Supporters trust aim to buy voice in how Rangers are run

Friday 9 November 2012

The Rangers Supporters Trust (RST) have launched a campaign to allow fans to purchase a stake in the Ibrox club.

The Buy Rangers campaign launch. From left: Ian Davidson MP, Gordon Dinnie and Andy Sheppard (Rangers Supporters Trust) and Paul Goodwin (Supporters Direct Scotland.) Picture :Colin Mearns

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The Buy Rangers initiative is a community share scheme aimed at securing a tranche for fans when Charles Green launches the share issue in the coming weeks.

The trust are being backed by Supporters Direct Scotland (SDS), who hope the initiative will emphasise to Hearts supporters that they can rally round to save their club, but will also ensure they have an influence in the boardroom.

Rangers fans will be able to buy individual shares when the club launches its initial public offering (IPO), with the minimum purchase price being £500, but the trust scheme is designed to allow supporters to have a say on how the club is run, since a large collective, with a significant shareholding, will carry a greater influence than a single fan with a single share.The Buy Rangers campaign will begin at £125, making it more affordable, although individual fans can invest up to £20,000. Each member will have one vote, however much they invest, but the more money the Buy Rangers scheme raises, the bigger the shareholding they will be able to purchase in the club itself.Fans will be buying a share in the RST, which functions as a community benefit society and is authorised by the Financial Services Authority. Once the IPO is launched, the money raised will be used to purchase as many shares in the club as possible, but only after Cobbetts, the RST's legal advisers, have carried out due diligence."As a support, we need to recognise that the club wouldn't be here – Charles Green has openly admitted how difficult it would have been if they hadn't sold as many season tickets as they did – without the collective power that we have," said Andrew Sheppard of the RST. "We need to harness that and make sure we have an influential voice within the club."It used to be that a share in the club was a symbolic thing – you'd have the certificate on your wall in the office or at home, but we need to realise being a shareholder gives you a responsibility. We need to make sure we protect the club from the events of the past year and make sure it doesn't happen again, to protect the club for future generations."Fan ownership does not mean fans running the club. What we envisage is that we have enough of an equity stake to have representation on the board. We would then call on people who are interested on being that representative to apply for that position and then the membership would vote. The club has to be run by suitably qualified and experienced people."The RST has studied the fan ownership model at clubs across Europe, in particular at Hamburg. Although Green insists that nobody will own more than 10% of Rangers after the IPO, the trust hope to build on the stake that they purchase. Rangers fans also sympathised with Hearts supporters, whose club is the subject of a winding-up order served by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Paul Goodwin, the head of SDS, believes other clubs may suffer their own financial crises, but all should take heart from the progress made by Rangers fans in saving their club."Lots of clubs have been overtrading if you think of them as a simple business case," said Goodwin, who has meetings arranged with the Hearts Supporters Trust. "The Rangers fans have been forced to make tough decisions and go with the punches. They've started at the bottom and they're climbing back up. More clubs are now going to have to do the same thing. But hopefully we can have a fans' influence in there. Supporters have now been educated and they're starting to understand the process. It's going to be an interesting year ahead."Rangers fans have a chance to buy part of their club. But if we'd had some clear water in February, they could probably have bought the whole club. That was an opportunity missed but at least we can now get in and have a collective voice, which is important. If the Rangers fans can pull this off, it will show supporters of other clubs what is possible."What has happened to Hearts could have a domino effect on Scottish football and I expect to be a much busier man in the next couple of years. We get funding from the Scottish Government because they don't want disasters to turn up. They want us to be in a position where we can engage with fans and involve ourselves in averting these disasters. Every time there is a car crash at a club, who do they turn to? The fans."

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Supporters trust aim to buy voice in how Rangers are run

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