Search the Community

... from Ibrox Noise. I know quite a few will jump in here and there, but maybe it would do good to read the article twice before go haring after specific things. Posted by Ibrox Noise at 10:26 It will come of no surprise that I agree with a lot IN has to say, including that I don't view the current status quo as ideal.

Thread on FF saying Sandy has passed away! So so sad if true Been confirmed by Mark Dingwall on FF RIP Sandy, a true Rangers legend.

RANGERS chief executive Graham Wallace has insisted that major shareholder Sandy Easdale was not speaking for the Ibrox club when he cast serious doubt on their financial position and repeated his own assertion there is “no threat” of a second administration. Easdale, who controls more than 26 per cent of the shares in Rangers, described the club’s situation as “fragile” in a BBC Scotland interview ahead of Wallace’s publication yesterday of his business review and strategic plan for the League 1 champions. The long-awaited document painted a damning picture of Rangers’ operations since its business and assets were *purchased by Charles Green’s consortium in May 2012 following the descent into administration and liquidation under Craig Whyte’s ruinous tenure. Despite raising £70.7 million through a share issue, season ticket sales and commercial income between that date and December 2013, only £3.5m was left at the end of last year. Wallace’s review admits the club “mismanaged almost all of its cash reserves following administration” and that a “perfect opportunity to rebuild Rangers has been completely missed”. Wallace has now set out a strategy which will require capital funding of up to £30m over the next three years and which he believes can culminate in Rangers winning the Premiership title in 2017 and qualifyingfor the Champions League. The club intend to have another share issue later this year to raise cash, but their immediate financial position is dependent on the sale of season tickets against the backdrop of former director Dave King’s call for supporters to instead place their renewal money in a trust fund. But, although Wallace *admitted poor season ticket sales would have an impact on the club’s financial operations, he distanced himself from Sandy Easdale’s bleak assessment and the possibility of a second *administration at Ibrox. “Sandy Easdale’s comments were made by him in his *capacity as a shareholder,” said Wallace. “He’s not a director of the PLC board, so they were not made in a capacity in respect of the PLC company. “I’ve gone on record before to say there would be no threat of administration and my position today is exactly the same. There is no change to my view based on the club’s current position and our future projections. “Sandy Easdale wasn’t put out to comment by the club. “He made them as a shareholder. You would have to speak to him directly to ask the context in which he made those comments. “If you are asking me if ‘administration II’ is a possibility, then I’m saying categorically ‘No’. There would need to be a significant reduction in season ticket renewals to present a major problem to the club.” Wallace denied that the current level of season ticket sales was as much as 9,000 down on the same period last year. But the situation has been further complicated by the withdrawal of credit and debit card services to pay for season tickets after the company who processed them for the club *demanded security over Ibrox Stadium to protect itself against any potential liabilities. Rangers turned down that *request and supporters will now only be able to purchase season tickets by bank transfer, cash or cheque payment. “We have extended the season ticket renewal window through to 16 May and we will monitor the progress of the fans renewing over the coming weeks and assess it,” added Wallace. “There is no sense of panic – no sense of panic at all. Season ticket sales have been slow and I don’t think that’s surprising. A lot of people have been waiting to see what we were going to see coming out of the review, a sense of comfort and security that if they put their money in, the company is still going to survive, but also a sense of ambition in terms of where we want to take the club. “We’ve never said that we would look to run this club on a limited cost basis. What we did say was that we would look at every pound we were spending and ask ourselves if we were spending it in the right areas. I think we’ve been true to that. “So what we’re setting out is a summary of the position as it was, an assessment of where we are today but, more importantly, a vision of where we want to take the club over the next three to five years. We’ve spent a *decent amount of time on a proper robust business plan. “I said at the time of the AGM that there was no point in going out and looking to raise funds if you haven’t got a robust plan that sits behind that. “So that’s what we’ve done and I very much hope that the Rangers fans will look at what we’ve said and support us with a sense of comfort that we’re running the club in the right way, that we have a sense of ambition and that their aspirations for a successful team on the field is equally matched by those of us in the boardroom who are *trying to grow and develop the club.” What Wallace described as a “small number” of staff will be made redundant as a result of the review findings. He also outlined plans for two new major roles at the club – a chief football operations officer, responsible for player talent identification, scouting and recruitment, and a chief commercial officer tasked with maximizing club revenues. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/wallace-at-odds-with-easdale-over-rangers-finance-1-3389705

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/27165564 Graham Wallace's 120-day business review provides a snapshot of Rangers' potential future. The challenge for the chief executive and his fellow directors is guiding the club to that point. There is detail in the document , certainly, and some commitments to act in the months ahead. How supporters react will determine the extent of the difficulties that Wallace will face, though, which means that trust is as much of a critical commodity as finance. Both have been in short supply in recent months. The review is a mixture of regret and hope. The amount of money that was squandered after the launch of Rangers International Football Club on the Alternative Investment Market is startling, and blame is placed firmly on previous executives, and by extension the directors who oversaw them. That analysis is accurate, but does not also take into account the fact that the appointments of previous and current directors were all sanctioned by the same group of aligned shareholders. Rangers' power structure is ultimately gathered around those shareholders who granted their voting proxies to Sandy Easdale, himself the holder of a smaller shareholding, ahead of the annual general meeting last December. It is only change at shareholder level that will alter the power structure. Wallace arrived as an independent figure, but he is now inextricably linked with events at Ibrox. His credibility as chief executive relied, to some extent at least, on the contents of the review, but also now on his ability to deliver it, the accuracy of its contents and his judgement in recent months. Easdale has expressed concern about Rangers' finances The latter is already in question following revelations that the club were informed last January, several weeks before any talk was raised of a season ticket boycott, that accepting credit card payments would require security being granted. This was because of the accounts, and Wallace's suggestion that the playing staff might accept a pay cut, rather than any fan initiative, yet the review - which was delivered to the stock exchange - states otherwise. With season ticket renewals "slow" according to Easdale - and believed to be significantly less than they were at this stage in the process last year - it would seem that Rangers fans were waiting to be convinced by Wallace. It did not help, for instance, that he said at the AGM that there was enough cash in the bank to sustain the business until the end of the season, only for the board to then seek a £1.5m loan from Easdale and George Letham (who offered better terms than those initially offered by the single largest shareholder, Laxey Partners) in February. It was also a crass juxtaposition for Wallace, following the release of the review, to fail to deny the bonus arrangements in his contract while at the same time revealing that there would be a "small number" of redundancies amongst the non-playing staff. This also followed the appointment of Paul Tyrrell, the former director of communications at Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton, in a consultancy role in the immediate run-up to the publication of the review. Wallace has, at times, seemed unable to negotiate the political intricacies of his position. It would have exasperated him, for instance, that the day before the review launch, Easdale gave an interview in which he described the club as being in a "fragile " position and suggested that it would not survive an insolvency event. He was revealing information sensitive to the RIFC share price, but isn't a plc director, in contravention of stock market rules. Wallace insisted that administration was not discussed during the 120-day review, but the message in the review is clear that if season ticket sales fall substantially, then the business will be unable to trade. It seems inconceivable that if insolvency is a possibility then it hasn't been discussed. The same message is contained in the revelation that Rangers cannot accept credit or debit card transactions for season ticket sales because the merchant provider was seeking security, which is likely to reflect a threat of insolvency should season ticket sales fall. This is a consequence of past recklessness, since supporters have lost faith in those running the club. It will only irk them further to read assessments in the review that £2m was spent on stadium wifi, LED displays and jumbo screens which were "non-essential"; that players were signed last summer that executives should have known the club could not afford. There were promises of optimism, in assertions that Ally McCoist will be given funds to spend over future transfer windows in a "more structured and planned" signing policy and that a three-year plan has been drawn up to deliver the Scottish Premiership title. Former Rangers director Dave King Fans will also like the notion of a chief football operations officer, an academy fund and commercial developments. Wallace's position as chief executive will rest on his ability to deliver these, though, as well as persuading the fans to renew their season tickets to such an extent that there is an overall uplift in sales. So what does the future hold? In part, that is dependent on how much money is left, and whether or not immediate costs can be met in the meantime. For now, there remain a number of scenarios. Should there be a shortfall in renewals, the intention is to hold a pre-emptive share offer, of up to 43,400,000 shares, to existing stakeholders. This would likely be at a discounted market price - and the share price fell by 15% to 22p following the review - and so would only raise up to around £9.5m. There is a further intention to seek the approval of shareholders in autumn 2014 for a new rights issue, to raise equity for investment. This would, again, be a pre-emptive offer, allowing current shareholders first refusal on a pro-rata basis to protect the size of their stake, but unsold shares, commonly known as the rump, are normally then offered to non-shareholders. This is where Dave King, the former Ibrox director, could make a move. There are other options for King, and he could in theory potentially acquire the right from existing shareholders to take up their allocation from a share issue. As with the Union of Fans, King chose to keep his counsel following the publication of the review, out of respect to the family of the late Sandy Jardine, the former Rangers defender who died on Thursday. South African-based businessman King now at least has options, as he looks to implement his strategy to invest in the club. King has publicly asserted that he wants to invest up to £30m in the club, if needs be, but that would be on the basis that he also gains control of how that investment is utilised. In the end, it came down to several thousand words, some reflection back and some casting forward. The review emphasises that Rangers are in a potentially dire financial position, and signalled what attempts might be made to address this. Can Wallace deliver? Will supporters buy into it? And what will King do now? The following days will be more revealing than the review itself.

