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Paul Murray - Time for gers and green to move on

the gunslinger

By the gunslinger
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the gunslinger

the gunslinger 3,366

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AUL MURRAY is now confronting a whole new set of fears for his football club.

 

Twelve months ago it was more straightforward â?? he worried simply that Rangers might cease to exist.

 

In February 2013, however, Murrayâ??s concerns are far more complex but every bit as real.

 

He believes the biggest danger facing the Rangers of today is not being consigned to history but becoming permanently detached from it.

 

That in the rush to recover from being visited by financial disaster the club somehow loses sight of its own core values. And that those values in turn are lost for good.

 

This would hurt a traditionalist such as Murray almost as much as it would to lose his club completely.

 

One year on from the onset of administration, Murray hopes the coming weeks and months will herald a new beginning for the club under Charles Green and a return to dearly held standards that span three centuries.

 

Murray said: â??What sets Rangers apart from so many others clubs and institutions is its 140-year history.

 

â??Elements of that history have been criticised and rightly so. But fundamentally itâ??s a history of success and of proper behaviour.

 

â??Look at the people who laid the foundations. People such as William Wilton, Bill Struth, Willie Waddell and John Greig. Iron men who had Rangers in their blood.

 

â??They lived and breathed the club and fought not just for Rangers but for the wider benefit of the Scottish game.

 

â??They laid down a standard of behaviour for the club. Rangers has always prided itself on its class and sense of decorum.

 

â??And itâ??s really important those standards are not eroded as the club moves forward. Thatâ??s what worries me when I look at some of the things going on today.

 

â??I ask myself would a man such as Struth have handled things in this manner? I think we all know the answer would be â??noâ??.

 

â??The truth is our standards have slipped in recent years, partly because of the financial difficulties the club encountered. But itâ??s vital those standards are kept at the forefront because they are what make Rangers the unique club it has always been.â?

 

Green has a different philosophy. In his own words, heâ??s a Yorkshireman and God gave him big hands so he could grab as much cash as possible during his time on earth. Given the state Rangers got into under the previous owner, that determination to bring money in by the wheelbarrow is surely no bad thing.

 

Green has raised £22million already from floating the club in London with spectacular success and continues to chase down every dime going in the name of his club.

 

Murray admires the man for that. He is grateful also that Green has shown the gumption to fight Rangersâ?? many battles during some of the most fraught and challenging months in its history.

 

But in doing so Green has adopted the role of attack dog. And Murray believes unless this aggressive streak is channelled more positively then Rangers will end up looking crass and malcontent â?? which could not be further from the image the founding fathers strived to protect.

 

Murray said: â??Green has come into the situation in chaotic circumstances. Not a lot was known about him, he was a man of mystery and in some ways still is.

 

â??To raise £22m is a fantastic achievement. But itâ??s now time for him uphold the standards that are expected of the people who run our club.

 

â??I completely understand why he initially adopted that approach. At the end of June, John Brown was standing on the steps of Ibrox with 10,000 fans effectively calling for Greenâ??s head. Now here he is six months later raising £22m on the stock market.

 

â??Thatâ??s not a bad turnaround. One way he achieved it was by communicating with fans in the way they wanted to be communicated with. In many ways, he said the right things in terms of Rangers fighting back and getting retribution.

 

â??I understand exactly why he did that. I hope he said it because he believes it but it has also enabled him to get the fans onside, to sell season-tickets and to raise money.

 

â??Itâ??s now time to get back to standards and to draw a line under what has gone on. We canâ??t change what happened or how various bodies acted towards us. But we can change Rangersâ?? influence on finding the way forward for our game.

 

â??Scottish football is lying with its throat cut. We need someone to step into the vacuum and provide real leadership. Why not Rangers and why not Green?

 

â??He has people on that board such as Walter Smith â?? a true giant of the Scottish game. He has a chairman in Malcolm Murray who knows the club and its standards inside out. So letâ??s stop going on about what has been done to us. Iâ??m not saying we should forget about it â?? we will never forget â?? but letâ??s move forward and try to provide a vision for Scottish football with Rangers at the front of it.

 

â??Green has the opportunity to do that instead of criticising what everyone else has done. Everyone knows about the deficiencies all over Scottish football. But the way to change it is to come up with an alternative vision people can buy into.â?

 

Murray has another wish for the year ahead. He hopes those who did so much harm to his club are brought to justice.

 

He added: â??There are various agencies examining what went on. Not just the Craig Whyte acquisition, not just the administration of Duff and Phelps, not just the Green takeover â?? but actually going back to the start of the process and the role played by the bank and the enormous pressure they put on the board and on David Murray.

 

â??It was that pressure and the contingent tax liability that were the two main factors behind the disaster of the last 12 months. I want people to look at these issues and to look at the role played by others such as Donald Muir.

 

â??Then look at Whyteâ??s conduct, the selling of season-tickets, the role played by Duff and Phelps, the potential conflict of interests involving David Grier and Whyte and the sale to Green.

 

â??Liquidator BDO are gearing up to take legal action to recover funds for the creditors. And the police are also involved in their own investigations.

 

â??Iâ??d like to think over the next six to 12 months a true picture emerges of what happened, why and who was responsible.

 

â??Justice must be served. Perhaps when that happens people will be better able to move on.â?

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UCF2008

UCF2008 0

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I agree with the sentiment and do think that we will have our part to play in reconciliation over the next few years. Like Murray, I worry about a lack of dignity being shown by those in charge of our club as we move forward, but we do need to keep in mind the situation we curently find ourselves in is far removed from anything the club has faced before.

 

We have plenty of battles still to be fought and won off the pitch before we can be in a position to lay down our swords. Mr Murray would do well to remember we're not the antagonsists in this story and it's not over yet by a long shot.

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