Search the Community

Not because it's not deserved, but because Walter played terrible football too but nobody really seemed to care. It used to annoy me that people had such a short sighted view under Walter. The football he played was never going to get us anywhere in Europe (bar 2 successful seasons over both stints, the second success due to playing 10 defenders in the UEFA Cup) and while it won domestic trophies, it wasn't the type of long term philosophy that was going to see the club prosper, without throwing money at players. In Walter's first stint we hardly developed any youth talent and he left the squad in a mess. Is it the case that the football is so poor now that nobody can ignore it any more? Or is it because we are playing such poor opposition now? The common line under Walter was that winning is all that matters. Well we are still doing that.

1) does anyone else think Wallace, Somers and Crichton will all be gone before the end of the season ? 2) at what point will Dave King be approached to invest in and takeover Rangers? When I hear our new CEO talking about cutting costs I genuinely worry if that involves the first team squad. This team needs strengthened not weakened which these costs would ultimately achieve.If he goes ahead with this I genuinely believe we could return to what we were in the early 1980's with a sub-standard team which people won't pay to watch. I'd previously said this new board needs to be given time.Now though I'm not so sure. Some of the insinuations being made give me cause for concern.

By Keith Jackson, Anthony Haggerty ........as Ally McCoist gets set for decisive meeting with Ibrox chief Graham Wallace 31 Dec 2013 07:15 WALLACE admitted at the club’s agm that Rangers can’t continue to haemorrhage cash and McCoist is bracing himself for instructions to oversee savage reductions. ALLY McCOIST is facing a crunch New Year showdown with chief executive Graham Wallace to discover the full extent of an expected Ibrox cost-cutting purge. The Rangers boss watched his side go 14 points clear in League One last night with a 4-0 win at nearest challengers Dunfermline. And Record Sport understands McCoist will meet with Wallace this weekend, as soon as the recently appointed CEO returns from a break abroad. Top of the agenda will be how badly his first-team budget will be affected if Wallace follows through on his promise to slash wages across the board in a bid to stave off another financial trauma. Wallace admitted at the club’s agm earlier this month that Rangers can’t continue to haemorrhage cash at the levels which have seen them burn through almost £22million of IPO money in 12 months. The wage bill for McCoist’s first-team squad currently accounts for only around £6m of that total but the manager is bracing himself for bad news and instructions to oversee further savage reductions. A close source said: “This is a very delicate situation and one which Wallace will have to handle carefully. “On the one hand he is absolutely correct when he talks about a need to cut costs because the levels of spending are clearly not sustainable. “But at the same time there is an argument of false economics and a genuine worry that further reducing the quality of the manager’s squad will bring about a sizeable drop in season-ticket sales. “There are obvious trust issues between the supporters and this board already and there is a very real danger that more and more fans will be turned off if the product on the park is made to suffer. “This meeting will be an early test of the chief executive’s credentials.” After last night’s win at East End Park, McCoist said: “Graham is back in the first week in January and I’ll be better qualified to comment then.” The Ibrox gaffer also played down rumours forward Dean Shiels would be the first casualty of the cuts. Twitter went into overdrive yesterday with claims the Northern Ireland international, who earns a reputed £7000 a week, has been told he is free to find another club. But McCoist said: “There’s no truth in that rumour. Dean was on the bench here and is in our plans. “It doesn’t anger me. I know not to believe everything I read and hear. Hopefully it doesn’t unsettle Dean.” Gers took a big stride towards the title last night as they moved 14 clear of the Pars with a game in hand. But McCoist said: “I can’t say the league is over. I never would say it and be disrespectful to the opposition. What I will say is that was a big three points. We were playing the team closest to us and they were making one or two noises about the game.” Pars boss Jim Jefferies said: “We did not have any experienced players and that makes a huge difference. The boys made mistakes but I don’t want to blame them as they will learn.”

