What next for Rangers?
For a second successive summer, it is a question that causes growing anxiety amongst the Ibrox supporters. Some of the immediate fears of last summer, centring on the very existence of the club, no longer apply, but there are still dilemmas to face.
Some are more urgent than others, in terms of time and influence. Relationships within the boardroom need to be addressed before any other issues can be faced. The old dividing line was drawn between Malcolm Murray, the chairman, and Charles Green, who resigned as chief executive last month. Green will stand down as a director at the end of May, although he will remain the largest single shareholder with a stake of 7.8%.
Murray won that battle of wills through perseverance and adherence to good corporate governance. These, along with his genuine feeling for Rangers – what the club means and its standing within Scottish society as well as football – and his lifelong support, are his qualities. Personal foibles, including a perceived lack of leadership and indecisiveness, mean that he has not dealt with all of the problems facing the club with the same effectiveness. The Ibrox board needs a strong, authoritative voice to pull its factions together. Murray and Philip Cartmell, the non-executive director, were targeted in the extraordinary general meeting called by Blue Pitch Holdings, one of Green's original consortium of investors. This is to make room for James Easdale, who along with big brother, Sandy, owns McGill's buses, and Chris Morgan, another who was involved in Green's original consortium.
In many ways, though, it would help the Rangers board if Murray stepped aside – he could remain as a director – and Cartmell, who has only physically attended one board meeting and is not at all immersed in the realities of Rangers' position in Scotland, stepped down. Directors and supporters, though, are agitated by the prospect of Easdale and Morgan moving into the boardroom.
Sandy Easdale served 18 months in jail for VAT fraud in 1996, while Morgan has very close ties to Green. The board can be unified if the most influential director can repair relationships and draw people together to make progress, but it can also be stiffened by a fresh presence.
Dave King, the former Rangers director, is currently investigating purchasing a significant shareholding in the club. That could take time, since the beneficial owners of some of the stakes have never been identified, although more than 50% of the club is effectively up for sale. In the meantime, though, King could be invited back on to the board. His lawyers have checked his status with regard to the Scottish Football Association's fit and proper person's test and, more significantly, King is one of the few figures to be almost universally respected by the Ibrox support. Having invested £20m under Sir David Murray, his emotional and financial commitment to Rangers is well established, but he is not considered one of the old guard.
The supporters want to see more people they can trust on the board. Walter Smith and Ian Hart are recognised as lifelong Rangers men, while Brian Stockbridge, the financial director, and Craig Mather, the interim chief executive, want to prove themselves as capable of living up to the demands and standards of their positions. Bryan Smart, the final non-executive director, is considered a straightforward and by-the-book decision maker. Recent board meetings have been lost to endless debates about Murray's future and the worth of the independent examination into the level of collusion between Green and Craig Whyte, the former owner, last summer.
That forensic study, conducted by Deloitte and Pinsent Masons, could deliver its results next week, but the process was necessary to investigate Whyte's assertion that he has a claim on the assets. The directors were duty-bound to verify this issue on behalf of the shareholders who invested in those assets. As for Murray's position, a unanimous vote of no confidence earlier this month – even if some directors only reluctantly accepted the need to act – has emphasised his likely fate.
Having settled his affairs with the South Africa Revenue Services, King is free to invest. He is also the kind of figure who would provide reassurance to fans when it comes to buying season tickets.
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