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http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/02/why-rangers-loyal-lee-wallace-is-one-in-a-million-4287314/ Thoughts?

Ignoring the usual sycophantic nonsense, I find the quote in bold crass in the extreme and I'm amazed both Easdale and his PR advisors found it appropriate.

OK guys, while I don't expect much movement in or out at the Gers today, what's yer thoughts on who could/should come and go... I'm hopeful we'll retain Lee Wallace but think we should be looking to move on fringe players as well as ensuring game-time for any younger lads to aid with development. IN: Erm, none. OUT: Shiels (loan) Crawford (loan) Gasparotto (loan) Simonsen (released)

http://www.sellsgoalkeeperproducts.com/news/rangers-on-the-rise Hi Steve, we haven’t spoken since you joined Rangers – how did the move come about? I was on loan at Dundee last season from Preston and the manager, John Brown, is a former Rangers player who still has a lot of contacts at the club. I’d heard they were looking for another keeper ahead of this season, so he kindly made a couple of calls on my behalf. Ally McCoist [Rangers manager] invited me to train for a couple of weeks and at the end of it I was handed a contract. You’ve played for some big clubs like Everton, Stoke and Sheffield United, but Rangers must be an amazing club to play for? If you put aside the league we are playing in at the moment, it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of its stature and support. Despite everything that’s happened off the pitch it’s a fantastic club to play for; the facilities are top class and we have 36,000 season-ticket holders at Ibrox – and that’s for the third tier of Scottish football. The loyalty is incredible and there are many clubs in the top leagues in world football who would love that kind of backing. The size of the club is what entices players here, not the fact that we are playing in League One; Rangers have a worldwide status. It’s looking good for successive promotions, isn’t it? We’re 23 points clear at the top of the table, so hopefully we can get the title wrapped up by mid-February and then that takes us into the Championship – just one promotion from where the club was prior to our demotion. What’s happened off the pitch is not fault of the players, the management or most of the staff. It was taken out of their hands, but what we can do is work hard to get the club back to the highest level in Scottish football as soon as possible. Are away games tougher, given games against Rangers are like cup finals for these teams? You visit some of the grounds and they are like the equivalent of three leagues lower than the Conference in England. They have just the one stand with some terracing but when Rangers visit they have to erect two or three temporary stands to accommodate all the supporters. I’m using East Fife as an example, but when we play there twice a year, the finances raised will keep them going for two or three years. With the league wrapped up, does the Scottish Cup take on primary importance? It does. We’ve beaten Airdrie from our league, Falkirk – who are top of the Championship – and next week it’s Dunfermline. We’re then in the last eight with a real chance of playing a Premiership team. We need to play that type of opposition, to give us a better yardstick of where we are. Who knows, we might even get Celtic! You’ve come in as understudy to Cammy Bell – but made quite an impression on your debut, didn’t you? Yes, Cammy’s partner was giving birth, so I came in for the game at Forfar and kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 win. I also made what must be the best save of my career; a corner has come in, deflected off the side of Lee Wallace’s head and was heading for the top corner. I’ve pounced like a cat out of a tree and managed to claw the ball away with my left hand. I had nice comments on Twitter, people saying it was the best save they’d ever seen, and that – like the manager says – is why I’m here. I’m here to step in when needed and show my worth to the side. Finally, what does the future hold for you? I’m contracted until the end of the season, but would like to stay longer. At 34 I’ve still got a lot to offer and I’d like to think my experience is also rubbing off on the other keepers at the club. Along with our goalkeeper coach, Jim Stewart, we’re a tight-knit bunch of keepers and we’ve got a good working relationship with each other. Cammy is the club’s long-term prospect, but if I can keep pushing him and also do myself justice when I play, then that’s good news for the club. I’ve also started coaching the younger keepers here but as I’ve shown when I’ve played, there’s still plenty left in the tank!

http://twitpic.com/dtp3jl According to the Daily Record. Bid of £900k rejected with club holding out for £1.4m. Don't grudge him a move tbh, he has earned it but the fee annoys me somewhat. A possible loss on such a good player is just typical of us. We are talking about a player in his prime, an international footballer and one who plays in a position where it is hard to find good ones. Of course we will survive and win the next two leagues without him but that doesn't mean i like it. If it was Celtic in our place, Lennon would be all over the media saying how priceless Lee is and how no one could afford him and Liewell would have his lapdogs writing the player is worth their standard £10m no matter the level he plays. As delusional as their tactics are, we need to take a leaf or two from their book. Why not tell the agents brokering the deal that the fee is £5m, we may get 3/4s of that. Who knows.

Team: Gallacher; McAusland, Halkett, Gasparotto, Sinnamon; Crawford, Telfer, Murdoch, Ramsay; Gallagher, Burrows Subs: Kelly (gk), Gibson, Pascazio, Dykes and Stoney 2-0 win for the Bears puts us top of the SPFL U20 League. Luca G opened the scoring with an early header, Ramsay sealed it with a late screamer

