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Behind closed doors match earlier today: RANGERS: Simonsen; Foster, Mohsni, Cribari (Gasparotto 70), S Smith; McKay (Crawford 63), Law, Kelly (McAusland 70), Templeton (Walsh 63); Shiels, Daly (Clark 46). SUBS NOT USED: Gallacher, Faure. http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/4973-rangers-1-3-hibernian

Published on September 2nd, 2013 by Andy Muirhead With all eyes on Rangers football club currently, due to the continued ‘political’ infighting between shareholders and the fan base, public relations for the club is needed more than ever. However, even the PR company used by Rangers – Media House – has come under much criticism and increasing calls from Rangers supporters to be sacked due to comments attributed to Jack Irvine, executive chairman of Media House. Scotzine editor Andy Muirhead caught up with Jack Irvine, amid a busy schedule for the PR guru, to discuss his time at Rangers and those who are criticising him. AM: When did you start working with Rangers Football Club? JI: 2006. There had been huge sectarian issues and the football authorities were going to hammer Rangers. There was a danger the team would be playing in empty stadia and face crippling fines. We worked with the legal team to articulate the initiatives from Martin Bain’s management team to curb the sectarian excesses which in turn lessened the possible draconian punishments. AM: We heard from Sir David Murray that he was duped by Craig Whyte in purchasing Rangers from the former Rangers owner – from your point of view and of working with Craig Whyte would you agree with Murray’s statement? JI: Yes I do agree with Sir David. He was led to believe that Craig Whyte was worth in the region of £80million and he had no reason to doubt that. The Bank of Scotland and their boardroom representative saw no problem with Whyte as a buyer and, in fact, couldn’t get the club sold quickly enough. Craig Whyte appeared to be the answer to all of David Murray’s problems. AM: You represented Rangers under Craig Whyte’s tenure at the club which ended with it going into administration and subsequently liquidation – looking back what are your thoughts on your role and Media House’s role during that time? JI: It was a surreal time. I tried to explain to Craig Whyte that he couldn’t possibly run the club himself and I even introduced him to the former Newcastle United Chief Executive Freddie Fletcher who was also a former Rangers man. Freddie would have been magnificent but Craig decided he could do the job himself. Like many businessmen he was totally consumed by The Blue Mist the minute he walked into the boardroom. Media House’s role was what it had always been. Represent the club and its board and attempt to present the good side of the club to the media and public at large. Of course the bad started to outweigh the good very quickly and it was like pushing water uphill. AM: There has been allegations made that Media House and Rangers used friendly journalists to publish positive stories about Rangers and Craig Whyte in particular hiding the truth about the Motherwell businessman – what do you have to say about those allegations? JI: Of course we promoted positive stories – that’s what PR people do the world over. However it didn’t take long for my old newspaper colleagues – and more importantly certain influential bloggers – to find out the truth about Craig Whyte and tell the world. There is no way I could have covered that up or would even have tried to. The dam had burst. AM: Many Rangers fans are now seeing Media House and yourself as culpable in the demise of Rangers under Whyte and are against your continued involvement at the Ibrox club – claiming that you are not there to represent the club but elements on the board? What is your take on this – what is your role at Rangers? JI: That is utter nonsense. We can only work with the tools we are given. Craig Whyte ran the club into the ground although you would have to say he inherited a pretty leaky vessel. Our role at Rangers is crystal clear. We carry out the wishes of the board in an attempt to help the business survive and prosper. However much I sympathise with the agonies the fans are going through, and I speak as one of the original Bond holders, it is not they who instruct me. It is the board. It is naive to think otherwise. AM: A twitter account called Charlotte Fakes has been publishing emails and other correspondence involving you, Whyte, some journalists and Rangers officials – which seem to paint all parties in a bad light. What is your take on what this person is doing? JI: It is illegal. It is a breach of the Data Protection Act and the perpetrator faces serious consequences when he is caught. It is frightening some of the stuff that is going on nowadays on the web. I often wonder what it would have been like in the early 90s when there was the coup to unseat the Celtic board. How would social media have treated that? Would Fergus McCann with his bunnet and squint been given a chance to mount his brilliant strategy or would he have been slaughtered by the fans with laptops? AM: Rangers fans have claimed that the ‘dignified silence’ approach was perpetrated by the likes of Media House and that instead of keeping quiet, you should have gone in all guns blazing. Making demands, threatening legal action etc. What was your approach during Whyte’s reign when negative articles were published? JI: I seem to remember we banned the BBC and if you knew me at all you would know that I am not slow to tell editors and journalists when they are talking bollocks. Lawyers were regularly involved . Do I go out and announce this in the Copland Road to the fans? What do you think? I worked with or trained a lot of the current crop of journalists. I’m not going to publically traduce them although I will make an exception for some of the more stupid ones. AM: Whyte met with several Rangers supporters groups and bloggers who were very friendly to him and backed him to the hilt during his reign at the club – they have now turned on him as if he is the anti-Christ. What is your take on this u-turn by said prominent groups and bloggers? JI: I presume you have certain groups in mind. I can’t think who you are talking about but let’s be fair. The fans loved David Murray then grew to hate him. Ditto Craig Whyte, Ditto Charles Green. So it’s not only bloggers who changed their minds. The economist John Maynard Keynes is alleged to have said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” If that concept was good enough for him I hardly think we can criticise the bloggers. AM: Given the amount of flak, hassle and abuse you have taken – if you could do it all again would you still represent Rangers and Craig Whyte? JI: I have taken flak, hassle and abuse since May 1987 when I launched The Sun in Scotland. I thrive on it and the more I get the stronger it makes me. The answer to “Would you still represent Rangers” is obviously yes as I have just signed up for another season. I come from an East End Rangers family so I guess I’m stuck with it. Would I represent Craig Whyte? Not if I had known what I know now but it’s easy to be clever after the event as I keep reminding certain fans and journalists. Hindsight is a wonderful gift . AM: If you could stand in front of the Rangers fans today and talk to them what about the club and the way it is working and those wanting to take over – what would you say? JI: Give the board a chance. The Chief Executive has sunk a million of his own cash into the club. Fellow director James Easdale and his family have put in even more. Let’s all be mature. I know Frank Blin and Paul Murray are passionate about the club but to quote Mr Churchill: “To jaw jaw is always better than to war war.”

... you know, someone had to do it! I'll write and update a list of targets in the first post. Signed: - Nicky Clark (QotS, free, compensation, 3-year deal signed) - Jon Daly (DU, free, 2-year + 1-year extension deal signed) - Cammy Bell (Kilmarnock, 4-year deal signed) - Nicky Law (Motherwell, free, 3-year signed) - Steven Smith (free/Portland, 2-year-deal apparently signed) - Arnold Peralta (Vidal, free, 4-year-deal signed) - Ricky Foster (free, Bristol City, 2-year deal) - Biliel Mohsni (free, 2-year deal) - Kenny Miller (free/Portland, resigned) - Lee Robinson (QotS) - Tom Hateley (Motherwell, free) [ - Chris Humphrey (Motherwell, free, was in talks) signed for Preston North End] Gone: - Neil Alexander (end of contract) - Kane Hemmings (end of contract) - Kal Naismith (on loan, Accrington Stanley) + + + From FF ... Links galore ... The Express

