Mini Praises Charles Green & The Board After IPO

[Guardian 4,281]

Well what do you know ?

You have to wonder what's changed. A bunch of investors give him the chance to get back in and suddenly the U turn is on. So much for him not wanting to come back

By Chris Graham and Alasdair McKillop

At the end of 2012, The Rangers Standard interviewed Paul Murray, the former Rangers director and Blue Knight. In this first extract from the discussion, he discusses the recent share issue and offers his views on both the future of Rangers and Scottish football in general.

Alasdair McKillop: The IPO has just concluded this week. It raised just over £22million by various means, institutional investors, the fans and so on. Do you feel the financial future of the club is now stable or certainly more stable than it has been in the past number of years?

Paul Murray: I think you would have to say yes. I think first of all it’s a great achievement to raise that amount of money for almost any venture at the moment given the current state of the economy. To raise it for a Scottish third division football club is remarkable. I don’t think people should be quibbling over ‘oh it was meant to be £10million from the fans and they only got £5million’. To raise £22.5 million pounds from investors is a fantastic achievement.

CG: One of the things that has been mentioned is possibly renaming the stadium-have you got any views on that? Is that something that was ever looked at during...

PM: Not in any great detail. I think this is a personal thing isn’t it? My view is, and sometimes you have different views at different times, it will always be Ibrox-that’s just the reality of it. It will always be Ibrox so even if it’s called The MacDonald’s Stadium people won’t be saying ‘I’m going to MacDonald’s’ it will be ‘I’m going to Ibrox’. The view I take, frankly, is if you’re getting paid quite a lot of money by someone to name the stadium and they understand it will always be called Ibrox then actually you’re pragmatic and take the money. I think if you’re moving the stadium that’s different, I would be against that. But if you’re getting paid quite a lot of money to brand something and we know it will always be Ibrox then I’m reasonably relaxed about that.

AM: What about your own future with Rangers? Would you ever consider going back onto the board again at some point in the future? I believe Graham Spiers actually recommended that in the Herald earlier in the week. Presumably you’ve been under quite a bit of pressure in past couple of years with your involvement with Rangers, do you feel like you’re just going to take a step back for the foreseeable future?

PM: You obviously never say never but I don’t think so. I think in any walk of life going back to something is never quite the same as it was the first time. You see that even with the players the second time around. It wouldn’t be the same now so I think the answer is probably no. Obviously I’d be happy to help at any time and I think I’ve got a lot to add to the club but I’m happy to let the guys there just now take the club forward. I’ve spoken to Malcolm Murray a few times in passing and given him my thoughts and views and if I can help in any way then I’ll do that but I don’t think going back again is going to be the right thing to do. We’ve moved into a new era now and I think the people that are there have to take forward what they think is best now and I think going back to the past...I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do.

CG: It will be quite nice to go to the games without the pressure of being a on the board as well.

PM: I’ve not been to many games actually. The whole thing has sickened me a little bit, ??? the whole way the club has been treated and the last couple of years. I’m going to start going back but it’s taken something away from it for me to a certain extent. But I’ll support the club and if I can help the club in any way then I’ll do that. (Clearly a diehard )

AM: Do you have any concerns about the club going forward, about Charles Green’s stewardship? Or are you reasonably relaxed, reasonably confident about the way things are developing at the moment?

PM: I think the circumstances in which Charles Green bought the club were, as I said before, a little bit clouded in the sense that he came in at the last minute. When you think about the middle of June and John Brown standing on the steps of Ibrox with x-thousand guys calling for Charles Green’s head, as it were, and Walter and Jim McColl and Douglas Park trying to buy him out at the same time, to go from that position to where we are now is actually quite a remarkable job. So I think he’s done a pretty good job to turn that round and I think to raise that amount of money in this environment is pretty impressive. I just hope that Craig Whyte is not involved somewhere. I just hope there’s not some deal been done with him for him to get paid or for him to get something out of this because that wouldn’t be good. He (Green) has said that is not the case and I’m happy to accept that but I hope that’s not the case. There have also been various rumours about that and in fact Craig Whyte has said it himself a few times but I just hope that isn’t the case.

