JCDBigBear

Ally said that he had two lists drawn up pre-takeover. Post-takeover he announced he had torn up List B. He is likely to have a fair amount of work done in searching for new recruits. Even on a holiday he only has to use his phone or access the internet for e-mails, etc. That wouldn't have to be every day and would not involve too much time. I am sure people will have been delegated to make certain enquiries already. As long as we get the right players in. No more Beatties, Velickas or Websters please, nor El Hadji. Diouf was only fun after we had a game in the bag in my opinion. Too slow, too much "baggage" and too much money. I don't think we need too many players in any case. I'd like Weiss and Bartley back in for a season if possible. Hutton and Ness will step up as permanent first team squad players. Other recruits may depend on who is leaving.

The RFC accounts year end is 30th June. Chances are they won't be available in audited form until autumn but at least you will see the figures then. There is an information document supposed to be sent to minority shareholders approx 6th June. That may shed some more light in the interim. I can't believe the bad "press" at the moment from fans. None of us are party to the financial dealings and wild rumour and speculation do not help. No amount of hand-wringing will alter things at present. The negative posts and articles will only make some people reluctant to invest in the Club or by Season Tickets or provide sponsorship deals. We all need to sit back and see what transpires. We will know soon enough.

I think we have all agreed that there are a lot of unknowns to the takeover but there were a lot of "knowns" previously where we were in deep manure, owed millions and the taxman was at the door for £2.7m. At least now we may have "unknowns" but for the time being debt is not a concern. Spangles, your negativity threatens to seriously unhinge you. Let it go for at least a short while and retain whatever sanity you have left. You should write books because the sub-plots you see everywhere are without equal.

One is the Tax Case which is still at tribunal. At this point we do not owe the tax. That is the main one. The second "case" is an actual liability which only came to light during the takeover in February. It is £1.87m plus £0.9 in interest. Think I can see why Mr McIntyre has to go!!! http://www.rangers.co.uk/staticFiles/d5/6f/0,,5~159701,00.pdf

Sorry was typing my last post and had not seen yours. I was at the LLoyds AGM last week. Lloyds want out of all football lending. RFC was servicing the debt and repaying capital borrowed in accordance with an agreed repayment plan but Lloyds just wanted rid of Rangers (and other clubs). There is nothing to stop the Club borrowing from a different bank in future but we have to watch debt levels. Qualification for the Champions League could make a significant difference for 2011-12. All our past surplus cash from CL participation has gone into paying back debt.

There is a statement due to be released by Craig Whyte to all minority shareholders on 6th June, at least that is the date proposed. That should go a reasonable way to explaining some of the public side of things. I don't expect to hear a great deal of detail on Whyte's capital as I wouldn't tell you my personal wealth details and I see no reason for him to do so. I cannot believe that Sir David Murray has not had a close look into where Whyte's money was coming from and ensuring he had sufficient capital without borrowing to the hilt. That was what the Club already had so it would be pointless for Murray to agree a change of ownership without a change in the debt (albeit through inter-company borrowing/lending). Alistair Johnston must have been party to a fair amount of the information prior to the takeover. I'm disappointed that he refused to resign. If he didn't like what was happening he should have resigned and made it clear why he was resigning. It appears that Whyte is unwilling to keep Johnston updated with his finances and again, I can understand why. Johnston was leaving anyway so has no need to be informed any longer. Paul Murray should have come up with his takeover package much earlier. He had been on the Board for a few years so why wait until the last minute? Was he hoping to pick up Rangers for a fraction after administration and a points deduction? What about Johnston in the plan B? There are far too many unknowns for any of us to form a proper judgement. It is all speculation and we are only fed the selective bits of information which certain people want us to know and not the full story. The media simply publish the speculation as it feeds the frenzy. After the Plan B takeover proposal and the anti-Whyte stance from existing Board members, those involved were all a certainty to leave. I just wished they had had the decency to resign quietly at this stage and keep their public criticism quiet at this time. Whyte is innocent until proven guilty. Johnston only had to say that he hoped Whyte would strengthen the team as promised then wished him and the Club well and departed. The personal acrimony has given rise to some knee-jerk panic and comment from supporters and media. Let it go and wait and see what transpires in the next few weeks. The debt to Lloyds has been cleared in full. We are therefore £18m better off than we we were a couple of weeks ago. I don't know the financial status of Whyte or his plans for the Club apart from what has been said by him in press releases. The Club accounts will show what the financial status is with regard to any borrowings but these will not be available until autumn. I suppose actions will speak louder than words in relation to team strengthening and we all hope that Whyte keeps his word. In the meantime let us bask in the warm glow of the 54th title. All this negative stuff merely deflects from our achievements this season. All will be revealed in due course. WATP

