symptomatic of a failed and toxic regime. Rangers has ceased to be a credible entity. It is crumbling and falling apart. We are often reminded when we complain about politicians that we get the governments we deserve. If the same can be said of the governance of football clubs, the Rangers support must have been guilty of something dreadful, or maybe we're just not that bright. Either way, Rangers fans have an allegiance to a club that is an asylum for the clueless, the calamitous, the absurd and the avaricious, and it is conspicuously rotten from the front gates of Auchenhowie to the top of the Ibrox Stadium flagpole. I have long believed that Rangers had a sell-by date. I always suspected that it was going to become an unwelcome institution in a changing world. I was concerned too that it would fail under 'private' ownership. The only solution was to become a fan-owned club that embraced a new enlightenment, but our failure in this area has been as embarrassing as it is shameful. As we remind ourselves, almost hourly, what a mess it is at the top of the house, we really have to take account of our own inability to properly attempt some kind of rescue. We may have been turned over, but we have been passive, mostly inactive and even apathetic during this crisis. As per usual, we wait on a saviour, and if there isn't one, we just keep waiting anyway. When the lights go out at Ibrox, or when they become so dim that they can barely be observed, ask yourself - how will Scotland remember Rangers? Fifty years after Rangers' passing, how will our children and grandchildren remember the football club that is so much part of our lives? I suggest that Rangers will be remembered with the same kind of affection that BBC Radio Scotland and Radio Clyde currently have for our club. We will not be fondly remembered or missed. The country will be glad to see the back of Rangers and it will speak of us in a highly derogatory tone when enough time has elapsed to make us a distant memory. Bearing in mind our current predicament - and we are all aware that another collapse could be close - not only would we lose a club that is dear to us, as people, we would be marked down by history for having an association with a club that will almost certainly be remembered as a monument to bigotry. And with this double whammy in mind, what do we do? We wait, and wait, and then wait some more. History won't be kind to us for this either.

Mike Ashley to up his stake in Rangers to 9.9% through the current share issue. Source SSN” Sources close to Mike Ashley say there are no immediate plans to invoke the naming rights at Ibrox stadium #Rangers @charlesp_sky: It's understood Ashley views his interests in Rangers as purely strong commercial ones which he intends to protect

Incompetence or deliberate intent?

Regarding Mike Ashley, the question of dual club ownership and the rumoured '10% rule', for anyone interested in reading the exact rules in the current 2014/15 SFA Handbook (Articles of Association/rules & regulations) just have a quick read of Article number 13. titled "Dual interests in clubs" which starts on page 90 of the Handbook PDF document. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/resources/documents/SFAPublications/ScottishFAPublications2014-15/Handbook%202014-15..pdf

Market News alert Rangers Int. Football Club PLC Read the London Stock Exchange announcement...

.......to save Ibrox as new cash crisis rocks Gers. RANGERS fan groups fear the club will not be able to pay next month's wage bill after court ruling while legend Andy Goram feels it may be too late to save Ibrox. FORMER Rangers director Imran Ahmad has succeeded in his bid to have £620,000 frozen in the club’s bank account. Lawyers for Ahmad claim he is owed a £500,000 bonus for the time he spent working as commercial director at Ibrox. They went to the Court of Session because they fear Gers are about to become insolvent. Ahmad is set to take his former employers to court later this year and is concerned that if he were to win his action, Rangers would be too poor to pay him. His legal team had failed on two previous occasions to obtain the order. But yesterday, after hearing claims that Rangers were becoming the “envy of English Premiership sides” for their financial position, Lord Stewart ruled there was still a “risk” of insolvency. He said: “I have formed the view that there is a risk of Rangers becoming insolvent. “That is not to say there is an actuality or a certainty insolvency is something that will happen. At