MOST football fans in Scotland do not support Celtic. The majority are not Rangers fans either. MORI and Gallup do not exactly do polls on this sort of stuff so there is no way to be scientific about it, but maybe each of them has about 35-40% of the people who follow a team and the rest are shared around all the other clubs. What those of all allegiances are coming to terms with - whether they rejoice in the fact or resent it - is that Celtic have turned the Scottish game into a one-party state. For most of its history the league title has been an endless tennis rally between Celtic and Rangers, the championship switching from one to the other every year or two. Only now and again has one of them emerged into the clear daylight of a sustained period of dominance. Celtic won six in a row from 1905, Rangers five from 1927. In the late 1960s and early '70s there were times when it looked as if Jock Stein had built a force that would never be caught. When Rangers emulated Stein's nine consecutive titles - latterly buttressed by the bountiful revenue stream of the Champions League - it felt as if Sir David Murray, Graeme Souness and Walter Smith had moved the Ibrox club to a position of power which would obliterate any competition. And what happened? The Lisbon Lions era was built around Stein's individual genius and when his powers waned Celtic were drawn back into the pack. In the late 1990s Rangers grew old and tired, and misspent their resources, to the point a rebuilt Celtic got back among the titles. Currently the record books show only two consecutive league wins for Celtic but that is the equivalent of taking a snapshot of Usain Bolt in the early stages of a 100m race. Everyone can be pretty sure of what is coming next. At Tannadice on Saturday there were the latest renditions of a tune that the Celtic support has been singing for quite a while: "Here we go, 10 in a row." It's part-celebration, part-triumphalism, part-threat to you-know-who. There are 40 clubs which have long grown accustomed to the idea of having no real chance of being Scottish champions any time soon, and one which has a demanding fanbase unused to being denied anything for long. It is common these days to hear people talk about how Celtic have the potential to begin a period of unprecedented domination "if they use their money wisely". What they mean is that if Celtic keep running themselves prudently, employing the right manager and players, staying out of debt and always having money to spend to replenish a winning squad, it is going to take an almighty effort for Rangers to ever catch them. The apocalyptic scenario for Rangers is that Celtic keep getting into the Champions League group every year. They secured £20m in Uefa money alone last season and now they have another £16m this season. That is almost twice as much dough as Rangers raised from a one-off share issue. If Celtic pull off another two qualifications in 2014 and 2015 that would amount to around £80m washing into the club before Rangers even have the chance to take them on in the league. Given that all the fundamentals - season-ticket, commercial and sponsorship income - are otherwise broadly comparable between the Glasgow clubs, the long-term difference between them will be Champions League income. And that means that when a player's agent tries to bring a talent to Glasgow (the same player is often offered to both clubs at the same time), Celtic should be able to pay higher transfer fees and wages every time they both want the same man. All of this is a chilling thought around Ibrox. Horrifying, in fact. The Uefa golden goose that was once Rangers', and then shared, is now exclusively Celtic's. They can thank David Murray and Craig Whyte for that. It used to be the rest of Scottish football that was excluded at one or both of the Old Firm's expense; now Rangers are out in the cold too. Rangers have been in the Champions League group stage 10 times and Celtic are about to play in it for the eighth time. At a very conservative estimate (Champions League income has grown over the past 20 years) that is about £180m of Uefa money the Old Firm have enjoyed, in addition to their already vastly superior regular income. Last season Motherwell made around £195,000 from Uefa, and Hearts and St Johnstone £75,000 each - a tiny fraction of Celtic's £20m. The champions' excellent campaign also meant £100,000 in "solidarity" payments from Uefa for all other top-flight clubs, but that amounts to (welcome) crumbs. The Champions League embodies the concept of a self-perpetuating elite in which the rich get richer. When I spoke to a couple of SPFL Premiership club directors about how they reacted to Celtic generating Uefa income on a scale which makes it impossible for them to be given anything more than the odd bloody nose over the course of a season, one said: "It almost doesn't concern us. We're resigned to them always winning the league now and our competition is to finish second. Most clubs are happy for them to get into the group because it means a bit of Uefa money for us. It's probably very different for Rangers." Every empire falls eventually. The eras of Stein and Souness/Smith came to natural ends. Rosenborg show that even monopolising a country's Champions League access does not guarantee permanent rule. But Celtic's position of strength, and their advantages, are greater than any board of directors have known since Scottish football began. By Michael Grant (Herald)

What would be your full team if everyone was fit and eligible to play? I'll start it off with this XI :rf::sf: :ap::ib: :jd::al: No sitting on the fence with subs!

JOHN GREIG and Davie Cooper are two of Rangers’ all-time greats, legendary figures in the history of the club and idolised by the club’s supporters. Both players had blue blood running through their veins. In terms of their sheer devotion to the Ibrox outfit, they were identical. But, in truth, they were different characters all together. So much so that, in the early 1980s, with Greig as manager and Cooper playing under him, they ignored each other as a simmering feud threatened to boil over. It’s a notion most Rangers fans find difficult to understand. But the relationship between the pair at that time was a strained one – as is revealed in Neil Drysdale’s book, Coop: The Life of Davie Cooper, Scottish Football Hero. Quite simply, the winger didn’t fit into the style Greig wanted his team to play and was regularly left on the bench. That frustrated Cooper who, admittedly, took his omission to heart. He wasn’t dubbed the Moody Blue at Ibrox for nothing. That led to an impasse which was only made worse by his refusal to join Brighton in the summer of 1980. That was partly stubbornness but Cooper also couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his home in Hamilton and, more importantly, the club he loved. In Drysdale’s book, he examines the stand-off and, ultimately, the wing wizard’s acceptance that he failed to give Greig total commitment during his time as Rangers boss. He writes: “It was an indication of how relations had soured between Greig and Cooper that when the 24-year-old got the chance to leave, after an approach from Brighton boss Alan Mullery, he should end up staying while Gordon Smith headed south for a record transfer fee of £440,000. “Cooper was reluctant to leave his roots but there is pride in origin and then there is stubborn obstinacy. “Mullery wanted both Smith and Cooper but was told by Greig that he would only sell one of the two. Given how little subsequent use he found for Davie in his plans, it beggars belief the Rangers boss wasn’t ready to move him on if the price was right. “Greig made it clear to Cooper he would be well advised to contemplate expanding his horizons and – considering the money on the table – putting himself into the shop window with a switch to Brighton. “However, that cut no ice with the player who glanced at the map, calculated he wouldn’t be able to get home to Hamilton very often, and so wasn’t interested. “To some extent, one can see why a proud Ibrox man wouldn’t be overly delighted at the prospect of joining the likes of Brighton. But if he had gone and shown his abilities under Mullery, there would surely have been more enticing offers for him in the years ahead whereas he knew that as long as Greig was his gaffer, he would be spending more time keeping benches warm than playing. “Smith said: ‘Alan had been keeping tabs on both Davie and myself and wanted to sign the pair of us but John would only let one go. ‘I don’t believe Davie had any regrets about not going, but I wonder what might have happened if he had. There is no doubt he had more than enough natural ability to make a success of it in England. He could have ?tted in anywhere. ‘But you have to understand that Davie was living the dream and he loved the club, it was as simple as that.’ “It was now obvious that Cooper wouldn’t be wooed away from Rangers and had to accept he was a peripheral ?gure in Greig’s plans. And for those who cherish thrilling football this was a waste of one of the few genuine entertainers on the Scottish domestic circuit. “But while Greig could be faulted for his dearth of ?exibility, especially given the mediocre results attained by players he did select, Cooper wasn’t blameless. “As the months passed he fell into a slump exempli?ed by a lack of intensity at training and unwillingness to scrap for a place in the team. It might be he had concluded there was no merit in battering his head against a brick wall. “But that didn’t excuse his attitude and he subsequently conceded he should have battled harder rather than resort to the dumb insolence which typi?ed the dialogue – or absence of it – between him and Greig. “Cooper started turning up a few minutes late for training, then, once changed, went through the motions. It was childish and he knew it. Davie said: ‘I grew sloppy and the more frustrated I became, the less inclined I was to push myself on the training pitch. Then, when I found myself on the bench, I don’t think my attitude was all it might have been.’ “It was a stalemate which couldn’t have a happy ending. He and Greig were chalk and cheese and only one of them was cracking the whip. “Cooper’s disenchantment increased the more he found himself sidelined. It was an unhappy situation but one which had been brewing for 18 months. “Davie felt isolated, even unwanted at Rangers, even though he refused to take the easy option of demanding a transfer. But a decade down the line, he admitted: ‘I was out of sorts and took it out on John. It was unprofessional and I wish I had shown more application because we needed all the help we could get at the time. ‘John offered me a second chance but I couldn’t get it out of my head that he had given me a raw deal. ‘I look back and wish I’d realised it wasn’t personal. It was just the two of us were different. That didn’t mean either was right or wrong.’” Greig’s spell as Rangers boss ended in 1983 when he was replaced by Jock Wallace. He had won just two League Cups and two Scottish Cups in five years. But his place in the hearts of the supporters was never in doubt and they named him the Greatest Ever Ranger in 1999. Cooper, before and after his death in 1995, was similar to Greig in terms of the fans’ adulation of him. After Greig left, he shone under Wallace and Graeme Souness after that. He became a Rangers legend which, despite that spat with Greig 33 years ago, was all he ever really wanted.

