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MINUTES
Rangers Fans Board Meeting


Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Time: 7:00 – 10:00 pm GMT
Location: 1st Floor Boardroom, Argyll House, Glasgow (and WebEx video conference)
Invited Attendees:


Fans Board:
Alison Clark-Dick, Christine Murdoch, Gary Gillan, William Gillan, William Paterson, William Findlay, Robert Callaghan, Tom Clements, Alan Fraser, Zia Islam, Tom Johnstone* (Tom had connection issues throughout the meeting)

Rangers:
Jim Hannah, Derek Llambias, Barry Leach

Regrets:



Agenda Items
Owner
Welcome and Agenda Review
- Attendance Apologies
- Minutes of Meeting from January 8th
o Proposed: Christine Murdoch
o Seconded: Alan Fraser
- Any Other Business
Tom C
Rangers Board Directors Welcome and Introductions
- Derek Llambias’ (DL) opening remark was that the ‘Vote of No Confidence’ that the RFB publicised via Facebook was in effect the whole of the RFB resigning. William Gillan challenged this by stating that a ‘Vote of No Confidence’ is in no way associated with resignation and so was not our resignation. This was contested by DL. This matter was unresolved but subsequently agreed by DL that RFB is still indeed in officially place.
- DL further went on to state that if the RFB stated that he was a ‘liar’ again (relating to information in question no. 1 (below) about the wrong EGM date being given and our subsequent post on our Facebook page) then he would have nothing further to do with the RFB thereafter.
- Questions Received from Rangers’ Fans were posed to the Rangers Board Directors. Not all questions were posed to the Board representatives due to time availability. The questions below were posed, with the responses as noted. Appendix 1 includes the entire list of questions (asked and unasked) that were emailed to the Rangers’ Board on February 10th. The Rangers’ Directors agreed to address the other questions in the days following the meeting.
Tom C

EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

1. The Board announced through Fans Board that the EGM will be held on Friday the 6th March and next morning changed the date for the meeting, on the same day the first batch of notices were posted to the shareholders giving the date as 4th of March, this just proved that the Board deliberately lied to the Fans Board and caused them embarrassment.
DL: Handed out a sheet explaining the reasoning behind the EGM. That will be circulated.
Discussion around the date change from March 6th to the 4th which was already publicized previously on the RFB Facebook page. DL stated that the date selection was out of his control as 3 or 4 people (Nomads) were working on pulling the documentation together, and he didn’t lie as the information was correct at that time that he spoke with Gary Gillan.

The notes are as follows:

I understand that there is widespread frustration from within Glasgow and around about the location of the General Meeting, and that the business of the meeting is highly charged. The board is, however, within its rights to hold the meeting in London, neither the AIM Rules nor the Companies Act prevents this. For cost reasons it is normal market practice for there to be a smaller venue than the theoretical maximum number of voters; most small PLCs use their Broker’s or Solicitor’s offices, in this case a sizeable hotel venue has been chosen anticipating that there may be more attendees than usual.

It is important that the location should not restrict the vote, everybody should vote by proxy card whether they intend to turn up on the day or not. The proxy card is returned to Capita which is the scrutineer for the vote, so it is 100% secure and independent. Anybody who does turn up and votes in the meeting will override their proxy vote with their meeting vote, which is fine, but it won’t count as a second vote. I am very keen that the voting turnout is as high as possible.

It is also worth mentioning that the business of a requisitioned GM is much more limited than an Annual General Meeting, and therefore the event may be an anti-climax to those who are anticipating a re-run of the AGM. At the GM the resolutions are clear and unambiguous. The Directors are unlikely to add anything – they have made their case in the circular. (The entire board does not even have to attend), so the meeting will comprise reading the notice and voting; it could be done in 20 minutes. The result will not be known at the meeting, as this has to be announced to the Stock Exchange, which I expect will be during the early part of that afternoon or by no later than 7am the following day.

In the event that the meeting was overwhelmed or disrupted (if the Hotel was intimidated into cancelling the booking) then the meeting would need to be adjourned which is likely to result in a new notice – in practice a month’s delay and more cost, which is in no-one’s interest.


2. The Board intentionally and with malicious intent arranged the meeting outside Glasgow, especially at a place like London, so that fans and shareholders are not able to reach the venue.
DL: When we discussed the AGM, the behavior of those at the AGM basically hijacked the meeting. It was a disgrace. We don’t want it to get hijacked again which is why it is in London however an EGM’s are normally over in about 10 minutes and there is no platform for shareholders to ask questions like at an AGM, it is more of a procedural meeting.

