Second Statement

[RossRFC1 40]

https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/statement-dave-king/

[julescotia 11,407]

I have issued a select number of statements to give supporters a reliable update on the progression that your board committed to almost two years ago.

Some of the content relates to a subject matter that the Club would normally only deal with at our AGM or results announcements. However, under the circumstances, I feel that inclusion is appropriate to ensure that supporters are properly informed and don’t have to rely on uninformed media speculation.

For the avoidance of doubt, I repeat the key elements;

We would invest sufficient resources to ensure immediate promotion to the SPFL.

In season two we would further invest to be competitive in the SPFL and qualify for Europe at the end of the season. Our realistic expectation was to come second. This was to be achieved by signing five or six players of a quality that improved the squad that won the Championship.

In season three we would again invest in five or six players that further improved the squad to compete for the title and progress in Europe.

I personally estimated that we would require an investment of £30 million over that period to achieve our stated objectives.

I now comment on each of these elements;

We hired, at short notice, a relatively untested management team that recruited a number of players and introduced a style of play that was pleasing to our supporters. Significant investment was made on and off the park and the Championship was ultimately won in some style. The season was an unqualified success and the management team was rewarded with a vastly improved contract.

This season we did not stick to our plan of signing five or six players because the manager appealed to the Board for additional signings. Despite the concern about departing from our plan of prudent phased investment, the Board backed the manager’s request for accelerated investment. This placed us significantly above the football resources available to our competitors (other than Celtic) and was expected to ensure that we finished a strong second in the league and had a squad that could be added to, close season, to make a strong impact in the Europa League qualifiers. While I still believe that we can finish a strong second, I am stating the obvious to admit that we are not where we anticipated we would be at this stage of the season and we have not repeated the success that we had with our signings from the previous season.

Following from the above it is clear that we are behind our target for next season but, given that we recognise this, it is the duty of the Board to take steps to get things back on track. That is what our supporters trust us to do and rightly demand that we do. We remain 100% committed to the plan we commenced with and that the supporters continue to endorse resoundingly.

£18 million of the originally estimated £30 million investment has already been made. Ultimately, the overall investment in any football team is driven by the net player spend and, given that we are behind target with our squad, there may be a further need to accelerate investment at the end of this season. It is my present personal view that we will, in all likelihood, invest more than £30 million before we are where we want to be but this will be revisited once we have a new permanent management team in place.

The vagaries of running a football club are not new to your Board. It is our job to react to and manage these as they arise during any season – and from season to season. Despite the relative disappointment of this season so far, the bigger project remains firmly on track and we will take whatever corrective measures are necessary. On this point, I want to deal with one issue that has recently received wide coverage in the media.

It is a vital obligation and fiduciary responsibility for any Board to continually monitor the progress of the company’s financial and operating performance against its budgets and plans. This is done at regular Board meetings where all aspects of the company’s business is reviewed and evaluated. What is stated and dealt with during those meetings is confidential and governed by a number of rules, regulations, laws and ethics. Put simply, what is said in Board meetings stays in Board meetings.

Ahead of the Board meeting at the end of January, I advised the manager that the Board wished to review our recruitment plan and performance over the previous two windows. This was a routine request and was timely given the concerns that everyone at the Club has with regard to the high level of wages we were paying relative to the performance on the pitch. In particular, a large portion of our wage bill was not even seeing regular playing time.

Under normal circumstances such a review would remain confidential. However, in this instance, your Board’s routine questioning of management was leaked to the media and conveyed as being a negative reflection of the Board’s attitude to the manager and the recruitment department. It was confirmed to me that the leak did not come from a board member.

Irrespective of who leaked confidential information, it is clear from subsequent media comments that the manager did not respond well to the Board reviewing his recruitment activity. This is a strange position to adopt and, in my personal experience, is not a position that a more experienced manager would adopt. No manager in the world can reasonably expect to be beyond scrutiny.

Things moved quickly from that point. There were rumours that the management team (presumably their agent) was negotiating with English clubs and, in one instance, I was informally approached to ask if the Club would waive compensation if the management team was to leave. While this was unsubstantiated by direct confirmation from the Club in question, I was alert to a conversation that Mark Warburton had with me after joining the Club in which he advised me that his long-term ambition was to manage in the EPL and he viewed Rangers as a stepping-stone to achieve this. His comments to the media simultaneously reinforced his present unhappiness at the Club.

I was therefore not surprised when the management team’s agent approached the Club’s Managing Director Stewart Robertson to request a meeting which was held in Glasgow on Monday this week. The outcome of this meeting was that the agent subsequently offered that Mark, David and Frank would resign with immediate effect without compensation as long as the Club, in turn, agreed to waive compensation from any new Club that they signed for. After discussion the Board accepted this offer and employment was immediately terminated. In order for us to achieve our ambitions we need employees that, like your Board members, will always put Rangers first.

While we were dealing with the admin and press releases relating to the resignation the agent again contacted us and asked to defer the resignation until the management had secured a new club. I assume that the new deal had somehow collapsed at the last minute. The Board met to consider this request but resolved to hold them to the original agreement.

We are now in the process of reviewing the best interim and long-term solution for ensuring that a modern and robust footballing structure is put in place that will continue with and entrench the footballing philosophy that we have in place. We also must protect and support the marvellous work that has been achieved by the Academy over the last two years.