Yes it is true. The money has been paid. I went to the Lloyds AGM on 18th May at SECC and after I complained at that meeting about Lloyds treatment of Rangers FC, one of their board directors spoke to me after it and confirmed that Lloyds had been paid. I was actually a bit shocked because the Lloyds chairman actually apologised and the other director approached me at the end as I was leaving.

It was raised on 23rd as a reminder. I had a wee tear in my eye thinking back 39 years. Memories are still reasonably clear. What a great time I had. Goosebumps every time I talk or write about it.

Just a few points from me on this: Mr Johnston is unlikely to be bitter as he never actually wanted the job. No-one actually knows what Mr Whyte plans in regard to financing team building, only time will tell. The removal of Board members who were opposed to Mr Whyte is hardly a surprise. I am not entirely sorry about some of the directors being removed as I am unaware of exactly what useful purpose they served to Rangers FC. Before he became chairman, what did Mr Johnston do for the Club? What did Paul Murray bring? Mr McIntyre's suspension as Finance director, again no shock. I wouldn't want him in charge of anything to do with finance when you think of our Club's previous state. Mr Bain, well I think he sided with the alternative takeover boys which was a big mistake. Also suspect that Mr Whyte wants someone else as CEO. I also question why the alternative takeover people didn't move earlier if their idea was workable. One last point, at least we have no debt to Lloyds so Mr Whyte must have come up with a fair amount of cash for that move. Where is Mr Ellis in this? We can only hope that we are moving in the right direction.

I park near Kinning Park underground every game. It's only a 20 minute walk (or take the underground). You walk back as it's quicker on foot. Lambhill Street or Cornwall Street. Check it out on google earth.

Neither of us knows whether or not McClelland's position in UEFA has helped us or not. I will claim that it certainly can't do us any harm. It's easier to make changes from the inside than from outside. At this stage, we need all the help we can get. Our own fans cause us the problems with UEFA not our directors.

If I bought a company and did not see eye-to-eye with smaller shareholders on the Board then I would want my own people in, not just to be "yes" men but because I valued and trusted their opinion. Clearly Craig Whyte does not want people on the Board who tried to prevent/delay his takeover. I might have been a bit more sympathetic to the likes of Murray (Paul) and Johnston if they had made their moves earlier. As for McIntyre, as he was the finance director for a number of years I would not have trusted the guy with pocket money. Bain is a bit of an enigma. I'm not sure where his loyalties lay or lie. I do think he is overpaid and it now appears that his severance package may not be entirely "above board". We can all speculate as much as we like on this but it will no doubt be made clear in time. I can't see how much has changed for the fans or the Club since the date of the takeover with the exception of the Martin Bain aspect. It all depends just how much work he did on his own. If he delegated much of his work and just rubber-stamped things then there will be little effect on Rangers. If he kept much of his work to himself then that will be more problematic. It is never a good thing for a business to have a lot of detail only known by one person. You never know when they may get "hit with a bus" so to speak. When I saw Whyte and Bain in the Stand at the first game after the takeover, the lack of affinity between them was quite apparent. Bain looked like about as happy as a tim at Inverness. His tea may not have been out but it was certainly just about to be served.