this stage, it is only a risk.” Fans groups now fear Gers won’t be able to pay wages this month. Rangers have £1.2million in their account but the wage bill for playing and non-playing staff is thought to be close to £1m a month. Salaries are normally paid on the last Thursday of every month so they will be due on September 25. The club’s recently announced share issue takes place a week earlier and the beleaguered board are hoping to claw enough cash together from that to limp on. However, Chris Graham of the Union of Fans said: “This puts the club in a really difficult position. “With just £1.2m in the bank at the moment this will make it difficult to pay the next wage bill.” Graham also hit out at director Sandy Easdale and said: “Many fans will be wondering what on earth Sandy Easdale was doing speaking to the media just days before this case and outlining how dire the funding position at the club is. “Surely he should have realised that his comments were going to weaken our chances of getting a positive outcome from this case.” Another fan, Craig Smith, tweeted his 16-month old daughter “could have run Rangers’ finances better”. But the club last night claimed they were confident they would still be able to “operate as normal”. Rangers have sought leave to appeal and the court will deal with that request on Tuesday. A club statement said: “We agree with Judge Lord Stewart when he told the court: ‘This does not mean to say that insolvency is an actuality or is going to happen.’ “We remain confident that the club will be able to continue to operate as normal.” That came after Alan Summers QC told the court Rangers’ financial situation was improving. He said: “When we were last here, we heard how the share issue would only keep the lights on at Ibrox. “I can tell you the floodlights are back on at Ibrox and are in no danger of being switched off. “Talks are at an advanced stage with two potential investors. The club has not been in rude health for some time. But the situation is improving. The club is trading its way out of difficulties. Its current position is the envy of many English Premiership clubs.” However, Ahmad’s advocate Kenny McBrearty told the court there was no proof the share issue could keep the club solvent and insisted there was no guarantee investors would come forward. He said: “A pattern of diminishing working capital is evident. There is nothing concrete that there is a saviour for Rangers.” Many fans view Dave King as that potential saviour after the South Africa-based businessman promised to pump £30m into Rangers if the board were removed from office. He also set up a trust fund with fans’ groups so punters could commit their money to the club without handing it over to those in charge at Ibrox. But Rangers legend Andy Goram believes time is running out for King to stop the club from tumbling into administration again. The former keeper said: “I would like to see King doing what he has been promising to do for a while. “King threw a grenade in at the start of the season and stepped back. The longer he leaves it, the worse it’s going to get. “The fans had three choices this summer. You either paid season ticket money, went game to game or gave your money to King. “Now it needs something pretty quick. I see Jim McColl has saved the shipyard on the Clyde. “People like that, Rangers fans like that, I think the club is still important to them. “We don’t want to see it go down the tubes again. Administration again would be ridiculous. “If King’s timing is not right, if people don’t get the timing right with the investment, it could be too late. It’s getting pretty close.” Yesterday’s court ruling came after Record Sport revealed Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct firm had acquired the naming rights to Ibrox for just £1 – a move which has sparked fury among the fans. The Newcastle supremo is one of the biggest individual shareholders at Rangers and has also taken full control of the club’s retail stores. Those deals were struck during Charles Green’s time at Ibrox and Goram believes it would have been better for Rangers if someone like Fergus McCann had taken over after the first financial crisis. The canny Canadian helped rebuild rivals Celtic two decades ago by watching every penny. And Goram said: “Rangers needed someone like McCann to sort it out from the beginning. “The deals Ashley has done all happened when Charles Green was in charge.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-brink-new-cash-crisis-4173651