RECORD SPORT can reveal the league’s top brass have ordered an urgent investigation into an alleged rule breach in Killie's 3-0 defeat to Celtic at Rugby Park last month. KILMARNOCK could be plunged into crisis with the SPFL set to probe a claim that a staff member forged a player’s signature in order to play him against Celtic. Record Sport can reveal the league’s top brass have ordered an urgent investigation into the alleged rule breach which relates to the champions’ 3-0 win at Rugby Park last month. And, if 
found guilty, Killie could be hammered with a range of sanctions including a possible points deduction which could condemn Allan Johnston’s team to a nerve shredding relegation play-off. It could also provide a Premiership lifeline to 
St Mirren, Ross County, Hibs and Partick Thistle and save them from going down. SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster refused to comment last night when Record Sport contacted him about the dramatic developments. But we can confirm Doncaster has been briefed about the accusations of 
foul play and has personally ordered a 
full-scale inquiry. The SPFL have not yet established which player is at the centre of the allegations. It’s understood 
the SPFL probe will 
consider a claim that a Kilmarnock office worker witnessed another staff member forging the player’s signature in the lead up to a game against Celtic last month that the champions won 3-0. It is alleged that 
the SPFL contacted Kilmarnock to alert them to the fact that a player’s signature was missing from a page of paperwork and that, unless it was submitted, the player could not be registered in time for the game in question. It’s then claimed 
the missing signature was added but not by the player. And – if this accusation is proven to be correct – then Kilmarnock could face the prospect of a points penalty which would almost certainly tip Johnston’s team into the dreaded play-offs. The SPFL’s rule book demands that member clubs act in the utmost good faith at all times. But Doncaster’s team will also investigate whether a more specific rule break, relating to registration of player’s regulation 72 which states: “Any Club which, in the opinion of the Board, unfairly traffics or deals in the Registration of any Player or otherwise abuses in any way the Registration, transfer, or Compensation systems shall be dealt with as the Board may determine.” A source told us: “A wide range of sanctions, ranging from a slap on the wrist to expulsion, would be open to the SPFL board if these allegations are found to be true. But in this instance a points deduction would be 
one of the more likely outcomes. “Points deductions would normally be considered if a club played an ineligible player – even if it was simply down to an honest mistake with paperwork. “But in this case, it could be argued that the club not only fielded an ineligible player but also that a deliberate attempt was made to deceive the SPFL office bearers. If that were to be the case then it would be treated as a very serious matter.” It’s understood the complaint was also made to club chairman Michael Johnston who pledged to carry out an internal investigation. Record Sport attempted to contact a spokesperson for Kilmarnock but no-one from the club was available to comment. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kilmarnock-scottish-professional-football-league-3449000

Help required tonight. Meet at Ibrox underground at 6.45pm.

Due to a mass leaflet drop prior to Saturdays game we require volunteers to hand out 30,000 leaflets. We require lots of help due to numbers and this is the last chance to get info to fans at ibrox this season If your willing and able please put your name below or PM PLEASE MEET 11.15 at COPLAND RD STAIRS on Harrison Dr Thanks Craig.

APRIL 23, 2014 UNION OF FANS STATEMENT: 23/04/14 by Union of Fans in Statements Ahead of Graham Wallace’s long awaited, and much anticipated, review we felt it would be helpful to reiterate what we are expecting to see from the CEO. It has now been over four months since Mr Wallace’s AGM pledge and we do expect, given the length of time it has taken, that this business review will give a full and comprehensive picture of the way forward for the club. We expect to see a full breakdown of the how the club arrived at the point where it required to borrow funds simply to complete the current season. This should include a full breakdown of where the IPO money went. In particular, detail of the sky high placement costs, related fees and who those fees were paid to and why. We expect to see full detail of who will be providing the £30-£50M required to take Rangers back to the level we should be operating at, in the absence of this board accepting the offer of investment from Dave King. We also expect to be told exactly when this will be provided, on what terms and a clear plan of how it will be used to rebuild the club both on and off the park. We hope that this review will not simply be more, vague, corporate speak from Mr Wallace. We want to see tangible, measurable progress and firm commitments on the huge investment required. Anything less will be a damp squib, especially since we have already seen that we cannot even rely on public, binding statements from this board. For our own part, the UoF have been making steady progress on the setup required for the season ticket fund. We understand the frustration of fans who wish to contribute to this but we would ask them to understand that we must ensure it is setup properly, legally and with total transparency. We thank them for their patience and can assure them that an alternative to placing blind faith in this board will be in place shortly. A company is now in place with Dave King as a director and Richard Gough and others to follow shortly. This will be the vehicle to hold the security should the board see fit to grant it. We will have a website in place within the next 10 days, ahead of the May 6th deadline, where fans can register their details and securely place their season ticket money. This money will only be passed to the club in return for season tickets if security is granted over Ibrox and Auchenhowie. Those are our only conditions. If that security is not granted then fans will retain their money and can decide themselves how to proceed at the start of the new season. The payment mechanism we are using means that although fans enter into a binding commitment to have their season ticket money debited in the event of security being granted, no money will be removed from their account until that security is granted. We will provide full detail of this on the website when it launches. In the meantime, we would ask fans who are considering using their season ticket money to try to secure our vital club assets to hold off renewing. We understand the pressures being applied both emotionally and otherwise, in terms of payment mechanisms, but it is time for us to take a stand against two years of corporate pillaging of our club. We can secure our club’s home against a backdrop of further financial uncertainty, but only with the help of the supporters. We would like to make those on auto renewal, who paid over four months last year, aware that they have to cancel in writing to the ticket office prior to 28th April. The email address to do so is webmail@rangers.co.uk. Season ticket money is the main power the fans have and we would ask them to use it for positive change.