CG: Do you have any concern over the makeup of the shareholding now? Obviously the institutional investors who have come in are of quite a high quality, is there maybe a little bit of an issue there in terms of them wanting to get a return for their investment and how they might actually get that out of the club?

PM: That is a slight concern. I think the thing about Charles Green that is refreshing...he’s like a modern-day Fergus McCann. He has said from day one ‘I’m here to make money’ so he’s not trying to delude the fans into thinking he’s a Rangers fan. He is there to make money which is absolutely fine. He has been clear, he has been honest. The difference between him and me is that I would not have done this for that. I was coming in not to make money, we didn’t want to lose money, but we didn’t want to make money so we would have been reinvesting the proceeds in the club in a slightly different way. Obviously, as you say, when you get institutional investors on board, they’re not doing it for the sake of their health, they’re doing it for a return. They’ve also bought into the business plan which is great for Rangers but at some point they will want to realise their investment we’ll have to see what happens.

[simplythebest 11,453]

Interesting mate but a bit of a misleading title, makes it sound current.

[1st_Jan_1994 4,868]

That can't be a recent interview surely?

I liked him better back then

[j1mgg 3,766]

Sounds like a farewell letter of a man maybe realising he has been defeated.

[Guardian 4,281]

I have added a bit more in for date and context.

[Dennis 1,011]

Thats from last year

[elephants stoned 2,994]

Its showing how mini was then compared to now, amazing U turn, mini should be a politician

[UKIP BEAR 370]

Doesn't this just show that Paul Murray is,as he has already said,quite willing to step back if he feels that Rangers are being run by the proper people.

I await the abuse.lol

[eejay the dj 31,964]

Doesn't this just show that Paul Murray is,as he has already said,quite willing to step back if he feels that Rangers are being run by the proper people.

I await the abuse.lol

What you mean crawl back up Graham Spiers arse

[big dave mcpherson 95]

haha actually i edge towards the murray camp as i cant stand the present leeches ....HOWEVER Murray really needs to address the points he made in this interview if he wants to go any further.

Praising CG and saying going back is never the right thing...........WELL PAUL??? right to reply

[Thewhitesettler 2,714]

Paul Murray in the dock, could be asked the question "Are you lying then, or are you telling lies now? Which time are you telling a lie Mr. Murray?"

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

I think the issue many have now though Guardian is how that money has been spent subsequently as well as the costs facilitating it.

[Copland bear 7,966]

Not been to many games? This clown thinks he is bigger than the club. Paul pay your money to help the love you love. I am sure you can afford a match day ticket and sit amongst your fellow fans.

[Guardian 4,281]

I think the issue many have now though Guardian is how that money has been spent subsequently as well as the costs facilitating it.

The problem with that tho, is we have no idea what he would do differently.

I have ideas that might have gone better but then again maybe not.

It's easy to take shits with hindsight but there is something whiffy when he won't talk about his plans.

Would you vote for a party that had no manifesto ?

He has shown incredibly bad judgement before, so any talk of how he would have done better is questionable to say the least.

He approached the takeover (by TBK not his own fictional one) by declaring they were only interested in a CVA and had no plan B. This was at a time when a CVA looked very unlikely.

Then his infamous plan B giving Ticketus ten million quid and having them loan us it back for Operating capital

This for a debt we didn't owe.

I wonder how many of his backers know he isn't against renaming Ibrox. Many were getting out the pitchforks when the board suggested it. I think it's a good idea but prepare for incoming.

The problem is we just don't know and taking mini on faith alone seems nuts.

The current board have made mistakes but they are learning and fixing it.

Do we want a new board that will start over making it's own mistakes ?

Better the devil you know.