Discussion around a meeting with Paul Murray and the Sons of Struth will take place tomorrow.

The hotel staff were threatened and the hotel received threats that the hotel would be damaged – due to this the venue cancelled the event.

Looking at another venue that will accommodate larger numbers.

AF: Did you not anticipate from a PR perspective how bad this would look by moving the venue?
DL: We did weigh this up when making the decision.

DL: There needs to be a coalition of sorts going forward because there is so much mistrust between the fans. Going forward the club has to make strides in the trust factors. Barry and I have been here for a very short time, but have been faced with challenges on our time when we’re dealing with a whole bunch of outside influences rather than what we can be doing to help the club and the team. It is very time consuming and tiring.

We have made £2.5m in cost savings since we arrived. We had opportunities to sign players but had to wait right until the end of the transfer window before securing the loans. Ally McCoist was already aware of the Newcastle loan players and had gone down south to see them and thought their addition to the squad would be good.

DL: I lifted the ban on the BBC.

Discussion around the press and the challenges in dealing with them.

DL: We are a football club who are playing rubbish football

CM: We signed up to be a conduit between RFC and the fans.


5. How confident are you that the fans, who will be key in the voting at the EGM, will vote to keep the board?

DL: There is no way that Dave King can be 100% confident that he has the 51% votes requirement. If he was he would come out and communicate this publicly.

6. Within the "Notice of General Meeting" to take place in London on the 4th March, the Board advise that they had attempted to "negotiate" a compromise settlement with the requisitioners Mr. David King. They advise of their willingness at this time to embrace and facilitate at least one "Dave King" representative onto a proposed extended Board of Directors. This implies tacit acknowledgement that the well publicised Dave King issues with the South African tax man would NOT prove to be problematic nor insurmountable in going forward. Why then and ONLY after rebuff, do they now feel that his issues would be problematic and insurmountable?

BL: We are looking at the questions and we believe we are answering the questions. Question 6 – we never said we wouldn’t be embracing Dave King. We would embrace some of this people on the Board.

DL: In our opinion Dave King would not be passed as a ‘proper and fit person’ to sit on the Rangers’ Board by the AIM.

Discussion around what possibly could happen should the requisitioners win power.

7. Given the lengthy and expansive diatribe within the notice of meeting setting out arguments as to the unsuitability of the requisitioners Mr. Dave King as being a fit and proper person. Why then, at this moment in time is the Chairman of the Football Board negotiating the sale of an extremely sizeable shareholding to an individual who's previous history if measured in tandem on a like for like basis as that of the flawed reasoning presented by the board against Mr King would surely disqualify the reported purchaser (Lalit Modi) as being a fit and proper person.
BL: We had no knowledge of this, but it is entirely a private matter for the shareholder in question.


THE COMPANY & ITS FINANCES

8. Did Mike Ashley fund Charles Green in the Rangers takeover? When did Mike Ashley (and/or associates) first become involved with Rangers FC?
Why have you allowed Mike Ashley to increase his hold over Rangers in the face of SFA objections on dual ownership? Were recent comments regarding Sports Direct not having a shareholding in any other club an indication that Sports Direct will be a shareholder in Rangers FC to circumvent SFA regulations?

DL: Absolutely not.
BL: During the float of 2012
BL: MASH Holdings is Mike Ashley’s privately owned company
BL: Sports Direct are not shareholders currently. But they could be

9. This regime has presided over a mass desertion of its customer base with more leaving match by match that is a sure sign that the directors do not have the confidence of the most important stakeholders, i.e., their customers. What are your plans to win over these customers who have clearly expressed what they want?

DL: Touched on it earlier. We need a coalition of supporters groups. I don’t believe this works as it is today and needs to be more collaborative going forward.
DL: Discussion around the Daily Record and their behavior towards the club for some time. They are a law unto themselves, we couldn’t allow them access to then write untrue copy, and had to be banned.

DL: Winning over the fans is a combination of many things:
- Creating a connection with the fans and community
o We need the fans to regain their pride back in the team and the club
- Getting the club to financial stability
- Customer experience (it’s all about the football)
- Discussion around the stadium and the areas that are good and the areas that will need maintenance or improvement. The concourses are in great condition. The car parks need an overhaul
- Getting synergies between the running of the club and the fans
- More communications from the club is required. It’s not my forte, but I know that we need to get better at that

AF: Rangers fans are the most loyal in the world, but we won’t tolerate the club being run by people who don’t have Rangers’ best interests at heart.