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/164607084

PLENTY of players are let go on transfer deadline day but this may be the first time an entire club feels a sense of release. For the past year, Rangers have been subject to the registration embargo, an imposition that has prevented Ally McCoist fielding all of his summer recruits. With restrictions on the number of trialists that can play before the embargo expires at midnight tonight, it has created an artificial start to the season with the majority of Rangers' prospective signings spending matchdays in the stand, ineligible to take to the field. From tomorrow, however, they will be free men once more, It means that this afternoon's SPFL League 1 match against East Fife takes on added significance. It is the last day for the likes of Stevie Smith and Richard Foster to watch from the stands and also the final opportunity for those who have started the season to show they deserve to hang on to their jerseys once McCoist has his full squad to choose from. It is a nice position for the manager to be in. There is an argument that a club like Rangers should not need such a spread of resources to win the third tier of Scottish football but McCoist wonders aloud whether a lack of competition for places last season was one the reason for the team's inconsistent form. He is excited by the idea of having the option of flooding his team with eight new signings but also challenged the incumbents to show they deserve to hang on to their place. "I firmly believe that if you're in the team and playing well then you deserve to stay there," he said. "It goes without saying that we've brought in good players who will benefit the squad but if you're in the team on merit you've got to try to stay there. Competition for places is one thing we didn't have last year. Whether that was the reason for the lack of consistency I don't know. It might be in your mind that you're going to play every week, which can't be a good thing. But certainly this year we feel we've got boys in the squad, when they're not playing, will push the boys that are." The Scottish Football Association has elected to close their transfer window this evening, rather than extending it until Monday to acknowledge the deadline falling on a weekend. Had Scotland followed the lead of England, Germany, Italy, France and others by allowing the clubs to do transfer business for a further two days it would have afforded Rangers with the chance to sign players on Sunday and Monday, thus calling into the question the effectiveness of their embargo. McCoist had been unaware of the potential loophole but admitted his surprise. "It's unbelievable," he said, of a decision that the SFA claimed was taken because Saturday is a "working day" for them. "It would be worth asking why they went against UEFA because it is a little bit strange not to go with the other associations. If we'd had those extra two days it might have changed things for us." Kenny Miller falls into the category as someone who could, in theory, have been signed had the window been extended. McCoist has spoken about the possibility of bringing the striker back to Ibrox for a third spell and plans on revisiting that possibility in January. "I just feel a player of that type would be great, for Nicky Clark especially. A lot of people might wonder why [we are considering signing Miller] but we feel that a player like that would help us on the training pitch as much as anything else. "He's under contract, and has just extended it another six months, so that avenue is closed to us at that moment in time. But we'll re-assess it in January. You could make a real argument that he's the best striker the country's got at the moment so it would be ridiculous of me not to pursue it if we could." McCoist confirmed Herald Sport's story that he is considering a salary reduction as part of the club's cost-cutting reduction. He also welcomed the investigation by Craig Mather, the Ibrox chief executive, into an email apparently sent by one of the club's media advisors denigrating John Greig and hoped the man voted the Greatest Ever Ranger would be back at the club soon. "I wasn't aware of the email until this morning," McCoist said. "It would be wrong of me to comment on something that Craig is going to have a look into. That said, he's the Greatest Living Ranger as voted by the fans and I think the world of John and what he's done for me and the club. I'd love to see him back. I've said all along John Greig, Sandy Jardine, Walter Smith . . . that's the line right through the club for me." http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/one-window-closes-another-one-opens-for-mccoist-as-embargo-ends.22019764

Has a bit of me. me, me running through it/

Friday, 30 August 2013 12:44 Nicky Ready For Action Written by Neil Smith NICKY CLARK hopes he can kickstart his Rangers career tomorrow as he returns to Ally McCoist plans for East Fife’s visit to Ibrox Stadium. The striker is keeping his fingers crossed he can make his competitive debut for his new club and that he can also net his first goal in a Light Blue jersey against Willie Aitchison’s men. Nicky Law and Jon Daly have now played in three league fixtures each meaning McCoist can only pick Clark and goalkeeper Cammy Bell from his eight new signings for this weekend’s League One showdown. Former Queen of the South star Nicky came up against East Fife four times last season in SFL2, scoring three goals, and by the end of the campaign he had bagged 41 in all competitions. Now he is looking to continue this impressive form with Rangers. Speaking at Murray Park today Clark said: “I can’t wait. It’s been a long month just training every day and not really getting anything at the end of it. So I’m really looking forward to getting going again. “It has been frustrating, especially on a Saturday morning when you are in training and the other boys are getting ready for a game. But now is my chance and hopefully I can do well. “I felt as though I did well against Newcastle, against a lot of really good international players. But it wasn’t just me, I thought the team overall was really good that night and they’ve continued that. “We’ve obviously won all our league games so far, quite comfortably as well. We had one upset in the League Cup but apart from that we’re looking good. “It’s up to me now to go in there and do my best and hopefully I can get a couple of goals although East Fife will be a good side. "Every team that comes up against Rangers raise their game by 10-15 per cent so it will be hard but if we can get an early goal I'm sure we can push on and get the win." . This article is from the official Rangers site - http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/4937-nicky-ready-for-action

Friday, 30 August 2013 12:55 Little Facing Fitness Test Written by Andrew Dickson ANDY LITTLE will be given until the last minute to prove his fitness ahead of tomorrow’s League One clash with East Fife at Ibrox. The forward has been struggling with a knee injury he sustained in Tuesday’s 2-0 Ramsdens Cup win over Berwick, a game he scored the clinching goal in. Little hasn’t trained since and again sat out this morning’s session with the problem as he gives it time to heal. He’ll be put through a fitness test ahead of kick-off against the Fifers in the hope he may be able to play some part. With Jon Daly ineligible and Lee McCulloch being used in defence these days, losing Little would be a big blow to manager Ally McCoist. He does have Nicky Clark to call upon and he’s almost certain to start the match as a trialist ahead of his registration at the start of next week. But McCoist would like to pair Little with Clark and it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to do that or not. Elsewhere, Kyle Hutton and Ross Perry are still sidelined with ankle injuries, as is defender Chris Hegarty. Nicky Law also can’t play due to having played his full allowance of three League One fixtures and a Ramsdens Cup first round tie as an unregistered player. Richard Foster, Bilel Mohsni, Stevie Smith and Arnold Peralta will sit the fixture out too but Cammy Bell is expected to replace Scott Gallacher in goals. McCoist said: “Kyle and Ross are still out while Andy is struggling from a knock he took on Tuesday. He has jarred his left knee. “He didn’t train today and we’re going to give him a fitness test tomorrow morning. Cammy and Nicky come into contention.” . This article is from the official Rangers site - http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/4938-little-facing-fitness-test