Out of all the players kicking about the first team, who would you get rid off? For me I'd go for: Foster Smith Little Hutton Perry Cribari Peralta Shiels A lot of high earners in there who aren't pulling their weight and/or not getting a game.

by ANDREW SMITH A BUMPER crowd is expected as Celtic bring in the bells at home to Partick Thistle on Wednesday. With free tickets dished out and buses laid on, who knows, the Parkhead ground may even be at least half full. It hasn’t been that way recently. Indeed, the past two league games are the first back-to-back such encounters to have attracted crowds of less than 30,000 while the championship has been a live issue since the stadium became a 60,000-seater arena in 1998. Then, accurate attendances were given out. Now, these require freedom of information requests, with the club aggregating the number of paid-for-seats, which amounted to 46,000 for each of the victories over Hibernian and Hearts this month. If that appears undoubtedly healthy then what is not is that around 20,000 season ticket holders – around half the entire figure, in fact – are electing to think better of occupying seats they have already parted with their money for. It will be pointed out that the weather and time of year led to a dip in attendances throughout the country but that doesn’t explain what is driving down Celtic’s capacity to have punters come out to watch them. In the year-and-a-half the top flight has been devoid of the Rangers brand, Celtic have made great play of the fact that they have a standalone strategy not dependent on rivalry with a club playing out of Ibrox. And, having turned a debt into cash in the bank and posted a near-£10 million profit last year, they are making good on their assertion. Yet the declining interest from Celtic fans in watching a procession to their third championship demonstrates that they would struggle to operate at their current level if there was never again a team called Rangers in the top flight. The last two home games offered a glimpse of what would be the norm if the club operated in an environment in which they had no major – even from a numerical and cultural sense – rival. The 20,000 no-showers among Celtic’s season ticket holder base probably retain their tickets currently for two reasons: they received a £100 reduction on them last summer and it will probably be only 18 months before there is a Rangers to ridicule and lord it over in the Premiership. Without that promise of ding-dong derby days, most of these fans would probably chuck their tickets. In a non-Rangers world, then, Celtic would have a rain-or-shine hardcore of around 25,000. When they won the last of their nine-in-a-row run of titles in 1974, that was roughly their home average, as it was when they hit rock bottom in 1994. To live within the means that a 25,000 season-ticket-holder base generated, there is no way Celtic would operate with the £30m playing budget they have at present, or spend even sums of £2m on a couple of players every summer. Such a reduced season-ticket-holder figure – with child and younger person reductions taken into account – would bring in around £8m. Celtic’s ticket sales for the Champions League last year alone were £10m. In the Martin O’Neill era, season tickets sales coined in £23m. Celtic are too cautious to rely on Champions League income every year to prevent major losses. However much their club’s supporters may want to be in denial about it, then, with no Rangers permanently in their domain, Celtic would undergo serious downsizing and most home games the club’s stadium would be morgue-like. In turn, a lower spend on player wages would inhibit the calibre of individual that could be recruited, which would result in the team being weaker and potentially more vulnerable across the three rounds of Champions League qualifiers they require to negotiate to reach the group stages. It is perhaps surprising just how quickly almost half Celtic’s season ticket holders have canned watching domestic games. Two years ago, their team wasn’t even champions. The apologists would claim that the club’s treatment of the now dispersed Green Brigade and its perceived attempts to “sanitise” the support has helped turn off sections of the support, but few are buying that. In the Glasgow domain, for a great many it is quite clear that hatred of the other side fuels interest more than love of their own club. And without this adversarial outlet, it is noticeable how the stuggles of both Celtic and Rangers have become internalised. When it was put to Celtic manager Neil Lennon that some of his supporters appear to have short memories, he said: “And a self-destrcut button. And it’s not helpful.” The Irishman said he “can’t look at” the possibility that some Celtic fans have turned to navel gazing about their club as a more satisfying pastime than actually attending games. “My objective is to take the team forward,” Lennon said. “I am aware of the point being made because it is almost as if they need something to fight or argue about. But I can’t do anything about that.” In terms of the lowly 25,000 crowd estimated to have turned up for the 12.15 visit of Hearts last Saturday, Lennon pointed to mitigating circumstances beyond climate. “It’s the first time we’ve had a home game televised for a while and it’s Christmas as well which might have had a big effect on the crowd. We are always looking to give fans value for money and we’re always looking to bring a player in who might capture the imagination as well. But we’re 16 games unbeaten and we can’t do much more than that. Our away form has been very good but it’s a little bit different at home where teams camp in for long periods of the game. I know it’s up to us to try and break them down but we try to give the fans value for money at home as well. “I don’t think [what has happened with the Green Brigade] has had any effect. There might have been a Champions League hangover as well. We’re out of that competition now. I would expect over the festive period the crowds will pick up again and we have Partick Thistle on New Year’s Day and I would imagine there will be a decent crowd for that one.” A “decent crowd” these days, is very different from what it was five years ago. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/poor-attendances-suggest-celtic-need-rangers-1-3249508