........says former Hearts boss Paulo Sergio. SERGIO was dismayed when the winger left Tynecastle to join Rangers in the bottom tier last term and says Templeton has been dragged down by his 18 months away from the top flight. PAULO SERGIO fears playing in the lower leagues has stifled David Templeton’s development but is praying it doesn’t stop him fulfilling his true potential. The former Hearts boss was dismayed when the winger left Tynecastle to join Rangers in the bottom tier last term. And the Portuguese believes twinkle-toed Templeton has been dragged down by his 18 months away from the top flight. Sergio worked with the 25-year-old during his one season at Tynecastle and marvelled at the ability of the player who scored against Liverpool at Anfield just 24 hours before he signed up for a battle in the Third Division with Gers. It was a crucial stage in Templeton’s career and Scottish Cup-winning gaffer Sergio reckons he would now be flourishing rather than floundering if he’d held out for a switch to the English Championship. Instead Templeton, although hampered by injuries at times, has struggled to capture his best form at Ibrox. He has mustered just five starts this season although his scoring appearances off the bench in the last two games show signs he could live up to his £800,000 transfer fee. Sergio just hopes his talent doesn’t suffocate in the time it takes Rangers to get back to the Premiership. The 45-year-old said: “I always believed during my time at Hearts that David had the ability to move to a higher level. “I spoke to him and others and told them they had the qualities to progress. It was my way of motivating them, trying to work their mentality. “I explained to them they go could higher and I really believed in David’s case he could do it. “That’s why, in terms of career, the move he made to the lowest division in Scotland wasn’t the best choice. “In these last two years he’s been playing in a standard of league that isn’t the best to develop a player who is 23 or 24. In the lower divisions the quality isn’t so high. “I know Rangers are a huge club and I hope they can get back to the Premiership but at this time I don’t believe it’s best for David. “You could argue he should stand out more than he has because he’s up against players with less ability than him. “But the way I see it is if you are a top pianist playing in a bad orchestra then the music won’t be good. If you want to develop yourself I believe you must play with and against the best. “If he’d come to me when he was making the decision to leave Hearts I would probably have advised him to go to the Championship in England. “I know he’s playing in a huge club with a great history but individually I’m not sure it was the right move for him. “He’s working with a fantastic manager and technical staff but the competition is not the same. My only hope is there is still time to see the very best of David. “I hope these years of playing in the lower divisions don’t kill his development and the level he could reach. “I like him, I only have good words to say about him. That’s why I’m sure he could have picked up a club in the English Championship when he was leaving Hearts and that would have been a good move.” While Sergio always believed Templeton had the ability to reach the top he insists a strong mentality is equally essential to ensure he gets there. And he wants to see his former protege show the hunger to be the best he can. The former Sporting Lisbon boss said: “To play at the highest level the thing that makes the difference is the brain. You need to marry ability and mentality together. “David was a vital player for me at Hearts because he’s so quick with lots of technical ability. “When I first joined Hearts and I assessed all the players he was one who stood out. His technical ability and pace sets him apart and that’s why I had a lot of belief in his ability to reach the top. “But mentality is so important and what level he reaches depends on his head. It’s about mentality, desire and hunger. “Did I have concerns about his mentality? Any small issues I might have had with players stay between me and the player. “I had a good relationship with him and only have positive things to say about David. He was crucial for me and I’m grateful to every player I worked with at Hearts.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/david-templeton-being-dragged-down-3068184

...........to cut costs elsewhere and keep first-team squad intact 27 Jan 2014 07:16 THE Ibrox midfielder admits he fears top players will be sold to help balance the books but hopes Ally McCoist is allowed to keep building for the future. NICKY LAW has urged Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace to cut costs elsewhere and keep the top-team squad intact. The Ibrox midfielder acknowledges that with financial streamlining going on at the club the final days of this month’s transfer window are a worrying time for the management team and players. Wallace is in the midst of a 120-day review designed to cut costs and develop a financial model to ensure a self-sustaining business. Big decisions have to be made, such as the one that saw finance director Brian Stockbridge leave the club at the weekend, but Law hopes a cash shortfall does not result in a player cull. With just five days left in the transfer window Rangers are vulnerable to any offers coming in for one of their stars with Scotland full-back Lee Wallace the player who could raise the largest sum. But Law believes it would send a bold message to the dressing room if Wallace and the money men on the board find other ways to make their cuts and refuse to sell in order to keep Ally McCoist’s squad on track for their Championship bid next season. The 25-year-old English ace, who joined Rangers from Motherwell last summer, said: “We’re just one of a number of clubs who will be looking forward to the end of the window because we have good players who people will probably be looking at and looking to take. “The manager has said we’re trying to build here rather than lose his best players. Hopefully that will be the case. "We want to keep everyone to help us build towards getting back where we belong. “It would be a positive sign that we’re looking to keep progressing and get back to the top and hopefully that will be what happens.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/nicky-law-urges-rangers-chief-3065454

