Ructions at Rangers as old board is dismantled

[ian1964 10,372]

BITTER acrimony broke out at Rangers yesterday as the new regime dismantled the old board with the removal of the chairman and a director, and the suspension of the chief executive and another director.

Alastair Johnston, who has openly questioned new owner Craig Whyte's plans for the club, was ousted after delaying his departure, and last night he responded by warning Whyte he will watch the venture capitalist's every step from now on, and challenged the new owner to "walk the walk and not just talk the talk".

 

On a day of major ructions at Ibrox, it has emerged that chief executive Martin Bain and finance director Donald McIntyre have been suspended from their posts, pending an internal inquiry. The nature of the inquiry is not yet known.

 

Another director, Paul Murray, was unsurprisingly removed just weeks after launching a counter-bid for Rangers at a late stage in the takeover.

 

Johnston had been asked to tender his resignation by Whyte during a board meeting on Monday. When Johnston refused he was removed.

 

"It was anticipated that I would be stepping down, in fact I thought I would be stepping down earlier but the board felt I should stay on until the takeover process had settled down," he said last night.

 

"I was asked to resign but I said no as a matter of principle. I can't walk away from an assignment which I was asked to undertake."

 

Johnston has clearly been riled by photographs of Whyte holding the Scottish Premier League trophy, won by the club just nine days into the new owner's reign. The deposed chairman said: "I'm not going to make any comment with respect to the current circumstances at the current time, except that I will say - as a lifelong Rangers fan and a real one - that the 26,000 other shareholders in Rangers, as well as the hundreds of thousands of other supporters need to remain vigilant and continue to exert pressure on Mr Whyte to support the club financially as he has publicly committed to do.

 

"As far as I'm concerned, the next time we see a photograph of him holding up the SPL trophy, let us all hope - especially me - that he has earned the right to do it."

 

Johnston had expressed doubts about Whyte during the protracted takeover of Sir David Murray's majority shareholding and put his name to a statement from the independent board committee, publicly revealing a shared scepticism over the new owner's ability to fund his pledges for Rangers.

 

Johnston had indicated previously that he would step down at the end of the season. This was later delayed with the agreement of Whyte, pending the disclosure of more details about the buy-out to shareholders. This information is due on or before 6 June but Whyte has nevertheless acted to sever Johnston's ties to the club prior to the submittal of this circular.

 

"I think the biggest force for change at Rangers is for Mr Whyte to appreciate that there are thousands of fans who are going to police his activities," added Johnston.

 

"Not what he says, but what he does."

 

Some fans will not shed a tear over the new board's actions in regard to Bain, whose relationship with the Ibrox support has often been strained. His suspension, pending an internal inquiry, could bring to an end the Ibrox career of one of the club's most high-profile officials of recent years.

 

Both Bain and McIntyre were told to stay away from Ibrox during a board meeting on Monday. They remain on the board at this stage but have been suspended on full pay.

 

Bain is currently in the United States on a charity white-water rafting expedition with Walter Smith and Ally McCoist, between whom the managerial reins have recently passed.

 

Reports published online yesterday speculated on the reasons behind Bain's sudden suspension, but lawyers acting on the chief executive's behalf contacted newsdesks in the afternoon to alert them that the claims were being treated as "grossly defamatory".

 

Yesterday's events will heighten speculation linking Ali Russell to the club. The former deputy managing director of Queens Park Rangers, who was commercial director at Hearts and head of marketing at the Scottish Rugby Union, was present in the Ibrox directors' box for Whyte's first game in charge, against Hearts, and is said to be close to the new owner.

 

Whyte has already made one new appointment at the club, immediately bringing on board his business partner Phil Betts when the takeover was completed. Further appointments to strengthen the board are expected to be made in the next two to three weeks.

 

Directors John Greig, John McClelland and Dave King will remain on the board for the time being. Club legend Greig and former chairman McClelland, the vice-chairman of the influential European Club Association, were present in the room to hear Johnston and Murray being instructed to resign via a conference call.

 

The news of Johnston and Murray's departure was confirmed in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday morning. "The board announces that on 23 May 2011 Alastair Johnston and Paul Murray were removed as directors of the Rangers Football Club PLC," read the statement. "The directors of the Rangers Football Club PLC accept responsibility for this announcement."

 

Rangers also announced yesterday that Cairn Financial Advisers LLP PLUS has been appointed as corporate adviser to the company with immediate effect.

 

Asked to expand on the reasons for the departures and suspensions, a source close to Whyte said: "Craig Whyte has no comment to make on what is an internal matter."

 

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport/Ructions-at-Rangers-as-old.6773931.jp?articlepage=2

[ian1964 10,372]

EVEN before Craig Whyte removed him from the board on Monday evening, Alastair Johnston had a deep-seated suspicion about the new owner of Rangers. We can only guess how he is feeling now. There must have been considerable animus in the air the other night. Johnston, we can only assume, must have been furious.