Bell; Faure, McCulloch, Mohsni, Wallace; Black; Peralta, Law, Macleod; Clark, Daly

YOU can’t blame Ally McCoist for not wanting to do the sums. Too many of the numbers might add up to ten if the Rangers manager puts his mind to counting the cost of the position the Ibrox club finds itself in. Last week, chief executive Graham Wallace admitted that it would be a five-year mission to make the current Rangers competitive in the top flight. Which suggests there is little chance of the club challenging for a Premiership title much before Celtic should surely be homing in on a record ten-in-a-row. Moreover, Wallace stated that Rangers would need to scale the heights by living within their means. McCoist interpreted this as a top-flight Rangers operating with a £3 million playing budget while Celtic worked with ten times this figure. This illustrates the monumental concern for Rangers supporters and McCoist. If the Ibrox club and Celtic both live within their means, then the near £30m Celtic can generate from the Champions League puts them out of sight of any domestic challengers. It is a vicious circle. Rangers need Champions League money to mount a challenge to Celtic in sustainable fashion. But they can’t obtain that income because this very Champions League money puts Celtic on a different level to them. “The worry is Celtic are off and running with the Champions League money,” McCoist accepted. “That’s obviously a big concern. It would be wrong for me not to look at Celtic’s finances and not appreciate the gulf between the two, but what we need to do is concentrate on our own club at the minute. Celtic aren’t an issue for us at the moment. They’ve handled things well and fair play to them, but until we’re back competing against them then that’s when we’ll have to assess the situation. At this moment in time we can’t concern ourselves with Celtic. I don’t mean that in a rude way but they’re in a different place from us at the moment.” How on earth Rangers get to that place before Celtic achieve an unparalleled decade of domination in the top flight is what gives followers of the Ibrox club sleepless nights. “I understand 100 per cent where the fans are coming from,” said McCoist. “We’ve lost £50m-worth of players. We could argue about valuations but that’s what we’ve lost and had to replace them with free transfers. It’s not rocket science. You’ve got no divine right at the best of times to challenge for the top league, so when you look at the facts and figures you shouldn’t be challenging all of a sudden. But that’s not to say we can’t bring in some more youngsters and if that’s what it takes to move forward then that’s what we’ll do.” To plan to win a Premiership title with a crop of youngsters would be cock-eyed optimism, cautions McCoist. “You’ve got to get a blend. There may be exceptions but other than Manchester United I can’t think of too many teams that have had seven or eight youngsters come through and gone on to be a top-class European team. We’ve never, as long as I can remember, had seven or eight youngsters in the team who have come through Murray Park. You’ve got to get a balance. I think we’ve done fine in recent years when you look at the likes of [Alan] Hutton, [Allan] McGregor and [Charlie] Adam, [Chris] Burke and so on. I don’t think you’ll get too many cases like that Manchester United team. That said, it’s really important we get as many through as we possibly can.” And hold on to them. When the old Rangers was liquidated, the likes of McGregor declined to have his contract transferred over to the new company then formed. McCoist has had plenty to say about the fact that the keeper and other high-profile players “headed to the hills”, as he put it at the recent agm. But he was more conciliatory when asked what McCoist the player would have done in 1992, had Rangers gone bust. “I don’t know what I would have done,” McCoist said. “It’s the easiest thing for me to say that I’m a Rangers man but I don’t know. I’m not going to look back and start criticising people. I wouldn’t want to move back into hypothetical 1992 situations.” How McCoist must wish there was a Rangers currently enjoying the situation the Ibrox club did in 1992, though. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/numbers-don-t-add-up-for-rangers-boss-ally-mccoist-1-3249510

Rangers boss Ally McCoist claimed he was not bothered as his team's 100 per cent record in League One was ended with a 1-1 draw against Stranraer. The Ibrox men harboured hopes of winning all their matches in the third-tier this season but were undone with a stoppage-time equaliser from Jamie Longworth. McCoist admitted his team were below par, and felt the visitors could have got more from the game. He said: "I will be 100 per cent honest with you - I actually couldn't give a monkey's about the record. I really couldn't. "I'm not interested in the record, I'm only concerned about the level of performance that we gave and it was extremely disappointing. "It was a really disappointing day for us. Certainly I'm of the opinion that Stranraer more than deserved their point." I can remember a time when we had ambition.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/449976/Fringe-Rangers-players-face-an-Ibrox-exit