There is seldom an isolated event at Rangers. Brian Stockbridge's departure as finance director is being interpreted as the first example of Graham Wallace, the chief executive, asserting his authority. Yet it also changes the dynamic in the boardroom, reducing the club to four directors and potentially altering how certain decisions are made in the coming months. There is, still, a sense of uncertainty about what the future holds for the club. Rangers' route back to the top flight is still being determined. Essentially, the club either cut back their spending in line with revenue from season ticket sales and, while in the lower leagues, limited commercial revenue. Alternatively, some investment in the coming 18 months would allow the team to be strong enough to compete on its return to the top division, and so quicken the recovery of Rangers' old status. An element of restructuring is required in either case, which is why Wallace has embarked on a root and branch review of the club's business. Philip Nash, the former Arsenal and Liverpool finance director who was recently brought in as a consultant, is expected to take the finance director role in the short-term. How it impacts on the boardroom will also be interesting, though. Dave King wants to lead the fundraising in a fresh share issue. His vision is to generate money from himself and other high net-worth Rangers fans that can be used to strengthen the squad and the football resources so that the team are immediately competitive, in return for influence on how the club is run. The alternative is a longer period spent trying to regain ground. There are complications, though, since a new share issue requires existing shareholders to reinvest to maintain the size of their stake, at a time when the vast majority of them have suffered considerable losses. The shares were launched in December 2012 at 70p, but closed last Friday with a value of 27.25p. This is the ideological struggle at the club, and the decision on the way forward lies with the Rangers International Football Club plc board members - Wallace, Norman Crighton, James Easdale and the chairman, David Somers - and the shareholders. Before either short-term funding, to tide over until season ticket sales kick in, or fresh funding is sought, though, Wallace has to restore the business to an even keel. It is thought to be losing between £500,000 and £1m a month, and costs will need to be cut. The first-team wages are around 30% of turnover, but with one week of the transfer window remaining, Rangers may yet find themselves having to react to offers for some of their players, or seek to incentivise some to leave, although payments would further reduce the cash flow. This is at a time when the team have lost only once in 22 league games. Some fans grumble at occasionally muted performances, but Ally McCoist deserves credit for managing through a series of crises, and for maintaining the standards the club was built on. "There have been times when I've said, 'What am I doing here?'," McCoist said. "But how could you regret becoming the manager of Rangers? I've got my dream job. It's not the dream situation [but] as long as I can look myself in the mirror, I'll be happy. I've made mistakes and I'll make more mistakes. As long as they're done in an attempt to do the right thing then I can live with that." A recent lunch with Graeme Souness and Walter Smith, his friends and former Rangers managers, will have brought plenty of reminders of different, more accommodating times. McCoist is resilient, though. While the club's future direction is being debated, his assessment is that his team needs reinforcements if it is to eventually challenge Celtic again. "If we're talking about winning the top league then we're miles away," he said. "I would hate that to be taken as a criticism of the team because it's not. But it would be very unfair for people to expect these free transfers who have come together to win [the] top flight. Some, if we got help with players coming in, could probably do it. But we would need investment." Herald

With all the talk this year on youth and whether we are utilizing and funding our scouting and youth academy correctly, thought it might be interesting to see what other teams are doing. http://www.ecaeurope.com/Research/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies.pdf if link doesn't work cut and paste into browser.

Like a lion-tamer jabbing a chair at the gates of Ibrox Dave King shows no sign of leaving a riled Rangers board in peace. The former director says a second Ibrox share issue is now ‘100 per cent inevitable’ and he expects to be involved. The response from an increasingly exasperated Rangers support – no doubt the directors as well - was a roar of frustration. Put up or shut up was the cry. Show us your money. When it comes to spending other people’s money, of course, football supporters are the wizards of Wall Street. Yet the truth is this. Many show a remarkable inability to either listen to or absorb the line King has consistently adopted on this. He says he has the means to buy Rangers. Shelling out £43.7million to the South African authorities last year in full and final settlement of one of the lengthiest tax disputes the country had ever known, King described it as a ‘favourable’ result. Money: Were King to buy up all 60 million of the shares in circulation at that price he could, in theory, take control of Rangers for £16.2m There are people out there worrying where their next meal might come from. Dave King isn’t one of them. His personal wealth is known only to him. How he acquired it is also a question the SFA could be forced to ask one day. But in the aftermath of the settlement with the South African Revenue Service shares in Micromega, his South African firm, soared. On paper, at least, he appears to be a hugely wealthy man. All of which adds to the bewilderment of Rangers supporters that he won’t simply step in and end their misery by paying the opportunist investors currently running the club to go away. Since last year’s IPO the Rangers International share price has dropped from 70p to a mere 27.25p on Friday morning. Were King to buy up all 60 million of the shares in circulation at that price he could, in theory, take control of Rangers for £16.2m. That’s a sum comfortably within his budget. It’s feasible he could pay twice that price and still have change left over. But that doesn’t mean he will. Or that the people currently running the show will stand back and let him. Supporters speak as if all King has to do is transfer a few million quid to an Escrow account and pick up the keys to Ibrox. It’s not that simple. He could certainly make an offer for existing shares but he has said from the start he won’t put money into the pockets of wide boys. In June 2012 King met Charles Green at Ibrox and quickly established that the Yorkshireman and his faceless backers saw Rangers as the vehicle for making a fast buck. By the time he left Green took close to £1m out of the club. In contrast King is the proverbial ‘Rangers man’. A rarity willing to put millions into buying players for his boyhood idols in the full knowledge he will lose every penny. He put £20m of his own cash into the David Murray regime and lost it all. To hand yet more cash over to the corporate sharks who have landed Rangers in a hell of a mess through their avarice and opportunism, then, would stick in the throat. Neither is there any guarantee Sandy and James Easdale – the public faces on the throne – would sell. Meeting Sandy Easdale at his bus depot in November, King struck up a cordial relationship with the Greenock tycoon. But right now the Easdales show no inclination to hand the reins over to anyone. Their problem, however, is this. Rangers are running out of money. They could sell Lee Wallace, they could cut back the playing squad and they could trim costs across the board. But King articulated a common view among supporters this week. Becoming a team of also rans is simply unthinkable to Rangers. Almost as unpalatable as Celtic reaching ten-in-a-row. Yet unless the Easdales find a way to raise cash quickly it could easily happen. King’s solution is to underwrite a fresh issue of shares and return to the boardroom. For existing investors that’s a last resort option. They would have to dig deep once more or see their power base eroded. They don’t fancy that one bit. But if the alternative is another insolvency event then they may have little choice. Another Ibrox sugar daddy won’t appeal to everyone. The common sense solution would be for Rangers to spend what they earn. To stop throwing good money after bad and live within their means. But, as Walter Smith observed recently, common sense and Rangers finances rarely go hand in hand. Dave King remains hellbent on proving it. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2545705/Stephen-McGowan-Dave-King-showing-no-signs-leaving-riled-Rangers-board-peace.html#ixzz2rP65E6Ui Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