In times of trouble, the crown fits old Rangers King - The Herald 'IT would be reasonable to suppose that the Glasgow experience of John Barnes would have been enough to make the former Liverpool player shrink at a Scottish accent and positively bridle at the mere mention of the game north of the border. However, Barnes speaks of his brief tenure as Celtic manager with some insight and maintains a strong connection to the Scottish game through his role as a media pundit and his friendship with Dave King, the Scottish businessman and former Rangers director based in South Africa, who has been vocal in the unfolding turmoil at the Ibrox club. Barnes travels the world in his role as a football analyst and met King in South Africa, where the former England internationalist comments on both Barclays Premier League and Champions League matches. He believes strongly that King has a role to play as the power struggle continues at Rangers. The businessman lost £20m when the club was owned by Sir David Murray and has warned they could be in administration by Christmas. Barnes believes he was a victim of that high-spending Rangers, too, with his coaching career bludgeoned by the reality that he was facing greater resources at Ibrox. He also insists King could be the leader who rescues Rangers from in-fighting and brings the club back to the top league and to financial stability. Barnes lasted from June 1999 to February 2000 as Celtic manager, with a Scottish Cup defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle precipitating his demise. "I was not there long enough to learn a lot," he says, his sunny demeanour failing to disguise the disappointment of a opportunity that proved short-lived. Barnes was part of a "dream ticket", coming to Celtic Park in tandem with Kenny Dalglish, his one-time manager at Liverpool. He dismisses any notions he was an innocent thrown into the jungle of Scottish football. "Nothing happened there that I did not expect. I knew the expectations were high. I knew we were second to Rangers and if that continued it would mean that it would not work out." Standing in the BT studios in London where he is about to give his opinions on the English game, he pauses to reflect on the state of Scottish football then and now. "I think a lot of people are now looking at the dynamics of the game north of the border and saying it is not as easy at it seems. In those days it was very different. In those days David Murray was spending a lot of money. Rangers had better players and much more money than Celtic. They were signing such as Joerg Albertz and Michael Mols to join the good players they already had." Barnes was consumed by the imperative to defeat Rangers but with lesser resources. "It is strange to see how it has gone with Celtic and Rangers," he says. "The dynamic is different and it shows the way Celtic were doing things from a financial point of view was the right way and the necessary way to do it." He states bluntly: "Rangers are paying the price for that period." His friendship with King has given him the inside story on his rivals when he was manager of Celtic. King, who took up his role as a non-executive director in March 2000, began his formal association with Rangers as Barnes was ending his with Celtic but King and he have become close after regular trips to South Africa. "He tells me stories of what it was like back then," says Barnes, now 49 and travelling to the Middle East and elsewhere to talk football. "He tells me of the money Rangers were spending and that has impacted on where they are now. It is shame because they're a huge club." In March, King announced his intention to sue Murray, stating: "I seem to be one of the few people who actually invested cash into the club. I have made a claim of £20m the basis of non-disclosure by the then chairman, David Murray, of Rangers' true financial position as far back as 2000." Murray said he would vigorously contend any such claim if and when it was lodged. The past at Rangers is thus clouded with much animosity for King, but Barnes is optimistic on the club's future if his friend becomes involved. "He would be good for Rangers because he is a fan. He wants what is right for Rangers. It is a huge brand that can be hugely successful and it will be successful once again. It may take a few years but the more they can have people like him involved from a footballing perspective the better. If you are a football supporter, you want people like him to involved in football." Barnes, too, would like to become more closely involved in football. He managed the Jamaican national team for a season, taking them to first place in the 2008 Caribbean Championships, and then joined Tranmere Rovers in June 2009, lasting just five months before being sacked. "I would love to get back into management but it is hard. There are a lot of ex-managers who want to get back in. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to do TV work but if something came up I would definitely look at it again." And what of a return to Scotland? Has his experience at Celtic soured him? "It was fantastic up there," he says. "Obviously, the politics were not great but the football was good. I loved it, " he says.' ______________________________________________ Excuses excuses Barnes. Not like those associated with the dark side to revise history is it?. There's no denying we spent a lot of money overall during the DA era. However, lets take a look at transfer activity of the season in question.... The Poor Wee Souls Players In Stiliyan Petrov £2.8m Ian Wright - Free? Rafael Scheidt - £5m Eyal Berkovic - £5.75m Olivier Tébily - £1.25m Players Out Craig Burley - £3m Phil O'Donnell - Free Simon Donnelly - Free Darren Jackson - Free Total loss = £11.8m Us Dirty Cheats that Bought Our Tainted Titles Players In Dariusz Adamczuk - Free Michael Mols - £4m Tero Penttilä - £0.3m Thomas Myhre Loan Billy Dodds - £1.3m Tugay Kerimoğlu £1.3m Players Out Theo Snelders - Retired Jonas Thern - Retired Luigi Riccio - Released Stephane Guivarc'h - £3.4m Charlie Miller - £0.45m Antti Niemi - £0.4m Derek McInnes - £0.3m Ian Ferguson - Free Gabriel Amato - £3.75m Colin Hendry - £0.75m Paul McKnight - Nominal Total profit = £2,150,000 Except Albertz had already been with us for 2 seasons at that point. The simple fact of the matter is that we had a good team and good manager while they had John Barnes who was about as shite as Scheidt.

NICKY Clark has not played a competitive match since finishing the season with Queen of the South four long months ago. And the young striker has not kicked a ball for Rangers in a friendly since the meeting with Newcastle United at the start of this month. But he is more than capable of netting the goals that secure victory over East Fife on his return to action at Ibrox on Saturday. And he can grab a fair few more as the club continue "The Journey" back to the top flight of the Scottish game. That was the opinion of left-back Lee Wallace today as he looked forward to the return of the 22-year-old predator. Cammy Bell and Clark are the only players manager Ally McCoist can field as trialists in the SPFL League One fixture this weekend. Jon Daly and Nicky Law have both played in three matches - against Brechin, Stranraer and Airdrie - and are not allowed to feature. Ricky Foster, Bilel Mohsni, Arnold Peralta and Stevie Smith are unavailable because the last club they were registered with was not in Scotland However, Wallace, who has struck a rich vein of form, is confident in the prolific marksman. "I think we all saw in pre-season exactly what Nicky Clark will bring to the team," the Scotland cap said. "Like the other players who have come in to the club during the summer, he has a lot of quality and I am sure that he is going to score a lot of goals. "We have only been able to play a couple of the new boys in each league game so far this season, but they have certainly made a big difference for us. "I am sure Nicky will do well for the club when he gets a chance. We saw in the last game that he played against Newcastle what a talent he is. "He was up against a Premier League side that was fielding players who cost millions of pounds. But he was not daunted by that and gave them a difficult evening. "I am sure he is really looking forward to getting back involved in the team and then playing regularly after September 1. I know we are all looking forward to him playing again." Wallace's lung-bursting runs up the left flank have resulted in Rangers scoring several goals this season. The defender has been impressed by how another of the new arrivals, former Dundee United striker Daly, has carved out chances for his team-mates. And he believes the Irishman will go from strength to strength now he has finally netted his first competitive goals for the Govan club. Daly bagged himself a double in the second half of the 6-0 annihilation of Airdrie at the Excelsior Stadium on Friday night to end his barren run. Wallace said: "I have played against Jon before so I know what a handful he can be for defences. He has great finishing capabilities. "He didn't take long to show people at this club what he was all about after he arrived here. He scored in training and in pre-season. "I am sure that having the manager to speak to when things were not falling for him was helpful. But we always knew he would be a goal threat. "He has been getting himself in good positions to score in all of the games that we have played and it was only a matter of time before he hit the target. "I am sure that he will go on now and score a lot of goals for us. Like all the players who have come in, he has got real quality." Rangers have won all three of their League One games against Brechin, Stranraer and Airdrie comfortably this season and have scored 13 goals in the procees. But Wallace stressed the Third Division champions would not be taking East Fife lightly when they square up to them this weekend. He said: "We have to make sure we play to our best every time that we take to the field no matter who the opposition is. "We represent Rangers and we have to remember that whenever we play." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/wallace-expects-new-blue-nicky-clark-to-display-his-quality-134683n.21991221

There is still work that Ally McCoist would like to carry out on his Rangers squad. He continues to monitor trialists, is keen on a centre-back and a centre-forward and there is interest from other clubs in "one or two" of his players. These are the routine tasks of a manager, but they also provide a refuge for McCoist. When he talks about the off-field issues at Ibrox, he has increasingly been referring to fatigue, among the fans, among the football community, perhaps even for most of those involved. Every week tends to bring a further development on the boardroom saga at the club. Since answering back to the criticisms of Charles Green when the former chief executive returned, briefly, as a paid consultant, McCoist has maintained the stance this his business is the team and his players; what happens in the boardroom is down to the directors. He returned to that theme yesterday, acknowledging that the continue drama at Rangers needs a conclusive ending. "Being a fan, ex-player and now manager, I just want what's best for this club," he said. "Everyone is reaching the stage where we're saying 'let's get this sorted and move on'. When I talk to Sandy [Jardine], wee Willie Henderson, big Tam Forsyth, everyone is of the same opinion: 'C'mon, let's sort this out and go forward'. If that's ex-players talking, it'll be echoed one thousand times by the supporters, but I'm optimistic that the off-the-park stuff can finally be sorted out." It is likely to be six weeks before the club holds its annual general meeting, at which a group of disgruntled shareholders will also table five resolutions seeking significant changes in the boardroom. The accounts are due to be published in the meantime. McCoist has become well-versed in financial issues that most football managers would not expect to encounter - "it's opened my eyes to a lot of avenues I'd never have imagined I'd go down," he said - but it will be a measure of his own progress if the exploits of the team do not add to the commotion. The season is in its infancy, but Rangers fans have taken heart from the performances of their side. The loss to Forfar Athletic in the first round of the Scottish League Cup will continue to irk them, but otherwise Rangers have shown signs of a stronger mental attitude, more variety and dynamism to their play and, crucially, a more emphatic sense of purpose. Airdrieonians were eventually swept aside last Friday night, with the kind of ruthless intent that McCoist has been demanding of his squad, and even if one game is not emblematic, the general sense is of progress. "We've miles to go and we've had one great second-half against Airdrie, so no-one's getting carried away," said McCoist. "The squad's getting better with the players we've brought in. People have to remember we lost £40-50m worth of talent [last year] and brought in free transfers, but we're delighted with the progress we'll make this year." Steve Simonsen, the former Dundee goalkeeper, and Sam Kelly, the 19-year-old former Everton midfielder, have extended their trial period at the club, while McCoist retains an interest in signing the Bosnian defender Boris Pandza. Negotiations are continuing between Craig Mather, the Rangers chief executive, and Pandza's agent. Several clubs are also keen on taking Scott Gallacher, the Rangers goalkeeper, on loan, with McCoist keen for the player to gain regular first-team experience. Cammy Bell, the former Kilmarnock goalkeeper, is one of the eight players who have agreed to sign as free agents on September 1, when Rangers' registration embargo ends. He could even feature as a trialist in Saturday's match with East Fife at Ibrox, after which McCoist will be able to choose from a full squad of players. The visit of Berwick Rangers in the Ramsdens Cup tonight is not incidental, since McCoist wants to foster a hardened winning attitude within his squad. It is also an opportunity for some players to prove their worth before potential replacements are eligible to play from September 1 onwards. "If you're Berwick Rangers, you're delighted we're not allowed to play any of our new players," McCoist said. "But I'm more looking forward to the game than having any worries because the boys that will play, those that didn't play on Friday, will know that's what expected." http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/miles-to-go-but-mccoist-confident-of-moving-on.21981607