DR publishing interview with Sandy Easdale tomorrow.....and also running a headline that the naming rights of Ibrox being sold for £1!! Rumours are that the naming rights are given for £1 plus underwriting the share issue. Not 100% sure though. Looks like more grim news on the way bears....buckle up!!

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/272-rangers-being-held-hostage-stockholm-syndrome It’s been a stressful week for those interested in the well-being of Rangers Football Club. Not only does the club admit to the Stock Exchange that if the latest share offer is under-subscribed it will be unable to pay its creditors; we have key board members who represent the interests of the vast bulk of existing shareholders conceding that his and our CEO’s intentions are different, confirming a split at board level. Meanwhile the negative detail of each onerous contract placed upon the club are drip-fed to concerned fans on a week-to-week basis: from retail deals where the money is yet to be released to our struggling accounts to stadium naming rights which appear to be the result of self-interest rather than good value. Never has it been more obvious that our club is being held hostage to the whim of chancers. Yet, bizarrely, almost in a comedic fashion, we have some fans absolving these people of blame. Wikipedia describes Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, as ‘a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them.’ The syndrome itself is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken in Stockholm, Sweden, in which several bank employees were held hostage in a bank vault from August 23 to 28, 1973, while their captors negotiated with police. During this standoff, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, rejected assistance from government officials at one point, and even defended their captors after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. Ok, I’ll admit at the outset the analogy is a bit strong but if we examine the last few years – from the excesses of Sir David Murray to the actions of Craig Whyte right through to the present day incumbents, there are examples of the above. These include the eyes-wide-shut worship of Murray onto the lauding of Whyte’s supposed net-worth despite all the evidence to the contrary at the very outset to some fans insisting the ‘current’ board are not to blame for the club’s position now. Indeed, not only do we have bloggers continue to suggest Charles Green remains interested in the well-being of the club but we have various fans eager to hold their own as culpable in Rangers’ problems. Apparently it’s Dave King, the Union of Fans or Sons of Struth’s fault that the club cannot pay its bills. Similarly, possible investors such as Dave King who has proven his good intentions to the tune of £20million previously are mocked and pushed away. Conversely, some supporters are eager to extoll the virtue of Mike Ashley’s ongoing involvement despite many Newcastle fans being desperate to rid their club of him. He’s a billionaire they cry – without acknowledging the reason for his success is the kind of questionable retail and naming deals he strikes with clubs such as ours. Let’s be clear: the future of the football club is again in serious question and the danger should not be under-estimated. There has been a shortfall of at least 12,000 season tickets and it’s this lack of working capital that is directly impacting upon the club’s ability to trade. Thus, those that suggest the fans are to ‘blame’ for the financial problems are at least partly correct but the reasons are worth examining as well as the club’s inability to address this serious problem. Never has it been clearer that our money runs the club year on year – not Sir David Murray’s, not Craig Whyte’s and certainly not the anonymous investors currently in control of it. Therefore, engaging with the support should be a priority for any regime looking to make a success of the club. For all his faults, Murray realised this and while he was by the dominant partner in that relationship, we did have a nominal seat at the table and aside from a few small issues (comparatively speaking anyway!) crowds were always high and only his cowardice led to the Whyte debacle. Yet even in the dark days of that era attendances didn’t drop and after administration we had capacity crowd after capacity crowd. The same can be said after we fell to Division Three – our support did not dissipate and our loyalty should never be questioned. Not by anyone – least of all our own. Unfortunately the last year or so has seen attitudes change: not due to fans becoming lazy or greedy but because of a combination of factors. Firstly it become clear that much of the substantial monies raised in backing the Charles Green ownership were wasted and his associates less than ideal custodians of the club. In the face of this criticism, board changes were made and supposedly extensive reviews into the business carried out but the paucity of these contributions didn’t provide much solace. A poor quality (or at best inconsistent) product on the park wasn’t helping but promised changes highlighted in the review to address this have not been forthcoming. Thus, reluctantly, and by way of protest, many fans chose to withhold their investment and, if we’re brutally honest, that’s understandable. Generally, the last year has seen fans become ever more frustrated with their club and increasingly obvious evidence that the incumbent board – or more accurately the decision-making investment groups – cannot turn things around. Not just in terms of the £30million investment talked of in their empirical reviews but the kind of credible and transparent leadership required to rebuild trust in the boardroom and entice fans back to Ibrox. With almost 250 staff members and overheads of aging stadiums, training grounds and dilapidated white elephant buildings, is it any wonder a new administration event looms large on the horizon? Consequently, where does that leave us? Well, I’d suggest we have two distinct pathways ahead. One: if as seems likely, the share offer is subscribed enough to defer our problems to another day; we’ll have the fait accompli of 75% share-holding levels for approval of AGM/EGM resolutions related to the sale and/or leaseback of club assets ¬– such as the Auchenhowie training ground which has consistently been ignored by club representatives when talking about such revenue sources. Or, two: investment groups are able by way of this issue to consolidate their holdings enough to enable a sale to other interested parties. Now, I won’t try to predict the outcome but I’m certain both the existing ownership and the likes of Dave King and/or Mike Ashley will have planned for these eventualities over the last year. The events of the last week won’t be a surprise to them. What is easier to predict is that without one of these outcomes an insolvency event is inevitable as things stand. However, misguided suggestions that this may be an agreeable solution make me uneasy. For example, will onerous contracts be removed by this process, would ownership be guaranteed to change after it and what of the club’s league position after the fact? We don’t know so, simply put, no-one should look at administration with anything other than horror. On the other hand, neither should fans be emotionally blackmailed into providing what appears to be an ever-more toxic board and ownership with a mandate to stumble on in charge. The time for making excuses for these people has long gone. There is no defence of Charles Green and, whether he’s still involved now or not, his associates on the ‘current’ board are equally tainted by their deficiencies. With that in mind, what options are available to fans? Not many is the desperate answer. Yes we have worthy share initiatives like Buy Rangers and Rangers First but with further financial uncertainty abound, can we really expect fans to invest in shares after the events of 2012? Even so, we absolutely must consider such projects with an open mind but with the greatest will in the world, they’re arguably not a short term solution. Nevertheless, possibly buyers engaging with these groups going forward would go a long way to cementing the fans’ contribution in a better future. Indeed, it’s only through that kind of undertaking that we may finally achieve the kind of bond between supporters and ownership that has been missing for so long. Unfortunately, such a positive conclusion seems difficult to attain. The coming weeks and months will define the future and it may well be beyond the fans abilities to impact upon this. Nevertheless, neither should we be held to ransom by people who will never understand the love we have for our football club. We have a choice and while I’d never begin to tell my fellow fans what to do, at some point we have to stop identifying with people who don’t share our love for our club. In that sense Stockholm syndrome is not a workable survival strategy – it just prolongs our inability to escape from the status quo and it’s that kind of clarity every fan needs for our battles ahead. Either that or be held prisoner forever.