The Family Area is under review. DL agreed to involve Christine M in ongoing discussions.

BL: This is the start of a long journey.

TJ: Still haven’t heard about what you’re going to do.
DL: We have to embrace those other parties that are around the club at the moment, and perhaps more. Discussions around the Easedale’s involvement in the club. Derek L and Barry L appreciate the way that they run their business and what they bring to Rangers.

AF: Discussion around the unknown people/groups in the background which leads to mistrust among the fans.


12. As Ashley is looking more and more likely to be in control of Rangers what is his short term plan and long term plan for Rangers? Can Mike Ashley or his representatives tell us his vision for the club?

DL: We can’t speak for Mike Ashley. SD has a football priority going forward and affiliation with 5 different clubs: Oldham, Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth, Newcastle and Rangers (was this correct?). Their model is taking over as many retail operations in football clubs and putting them ‘into the SD machine’ for ongoing retail revenues. I believe they can help Rangers sell more shirts overseas than we could ever have done on our own.

BL: I haven’t spoken to Mike Ashley since I left SD in September. Derek hasn’t spoken to him for longer than that, so we can’t speak to what his plans are.


14. The net loan from Mike Ashley (in whatever guise) recently increased from £3m to £5m, with no guarantee that it would increase to the reported £10m. For that additional £2m, the board gave away 26% of our retail income, a fixed charge over Murray Park, a floating charge over the rest of our assets excluding Murray Park, the club's registered trademarks and shirt sponsorship. Please justify how this amount of security can be justified for a mere additional £2m.

BL: In my opinion this was the best loan. We did have discussions with the Three Bears. We requested this in writing – they did this and then subsequently offered to increase the £6M loan to £10M but never put this in writing. Meanwhile we had the offer with Sports Direct – £5M up front, and another £5M facility to draw down from (after paying Mike Ashley’s £3M loan back). It takes 12-16 weeks to do a rights issue (which was estimated to raise £8M).

There was an American Investment firm who made an offer but with 12-15% interest and £1M set-up costs. We looked at the SD deal and it was the most favourable for the club. The Three Bears wanted a rights issue within 12-16 weeks that would help pay back 50% of the loan at that time. 50% of the remaining loan was to be paid back within 12-months.

We burn £1.2-£1.5M per month (an alarming rate) depending on game fixtures. SD’s first £5M doesn’t have a timeline for repayment (pay when you can). The 2nd loan has a timeline of 5-years after it has been called down.

The Three Bears loan was at a repayment percentage of 2% but the debt had a quicker repayment time. SD cost a further 26% in Rangers Retail, which cost roughly half a million in costs, which equates to around 5%. Rangers Retail financials:
- £7.5M in annual sales
- £5M is the cost of production
- £2.5M split between the club and SD (approx. £1M each after tax/deductions)

SD wanted to secure Ibrox but we fought against that.
- A Scottish law firm filed against Ibrox to protect from anyone else becoming involved and disrupting the deal. This is where the information came from about Ibrox being used as potential security

BL: 32RED are the sponsors for the next 2-years. Rangers gets approx. £300K per year from this. From the 2017/18 season SD will go into a joint venture if the loan is not yet repaid. This is an incentive for us to get our affairs in order and repay the loan.

DL: This and next week we are going to do some PR on the current situation with the club.

Next Steps: DL/BL to put this into ‘layman’s terms’ and circulate to RFB for review prior to publication to the general public.

BL: Not for minuting – the Three Bears shit themselves when they thought we’d accept their deal.

15. Why would Mr Green sell the stadium rights for £1. Is this a normal price in British football? If not, what was offered in return to Mr Llambias to get this deal?
Mr Ashley returned the stadium naming rights for retail deals including the Rangers badge and trademark. Did the board value the retail deals also at £1 or did they feel that the stadium naming rights were worth more than giving away the rights to retail, our crest and badges and any future sponsor deals.

DL: This came out when Charles Green did an interview with Jim White from his hospital bed. Mike Ashley was discussing this with Charles Green. DL was at Newcastle at the time. Sold the naming rights then to Wonga for £4m. There were discussions with CG and Derek was invited to a meeting with approx. 300 fans to discuss, and my role was to explain what it meant for Newcastle – CG’s interview made it sound like I was involved in the deal which I wasn’t.