Unbelievable. http://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/for-the-avoidance-of-doubt/

http://www.therangersstandard.co.uk/index.php/articles/281-toxic-mediahouse-and-rangers-toxic-board Once again the Rangers fans have been treated with contempt by a Rangers board which continues to show it is totally out of touch of with the fans and often reality. The re-appointment of Jack Irvine as a PR adviser to the club, just weeks after his organisation, Mediahouse, were correctly removed from their position, smacks of the same type of weakness which saw Charles Green return as a consultant. Mediahouse have had a long and troubled association with Rangers. Their meddling in the club’s affairs did not stop when they were recently removed from their position as the club’s media advisers. When Jim Traynor said recently that “Jack Irvine does not speak for this club” he was correct, and he is still correct despite their reappointment by Craig Mather. Jack Irvine and Mediahouse have never represented Rangers Football Club. They have represented a number of regimes, including the toxic Craig Whyte, which have failed to put the club and the fans first. It is clear from the nature of this appointment that Irvine will be representing the wishes of a board of directors who are desperate to cling to power and not the interests of the club we all love. Let us not forget the record of Mediahouse during their time at our club. They presided over a complete capitulation to UEFA, and the authorities in general, over the behaviour of our fans. Yes, at times that behaviour was indefensible but Mediahouse allowed every single negative headline, and at times baseless accusations, to go unchallenged. The term “dignified silence” has often been used to describe Rangers’ inability to challenge our critics even when we had the opportunity. That was a policy which continued during the years Mediahouse called the shots. Only recently have we seen any attempt to fight back. It is no coincidence that the fight back stepped up in pace after the removal of Mediahouse. Documents leaked on the internet suggest that Jack Irvine actively assisted Craig Whyte in gaining control of Rangers by suppressing negative media stories which may have brought his past to light ahead of his takeover. This was done whilst Mediahouse were supposed to be working for Rangers. Mediahouse set up the recent interviews which saw Charles Green make a mockery of the club and its board. The board know this. They themselves condemned Green’s actions in front of the fans at a recent meeting, but have now seen fit to hire the company who put that strategy in place. I know of nobody who can name a single benefit that Mediahouse have brought to our club, although I am sure Craig Whyte was delighted with Irvine’s assistance. However, it is worth noting that none of this is Mediahouse or Jack Irvine’s fault. They do what they are paid to do. If someone like Whyte wants to ensure their interests are put before those of the club, and they are willing to pay, then Mediahouse will accommodate them. It is not up to Mediahouse to do anything other than what they are paid for. The issue is that once again the club are paying for them to put the interests of individuals ahead of those of the club. It was recently announced that Jim McColl was willing to forgo a GM in order to roll the institutional investor proposals for the club’s board into the AGM. This was seen as a sensible approach to save the club up to £80k because it would allow just one meeting of shareholders to take place rather than two. The board have taken that money (and probably considerably more of the club’s money) and handed it to Mediahouse. They have hired expensive media consultants to defend their own jobs and positions at the club. It is reprehensible behaviour but entirely in keeping with the actions of a board which thought that bringing back Charles Green was a good idea and then had to perform an embarassing U-turn. It is incredible to think that, in a week which saw Craig Mather’s ham fisted attempt to take credit for the decision to combine the GM and AGM, we see the club squander money on yet another unnecessary expense. Does Mather not appreciate how this looks? He cannot stop the GM without the consent of McColl’s group of shareholders, yet tries to take credit and then goes out and spends the money that could have been saved. We already have a Director of Communications in Jim Traynor. Someone who has not only been taking the fight to our detractors with the BBC Scotland ban and legal letters to the Daily Record, but who has also been improving our club media platforms immeasurably. The club also already pay media consultants Keith Bishop Associates, brought in by Charles Green as part of the Sports Direct deal but who do no obvious work for the club, £140k a year. So what will Mediahouse be doing for Rangers Football Club? The answer is nothing - they will be working for the individuals on the board. The club will simply be paying for it. Perhaps Brian Stockbridge could have used some of his £200k bonus for the team winning the league last year to pay for the defence of his untenable position at the club? Perhaps Craig Mather could have used some of his £300k salary to pay for this attempt to keep him in position? Instead, the money will come from the dwindling reserves of season ticket money that our loyal fans have poured into the club. Mather’s actions are particularly disappointing. He had an opportunity to show he was the right man for the CEO position, and that he could whip this hapless board into shape, but he capitulated over the return of Green. He has now done the same with the return of Mediahouse. It is also now clear that this board are willing to stoop to any level to cling to power. Jack Irvine’s first move was to issue a veiled threat to the representatives of concerned shareholders. It was disgraceful. Is this what Rangers Football Club has been lowered to? Can this board not win the day based on their own record, their plans and their reputations? Exactly what type of “media scrutiny” is it that Jack Irvine would like to subject people to? Has he answered to the board for the allegations, via leaked emails, that he ensured a smooth path to power for Craig Whyte by supressing negative media stories about him? Did they even ask Irvine to explain this before they rehired him to defend their own interests? Are the board comfortable with Irvine’s approach? I wonder how comfortable they would be with their own actions being subjected to “media scrutiny”? Irvine, it appears, will do literally anything to spread his message. That extends to the promotion of the work of Paul McConville. McConville is a Celtic blogger (and discredited lawyer) who has spent the last two years attacking the club at every opportunity, but Irvine was happy to promote a recent article of his on Twitter because it suited his own agenda. Principle is left at the door. Furthermore this move raises questions of exactly who is running the club. It is clear that the board did not consult Jim Traynor before reappointing Mediahouse - this despite Mather, Hart and Stockbridge all nodding their approval for allowing Traynor to direct media strategy at the recent fan meeting. Traynor appealed for the directors to allow him to do his job and they have failed to do what they committed to. This is becoming a regular occurrence for them. Say one thing and do another. Who would blame Traynor if he decides to follow Walter Smith and walk away from this toxic board? Jack Irvine is the Easdale family spokesman. Do the Easdales now run Rangers Football Club? Did his work for them, despite its eccentricity, lead to them being appointed again at Rangers? Rumours abound that Sandy Easdale is now taking an active part in the decision making of the club’s directors despite not having a place on the board so it seems an obvious conclusion that Mediahouse are back at their behest. The RST, Assembly and RSA have continued their unified approach and expressed their contempt for this decision and the toxicity of Mediahouse is an issue which seems to unite even the most fractured elements of our support. Is it always going to be up to the fans to explain to this dysfunctional board what is acceptable and what isn’t? What next? Should we expect to see them bring Charles Green back a third time? Nothing this board now do would surprise me. It’s clear that anything goes in their desperation to cling to the power that they regularly abuse. They are beyond contempt and beyond parody. They are also unfit to represent our great football club and I sincerely hope the attempts to remove them are successful. If they are not then our club faces an uncertain future.

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2565&newsCategoryID=1&newsID=12361 As if we haven't got enough going on.