RANGERS fan George Letham has reluctantly agreed to give the Ibrox board a short extension to repay the £1million loan that was due last week. The wealthy supporter stepped in to lend his boyhood heroes the seven-figure sum earlier this year as chief executive Graham Wallace was forced to seek a quick fix to the Gers' cash crisis. As part of the agreement, Rangers were scheduled to give Letham his money back by the close of business on Friday, but after the Light Blues announced plans to raise around £4m in a share option last week, the prospect of him receiving his money appeared bleak. SportTimes understands Letham held full and frank discussions with Wallace on Saturday and agreed to a short extension to allow the under-fire board more time to come up with the money. With cash reserves running low at Ibrox, a refusal from Letham would have left Wallace and his fellow-directors with a huge financial headache. But after stepping up to the plate to help Rangers in their hour of need in March, the lifelong Light Blue was not prepared to pull the rug from under the board's feet at this time. The full extent of the Gers' financial plight was laid bare in a statement to the Stock Exchange last week when the board admitted that the future of Rangers International Football Club plc would be 'uncertain' if all 19 million of the new shares were not snapped up by existing investors in the coming weeks. Any funds that are raised will be used to pay off Letham's £1m loan and the £500,000 deal that was agreed with Sandy Easdale, both of which were secured against the Albion car park and Edmiston House. The Ibrox board originally clinched a deal with major shareholders Laxey Partners but that move came under huge criticism from supporters after it was revealed the Hedge Fund would collect £150,000 in interest payments for the short-term loan. Rangers had a cash balance of just £4.2m at June 30 this year, but with £2.7m of that unavailable as use for working capital, the board have been forced to issue more shares in a bid to repay Letham and Easdale and provide much-needed money for the coming weeks. With the financial picture once again bleak at Ibrox, boss Ally McCoist was unable to make any last-minute moves to bolster his squad before the transfer window closed last night. The Gers' two most valuable assets, Lee Wallace and Lewis Macleod, remain at the club, but seven players have gone out on loan - Barrie McKay (Raith Rovers), Calum Gallacher (Cowdenbeath), Danny Stoney (Stranraer), Luca Gasparotto (Airdrie), Robbie Crawford (Morton), Tom Walsh (Stenhousemuir) and Craig Halkett (Clyde). http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/letham-gives-rangers-extra-time-to-repay-1million-loan-178673n.25212709

After some of the news coming from Ibrox today in some of the newspapers would you the fans like to see the club owned outright by the sports direct owner Mike Ashley or would you rather we bumbled along with the present set up .

In Fridays @TheEveningTimes: RST to participate in share issue & RFC retail staff at Ibrox, Airport and Belfast under Sports Direct control

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=12066370

LIKE so many Rangers supporters of his generation, Lewis Macleod grew up idolising both Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller. So to find himself in the same side as the strike duo at Ibrox this season has been nothing short of a surreal experience for the youngster. "I watched Kris and Kenny when I was a boy so to be playing alongside them now is pretty weird," he said. "But it is brilliant as well. I am loving every minute of it." It has been obvious from his performances so far this term that Macleod has relished taking to the field alongside the two high-profile acquisitions. It was anticipated that the 20-year-old midfielder would take some time to rediscover his best form this season. He was, after all, sidelined for the second half of the last campaign with a debilitating virus that at one stage started to affect the muscles around his heart. Even Ally McCoist, a huge admirer of the skilful playmaker, felt he would have to be eased gently back into competitive action after he got the all-clear from medical staff to resume training. Yet Macleod has picked up where he left off last year and has been arguably the most consistent and effective Rangers player in their first seven competitive outings. He's also netted four goals in all competitions - a brace against Clyde and one apiece against Hibs and Falkirk. It was no surprise when he was linked with a move to English Championship club Wigan earlier this week. The speed with which the Scotland Under-21 internationalist has adapted to the demands of first-team football has surprised even him. However, he feels that the new arrivals to the Glasgow club have helped him to settle back into the side effortlessly. McCoist added five players to his squad before the transfer window shut on Monday night: Boyd, Miller, Darren McGregor, Marius Zaliukas and keeper Lee Robinson. The veteran strikers plus central defenders McGregor and Zaliukas slotted straight into the side and, after a shaky start, are performing well. "The new boys have fitted in perfectly," said Macleod. "In the first few games Boydy didn't really get going. But he is certainly off the mark now. "He got a hat-trick against Clyde and two against Queen's Park. He is also playing well for the team and is creating chances for others. "Kenny was injured for a few games but came back last Saturday and scored against Queen of the South at Ibrox." THE Ibrox starlet admitted: "It is strange to be playing with Boydy and Kenny and Lee McCulloch, too, as I grew up watching them. "I just put that to the back of my mind and concentrate on doing as well as I can. "It is fantastic to be alongside them in the Rangers starting XI as they are great players and can hopefully help us push on to more success. "It has been enjoyable to play with them. Hopefully they can keep doing as well as they've been doing so far and we can enjoy a good season." Winning the SPFL Championship and completing "The Journey" from the bottom tier back to the top flight is the first priority for Macleod and his Rangers team-mates in the months ahead. Their next task in that league quest will be a tricky trip to Kirkcaldy to face Raith Rovers a week on Friday. But with so many experienced players in the squad at Ibrox, their other objective will be to do well in the cup competitions - Petrofac Training Cup, League Cup and Scottish Cup. Macleod's call-up to the national Under-21s squad was a contributing factor in the postponement of the Petrofac Training Cup quarter-final tie against East Fife that was originally scheduled for Bayview this Saturday. Last week he helped the Gers beat Queen's Park to book a tantalising League Cup second round match against Premiership leaders Inverness Caledonian Thistle. It will be fascinating to see how the League One champs fare against their undefeated top-flight opponents at Ibrox on Tuesday, September 16. Macleod is confident his side can overcome the Highlanders, who beat them 3-0 at Ibrox in the same tournament two seasons ago. He feels that would show this Rangers side is capable of holding its own in the Premiership. "Inverness are an in-form side," he said, "but we are all looking forward to the match. "Hopefully we can beat Raith in our next league game and continue our good run of form into that cup tie. "We obviously want to beat Inverness. It would be brilliant and would prove a point. We did not play well the last time we met Inverness. It was even in the first half but they got the better of us after the break and won the game. "We will be looking for a different scoreline on September 16. The young boys who played that night, myself included, are more experienced now. "We all have over two seasons of senior football under our belts. "Plus, we've brought in some new players who have added a lot of quality. "A lot of things have changed here since we played Inverness the last time around. I hope we can see the difference when we play again." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-star-lewis-its-fan-tastic-to-play-with-my-heroes-178818n.25218452

