ian1964

Will they be sending out ST renewals out by post? or is it just online?

A Message From Steven Gerrard THANK you for your incredible backing in season 2019/20 so far. Your loyalty will never be taken for granted and we are desperate to reward you for that loyalty. These times are unlike any we have witnessed before. The UK faces challenges never experienced in our generation, certainly since the Second World War. Our city of Glasgow is a proper football city, and Rangers are a proper football club. I grew up in a resilient city. I played football in a resilient city. I am now proud to manage in a resilient city. Football makes a city, Rangers makes Glasgow. I know nothing but football clubs who have faced down periods of incredible difficulty, but like our cities, because of your support, we will come through again, stronger than before. That is what makes us who we are. We fight back to be even stronger when times are hard. Rangers gives us all something to rally around – that is why I am here. I have experienced many cauldron-like atmospheres. Ibrox is a proper football stadium and your support makes all the difference. I need only take myself back to our Europa League win over Braga. Our players delivered on that night, but it was your backing which drove them on from 2-0 down. That is proper football. There are few grounds in world football capable of doing that. Ibrox is very much one of them and we need that backing as Rangers is nothing without you. It really is one special place and I am absolutely sure that you, just the same as I, cannot wait to be back there. This current crisis has created unprecedented challenges. Players and senior staff have shown their loyalty to our club in recent weeks, and now we want to reward you for your loyalty to us. I am therefore delighted we have frozen the price of season tickets and have extended the deadline for applications. There are more chapters to be written in our story. We can only do that together. We will be ready for whatever challenges come our way in season 2020/21, whenever that begins. We need you to be ready too. https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/a-message-from-steven-gerrard/

They have been getting their own way for years, making up rules as they go, persuading/bullying/threatening/coercing/lying and all other clubs to fall in line being led along for scraps from their table, they probably sincerely believe they have done nothing wrong.