RANGERS will need a £10 million cash injection to stay afloat in the next 18 months, according to former chairman Malcolm Murray. The club’s complex ownership structure, as well as the discontent from supporters at the continued presence of finance director Brian Stockbridge on the board, also has Murray concerned about the ability to attract such investment. The businessman was one of the four “requisitioners” who failed to be voted on to the Ibrox board at Thursday’s annual general meeting, but Murray believes the outcome of that event, which witnessed loud booing of any contribution from Stockbridge, will not be “the line in the sand” hoped for by new club chief executive Graham Wallace, who has also admitted Rangers need “external funds” in the medium term. Murray said: “Unless they can pull a few rabbits out of hats I don’t see who will invest in the club if the board remains exactly the way it is presently.” Murray said. “In the next three months there have to be changes. I’m pretty sure they won’t be able to go back to the same institutional investors for more money with the current board set-up. The bulk of them certainly wouldn’t do it. The danger now is that the institutional investors pile out of this, because they are fed up. I’m not saying it will happen, but there is a danger that I’m worried about. “If that happens, the share price goes down and the cost of raising capital goes up, by definition. This thing needs an injection of roughly £10m over the next 18 months.” Murray claimed that 40 million 25p shares would be required to raise that sum. However, issuing such a large number of shares would dilute the existing shareholding of current investors and Murray insisted that would be “terrible” for the financial institutions who have already put money into the club. He added: “They could equally end up sitting on stock that isn’t highly valued but remains a global brand. “However, it is a mix-up because it has institutional investors, fans, private investors, and this mysterious block of 40-odd per cent [of shares] that seems to control it [the club] in Laxley, Blue Pitch, Charles Green’s old shares and Mike Ashley.” South Africa-based businessman Dave King has claimed that he was the only person he felt would be willing to invest in Rangers at present but chief executive Wallace presented a different picture. He said: “We will need investment as we go forward. What I don’t want to say is we need a figure of X million pounds because, until we’ve examined the structure of the organisation, and what we need [over] the next 18 months, it’s premature to put a figure on it. As I went round talking to institutions in the last several weeks, they said they were willing to increase their investment provided the club can demonstrate stability and leadership and the semblance of a solid plan.” Wallace is not planning talks with King but neither does he rule him out. “I’ve never met Dave King or had any conversations with him,” he added. “When we have developed the plan to determine the level of funding we need, we’ll engage with a wide constituency. I wouldn’t rule anybody out. If that includes Mr King, we’ll deal with that at the time” http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/rangers-need-10m-to-stay-afloat-malcolm-murray-1-3242193

http://www.ecaeurope.com/PageFiles/6175/ECA%20Youth%20Report%20on%20Academies_A4_SECURE_final.pdf Really interesting read above - All clubs of a similar stature to ourselves and their youth academies! How do we view our youth academy(is it one?) as of now? I was really encouraged by the number of young players we brought through last season. However this season I have been quite disenchanted by the number playing for us. Looking at the current XI we have Clark, MacLeod, Aird, of an age where we can real sell on value. The likes of Crawford, MacKay, Macausland, Gasporotto all seem to have went backwards in their development - However this is just an assumption looking in. I was encouraged by the new CEO comments on youth development as I see it as a major growth area for our club in the next decade or so. The last midweek game at home to Forfar we changed McCulloch for Cribari at 4-0 - this is what worries me on how Ally views are youth at the moment. Is he the right man for this plan if this is the route we will take. How can we improve it? It might be a bit unpopular but signing Smith, Foster is absolutely crazy for me. How on earth can these players improve Rangers in the future? It would be interesting to see if the club has a set philosophy on developing talent.

Our Chief Executive said yesterday we would have to cut back with our spending which has been too high since we began life in the bottom tier last season. With the club allegedly losing £1 million I'm just wondering how these costs will be cut. I know Ally has said he would take a substantial paycut and I'd imagine the rest of the backroom staff will be doing the same but the only other way I can see Wallace making the cuts required is to sell our best players (Wallace, MacLeod) or get rid of the high earners at the club.