NICKY CLARK today warned fit-again Kenny Miller he has a fight on his hands to win back his place in the Rangers first team. Miller returned from a spell out injured in the SPFL Championship match against Queen of the South at Ibrox on Saturday. And the 69-times capped Scotland internationalist came off the bench and netted a well- taken goal in a thrilling 4-2 victory. The experienced star will now be looking to renew his partnership with Kris Boyd when Rangers play Raith Rovers at Stark's Park on Friday week. But Clark, who was picked to play up front when Miller was out injured, is hoping he will be able to retain his berth in the starting line-up. "I have definitely got some confidence in how I am playing at the moment," he said. "It is always good for a striker to get off the mark early in the season and I have done that. "I am sure Kenny will be keen to get into the side now that he is fit once more, but my job is to make it as difficult as possible for him. "I want to give the manager a headache and I will work as hard as I can in training and in the matches I am picked for to do that. "I have no doubt that Kenny will be doing exactly the same as me. There is a lot of competition for places at the club just now and that is healthy. "I am sure that Big Jon (Daly) will be back soon and it will be even more difficult to get a game in the team in one of the forward positions. "But that is the way it should be at a massive club like Rangers. I am enjoying my football and am hoping to play my part in the rest of the season." Many Rangers supporters predicted Clark would struggle to get a game when Boyd and Miller arrived on free transfers during the summer. However, he has been nothing short of a revelation for Ally McCoist's men in his appearances during the 2014/15 campaign. The former Aberdeen and Queen of the South player has netted two goals against Falkirk and Dumbarton in five competitive outings. He has, though, contributed much more than just goals for the Glasgow giants in the league and in the cup competitions this term. Clark has shown an impressive work rate and has laboured tirelessly to carve out scoring opportunities for his team- mates. He failed to hit the target as Rangers came from behind to triumph against his former club at the weekend - but was still named as Man of the Match. Slowly but surely, the man who was the leading goalscorer in senior football in Britain two seasons ago is starting to prove his doubters wrong. The forward only hit the target for the Light Blues on eight occasions last season and often failed to impress supporters. McCoist feels the arrival of proven goalscorers Boyd and Miller has actually helped Clark and the striker concurs with his manager. HE said: "Playing with guys like Boydy and Kenny and Jon Daly as well can only help to progress my career. They have got a wealth of experience. "They talk to me in training and they talk to me in games. To be honest, I'm absolutely loving playing with all three of them." Clark knows how difficult it can be for a new player to adapt to life at Rangers after failing to produce his top form last season. So he has been greatly impressed with how former Cowdenbeath and St Mirren defender Darren McGregor has acquited himself in the past month. The centre-half has played in all seven of his new club's matches this season and has been utilised out of position at right back while Richard Foster has been sidelined. Clark said: "Darren has done really well for us. He would prefer to play at centre-half, but you will play anywhere for Rangers when you are asked. "But he has taken it all in his stride and is playing some good football. He is defending well and getting up the field as well. I am delighted for him." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/clark-ill-make-it-hard-as-possible-for-kenny-to-get-in-rangers-178668n.25212530

