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did you know that when jim baxter had his trial for raith rovers it was against the rangers .

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http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/309-seconds-out-dave-king-v-mike-ashley-the-big-fight-continues Ding Ding! As the bell rings out for another round of a fight that appears to have been ongoing for at least two years, one can’t help shake the feeling we’re now reaching the closing stages of this ceaseless contest. With Mike Ashley now having played all his secured loan cards and Dave King finally putting his money where his mouth is, surely the next three weeks will see this hitherto open-ended bout be won by one or the other? Certainly an EGM in early March looks as if it will, for the short term at least, decide the winner. In the Blue corner we have Dave King: a Rangers fan, wealthy South African businessman and carrying the backing of other high net worth ‘Rangers minded’ individuals (as well as the main fan groups) on his side. In the Red corner, sits the heavyweight Mike Ashley: an admired billionaire entrepreneur, a no-nonsense negotiator and with the advantage of having his backers already directly involved with the club. It would take a brave man to try and separate these successful prize-fighters. But with no knock-out blow in sight, the decision will be made by the three judges: Mr AIM from Fit-and-Proper Street, London; Mr Regan from Puppet Place, Hampden; and thousands of Rangers shareholders – all of whom have their own specific interest in this bout. Who will prevail? Certainly, the press conference of Dave King yesterday was one of a confident man. Open, transparent, knowledgeable and with just the right amount of sincerity; there weren’t many Rangers fans complaining about his performance. Yes, many of us have held doubts over King’s less than impressive historic ownership efforts but in recent times, he has clearly upped his game. Firstly by buying shares himself, secondly by cleverly (apparently) working in tandem (though not concert) with other financially independent bears and, finally, unlike Ashley’s camp, coming to Scotland to show he’s not afraid of meeting the media (and his critics) on their terms. No-one can deny today’s subsequent press coverage is impressive. However, while some may swoon at the promises he makes; his opponents (plural) will not. To begin with, Mike Ashley has not made his fortune through weakness. Throughout his business career, he’s faced many a negative period. From risky investments losing their worth, to media and political pressure on his activities; despite his success and contribution to British business, Ashley has never been an immediately popular figure. Not amongst his peers, not amongst Newcastle supporters and certainly not revered by Rangers fans. As such, while Dave King’s poise yesterday may have impressed you or me, Ashley will be equally assured in his position and determined to defend his Rangers interests. Dave King may feel the EGM is already won but there will be no throwing in of the towel by Ashley – that’s for sure. Indeed, if we delve deeper into King’s comments, although he spoke of an ‘indifference’ to Ashley’s involvement and tried to play down the significance of the Englishman’s stake in Rangers, there was tentative evidence of an olive branch being offered. Yes, King may not want to do a boardroom deal ahead of next month’s general meeting but there has to be (and appeared to be) an acknowledgement Rangers’ ties to Ashley won’t be so easily cut. In that sense, it’s interesting to note that King (on the face of it at least) hasn’t written off working with him in the future. And why would he? After all, in many ways they’re kindred spirits. Both are less than popular with the SFA, both are less than popular with the Establishment and both are as stubborn as business people can get. Perhaps (probably?) that obdurateness may mean an obvious partnership is impossible but a short-to-medium term truce may well benefit both them and the club going forward. I can’t be the only Rangers fan intrigued in that possibility. I’d also imagine investors – both at supporter and institutional level may be attracted to such. In point of fact, it’s that very attraction that will prove key to Rangers going forward. Not only do we need the investment King and his associated are offering but we need share issues, contracts and external agreements to ensure the club is financially viable. Most importantly, we need an engaged fan-base; not just in terms of buying season tickets at pre-2014/15 levels or ordering various pieces of merchandise but via actual investment in the club – both emotionally and objectively as part of an increased say for supporters. Recent years have shown us how important it is for fans to be involved in the decision-making process and recent months has seen an agreeable upsurge in regard for fan/share ownership schemes. If we juxtapose that with events at Hearts and Motherwell then fan ownership in conjunction with philanthropic, affluent supporters is now a very real possibility. Further, if we consider the problems the Scottish game faces with its rapidly decreasing reputation and sponsorship reputation some would argue it will be a necessity. Ergo, the quicker we and all involved with the club realise that, the better. We need not be ever-reliant on bank loans, unfavourable contracts and greedy players – let’s now belatedly take the opportunity to build a sustainable club with its foundations built in the Govan community and beyond. Yes, this wouldn’t happen overnight and Paul Murray is correct to caution us in that regard. However, nurturing the seed of something better, more durable and more resilient is surely something worth waiting for. With that in mind, the coming weeks and months shouldn’t just be about cheering Dave King, Mike Ashley or anyone else to victory in their efforts. Yes, one or both or none may be worth backing at some point but the truth is, in the fight for Rangers’ future, it is the club and the fans that have been on the ropes and punch drunk for almost four years now. Therefore, it’s now time for us to take control of our own destiny and we have to realise we have the strongest punch when it comes to the future. We just need to use that power wisely. The rumoured March 6th EGM will be our first test. However, the fight will go on and we must take ownership of our own fate. Let’s get ready to rumble.

