Steve1872 4 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Former Rangers director Dave King fears a savage programme of cuts will leave the Ibrox club unable to halt Celtic’s title-winning momentum. Reacting to news of Rangers players being asked to consider wage cuts of up to 15 per cent King remains committed to investing heavily in the club via a new issue of shares. As Chief Executive Graham Wallace tries to slash the club’s losses before seeking fresh investment, however, South Africa based King tells Sportsmail in a wide-ranging interview of his fears that could hand Celtic a free run at 10-in-a-row. +4 Fears: Rangers director Dave King believes a programme of cuts could hinder Rangers' chances of halting Celtic's title-winning momentum in the future What is your view on the proposed Rangers cut-backs by Chief Executive Graham Wallace? 'My view has been very clear from the start and it hasn’t changed. I think the club require a level of investment in the playing squad that allows it to hit the ground running when it gets back into the SPFL Premiership. 'My view has always been that the funders should be like-minded people who are willing to come in and fund ahead of what’s required to win the leagues they are currently in. 'If we cut the club back to a level that’s just enough to win the League One or the Championship then that’s fine. But the gap between ourselves and Celtic when we get to the Premiership will be obvious. 'And it will render Rangers a small club in SPL terms for a longer period of time than need be. 'I’m concerned that because the shareholders there at the moment don’t have the appetite or willingness to invest ahead of getting back to the top league we will be really short in terms of the financial and on-field strength. 'No one wants to see Rangers finishing sixth or something like that. 'That would be absolutely horrendous. And certainly contrary to what I would want to do with the club.' +4 Widening gap: Rangers Chief Executive Graham Wallace (pictured with manager Ally McCoist) is proposing more cut-backs at the club The counter argument is that they are losing £1million a month. Even Rangers can surely only spend what they earn? 'They shouldn’t be losing £1million a month. There is no question that you must run the business at an appropriate level – that is clear. 'But I have seen comments that they could run it with the Dundee United wagebill and make a profit. 'They could even run it with the Dundee or Stranraer wagebill and make a profit because of the revenue a club like Rangers has. 'But if you run a club like Rangers on the budget of an East Fife it makes Rangers an equally small club.' But wouldn’t the cuts allow the club to stockpile cash for the Premiership as you suggest? 'Look, we have a situation where they had a fund-raising exercise where they raised tens of millions of pounds. 'One would have thought that that amount of money for a club operating in the third division with the revenue Rangers get for home games compared to the competition would have meant Rangers comfortably winning the third division and running up a surplus which would allow them to slowly move up the leagues and upgrade the quality of player as they go. 'In the latter half of the final season in the Championship they could significantly improve the squad. 'But they have not maintained a strong financial platform. 'We know now the money has been wasted on legal fees, wasted on so many different areas. 'But I don’t feel the club should respond by cutting the costs to the point of saying ‘we only have to do what is necessary to beat East Fife or whoever.’ 'Because if you do that Celtic will build up to 10-in-a-row and we could be so far behind them that even when we are back in the Premiership we are not in a position to catch up.' So there has to be a middle ground between the cuts proposed by Graham Wallace and lavishing cash on the team? +4 Finding middle ground: King believes the club need to spend appropriate sums of money 'Yes. It’s about finding the middle ground and the balance between losing money and doing what it takes to win. 'You certainly don’t want a Premiership wage structure to win the third division or even the second division. 'Your costs have to be appropriate. But just cost cutting per se and doing just enough to get by in the lower leagues is not what the fans pay for. 'The fans are not paying East Fife prices for season tickets. So they should get more on the pitch than the level they are at. 'We have not used the opportunity created by being forced down to the lower leagues to start blooding youngsters and getting them mentally attuned to the demands of winning titles with Rangers. 'Young players allied to a kitty to bring in the level of players needed to compete with Celtic was the way to go. 'Celtic are getting stronger financially. They have sold the McGeadys, the Hoopers, the Wanyamas and they are building up a reserve. 'They have cut their cloth and they are going to be in such a strong position with the revenue coming in that the gap may just be too large for us to bridge. 'That is my concern. Cost-cutting is not going to help us when we get to the Premier League. 'Because we could go into the SPFL top tier and finish fifth. 'The only alternative is someone having to open the taps up - and you can’t just buy a whole new team in a season. You can’t do that.' Do you fear that the cuts might even endanger the smooth path back to the Premier League for Rangers? 