Bill Leckie; Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If they don’t heed those words as the vultures circle Ibrox once again, then hell mend them. First time their club went to the wall, they manned the barricades to protect it from a big, nasty outside world. For that, no matter what other thoughts you have on the matter, their loyalty surely deserves to be applauded. But now? Two-and-a-half years on? If, despite being given a second chance to repair the horrendous mistakes of the past, a club with this level of support goes into administration AGAIN? Sorry, but if it was me I wouldn’t give them another penny. On Saturday, once more, thousands turned up brandishing red cards to express their unhappiness at the way the love of their lives is being mismanaged. And, once more, those responsible for the mismanagement laughed up their sleeves at the pointlessness of the protest. Because to brandish those red cards, you have to pay your money to get inside the stadium. Which hands yet more cash to the people you’re protesting at so they can go ahead and waste it. Listen, what do I know? They’re not my club and the one I do follow has never been to the heights Rangers have reached to suffer such a humiliating, disorientating fall. I’m just someone looking in and wondering how the hell, in all good conscience, Bluenoses can carry on regardless if and when the accountants take over the asylum once more. Actually, don’t answer that. It’s not a can of worms that’s worth opening, this We-Are-The-People, Rangers-Till-I-Die, stick-your-fingers-in-your-ears-and-sing-Follow-Follow mindset. So, for what it’s worth, let me instead pass on my suggestion for what they should do if their club re-enters the abyss. Sod it. Turn their backs on it. Give it, as a man on the other side of Glasgow once said, not one more thin dime. And instead, invest in the future of Scottish clubs who DO run their affairs honestly and who DO have respect for those who click the turnstiles. Go and back your old skipper Barry Ferguson as he tries to make things happen at Clyde. Go and see what another ex-player in Gary Bollan’s doing with Airdrie. If you’re from Fife, go and watch East Fife or Cowdenbeath. If you’re in Angus, hand your tenner to Arbroath or Brechin, Forfar or Montrose. If you donÂ’t want to give up your wee jaunt over from Northern Ireland, get off the ferry and stroll up to Stair Park. There’s been a school of thought among some these last couple of years that Rangers being forced to do the grand tour of the colonies meant the lower divisions should have been grateful for the gate receipts and the TV handouts. For me, this always got it the wrong way round. It was those inside Ibrox should have been thankful that they were in still in business and ABLE to head for Elgin and Berwick and Stranraer. Now, as fresh financial catastrophe looms, I’d put it to Rangers fans that they could do far more good for far more people if they stopped pouring money into what has long since ceased to be “their” club and started drip-feeding it to those who genuinely are the game’s lifeblood. Why? I’ll give you three good reasons. One, those halfwits in your directors’ box shouldn’t be trusted with the remote for the telly, never mind your wages. Two, that 30,000-odd of you spread among the country’s 20-odd part-time clubs would not only create better atmospheres but also help to cement football in communities for the long term. And three? You might just get to relax and enjoy the game, rather than always being angry and stressed about it. Watching Ayr United play Stenhousemuir might just extend your life. The alternative to this is a simple one. Stand your ground and, by your very presence, condone the halfwits in the directors’ box. Two-and-a-half years on from that first administration and the liquidation that followed, these halfwits need to scramble together £4million in a matter of days to keep their heads above water. To achieve this, they may need to flog their saleable players before the transfer window closes, which will hamper your hopes of promotion back to the top flight. If they don’t raise the money, they stand to suffer a 25-point deduction as punishment for a second spell in administration, all but ending those promotion hopes. How, with the wages they pay and the crowds they attract and the sheer intimidatory force of their name that is a two-goal start against far smaller opposition, can this possibly be? How the lumping hell can the people running a club the size of Rangers be handed the chance they were to start again, to build sensibly, to tool up for their return to where they want to be, and yet fail so utterly miserably? How? The clue is in the word halfwits. So maybe I’ve got this all the wrong way round. And it’s those Ibrox directors who should be sent to the outposts of the footballing empire instead. Maybe Graham Wallace and the Easdales and whoever else is a player in this embarrassing saga are the ones who need to go out into the real world and see how real football people operate. Trust me, if a month shadowing the treasurer at Albion Rovers didn’t shame them into living within their means, liquidation’s too good for them.