It was no surprise that Johnston spoke yesterday. As far as valedictory speeches go, though, his was a let-down. This was his chance to go nuclear in his war against Whyte, his opportunity to put meat on the bones of all those things he has been hinting at for a while now, all these comments he's made about Whyte maybe not being the right person to take Rangers forward, all that questioning of his motivation and his money.

 

If Johnston had damaging information about Whyte, yesterday, in the hour of the former chairman's humiliation, was the time to produce it in one heavyweight interview. But he produced nothing bar more of the same. The same old generalisations expressed in the manner of the drama queen.

 

"He needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk," said Johnston. Funny, that. Some would argue that, when Whyte gave Lloyds Banking Group �£18m, that was a fairly clear signal that he wasn't just a mouth almighty.

 

We'll all see soon enough how he meets his promise of significant investment in the transfer market, but the �£18m has already changed hands. It's done.

 

Lloyds are virtually off Rangers' back. But Johnston seems to give Whyte no credit for that, which is odd because, until Whyte turned up, that's all Johnston seemed to be banging on about - the debt, the bank and the damage done.

 

Rangers people will recall that when Johnston took over as chairman his stated ambition was to find an owner for the club.

 

He spoke about it at length. He wanted to rid Rangers of debt by finding somebody among his fabulously-wealthy milieu who would buy the thing from Sir David Murray. Johnston found nobody. His great contribution to the ownership debate has been to try and scupper things. If he has had substantial misgivings about Whyte, he has not really elaborated on them. If he sees something hair-raising in Whyte's plan for the club he has not said what it is. Who's talking the talk and walking the walk in this story?

 

All he said is that he wonders if Whyte has the money he says he has, while ignoring the fact that Whyte has already handed over �£18m to get Rangers out of the financial pit that they were in. Johnston saw trouble in the Whyte proposal and yet he was apparently content with the flim-flam of Paul Murray's "bid".

 

And yesterday we heard some pearlers from him. You could almost hear the cattiness in his voice when he spoke (yet again, just in case we missed it before) of his lifelong devotion to Rangers.

 

He said he was a Rangers fan - "a real one". That's presumably a snide go at Whyte, who he may see as not a real fan at all, certainly not as real as Al. But then who is? Johnston has, more than once, called himself the club's "number one fan". So there you go, all you people spending your hard-earned money on season tickets and programmes and DVDs and jerseys and hats and scarves and flags, the man in America who pays for nothing says his devotion is greater.

 

He says that the fans "need to remain vigilant and continue to exert pressure on Mr Whyte to support the club financially as he has publicly committed to do". Here's a question for Al. Does he think the Rangers fans are thick? If Whyte doesn't invest the money he has said he will invest, does Al think the fans won't notice? Does he reckon the average Bear will be sitting at Ibrox watching Davie Weir playing into his mid-40s and thinking "I know Whyte hasn't kept one of his promises, but I can't remember what it is"?

 

"As far as I'm concerned," said Johnston, "the next time we see a photograph of him (Whyte] holding up the SPL trophy, let us all hope - especially me - that he has earned the right to do it."

 

"Especially me." The number one fan, remember.

 

Johnston reckons it's not what Whyte says that is the key thing, it's what he does. And with that insightful piece of analysis, he was gone.

 

By Tom English

 

http://sport.scotsman.com/rangersfc/Tom-English-Selfstyled-No1-fan.6773941.jp?articlepage=2

[Bluedell 5,329]

Johnston obviously still has doubts that Whyte has the cash that he says he has, and it's fair enough to highlight that.

 

However the issue of the trophy is childish, and the dig about being a real supporter is unwarranted.

[ascender 352]

So if he really is concerned, why doesn't he just come out and say exactly what's on his mind instead of more double talk, childish comments and vague sound-bites?

[craig 5,195]

So if he really is concerned, why doesn't he just come out and say exactly what's on his mind instead of more double talk, childish comments and vague sound-bites?

 

for fear of being sued ?

[Bluedell 5,329]

for fear of being sued ?

 

I'm sure that's largely it, although there is also the issue of what he suspects and what he can prove, although that would be linked to your point as well.

[craig 5,195]

Yeah, I could have elaborated by saying that if he says what is on his mind and he cant prove it then a lawsuit would abound.

 

"Saying what is on his mind", when being said in public, is not the wisest move. AJ may be many things, but an idiot I suspect not.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Johnston obviously still has doubts that Whyte has the cash that he says he has, and it's fair enough to highlight that.

 

However the issue of the trophy is childish, and the dig about being a real supporter is unwarranted.

 

i must admit i though he had a bit of a cheek walking about with the trophy. but theres no way i would say that in the press it just looks petty.

 

though it must be hard for johnston hes worked hard at rangers over the last year and in waltzes whyte for al the glory before sacking him.

[Guest Dutchy]

There was always going to be acrimony when Whyte took full control. I just hope he does a good job with Rangers and if he succeeds, we'll all soon forget what AJ, the detractors and newspapers have to say about the greatest team in world history.