One of my all time favourites, a son of Airdrie. Click the link to see the full interview from May last year. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/interview-ian-mcmillan-airdrie-director-and-former-rangers-and-airdrie-forward-1-2319440 Interview: Ian McMillan, Airdrie director and former Rangers and Airdrie forward Ian McMillan remains a director of Airdrie United aged 81. Picture: Robert Perry by ALAN PATTULLO Published on the 26 May 2012 00:00 8 comments Email thisPrint this RELUCTANT star reflects on an enduring bond with Airdrie and life as a part-timer at Ibrox The McMillan family is deep into Olympic countdown mode as the days tick down to the Great Britain women hockey side’s first appointment, at the end of July. Ian McMillan, formerly of Airdrie and Rangers, is the grandfather of Laura Bartlett, one of only two Scots in the squad. He clearly believes she should be the focus of any attention, rather than his octogenarian self. This, however, is the Wee Prime Minister’s own question time. For any sports writer, an hour or so in the company of someone renowned for being one of Scottish football’s gentlemen is a dream assignment. In this version of PMQs there is no braying from across the room to have to endure either, only the pleasant hum of background chatter emitted by McMillan’s golfing crowd, who meet at the Airdrie Golf club each week to put to the world to rights. McMillan himself is slightly anxious. He is concerned that he has not got enough to say, and that, at age 81, no-one will want to read about what his views on the game any longer. He fears he is as relevant to present day football as Harold Macmillan is to contemporary politics. His near-namesake’s occupancy of No 10 Downing Street during the late 1950s and early 60s saw McMillan bestowed with his Wee Prime Minister moniker, one still employed by friends to this day. Having listened to him, however, it is not hard to understand why he is still a director at Airdrie United, as well as honorary president. It would be considered gross negligence if his influence had been lost to the game, and to his hometown club in particular, where he has also served as ball boy, esteemed player, youth coach and, for six and-a-half years in the Seventies, as manager. Sandy Clark, whose career started under McMillan at Airdrie, recalls never having heard the manager swear, something almost unheard of in professional football. That’s not to say he was not sworn at. The notorious Airdrie crowd did not even spare their own, although McMillan, whose managerial tenure included a Texaco Cup final appearance against Derby County and a Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic, never had it as bad as some. “Do you know the old Broomfield?” he asks. “You had to walk from the pavilion right the way up to the dug-out near the stand, and at half-time and full-time you had to walk all the way round, and if you were losing you would get slaughtered – quite rightly, because some of the games we played were not very clever. “As a manager I got more abuse than as a player,” he adds. “One comment I always had a wee smile at was: ‘I think you should stick to playing McMillan!’” That he appeared for Scotland at all is notable enough. McMillan was a part-time player all his days. While this was not so remarkable in his first ten years as an inside forward with Airdrie, it became something to marvel at as he continued to hold his own after a £10,000 move to Rangers. He was the sole part-time player in a side that reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1960. “They could have given me the cold shoulder, but they never did,” he says of his team-mates. “They were very welcoming.” He does concede that working as a chartered surveyor from Monday to Friday did tend to compromise his performances on a Saturday. Given that many Rangers fans of a certain vintage rate McMillan as one of the club’s most under-rated players, it’s possible to wonder just how good he could have been had he been able to train with his team-mates each day, rather than with the youths in the evening? “I had to take wee rests occasionally,” he says. “That is what I maintain, if you are fit and able to do 90 minutes, then you can be a better player. And I think I could have been a better player. I only trained three nights a week as opposed to the others, who trained all week, so I had to rest occasionally in games. That was a fault. “If I had been able to train a bit harder, then looking back I could have been a better player,” he continues. “I could have lasted the game longer, I could have been in the game more often.” He made a conscious decision to remain part-time, and it was the sensible one at the time. He had had two young daughters, Laura and Lesley. The latter is now the mother of Scottish hockey internationalist twins Laura and Kay Bartlett, while the former passed on some of her father’s footballing prowess to Iain, a striker with Livingston. “I was 27 when I moved to Rangers, and I weighed up [whether to go full-time] and it was borderline,” McMillan continues. “If I had been 22 it would a different story. I would have gone full-time then. I had a young family, two wee girls. It was a big decision. I knew that I could get an injury, and be finished. My wife and I sat down and thought: well it is going not too bad the way it is, we will just carry on.” Making things slightly easier was a job switch from one side of West Regent Street in Glasgow to the other. “John Lawrence, who was chairman at Ibrox at the time, asked me to come over and work for him, so I was able to get away for games in Europe,” he says. “Prior to that, it had been difficult.” McMillan was thus free to star in the Ibrox side’s run to the last four of the European Cup, where they came up against Eintracht Frankfurt. “Our trouble was that even when we were abroad we played as if we were playing against Stirling Albion, we just kept going forward,” he recalls. “We were one each against Eintracht Frankfurt at half-time, but you could tell the writing was on the wall. They were a tremendous side. They ran over the top of us in the second-half, beating us 6-1, so the return leg was a bit of a non-event. We were a top side, and they whacked us 6-3 at Ibrox. I was interviewed on television afterwards, and they asked me how I thought Eintracht Frankfurt would do against Real Madrid in the final? Well after that experience, I said, I think they will beat Real Madrid!” Of course, the aristocrats from Madrid defeated the Germans 7-3 at Hampden Park, in one of the best remembered games in football history. McMillan watched on from the stand at Hampden, where he had already made three appearances for Scotland as well as enduring a 7-2 away defeat to England at Wembley. Unusually perhaps, of the six caps he earned with Scotland, five were won out of Airdrie. However, he struggles to make playing for Scotland sound like a happy experience. “We didn’t get good results,” he says. “It was not really as enjoyable as playing with Airdrie, my local club. But Rangers was the best of the lot. Great players, they made it easy for you.” Games against the amateurs of the United States and Denmark were the only ones he won, and McMillan sometimes wondered whether he belonged in such illustrious company as Lawrie Reilly and Gordon Smith. Reilly scored a hat-trick against the States that day at Hampden, in a match described as an “amusing interlude” in Andrew Ward’s Scotland – The Team. Two goals for Scotland within the first ten minutes killed the game as a contest, and the score was 4-0 at half-time. Making a mockery of the self-doubt McMillan says he experienced with Scotland is the late Bob Crampsey’s recollection of the day. Writing in The Scotsman in 1998, the respected football historian noted that “the team that had won 6-0 was never picked again yet I invite you to look in particular at the right wing, Gordon Smith and McMillan, two of the purest footballers this country has produced.” The US, whose centre-half Charlie Colombo wore leather gloves throughout the game, didn’t have a hope, despite an astounding 1-0 victory over England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. “They had played England, and beat them, we though oh oh, who do we have here?” remembers McMillan. “We had not a clue about them. Because they had whacked England we thought we need to watch ourselves here. Maybe that was a good thing. If they hadn’t beaten them we might have come out and think it was toffee. If you think that, it can rebound on you.” Still, it’s possible to detect from McMillan that he felt he didn’t belong in a Scotland jersey. “I moved from Airdrie to Rangers, not knowing what was ahead of me, worrying about going from a wee provincial club to a big club. “I maybe had the wrong attitude. You have to be a bit like Jim Baxter was, a wee bit arrogant, a ‘nobody is like yourself’ sort of thing. Instead, McMillan was the complete opposite to Baxter. “I had a slight inferiority complex,” he admits. “It’s not a good thing for a footballer.” McMillan considers Baxter to be the best footballer he played with, but his complaint about his team-mate is a familiar one in that he feels he could have been even better. “I couldn’t believe what I heard he’d been up to on a Friday night when I turned up on the Saturday,” McMillan says. Harold Davis, who played just behind him, is a different story. The Korea war veteran made the best of himself despite horrific wounds sustained in active service with the Black Watch. Recalls McMillan: “At the end of the game you would be in the big bath and you could see the scars on his tummy. You would think: ‘how is he able to full-time football at this level after what he went through?’ That’s the type of man he is. He used to encourage me, if things weren’t going well. “I always maintain that, because he was behind me, I lasted longer at Rangers. Harold won all the balls for me, and I said to him: ‘Harold, I am fine if I get the ball in a bit of space. As soon as you win the ball, I will be looking for it right away’. And that’s how we operated. “Football is all about movement, making space to get away from your opponent. I just needed a second, then I could get the ball under control and use it. That is what I was good at. I could get the ball and take men on and I had good vision, I could pass a decent ball. But I couldn’t header and I couldn’t tackle! I had deficiencies as well as one or two qualities.” His lack of inches meant he relied on his wiles to escape the rough and tumble of the game at the time, and the lightness he displayed on his feet was perhaps partly attributable to the Italian-style football boot both he and Ralph Brand preferred to wear, to the great suspicion of manager Scot Symon. “It didn’t have that bulbous toe which was common at the time,” he says. “You could get the feel of the ball better.” The knocks have, though, caught up with him, leading to a hip replacement 17 years ago which itself now needs replaced. The complaint, he believes, is a consequence of his preference for shielding the ball with what he refers to as his “largish bottom”, and which meant 18 years’ worth of heavy impacts from behind as defenders jostled for the ball. It has curtailed his golf outings, but he will be fit enough to watch from the stands as his granddaughter plays in a second successive Olympic games, this time in a rather more convenient location than Beijing. “I think I have been allocated a ticket,” he smiles, clearly proud that the Olympic ideals he espoused throughout his career – “to my mind there was nothing better, whether you had won or lost, than coming in after a hard game of football” – are still being upheld in a talented family.

