Keith Jackson - King promised to be accountable but he's ended up invisible

[ian1964 10,416]

Keith Jackson questions the whereabouts of a man who remains cloaked in mystery and secrecy after two years at the helm at Ibrox.

 

There was a flurry of activity in the arrivals hall at Glasgow Airport yesterday when Emerson Hyndman touched down on a flight from Southampton and blanked a posse of waiting press men.

 

The scenes are likely to be repeated at some point today if as expected Jon Toral catches the next available Ryanair from Malaga.

 

It remains to be seen what impact if any they will make over this short time – or if Toral in particular might be tempted to hang around for the longer term – but the very fact that their arrivals created such a stir is an indication of changed days at Ibrox.

 

If recruiting a couple of short-term loanees is as good as this transfer window is to get for Rangers manager Mark Warburton then the Englishman may soon begin to wonder if there’s much point in continuing this attempt to push water up hills in a pointless pursuit of Celtic.

 

Listen, Toral and Hyndman may well prove to be top-class additions to his squad and there is plenty of reason to believe they will improve his midfield, even if one of them couldn’t get a game at Granada while the other can’t break into Bournemouth’s first XI.

 

One quick glance at the background and football schooling of both of these players is enough to suggest that they can add to the talent and quality at Warburton’s disposal.

 

Given that Toral was seen by many at Arsenal as a much more gifted teenager than his best mate and Gunners star Hector Bellerin when the pair were pinched from Barcelona’s academy, Warburton may end up winning a watch with this 21-year-old Spaniard.

 

Elsewhere on these pages today, former Celt Peter Grant – who worked with Hyndman at Fulham – talks in fairly gushing terms about the American’s credentials while backing him to cut it in the Scottish top flight.

 

On the face of it, these are a couple of highly imaginative captures and evidence that Warburton's contact list down south remains one of Rangers’ biggest assets. That he can wheel and deal at that level – and secure the personal endorsement of Arsene Wenger – is a feather in his cap, magical qualities not withstanding.

 

But no matter how either of these players should fare between now and May, the fundamental problems facing Warburton’s Rangers rebuild look set to deepen.

 

And while the manager will be delighted to see them at the club’s training complex this morning, a part of him might have preferred it if it was chairman Dave King who was hauling his luggage off that carousel yesterday afternoon.

 

Come to think of it, here’s a question for the man in charge of Rangers’ affairs. Where is Dave?

 

The stay-away chairman was last spotted in November when he stood up before shareholders at the AGM, said nothing of much note and then ducked out of answering questions from reporters as he disappeared again back into the vacuum which has engulfed his time in charge.

 

This is the same man who campaigned for office on a ticket of openness and transparency but who, after almost two years at the helm, remains cloaked in mystery and secrecy, bunkered in behind the walls of his mansion in South Africa.

 

King’s decision not to attend Ibrox on Hogmanay for the first visit of Celtic in four years was another head-scratching contradiction.

 

Here is a man so committed to his football club that he is prepared to pump millions of pounds into saving it and yet, having appointed himself as chairman, shows no interest in watching the side play games or carrying out important, leadership duties.

 

He promised accountability. He has delivered invisibility. The word from within Ibrox is that not even Warburton could get him on the end of a phone if his transfer window depended upon it and that’s hardly ideal given that the manager has such an enormous task ahead of him.

 

Yes, he has been clever in securing temporary deals for Toral and Hyndman but, while he was making these calls, across the city Brendan Rodgers was scooping another £2.8million out of Celtic’s boardroom safe and helping himself to Kouassi Eboue on a far more permanent basis.

 

At the same time, Rodgers was glaring over the desk at Peter Lawwell and double daring the chief executive to do so much as think about inviting offers for Moussa Dembele.

 

But as the multi-million pound suitors line up to tempt Dembele back south, Rodgers won’t be losing any sleep over the potential windfall.

 

Make no mistake, he is ruling the roost at Parkhead and for as long as he is armed to the teeth with such vast riches, Warburton’s hopes of eating into the gap which separates the pair seems remote at best. If anything, a week or so into this latest transfer window, the gap has widened still further even despite the best laid plans of the Rangers boss.

 

King’s supporters argue there is no need for Warburton to spend similar amounts given that the title is already way beyond Rangers’ reach.

Rodgers, meanwhile, is already recruiting for next season and beyond.

