Walter Smith's interview on Radio Scotland!!

[Union City Blue 0]

If Muir is causing 'trouble', he's doing it in the interests of MIH, not the bank. If the bank is causing trouble, it is doing so to Sir Murray. Rangers are simply collateral damage in a rather bigger game.

 

This my friends is payback time for all those times when so many fans put their trust in David Murray.

 

Well if Muir is "the bank's representitive on the board" (Smith), then it seems like you might have the first part above the wrong way round. I agree Rangers are collateral damage in the MIH picture, but that is where the focus is right now.

 

The suggestion is that Muir is NOT acting in the best interests of the club - in fact that he is acting AGAINST the best interests. And that the club has just realised this.

[Super_Ally 0]

This my friends is payback time for all those times when so many fans put their trust in David Murray.

 

I'm assuming that's a dig at Murray and not those "many fans"?

[Zappa 0]

If Muir is causing 'trouble', he's doing it in the interests of MIH, not the bank. If the bank is causing trouble, it is doing so to Sir Murray. Rangers are simply collateral damage in a rather bigger game.

 

This my friends is payback time for all those times when so many fans put their trust in David Murray.

The situation points in that direction, although it seems that nobody actually knows what's going on, so is your point based on speculation or facts that you can actually show here?

[maineflyer 0]

Well if Muir is "the bank's representitive on the board" (Smith), then it seems like you might have the first part above the wrong way round. I agree Rangers are collateral damage in the MIH picture, but that is where the focus is right now.

 

The suggestion is that Muir is NOT acting in the best interests of the club - in fact that he is acting AGAINST the best interests. And that the club has just realised this.

 

You're right, I didn't put it well at all. The rumour is that there could be a very significant business casualty in the near future, one largely based in Edinburgh but with certain interests in Glasgow, unless significant steps are taken to address debt.

 

The bank it seems is saying that if David Murray doesn't find a buyer for rangers within the week that they will find one for him and Muir is there at the bank's behest to ensure a smooth dislocation. Muir is not directly a bank man and has worked closely with the Murray empire already. However, he is not a Murray employee or director and is almost certainly a bank appointee who has the advantage of an intimate knowledge of the Murray group structure.

 

Of course, this may well be the bank exerting leverage on a deal that Murray has been stalling on for some time. It could also be that the hammer is about to come down on the captain of industry himself and the bank is already proceeding to limit their liabilities by forcing peripheral deals where these seem possible.

 

There is absolutely no guarantee that any deal done in this climate will be done in the best interests of Rangers however. Who remembers the blowhard's words about only selling to a buyer he considers 'suitable' - which of course was always just a crock of shite from the biggest scheister this site of sun. He's really looking out for us now eh?

 

It's obviously in the bank's interests to see a deal done asap but unless some new buyer emerges in the meantime, it's unlike to be a deal that leaves Rangers in anything but a very perilous state. Pigeons are coming home to roost folks.

Edited October 25, 2009 by maineflyer

[maineflyer 0]

I'm assuming that's a dig at Murray and not those "many fans"?

Of course it's a dig at those fans. The ones who couldn't or wouldn't see where we were heading and blindly put their trust in liar liar. The ones who kept him in make-believe land for much longer than should ever have been allowed.

[Union City Blue 0]

You're right, I didn't put it well at all. The rumour is that there might be a very significant business casualty in the next week or so, largely based in Edinburgh but with certain interests in Glasgow.

 

The bank seems to be saying that if David Murray doesn't find a buyer for rangers within the week that they will find one for him and Muir is there at the bank's behest to handle that.

 

Of course, to some extent this may well be the bank exerting leverage on a deal that Murray has been stalling on for some time. It could also be that the hammer is about to come down on the captain of industry himself and the bank is already proceeding to limit their liabilities by forcing peripheral deals where these seem possible.

 

There is absolutely no guarantee that any deal done in this climate will be done in the best interests of Rangers however. Who remembers the blowhards words about only selling to a buyer he considers 'suitable' - what a crock of shite from the biggest scheister this site of sun. Well he's really looking out for us now eh?

 

Seems like whatever gets done will be in the best interests of Lloyds, and Lloyds only. That also seems like why Smith spoke out - to expose what's happening without disrupting the team as far as possible.

 

I must say, he's not my cup of tea as a tactician or as a coach, but I genuinely believe he's only still there because he believes the club is relying on him to stay for stability's sake. As you have said, it could all be about to fracture so stability might become really important.

 

It could be said that Lloyds were once outside the door; but now they're telling grandma what nice eyes she's got.

[maineflyer 0]

Seems like whatever gets done will be in the best interests of Lloyds, and Lloyds only. That also seems like why Smith spoke out - to expose what's happening without disrupting the team as far as possible.