Interesting change from business journalist as opposed to the normal sports variety http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/opinion/investors-must-provide-ending-to-sorry-soap-opera-at-rangers.21937520

As expected: http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11686782

On Saturday, not long after the Stranraer match, the club published a statement entitled, “For the Avoidance of Doubt”. The article was written under the tag, ‘Rangers Football Club’, although almost everyone acknowledges that it was probably penned by the club’s Director of Communications, James Traynor. Although the statement was generally well received by Rangers fans, it was more noticeable for what it didn’t say, rather than what it actually did say. Whilst the statement is welcome, it is long overdue, and I doubt if it will have any substantive or meaningful impact on the serial Rangers haters who constantly misrepresent and malign our club. I suspect that most Rangers fans consider the statement to be much too terse, and would have preferred a more comprehensive, robust and forceful statement. Certainly given the nature and content of the statement, it is noticeable for its failure to comment on the serial offenders at Rangers who consistently utilise the local anti-Rangers media to further their own agendas, or censure those Rangers bloggers who are aligned with one side or another in the current Boardroom wars, and who often give interviews to the local rags, including the Daily Record. In fact it fails to confront the leaks that are clearly emanating from Ibrox, and it doesn’t ‘sit well’ with the fact that our board of directors, club officials and employees regularly utilise the local rags for their own ends. Fine words from James Traynor – but actions speak much louder than words! It is for that reason I have penned an alternative version of “For the Avoidance of Doubt”. For The Avoidance of Doubt (Alternative version) “Rangers Football Club is aware of wildly inaccurate stories circulating on various websites and would like fans to know that these flights of fancy will be monitored by our lawyers. Where it is considered necessary, we will instruct our lawyers to initiate legal action against the owners and administrators of any website, or any other media vehicle, that publishes (or disseminates by any other means) material that is inaccurate, libellous or misrepresents the club’s position in any way. The club will keep fans advised of any action initiated as a consequence of this monitoring process and will provide regular updates on the club’s official platforms. In particular, our lawyers are examining a malicious piece which seems to suggest that the club does not own its facilities. That suggestion is, of course, utter nonsense, and the club wishes to make it unequivocally clear that the club owns all of its facilities in their entirety. We urge Rangers fans to treat these idiotic and lumbering articles with the contempt they deserve. Better still, ignore them completely. However, we acknowledge that many fans may wish to analyse and assess them and, where appropriate, respond to their misrepresentations by means of their own websites and blogs. Indeed the club recognises the very practical assistance provided by the fans in monitoring these articles and responding in circumstances where the club is, either, unable or unwilling to do so. But we must also stress we cannot waste time responding publicly to every blog or ridiculous claim against the club, although we acknowledge the magnificent work that has been done by Rangers fans in challenging the reprehensible Rangers Tax Case blog; BBC Scotland’s consistent misrepresentations and its inaccurate and biased reporting; the vindictive and malign blogs of those such as Alex-Thomson of Channel 4, Phil Four Names, Paul McConville and, of course, those journalists in the mainstream media such as Graham Spiers, Tom English, Keith Jackson etc. who continually misrepresent, and unreasonably, attack our club. There is also a dangerous proliferation of anonymous obsessive’s on various social media sites and we will not give them any credence, although we will continue to monitor the material they publish and seek to identify the source of any leaks, particularly where specific material is proven to be genuine correspondence emanating from Rangers Football Club. In such circumstances we will take appropriate action against any director or officer of the club who is found responsible for leaking confidential information including, if necessary, precautionary suspension and summary dismissal. Nor can we react to every journalist and publication that appears to pursue an anti-Rangers agenda; publications such as the Daily Record which today boasts yet another headline which does not accurately reflect what manager Ally McCoist said in his press conference yesterday. The paper’s intent is clear, and we urge our fans to see it for what it is, as we urge those prominent bloggers who are closely aligned to the Club, and prepared to give interviews to the Daily Record, and provide them with information relating to the business of our board, its shareholders and the club’s operations, to desist forthwith. In this regard, the club will make every effort to ensure that no member of its board, any shareholder, club official or employee will provide information to, or give interviews to, the Daily Record or any of the other recognised anti- Rangers media. If Rangers fans want the truth they will find it only on the club’s official platforms, and we will make every effort to ensure that, from this point onward, there is substantive and meaningful information available to fans on the club’s platforms in relation to current anti-Rangers news stories, statements that misrepresent the club’s stated position and those that are causing significant concern to the fans. This is particularly relevant given the current boardroom upheavals. Finally, Jack Irvine of Media House does not speak for this Club, although we can confirm that he and Media House currently represent the interests of the Easdale brothers who are major shareholders in Rangers Football Club.”

Sure to be an interesting day ahead as the board meet to discuss various issues... 1. Charles Green's position as a consultant - sack, censure or promote? 2. EGM requisition - do they accept it's requested board changes, confirm the EGM or reject the requisition altogether? 3. New chairman - erm, see 1. 4. Expedited publishing of audited accounts 5. Reaction to Ian Black notice of complaint I'm currently standing outside the Norton House Hotel awaiting the arrival of the key players...