You would need to have been living on the moon for the past few weeks to have escaped the media frenzy surrounding David Moyes and his ill-fated tenure as the boss of Manchester United and the repeated references to Manchester United’s “Class of ‘02” who are, one by one, starting to appear back at Old Trafford like the prodigal sons of an empire gearing up to face an impending crisis. Ryan Giggs has already been installed as Interim Player Manager and one of his first actions has been to bring in Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt to assist him in addition to Phil Neville who has kept his job on the coaching staff following the departures of Steve Round and Jimmy Lumsden. Phil’s brother, Gary is the next frame to make an emotional return to Old Trafford in some capacity and that leaves only David Beckham to be approached (if he hasn’t already) to take up a role. All this activity got me thinking about our very own “Class of ‘92” and how they might fit in to the relative roles at our club, both on and off the field and what each of them would bring, should the opportunity present itself for them to return. We already have two prominent members of the Rangers Class of ’92 at Ibrox of course, in the shape of Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant and so I’ve picked four other members of that famous team who were within one game of the inaugural Champions League Final and who swept aside a strong Celtic and Aberdeen to claim a fifth domestic treble in the same season. I’ll leave it up to you nice folks to debate whether my choices are appropriate and whether the addition of these men would rescue McCoist and Durrant from a potentially similar fate to that of Moyes after being recommended for the job by their predecessors. First on the list is Stuart McCall. Making 54 appearances in the ‘92/93 season and chipping in with six goals Stuart was a stalwart in the team and I would compare his role in the team to that of Nicky Butt at United. Voted into the Hall Of Fame in 2008 (presented with his award by one Alistair McCoist) he is held in high esteem by Rangers fans and given the magnitude of his contribution to the season in question and throughout the proceeding glory years of Nine In A Row I doubt that there are many out there who would disagree with his inclusion here. The big question about him for me would be, in which capacity? He has been a relative success at Motherwell as head coach and can be rightly proud of his achievements there, operating with a limited budget and a much lower wage bill than his compatriot McCoist has at his disposal. For me, and given that this is (at the moment at least) a fantastical concept I’d put him straight into the role currently held by his friend McCoist, moving Durrant into the position currently held by Kenny MacDowall and making McCoist the assistant manager. Next up is Richard Gough. Eagle eyed readers will have noticed that I reserved the right to include off field positions for my Class Of ’92 and of the potential members of that team, I cannot see any better suited to boardroom leadership than Gough. He is of course currently Dave King’s spirit guide and is likely to play a big part in any future boardroom machinations, should King triumph in any meaningful way. He was a leader on the pitch and his role in ’92 cannot be underestimated. As the teams lined up in the tunnel before the Leeds United game at Ibrox it is said that he put the fear of God into the likes of Cantona and Strachan with his roaring, booming encouragement of his colleagues and that he took great pleasure in embracing Gary McCallister and making it clear that he expected his countryman to “do his duty as a Scotsman” much to McCallister’s and his team mates bemusement. To continue with the theme of comparing our heroes with their United equivalents, I’d put Gough in as our Gary Neville. The Light Blue equivalent of Gary’s brother Phil would be my third (and possibly most controversial?) choice David Robertson. A classy and attack minded full back, Robertson would bring some much needed tutelage to the likes of Smith, Peralta and Foster and would undoubtedly jump at the chance to return to the club he enjoyed so much success with. He was an ever present in the team who swept all asunder on the way to a treble and was for me, the most under rated player of that era. I have absolutely no idea what he’s doing now and if he has any qualities that would put him in the frame for anything more than just a defensive coach but given our current inadequacies I’d welcome him in our little thought experiment. Choosing the last of the quartet was a difficult task and I’ve put myself through much inner turmoil by passing over the likes of Mark Hately, Andy Goram, Ian Ferguson and John Brown. My rationale is as follows: If McCall is our Nicky Butt, Gough is our Gary Neville, Robertson is the other Neville and McCoist and Durrant are Beckham and Giggs then this only leaves Paul Scholes without a Rangers equivalent. Trevor Steven is as close as we ever had (in the same era)to the media shy midfield maestro and he is the final member of my own personal Class Of ’92. Signed from Everton to the amazement of his England peers, Steven chose to renew his partnership with Gary Stevens and buy into the European dream sold to him by Graeme Souness. His signing was over shadowed by the arrival of a certain Maurice Johnston and I think had he been signed at any other time, a much bigger deal would have been made of his acquisition. Steven was a cultured, right sided midfielder and was capable of unpicking even the best of defences with pin point passing and crosses which put many of McCoist and Hately’s goals on a plate. His form at Rangers earned him a place in England’s World Cup squad in 1990 ahead of the likes of David Rocastle and along-side John Barnes, Glen Hoddle and Chris Waddle. Added to that, he left to ply his trade in Europe for Marseille and returned for a second term arguably a better player just in time to guide us to that fateful tie with Bernard Tapie’s corruption tainted side. I realise that I have left out some fantastic footballers and indeed virtuous men here but I’ve chosen players based mostly on their abilities as footballers, abilities that made them a pleasure to watch something that cannot be said about the current Rangers side and I feel that each of these would be fitting appointments to take us forward onto the Championship and the inevitable meetings with our oldest of foes. Will it happen? Of course not, not in such a wholesale manner but we already have two of the six and who knows, maybe Gough and McCall would be realistic targets for a revitalised and bullish Rangers post ****? We can as always but dream.