Hi chaps and chapesses. Didn't get to see the game on Sunday due to TV not showing it here but after being out of touch for a long time how far away are we from the supposed measuring stick? TBH a 2-0 defeat is more than I would have expected. What is more gutting is that they are certainly no great shakes and if we had been managed rightly on our so called journey we could and should have won this and been a match for them. As such, anyone who was there can let me know far behind are we? And if we get promotion via the plays off this season where are we on par with the other sides.

Glasgow Rangers bidding to sign clutch of Newcastle United fringe players on deadline day Glasgow Rangers are hoping to tie up a multiple loan deal for a clutch of Newcastle United fringe players on deadline day. The Ibrox club are eager to bolster their squad in order to keep a tight grip on the Scottish Championship play-off spot they are currently occupying. With Hearts the runaway leaders, Rangers’ hopes of promotion will go up in smoke if they slip out of second place with Hibernian breathing down their neck. Now Rangers hope to sign some of United’s fringe players which could see the likes of Haris Vuckic, Gael Bigirimana and Kevin Mbabu going north of the border. Today is the last day that international loan deals can be completed and that includes moves to Scotland. I haven't a clue about these players, but I'm sure they'll be better than what we have at the moment. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/glasgow-rangers-bidding-sign-clutch-8561228?

Following detailed legal advice, the Rangers Supporters Trust (RST), with the financial backing of the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund (RFFF), submitted a petition to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Monday 26th January, seeking an interim interdict to stop the Rangers board from granting security over Ibrox in favour of Sports Direct. Discussions between our lawyers and the board’s lawyers continued over the past three days. The conclusion of these discussions was the that board has agreed not to grant security over Ibrox for a period up until the 17th February covered by the advance notice they submitted. We are disappointed that we were not able to secure the extension of this commitment until the date of the upcoming EGM, as this now leaves a short period of time in which the board could grant security over Ibrox before they are hopefully removed. This is particularly concerning given the announcement yesterday that a further period of due diligence is required for the second £5m tranche of debt that the board has decided to saddle the club with. We believe our actions had a material impact in stopping the board from granting security over Ibrox. The revised deal with Sports Direct was agreed late on Monday night according to Paul Shackleton, the club’s AIM nomad. This was immediately following the petition submitted to the court, the announcement of which delayed what would have been a necessary interdict hearing in the Court of Session on Tuesday. We do not believe that the filing of a notice of intention to grant security over Ibrox was an error and we believe that a fixed security over Ibrox would most likely have been granted to Sports Direct had it not been challenged. We would like to register our disappointment that it was necessary to take legal action to hold this board to their public promises to shareholders and fans. Whilst we are pleased that the immediate danger posed to Ibrox has been averted, we share the anger of other fans at the latest act of corporate piracy perpetrated by the current Rangers directors. By accepting this deal with Sports Direct, they have plunged our club into unnecessary debt and, by pawning off further revenue streams including shirt sponsorship, have limited our ability to repay that debt. They have done this in their own interests and those of Mike Ashley. David Somers, Derek Llambias, James Easdale and Barry Leach have, in our opinion, neglected their duties to the PLC they are meant to represent. Our fans have one chance to remove these directors before they cause even more damage. We urge them to sign up at http://www.therst.co.uk/buyrangers and ensure that this board is removed at the upcoming EGM and replaced with directors who put Rangers Football Club above their own personal positions and the financial betterment of their masters. We will continue to liaise with our lawyers, the RFFF and other major shareholders regarding the actions of the Easdale brothers, David Somers, Derek Llambias and Barry Leach. We look forward to a forensic examination of their conduct following the EGM. We would like to thank the RFFF for their continued support, without which it would have been very difficult to challenge the actions of this discredited board. - See more at: http://www.therst.co.uk/news/ibrox-court-action-statement/#sthash.GhlaIbzq.dpuf