A new study has placed Celtic in the top 40 earners in world football - but concluded that the club’s meagre broadcast revenue will ‘restrict’ their potential to ever compete for a top 20 spot. The club’s inability to challenge the game’s biggest earners comes despite the Hoops’ “strong supporter base” which ensures their match-day income allows them to make up for a lack of TV money. The conclusions were made by financial firm Deloitte, who have published their 17th edition of their Football Money League, which they claim is “the most contemporary and reliable analysis of the clubs’ relative financial performance” for the season 2012-13. Spanish superpowers Real Madrid have taken the number one spot for the ninth consecutive year, thanks to a revenue of €518.9 million - around £444.7 million. Despite having six clubs in the top 20 - both Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs - English football saw Manchester United drop out of the top three, with Bayern Munich leapfrogging them with a revenue of £369.6 million. This year’s findings, which exclude player transfer fees, show a total combined revenue for the top 20 of a massive €5.4 billion (up eight per cent) and includes two new entries - Turkish pair Galatasaray (16th) and Fenerbahce (18th) - from clubs outside Europe’s big five of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for the first time. The chances of Celtic ever making it in amongst the game’s big guns are slim, however, with the top 30 all generating revenue in excess of €100 million. The Parkhead outfit enjoyed a massive 48 per cent uplift in revenues for the period in question, with Deloitte attributing much of their £75.8 million (€88.5 million) to the successful qualification of Neil Lennon’s side for the last 16 of the Champions League last term. But, despite the continued backing of fans, Deloitte have identified domestic broadcast income as the main issue hampering Celtic’s ability to keep pace with the world’s highest earners. By contrast, Real Madrid earned £161.4 million from broadcast rights alone. A spokesman said: “Celtic are amongst the 40 highest revenue generating football clubs in the world, having achieved revenues of £75.8m in 2012-13, an uplift of £24.5m (48 per cent) on the previous year. “This revenue uplift was driven by the club’s progress to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, which delivered substantial UEFA central distributions and contributed to an increase in match-day revenues due to a higher number of home games at Celtic Park, with a total of 30 in 2012-13 compared to 24 in the previous season. “Whilst domestic league broadcast contract values are a fraction of those for leagues in larger European markets, restricting Celtic’s ability to compete for a top 20 position in the Money League, the club continues to benefit from a strong supporter base, with an average home league match attendance of 46,754.” Top 20: 1 Real Madrid - £444.7 million. 2 Barcelona - £413.6 million. 3 Bayern Munich - £369.6 million. 4 Manchester United - £363.2. 5 PSG - £341.8 million. 6 Manchester City - £271 million. 7 Chelsea - £260 million. 8 Arsenal - £243.6 million. 9 Juventus - 233.5 million. 10 AC Milan - £225.8 million. 11 Borussia Dortmund - £219.6 million. 12 Liverpool - 206.2 Million. 13 Schalke 04 - £169.9 Million. 14 Spurs - £147.4 Million. 15 Inter - £144.6 Million. 16 Galatasaray - £134.6 Million. 17 Hamburg - £116 Million. 18 Fenerbahce - £108.3 million. 19 Roma - £106.6 million. 20 Atletico Madrid - £102.8. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/celtic-in-top-40-of-world-football-earners-list-1-3280419

Barry Ferguson is targeting the play-offs for Blackpool, regardless of whether he is their manager or a player. The Seasiders captain held talks with chairman Karl Oyston last night about taking the vacant manager’s job on a permanent basis. He’s told the Pool chairman he would only consider taking the role if it was offered to him at least until the end of the season. Ferguson isn’t interested in a caretaker position, and if that’s the only role on offer he would continue to serve Blackpool as a player only. It is expected that Ferguson, who turns 36 in 10 days, will be named as the 11th manager of the Karl Oyston era ahead of home Saturday’s game against Doncaster. He was due to take training today and aims to bring in former Dundee United coach Malky Thomson as his assistant. There may also be roles for former Rangers duo Bob Malcolm and John McGregor. If Ferguson does take the hot seat, there would clearly be a change of thinking at Bloomfield Road. Paul Ince always insisted survival was Pool’s only aim this season but Ferguson wants the club to set its sights much higher. He told The Gazette: “I never look at the negatives – I always remain positive. “At the start of this season my aim was to get promotion and it will always be the case. “If it’s not promotion we still have to look at the play-offs. As a person and a player, I still want to make a push for the play-offs.” Pool are 14th in the Championship, eight points above the relegation zone and nine outside the top six. If Ferguson is named today it’s believed he’ll move quickly in the transfer market, with Scottish duo Kris Boyd and Alan Hutton high on his wish-list. And speaking earlier in the week, Ferguson said all his team-mates remain optimistic. He revealed: “I’m a positive person and all the lads in the dressing room are positive. We need to look at it that way. We need to get out of this mess, then creep into the play-offs.” Ferguson has been backed to be a huge success in management by former Holland manager Dick Advocaat. The 66-year-old, who managed Ferguson at Rangers and is now working with Dutch side AZ, said: “Barry is someone with very good pedigree and knowledge. I brought him into the Rangers team when he was just a young boy. “I didn’t think about him as a future coach because he was so young, but they do say midfielders make the best coaches. I’m confident he can have a good career as a coach.” One manager who has ruled himself out of the Blackpool job is Neil Warnock. The former Crystal Palace and Sheffield United boss said: “There’s no chance of me going to Blackpool. It’s a tough job because there’s hardly any money there. “I think Barry Ferguson will do a good job until the end of the season. I don’t think they’ll go rushing to appoint people.” http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/blackpool-fc/ferguson-takes-charge-and-wants-to-make-the-play-offs-1-6390967

