Kieran Prior - Full Q & A

[ian1964 10,413]

Full Q & A with Gary Ralston from the Record.

 

Why didn't you invest in Rangers a year ago ?

 

Pri Arc had just been established and I had to concentrate on doing the right thing by my own company,rather than focus on my personal likes .

 

So when did you seriously think about investing ?

 

When Walter Smith became chairman and Malcolm Murray became just a member of the board . It didn't make entirely great sense to me .

Walter has absolutely impeccable credentials but I didn't understand why others wanted to challenge Malcom's position as chairman when he had such a solid background in corporate governance .

 

You know Malcolm Murray,right ?

 

I've met him and my relationship with him is friendly,although we can go months without speaking . He struck me as distraught about what was going on at the club.

If I was going to help an institution in which I'm a long-standing fan I knew I would have to buy a stake to get under the hood .

 

When did you become a supporter ?

 

I grew up in Irlam in Salford and my Manchester United loyalty relates to that community.

Like most football fans you also pick the most successful team outwith your locality and in my youth it was Rangers. I remember Gary McSwegan scoring against Marseille.

I watched that Champions League campaign with glee .

 

What has been the reaction to your investment ?

 

I have an Irish catholic parentage and I will not deny my mother and father but I'm not a man of God. Contrary to some internet reports,neither did I make my money by saving on trainers . And,no, I'm not the child who finished runner-up on Britains Got talent ,although he is very talented and brave for his age.

I'm quite fond of that type of humour - I take it and i give it out as well. When I'm back home my mates call me Potter,after Brian from Pheonix Nights .

 

How much of this investment is emotional and how much is aimed at a financial return ?

 

I cannot deny my support,it cannot be taken from my psyche but after 10 years at Goldman Sachs you cannot deny I also know what I'm doing with the stocks and shares of the world .

Once I see under the bonnet the fan might take over and I might end up getting more involved than I had originally planned.

My plan was always to buy up to 1.4 per cent of Rangers,carry on due diligence going forward and then buy more if the constitution of the club changes .

 

Is your gut instinct telling you to stick or twist ?

 

I'm n ot big on gut instinct.If i can get a hold of the accounts and enough corral among the existing board members or fan base to get a reconstituted board I can only see me going one way - increasing my stake .

However,I cannot be a benevolent dictator,five to ten per cent is the correct level.Why would you let one man dictate your clubs destiny ? Look at Craig Whyte .

 

Where are Gers as a fledgling plc ?

 

I'ts very precarious and if we don't take the right decisions,based on solid corporate governance.for the good faith of the fans and club then we're going to struggle.No one wants a fractious club.The ideal scenario would be reconstituting the board and also getting a fan elected .

 

What do you think of investors such as Blue Pitch and Zeus?

 

I don't know enough about them.The response to ever question Ive asked has been opaque at best. I can't seem to get the constitution of who owns their shareholding . It doesn't make sense and it concerns me .I'm a shareholder who wants the best for the fans and club,who are one.My job is risk and reward.Hopefully that reward in the long term will be to help build a club out of constitutional rubble .

 

So you're not just another rapacious venture capitalist ?

 

The only way I could ever see my shareholding being sold is if someone buys over the 30 per cent threshold and triggers a buyout.Then I would have no option but to sell.That's the only way I could be bought out right now.

I'm willing to be a voice of the fans.I can ask now I'm a shareholder,I will never not back up my word .

 

How do you spend your time away from business ?

 

I don't have much time.I love football,rugby,all sports. I have a very good home life,a lovely nephew James who is three-and-a-half and a girlfriend Lustina.

 

Are you under-estimated by others because of your disability ?

 

Certainly.It undoubtedly helps me as an investor.

 

How tough was it growing up confined to a wheelchair ?

 

I attended a special primary school and once lost seven of 10 classmates in under two weeks.They died of various illnesses,including twins who had muscular dystrophy.There is a futility in being afraid once you accept mortality is inevitable.I', scared of nothing and no one .

 

How big and influence were your parents ,Terry and Pat ?

 

My dad bought us a plot of land and built a bungalow virtually with his own hands.He worked as a baggage handler and built the house at night.No one knew I had an intellect that could carry me forward.They imagined i'd live at home forever .

 

Are you still in contact with your friends from those days ?

 

Several of them called after reading the Record article to tell me how proud they were.These are the guys who carried me on the bus at stag do's and to watch the local team play the area cup final .Once your part of a gang your part of it for good .

 

And you couldn't even run away when you got into trouble.....

 

The secret was never getting caught.That and telling the truth .

 

Only one request was deemed out of bounds as prior was quizzed-getting him to pose with a Rangers shirt ,he said " No way .The last thing I want to do is come across like Craig Whyte".

[chilledbear 16]

IBROX investor Kieran Prior claims the revival of Rangers is being strangled by extravagant levels of executive pay.