BL: He returned the naming rights for 25% advertising rights at the stadium. The crest and badges are not part of this – they still belong to RFC.

DL: I feel that there is a fear of Mike Ashley being involved in the club.

18. Which shareholders refused the Sarver offer? Why was there apparently no meaningful contact/negotiations with Robert Sarver? Why was there outright rejection and no negotiations held with Mr Sarver when he was bidding for the club?

DL: Sarver came in with three different offers per share that were well below market value. He would need to get 75% agreement from the shareholders. It wasn’t a real deal – it appeared to be either trying to get the club for cheap, or a PR exercise. The NOMADs went to major shareholder institutions (approx. 45% of them) to gauge their interest and they said no. No further consultation was required.


20. RRL will declare a dividend of a total of £1,610,000 prior to the Transfer. The Club will use the proceeds of its share of this dividend, inter alia, to repay sums owing to SD in respect of the cessation of onerous leases on unprofitable stores entered into by a previous Rangers management team.
Q. Can you confirm exactly how much the club paid to SD in respect of the cessation of onerous leases on unprofitable stores'?

Q. Can you breakdown those costs and include such 'inter-alia' charges like transfer of leases, return of stock etc?

BL: The way the lease works it is the lower of the lease costs or the contract costs.

Q. Can you confirm what date the lease on the Belfast store was paid to, before that lease was taken up by the Mike Ashley majority owned chain Sweatshop Running?

BL: Paid up to December, 2014.

Q. Can you confirm how 'unprofitable' the Belfast store was along with the figures for other 'unprofitable' stores?

BL: £60,000 per year and it was on a 10-year lease. This was a Charles Green deal. Glasgow was losing slightly less


21. Can you advise why the club paid back £300,000 to Richard Bernstein and Eurovestec?
Can you explain the clubs payment of £50,000 to bishops PR when we had our own?
BL: Not on our watch.
DL: People know that I was involved in this company (Bishops). Lots of work was done by Bishops in the Green era. They are still involved in dealing with Sky on a game-by-game basis. I sold my shares to Sports Direct Media early in 2014.


22. Can you explain paying £1.1m for screens and wifi when the company charged 300k and furthermore, why was the cash sent to a company in Dubai?

DL: We wouldn’t take anyone to court as that would cost more than it would be worth if we were to pursue this as there isn’t enough evidence that there was wrong-doing, it was incompetency if we were to pursue this .During the period when Mr. Wallace was CEO, he got a similar quote even though the screens and wifi were in to see if it had been a good deal for RFC, it wasn’t but deal had been done, via a company in Dubai.
TC: What procurement process are we following?
DL: We would follow a standard procurement process of obtaining multiple quotes. We are also using our connections in football for advice on cost savings.

BL: We checked with IT and we had 75 mobile phones, and have subsequently dropped that to around 45.


24. Why have last year’s ST holders who did not renew not been contacted to find out why they took this course of action and how do you intend to entice them back(15-20k)? How many season tickets are the board forecasting to be sold next season?

Discussion around the lack of credit card / direct debit facility for season ticket payments for the season.
BL: The credit card company got cold feet and did not provide the facility for people to pay on credit or by direct debit. We will have the facility to pay by credit card and direct debit by next season.


DIRECTORS OF THE RFC BOARD

36. Can the Board offer a single example of actions that should give fans and shareholders any confidence in this Board's ability to manage the club or have any reason to believe it is acting in good faith and the best interests of the Club and the company?
DL: We’ve come in in good faith. This is a long journey. We were very excited to be involved with the club. We can do the job but need trust in what we’re doing. We can’t show our worth in a short period of time. If we are given the opportunity we will involve more people to reach out to the wider fan base.

BL: We don’t duck a fight. Admittedly it is worse than we thought it would be, but we’re still up for it.


40. Does Derek Llambias not consider himself to have a conflict of interest in that he is the majority shareholder in a PR firm charging £30 grand a month for services unknown to the Rangers accounts department.

This was confirmed as £30,000 per quarter, which AF thought to be correct as he is in PR, and as already stated DL is no longer a shareholder in Bishop PR.


73. Why did Llambias meet Stockbridge at Mar Hall?
BL: We were staying there at the same time. We went to the meeting to hear what he had to say, and discuss the deals that were signed during his tenure with the club.
Tom C

9:35pm – 9:48pm – Gary G had to leave his office building due to a fire alarm – Alison C-D continued with the minute taking as detailed below.