I wouldn't disagree with much of this to be fair. BY GORDON WADDELL Gordon Waddell: Like Thelma and Louise, Rangers have arrived at their destination.. the edge of a cliff 31 August 2014 08:37 AM By Gordon Waddell GORDON reckons Rangers are at the edge of a precipice but the cash crisis hasn't stopped the club signing back-up keeper Lee Robinson in a move typical of the way the club has been run for the past few years. THEY sold their road back to the top of the game as ‘The Journey’. It would appear Rangers have arrived at a destination many financial experts predicted for them long ago. The edge of a cliff. As the directors sit there like Thelma and Louise, with the engine revving, you wonder if the question was not whether the club would end up being driven over the edge but more a matter of when the crash would occur. How else do you explain it? No sane person would surely run a business the way they’ve run theirs. It’s as if they have committed commercial suicide. An example? It didn’t make a headline. Barely registered a mention. But if you want even a tiny indication of exactly how dysfunctional Rangers are, then look no further than the signing of Lee Robinson last week. A 28-year-old back-up keeper to a 35-year-old back-up. When they already have the Scotland Under-19 No.1 AND the Scotland Under-17 No.1 on their books? Another wage? Aye, why not, eh? We’ve been splashing money needlessly for two and a half years on players we don’t need and can’t afford – another won’t kill us. Their share offering on Friday was like taking a tube of Savlon to a cremation. They’ve admitted to the stock exchange that if they don’t get at least £3m, they’re knackered. And even if they do, they’ve openly shifted the problem a couple of months further down the line. Yet still they sign players like autograph hunters? They act as if they don’t give a monkey’s. Other clubs coming back from the brink, the first thing they attacked was their cost base. Trimmed all the fat and started from the ground up. Live within your means. New club motto? Numquam Iterum. Never Again. Yet here we are, back at square one. Ally on the back pages, pleading: ‘Don’t sell my stars’. Why not? Truth is you should never have been allowed to sign most of them in the first place. This whole ‘We’re Rangers and until someone tells me otherwise, we’ll continue to behave like Rangers’ schtick? McCoist is a bright, articulate, likeable guy. I refuse to believe he’s so gullible. That he never sat there and thought ‘This can’t be right’. Who would you prefer to be in charge at Rangers? I’m not saying anything I haven’t said to him in a dozen different press conferences. I’ve asked him why they weren’t hunkering down, signing players for their level, saving cash. He always replied: “The fans deserve better.” Damn right they do. But they also deserve their club to survive after what they’ve put in over the years. In a football sense, I haven’t yet met a Rangers fan who didn’t think the club would have been better bleeding half a dozen youngsters into their line-up back on day one and developing them properly than going down the road they did. I haven’t yet met a fan who wouldn’t have put up with the odd defeat to see some genuine progress and fiscal responsibility rather than watching the likes of Richard Foster, Stevie Smith, Ian Black, Dean Shiels or Jon Daly. Or Lee Robinson. Nice lad, decent gloves – but what about Liam Kelly and Robby McCrorie, two of the highest-rated teenagers in their position in Scotland? Every other club in the country is giving youth a chance and reaping the rewards. Not The Rangers. Sorry lads. Can’t trust you, even on the bench. No time to have faith in you. Other diddy clubs might get away with playing teenagers. They may even excel. Hell, look at Conor McGrandles – 82 senior games by the age of 18 and a £1million move from Falkirk to Norwich. Rangers are too good for that, though. Listen, the dysfunctional management of the club’s affairs runs a million miles deeper than the team. These are just examples of how a total breakdown in management manifests itself in public. What goes on behind closed doors or up marble staircases? We may never know. But the fact they’re putting out the begging bowl in such a humiliating manner suggests none of it is good. And then we have the ever-hovering presence of Dave King . King has been criticised for his silence but don’t let anyone kid you that he hasn’t been waiting for this exact moment. The lowest ebb. The final wheezing breaths of a regime someone as long in the tooth as he is always thought would arrive. Sure, he’s a Rangers fan. Sure, his intentions for the club will be more honourable than the current incumbents. But spare me the idea his timing suggests anything other than his own benefit being served too. In the meantime, the Rangers fans are once again left with what they call Morton’s Fork – two choices, both undesirable. Take up the share option, keep a shambolic regime functioning a little longer. Or not a penny more. Flush them out and suffer the consequences. I don’t envy them their decision.

...........with no insurance and while on his phone. THE 27-year-old defender was spotted by officers on Saracen Street in Glasgow's Possilpark area. RANGERS player Bilel Moshni has been fined more than £400 after he was caught driving with no insurance and while on his phone. The 27-year-old defender was spotted by officers on Saracen Street in Glasgow's Possilpark area. When police did a background check, on October 15, last year it was found that he had no insurance to drive the car. French-born Moshni pled guilty yesterday (mon) at Glasgow's Justice of the Peace Court to driving without insurance and while on is mobile phone. He was fined a total of £405 with 28 days to pay, and handed six penalty points. A plea of not guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, by pretending to police that he didn't live in the UK and was visiting the country for a catering course, was accepted by prosecutors. Moshni was not present when the case called at the court but was represented by defence lawyer Martin Black. The court heard that Moshni was seen driving and speaking on a mobile telephone. The car he was caught while carrying out the offences was owned by Kilmarnock Football Club. Mr Black said that Moshni had borrowed the car from Kilmarnock player Ismael Bouzid - who was on trial with Rangers this summer. He said his client thought he was covered to drive the car. Mr Black added: "It was nothing nefarious, it was simply an administrative oversight." Moshni has played for French teams CO Les Ulis, Mende, US Saint-Georges and Sainte-Genevieve Sports. He signed a two-year-deal with Rangers in July last year after a four week trial with the club. Moshni made his debut for Rangers at Ibrox in September last year in a 5-1 win over Arbroath. Last month he was sent off during a match against Derby County for headbutting striker Chris Martin and subsequently given a two match ban from the SFA for the first two competitive fixtures of the season. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/rangers-player-bilel-moshni-fined-4145296?

Sunday Mail story It would be standard practice for the sp.ivs. X arrives and is pushed as the NEW and HONEST broker who wants transparency, fan engagement and an end to what has gone before (including undeserved bonus culture). Prior to making such an introductory statement, he has already signed a contract with a 100% bonus clause with unclear specification regards trigger(s). He then misleads, lies and achieves 120 days of 'not a lot', x3. He then leaves (very probably) with 100% bonus not wanting to engage with fans or be transparent on the subject. It shows up in 2015 accounts when long gone. (if there is accounts in 2015). Appoint another CEO, this one is the real deal, honest Guv !! This story has other angles regards sp.iv divisions but best for another thread or indeed for later in this one.