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6049-playing-crucial-for-kyle KYLE McAUSLAND doesn’t know where he’ll spend the rest of the season yet but admits he needs to be playing games regularly wherever it is. The 21-year-old had a Rangers shirt back on yesterday as he turned out for Gordon Durie’s under-20 side in its 1-0 league win over Ross County at Dumbarton. It was McAusland’s first game for the club since his loan spell at League One rivals Ayr United came to an end at the weekend. There is a possibility the defender could go back out on loan but if he was to do that he’d have to return to Somerset Park for what would be his third time there. FIFA rules dictate a player isn’t allowed to play competitively for any more than two clubs in the one campaign. And because McAusland has turned out for Gers as well as the Honest Men, his only other option is to remain at Ibrox and fight for a place in Ally McCoist’s squad. With Richard Foster and Sebastien Faure both ahead of him in the pecking order for the right-back slot, he knows his chances there might be limited. McAusland is eager to keep playing though and wants to at least become a regular in Durie’s side if he stays with the Light Blues. He said: “It’s my first week back at Rangers this week so I asked to play in the under-20 game to get myself back into the swing of things. “To be honest, I’ve not spoken to the manager here or the manager at Ayr yet about where things sit. “I’ll just keep training and hopefully I’ll speak to everyone either this week or next and we’ll see what happens from there. “If I do end up going back out on loan, it’ll be good to go back to Ayr because they’re doing well and they’re in a play-off place at the moment. “There’s competition for places at Rangers and you’re going to get that at any club, especially here. “It’s going to be hard for me to push the other boys out of the way because they have done well since they came in. “Whatever happens, it’s about getting more experience for me. I need to play games wherever I am, preferably first-team ones. I’m at that age where that’s really important.” Once again demonstrating the utter folly of sending a player out on a half season loan because when he comes back both he and the Club are snookered; as with Gallagher and Mitchell.

A DEAL to transfer Ukio Bankas Investment Group’s 50 per cent shareholding in Hearts to the Foundation of Hearts has been agreed, the Evening News can reveal. The agreement needs to be ratified legally in Lithuania, but would see a token £50,000 payment for the shares made to UBIG’s administrators, allowing the Edinburgh club to exit administration with the Foundation as their new owners. Hearts’ administrators BDO are proceeding with caution in the hope that the deal can go through despite UBIG’s assets being frozen. Foundation of Hearts already have a £2.5million Creditors’ Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in place to secure 29.9 per cent of the club’s shares from Ukio Bankas, who are also in administration. The CVA is conditional upon the fans’ umbrella group getting UBIG’s 50 per cent stake. BDO have been in talks with UBIG’s administrators Bankroto Administrativo Paslaugos for some time trying to negotiate the handover of shares. This is the only remaining hurdle to Hearts exiting administration after the CVA was voted through last November. There is now a verbal agreement between both parties for the transfer of shares at an agreed price.