...bring back memories of administration at Ibrox. AFTER Mike Ashley stepped up his Ibrox power grab with another huge loan this week KEITH asks; is the Sports Direct supremo actually asset-stripping Rangers or is he preparing to negotiate with a new board? IS Mike Ashley asset-stripping Rangers ? That’s the question asked under parliamentary privilege at the House of Commons on Tuesday and one the Newcastle owner will have to answer if, as expected, he is summoned to attend a Westminster enquiry . On the face of it, there seems a strong case for the prosecution. In the last few days, and without even stepping foot in Glasgow, Ashley has managed to sweep through Ibrox, scooping up just about everything of value that wasn’t nailed down. Had he bothered to turn up in person he might have made his way home on the famous old St Etienne bike, testing the integrity of its 37-year-old frame to the full. Integrity. Now there’s a word that might cause Ashley more discomfort than half an hour on a racer’s saddle. There are 7.125billion people on the planet. Only 292 of them have more money than Ashley. And yet this champion of the zero hours contracts dumped 200 workers from his high street fashion store USC on to the dole just after Christmas without so much as a lump of coal for a thank you. Integrity? In Big Mike’s world that’s for wimps. Little wonder then that he has acted so brazenly in his Ibrox power grab. With one hand he has fed Rangers with a succession of life-saving drip-feed loans while with the other he’s throttled it into submission. His latest £10million handout was his way of parcelling up an entire institution into one of those vulgar, oversized Sports Direct carrier bags. As bargains go, this one takes some beating. For the price of a fully repayable loan (or in other words for not a single penny) Ashley controls every last bit of Rangers FC, from the old boardroom to the dressing rooms inside Murray Park. His commercial contract has been massively beefed up – Sports Direct now own 75 per cent of the club’s own retail company – which means the badges and crests are now in Ashley’s name too. Also as part of the new agreement, if Rangers should strike a multi-million shirt sponsorship deal, the vast majority of that money will go straight into Ashley’s back pocket. So, in summary, a business already teetering on the verge of insolvency has now taken on a mountain of new debt, while giving up huge chunks of its only existing revenue. Now I’m no Lord Sugar but even so, the logic being applied here seems so flawed that it’s bordering on insane. This business now has its bare toes curled around the summit of Everest, having pawned off its safety harness. With one puff of his chubby red cheeks, Ashley could blow the whole thing into oblivion. In fact, this latest decision by a board which is itself not fit for purpose has a very familiar and nasty whiff of madness to it. And the similarities don’t end there because another red flag was raised in Tuesday’s Stock Exchange statement and it came in the form of two words that became part of the Rangers discussion during Craig Whyte’s chaotic end of days – floating charge. Now Ashley too has placed a floating charge over the club’s assets and although this may be purely coincidental, while his motives and strategy remain a complete mystery, it ought to raise the general level of alarm. So is Ashley actually asset-stripping Rangers right in front of the eyes of its supporters? Or is this latest move the latest part of some other plan for the Ibrox club? Those who study Ashley’s dealings closely describe him as the ultimate high-roller poker player. They are quick to point out too that, deliberately inserted into Tuesday’s statement, was a line about all of these agreements being reversible upon repayment. It could be, in tieing up all of the above, Ashley is merely about to spread them down like a massive pile of casino chips. That he is preparing for defeat at an egm in the knowledge that Dave King’s requisition already has majority support among the club’s shareholders. Certainly, if any of these city types were previously undecided as to which way to cast their votes, the terms of Tuesday’s £10m loan shark deal would have helped make up their minds. If anything, by accepting Ashley’s deal over a rival offer from Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor, the board may have significantly bolstered the mood for regime change. Where the numbers are concerned, King’s hand has just been strengthened. Even so, Ashley heads into this showdown holding all the aces. Even if the board is obliterated, King will still have to deal with the man who controls the club’s assets. And Ashley will call the shots. What he will not do is roll over. He’s had serious skin in this Rangers game for too long to fold now. Ashley has been at the table for more than two years, ever since he handed £1m to Charles Green in advance of the £22m IPO of December 2012. Sports Direct has been stuffing its tills with blue pounds ever since courtesy of Green’s incredible generosity. His old pal Derek Llambias was even invited into Ibrox around the same time to strike a deal which saw Ashley buy the stadium’s naming rights for a pound. Llambias now sits at the head of the board in his role as CEO but he too has been around this saga for longer than most will have realised. He owns 51 per cent of a PR firm called Keith Bishop Associates who, around the time of that IPO, were invoicing former Finance Director Brian Stockbridge for all manner of sums without ever appearing to engage in any actual PR for the club. Stranger still, these payments were being signed off at a time when Green was hiring his own PR guru. Ironically, Llambias was appointed to the Rangers board late in 2014, not long after the Keith Bishop contract had been terminated by his predecessor Graham Wallace. Intriguing isn’t it? So on Monday afternoon I contacted Keith Bishop, who acts as Ashley’s official spokesperson, by phone earlier to ask him about some of this mysterious stuff. He requested I submit any questions via an email. That email landed in his inbox less than half an hour later. It took him until last night to respond in an email which read: “This company’s relationship with its clients are, and remain, confidential and not open to be discussed in the public domain.” All of which just goes to prove that it’s getting harder and harder to get a straight answer to anything Rangers related these days. So is Ashley really asset-stripping Rangers? Or is he gearing up for a massive game of negotiation poker with King and a new board? That would certainly seem the more logical view. But then again, this is Rangers. Logic left the building some time ago. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-mike-ashleys-rangers-5062140

