govan_derriere 3 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 The full question asked & collected reports by journalists present. On the 25th April, the club published the Business review & strategic plan update. (120 day review) “The club has entered into a number of contracts that are onerous and not delivering value on price or service. In several instances it appears that the club did not use lawyers to protect its interests." How many onerous contracts are there? Who signed them off? Name the main beneficiaries of these contracts. Reported reaction by Somers. Grant Russell @STVGrant Shareholder: In 120 day review, "onerous contracts" mentioned. How many are there? Who signed them? Name main beneficiaries? #rangersagm Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 10s10 seconds ago Shareholder: how many onerous contracts, who signed them off and who are the beneficiaries of these onerous contracts? Grant Russell @STVGrant 41s42 seconds ago Somers: Checking what I can say legally. Have to be careful as this is a Plc. Grant Russell @STVGrant 28s28 seconds ago Somers: "Found a lot of onerous and dodgy contracts". #rangersagm Grant Russell @STVGrant 24s25 seconds ago Somers: "with a number of contracts we've just said 'sod you, we will see you in court'. Can I say that?" #rangersagm Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 26s26 seconds ago Watertight. These contracts are all over the place. No one beneficiary I believe that this is as close as we can get to an admission from Somers that there has been a breach of fiduciary duty by Green et al. On 2 separate occasions I have emailed Somers and asked why RIFC has not initiated legal proceedings against those responsible in order to protect shareholder interest. Absolutely no response, I'm afraid. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinker 862 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 The full question asked & collected reports by journalists present. On the 25th April, the club published the Business review & strategic plan update. (120 day review) “The club has entered into a number of contracts that are onerous and not delivering value on price or service. In several instances it appears that the club did not use lawyers to protect its interests." How many onerous contracts are there? Who signed them off? Name the main beneficiaries of these contracts. Reported reaction by Somers. Grant Russell @STVGrant Shareholder: In 120 day review, "onerous contracts" mentioned. How many are there? Who signed them? Name main beneficiaries? #rangersagm Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 10s10 seconds ago Shareholder: how many onerous contracts, who signed them off and who are the beneficiaries of these onerous contracts? Grant Russell @STVGrant 41s42 seconds ago Somers: Checking what I can say legally. Have to be careful as this is a Plc. Grant Russell @STVGrant 28s28 seconds ago Somers: "Found a lot of onerous and dodgy contracts". #rangersagm Grant Russell @STVGrant 24s25 seconds ago Somers: "with a number of contracts we've just said 'sod you, we will see you in court'. Can I say that?" #rangersagm Richard Wilson @RichwilBBC 26s26 seconds ago Watertight. These contracts are all over the place. No one beneficiary I believe that this is as close as we can get to an admission from Somers that there has been a breach of fiduciary duty by Green et al. On 2 separate occasions I have emailed Somers and asked why RIFC has not initiated legal proceedings against those responsible in order to protect shareholder interest. Absolutely no response, I'm afraid. Well done for asking that GD - It's the big question IMO. I just wish we (the crowd collectively) had stayed on that point and pinned Somers down for a clearer answer. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhunter 0 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Some are still praising the board today. Our support are an embarrassment. If any of this happened to other big clubs the board members would be far too frightened to make fools of us and treat us with complete and utter contempt. just out them as the fucking retards that they are. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWee BlueDevil 0 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 just out them as the fucking retards that they are. Poor choice of descriptor mate. That said, we have a huge block of fans who are happy to accept the ongoing corporate rape of our club. Go figure! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,413 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Alan Pattullo: Somers stokes flames at Rangers AGM. Boooo! Boooo! Boooooooooo! Welcome, then, to the 2014 Rangers Annual General Meeting. Peace and goodwill to all men and women were conspicuous by their absence. A shareholder later stood up to complain that this “wasn’t the Rangers way,” and that maybe the continued vacancy for the post of club chaplain was a reason for the slipping in standards. Perhaps. This was not the main topic for discussion yesterday morning, however. “Welcome to Ibrox” ran a message along the electronic scoreboard. But little else suggested the hosts for the day, the Rangers board, were relishing coming into contact with the shareholders, some of whom looked aye ready to use the electronic voting devices they’d been handed on entry as weapons. A stage had been constructed on a raised ‘island’ positioned at an angle on the pitch, about 15 yards from the near byline. It had the effect of making the board appear even more isolated from the supporters and shareholders. If the directors could have got away with asking Ally McCoist, the erstwhile manager who is currently on gardening leave, to dig a temporary moat between them and the growling attendees, they might have done. A gazebo was erected on the platform to shelter the suited and booted from the rain. It looked faintly ridiculous. Mats marked out a path to the stage – to protect expensive leather brogues from the muddy