SO MANY voices in this Rangers saga and so many mixed messages, so much contradiction to pile on top of the poison that has reigned in the place for far too long. Dire warnings from Dave King that the club is living beyond its means and is heading inexorably for the rocks again and, on the flip side, Ally McCoist looking to sign a reserve goalkeeper (is there nobody there already who can warm the bench for the season?) as well as two others. The club appears to be bleeding money. They have burned their way through their share-offering revenue – supposedly £20 million-plus – and have £10m left in the bank and overheads that are eye-watering. And yet the manager is carrying on – being allowed to carry on – spending where there is no need. No need whatsoever. Three more players might increase Rangers’ winning margin in League One. Big deal. They might give them an extended run in a cup, but is it worth it? More mouths to feed, more money going out, more pressure on a club’s finances that concerned Rangers fans are bending over backwards to have a look because they fear the worst. Is there nobody at Ibrox prepared to cry “Stop! We need to cut costs not add to them”? Apparently not. Contradiction upon contradiction. Yesterday, more of it. Sandy Easdale sent a message out there via his PR man, Jack Irvine, who came blinking into the light having spent so many years operating in the shadows. Laughably, Irvine attempted to portray his client as a man who would sooner jump in the path of one of his buses than do anything to damage his beloved Rangers. What is required desperately at Rangers – before it is too late – is transparency. The bonnet needs to be lifted on the club’s fiscal reality and the suspicion is that it had better happen quickly. For all their faults, the trio of Jim McColl, Paul Murray and Frank Blin want to do this in rapid order. That’s their modus operandi. Easdale doesn’t want it to happen. He has called the prospect of an EGM and a possible over-throwing of the board an “appalling waste of money”. He has, through his PR man, said McColl and company are wasting their time and that they will end up looking embarrassed. That is to say that seemingly an overwhelming body of the Rangers support are also wasting their time in their pleas for proper financial transparency. Easdale, it would appear, thinks everybody in the Rangers fanbase should pipe down with their complaints. He – or his man – calls the whole thing “boardroom nonsense” Boardroom nonsense? Quite a description, that. Just a little bit of an understatement, wouldn’t you agree? Tuesday is when the Rangers board meet to discuss Charles Green’s role as consultant. By rights, Green will be stripped of his position, if only for his capacity to cause humiliation to all those around him. That’s a long-honed skill of the Yorkshireman and his cohorts and it’s going to be difficult to stop. Green holds a lot of aces at Rangers. He’s going to take a bit of shifting. Overseeing all of this, of course, is Craig Mather, the chief executive who has to, on one hand, appease the Rangers support and, on the other, attempt to neutralise Green’s addiction to mortifying public utterances that send those at Ibrox into apoplectic fury. Mather, it has to be said, is not exactly a leader of substance. You might remember that, back in June, he borrowed a move from the Green playbook by trumpeting his desire to go after Rangers’ enemies, a carbon-copy of the tactic deployed by Green at the outset – and one that worked very well with the fans until they could see through him and his money-grab. “There will be times when you [the support] want us to tackle our enemies and it will seem like we’re somehow reluctant to do so or that we don’t care,” he said. “You might believe we don’t feel hurt to the same extent as you, but we do. Sometimes you have to wait. We’ve chosen, and we will continually choose, the right moment to strike. Please, never believe that I or any other directors don’t know the names of the people who have tried to damage this club. We know them all. We know what each one’s tried to do and I can assure you we will never, ever forget about that.” This was populist claptrap at the time and it’s populist claptrap that Mather has singularly failed to back up. Rangers’ enemies? Does he – or anybody else at the club – seriously believe that the media, the BBC in the main, are the club’s major enemy? If they do, God help them. Their analysis is desperately skewed. The main “enemies” are surely the ones who are wearing – or have recently worn – the Rangers blazer. The Greens, the Imran Ahmads, the Brian Stockbridges. Stockbridge is the financial controller at Ibrox. A few weeks ago at a fans meeting he was asked how much of the share-offering money remained in the club bank account. He didn’t know. Or didn’t want to say. A few days later he appeared in a tabloid saying that, er, nothing was left. Nothing. A financial controller? What, exactly, is he controlling when vast bonuses are given out to himself and Green for the pitiful honour of winning the Third Division. Big salaries and 
100 per cent bonuses. That’s not control, that’s the very opposite. Where is Mather’s ire at these people? It doesn’t exist because he is among them. Mather doesn’t know who the real enemies are. On Tuesday he, and the board, will have a chance to right a wrong and remove Green, a man who, it is said, is prepared to support Ahmad in his multi-million pound legal action against the club. With friends like that… Mather has said other things. He went after the SFA, for instance. Another Rangers enemy and more populism. The chief executive demanded answers from Hampden about the different punishments doled out to Hearts and Rangers in administration. He made great play of this in a statement. He wanted to know if it was one rule for Rangers and another for Hearts. He was going to press the SFA to explain themselves. All of this gave the impression of a man taking on the Rangers haters. It was bunkum. His anger and his call for transparency didn’t even amount to him taking the time to send an e-mail or write a letter to the SFA asking for clarification. A warrior in his statement and a pussycat thereafter. The SFA did, indeed, provide clarification, but not because of an official request – that’s normal procedure – but because they wanted to highlight what garbage Mather was talking in his phoney call to arms. The SFA statement was a deconstruction of Mather’s earlier position. Why had the SFA fined Rangers, Mather had demanded to know. Answer: Because Rangers asked them to. To Tuesday, then. And the hope that those seeking clarity are not once again painted as the enemy by the incumbents who want an end to mere “boardroom nonsense”. The reality, as most appreciate now, is far bigger than that. http://www.scotsman.com/news/tom-english-rangers-and-the-need-for-transparency-1-3051356?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

“Not the Rangers way" was the cry; as our previous boardroom turned our club into both a media circus and a laughing stock with their behaviour and antics. Leaks, accusation and counter accusation characterised this troubled period. For us, who as Rangers supporters, expect all connected with our club to behave to a certain standard, it was indeed a most unedifying sight to behold. Whilst the "generals" in this battle certainly have not changed, both the battleground and the “support units” most certainly have, with Rangers bloggers entering into the fray as the theatre of war shifts from the tabloids to the internet. You know how the saying goes - "Hearts & Minds" – it would appear some believe ours are up for grabs to the most persuasive bidder. A considerable irony in all of this was that these same bloggers ravaged our old board for washing its dirty laundry in public. We appear to be missing both a goose and a gander. "Tweet" sounds such an innocuous word, yet the tweets being exchanged via twitter are anything but that. Perhaps a 140 character barb would be a more apt description, as both sides, sadly appearing to have unlimited energy for the task, trade those barbs according to whichever faction they happen to be in. Particularly unsavoury were the attempts by either faction to claim the moral high ground by playing the race card against the enemy. The problem was there was no moral high ground to be claimed – both the comments of Charles Green and Jim McColl were in themselves particularly vulgar, with perhaps surprisingly the latter managing to outdo even Green in the vulgarity stakes. The old adage that “truth is the first casualty of war” has certainly held true. In the midst of all this carnage is a support rightfully concerned about their club and looking for answers and information. For those of us who don’t have a source inside the club, or access to powerful players in this game we are all left totally bewildered by it all. With both sides being so deeply entrenched perhaps the casualty which is the truth has been lost from sight, obscured by a fog of egos, spin and recrimination. Along with truth, objectivity seems to also have fallen in the heat of battle. Bloggers such as I, started writing to counter and challenge some of the media lies, imbalance, and, on occasion, downright harmful articles about our club. It was a war against lies and misinformation. We strived to give the Rangers support a different angle from the hateful one being taken by so many of Scotland’s press. But in every war there is always collateral damage. Perhaps the lasting indictment of this conflict will be that the Rangers support will have to return to the Scottish press to glean objective, agenda free information, with regard to what is happening at our club.

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/155-mccoll-the-messiah-some-key-questions From a cursory look across the various forums this sunny Wednesday morning, I note Jim McColl et al appears to be requesting EGM support from the Rangers supporters who are shareholders (apparently around 12% of the whole). Fair enough and not an unexpected development but this is actually an important issue so please allow me to labour the point somewhat. First of all, I'd fancy, under normal circumstances Jim McColl would be exactly the kind of investor and/or board member and/or outright owner our fans would literally carry up the marble staircase to victory. He's substantially rich, apparently a genuine fan and his business reputation is clearly impressive given his various successes. What's not to like? Unfortunately, as we know, the situation at Ibrox is far from normal and McColl’s influence with specific regard to Rangers has hardly been impressive in recent times: 1. McColl has been involved with previous failed bids – including an aborted attempt at fan ownership in conjunction with the RST and purportedly a rejected post-D&P deadline bid for the club along with Walter Smith last year. Has he learned from these experiences? 2. McColl has always come across as reluctant at best and quirky to a fault when it comes to Rangers. Sure, a football club can’t be seen as a sound investment by someone used to making money rather than losing it but, if he’s a fan, then his involvement would only ever be an emotional one anyway. Where does he draw the line between personal concern and business? 3. Fan trust of anyone involved is at an all-time low. The most recent regimes from Sir David Murray and Craig Whyte have failed completely whilst the current incumbents are struggling to retain supporter backing with a variety of poor decisions. Thus, anyone who wants to control Rangers has to accept public scrutiny will be higher than anything they’ll have experienced before. Does that fit with McColl’s preference for remaining in the background? 4. His current share-holding is hardly impressive (even if he may have the backing of others). No-one knows just how many shares McColl owns but it must be lower than the LSE-notifiable 3%. Is that reflective of his overall interest or just someone who prefers to stay under the radar? Just how much money is he willing to spend? 5. McColl and/or his group have never made their plans clear and, in fact, it's impossible to tell from one day to the next if they want to buy the club and/or if they just want to be a short-term controlling bloc to ensure ‘effective’ ownership (perhaps via a new share issue) is transferred to someone else like Dave King. How exactly do they see the club’s financial future? All these valid questions means, instead of having the automatic backing of a huge majority of supporters (and indeed other shareholders), many people are - quite rightly - less than clear about what he's offering. Ergo, to make calls for fan backing without being completely open on his intentions is not the best strategy in my opinion. Indeed, it could be said he’s suffering from the same problems the Blue Knights stumbled into last year; namely failing to grasp supporter attention amidst a variety of strategic errors. To conclude, I'll say again: Jim McColl should be the right man for the job, but the very fact we have doubters (based on constructive criticism rather than daft stuff about his politics), doesn't reflect well on his efforts so far. Thus, I'd argue that McColl still has a bit of work to do if he wants to be successful; even if the fact he's come this far suggests he's clearly confident. However, if it's a straight choice between a Charles Green and a Frank Blin along with an Imran Ahmad and a Jim McColl, I don't see many fans opting for the former. Of course, as always, it's not as simple as that so McColl and his group would be well advised to avoid complacency and/or assume fan backing. If not, he only needs to phone Paul Murray to release what over-confidence can do to your reputation. What Rangers fans want more than anything is a well-run, self-sustainable club. If McColl can provide that, then great but instead of hiding from the debate on how this can happen, why not show the support why you’re the right man for the job. That’s real leadership quality and, if the plans are viable, then backing would be a given. Over to you, Jim…