Graham Wallace says all the right things. There is no bluster to the man, no desire to trade insults with those who object to the performance of some on his board. In all of this Rangers farrago he is the one person who has risen above the cheap shots and gone on with his business in a pretty dignified manner. Of course, Wallace has only been in the door five minutes. The temptation is to say ‘Just give him time’ and he’ll soon be scrapping like everybody else, but he seems more professional than that, more believable in the role of a redeemer. The faith in Wallace is based on a proven track record in football and also on some of the things he has said in his few short weeks at Rangers. Clearly, he has resonated with institutional investors and ordinary supporters alike because his 85.5 per cent approval rating in the vote yesterday was the highest of anybody seeking election or re-election. In the door less than a month, though. That can’t be forgotten. So far, so good but so much yet to do. Wallace made some promises yesterday. He said the club would start proper engagement with the fans and he’ll need to be true to his word or else he’ll quickly find that those who support him now will quickly tire of him. He said the vote at the agm gave the board a “clear mandate” but, in truth, it didn’t. The board received a mandate from the institutional investors not from the rank and file, not from the people who sit in the stadium every second week. There is a difference. A big difference. He spoke of yesterday being a “watershed moment”. Again, he’ll need to prove himself on that one. He asked for all those with Rangers’ best interests at heart “to stand behind us, to support us, to engage us, to give us the opportunity to demonstrate that we can take the club back to where we all aspire it to be.” That’s a leap of faith that many supporters won’t make just for the sake of it. They’ll need evidence it’s a leap worth making. Talk is cheap. The requisitioners found that out yesterday. All the talk in the world didn’t get them anywhere close to making a fight of it with the board. So when Wallace speaks of dialogue with the fans and an engagement process with “leading international organisations” that want to be associated with Rangers it all sounds very nice, but seeing is believing. Too many empty promises have been made for too long for too many people to swallow the vision of a bright new tomorrow. To be fair to Wallace, there was more to his remarks than a mere rallying call. There was some substance and some honesty. Yesterday, for instance, he said something extremely interesting about the finances at the club and the way in which some of the numbers are unsustainable. The chief executive said that Rangers’ “cost structure is currently too high for the top division never mind the lower leagues.” That comment stood out because it was such an un-Rangers thing to say. Not too long ago Walter Smith, speaking as a former chairman and a doyen of the club, said that financial freewheeling was part of the Rangers DNA, that the money they spent on players and a manager was part of what Rangers were and that even though it defied logic, that’s the way it has always been. The fatalistic attitude was delivered deadpan, as if there was nothing anybody at Rangers could do about the frightening cash-burn. Not being a ‘Rangers man’ might help Wallace bring some fiscal normality to his beleaguered institution. He is not held hostage by its past. He sees a club that is living beyond its means and he’s not afraid to incur the anger of people in admitting it. Of course, he could have extended his argument a little further. He could have pointed a finger at some of those people responsible for continuing this “cost structure”. One of them was sitting close by on the podium at the agm – Brian Stockbridge, the finance director. Stockbridge has overseen shocking waste in his own brief time at the club and yet he is made of Teflon. The supporters barrack him, the requisitioners shout about his position being untenable, there has been all manner of attacks on his integrity and his professionalism and yet he is still there. Wallace could have sent a message to the disaffected supporters by sacking Stockbridge, the number one subject of the fans’ ire. He hasn’t done so, but his language was interesting when asked if he would. “It would be grossly premature and inappropriate to be talking about dismissing anybody when I have been in the building less than a month,” he said. “My style is to assess what we have got and what we need... I have no hesitation and no difficulty in making difficult decisions but I think those decisions need to be made on the basis of my assessment of the facts rather than somebody else’s view.” No blind show of faith, no ringing endorsement, no circling of the wagons. Measured and non-committal. It portrays a person who will carry out his own audit and draw his own conclusions about the performance of people at the club. For Rangers’ sake you hope he is given full authority to do so. There is a fear – and we won’t know the legitimacy of it for a while – that Wallace, in his attempt to bring real change and proper corporate governance, will find himself out-gunned by some of those around him on the board and some of the investors these board-members represent. The fans are inclined to believe in him, the requisitioners were always glad to accept him, but what is the tag of unanimous respect if he is not given the freedom to do the job as he feels it needs to be done? In the autumn, Dave King arrived into town and had meetings with key people at Rangers and it’s safe to say that he wasn’t bowled over by the enthusiasm of some of those in power at Ibrox. This was pre-Wallace. King has many issues with his conviction in South Africa on tax charges and the hoops he would have to jump through with the SFA and the AIM in order to get the clearance he would need to take up a place on the Rangers board, but possibly the greatest problem he may face is not from the SFA (who would be virtually powerless to stop him getting on the plc board) or the AIM (who King says should not be an issue) but from factions on the Rangers board itself. King would bring money that Wallace says the club needs, but he would want power and that is something that others might be wholly unwilling to give up. Such is the politics of Rangers. Wallace may find out about that soon enough. Will he have the autonomy to do what he says needs to be done or will he be stifled, as others were stifled before him? He will need business savvy and political cunning to do this job. Watershed moment? It’s too early to be making such a definitive conclusion, but it’s the end of the requisitioners, that is for sure. Their motives were right but their execution was flawed, right from the start, and they got a real pasting yesterday. They continue to believe that the club is heading for the rocks in financial terms and they are not alone in that. Stockbridge, himself, said that they may have just £1m left in the bank come April, by which time they will be making appeals to the support to buy their season tickets. If Stockbridge is one of the men doing the appealing – if – then it will be interesting to hear the fans’ response. They say time heals all. With Stockbridge and the Rangers supporters, you have to wonder. There will surely be a period of calm now, maybe before a storm in the spring when money is needed and King returns bearing riches, albeit with conditions. Wallace is a man that people can rally around if he’s as good as his word. A starting point would be to engage with the fans rather than antagonising them in the way that Jack Irvine, the communications man, has done for too long. Yesterday was the end of the requisitioners but not the end of the saga. This has been no fairytale and only an innocent would believe that it is definitely going to have a happy ever after. In Wallace, though, there is hope and expectation and a whole heap of pressure not just to build bridges with fans but to bring commonsense back to Ibrox where for too long the economics of the madman have been in place. All he will need is fiscal brilliance, diplomatic genius and the persuasive powers of a master politician. Apart from that, the task of restoring Rangers should be easy. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/tom-english-rangers-chief-must-now-walk-the-walk-1-3240246