....yet they'll prepare for Forfar match at four star Hotel. KEITH hits out at Rangers' lavish pre-match routine ahead of tonight's League 1 clash with Forfar claiming they are living a champagne lifestyle on an Irn-Bru budget. HERE’S a thing. You know those Rangers players involved in conceptual discussions about theoretical wage cuts last week? And who metaphorically booted the hypothetical idea into touch? Well, here’s today’s reality. Did you know they’re all being bussed to the Four-Star Carnoustie Hotel this morning? Where they’ll enjoy some fine dining for lunch, possibly at the hotel’s own AA Rosette-winning restaurant? Rooms will then be provided in order that they can enjoy an afternoon nap, for those not getting treatments in the spa. All for an away trip to Forfar? To take on Gavin Swankie and Darren Dods? Is it any wonder these players don’t know if they are coming or going? Or that, as he unwraps the chocolate on his fluffy cotton pillow this afternoon, manager Ally McCoist might pause to reflect on where it has all gone wrong. Talk about mixed messages? Talk about champagne lifestyles and Irn-Bru budgets? Talk about hubris, arrogance and over-indulgence? Talk about sledgehammers and walnuts. The constant noise and confusion around Rangers is truly head-melting stuff. No wonder the club’s new chief executive looked slightly ruffled last week when news emerged from Murray Park of his polite suggestion that the first team might consider 15 per cent pay cuts. For a man of his experience Graham Wallace, below right, ought to have known such a proposal would be unlikely to remain within the walls of the dressing room for longer than it takes a player to hit the speed dial button to his agent. It was bound to result in an outbreak of panic among a support that has seen this movie before and which was so badly traumatised by the way it ended. But Wallace can be excused because, not only is he new here but also there must be a million and one different, more pressing thoughts, pinballing around inside his head as he attempts to tackle this latest financial crisis. Commendably, he has promised to deliver a business model that will finally allow Rangers to live within its means. Sustainability, transparency and a bit of common sense would go a long way to sorting out the internal mayhem over which he presides. Today’s unnecessarily lavish road trip, though, is just more proof that, when he agreed to take on this position at the top of a dysfunctional board, he was in fact stepping into life through the looking glass. Wallace in Wonderland. Or not. It’s his job now to make some sense of the numbers, to crunch them down and to crush this club’s recent culture of big bonuses and eye-popping extravagance before what little cash is left in the bank has evaporated completely. There is a rich irony about the fact that, in Philip Nash, he has hired yet another big-earning accountant to assist him in this urgent cost-cutting review. But then this job is so big Wallace might need all the help he can get. And from people in whom he can trust. Wallace’s planning is all that stands now between Rangers and another financial catastrophe. At the present rate of spending, the club’s last reserves will be gone before the end of the campaign. In fact, the prediction of financial director Brian Stockbridge that Rangers will be down to their last million in April now looks hugely optimistic. It is quite incredible this man remains in charge of the books given his standing in the eyes of the fans. It was not long ago he was talking confidently of growing turnover to in excess of £100m. Only then to predict a £7m year-end loss. Which, in fact, turned out to be a £14m black hole. And if, as is being strongly suggested by people on the inside of this basketcase, Stockbridge has got it wrong again then the situation at Ibrox could soon become dire. Perhaps as soon as next month. At a time when every penny counts, thank goodness then that Stockbridge has handed back that £200k bonus he pocketed for watching Rangers win last season’s Third Division title. Right? And has the financial director and the rest of the board actually signed off on the halving of McCoist’s eye-watering £825k annual salary? After talking about it for months, why on earth would it not have been rubber-stamped by now? If all this financial remedial work really has been completed then Wallace should announce it to the Stock Exchange and also reveal the current state of the accounts. It should be done in the name of sustainability and transparency – and in the hope of forcing common sense to prevail. Wallace must be astonished at some of the numbers that have flown across his desk. It is not his fault this club has blown its chance to stockpile cash on its journey up the leagues and there is nothing he can do now to address this grotesque overspend. That ship has sailed. Had Rangers plotted a more sensible course they would be arriving in the top flight in 18 months in a fit and healthy state, with millions squirrelled away. But, in their vulgar rush to cuddle up to McCoist, former chief execs Charles Green and Craig Mather put their own popularity ahead of proper prudence. By doing this, they kept the fans onside and the tills ringing. All Wallace can do now is address the crisis this pair and Stockbridge created. He’s not helped by the fact that, simply by agreeing to join a broken board and glue it back together, he himself is now viewed with varying degrees of suspicion. But, unlike Green and Mather, he must not allow his own popularity to get in the way of protecting the club’s interests. Which is why it was encouraging to see the first steps towards a more austere future being taken last week. But, crucially, if Wallace is serious about grabbing the bull by the horns then he must do so in the boardroom because this is where the biggest excesses have recently been committed. It is hard to think of another club that spends millions less on its players than on the rest of its employees but that’s precisely what the accounts showed to be the case at Rangers last year. No wonder the players refuse to take the first hit when there are other far more bloated and obvious targets at the top of the marble staircase. These players may well feel treated like disposable window dressing when they are supposed to be the very heart of the club. And here’s another thing. They were asked to ponder a 15 per cent cut over a period of 18 months, while also being told the club hopes to sign even more players in the summer. Which means some of them might be volunteering to help finance their own replacements. And you thought lunch at Carnoustie was mad?

Andy Mitchell contract terminated "by mutual consent" http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6024-mitchell-leaves-club