Bain and McIntyre are suspended for irregularities allegedly due to what is in their contracts under what their severance terms would be. Johnston had said he would resign as Chairman on 16th May, not sure if that was also as an ordinary director. Couldn't see any of the four involved getting left on the Board after blocking Whyte then trying an alternative takeover. I would have thought that the Club may need Bain in place because of his knowledge of Scottish football administration. Perhaps there are others in the background who do much of the work. I would certainly keep McClelland because he has a very high position in UEFA.

There is no definitive answer to where the term "Light Blues" arose. One side promotes the "lightness of foot" view and another is that compared to the dark blue of say Scotland, Dundee, Falkirk type colours, the royal blue was lighter. If Gers were playing Dundee they would be the dark blues and we the light blues. I has been Royal Blue for over 100 years so that will do for me. Some photos of 1890s show the players wearing what appears to be a blue which would be similar to royal blue.

This is a very depressing topic. I had (thankfully) forgotten most of the dross players we had signed in past seasons. It must be one of these "safety valve" things where your mind tries to blank out unhappy memories!!!! Seriously though, it has brought more than one wry grin and shake of the head from me when I see some of the names cropping up here. If we had every penny back we spent just on the failures we would be one of the richest clubs in Britain. At least I can take heart from knowing that the dregs of society at the San Giro have wasted a lot more.

Rideout only spent about half a season with us to my recollection. Played pretty well. I remember last game of 91 -92 season at Aberdeen, he played centre half and was outstanding. Coisty scored two fabulous goals that day (2 nil win) which took the headlines away from Rideout's performance. What about Emerson and Djordjic. Both were obscure when playing. Emerson at least scored the goal in our draw away at Panathinaikos but that was it.

Wee Johnny Hubbard was a great player. Missed 3 out of 57 penalties. He was a favourite of my great uncle. Not in the obscure bracket because he played 238 times for Gers. Prodan was a disaster but thankfully only £2.2 m. Never played for 1st team. He was overshadowed in the bad buy stakes by the Tims signing the appropriately named Scheidt for £5m. He only played 2 or 3 times.

Johnny Hamilton played for Rangers for 5 years and played in 2 treble winning seasons. Hardly obscure. He didn't play in every final but has a Scottish Cup medal and League Cup medal. Davie Mitchell played 45 games in 2 seasons and played for Australia. Again not obscure. Eggen was so obscure he was invisible.

Blue Cornflakes: Your post is also a disgrace.

Your post is a disgrace. Have you seen Rangers play in the last 3 seasons? Not every foreign player is like Novo or Albertz, they don't always buy into the fan-for-life bracket. I'm sure he will always have a soft spot for Rangers but we can't expect everyone to turn into a diehard bluenose. Bougherra has played consistently well in his 3 years. He has been available for transfer for 2 of these years and not at his request. The Club would have accepted any (not particularly) decent offer because of bank pressure. During these years he has never lacked commitment. There is no guarantee that we can get a decent replacement and as someone else noted previously, we may need 2 centre backs if he goes. At £2.5m that represents £625k per year. If I thought that we could get another SPL title with Bougherra in place I'd happily forego the extra we may get in a transfer fee.

Never got one of the bullfight posters myself, just the compulsory sombrero but that eventually got the heave some years later. An earlier post mentioned the pitch invasion but he got it slightly wrong. After Stein's goal, some fans ran on but soon were back in the stands. Second invasion was just a couple of minutes from the end but that was because some people thought the game was over. The actual final whistle is when the real show of joy took place. There was no fighting with anyone at that point. Fans were over at main stand side just celebrating and that is on tape. All the players eventually got off the park and up the tunnel. It was after that when the Spanish police suddenly started laying into everyone with their batons. The fans mostly withdrew at first but when people saw that the police were beating up fans of all ages lying on the ground or having turned their backs, an absolute wave of Gers fans spontaneously charged back at the police and drove them off the park (some even out the stadium). TV footage finished with the Gers fans at the Main Stand side and on the pitch celebrating. The Spanish tv coverage was stopped and then the police began their attack. There is no tv footage of fighting because the Spanish authorities made sure that it was off. They never expected anyone to fight back!! You can bet your last penny that if the Spanish police had evidence that showed us in the wrong they would have done so. They didn't want to show that they started it. UEFA finally saw reason and reduced the Club ban to one year. The one year ban was basically because we invaded the pitch 3 times. There is no evidence of fighting/rioting having occurred before or during the game, nor was there anything after leaving the stadium. Our hotel was at Tibidabo which was on a hilltop behind Barcelona. There was a funicular railway which connected the place with the outskirts of Barcelona. Some kind of popular basilica there as well not that we went inside (wrong religion).