Final Questions
- ZI: is there any evidence King will win the 51%?
o BL: No, it is easy to blame the Board. We will seek to have a conversation with Three Bears and King. Somers is clumsy and did not agree with his setup of the AGM.
- CM: An AGM so close to Xmas?
o BL: It was the only possible date to have the AGM for accounts release purposes
- WP: If Dave King does not pass the ‘Fit and Purpose’ test then can he sit on the Football Board?
o DL: Yes. Sandy Easdale does not sit on the PLC board
- WP: Somers leaked email said he sat on the PLC board?
o DL: Sandy Easdale does not sit on the PLC board and a NOMAD oversees this with DL
- WP: Money made since retail agreement?
o BL: Around half a million but would need to clarify that for publication
All
Meeting Close and Date of Next Meeting
- Meeting brought to a close at 9:50pm
Tom C

Appendix 1

EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

1. The Board announced through Fans Board that the EGM will be held on Friday the 6th March and next morning changed the date for the meeting, on the same day the first batch of notices were posted to the shareholders giving the date as 4th of March, this just proved that the Board deliberately lied to the Fans Board and caused them embarrassment.

2. The Board intentionally and with malicious intent arranged the meeting outside Glasgow, especially at a place like London, so that fans and shareholders are not able to reach the venue.

3. The venue was also deliberately selected to only accommodate 500 people, thereby leaving thousands of the shareholders trying to get in, it is only with the farsightedness of the Millennium Hotel who cancelled the booking that the Board is now forced to look for another venue.

4. Apart from being bailed out with unfavourable loans from Mike Ashley every few months, what's your plans for this club and why should the shareholders not vote for your removal at the EGM?

5. How confident are you that the fans, who will be key in the voting at the EGM, will vote to keep the board?

6. Within the "Notice of General Meeting" to take place in London on the 4th March, the Board advise that they had attempted to "negotiate" a compromise settlement with the requisitioners Mr. David King. They advise of their willingness at this time to embrace and facilitate at least one "Dave King" representative onto a proposed extended Board of Directors. This implies tacit acknowledgement that the well publicised Dave King issues with the South African tax man would NOT prove to be problematic nor insurmountable in going forward. Why then and ONLY after rebuff, do they now feel that his issues would be problematic and insurmountable?

7. Given the lengthy and expansive diatribe within the notice of meeting setting out arguments as to the unsuitability of the requisitioners Mr. Dave King as being a fit and proper person. Why then, at this moment in time is the Chairman of the Football Board negotiating the sale of an extremely sizeable shareholding to an individual who's previous history if measured in tandem on a like for like basis as that of the flawed reasoning presented by the board against Mr King would surely disqualify the reported purchaser (Lalit Modi) as being a fit and proper person.

THE COMPANY & ITS FINANCES

8. Did Mike Ashley fund Charles Green in the Rangers takeover? When did Mike Ashley (and/or associates) first become involved with Rangers FC?
Why have you allowed Mike Ashley to increase his hold over Rangers in the face of SFA objections on dual ownership? Were recent comments regarding Sports Direct not having a shareholding in any other club an indication that Sports Direct will be a shareholder in Rangers FC to circumvent SFA regulations?

9. This regime has presided over a mass desertion of its customer base with more leaving match by match that is a sure sign that the directors do not have the confidence of the most important stakeholders, i.e., their customers. What are your plans to win over these customers who have clearly expressed what they want?


10. How can the board justify the acceptance of Ashley’s loan on such punitive terms to our future income stream. The alternative offer was a genuine investment in equity terms which must surely be more attractive than loans, with huge costs to the revenue from retail. How can you justify that is being in the best interest of all shareholders and the long term financial stability of the club? What was the reasoning behind accepting a poorer deal, financially, for the club?

11. Is it the board's intent to keep taking loans from Ashley to keep club afloat or have they any ambition to generate income in any other way considering Ashley seems to receive the majority of the income generated by the club? How are we going to pay back MA loans?
Why is Ashley now allowed to own 75% of our retail rights?

12. As Ashley is looking more and more likely to be in control of Rangers what is his short term plan and long term plan for Rangers? Can Mike Ashley or his representatives tell us his vision for the club?

13. Is it for Rangers to be a success or his deals that he has for himself/Sports Direct to be successful? Will the discontent of the Newcastle fans on his running of the club be considered on how he would likely run Rangers?