 

The former City of London whizzkid has already been doing his homework, less than 24 hours after Record Sport revealed he had forked out around £400,000 to snap up 1.2 per cent of the club.

 

In his first major interview, Prior says the current Ibrox board have got it wrong when it comes to paying big salaries and hefty bonuses to executives such as finance boss Brian Stockbridge.

 

The 34-year-old, who admits to a friendship with ousted chairman Malcolm Murray, says greater corporate governance is key and the board must consider reconstruction if Rangers are to emerge as a force again.

 

The former Goldman Sachs trader is also calling for greater fan representation at boardroom level as he admitted to fears the £22million raised by the recent share issue is in danger of being squandered over time.

 

Prior said: “I’m still waiting on a copy of the full accounts but from the papers I’ve seen in the last 24 hours executive renumeration is approximately £1.5m.

 

Revealed: Rangers investor Kieran Prior explains why he decided to buy into the Ibrox team

“I have good faith those figures are real and I’ll stand by those quotes.

 

“I find it astonishing a club in the Third Division has paid that amount of money to memb wers of staff, including Mr Stockbridge.

 

“As a former banker I know the basic salary of managing directors on trading desks range from £100,000-£300,000.

 

“That’s in London and at Goldman Sachs, one of the most profitable institutions in the world and yet I see Mr Stockbridge and Charles Green have taken similar salaries from Rangers.

 

“Although Mr Stockbridge is finance director he is a chartered accountant by academic standards.

 

“He is earning in excess of £200,000, which is overvaluing your FD – and when bonuses match your salary, that seems ludicrous.

 

“I can see the argument for a chief executive, but why the hell should a bonus be paid for winning the Third Division to the FD? It would seem exploitative in nature, at best.

 

“We’re in a unique position at Rangers where we can grow the club and a stockpile of wealth so when we reach the pinnacle of the Scottish game again there is an opportunity to go straight back where we belong – at the top, nowhere else.

 

“I’m afraid money is being dwindled away, given the figures being bandied about.”

 

It is understood bonuses were paid to two executives – Stockbridge and Green pocketing around £550,000.

 

The Rangers board has been ridden with in-fighting over the last year and Walter Smith was forced to step in and become chairman last month in a bid to quell tensions between warring factions

 

Prior added: “The current board seems a very legacy-ridden, Charles Green affair.

 

"That’s not to say Charles Green didn’t do some good things, but we need to move forward.

 

“We must make the club financially sound for the fans especially, as well as other shareholders. We need to rebuild the board and take a city-friendly, corporate governance-laden approach.

 

“Walter Smith aside, as he is untouchable and an institution in himself, we must clean up the act of the board.

 

Unless we can change its constitution and give it a more corporate friendly base, I can see struggle occurring.

 

“That would only detract from a great opportunity. We have time on our side to work under the radar these next couple of years and rebuild finances on the back of the sixth biggest attendances in Britain.

 

“We can build up our youth academy, our team and hopefully get back to the top of the Scottish game and playing in Europe again.”

 

http://t.co/jTHmTQWhUe

[sannybear 0]

He`s spot on about avoiding the shirt pic . The moment I twigged whyte was seeing him grinning like a cheshire cat with the league trophy at Kilmarnock . He`d only been here 5 minutes and had no business being anywhere near it .

[foggy dewhurst 0]

the person who made the remark about him making money by saving on trainers should be booted out of ibrox and off the internet this type of comment does our club and fans bot one bit of good lets leave these kind of comments to the other side of the divide .

[andy steel 0]

[BAP1872 0]

Hard to believe just how insensitive some can be, internet or not

[SteveC 150]

I thought this very revealing:

 

What do you think of investors such as Blue Pitch and Zeus?

 

I don't know enough about them.The response to ever question Ive asked has been opaque at best. I can't seem to get the constitution of who owns their shareholding . It doesn't make sense and it concerns me .I'm a shareholder who wants the best for the fans and club,who are one.My job is risk and reward.Hopefully that reward in the long term will be to help build a club out of constitutional rubble .

[SteveC 150]

I fear Mr Prior will now get tons of abuse from TGU. There seems to be a lot of suspicion from our fans about him partly because of the horrors we've suffered from everyone else with money who touches us. Those taking it further and seeing him as an enemy because of his RC background will presumably need Malcolm Murray to confirm that the guy has been friendly toward Rangers/interested in us in the past?

[der Berliner 3,245]

Rightio, this is all good to know and interesting. What the club surely does not need now is more board-room strife and trouble ... at least not one that is being spilled out and being scrutinized by people who in general have both no clue and even less brains.

 

I hope he gets into contact with Walter Smith and some fangroups, talks with Mather and they start sorting it in a civilized manner. While the share prize is as low as it is, one would hope that e.g. King or McColl take up the shares required for a buy out and forces these unknown entities like Blue Pitch and Co. out of the club. Then he can offer them to people with brains and people who care.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

this lad seems to know his onions. hes spot on about salries and bonuses. i like him so far.