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

ALEX SMITH believes Scotland’s football authorities are failing both Hearts and their manager, Gary Locke, by denying them a chance to rebuild. Chairman of the Managers and Coaches Association, Smith stressed Locke is in an impossible position at Tynecastle and is suffering by enduring such pressure so early in his managerial career. Hearts’ descent into administration last June triggered an immediate SPFL registration embargo and a 15-point deduction for the new league season. That left Locke effectively with hands tied and mouth gagged. Experienced players had left on freedom of contract and the manager, having only been appointed in March, found himself with a squad full of under-21 players to fight against relegation. Locke will be unable to replenish his squad during the January transfer window as Hearts will still be in administration well into next year. They are currently 14 points adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership. Smith feels the punishments meted out to Hearts have gone on too long and are having a detrimental effect on Locke’s early days in management. He blames previous directors and disgraced former owner Vladimir Romanov for the club’s demise. Now 73, Smith admitted that, throughout his time in football, he couldn’t recall a manager in a more harrowing position than Locke. “I’ve never known a manager to be in a more difficult situation,” he told the Evening News. “Here we have a young manager in the first few months of his career, managing a club like Hearts, but not able to bring in players. Then there’s the 15-point deduction. I just think it’s ridiculous. “It’s ridiculous that we’re making a top club like Hearts suffer like this because of the poor management of other people. They did things in a way that was running that club towards a multiple crash. “The authorities are making it worse with the sanctions and denying Hearts the right to try and get out of this trouble. They did it with Rangers, another massive club. They didn’t just take action against them, they almost slit their throat. We need these two clubs and we need them in our top league. We don’t need them in the lower leagues.” Locke has pledged to fight on in the hope that Hearts can reel in teams such as Ross County and Kilmarnock at the bottom of the table and avoid relegation. Time is not on their side. Many feel one positive from slipping into the Championship would be the breathing space accorded the Riccarton youth academy graduates to develop as footballers. Smith points out that life in the second tier is likely to be fraught with just as many problems. “Gary would be entitled to expect the chance to take Hearts back up if they did end up relegated, but football nowadays doesn’t always work like that, does it? Hearts could go down into the Championship. Rangers and Dunfermline could come up [from League One]. “Then you might have three out of the four chasing promotion this season possibly still there. It’s going to be some league. The pressure next year would be exactly the same, only the sympathy vote won’t be there. It will be expectation levels there instead. Either way, it’s going to be difficult.” Smith called Locke to offer a pep talk in the wake of Hearts’ 7-0 Scottish Cup defeat by Celtic earlier this month. He will do the same again before Hearts head to Parkhead on league business this weekend. “I feel for him. If he’s feeling like a chat he just has to phone any of the more experienced managers in the game and he’ll get any amount of their time,” explained Smith. “I’ll give him another call this week sometime. He really just has to keep going. It will only take winning a couple of games and he will see an opportunity to turn things round. He can’t lose sight of the fact Hearts are a massive club with a massive support. If there is any sign of a revival, Gary will have everybody 100 per cent behind him. “That’s not always the case when you have to please 15,000 people at your home games. One or two people will just see the jerseys on the field, regardless of who is in them, and assume that because they’re Hearts, they should automatically be winning games. “The majority of Hearts supporters know the situation. The young kids are good players, all they need is that wee glimmer of a chance. If they come onto a run and start getting points, the fans will be right behind them. A lot of people now go to games, sit down and expect to be entertained. Gary will have the siege support and he’ll realise he has to harness that. “There’s no doubt we’re getting a false impression of what he can do at the moment. He can’t bring in players. He’s just to get on working with the young players he has. They’re all very talented, but if things start going the wrong way, it affects them all as a group. You need a few stabilisers in the team to steady them. “That’s why guys like Ryan Stevenson and Jamie Hamill are so important. They’ve been lumbered with this responsibility, which even for them is massive. They have to take on the responsibility of going out and winning games of football. How do you do that? “There is a great art to winning games. The first thing is you don’t lose bad goals, so you need a strong back line and a good goalkeeper. If you do lose a goal, you keep the ball till you get an opportunity to get back into the game. “The key is not to lose a second, so your defence and goalkeeper need to keep you in the game when you’re under pressure.” http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/authorities-have-given-hearts-boss-impossible-task-1-3237607