 

I must say, he's not my cup of tea as a tactician or as a coach, but I genuinely believe he's only still there because he believes the club is relying on him to stay for stability's sake. As you have said, it could all be about to fracture so stability might become really important.

 

It could be said that Lloyds were once outside the door; but now they're telling grandma what nice eyes she's got.

 

I think it's very important to make the distinction between wanting Smith out of the manager's office and having no respect for him. I certainly don't think he's the man to take us forward but at the same time I do respect his allegiance and service to the club. Who could do otherwise?

 

I also have to say that when I listened to his interview after the Hibs game yesterday, I felt his pain and frustration with the present situation. I also couldn't help thinking that he's been too close to Murray to see clearly or surely he would have seen this day coming long ago. He certainly seems to see it clearly enough now.

[Union City Blue 0]

I think it's very important to make the distinction between wanting Smith out of the manager's office and having no respect for him. I certainly don't think he's the man to take us forward but at the same time I do respect his allegiance and service to the club. Who could do otherwise?

 

I also have to say that when I listened to his interview after the Hibs game yesterday, I felt his pain and frustration with the present situation. I also couldn't help thinking that he's been too close to Murray to see clearly or surely he would have seen this day coming long ago. He certainly seems to see it clearly enough now.

 

He does indeed see, it I'd say.

 

And something has happened in the last few days which has smoked him out.

[Zappa 0]

Seems like whatever gets done will be in the best interests of Lloyds, and Lloyds only. That also seems like why Smith spoke out - to expose what's happening without disrupting the team as far as possible.

As far as most people are concerned, the bank are indeed the actual players in the club's future & Walter Smith has either used that (with permission) to gloss over recent results, or he's told us that the bank are running the club because he's an honest man in a very bad position.

[ian1964 10,440]

IBROX manager Walter Smith last night admitted: "The banks are running Rangers."

 

Smith finally spoke out as reports spread that the club will be sold in the next week.

 

Rangers quickly denied that such an immediate sale was likely but they didn't reject the claim that a sale IS on the horizon.

 

The appointment of Donald Muir as a non-executive director of the club in a low-key announcement made nine days ago is seen as the key to recent developments at the club following Sir David Murray's decision to step down at the end of August.

 

After the draw with Hibs Smith said: "As far as I'm aware the bank is running the club. David Murray stood down and I felt at the time that would be a bad thing for the club.

 

"He tried for 20 years to invest in the club. Since then there's been a representative of the bank on the board. Obviously it's not a good situation and it's not one that anyone wants the club to be in.

 

"The club has been up for sale for a while and if a bank has to take over it's not going to invest in a football club.

 

"I think Rangers have been honest about the situation.

 

"The players have been up for sale since January and we haven't bought a player in the transfer window. I'm not complaining about it. It's a fact of life. There are a lot of companies struggling in the present market but obviously the quicker this is cleared up the better it will be for Rangers.

 

"At the moment it's just a case of trying to get through it and hoping that things will change sooner rather than later."

 

Mystery man Muir, 50, is described as a lifelong Gers fan whose role will to 'assist the club in meeting its strategic business objectives'.

 

Smith's outspoken comments overshadowed an excellent match with Hibs, the result of which means Celtic will return to the top of the SPL if they win at Hamilton today.

 

Kris Boyd put Rangers in front early on but Anthony Stokes fired a deserved leveller for the visitors after the interval. Hibs boss John Hughes revealed player power forced him into playing a positive formation.

 

He said: "We had a chat on Friday morning and the players said they wanted a formation like the one we used.

 

"They all wanted to come here and have a go. I've described Anthony Stokes as a maverick and I think his goal demonstrated that. The way he juggled the ball before scoring was terrific but he should have shot later on because it was his kind of position."

 

Stokes revealed: "We told the gaffer we didn't think there was much point coming here and trying to get men behind the ball. We gave them a good game and were maybe unlucky we didn't get more out of it.

 

"I thought I took a good second touch at the goal but by the time of the second chance there wasn't much left in the tank.

 

"Both teams played some good football and that's what fans want. You don't want them coming to games and watching boring football.

 

"It's the same for players. If you're just getting men behind the ball, it's not enjoyable to play in. You have to come here believing you're good enough to get a result or you're going to end up losing by four or five goals and we don't want to go back to those days. We are disappointed at only getting a draw at Ibrox, which tells its own story about just how we are making progress."

 

Rangers winger Stevie Naismith said: "In any home game you look upon it as two points dropped but to be fair we played much better today than we have of late. After Tuesday, when we couldn't string two passes together and we ended up getting a bit of a thrashing, we needed to show a lot of improvement.

 

"With the number of chances we had, we should have won the game but credit to Hibs.

 

"They play good football, they are prepared to have a go and in John Hughes they have a good manager."

 

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scottish/scottish_sport/566751/Walter-Smith-has-revealed-depth-of-the-financial-crisis-at-Ibrox.html