I have today sent the below letter to the Directors of Rangers Football Club. I hope others will look to do the same in order that we gather some sort of momentum for action and change.
Dear Mr King,
I write to you as Chairman and a Director of Rangers Football Club following the totally unacceptable 4-0 defeat to our biggest rivals on Sunday 15th April.
In March 2015 Mr King assumed boardroom control. You and the other Directors have reigned during a time of embarrassing and disgraceful results – some of the worst in our history. Only twice in my life have I left a Rangers game early, both of these games were under your tenure – the 5-1 defeat to celtic at Ibrox and the 4-0 defeat to celtic at Hampden. I simply could not watch any more.
The loyalty of myself and other Rangers fans cannot be questioned. I and many others have followed Rangers through the hard times, with administration, liquidation and expulsion to the bottom tier of Scottish football being the lowest of them all. I and many thousands of others followed Rangers home and away as we made our return to the Scottish Premiership. We now feel that this loyalty is being taken for granted by the current administration at the Club. We have only won Scottish Challenge Cup and the SPFL Championship since the takeover in March 2015. It is totally unacceptable that our next chance of silverware will be in 2019 - 4 years since the takeover. By then we will have been 8 years without the League, 10 years without the Scottish Cup and 9 years without the League cup.
It has not helped that the Club seem to go from one managerial disaster to the next. The resignation of Mark Warburton, David Weir and Frank McParland in February 2017 was a disaster and took several days to be confirmed. The appointment of Pedro Caixinha on a three-year deal in March 2017 was followed by a 5-1 defeat to celtic at Ibrox in the April, losing for the first time to Aberdeen in 26 years in the May, and being humiliated in Europe by Progres Niederkorn in the July. Records were being broken but not the kind we want. It took the board until the October to sack Caixinha. Then there was the embarrassing and very public McInnes debacle which left Rangers without a viable replacement for Caixinha. The public pursuit of McInnes ruled out all other managerial options which may have been in consideration at the time. After all, who would want to be the second choice? This was a careless and costly error.
With seemingly no other option available, Graeme Murty was henceforth appointed as manager for the rest of the season with no experience of managing a club before, never mind one the calibre of Rangers. In this appointment, the Board effectively wrote-off the 17/18 season when we were still very much in contention for silverware. It is clear Murty’s team selections and tactics have been woeful. After Sunday he has clearly lost the confidence and respect of the team, and certainly the support of the fans. The players, manager and directors owe the Rangers fans a public apology for that humiliating display. How and why the Board continue to support Murty is unknown. It is imperative that he is now removed before we play the remaining 5 games of the season which are so important in determining where we finish in the league. We need to recover some pride.
It is apparent that there is a lack of any sort of public relations or communications strategy. This is evident through the managerial controversies with Warburton, Weir, McParland and McInnes. More recently, during the January transfer window, had the Club reacted quicker, the rumours circulating around the future of Alfredo Morelos and the transfer fee would have been silenced. Now the latest controversy follows after Sunday and surrounds several players - Kenny Miller, Lee Wallace, Alfredo Morelos, Greg Docherty, Andy Halliday and Daniel Candeias. Again, rumours are circulating. Our slow and weak response to events, in and out of the Club makes us a laughing stock to other football fans and to the press. Becoming proactive is key in once more establishing the respect we deserve.
In light of the above, it is difficult to understand how the Board can expect fans and others to invest money into the Club whether through share issues or season ticket renewals. The Board has shown little or no evidence that it can be trusted. How can fans be expected to renew their season tickets when the next managerial appointment is unknown? How can fans trust the Board to appoint a successful manager when the appointments of Caixinha and Murty have been disastrous? For too long the Board has taken the loyalty of the fans for granted. The Board has shown little competence to date. It is now time to either show the fans you merit the status as directors of Rangers Football Club, or you consider your resignation.