14. The net loan from Mike Ashley (in whatever guise) recently increased from £3m to £5m, with no guarantee that it would increase to the reported £10m. For that additional £2m, the board gave away 26% of our retail income, a fixed charge over Murray Park, a floating charge over the rest of our assets excluding Murray Park, the club's registered trademarks and shirt sponsorship. Please justify how this amount of security can be justified for a mere additional £2m.

15. Why would Mr Green sell the stadium rights for £1. Is this a normal price in British football? If not, what was offered in return to Mr Llambias to get this deal?
Mr Ashley returned the stadium naming rights for retail deals including the Rangers badge and trademark. Did the board value the retail deals also at £1 or did they feel that the stadium naming rights were worth more than giving away the rights to retail, our crest and badges and any future sponsor deals.

16. Are the Board aware that certain IPO investors were refunded part of their investment, due to the floatation price being 70p and not the £1 promised by Charles Green. Did Mr Ashley recoup some of his initial investment and if so, in what way?
Does Ashley plan on selling NUFC and Owning us outright or is he just here for quick financial gain?

17. Will the board ever accept anyone else's money apart from Mike Ashley? What happens when the loan money runs out?
If there is no short term funding forthcoming what will the board do to act in the interests of Rangers to ensure that SD loan is paid off before shirt sponsorship is diverted to RRL?

18. Which shareholders refused the Sarver offer?
Why was there apparently no meaningful contact/negotiations with Robert Sarver?
Why was there outright rejection and no negotiations held with Mr Sarver when he was bidding for the club?

19. Can the directors list out the exact reasons why they felt that the loan from Ashley was better for the club than the T3Bs proposal? Are the current board genuinely interested in talks with Dave King and/or “The Three Bears” to find a solution to the way forward for the club?
20. RRL will declare a dividend of a total of £1,610,000 prior to the Transfer. The Club will use the proceeds of its share of this dividend, inter alia, to repay sums owing to SD in respect of the cessation of onerous leases on unprofitable stores entered into by a previous Rangers management team.
Q. Can you confirm exactly how much the club paid to SD in respect of the cessation of onerous leases on unprofitable stores'?

Q. Can you breakdown those costs and include such 'inter-alia' charges like transfer of leases, return of stock etc?
Q. Can you confirm what date the lease on the Belfast store was paid to, before that lease was taken up by the Mike Ashley majority owned chain Sweatshop Running?
Q. Can you confirm how 'unprofitable' the Belfast store was along with the figures for other 'unprofitable' stores?

21. Can you advise why the club paid back £300,000 to Richard Bernstein and Eurovestec?
Can you explain the clubs payment of £50,000 to bishops PR when we had our own?
22. Can you explain paying £1.1m for screens and wifi when the company charged 300k and furthermore , why was the cash sent to a company in Dubai?

23. How much in lost income through supporter boycott are the current board members costing Rangers on a monthly basis? Why when deciding on best course of action in reference to loans or shareholder involvement; no emphasis was put on the actions that would attract back thousands of customers instead of accepting Mike Ashley loans that lose us supporters in droves?

24. Why have last year’s ST holders who did not renew not been contacted to find out why they took this course of action and how do you intend to entice them back(15-20k)? How many season tickets are the board forecasting to be sold next season?

25. Why was the release of new shares to existing holders abandoned in favour of MA loans?
How will we go about raising the cash injection our Club needs if we get promoted? Are there plans in place if we don't get promoted? What would be the implication of not achieving promotion this year? What are your long term plans for the funding of Rangers?

26. Why are the Rangers Retail accounts not published as they are now overdue. (Due 31/01/15). Give us a breakdown of the £ 16 million in other operating costs?

27. At the AGM, when asked, the board refused to detail any financial particulars with regards to sponsorship deals, why were the details not released then?

28. When will the board be doing a rights issue with the 40m unissued shares, this can potentially bring in upwards of10m investment straight into the clubs account, why have you not already started this process?

29. Can you confirm that a PR Firm which acts for Mike Ashley was invoicing Rangers FC for fees in December 2012 (see link)? http://invalid.invalid/, If so, what does this relate to?

30. Since RIFC has been set up, there have been numerous versions of board of directors, and one common theme is that at any point in time, the current board put much of the responsibility of the poor state of the club on previous versions of the board. Why have this board not looked to take action against previous directors for not acting in the best interests of the company of which they are directors? How do you intend to recoup some of the millions lost by executive mismanagement. Have you considered appointing an independent auditor to forensically go through the books?