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/239-renewals-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place The last few years have been hugely difficult for Rangers fans. Administration, dysfunctional directors and confused coups from ‘Rangers men’ who believe they would be better placed to run the club; all this contributes to an ongoing period of uncertainty and frustration for many bears. Time is a great healer they say but, in actual fact, we appear no closer to finding genuine stability for Rangers football club in the short term – indeed the decision-making for the average fan is now even more of a challenge than before. Why? Well, the deadline for renewing season tickets is fast approaching. While some fans still have around two weeks to make up their mind, those who pay in instalments only have until next Monday to confirm their payment plan. Thus, with the club waiting until this Friday to finally publish their 120-day Review (no-one knows if this will be an update or a detailed report), fans have next to no time to decide whether or not the current board can be entrusted with millions more season ticket cash for 2014/15. Meanwhile, at the time of writing, Dave King and the Union of Fans have similarly failed to outline why their Trust fund is a better option or, indeed, how this would even work. To say fans are stuck between a rock and a hard place is an understatement. In an ideal world we’d all renew regardless. Despite the under-performance and inconsistency of the team on the park, next season is sure to be an exciting one and it’s safe to say will present much more of a challenge than the first two stages of the ‘journey’ back to the SPFL Premiership. Not only will Hearts be as eager as us to return to the top league at the first time of asking, there’s a good chance another Premiership team could be joining us both. In addition, as the existing Championship table shows, there will be at least two more teams more than capable of forming a title/promotion challenge for next season. Add in the recent defeats we’ve suffered from teams like Raith Rovers and Queen of the South, it’s safe to say next year will be far from a walkover for Rangers. The fact is for 2014/15 the SPFL Championship will be the most exciting competition in Scotland so I can’t be the only bear looking forward to the challenge. Renewal of our season ticket should be automatic. Yet it isn’t. Not only are thousands of fans unable to trust the board of directors with their money, for those uninterested in the often tedious boardroom politics the match-day experience is also average at best. Sure, it may appear somewhat bizarre to complain about a team (and manager) who look likely to deliver an unbeaten league campaign while scoring over 100 goals but aside from a few sporadic early season performances we’ve really struggled to achieve genuine quality home or away on a consistent basis. This is perhaps summed up by the difficulty in picking a Player of the Year for 2013/14. Yes, a few lads have done well in patches but I don’t think any player (and I include Lee Wallace in that) can really say they’ve been a stand-out all season. I don’t want to be hyper-critical but there really isn’t a lot to be positive about ahead of a new campaign. In that sense, I’m eager to hear from the manager in how he intends to address this ahead of renewals. So far, like many others who form part of the Rangers saga, he hasn’t. Of course, that’s possibly an unfair expectation when McCoist, like the rest of us, is supposedly unaware of his budget for next season. For example, we’re told Graham Wallace wanted squad wage cuts (to the manager’s credit, he seems to be the only one who has accepted a decrease) while recent loans show the club apparently doesn’t have the finance to complete a season of football – this only one year after raising £22million via an initial share offer, not to mention two tranches of match-day ticket income (in itself around the same figure) since 2012. Clearly, season ticket money (possibly around £12million for the coming year) defines the club’s operations going forward. Yet, many fans are being asked to renew without knowing exactly how competitive the club is going to be. With that in mind the content of the 120-day Review is now overdue and vital to the future of the club. I won’t bore the reader of this article with the plethora of questions about the review but the detail simply has to reveal the club’s direction for next season and beyond. While every single Rangers fan wants our club to be of a right-size for future demands, it’s also clear it needs to be re-capitalised for the challenges ahead. However I’d also suggest no fan wants money to be wasted on short-term player signings but instead (as what should have happened in 2012) the club stream-lined and positioned to be self-sustainable for the long term. This means investment in youth, scouting and the stadium to bring success for many more years to come. Yes, this isn’t easy to achieve (ask Sir David Murray) but we’re told Graham Wallace is of the highest calibre (and he’s apparently very well paid) to clearly explain how this is possible in his review. I’d certainly say four months is ample time to provide a report which offers the kind of detail and evidence based submissions to excite every Rangers fan about our future. In short, Wallace must make his plan one we can all buy into one way or the other for many years ahead. No bland generalisations, no business-speak and, well, no excuses. In saying that, what is the alternative for Rangers fans? Well, Dave King and the Union of Fans appear equally less than convincing so far. Statement after statement from King implores us not to renew our season tickets while the Union of Fans promise us some sort of Trust fund to release our money on a match-per-match basis to the club. Yet, a few months down the line, they’re also no closer to revealing their plans in that regard. Can fans retain their preferred seat? Who or what is entrusted with the property securities they’ve requested? What happens if the club enters further financial difficulty in the interim? So far, we’ve seen no answer to any of these questions. Similarly, Dave King’s actions have been less than consistent as well. Just how keen is he to invest in the club and what affect will his own past business dealings have on his and Rangers’ reputation? No-one can deny King’s previous impressive financial commitment but that cannot make him immune from the same questions we have of the incumbents. The lack of clarity in that regard remains a huge disappointment. To conclude then, despite months of uncertainty and superficial debate, Rangers fans remain no closer to a solution for their renewal conundrum. I don’t doubt the vast majority of last season’s 36,000 season ticket holders want to sign up for what will be a more exciting challenge next term but I also believe our incredible passion has been taken advantage of all too often in recent years for fans to hand over their hard-earned no questions asked. There’s absolutely no shame or disloyalty in wanting more for our money. Taking that into account, I’m disappointed in the club’s disregard for open fan consultation vis-à-vis the review. However, I feel equally let down by Dave King in his inability to turn words into demonstrable action by means of a viable alternative to the status quo. In light of all the above, I can’t be the only fan who feels they’re in an impossible position ahead of the forthcoming deadlines. This may well change today, tomorrow, or later in the week but it seems our annual investment will continue to be the pawn of others for the foreseeable future. Rather than stand by and let ourselves be used in such a manner, I’d hope fans would now begin to realise our power when it comes to Rangers and actually become a player ourselves instead of being played. Only then can we really have a proper say in the future. Anything else will just see that rock become a harder and harder place….

RANGERS are behaving as though their 120-day business review will have to be crowbarred out of their directors' hands. The more cynical of this club's supporters would not be surprised if the update was delivered in encrypted text this Friday, such has been the apparent reluctance to let the findings out into the public domain. Friday will be day 128, incidentally, and all that has been promised is "update" rather than any extensive illumination of the Ibrox strategy. This is what football has come to: thousands of fans desperately waiting for breaking news on what they would once have dismissed as bone-dry financial strategies. Maybe Graham Wallace, the chief executive, didn't realise he was creating such a hostage to fortune when he announced this business review at the annual general meeting in December, but its significance has mushroomed Directors and fans are in a Mexican stand-off over season tickets. If Wallace placates the masses, damage will be done to the Union of Fans/Dave King attempt to persuade thousands to break the traditional supply chain and instead put their money into a trust fund. But on all available evidence so far it's hard to see what Wallace can deliver which will remotely placate them. Wallace is probably shrewd enough to know what's coming his way when the information is released. In the four months since he bought himself time by announcing this review, Rangers have divested themselves of two figures most of the support considered to be toxic: finance director Brian Stockbridge and public relations adviser Jack Irvine. The club also secured a shirt sponsorship deal with 32Red. Hip, hip hurrays all round? Well, yes, for a moment. Each of those moves was significant, yet they have had no lasting effect on the swirl of negativity around Rangers or the hostility and suspicion shown towards the board. Wallace's own popularity and standing has steadily eroded. At the time of the annual meeting supporters were able to distinguish between him and the rest of the unpopular board. Now, much less so. What can he say in this review that will make the critics pause and say, "actually, yeah, that's not bad, this could win us round"? Three days ago it became personal towards Wallace when his salary and bonus was openly questioned by supporters group The Union of Fans. Maybe £315,000-per-annum really is the going rate for high end football club chief executives these days, although Rangers continue to seem like pushovers when it comes to doing deals with just about anyone. But if Wallace is on another of those 100% Ibrox bonus deals, as his critics clearly believe, fans will see him as being a continuation of the chain of ****s and opportunists when they had hoped he would come in and cleanse the club of them all. What seems likely now is that Wallace's update will exasperate and irritate those fans further, hardening their opposition to the board and deepening their resolve to starve out the incumbent regime by withholding season ticket money. The collapse of King's cordial working relationship with the directors is significant, given that he surely had some sort of insight into Wallace's intended strategy. Positions are entrenched. No fair-minded supporter will reject Wallace's findings on a stubborn point-of-principle. Perhaps he will surprise them and come up with a plan which seems imaginative, ambitious and realistic. But it's only two months since this Rangers board had to go cap in hand for £1.5m in emergency loans just to see the club over the line until the next season-ticket money. At the end of last year the board suggested the players take a 15% wage cut: that was rejected and, since then, nothing more has been heard of it and no other cuts have been publicly proposed. Wallace is on record as saying costs are too high. Money continues to haemorrhage from Rangers. If Wallace's update acknowledges that the club needs either severe cuts or substantial external investment then the latter will be embraced by those who champion King and find it unfathomable, and deeply suspicious, that his apparent willingness to invest has not been encouraged by the Rangers board. What freedom does Wallace have here? This review has been sanctioned by Sandy and James Easdale and the rest of the Rangers board. Would it ever see the light of day if it delivered findings they didn't like? When Rangers said the update would be announced on Friday April 25 (which will be day 127, incidentally), fans immediately clocked that they would have only the weekend to consider it before deciding whether or not to cancel the auto-renewal of their season-tickets (which may not be enough time if it that has to be done in writing). That was either a calculating move by the club or an unthinking one, but either way it looked sleekit and did nothing to build bridges with the support. Wallace and chairman David Somers have both spoken of the need to be more open and transparent with )supporters but done next to nothing to back it up. Wallace will be heard before the week is out, though. His job may pay well, but it's an unenviable one: this week he must calm and win over supporters implacably opposed to the regime he represents. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/opinion/wallaces-strategy-update-may-be-too-late-to-win-over-rangers-fans.24005492?utm_source=headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email%2Balert