http://news.stv.tv/west-central/256830-rangers-supporters-trust-suspend-spokesperson-over-improper-conduct/

Under 20s won 2-0 at Dunfemline tonight. Murdoch and Gallacher scoring Eeam: Kelly; Halkett, Gibson, Gasparotto, Sinnamon; Murdoch, Telfer, Ramsay; McKay, Gallagher, Stoney. Subs: Smith, Mills, Wilson, Ogen, Hardie

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

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

From The. Times. tom_farmery ‏@tom_farmery 12m Crunch time for #Rangers as AGM approaches. Read exclusively how the current board have Thursday's vote already won. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/busine...cle3949988.ece … tom_farmery ‏@tom_farmery 5m Story tells how S Easdale, Laxey Partners, Mike Ashley, Artemis and Richard Hughes of Zeus will back current board. Total of 54.67% #Rangers

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

Being reported on Twitter(I know) that Keevins stated this on RC tonight. Anyone confirm? If true what will he be saying, back board, buy ST, give us your money?

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a ruling in favour of Rangers FC following an advertising dispute over whether the club should be allowed to advertise using the ‘Scotland’s most successful club’ claim. The ASA delivered its original ruling in June this year but after an appeal by complainants, the Independent Reviewer agreed that the case should be re-opened because a “valid question mark” had been raised over the adequacy of evidence submitted by the advertiser in the original investigation. However, following further examination, the ASA stood by its original ruling not to uphold 82 complaints that Rangers were misleading consumers by using an advertising slogan that said: “Join Scotland’s most successful club at Ibrox… still going strong… 54 titles… Rangers then… Rangers now… Rangers forever”. In a fresh adjudication, the ASA said it was confident that consumers would understand the claim was in reference to the history of Rangers Football Club, but did accept that that the club’s history was “separate to that of Newco”. “We consulted with UEFA, which explained that its rules allowed for the recognition of the ‘sporting integrity’ of a club’s match record, even if that club’s corporate structure had changed,” the ruling stated. “We also consulted with the SFA, which confirmed that its definition of a football ‘club’ varied depending on context, and could sometimes refer to an entity separate from the club’s corporate owner. “The SFA further pointed out that, following RFC’s transfer to a new corporate owner, Newco did not take a new membership of the Scottish FA but rather that previous membership was transferred across to them so they could continue as the same member of the Scottish FA. “We considered that consumer would understand that the claim in question related to the football club rather than to its owner and operator and therefore concluded that it was not misleading for the ad to make reference to RFC’s history, which was separate to that of Newco.” The question of whether Newco Rangers should be permitted to trade on the history of the liquidated company has been a bone of contention in Scottish football since Rangers’ financial collapse in 2012. The Drum understands that the ASA consider the decision final. http://m.thedrum.com/news/2013/12/11/asa-rules-favour-rangers-fc-advertising-dispute-following-appeal