31. How can we, the support, be assured that Mike Ashley’s intentions are for the benefit of Rangers FC and not just Sports Direct?

32. Are you able to provide details of the Sports Direct/Rangers Retail agreement which seems heavily balanced in the favour of Sports Direct, particularly following Mike Ashley’s latest loan agreement. Previous Fans Board minutes stated that Rangers get approx. £10 per shirt sold whereas other reports claim that Rangers receive 75p for every £10 sold in merchandise. What is the truth?

33. Did Sandy Easdale use his 26% voting block to vote down resolution 9 at the AGM, which would have allowed a share issue and brought money into the club.

34. What is the total payment from RFC for all activities related to Sports direct, Mash Holdings and any other company within Mike Ashley’s group of companies?

35. Why were papers submitted to establish a security over Ibrox stadium if it was never your intention to grant one? Why were those papers submitted while you were still in talks with Park, Letham & Taylor over a deal potentially including security over Auchenhowie?


DIRECTORS OF THE RFC BOARD

36. Can the Board offer a single example of actions that should give fans and shareholders any confidence in this Board's ability to manage the club or have any reason to believe it is acting in good faith and the best interests of the Club and the company?
37. This Board has allegedly told lies at the 2013 AGM, suppressed questions at both the 2013 and 2014 AGM's, made public statements that have been proven to be false, shown a complete inability to accurately forecast the company's financial position. Mr Somers has presided over a more than halving of the share price, does he really believe his public claims that he thinks he has done a good job? Who was this job "good" for? Clearly not the majority of shareholders, not the fans who have suffered recent debacles. So, who?

38. Why did our Chairman tell shareholders at the AGM that Derek Llambias was appointed after a rigorous and far-reaching recruitment process? I quote from the AGM "Derek stood out as the best candidate from 7 or 8 applicants" Anyone else at the AGM prepared to back this up? Who were the other candidates for the CEO and FD positions?

39. Do you believe David Somers’ position is untenable after the email leaks?

40. Does Derek Llambias not consider himself to have a conflict of interest in that he is the majority shareholder in a PR firm charging £30 grand a month for services unknown to the Rangers accounts department.

41. Mr Llambias how can we trust a single word you say when you happily lied about stadium renaming putting good money into Rangers?

42. Can Mr Llambias and Mr Leach give an example of a decision that they have taken that is in the best interests of RIFC and has been to the detriment of MASH, Sports Direct or Mike Ashley?

43. What expertise or contribution does James Easdale bring into the boardroom? What experience does Sandy Easdale have to qualify him a member of the 'football board'?

44. If a decision had to be made that was good for RIFC but bad for MASH which way would the CEO and CFO vote? Can the board provide evidence that they are working in the best interests of Rangers and not Mike Ashley?
45. How can this board say it works for the benefit of the club when its members cost the club millions in lost revenue through merely staying in position? Are the current directors of Rangers FC more interested in protecting their seats on the board than doing what is best for the club?

46. Can this board tell us of one action it has taken that has attracted new custom and countered the losses in custom due solely to their continued presence?

47. Directors’ remunerations were advised in Fans Board's recent meeting. Are these for a fixed term or are increases due if Rangers gain promotion and qualify for European competition?

48. Does the board not realise that no matter what they do or say their position remains untenable?


PLAYERS AND TEAM MANAGEMENT

49. Who selected the 5 Loan players and who is paying their wages?
How were they scouted? What loan fee did Rangers pay? What is net increase to wage bill after selling our best prospect? What are we planning for next year? What impact will this make on the net £2m loan?
What proportion of the Newcastle loan signing's wages are being paid, directly or indirectly by RIFC?

50. Why was Lewis Macleod sold on the cheap when a loan from Mike Ashley or the 3 bears was going to happen?

51. Why aren't you appointing a new manager?

52. Why put McCoist on gardening leave when he resigns but not do the same with McDowall? Why persist with McDowall when he's surrendered any credibility he had?
Why have we not yet agreed a settlement with the Management team?

53. What are the plans in regards to players out of contract in the summer? Will there be a wholesale clear out of the first team squad in the summer?

54. What steps are the board taking to put in place a scouting system?

55. Who is currently in charge of signing players and who will be responsible for this moving forward in particular out of contract players in June?