KJ: The general consensus is that you’re guilty either of incompetence or corruption. Which one is it? ND: Clearly what happened with the Dundee vote was unfortunate – first getting caught in the quarantine system and then Dundee having a change of heart and submitting a second return. But I don’t think those circumstances were of our making. At every stage we have tried to respond to each issue as it has emerged and to do so with the best interests of all 42 clubs at heart. That we have the support of 81 per cent of those clubs indicates that we have done exactly that. It’s telling that, in the three weeks since that resolution was sent out to clubs, no one has come up with a viable alternative.KJ: Why not issue loans against end-of-season prize money? ND: In theory you could have tried to change the articles and maybe gone with equal distributions to all clubs. But that would have required the backing of 11 clubs in the Premiership plus huge majorities elsewhere which is not realistic.KJ: Aberdeen’s Dave Cormack revealed in a radio interview that you called him shortly before the 5pm voting deadline. Did his comments expose you and imply coercion? ND: Not at all. I had conversations with a huge number of chairmen and chief executives, answering their questions. Those discussions are absolutely common place. It’s telling that eight out of nine directors on the board of the SPFL still believe it was the right approach.KJ: So there was nothing inappropriate about telling Aberdeen their vote was no longer required? ND: That’s not quite the context of the discussion. Aberdeen were looking for a commitment that we could not give. They wanted some sort of vote with all Premiership clubs before a line could be drawn under season 19/20. Prior to our 5pm board meeting, out of courtesy I called Aberdeen back and said: “We’ve already got the threshold required in the Premiership.” It was not a question of saying: “Your vote is no longer required.” I was phoning to ask if they still wanted me to take their original request to the board. At that point they said they didn’t. It is not quite as has been portrayed.KJ: Surely you accept it was an error of judgement to announce the results of the ballot before all votes were in?ND: Our PR team were fielding numerous calls just after five o’clock from journalists desperate for an update. If we hadn’t published those numbers we would have been accused of unwarranted secrecy. We were trying to be open and transparent. If we had said nothing until all votes were in or until the 28 days had expired, that would have been completely untenable.KJ: But that started the Dundee debacle. Do you regret anything about how that soap opera unfolded? ND: The fact that Dundee had a change of heart was not of our doing. They were entitled to do so. In retrospect we should have requested the returns to be made slightly later, after the Easter weekend. It’s important that, where things could have been handled better, we reflect on that. But in terms of any improper behaviour, the Deloitte independent investigation looked through all of our emails, telephone record and texts and it simply found no evidence of improper behaviour by me or any of my staff. That doesn’t surprise me. I trust my team implicitly.KJ: Is the SPFL guilty of a lack of contrition? ND: I would hope not. But the allegations that have been made are far more serious than that. They are suggesting improper behaviour in a vague and generalised way without any specifics. I don’t think that’s an acceptable way to go about things. If anyone feels there has been improper behaviour then they should bring it to the public’s attention and raise it with the chairman of the SPFL for a proper investigation. That simply hasn’t happened. There have been calls for myself and [SPFL legal adviser] Rod McKenzie to be suspended without a shred of any alleged evidence being produced.KJ: How have you coped with these accusations on a personal level? ND: It’s extremely unpleasant for all of my small team of staff dealing with all manner of hugely complicated issues. That would have been testing enough without all of these suggestions, innuendo and personal attacks. Yes, it takes a toll. It’s extremely unpleasant and extremely time consuming. There are literally hundreds of abusive and in some cases threatening emails and calls that have been made to my staff. That’s just not acceptable.KJ: Are the police involved?ND: I would rather not say. That is for the individuals concerned to deal with. It’s highly unfortunate but it’s perhaps inevitable when allegations are made but not a shred of evidence is produced.KJ: Have you personally received threats? ND: No. I’ve had some unpleasant communications but no threats. Over the years I’ve been involved in some very unpleasant situations where people are very passionate about their club and wish to take it out on the public face of the organisation. That’s why I think it’s really important that people are very careful with the words that they use and avoid personalising issues. We should deal with the facts and what people’s concerns are. That’s why I would urge anyone who believes there is any evidence of any improper behaviour by me or any member of my staff to bring forward details of precisely what those accusations are. We’ve had weeks now of innuendo without anything of substance being put forward.KJ: Rangers must have a reason for calling for your suspension. What have they got on you?ND: I’ve got no idea and it’s probably unhelpful to speculate. Those calls were made in the immediate aftermath of the Good Friday returns. That was all about the Dundee return. Ultimately, the Deloitte investigation looked forensically at our emails, calls and texts and found no evidence of any improper behaviour by me, Rod McKenzie or any other member of the SPFL team. So what do Rangers have on me? I genuinely do not know.KJ: Given the extent of damage done to your relationship with Rangers do you agree your position is untenable? ND: You have to rise above individual criticism. You have to do your job for the benefit of all 42 clubs as best you can. That’s something I have done for over 10 years in spite of the ups and downs we’ve all faced. You will be very familiar with the events of 2012 and the very public criticism from the likes of Charles Green. To an extent that’s part of the job. Clubs won’t always like decisions. However in this instance over 80 per cent of clubs agreedwith our proposals. Hearts Rangers and Stranraer now want a QC investigation. Eight out of nine of the members of the board believe it is not the right approach.KJ: If your position is tenable then is Stewart Robertson’s? ND: I don’t think it’s right that I make any comment on individual members of the SPFL board. I won’t allow myself to be sidetracked by individual criticism.KJ: What is this bad blood costing Scottish football? How much was the Deloitte investigation? What sums would be involved in a QC investigation? ND: The Deloitte investigation was commissioned by [SPFL chairman] Murdoch MacLennan and [board member] Karen McCluskey. They have those details. But you are right, that cost has been born by all 42 clubs already.KJ: How much? ND: I don’t know the figure. It was only right that myself and Rod had nothing to do with that. We were interviewed by Deloitte but we weren’t involved in establishing that investigation. In terms of the QC investigation, that would be open ended and it would cost a huge amount of money and a massive amount of time – when what we should be doing is devoting all our energy to trying to defeat the common enemy – Covid-19. We must find a conciliatory approach to work together for the good of the game.KJ: Are you embarrassed by Scottish football’s behaviour at a time of global suffering? ND: It’s extremely disappointing and very unseemly when people are losing their lives around the world. Absolutely. We should be working together to come up with a plan for restarting the game as soon as possible rather than this continued infighting.KJ: Is September a realistic target for a restart? ND: We all want the game to recommence as soon as is safely possible. We look forward to working with the Scottish government to try to achieve that. We have a meeting with Joe FitzPatrick [Minister for Public Health, Sport andWellbeing] next Tuesday along with the likes of the SRU, Sport Scotland and Scottish Racing and we look forward to engagement with government about how quickly we can return to action. But I’d be reluctant to put any date on that at this time.KJ: Can Scottish football survive this? ND: We are extremely concerned. The football industry is of vital importance to the soul of Scotland. It’s a fragile thing but it’s a vital thing. We must therefor all work together to get games returning as soon as is safely possible. That’s one of the reasons that this infighting is so hugely regrettable. It’s distracting us from the real task in hand.