...........but who should be holding the knife.. Mike Ashley or Dave King?. WITH Rangers back on the brink KEITH says the time has come for the Ibrox board to pick a saviour before it's too late - and it's a straight choice between two men. There may only be enough money in the vault to keep them breathing until the end of next month and that’s with the help of the Elastoplast treatment the current board is attempting to apply in the shape of a £4million share issue. The truth is this business is broken again and if those in charge of it are not running around the Blue Room with their underpants on their heads they should be because the time has come for complete and all-out panic. Even if they can somehow scramble enough spare cash to repay £1.5m worth of emergency loans to George Letham and Sandy Easdale and to cover the next wage bill at the end of this month their gravy train is clattering towards the end of the line. The smart money says they’ll just about avoid the horrors and ignominy of administration by the skin of their teeth until, at some point in October, they press the big red button at an AGM and pass a resolution on the urgent release of even more new shares. At which point the game will change for good. Have YOUR say: 15 key questions on the financial situation at Rangers As things stand this morning, two men are currently jostling for position as this club’s potential saviours. There are others tapping their toes on the sidelines and some of them are making all the right noises but the fact remains the duo at the front and centre of this dance are Mike Ashley and Dave King. One of them plans to make as much money out of the club as he possibly can. The other insists he wants to gift it £30m. You’d think it would be a straightforward choice but then this is Rangers we are dealing with – a club that abandoned good logic and sound reason when it disappeared through Craig Whyte’s looking glass. My information is that both Ashley and King were asked (perhaps even pleaded with) to underwrite the latest begging-bowl approach to the city of London. Both declined but for different reasons. And yet, intriguingly, both remain sitting at the table with a stake in the game at this late stage. Ashley’s motivation is simple. He smells an earner. On the one hand he has to keep Rangers alive – and away from the clutches of administrators – in order to protect a retail contract that was generously handed to him by Charles Green and which has since been described by those who have seen its content as a licence to print money. Green’s generosity with other people’s cash knows no bounds. He was so delighted to take Ashley’s £1m he invited this crafty Cockney to name his terms on a seven-year shirt deal which is worth its weight in gold. To Ashley’s Sports Direct, that is. Even Craig Mather, who subsequently replaced Green in the role of CEO and seemed not to have the first idea of what he was doing there, was bright enough to identify the flaws in this particular arrangement. “It’s the worst, most one-sided commercial contract I’ve ever seen,”was how he described it to Walter Smith’s board. Rangers have tried hard to find a way out of it but Ashley’s lawyers left them no wriggle room. Reluctantly, the current chief executive Graham Wallace has branded it “unbreakable”. No wonder then that Ashley is ready and willing to shore this thing up as, if Rangers were to be tipped back under, the first thing to be ripped up would be this deal which still has five years left to run. The numbers involved, although unclear, will run into millions of pounds a year. Put it this way this revenue stream is so important to Ashley that just last week he saw the value in fuelling up his private helicopter and sending it to Greenock to collect Sandy Easdale from a bus depot and flying him down south for an urgent face-to-face talks. This pair have formed something of an alliance in recent weeks and months and if Ashley is to push for control of Rangers he will do so with Easdale’s full backing. His problem is the SFA jurisdiction which, because of his position at St James’ Park, forbids him from owning more than 10 per cent of a Scottish club. Couple of likely lads that they are, Ashley and Easdale may yet attempt to circumnavigate this in some way but certainly not by doing something as blatant as underwriting this latest share issue. My information is King was also asked to pony up £4m after being approached by the club’s nomad Daniel Stewart. His initial response was to ask if they were being serious as it is King’s belief four million quid will not touch the sides of the problems faced by this basket case of a football club. Those close to King maintain that – despite an extended period of silence from his South African bunker – he remains deadly serious about pumping as much as £30m into Ibrox. In fact they suspect he is now closer than ever to getting his way and obliterating a chunk of his children’s inheritance as the Rangers saga enters this next crucial phase. But, even so, King declined to put his name to the share issue because his requests for information about the true state of the club’s financial health were turned down by Stewart. He was told any such disclosures would be a breach of stock market regulations. King was then stunned to learn that a third party – another who was approached and asked to underwrite the issue – was given full sight of the documents he had asked to see. That third party, by the way, having looked under the hood, ran for the hills with £4m wedged in his pocket. It is now King’s view he was been deliberately blocked by the Rangers board from getting involved although the truth of the matter is the current regime is split down the middle. In fact, CEO Wallace is very much on King’s side. He has clashed personally with Ashley over that ridiculously onerous retail deal and has grave concerns about the diligence in allowing him to carve himself another even bigger portion of the Rangers pie. It’s just a pity for King that Wallace is effectively powerless and at the head of a PLC board which doesn’t have the authority to chose its own underwear never mind decide when the time has come to place pants on heads. King will have to find a way of convincing Big Sandy his is the only way out of this gathering crisis and his money will have to do the talking if he is to win the argument. Easdale is the man who continues to call the shots on the inside as a result of his alliances with Green’s people in Blue Pitch Holdings and Margarita Holdings. And he sees Ashley as some sort of kindred spirit, albeit a far more wealthy and successful one. And while all this infighting is going on auditors from Deloitte are now just weeks away from signing off on the latest accounts which must be completed by no later than the end of this month. With season tickets down and cash running out they will have little choice to confirm in writing what the rest of us already know to be true. Rangers are on a life support machine and life-saving surgery is required. The only question now is a simple one: Who do they want holding the knife? http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-rangers-need-life-saving-4142492