56. Who will be responsible on the board for seeking a replacement for the current caretaker manager, what are you looking for in his replacement and what timescale will this be achieved in?

57. We are a football club and that must always be the priority. Performances and result have been shocking and the lack of action from the Board is negligent.

58. Is Auchenhowie being used to the fullest?
What is the training schedule like? Are the players training full time, due to looking unfit and below par poor performances?

59. Furthermore, the youth and signing policy has been abysmal - instead of focusing on developing and purchasing youth, who can be sold for a profit, we have spent millions on 30 plus players who have no resale value whatsoever. We need to play "moneyball", and with the right set up it wouldn't be hard to achieve.

60. Given that no director currently at Rangers has any knowledge of football how do you intend to fill all the managerial vacancies. Given the lack of credibility of the board how do Rangers ensure representation on the various governing bodies like the SFA and SPFL.


IBROX

61. Who owns Ibrox stadium and Auchenhowie?

62. Do we have a plan to re-furbish Ibrox? If so what and when?

63. What are the plans for Edmiston House?


SUPPORTERS
64. What was the point in the Fans Board? No one at the club engages with the support, nothing even gets passed to the Fans Board either.

65. How are the club going to win back the fans that are staying away due to mistrust of the Board/poor football? What plans do the board have for encouraging the fans back to Ibrox?

66. Will the Board seek to protect the trademarks from those using them without permission?
67. What are their plans in tackling the profiteers and their merchandising schemes?
68. When are the benefits of the Rangers membership going to happen? (I'd love to see the training at Auchenhowie, and have a Q&A with the manager and CEO).

69. This club has been treated shamefully over the last few years, with various injustices have being wrought upon her by government agencies, the football authorities and the media. What guarantees can this new regime give us that they intend to reverse this trend and what would be their strategy to achieve this?
70. When will the club start defending itself and its fans from the constant media attacks? Do we have any plans to bring in another PR company to assist with this defence and if so who?
Do we have a media/PR strategy and if so isn’t it about time it went on the offensive, i.e., be proactive rather than all too often, reactive? Like, banning media and newspapers.

MISCELLANEOUS
71. Are you aware of any other football teams in Europe that have managed to lose so many season ticket holders in such a short period of time.
72. Why were the Malaysians at Murray Park?
73. Why did Llambias meet Stockbridge at Mar Hall?
74. Who sat on the panel for Llambias appointment?

75. How much will we have to pay for the return of the unsold semi final t-shirts?
76. I was wondering if the loans are paid in full back to Mike Ashley my understanding is the security of property is transferred back to Rangers. My question is what about the two people he is allowed on the board. Do they still belong on the board if the money is paid back?

77. Why did you make a statement to the website this week claiming neither Llambias nor Leach were board appointments of Ashley or Sports Direct, contrary to the stock exchange announcement announcing the appointment of Llambias, and then delete that statement the following day?

78. Has Sandy Easdale thought of an explanation for his meeting with convicted bank thief and money launderer Rafat Rizvi yet, since his first excuse that Rizvi was an advisor to a potential Malaysian investor was denied by the investor?

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Good effort from the RFB. To be fair Leach comes across as less of an arsehole than Llambias, but neither emerge with any credit.

I note one of my questions was asked (for a single example of the Board acting in the club's best interests) yet the answer appears to have been "no" they couldn't.

Not sure if Leachthinks we button up the back with his claim that he hasn't spoken to Ashley since September and Llambias since before that. I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks that's true.

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DL: Winning over the fans is a combination of many things:

- Creating a connection with the fans and community

o We need the fans to regain their pride back in the team and the club

- Getting the club to financial stability

- Customer experience (it’s all about the football)

- Discussion around the stadium and the areas that are good and the areas that will need maintenance or improvement. The concourses are in great condition. The car parks need an overhaul

- Getting synergies between the running of the club and the fans

- More communications from the club is required. It’s not my forte, but I know that we need to get better at that

Good use of synergies in there. Good word.
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" Derek Llambias’ (DL) opening remark was that the ‘Vote of No Confidence’ that the RFB publicised via Facebook was in effect the whole of the RFB resigning. William Gillan challenged this by stating that a ‘Vote of No Confidence’ is in no way associated with resignation and so was not our resignation. This was contested by DL. This matter was unresolved but subsequently agreed by DL that RFB is still indeed in officially place."

What a way to start a meeting. Get people immediately on the back foot.

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