IN ROBERT Bolt’s play and film, A Man For All Seasons, Sir Thomas More assembles his numerous domestic staff to break the bad news that he has fallen on irredeemably hard times. “I am no longer a great man,” he begins. “And since I am no more a great man, I no longer need a great household. Nor can I afford one. You will have to go.” Here was a practical demonstration of the kind of acute insight and quick wits that gave rise to the former Lord Chancellor’s reputation as one of 16th-century England’s most formidable intellects. Of course, More would also have been quick to acknowledge that even the humblest peasant farmer, faced with financial catastrophe – a failed crop, say – would have been similarly aware instantly of the necessity of a protracted period of austerity, or even abandonment of his smallholding and relocation as an employee on a steady, if modest, income. It is a grasp of elementary economics that seems somehow to have eluded anyone charged with executive duties at Rangers throughout the years since the instigator of the old club’s decline, David Murray, began the large-scale, reckless extravagance that led to calamity. Since then, despite the onset of administration and liquidation and passing through the hands of a succession of regimes to the present board of directors, the Glasgow institution has existed in a constant state of financial vulnerability, with no-one among the numerous sets of “saviours” apparently willing to identify certain damaging truths and take appropriate remedial action. This speaks of a culture problem at Ibrox, one that became entrenched during the 140 years that preceded liquidation in 2012 and has generally not even been acknowledged, far less addressed, despite the overwhelming evidence of the need to abandon principles that have been rendered wasteful by monetary imperatives. Chief among these actions is to emulate Thomas More and concede that Rangers are no longer a great club. That is, “great” in the sense of magnitude, as opposed to their historic high achievement and the resultant command of the affections and allegiances of many thousands of followers. An organisation whose annual turnover once was close to £60 million has now, according to the latest returns, shrunk to £19m – and even that amount is likely to be reduced again at the end of the current financial year. Yet, in the wake of liquidation of the old club and the birth of the new, the directors saw fit to sanction a yearly wage bill of around £7m for players charged with winning the fourth- and third-division championships. Salaries of non-playing personnel make the total around £9m, while the general costs of running the operation drain the kitty of £1.4m per month. These ludicrously high outgoings having to be met entirely from the club’s working capital, since their history of leaving behind creditors owed millions when entering administration means they no longer have access to credit lines at the banks. Despite the obviously perilous condition of their finances (a recent emergency loan of £1.5m from private individuals required simply to remain solvent until the end of the season), numerous supporters are immovable in their conviction that Rangers remain a “massive” club whose rightful place is at the head of Scottish football’s Premiership and competing creditably in the Champions League. There is, of course, nothing intrinsically flawed about aiming for the stars, but the problem with too many Rangers followers is that they want it to happen yesterday. Their ideal is the instant cure of a wealthy benefactor taking control and providing an unconditional minimum £50m of funding with which the team could be transformed from lower-league capabilities to national champions in the blink of an eye. And yet, curiously, there appears to be a substantial number of fans willing to rally to the banner of Dave King, the South Africa-based entrepreneur who, astonishingly, has publicly declared his unwillingness to invest in the club. So far, he has offered only words, primarily to blacken the names of the current directors. King has also shown himself to be as inconsistent as many who have become involved in the propaganda war at Ibrox, at first encouraging supporters not to renew their season tickets, then changing tack by saying that the chief executive, Graham Wallace, should be allowed to complete his 120-day review of the business, before returning this week with another fusillade in the direction of the board. King, convicted on more than 40 counts of tax evasion in South Africa, accused the opposition of a lack of integrity and honesty. But, among the array of head-turning schemes associated with disenchanted fans and the directors, the most preposterous is surely the demand by the former to be handed security over Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park as part of their renewing season tickets. This is like insisting that M&S give customers security over their flagship Oxford Street store in exchange for a pledge to buy more merchandise. The entire season-ticket phenomenon, in fact, has been warped into a grotesque caricature of its traditional place in the game and led to the utterly meaningless and misleading question: “What happened to the fans’ money?” This clearly ignores the fact that, when a ticket is bought, the money becomes the seller’s while the buyer gets the ticket. It’s not complicated. At the core of the Ibrox morass, however, there ought to be a warning that the fans should be careful what they wish for. Institutional investors collectively make up a large majority of shareholders, but each has actually spent a comparatively tiny amount on acquiring their equity. If they continue to be harassed, they could consider the venture not to be worth the bother, sell off the assets and close down the business. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/glenn-gibbons-rangers-fans-playing-dangerous-game-1-3381635

THE former Southend defender wouldn't swap a day at Ochilview for a game at Old Trafford and says that team-mate Lee Wallace is good enough to play for Arsenal. BILEL MOHSNI insists even an offer from the English Premier League couldn’t lure him away from helping Rangers back to the top. The French defender claims he has found a new family at Ibrox since arriving from Southend last summer. Mohsni has made 32 appearances this term to help Gers run away with the League One title. He scored his 10th goal of the season in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Forfar and the 26-year-old admitted he has been blown away by the passion of the Light Blues’ support – even though a fans’ signing session left him on the brink of collapse. Paris-born Mohsni also insisted team-mate Lee Wallace is good enough to play for Arsenal. The centre-back said: “It’s impossible to realise just how touching and pleasing it is to be surrounded by so many Rangers fans. “My dream is to take the club back up to the top and into Europe where it belongs. “I’d prefer to be at Ibrox 100 times more than playing for a club in the lower half of the English Premier League. That is despite the fact I would earn more money down south. “The levels of support for Rangers are unbelievable. “People have so much love for this club and I can only imagine what it is like in the Scottish Premiership and for European games. “Madjid Bougherra has told me it is something he misses and would like to experience once more some day. The club asked me to do a midweek signing session in the megastore. “It was meant to last two hours and given that I am not a big name like Lee McCulloch I didn’t think many people would come along. “But I was wrong. The queue stretched for dozens of yards and I spent hours signing shirts, calendars and footballs non-stop as well as posing for photos. I heard fans who had waited for hours saying, ‘There’s still people behind us – I’ll buy an extra shirt and get Bilel to sign it for my uncle.’ I was shocked. “As for Lee Wallace, he is good enough to play for any Premier League team, even Arsenal. “Kieran Gibbs or Wallace? Waldo would fit into their side no problem.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/rangers-defender-bilel-mohsni-id-3426558