Being reported by BBC & STV that the players have refused to take a 15% pay cut.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/shares-are-selling-but-will-players-have-to-be-sold-as-well.23177405 The Rangers International Football Club plc share price has been falling steadily since the annual meeting of shareholders last December. Yesterday, 2.5m shares were sold at 24p, a new low (the launch price was 70p), with a further 250,000 sold at 25p, the largest single day trading volume in more than a month. At the same time as the share price has been falling, the chief executive Graham Wallace has been conducting a review of the business, with significant cuts expected to be implemented to bring costs in line with income. Here Herald Sport looks at the state of play at Rangers. Who sold and who bought the shares? We may not find out, at least for now. The shares were sold in batches of 1m and 250,000, so it could have been multiple sellers and, in theory, multiple buyers. Anybody who takes their holding above or below 3% needs to notify that fact, but it can take several days to be posted on the Stock Exchange. In total, the five transactions accounted for around 4% of the RIFC shareholding. So what is the significance of the recent share price drop? For investors, it means that they have been losing money, unless they were among the small number to receive 1p shares. Until yesterday, the volume of shares sold was small, suggesting that the price was falling because investors were looking to sell their stock but there were no buyers. The share price rebounded to 28.5p at the close of the market, but it is widely thought that the net asset value share price is around 25p, making that a significant value for the market price to dip below. Might a takeover be imminent? That is unlikely. The arrival of a buyer on the scene would push the share price back up. Investors would need to be willing to sell their holdings, although those who voted against the re-election of the board members last month - around 30% - may be less inclined to retain their shares. Private deals can be struck, of course, but Rangers' business model needs to be streamlined so any price would be discounted to take into account the need for further investment. What is the state of the club's finances? Wallace, by his own admission, needs to cut the costbase. Rangers are thought to be losing somewhere in the region of £1m per month, and Wallace is currently conducting a review of the entire business. He stresses that this will also identify areas requiring investment, but it is clear that cuts will need to be implemented first. The club expects to have around £1m cash left by April, but there are issues to address. Such as? It is not so simple as just identifying, for example, players who are peripheral to the team and telling them to find a new club. Emilson Cribari has barely played this season, but is believed to be content in Glasgow and adamant that he will stay until the summer. If he cannot match the wages he is on, there is also no incentive for him to leave. What about selling players? There are some who would attract bids from other clubs, but Lee Wallace, for one, is also adamant that he intends to remain at Rangers and has no interest in pursuing a career in England. David Templeton has not featured much this season, but would need to find a club willing to match the wages he is on at Ibrox. So how does Wallace reduce the costs? He might seek redundancies, although they would also require severance packages. Hard decisions may be made, but there are costs that can be cut on the business side. Is there no alternative? No. Rangers intend to seek fresh investment, but the business needs to be brought to an even keel first. A share issue is possible in time, and Dave King is ready to lead that fresh round of investment, but Wallace will not begin that process before he has redeveloped the business model. By then, he will also have identified the areas - such as scouting - that require investment. If costs are being cut, why is Philip Nash, a consultant, being brought in? Given that Wallace is a chartered accountant, that Andrew Dickson, the head of football administration, is a chartered accountant, and that Rangers have a financial director in Brian Stockbridge, a finance controller in Ken Olverman, and an accountancy firm in Active Corporate, another accountant seems superfluous. Nash was finance director at Arsenal and Liverpool, so knows the business of football, and it is conceivable that his remit is to source new revenue as much as contribute to the business review, but it may be Wallace wants fresh and independent analysis. So what happens next? More uncertainty, probably, with the share price and with events inside the club. While the transfer window is open, players can be sold or moved on, while other areas of the business will also be cut. Wallace faces a difficult task to balance the books without fundamentally affecting the ability of the team to continue progressing up the leagues.

Rangers: Manager Ally McCoist instructed to cut wage bill By Alasdair Lamont Senior football reporter, BBC Scotland Rangers manager Ally McCoist has been told he will have to make cuts to his playing budget. McCoist has been in discussions with Graham Wallace recently as the chief executive undertakes a comprehensive review of the Ibrox finances. Wallace told shareholders at the annual general meeting in December savings would need to be made. And the players' wage bill at the League One side currently stands between £6m and £7m per annum. A spokesman for the Rangers board told BBC Scotland: "The CEO Graham Wallace outlined his strategy at the AGM and nothing is going to deflect him from getting Rangers back on an even keel. "Graham and Ally are reviewing the football budget, as part of the overall business review and it would be inappropriate at this time to discuss any figures." The news comes on the day that three million shares worth around £750,000 were traded in Rangers International Football Club plc. The share price dropped as low as 24p early in the day before rallying slightly to close at 28.5p. That is a fall from the 90p price at the launch of the share issue just over a year ago. Earlier this week, McCoist signed off on a pay cut of around 50%, which he agreed to in October. And consultant Philip Nash has been brought to Ibrox to help oversee the financial overhaul.