 

Which is why there is an onus on King to re-emerge from the shadows and to re-engage with his club’s supporters most of whom still trust his judgement but some of whom will lose patience the further they see Celtic rocket off into the distance towards the thermo nuclear target of 10-in-a-row.

 

After almost two years in charge, King should at least be able to outline a sound, long-term financial strategy by now because, to date, Rangers have been run on hand outs from himself and others.

 

This surely cannot continue indefinitely so how does King plan to facilitate this transition?Of course, there are matters which, for very good reasons, he cannot discuss openly, most notably his festering feud with Mike Ashley and Sport Direct – an ongoing brawl which will be spilling back into the courts early this year.

 

King simply cannot offer up chapter and verse about this merchandising war – and given Ashley’s attempts to have him banged up for saying too much already – nor could he be reasonably expected to.

 

But it’s estimated that this stand-off is costing Rangers somewhere in the region of £4m and £6m per annum and it will continue to do so, very possibly for some years to come.

 

If King’s plan is to continue to limp along, using gate receipts to fund the second biggest budget in the country, while stumping up loans to offset their running costs and losses, then Rangers can also forget about accessing Champions League revenue any time soon.

 

Instead, they will have to make do with the consolatory crumbs available from Europa League qualification and all the while that financial chasm will continue to grow.

That’s the reality staring down at Warburton this winter. And no amount of Jon Torals or Emerson Hyndmans can change it.

[StuGers 477]

Not that I'm defending King but how often do you hear from Dermott Desmond? How often do you hear from the main financiers of other clubs? Are they expected to be in the news making statements every couple of weeks?

[ian1964 10,416]

Not that I'm defending King but how often do you hear from Dermott Desmond? How often do you hear from the main financiers of other clubs? Are they expected to be in the news making statements every couple of weeks?

 

Terrible article and typical of the Scottish gutter press!

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Should we receive investment it's also an avenue for our meatball loving panto villain to say "I told you so".

I have a question. if we were to get serious investment of say £100m. Am I the only one who would run up and down the street shouting "get it right up yeeeeeessss"???? (While showering in Red Bull)

[ian1964 10,416]

It's no fair!, it's no fair!, the Rangers chairman doesn't speak to us journalists!

[Bluedell 5,329]

Not that I'm defending King but how often do you hear from Dermott Desmond? How often do you hear from the main financiers of other clubs? Are they expected to be in the news making statements every couple of weeks?

 

I don't see the relevance of Desmond. The current board did promise transparency and I think King's article is relatively fair.

[Juancornetto 1]

Terrible article and typical of the Scottish gutter press!

 

Clearly the title "Non-Executive Director" wasn't enough to inform Keef what to expect from Dave King

[Bluedell 5,329]

Clearly the title "Non-Executive Director" wasn't enough to inform Keef what to expect from Dave King

 

The title of "Chairman" is more relevant.

[calscot 0]

Have Celtic just made a big signing? If not, then half the article makes little sense - as yet. As for King, while he's not been sensational but I'm not sure where he's failing to meet expectations at this time. And as the guy lives in SA and that's where his family and businesses are, should we expect him to be here more, or is it that he shouldn't be chairman - and what tangible difference would that make?

 

I agree the Celtic comparisons are a bit glaringly strange, ignoring the parallels and actually just making up the contrasts.

[Uilleam 5,429]

Jackson is an irritating fool. I've heard him on Radio Scotland, where he endeavours to assume the role of intellectual hard man; realistically, neither of these appellations could be attached to him, although he does opine within in the kingdom of the one eyed and the blind, so the competition for such status is hardly fierce.

In the article above he states, extremely disingenuously, in relation to King's "festering feud" with Ashley/Sports Direct,

"...this stand-off is costing Rangers somewhere in the region of £4m and £6m per annum and it will continue to do so, very possibly for some years to come".

The blame for this may hardly be laid at King's door; nor is it, properly a "feud", it is a legal struggle. It would be more accurate to suggest that it is Ashley's feud with King; that, however, would be to posit a position somewhat sympathetic to King, and to Rangers, and that, of course, would never do, for the rather ironically titled "Record".

 

For what it is worth, my view is that King, et al., do not yet have the skeleton of a prospectus to raise funds on the open market, such are the legal complexities, criminal and civil, which continue to hold back the Club. I believe that King, and others, will invest when circumstances indicate a climate somewhat less risky than exists currently.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Uilleam