.......if Ibrox chief Graham Wallace is in line for a whopping £300,000 bonus. UNION of Fans believe directors at their cash-strapped club are still entitled to 100 per cent top ups to their salary similar to the windfall received by Charles Green. RANGERS fans have demanded to know if the club’s chief executive Graham Wallace is in line for a whopping £300,000 bonus. The move was launched by the supporters’ coalition group, the Union of Fans. They issued a statement late last night expressing “shareholder concern” about the culture of huge cash rewards in the boardroom which saw shamed duo Charles Green and Brian Stockbridge double their annual salaries during their time at the club. Now they want to know if Wallace has negotiated a similar package – a deal they say could take his yearly earnings to in excess of £600,000. The statement said: “We would therefore urge Graham Wallace to disclose publicly whether or not he has ended the bonus culture within the club or whether it has continued with new appointments. “We do not feel that, under circumstances in which the club is losing large amounts of money on a monthly basis, shareholders should have to wait until the audited accounts are published to find this out. "These accounts will not be available until near the end of the year. “Can Mr Wallace, for instance, earn an annual 100 per cent bonus on his salary, which it has been said is in excess of £300,000 a year? “In the past we have seen Charles Green double his salary with a 100 per cent bonus, while ex-financial director Brian Stockbridge was also awarded a £200,000 bonus to double his salary. “Will Graham Wallace also be able to double his salary to more than £600,000 a year or has he ended that type of bonus culture within the Ibrox boardroom? “If he wants to build trust then he should be happy to rule out that this type of culture is still ongoing.” The Union of Fans also expressed dismay that the current regime has not answered questions raised last week by Dave King. He asked, among other things, if Wallace knew the club was about to run out of cash when he addressed shareholders and fans at the agm in December. The statement added: “We also still await answers to the questions posed by Dave King and in particular the question regarding Mr Wallace’s agm pronouncements about the cash position of the club, which we do not believe to have been true. “Mr Wallace cannot continue to ignore these extremely serious questions if he expects to build any sort of trust with the fans and shareholders.” Rangers last night refused to disclose Wallace’s salary details. A spokesman said: “Rangers Football Club does not comment on the details of any employee’s compensation. “Mr Wallace, as a director of Rangers plc, will have his remuneration fully disclosed in the annual accounts in the normal manner. “The club will update fans and shareholders on its business review next Friday as previously announced.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-fans-demand-know-ibrox-3426039

..................it's tough being constantly told how s*** you are!. THE Cheque Centre PFA League One Player of the Year award nominee has told fans he's looking forward to a holiday - and that hopes that he doesn't bump into any of them on his travels!. NICKY LAW needs a break – to get away from being constantly told Rangers are s***! The former Motherwell midfielder has hardly missed a game in his first season for the Ibrox side. But he admits the criticism has taken more of a toll on him than the workload over the last six months. Law was yesterday named as one of four candidates for the Cheque Centre PFA League One Player of the Year award. Team-mates Jon Daly and Lee Wallace were nominated alongside him after going through the league campaign unbeaten so far. But even that impressive run hasn’t stopped the flak from flying this season – and Gers took more stick after losing the Ramsdens Cup Final to Raith Rovers then crashing out of the Scottish Cup to Dundee United. That’s why Law is counting down the days to his summer holiday as he learns about the demands of being a Rangers player. Gers suffered more criticism for their performance against Forfar on Tuesday – despite a 3-0 win – and Law said: “It’s tough constantly being told you’re s*** for six months! “I’ve missed about two games this season so I could do with a break physically and I’m looking forward to getting away from it mentally. “Nobody would want to go to work and be told how s*** you are so the thought of six weeks off is nice. “I’m going to Egypt for 10 nights and Italy for two weeks with my family. I hope there are no Rangers fans there to tell me we’re s***!” Englishman Law admitted it has been an eye opener at Ibrox and said: “It takes getting used to playing for Rangers. With the Press and the scrutiny over where Rangers are there’s even more spotlight on the club and it has been difficult. “Being told how rubbish you are for six months despite not losing a league game is strange. We know that how we’ve played since Christmas hasn’t been good enough. “We’ve huffed and puffed and got over the line in games despite not playing well which is different from the early part of the campaign when we were on it and scoring freely. “We’ve dropped and when we needed it for the cup games it was hard to get that performance back. This is the most scrutiny I’ve been under, completely different to anything before. “I played for Sheffield United in the Premier League but I was a teenager so you just go out without a care in the world. Then at Rotherham, Bradford and Motherwell the focus isn’t as intense as it is at Rangers where someone has an opinion on every move you make. “It’s such a massive club but you need to get used to it. People say it can take a year or two to adapt to a club like that and it has been a strange season. It will be nice to get some time off.” Law knows it’s only going to get tougher next season in the Championship as Gers bid to return to the top flight. The 26-year-old said: “We’ve won the last two league campaigns fairly comfortably and a lot of people probably think it will be the same again. “We’re under no illusions how close it will be because the sides we’ve faced this season have been good and I haven’t seen a massive difference from the teams I played against with Motherwell. “Falkirk had good young players and we scored two late on in a cup tie that could have gone either way. Raith beat us and they were organised. “It will be an exciting league and we’ll need to improve considerably. Four or five teams will fancy their chances. People want to see a tight league and it will be interesting if another team from the top flight comes down. “But with the players we have, and hopefully the manager can add to that, we’ll be back up there again. Even if the manager didn’t add we feel like we can compete at the top end and the aim will be to win the league. “Hearts will be in it and you’d fancy them to challenge. If any of the other Premiership clubs dropped down then they would make it even more competitive.” Gers will go an entire league campaign unbeaten if they avoid defeat in their last four games. But Law admits they need to start playing better. He said: “When we drew with Stranraer on Boxing Day it was like ‘We’ve drawn, we can’t win every league game.’ Since that game we’ve been flat. “It’s hard to put your finger on it but when you’re 20, 30 points clear and you know you’ve wrapped up the league it’s hard to go out every week and do the business. “The manager has needed to get us going at times. A big part of his job has been keeping us motivated. He won’t let us slack. “Even before the Forfar game on Tuesday he said if we dropped an inch we would be coming off. “We don’t want to go out and play poorly. We want to score five and six but it’s not possible. People say you’re playing postmen and butchers but Rangers being in these leagues has highlighted how many good players are at this level.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-star-nicky-law-need-3422506