'Absolutely. Rangers ambition should not be to be slightly better than the teams in the first division. 'We really have to have a team, next year in particular, which is strong enough to prevail. 'We have to get through at the first time of asking next year. 'We have to be in a position to go up to the Premiership and we have to be in the position to launch a challenge to Celtic. 'There is no guarantee we are going to beat Celtic in the first season – infact it’s unlikely. 'It would be a miracle if Rangers were to go on and win the league the first season back. 'But, similarly, we cannot risk going to Celtic Park and being battered 6-0. 'We can’t start losing 3-1 to Hibs and Aberdeen and accepting it. 'Saying, "we are in a period of adjustment, it’s not too bad a season," is not an option. It’s totally unacceptable.' Should boardroom executives be shouldering more of the burden for cut-backs? 'If the CEO of the company has no money he has no choice but to cut wages and costs any way he can. 'But then Rangers are going to be a small club. 'They need an investment profile and what I was expecting post AGM was for the board to say, "we understand we have a funding gap, we understand we have to go and raise funds to start preparing Rangers for the inevitable return to the Premiership. We need to start bringing a youth squad through, we have to start scouting and having a proper preparation for challenging Celtic." +4 Winning mentality: David Templeton (centre) celebrates scoring in the 2-0 victory over Forfar on Monday 'And that would require the raising of funds in the marketplace. 'But it seems to me they are either unwilling or unable to do that. 'So what they are saying is, "we will cut the costs to make sure we do not need money."' 'Which effectively means living on the fans season ticket sales.' Graham Wallace says he could speak to you about investment once the cuts are made. Should he be doing it now? 'I think that’s a decision they must make. 'For me there is no problem with any CEO making cuts to right-size the business if that’s what they want. 'But the fans deserve more than the downsizing of Rangers to compete in the Scottish first division. 'They deserve a team which is superior to the competition in the lower leagues because they are paying for that. 'They deserve to see a progression in the quality of the finances and the players on the pitch as they move up the leagues so that we enter the Premiership in a competitive frame of mind. 'My concern is that we are making the club smaller. And that we are creating a gap. 'That’s not the fault of Graham Wallace because he is the CEO and has to deal with what he has got. 'It’s an issue relating to the board who should be having a rights issue – and that could mean the existing guys putting the money in if they want. 'The club needs a level of funding that allows it to go forward above the level they are competing in and make sure they have a fighting chance in the Premiership. 'I would never have expected us to go into the Premier League and come worse than second 'I’m mentally not attuned to the possibility of going up there and coming fourth of fifth. 'As a fan I would find that quite unacceptable and I don’t think Rangers should be run as a club which finds it fine to finish fourth or fifth while saying, "that wasn’t bad for a first season back." The worst we must do is finish second.' Have you had any communication at all from the Rangers board since your offer to invest after the AGM? 'None at all.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2545041/Rangers-director-Dave-King-Listen-simply-risk-6-0-battering-Celtic-Park.html#ixzz2rIRgYNDJ Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve1872 4 Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Ex-Rangers director King says new share issue is inevitable as club prepare for cuts Dave King believes a new Rangers share issue is inevitable as the Ibrox club prepare to implement a savage programme of cuts. The former Rangers director, who previously lost £20million through a previous Ibrox investment, is concerned that cuts to the playing squad could leave the club unable to compete with Celtic on their return to the top flight. And he is prepared to lead a new round of funding via a fresh offer of shares. +3 New issue: Former Rangers director Dave King believes a new Rangers share issue is inevitable The £22.7m raised by a previous issue in December 2012 has been frittered away, with chief executive Graham Wallace forced to cut costs in the hope of averting another. King believes, however, that a new rights issue is unavoidable and claimed his assistance will be needed in the coming months. ‘A new share issue is 100 per cent inevitable,’ he told Sportsmail on Thursday. ‘I expect to be involved in that when the time comes. ‘They had one share issue last year where they managed to line up some institutions to invest. That’s not going to happen again because these institutions were very badly burned. ‘I don’t think you will find any institutional support for Rangers going forward.’ +3 Talks: King failed to broker a deal with Sandy Easdale (left) about a return to the club King met with leading shareholder Sandy Easdale in November in a quest to broker a deal which would see him return to the Ibrox boardroom as chairman. Those talks failed to bear fruit and, despite a plummeting share price, he has persistently resisted calls to buy up the holdings of the existing investors. Insistent his money must go straight into the club and the team via a new rights issue, King’s plans face resistance because they would force the current Rangers board to invest more money or risk the dilution of their powerbase. The 58-year-old South African-based businessman, however, believes the current powerbrokers have no option but to seek investment if they are to persuade a disenfranchised support to renew their season tickets for the next campaign. ‘We are in for an interesting couple of months,’ King added. ‘If Graham Wallace pushes these cuts through and gets his budget balanced – which he has to do because the money is not there – then how are the board going to be able to show the fans a way forward when it comes time to stump up for season tickets? ‘Are they going to say: “Listen, we are asking you to buy your season tickets and, don’t worry, we have a funding plan in place.” Or are they going to say to the fans: “Listen, we have no funds other than you paying out your season-ticket money.” +3 Cuts: Rangers Chief Executive Graham Wallace is preparing a plan of savage cuts to the club's budget ‘How often can you say to the fans: “Trust us and give us your money?” ‘What they are saying to the fans if they do that is: “We’re not putting more money in, but we want to you to pay yours up front.” All in the full knowledge that, if they don’t get new funds in, that season-ticket money might not be enough to last a full season. ‘If it is enough, then that’s only because they have had to cut the club back completely. ‘And then they run the risk of not even getting into the SPFL Premiership at the first time of asking. ‘We have to get through the Championship at the first time of asking next year. We have to be in a position to go up to the Premiership and we have to be in the position to launch a challenge to Celtic. ‘That is my concern. Cost-cutting is not going to help us when we get to the Premier League.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2545045/Ex-Rangers-director-Dave-King-says-new-share-issue-inevitable-club-prepare-cuts.html#ixzz2rISAYOua Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,245 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Again, he pulls the right string to get attention: "1m loss a month", "cutting costs to a point of no-return", "10-in-row-for-the-Yahoos" (remember, they have not yet managed 3), "losing 6-0 to the Yahoos" (we managed a 2-6 under Advocaat) ... yeah, doom and gloom all round. I for one would have expected him to talk sense and start being productive, rather than wait till someone asks him to step. You want something revolutionary and money going straight to the club? How about you taking up the full Ibrox season ticket allocation for the next two seasons then? All 48.000 dedicated to the Rangers support. That would give the club money for the time being, while you could sell them at market price value (not as Ticketus would probably do it) normally to any ST holder / chap interested. How about that? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,150 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 All very well but I'd rather hear how he'd specifically change it rather than say how we're going wrong... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmu 0 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Seriously you would hand our main income for the next two years to the board and ally now! Wtf happens if thats all gone in a year! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 We need huge player investment or all these things are very likely scenarios. We are talking about cutting our player budget to 5 million while Celtic are spending the best part of that on 1 player. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I will buy a season book if the board allow king to put money into the club. Surely all fans would be happy to see investment going in. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmu 0 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 It was only a few months ago super ally was saying he would need more or less a new team for the spl. Why not get our house in order now and build a new team for spl hopefully with a decent managerwho would spend the anticipated millions wisely. Lets face it ally will just continue to spunk away any extra funds handed to him. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,245 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Seriously you would hand our main income for the next two years to the board and ally now! Wtf happens if thats all gone in a year! Nope, I would hand it to the club to safeguard the current restructuring. I would also make sure that any money spend from now on does not end up anywhere else than Rangers FC. The hedge-fond shareholders can life from their stock market "income", if any. As for the Yahoos. We will see how they handle this and next season without us. They currently live off their CL money, but also see dwindling crowds and income streams. Not to mention that all SPL sides agree to pay up for the whole SPL/SFL restructure, didn't they? (No laughing at the back!) And how welcome would it be if the EU hit them with a 5 to 30m fine for money fiddling inbetween? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Dynamo 128 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Scaremongering from King 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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