Rangers International Football Club plc - Is it breaching the Companies Act? Is its Nomad a cretin or worse? http://www.shareprophets.com/views/10306/rangers-international-football-club-plc-is-it-breaching-the-companies-act-is-its-nomad-a-cretin-or-worse

We have considered the views of many fans regarding action against Sports Direct. After to today's announcement we would be surprised if any self respecting Rangers fans spent money in his shops. Stopping him taking others money is a priority and as such we shall be starting a series of action to do this very soon. To hit his pocket via a series of actions nationally would not go amiss and as should be possible. What i suggest we do is set up a national network of Sons of Struth branches to coordinate future actions and as such would request as many as possible join us and those willing to coordinate from a local level can contact us to offer their services. sosnofstruth@aol.com As usual any action from SoS will be legal and non threatening to any staff or customers JOIN US http://www.sonsofstruth.co.uk/join-sos.html Craig

We are f----d. 27 January 2015 Rangers International Football Club plc ("Rangers" or the "Company") £10m Credit Facility and associated transfer of 26% of Rangers Retail Limited The Board of Rangers announces that Rangers Football Club Limited ("the Club") has entered in to agreements with independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sports-direct-stops-20000-staff-taking-other-work-by-using-zero-hour-contracts-9661746.html Retail Limited and associated companies ("SD"), to provide a long term on-going credit facility of up to £10m (the "Facility"). The Company's financial condition has been perilous for a number of months exacerbated by lower than expected match attendances. The Directors have implemented a cost cutting program with which they have made significant progress. There is however an immediate need for a substantial injection of capital, and the Directors have considered a number of options. The terms negotiated with SD (which are reversible in respect of the Facility) represent the optimum combination of quantum and duration of funding, allowing the Company time to arrange permanent capital which can be used for strengthening the playing squad. The Facility is structured in two separate interest free tranches. GBP 5million will be available immediately for working capital purposes and for the repayment of the credit facilities with MASH Holdings Limited which was entered into on 27 October 2014. All rights and security associated with the MASH facility will be cancelled. The Club will transfer 26% of the share capital in Rangers Retail Limited ("RRL") to SD for the duration of the Facility (the "Transfer"), which will be transferred back, at no cost, upon repayment of all outstanding sums owed by Rangers and its subsidiaries to SD. There is no specified repayment period for the first tranche of the Facility. The Facility is to be secured by (1) a floating charge over the Club's assets and (2) fixed charges over Murray Park, Edmiston House, Albion Car Park, and the Club's registered trademarks. None of the security that is being given to SD covers Ibrox Stadium, which is specifically excluded and remains in the full ownership of the Club, free from any security. SD will also have the right to nominate two directors to the board of Rangers for the duration of the Facility, any such nomination will be subject to regulatory consent pursuant to the AIM Rules and other regulatory bodies. If the entire sum drawn down is repaid, the Facility will be deemed to be terminated, all security will be released, the 26% of RRL will revert to the Company and all rights of SD to nominate Directors to the Board of the Company will cease. The second tranche of GBP5 million, which repayable 5 years after drawdown, will be used, if required, for working capital purposes and is subject to due diligence by SD prior to drawn down. The Company has also agreed that from the 2017/8 season, for the duration of the Facility, any future shirt sponsorship proceeds will be for the benefit of RRL. RRL will declare a dividend of a total of GBP 1,610,000 prior to the Transfer. The Club will use the proceeds of its share of this dividend, inter alia, to repay sums owing to SD in respect of the cessation of onerous leases on unprofitable stores entered into by a