Looks like RFC owns the land but we appear to have taken a loan or loans against it to the tune of approx £4m. Think this is a long-term loan. The debt with Lloyds is cleared in full as I spoke to one of their directors last Wed at the Lloyds AGM in Glasgow and he confirmed our debt to their bank had been cleared. It is PPG whom we appear to owe the cash. A bit like a mortgage. It all seems to be a bit muddied though. Doubt if Craig Whyte would get caught out without checking this aspect. All will no doubt be revealed in time. £4m isn't much in terms of our previous borrowing history.

I am pleased to confirm that I WAS THERE on 24th May 1972. Still got the ticket and a few photos. Was just a student at the time. 11 students, we hired a 12 seater Land Rover and travelled overland (except the Channel !!). We left on the Sunday and arrived back on the following Saturday. Just got home an hour before the Scotland - England game that afternoon. I had a great time in Barcelona. Met some Spanish students in Catalunya Square on afternoon before game and arranged to meet them after match. They took me to a couple of really good clubs. Got back to hotel really late (about 4 am) and had to sleep in the Land Rover. We were treated like heroes because of the way the Guardia Civil had attacked us and then been chased off the park. The locals loved that!!! I could bore you all some more but that would not be fair on you. Suffice to say tomorrow will give me a lump in my throat when I remember that game and the entire trip. In fact, I'm getting goosebumps just now as I type this. We were shafted by UEFA instead of the Spanish police. Our own media didn't help either. There was NO trouble before the game. The park invasion was sheer joy and not one Russian player was harmed in any way. If it hadn't been for Franco's militia there would have been only praise. Even later back in the city and outlying resorts, there was no trouble. The locals being Catalan, they despised Franco's imported thugs in uniform. I went back 2 years later to the Barca tournament (still got those tickets also) where we played Bilbao and Barca. Ajax were the 4th team involved. Barcelona invited Rangers back because of the way things went in 1972. That shows you how they viewed our Club and fans from the ECWC Final.

I believe that at a recent AGM (possibly 2009) it was asked and confirmed that Rangers owned both Murray Park and the Albion Car Park. Title deeds should show the landowner and make note of any leasehold or standing charge, etc. If the planning documents and land registry show Rangers as landowners it will not be as a leaseholder. I've searched a fair number of title deeds for personal property purchases, for business deals and for planning applications. Anyone with an interest has to be recorded on the title deeds at the Registers of Scotland. As for the approx £4m in the accounts (Note 10) I have no idea as to what this sum relates. Certainly a question for the next AGM. I suspect things will become clearer after we see the accounts ending 30/6/11.

Boogie has been an excellent player for us in the three seasons he has been at Ibrox. We have had good value from him. I doubt we would have the 3 SPL trophies without him. There are a number of options available for this discussion: First, sell him now and use funds to get a new centre back. Second, keep him for final season as he is a proven defender and we are not guaranteed that a replacement will be as good. Third, if we keep him he may change his mind next season. Fourth, keep him until January and consider selling him then. We won't get top dollar but it may suit us and anyone buying at that time will likely be an EPL side fighting relegation and may actually give us a bit more cash. We won't be as desperate to offload as we were previously. To be fair to Bougherra he has always said he fancied a crack at the EPL. He has been good for us and we have been good for him. If he goes, I will wish him well.