.........to hide the problems at Rangers HUGH believes that lifting the transfer ban at Hearts would be an act of compassion to prevent young players from being overexposed to the harsh realities of Premiership football. NO-ONE likes us, we don't care is a slogan that works when you're looking down on the rest from a position of power in the top division But the message is beginning to come across as a sign of weakness when Rangers are lining up a series of targets for their anger while living in the third tier of Scottish football. Stenhousemuir's John Gemmell lost the moral high ground when he tweeted his disgust over Ally McCoist's complaints about festive season fixture congestion. Exhibiting the early stages of Tourettes Syndrome is never a good way of going about winning your argument. Also, Gemmell's done nothing in the game and the man he was attacking is a former European Golden Boot winner. Having said that, there was, in between the foul and abusive language, a case to be made for supporting his argument that Ally was whingeing without good reason. Then Ian Durrant got in on the act by having a go at unspecified people within un-named clubs who were having ago at Rangers when they should've been concentrating on their own team. Who ? When ? Where ? Durranty said the criticism Rangers received when they drew with Stranraer at Ibrox on Boxing Day was over the top, making it look as if Ally's side had lost the match. He'll need to include the Rangers support among those who've displeased him then, because they were the first ones to slate the team for their performance when they booed them off the park. Previously it was the allegedly rough treatment of Ian Black that was the problem. Is it not more the case Black was signed to be Rangers' enforcer in the middle of the park and turned out to be less of an intimidatory presence than was advertised in the brochure ? Rangers' historical reputation was partly forged on having genuinely hard men who lived and died by the sword without complaining that somebody had kicked them back. But convincing the gullible you're being singled out for unfair treatment works for some, like those Rangers fans who're getting ready to complain in case Hearts are allowed to sign players while under a transfer embargo when their club wasn't allowed any relaxation of the rules. The thing is Hearts can't lodge an appeal against their embargo when the SPFL Board meets at Hampden tomorrow. Their case isn't even on the agenda for discussion. Going into administration isn't regarded as misconduct, so there's nothing to appeal against. If Hearts came out of administration tomorrow they could sign players straight away. In the meantime, the club can make multiple appeals to have individuals registered with them while the process to exit administration goes on. It's a course of action Hearts should take as quickly as is humanly possible. Sam Nicholson suddenly appeared on tea-time television on Thursday night. I only know his name because a caption appeared underneath him as the kid spoke about Hearts and his place in the squad as one of the teenagers the club's been forced to rely on. And for the first time I could sense the inadvisability of exposing fragile youngsters to a grown up's environment on a regular basis. The sanctions imposed on Hearts have done their job and the club will be relegated at the end of this season. They've taken their medicine with fatal consequences for their league status. A vestige of dignity while the club is in its death throes, and fulfilling their remaining fixtures, is what's being asked for. I'm told a fourteen year old was played in goal by Hearts at a recent Under 18 match because there was nobody else. Someone's going to get hurt here, and mental scarring is going to be as prevalent as the physical kind. Hearts brought all of this on themselves through business mis-management, and nobody's denying that. But if any player wants to sign for them this month in the certain knowledge he'll be in a lower division next August, assuming the club is still in existence, he should be allowed to do so. It's not preferential treatment. It's showing compassion to the terminally afflicted.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-bring-new-financial-guru-3009812 FORMER Liverpool and Arsenal financial chief Philip Nash is recruited as a consultant to help streamline the club’s massive outgoings and slash budget. RANGERS have stepped up plans to wipe millions from their budget – by employing a new financial guru to help oversee cuts. Record Sport can reveal former Liverpool and Arsenal financial chief Philip Nash has been recruited by the Ibrox board in a “consultancy” role to help oversee streamlining of the club’s enormous spending. Yesterday the club’s share price fell to 27p and Nash joins chief executive Graham Wallace along with financial director Brian Stockbridge to become the THIRD highly-paid chartered accountant at the top end of the regime. Two further money men, Andrew Dickson and Ken Olverman, are also employed by the club which now needs Nash’s expertise to help turn around losses of an estimated £1m per month. Nash was headhunted by Liverpool in 2008 after helping Arsenal finance their multi-million move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium. He survived a regime change at Anfield and was credited with helping the club tie up £20m shirt sponsorship with Standard Chartered Bank before standing down in December 2012 citing family reasons. Rangers’ financial position has deteriorated alarmingly in the past 12 months and Stockbridge has admitted they may be down to their last million in little more than two months. As another high earner arrives, Ally McCoist is readying himself for cuts. But he insists Wallace accepts that dramatically slashing the playing budget will undermine progress through the divisions. But the manager admits he does not know the extent to which he will be forced to cut – even after a lengthy meeting with Wallace on Tuesday. McCoist said: “Graham hasn’t told me I need to sell players or get rid of them. “It was just an overall view of the football side and we will meet again next week. “He hasn’t made it known to me where those cuts are going to take place and in what shape or form. “It would make sense to Graham that just cutting and selling is not the right way to go about it in terms of the progression of the club, the team and the squad. “If you need to take one step back to take two or three forward again, that will be Graham’s decision.” McCoist hopes he does not have to lose players during the transfer window. He said: “I would be thrilled to bits if there were no bids.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/former-football-star-ian-redford-3009308?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter FORMER Rangers and Dundee United star Ian Redford, who was once Scottish football's most expensive signing, has been found dead aged 53. Police today confirmed that they have recovered the body of the former midfielder in Irvine earlier today. Redford, whose autobiography was serialised in the Daily Record last year, signed for Rangers for a then-Scottish transfer record of £210,000 in 1980. Over the next five years at Ibrox he made over 200 appearances for the club, winning the Scottish Cup and playing his part in three League Cup victories. He then returned to his native Tayside to join Jim McLean at Dundee United in 1985 where he played in their UEFA Cup Final defeat. The talented goal-scoring midfielder, who was called up on several occasions but never played for the national team, played for Ipswich Town, St Johnstone and Brechin in his latter years before finishing his career as a League Cup winner with Raith Rovers in 1995. More news to follow at dailyrecord.co.uk and in tomorrow's paper.

The most frustrating thing McCoist said today.... This is not the first time he has said this; what message does this send the young players?

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/rangers-to-hold-talks-with-cypriot-athos-solomou-1-3263212 RANGERS will hold transfer talks with Cyprus international Athos Solomou next week, when the player and his agent arrive in Glasgow. The APOEL Nicosia full-back, 28, is due to fly to Scotland to discuss a move to the League 1 leaders and is free to sign a pre-contract agreement, with his APOEL contract expiring in June. Rangers monitored Solomou, who has both Champions League and Europa League experience, throughout last year and most recently watched him in APOEL’s Europa League group match against Eintracht Frankfurt last month. Ibrox officials will now hold face-to-face discussions with the player and his agent next week. They must decide whether to pay a transfer fee and sign Solomou immediately or agree a pre-contract for a summer move. Both parties will also discuss wages and contract terms. Solomou is a versatile right-back who can also play on the right side of midfield and is a regular in the Cyprus international squad. He was involved in APOEL’s run to the Champions League quarter-finals in season 2011/12, where they were eliminated by Real Madrid. He has played all of his career in Cyprus with Apollon Limassol and APOEL, winning both the domestic league and cup. After 11 years in his homeland, he is keen to move abroad and Rangers are favourites to secure his signature. Not sure what to make of this to be honest.