pitch rather than to conserve the pitch, one suspects. Football is an after-thought here these days. Judging from yesterday, AGMs are more eagerly attended than actual games. They were streaming in from shortly after 9am, 90 minutes ahead of the scheduled “kick-off”. Rangers had at least opened the kiosks for a warming cup of Bovril. As one shareholder later noted while asking a question, it was “apt” that the shareholders were housed in the Broomloan stand, traditionally thought of as the away end at Ibrox. There was distinct a sense of two tribes going to war. The directors and legal representatives entered stage left. The disapproving whistles were enough to inform anyone who had failed to spot them that the start of proceedings was imminent. It was as if Celtic had run on at Ibrox at the start of an Old Firm fixture. Chairman/pantomime villain David Somers explained – while trying to underline his credentials to recruit new chief executive Derek Llambias – that he has spent his entire career in the City, at major London firms. But we can be certain Somers has never experienced an AGM like this before. It was even stormier than the one he fronted a year ago, shortly after his appointment. And, as several fans noted on the way out, there were even fewer answers. Somers seems to have learned little. He started by trying to introduce the others on stage – “the Four Tops”, someone sneered. James Easdale. Boooo. Llambias. Boooo. Sandy Easdale. Booo. But Somers bore the brunt of it. He was accused of being contemptuous, arrogant and disingenuous – the last charge was made by Paul Murray, the former Blue Knight consortium member who queried the persistent claim from Somers that Dave King, the South Africa-based businessman, had consistently refused to offer proof of funding when attempting to come on board earlier this year. “Please refrain from disruptive action, including interrupting,” Somers urged. But then he almost seemed to will on such aggressive behaviour with his haughty manner. “When you get to be the chairman of Rangers, you can do it your way,” he said at one point. Cue the loudest outbreak of dissent yet. For some reason, Somers’ chairman’s rights meant he had decided to take questions two-at-time, which only infuriated many of those in attendance, who felt he was stalling for time. One familiar figure stood up to rapturous applause. Strange though it might once have seemed, John Brown is the spokesman for the disaffected majority. Remarkably, that rant on the Ibrox steps of a few years ago now stands as one of the more well-informed contributions to the on-going debate. His banning from the Ibrox directors’ box on Saturday before the game with Livingston has simply endorsed his credentials. “My name is John Brown,” the former Rangers defender announced, when the microphone had been passed to him, to the evident dismay of those on stage. “I was refused directors’ box tickets from youse on Saturday,” he continued. “I think I have given the club enough that I can ask one or two questions.” His question(s) involved Ticketus, Charles Green, Imran Ahmad, the usual cast-list of characters. “What involvement do they have?” he asked. None, Somers replied – “to the best of my knowledge”. “I am not finished,” Brown said, when Somers attempted to move on. “For a chairman, you did not even have a good word to say about the departing manager, who has given this club everything!” It was true. Somers made only cursory mention of Ally McCoist in his opening statement, which took barely a sentence a two. He tried to excuse this by suggesting he knew the subject would come up later. Brown had a few words of welcome, too, for Llambias: “I hope you are a better quality guy than the other rats at the table!” There were spells of calm, times when the jeering died away to be replaced by something approaching decorum. Surprisingly, it was one of the seemingly reviled Easdales who managed to elicit something approaching a warm response. The usual jeers accompanied Sandy to the lectern. At first, he appeared to adopt the same slightly aggressive, hectoring-style as Somers. “Settle doon,” he demanded. “I don’t need to answer questions, but I will.” He attempted to shed some light on Margarita and Blue Pitch, those mysterious groups of investors. “A wealthy foreign-based entity,” he said, which was hardly stunning new information. “Can someone tell me what they have done wrong?” he asked. In a catastrophically misguided move, Somers had already suggested (twice) that Maragarita and Blue Pitch were his favourite kind of shareholders, because they “didn’t ask questions”. On the way out, shareholders continued to grumble about Somers’ style. “Are you running out of questions?” the chairman smirked at one stage. “Your chairmanship is abysmal,” thundered one shareholder into a microphone. If Somers is still in position this time next year, it will be remarkable. One shareholder even made repeated attempts to confront the board as they scurried back up the stairs of the Sandy Jardine stand. He was held back by security. This is the new reality at Rangers. AGMs held on a platform a comfortable distance from pesky shareholders. Heavy security. Booing. Jeering. Expletives. It is what happens when you get the feeling you’ve been had. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/alan-pattullo-somers-stokes-flames-at-rangers-agm-1-3641766 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublusince1982 243 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 its enough to make you hark back on the days of the paramilitaries with a "where are you all now" longing 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Somers got what he wanted, the headlines. Look beyond the circus clown for the detail. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) The mood at Ibrox was immediately scathing as shareholders filed in for the annual general meeting. "So they've stuck us in the away end," one muttered. "Typical." When legal representatives and other officials walked into the small gazebo placed a fair distance away from the corner of the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine stands, they were roundly booed, even though the shareholders would not have known who any of them were. The disdain was a warm-up, though, because the three Rangers International Football Club directors - David Somers, Derek Llambias and James Easdale - accompanied by The Rangers Football Club chairman Sandy Easdale, received a terrible reception when they appeared. The booing was only interrupted by chants of "Out. Out. Out". When the RIFC chairman Somers began to address the meeting, he had to stop several times because he was being drowned out by angry shareholders. That sense of disaffection framed the entire event. It lasted almost two hours but the anger of shareholders never dissipated. Somers occasionally attempted a light touch, but he misread the indignation of the crowd and appeared more at odds with them. At one stage, having repeatedly rejected calls from shareholders to only ask and answer one question at a time, Somers said; "When you're chairman of Rangers, you can do it your way." The rowdiness abated at times, but it was never far from the surface. The occasion never had the chance of becoming sedate. Having read out his prepared address, Somers handed the floor to Llambias, the newly-installed chief executive. Despite being the most recent appointment to the board, the former Newcastle United managing director wasn't spared. He kept his address brief and to the point, but he didn't try to sugar coat his message. "Not everything I do will be popular, but it will be in the best interests of Rangers," he said. "I ask for your patience and open minds." The formal business of the meeting was a series of votes, including the reappointment of RIFC directors - all three received enough votes, although Somers only managed 61%, suggesting at least one major shareholder did not vote in his favour - and on resolutions eight and nine, to provide the board with permission to hold a share issue. The latter resolution was rejected, meaning that the board must provide existing shareholders with an opportunity to maintain the size of their stake. The board can now, though, seek to raise the money needed to keep the business operating - at least £8m by their own estimation - in the new year. Yet the sense that the club can be repaired seemed a hopeless one at the AGM. The shareholders were most roused when there was an opportunity to boo Somers or the Easdales, and when the former Rangers player John Brown stood to ask questions. Brown started by revealing that he had been refused a seat in the directors box for the game against Livingston, then he asked if Ticketus, Charles Green and Imran Ahmad are still involved. He described the Easdales as "the two stooges", then addressed Llambias, saying: "I hope you are of better quality than the rats at the table." Brown received a standing ovation. The answers were that Somers was "adamant" that Ticketus are not involved and that Craig Whyte, Green and Ahmad "have no involvement to my knowledge". Paul Murray, the former Rangers director who was involved in a consortium that made a £16m investment offer that was rejected by the board in favour of a £2m loan proposal from Mike Ashley , accused Somers of being "disingenuous" in repeating his assertion that the investment offer, which involved another former director in Dave King, was rejected due to lack of proof of funds. "I get frustrated with King," Somers said. "I know some of you think he is the Messiah. I asked King simple questions: show me the money and give me the names of all eight people in the consortium. He didn't do that. "He has got my email address, my mobile number. He doesn't need to talk to the media, he can give me a ring." Many of the shareholders pre-empted their questions by saying that they had previously been season ticket holders but weren't now. The occasion reiterated the sense of divide between the board and many of the fans. One shareholder asked Somers to walk away, another asked Llambias if he had any service contracts with Ashley companies - to which he replied "no" - and another asked about "onerous contracts". Somers' response revealed that some still exist and are legally "watertight". The Easdale brothers were also the subject of questions, about which team they support and the shareholders that Sandy Easdale represents. James responded that "first and foremost I'm a Rangers fan. Morton is my hometown club. The decisions I make are always in the best interests of Rangers. I'm not a puppet or a rat." Sandy Easdale was more bullish. "Settle down," he said as he addressed the crowd. "Blue Pitch and Margarita have nothing to do with Green and Ahmad. They are wealthy foreign entities. "They've never caused a problem. What have they done wrong?" A shareholder immediately shouted: "You", in response. "I've never had a problem with King, Murray or (Brian) Kennedy," Easdale continued. "These guys might yet be part of the future of the club. I'm doing it for free, I pay my own expenses. Believe me and trust me." Easdale was certainly passionate, and drew some applause. Somers then brought the meeting to a conclusion. One fan had to be restrained by stewards while yelling at the directors as they walked back into the stadium. Nobody seemed satisfied by the events of the meeting. There is still no clarity - beyond the intention to issue new shares - about how the club will be funded. For the four directors, there must also have been the growing understanding from the ire of the crowd that the disenchantment of fans and shareholders will be difficult to appease in the current circumstances. Rangers remain in a fragile state, financially and psychologically. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30583083 Edited December 23, 2014 by chilledbear 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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