DAVE KING tonight fired another attack on the Rangers board. The South African businessman has declared war on the current Ibrox regime and has issued a strongly-worded statement again urging Rangers fans not to renew season tickets. The statement reads: I must respond to the Rangers board’s criticism of my appeal to withhold season ticket advances. This board continues its habit of evading issues by attacking the integrity of any individual or group that speaks out against them. I am happy to engage the board on our comparative integrity. Unlike this board, I do not regard integrity as a character attribute that comes with an ON/OFF switch. When I met with the board the Chairman requested that, other than the two public statements that we made, the balance of our discussions would remain private. I agreed to that and, despite requests from fan groups to disclose the full details of my discussions, I steadfastly honoured my undertaking. This board did not do likewise. In an ill-judged attempt to discredit me, they have now disclosed my comment to them that I preferred not to put money into Rangers if it could be found from other sources. In this instance they demonstrated their lack of integrity for no advantage as I had already, as part of my frank discussions with the fan groups, advised them that I had no prime ambition to invest further in the club but will do so if no other investors come forward. I would be delighted if the club could thrive without any investment from me. This attempt at a “juicy” leak by the board merely proves that it is impossible to engage this board on a basis of confidentiality and integrity. The board has now stated that it was always its intention to only provide the business review after season ticket advances had largely been paid. It has denied that it agreed that the business review would be made available prior to fans committing to season ticket advances even though I referred to this agreement in my public statement immediately after our meeting. At the time the board allowed my public statement, in toto, to go unchallenged. Presumably it had no concern with what I stated. Again, we have an integrity issue but fortunately have common sense as a referee. We know that the board did not challenge my public statement of last month. It is also common cause that the vital issue for the fans is to be told what ambition the owners have for the club and how this is going to be funded. It must be obvious that the fans need this information prior to investing - not after. The board’s new version lacks integrity even if it was believable. Given that the board is quick to raise integrity and trust as key issues I would like to pose simple questions that are easy to reply to with a simple yes or no. a) Does the board agree it is unfair to ask fans to buy season tickets before they consider the business review? b) Does the board agree that, given the present financial position of the club, it is appropriate to provide Ibrox Park and Murray Park as security against season ticket advances? c) Does the board agree that in the latter half of December 2013 it was in discussions to obtain finance that would be needed prior to the end of the current season? d) Does the board agree that in the latter half of December 2013 it provided public assurances to the fans that the club had sufficient cash to last until the end of the current season? Without satisfactory answers to these questions fans should not be expected to invest in season tickets.

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond has contacted the Lithuanian ambassador to the United Kingdom in a bid to help Hearts complete their exit from administration. Salmond, a Hearts supporter, remains hopeful that the deal can be completed, although last night both club administrator Bryan Jackson of BDO and a spokesperson for the Foundation of Hearts said there had been no further developments. Jackson is still awaiting an invitation to return to Lithuania to resume talks with his counterparts at Ukio Bankas. Those talks stalled last week, on the same day that creditors of Ubig, another company formerly controlled by Vladimir Romanov, approved the sale of their 50 per cent share in the Tynecastle club. Ukio have a smaller shareholding of just under 30 per cent, but hold a security over Tynecastle. If they agree to sell both shares and security, Hearts will be able to proceed with the Company Voluntary Arrangement they have made with the Foundation, the supporters’ umbrella body which aims to buy control for £2.5million. Jackson warned last week that the club was fast running out of money, and that a deal had to be finalised by around the end of this month. Foundation chairman Ian Murray, the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South, has also said that his organisation needs to complete the takeover soon in order to allow planning for next season to begin. Murray and Lord Foulkes, a former chairman of Hearts, have had several meetings with ambassador Asta Skaisgiryte-Liauskiene in recent months in the hope of speeding up the process. It remains uncertain how much direct influence any politician can have on the arcane workings of the Baltic republic’s legal system, but Salmond believes that he too should be seen to be doing everything he can. “At the request of the Hearts administrators I phoned the Lithuanian ambassador to try and facilitate the important moves that are being made,” the First Minister said yesterday. “I should say I’m a Hearts supporter, obviously, I declare an interest, but I’ve made the same approaches when necessary with other football clubs in Scotland who’ve been similarly struggling. “And of course I would always do that as First Minister, because it’s part of the First Ministerial role to help Scottish football, to help Scottish clubs when you can. And I’m sure that everyone in Scottish football, whatever team they support, wants to see Hearts back fighting fit, and part of the firmament of our national game.” Salmond declined to give details of his talks other than to suggest they had been positive. “They were helpful conversations and of course progress has been made,” he continued. “But the people behind the eight ball here are the administrators, and like every other Hearts fan in the country, I’m anxious to see more progress made. However, we know progress has been made and we’re hoping that things will reach a successful conclusion.” Unless Ukio’s creditors come to an agreement with BDO soon, Jackson would appear to have little option but to start planning for the liquidation of the football club. Hearts should be able to fulfil their fixtures for the rest of the season – they have five league games left, starting with a home match on Saturday against Ross County – but as things stand they will have no money to continue on into next season. Last night Labour peer Lord Foulkes welcomed the First Minister’s intervention, while pointing out that similar activity had been going on behind the scenes for some time. “It is good he is supporting Ian Murray and me who are in regular contact with Lithuanian ambassador & UK ambassador in Lithuania,” he said on Twitter. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/i-need-to-do-all-i-can-for-hearts-alex-salmond-1-3377777

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6761-season-still-a-success Don't see this posted. Where do you start with this nonsense. Suppose its been a success for Ally though.

Any one else from here going down to this meeting at the Loudon tomorrow night ?