I know this has been commented on but I was just looking through the accounts there and noticed something so thought I would go back to it.**During the meeting a week past on Thursday, Scott Murdoch said, and I quote: “Im no mathematician but let me just read a piece out of the Annual Rangers accounts, ah yes it’s a horrible picture of Brian Stockbridge but eh basically….(some turnover figures)….the overall staff costs, this when Brian Stockbridge was the CFO, the Financial Director in all of this, the overall staff costs were £17.9 million quid, of which importantly, the player salaries are only £7.8m. So, roughly £10m was Directors remuneration and bonuses and payments at that time in this last 13 months and that’s FACT” Now, immediately following this, there were many of us who pointed out it was a lie straight away as he had clearly forgotten about all the staff needed to run an operation the size of Rangers but there were counter arguments that these people are paid peanuts and we should forget all about them. It only struck me when reading the accounts again just how wrong he actually was. Lets take a look: http://www.rangers.c...lReport2013.pdf Page 34 – Item 7. Directors Emoluments Brian Stockbridge - £409k Charles Green - £933k Malcolm Murray - £52k Craig Mather - £59k Walter Smith - £50k Ian Hart - £28k Bryan Smart – £28k Phillip Cartmel - £29k James Easdale - £0 Total pay including, salaries, fees, severance payments, bonus, Benefits in Kind was £1.589m Now lets add Imran Ahmad in who wasn’t a Director as stated by Mr Murdoch but was probably in the firing line.**He took home £303k Finally, there were a number of Related Party transactions which although im not sure where they appeared, I will include them as “Directors pay” for this exercise.**Total = £394k So in total the “Directors remuneration, bonuses and other payments” totalled £2.6m, NOT £10m which also includes a non director and I have added “On costs” as well to the total. Before anyone asks, the £7.8m was “first team playing squad” and therefore did not include all the coaching staff, of which we know the first team coaches and manager alone took around £1.5m, and all the youth players.**If the “category” was called Football Staff, the figure would have been in excess of £11m. Add to this the £2.6m Directors package, NOT £10 MILLION SCOTT, and that leaves about £4m for the 150 non playing staff. Mr Murdoch most definitely got one vital thing 100% spot on though.**He is certainly no mathematician. When will the lying stop ?

.......................he won't work with finance chief Brian Stockbridge if voted onto Ibrox board 6 Dec 2013 07:54 SCOTT MURDOCH says finance director Brian Stockbridge's track record makes his position at Ibrox untenable. A MEMBER of the rebel group aiming to be voted on to the Rangers board at the club’s agm on December 19 has vowed not to work with finance chief Brian Stockbridge if elected. Scott Murdoch, one of four nominees put forward as potential directors by activist shareholders headed by Jim McColl, insists the track record of Stockbridge makes his position untenable and is adamant he must be axed. Murdoch has also questioned the neutrality of new Ibrox chairman David Somers. Murdoch, who aims to be voted on to the board with former chairman Malcolm Murray businessman Paul Murray and HR chief Alex Wilson, told The Rangers Standard blog: “I would not sit on a board alongside Brian Stockbridge. “I would happily sit with the other guys to make sure they were trustworthy and if they were not, I would expose them. “To prove their independence, they can tell us how they were appointed. Were they appointed by Stockbridge? Who brought them on board? How did the chairman get selected? “Also, if they are independent they will presumably realise the financial control of Brian Stockbridge has been appalling. He predicted a £7million loss which became a £14m loss only three months after he made the prediction. He is clearly incapable. “If you were independent, you would surely ask him to leave. “Stockbridge is like that cat with nine lives. How on earth can the man continue?” “We are all sceptical of anyone coming into the club without having their true independence declared. “We would like Somers and (non-executive director) Norman Crighton to prove themselves as truly independent. We could all end up sitting on the same board.” Meanwhile, Ibrox legend Andy Goram insists the record-breaking run of 19 consecutive victories put together by Ally McCoist’s side is “not comparable” with his Class of ’92. A 6-1 win over Forfar on Tuesday set a new post-war benchmark as Rangers continue to sweep aside all comers in League One. But The Goalie, part of the Walter Smith side that racked up 18 wins in 1992, said: “You can’t compare it because we were playing Champions League and top-flight football. “As well as the winning run, we also went 44 games unbeaten. “At the same time I’m of the view that a record is a record and they should be congratulated. “You still have to beat the teams in front of you, which wasn’t happening last season. It is still hard work at that level and you have to earn the right to win when you are every other team’s cup final.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-boardroom-battle-member-rebel-2896174