Dave King
11 February 2017

Article Copyright © 2016. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to

 

[one55 1,510]

fs 

[cr3_bear 14,808]

Load of pish 

[Blue Avenger 22,567]

12 minutes ago, Courtyard Bear said:

I understand your thinking mate. 

Stopping that shower would be nice, I just don't want us to rush into an appointment. Take our time let's see who is interested, actually get them in for an interview and be interviewed by people who know wtf they are doing, so current board please stay away. 

I honestly think we have secured a euro place simply by getting shot of W&W. 

TBH I can't see any manager worth his salt coming anywhere near us with King in charge and the manner of this latest event won't help. Fuck, they only need to check out King's MO and we're fucked. We will end up with some loser desperate for a job or some young turk on the climb, with both options having little to spend.

I don't mind us tightening our belts and living within our means, but having all these trough guzzling Directors that add absolutely no value is boiling my piss, along with this squad of overpaid under performing mediocrity. We will never have the finances to challenge the scum whilst King is around and fans need to accept that and lower our expectations. I only ask for transparency and no more fucking lies, but that is never going to happen with mendacious at the helm, so it will be more mediocrity, lies and spin along with the over spending to get absolutely nowhere and fans losing the plot when results are bad and repeat!.

 

[ElBufalo20 7,875]

What's the £18m that's already been invested?

[Imodium 410]

Fair enough

[Jonok 1,245]

Good statement.

[cr3_bear 14,808]

2 minutes ago, Sasa'onlyPLGsuccess'Papac said:

What's the £18m that's already been invested?

That was the point I lost interest 

[Getstiffed 8,863]

2 minutes ago, Sasa'onlyPLGsuccess'Papac said:

What's the £18m that's already been invested?

INB4 Mcparland and Warburton stole it

[Bertent 2,081]

Well it is a statement.

[eskbankloyal 19,446]

Well I was not expecting that.

Very pleased with it - but time for action to back up the words.

Clear to me Warburton was a) not up to it as a manger of our club and b) a snake.

[legalbeagle 3,734]

People who choose to not believe it will never believe anything and should probably stop demanding statements. It seems a pretty comprehensive statement about the whole situation.

As it did yesterday, it seems that our management team thought they had a better offer, it collapsed and they tried to hang on while clearly not having full commitment.

[Gaz52 11,837]

Well nothing we don't already know in that statement

It is good to read about the financial status, he doesn't talk like someone who's club is going into administration, does he?

[PRW. 5,631]

Good statement.

Clears things up and confirms many peoples suspicions re: Warburton.

Time to move on and build.

[Vanoli 4,625]

Fair enough. While we all have our criticisms of the board and investment, to me this is a separate issue - i wouldn't expect anything less assuming this version of events is true. Sad, as i thought Warburton was better than this, but it just goes to show how truly weak the man is. 

[BridgeIsBlue 66,604]

18 fucking million to be in this state 

Shambles.

[Jamie0202 12,220]

Quote

I was therefore not surprised when the management team’s agent approached the Club’s Managing Director Stewart Robertson to request a meeting which was held in Glasgow on Monday this week. The outcome of this meeting was that the agent subsequently offered that Mark, David and Frank would resign with immediate effect without compensation as long as the Club, in turn, agreed to waive compensation from any new Club that they signed for. After discussion the Board accepted this offer and employment was immediately terminated. In order for us to achieve our ambitions we need employees that, like your Board members, will always put Rangers first.

Why didn't we hear until 9pm on a Friday night that this was the case? Why fucking 9pm?

Why was Mark taking training and press conferences up until Friday?

[LiviGer 648]

Pleasantly surprised with that statement. 

[Negri's lovechild 13,859]

Its a very open statement and covers everything we had been questioning tbh

[RossS1873 1,656]

Just confirmed everything we knew. It's done, we move on. The next few months will be vital.

[Mols94 3,669]

He must be including the wages of the new players when he says we've spent 18 of the 30 million, disappointing if that's the case.

[tannerall 25,935]

"The manager did not respond well to the Board reviewing his recruitment activity. This is a strange position to adopt and, in my personal experience, is not a position that a more experienced manager would adopt."

I strongly suspect that we are only hearing one side of that. Especially as King admitted in statement above that we have been short changed already in investment budget by about 12 million quid...................and fuck knows where the £18 million has gone.

 

[Ryju84 3,170]

2 minutes ago, legalbeagle said:

People who choose to not believe it will never believe anything and should probably stop demanding statements. It seems a pretty comprehensive statement about the whole situation.

As it did yesterday, it seems that our management team thought they had a better offer, it collapsed and they tried to hang on while clearly not having full commitment.

 

Just now, Gaz52 said:

Well nothing we don't already know in that statement

It is good to read about the financial status, he doesn't talk like someone who's club is going into administration, does he?

@legalbeagle Yep, seems well written and more in depth than I expected. Thought it was just goin to be about W&W, not the whole back story on other matters.

@Gaz52 One of my first thoughts. So hopefully it puts those rumours to bed

[Deanzmeanzheinz 4,312]

https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/statement-dave-king/

Guaranteed 20 pager with a mendacious count that would choke a horse.