feda16

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.

Fod-6- Not much to do except pick the ball out of the net, made some saves he was expected to make
Tav- 4 - Out of position for their first goal, offered nothing going forward and at times looked exhausted.
Wilson-6- Some crucial tackles and interception but communication skills alot to be desired  
Hill-7- Seemed to play the game with some ease, read the game well, some no nonsense defending at times when required. A better fit along side Wilson
Wallace -6- Won the penalty, some good running, however against players like McGinn and Hayes his positional awareness needs to be sharper to track runs and possible counter attacks.
Halliday - 7- Tried to take the game to them, plenty of box to box action but nothing in front of him happening, few pop shots outside the box, good to see this rather than try and walk into the net.
Holt -6- quiet game for him but at times broke up the play and his position kept aberdeen pegged further back in the middle of the park. Windass alongside him will be a couple great engines
Forrester -5- No impact on the game, won his lost balls, but no positive play.
McKay -5- Too negative at times, needs either to be more positive in his play or adapt his style and cut in and drive towards goal. Has the talent but lacks the confidence
Waghorn -5- Wasnt good enough, just didnt happen for him, correctly hooked
Garner: -5- Puts himself about, gets stuck in had some of the teams better chances in open play but failed to convert. Either a lack of talent or lack of understanding, either or needs to adapt quick
 
Subs:
Niko -3- Empty jersey, not willing to run, track or win back the ball for the team. Clearly not suited to high tempo or intensity matches
MOH -4- offered nothing, clearly lacks game time at top level, a replacement for McKay should he ever be dropped to allow better and fairer judgement
Miller: 6- Positive play, his ball for the penalty sublime, worrying that we are worrying on a 36 yo striker for this.
 
MW Tactics: Predictable, teams have sussed us out, lack of movement from players up top frustrating at times, players are either too close or too far apart. Time to also have a set piece specialist coach analysis on why every attacking corner we did not win the first ball. I buy into his philosophy but only works if the current group of players respond. 2 wins in 7 would see people baying for McCoist to go, perhaps some of the MW criticism is correct. Has until end of season to prove himself imo.

So whose head would roll for something like this? Or is it a case of Corporate discipline meaning fines? Also im not 100% clued up, was the land public before sale?

Yaaas, cant wait for the World orienteering championships

Vote for who you want, not who some random poster on an internet forum wants you to not vote for. Joys of a democracy

Vote for who you want, not who some random poster on an internet forum wants you to not vote for. Joys of a democracy

I denounce the unwashed mob and all that they stand for across the city!

First time poster long term reader
This whole story stinks to high heaven,its comparible to our ebt saga,but there are some glaring differences
1.Our ebt was public knowledge from the start,i can remember reading an article in the rebel around 2001,it was in a saturday edition and there was a large pic of micheal mols,he was used as an example of the level of player we could continue to attract due to this legal tax loophole,but for some reason the msm forgot this,it also stated that murray group took liabilty for any future tax cases involving thia scheme.
2.The msm aint touching this story with a bargepole,whislt they filled their pages and phone ins for 2years discussing our guilt and raving about the fantastic rtc website that was very informative,we now know this site was full of lies,conjecture and stolen documentation,sickens my stomach whenever a bear manages to raise this on the snyde phone in and the likes of delahunt sneer and laugh about this topic
3.Why hasnt the sfm site not jumped on this,this site morphed from rtc to sfm,its sole purpose was to highlight wrongdoing from ALL scottish football clubs,
For many years the sectarian anti catholic drum was banged and still is,but as we all know this country is now anti loyalist and anti protestant,all things going for the bheasts and all things going against us.i just hope one day the worm turns around and this truly despicable sectarian terrorist supporting club is exposed uk wide for exactly what it stands for.i reckon we could well be moving in that direction as the filth look like they are not welcome south of the border now as this must be the first time in years that they havent played any pre season games down south,possibly because the lee rigby nonesense at brentford last year was a bridge too far,
Come tommorow we will be one day closer till this story is given the coverage it deserves

They voted us out, there fans sung songs of our demise, their owner wanted us to go into the abyss and created wild theories about how we corrupted referees as part of the old firm. Forgive me on this i will be glad to see the back of all SPL clubs, not one reached out an olive branch, not one offered us any solution but to just punish and destroy us. Dont have a short memory and remember when we were down, the Scumboos was one of the ones who put us down

Roy Aitken being the favourite should be enough to shut that site down

If guilty sack him, if not guilty then as we were