..................but Rangers still manage to buck the trend. WITH the majority of clubs in Scotland look like they are beginning to flourish once again, KEITH says Rangers seem unable to move on from the never-ending war for control that continues to rage on in the boardroom. SO now that the football’s finished for another season, where next for Rangers? Well it won’t be Celtic Park in May anyway. Dundee United made sure of that on Saturday when, even without hitting top form, they coasted safely into this season’s Scottish Cup Final on the back of a 3-1 win, secured at “neutral” Ibrox. Jackie McNamara’s wide-eyed bunch will now bound on towards Glasgow’s east end where they will be hotly tipped to finish the job against St Johnstone – despite the Perth side’s heroics in slapping down Aberdeen yesterday. By stopping the rise of the Reds dead in its tracks, Saints have already secured their own piece of history. A first Scottish Cup Final appearance now awaits them and they thoroughly deserve this moment, even if the rest of us were gearing up for what might have been an even more mouth-watering coming together of the New Firm. In many ways, the game up here was crying out for a United v Aberdeen final but even though they have been kept apart, the ongoing resurgence of these two old foes is perhaps a telltale sign that Scottish football might be getting its act together at long last. Despite the financial earthquake which reduced Rangers to rubble two years ago and the predictions of a devastating tsunami to follow, football in this country has survived its Armageddon. Yes, Hearts remain in a critical condition but it was downfall of Romanov rather than Rangers which visited this misery upon them. Crowds may have fallen at Celtic but any downturn in interest has been more than offset by the tapping into UEFA’s Champions League millions on an exclusive basis. Aberdeen, while licking yesterday’s wounds, can at least cling on to the League Cup for consolation. Motherwell are flying high again in the league, United and St Johnstone will now end the season as success stories one way or the other. It could even be reasonably argued that our national team and manager Gordon Strachan are feeling the benefit of the administration and then liquidation which led to Steven Whittaker, Allan McGregor and Steven Naismith setting off towards the top end of English football. Naismith, in particular, is beginning to look like a genuine star at Everton and could well be Strachan’s first-choice striker for some considerable time to come. All of which is good news. Green shoots are everywhere. Everywhere, that is, except at Ibrox. Because while all around them others are beginning to emerge from this long, nuclear winter and are even starting to flourish, Rangers continue to blow themselves to pieces. This club has reached a point where it now seems unable to move on, locked into a cycle of self-abuse. While this may be the source of endless amusement for some, maybe even most, those less blinded by their own prejudices can’t have failed to notice on Saturday what the Scottish game has been missing over these last two seasons. What most certainly has not been missed are the most offensive ditties from this support’s historic song sheet and those Rangers fans who indulged in them on Saturday continue to harm their own club. They ought to be focusing on a better future rather than returning to the bad old days of F***** this and F***** that. But, for the most part, the atmosphere created by both sets of supporters was utterly compelling. In fact, there was a pulse about Ibrox the likes of which has not been felt for some time. Even though some wish fervently for this club to be officially declared dead, the more rational must surely realise that a strong Rangers is good for business. United’s fans revelled in the occasion and in the opportunity to slap a long-term adversary back down. The atmosphere generated by these old rivalries made the match even more engrossing. In fact, this 90 minutes offered a tantalising glimpse of how things might be again one day. If ever, that is, Rangers are fit for purpose as a football club. Their problems on the pitch are obvious enough. Much remedial work is required to make this team a serious contender again but none of its problems are insurmountable. No, the real issues threatening the recovery of Rangers remain off the field where this never-ending war for control still rages on. Last night Dave King launched his latest thermonuclear statement at the current board, once again calling into question the integrity and honesty of those in charge. The very idea that this regime might be covering up the depth of the club’s current financial plight should appal a support which has been misled so ruinously by the likes of Charles Green and Craig Whyte before him. I asked in this column two weeks ago: “Can he (chief executive Graham Wallace) explain why he stood up at the club’s agm on December 18 and insisted robustly that all was well when, with the benefit of hindsight, the whole world can now see that plainly it was not?” Now King appears to be asking the very same question of the board and its CEO. With the situation deteriorating rapidly – and the sideshow distraction of the football all but over – it is time for these Rangers fans to decide in whom they would rather place their trust. If they do back the board, they must be prepared to do so blindly given that they have only three weeks left to renew their season tickets and still have not seen Wallace’s 120-day business review. Which would seem extremely foolish. On the other hand, if they back King then they must be prepared, in theory at least, to starve the club of the very money it needs to survive. Which would appear extremely high risk. The adoption of such a militant stance will raise the spectre of Administration II and bring many of these supporters out in a cold sweat. But the truth is this money will only be kept away from the club if the current regime remains intransigent and unwilling to secure it against Ibrox and Murray Park. There seems no logical basis for the board NOT to bend on this one. In other words, if the worse case scenario unfolded and Rangers were forced back under, the collapse will not have been caused by rebellious supporters but by a board that may need to be broken down completely for this club to be properly rebuilt.

This should be interesting, renewals before the 120 days. Rangers will launch their season ticket renewal campaign at Ibrox tomorrow. As reported in the Herald today, prices expected to rise by 18%.

Steven Simonsen ‏@SteveSimmoGK 1h Ive taken the unfortunate decision that as of 5pm tomorrow this account will be deleted,I won't accept mindless abuse of my family & son.1/2 I understand this spoils things for the thousands of genuine fans & followers out there, but I will not accept the idiots who resort, To abusing someone's family & particularly children, thankyou to everyone I've interacted with over the years!!! Met some wonderful people! My Son comes on twitter to follow his heroes including his dad, & ends up having idiots abusing him. He's 11 years old.. His first ever Trip to ibrox to watch his dad ends up with him receiving abuse because I included him in a tweet, I'm sorry but I'm not tolerating it!

I am hearing that both Keevins and Guidi have been rationalised, let go, elbowed, received their jotters, .................... etc from the Mirror Group. More to follow.

The Rangers board and I issued separate public statements following our meeting last month. I made one correction to the RangersÂ’ statement but the Rangers board saw no cause to correct my statement. The board recommitted to issue the business review within the original 120 day deadline and, importantly, committed that the fans will have access to this review prior to advancing funds by way of season ticket renewals. Despite strong reservations from fan groups I asked the fans to give the board time to honour this commitment. Part of my motivation was that any public company board is bound to act in good faith and that breach of such a share price sensitive commitment would be an ethical, moral, and probably criminal breach. I followed up on this commitment with the board after the recent announcement on season ticket renewals. The Chairman has advised me that the board will now only issue the review at the end of the season ticket renewal period and it will consequently not be timeously made available to fans. Disturbingly, the Chairman has advised me that the true intention of the board had always been to delay issuing the review until funds had been largely collected. I apologise to all fans for wasting time by lending credibility to the board’s false representations. I was wrong to give them the benefit of the doubt. At least we now can no longer have any uncertainty about governance at the club. It is common cause that the club is not a going concern without access to the season ticket loan from the fans. It is also common cause that the season ticket money will only provide partial relief in advance of a more permanent recapitalisation. I have hitherto urged restraint in dealing with the board, however due to this extreme act of bad faith I believe that it is vital that fans now withhold season ticket money from this board and similarly refuse to support the club by way of the purchase of replica kit or any other retail product. An announcement will shortly be made providing details of a bank account that season ticket money can be paid into as an interim measure. The specific terms and conditions of this account will be made available to fans, including the basis on which funds will be advanced to the club and the basis on which funds will be returned to fans. As a minimum, the board must provide the club property as security against the season ticket money. I recognise that fans will have anxiety about “betraying” the club and the risk of loss of a cherished seat at Ibrox. However, the time has come when the trade-off is a potential loss of a seat against the loss of the club. That would be the real betrayal. This board has lost its right to be dealt with on a good faith basis. Richard Gough has agreed to join me as a custodian of the bank account that will be established and fan groups can nominate additional members.

Friday, 11 April 2014 18:55 Club Statement Written by Rangers Football Club "The Board of Rangers Football Club notes with astonishment the statement issued this afternoon by Dave King. In his statement Mr King makes a number of untrue allegations against the Chairman and the Board of Rangers Football Club alleging bad faith and false representation. The Chairman and the Board refute all such allegations in the strongest terms and have referred Mr King’s statement to the Club’s legal advisors. Mr King clearly has elected to ignore the Board’s previous public statement following the Board’s meeting with him. In this statement, which was reviewed with him prior to issue, the Board stated that it will issue the results of the business review prior to the season ticket renewal window ending. This position remains unchanged and Mr King is well aware of this having sought personal confirmation on this matter from the Chairman as recently as yesterday. The business review period has not yet even ended, as Mr King is well aware, however he has elected to make yet another public statement to serve his own purposes. When the Board met Mr King a few weeks ago, he made it clear that he did not want to put another penny into the Club and would prefer to see the Club using other investors' money. The Board was therefore surprised, but gave him the benefit of the doubt when, a few days later, Mr King made media comments about a willingness to invest his money into the Club. This is an easy statement to make to the media but is contrary to what he told the whole Board. It is extremely disappointing that Mr King should consider it appropriate to issue this latest statement, clearly designed to unsettle and mislead Rangers fans, on the eve of an important Scottish Cup semi-final match. For someone who claims to have the interests of Rangers at heart and as an ex-director, King's untrue comments are nothing short of disgraceful." http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6741-club-statement