The first Rangers annual general meeting since the full extent of the club’s financial affairs became apparent was going to be a fiery affair, we were promised, with raised voices firing pertinent questions that would bring the board of directors to their knees, pleading forgiveness for taking the club to the brink of ruin.
In the end, though, it was nothing of the sort. Sure, there were a few moments that had those sitting at the top table feeling a tad hot under the collar, but on the whole it was all rather placid and amicable.
At one point, Alastair Johnston, the recently-installed Rangers chairman, was found exchanging banter with an animated supporter about fans having to come to matches in their pyjamas given the early kick-off times of some televised matches. The 2500 or so shareholders in attendance hooted with laughter. Smith has received more grief on a matchday this season just for making unpopular substitutions.
It would not be December without a pantomime villain, however, and at Ibrox yesterday that role was filled Donald Muir. His recent appointment to the Rangers board, at a time when Lloyds TSB are closely scrutinising Rangers’ financial affairs, has been viewed with great suspicion by many supporters and he was given something of a frosty reception after taking his seat for his first agm.
His statutory re-election also provided a moment of farce. A show of hands seemed to suggest that those inside the stadium were not keen to see Muir retain his place, prompting John McClelland, the poor put-upon vice-chairman hosting the early part of the meeting, to call for a poll to be taken on the grounds that it was “difficult to count hands”.
The mob would not be appeased, however, booing and calling “shame” until a second show of hands was taken, with even more voting second time around against Muir’s reinstatement. The results of the poll, McClelland announced, would be made public on a website this morning before quietly adding that there had been “overwhelming support in the proxy votes for all the resolutions”, making the whole process completely pointless but an entertaining piece of theatre nevertheless.
Muir, admittedly, did not help his case much, being informed by an irate shareholder that the club was not known as “Glasgow Rangers” only to repeat his error in his next answer. Oh dear. And him a lifelong fan, too.
At this point, as it threatened to bubble over, Sir David Murray would traditionally have taken the mic and charmed the crowd with a few lines about schmoozing new signings in his private jet. But, having handed over the reins to Johnston to focus on trying to stabililse his ailing business concerns, there was no sign of the majority shareholder, nor of Dave King, the South Africa-based director said to be contemplating buying the club. King could not make it due to “commitments overseas” though McClelland did not expand on what exactly that meant.
Confidentiality agreements meant precious little could be said about the state of any proposed takeover and the most concise answer of the day went to Martin Bain and his response as to whether a price for buying the club had been set. “No,” he said with a smile.
Johnston is clearly a different beast to his predecessor but an impressive orator nonetheless. He went at lengths to underline that he would be his own man where possible and do what was right for the club, first and foremost.
“I made it clear that I would act entirely with the best interests of Rangers Football Club in mind and obviously not have the same empathy towards the club’s patron, i.e. the Murray Group,” he said. “My agenda was to lead a Rangers board that became increasingly independent of the Murray Group.”
Granted, it is easy to make promises when you may not be around to see them through, but the impression linger that Johnston was a man determined to make his mark, no matter how short his tenure as chairman may turn out to be.
He was even able to announce some good news as well, revealing that there was no pressure on the board to sell any players in January, before stealing a trick from the big David Murray book of speeches by declaring with a flourish that the name of Ibrox Stadium would never be flogged off to a corporate bidder.
Given the Rangers support’s fascination with tradition, this statement from Johnston – “Ibrox is non-negotiable” – was unsurprisingly met with the loudest cheer of the day, although given clubs of the stature of Arsenal and Bayern Munich have done so and reaped the financial rewards, it seems curious that Rangers will not even contemplate going down that road.
The baton was then passed to Bain, allowing the chief executive to unveil a few exclusives of his own, even if they were all very telling of the mess the club finds itself in, rather than boasts of new signings and record profits as has been the case in previous years.
Still, when all you are expecting is bad news, then it is no surprise that every snippet to the contrary is eagerly gobbled up. Word that the management team have agreed to stay on without new contracts and that discussions have begun with Kris Boyd’s agent about the possibility of the striker extending his stay beyond the summer were both warmly welcomed.
A dig at Dundee United for not reimbursing following the abandonment of their recent league match and an unwillingness to follow John Reid, the Celtic chairman, by commenting on how the other half live – “I will rise above that” – saw Bain just about home and hosed.
The crowd soon began to slowly drift away, those in attendance seemingly largely satisfied with what they had heard. It will be much more feisty next year, though. Honest.