previous Rangers management team. RRL is a joint venture between the Club and SD whose business is selling merchandise both on-line and in stores. In the period ending 27 April 2014, RRL made a profit before tax of GBP 1,172,893. SD is a Related Party under the AIM Rules and accordingly the Facility is a Related Party Transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13. The Independent Directors, consider, having consulted with WH Ireland its nominated adviser, that the terms of the Facility are fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders of the Company are concerned. The Directors would like to thank all the Rangers Stakeholders who showed an interest in helping the Company. Commenting on the Facility, David Somers said: " The Board has sought for some time to establish a long term funding solution for the Company in order to create a platform of stability to build for the future. This Facility begins this process and we very much hope that it will be augmented with further permanent capital in due course. In addition, the executive team have made strides in addressing the cost base of the Company in order to improve our financial condition and working capital profile. We very much hope that we can now move away from having to seek short term funding solutions and can focus our efforts towards investing in the first team playing squad, a return to profitability and to re-establishing Rangers in the top league in Scottish Football and in due course, to European competition. The Board now calls upon all shareholders to rally together to achieve this goal."

Statement from the bears due at 6pm (approx) keep the faith guys please, from FF

Let say the good guys take over park , king , etc what would be the first thing to move the club forward would you like to see happening at rangers , for me it would be the implementation of a good solid business plan run by good people who know the value things and to get the best of investment into the club to benefit everyone at the club

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/12147419.html

Rangers board in crisis talks after emergency £500,000 loan Roddy Forsyth explains the ongoing power struggle at Rangers between Mike Ashley, Dave King and the Three Bears, and Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver Email Ibrox - Rangers power struggle takes new twist after Mike Ashley loses key ally in his quest for Ibrox boardroom coup Battleground: The battle for power at Ibrox took a new twist on new year's eve Photo: PA Roddy Forsyth By Roddy Forsyth11:19AM GMT 05 Jan 2015Comments27 Comments In a day of high drama at Ibrox the Rangers board is negotiating under severe pressure to save the club from financial meltdown for the second time in three years. The plc directors are frantically trying to strike a deal with the investor alliance of Dave King – a former Rangers director – and the Three Bears consortium, who last week scooped up available shares in an audacious raid. The astonishing development followed Telegraph Sport’s disclosure last night that the unpopular Ibrox regime had reached a crisis, which was confirmed today when the club’s board announced to the Stock Exchange that they had accepted an emergency loan of £500,000 from its football chairman, Sandy Easdale, to stay afloat for another few days. The Telegraph had revealed that a major announcement to the LSE was imminent, in respect of Rangers’ parlous economic situation. The trigger was a bill from HMRC for payment of National Insurance, under threat of a petition by the tax authority for the club to be placed into administration if the account was not settled immediately. Easdale’s loan is secured on the fee – believed to be £1 million - obtained from Brentford for the transfer of the highly rated 20-year-old midfielder, Lewis Macleod. When Rangers confirmed MacLeod’s sale to the Stock Exchange on Friday, the announcement said that the proceeds would “be used for immediate working capital”. The announcement of Easdale’s loan stated that the £500,000 would “be used by the Company for general working capital purposes over the next few days”. The statement added that the loan had been offered and accepted “on a fee and interest free basis and it will be secured against the income from the sale of player announced on 2 January 2015”. Related Articles Rangers board to lose power unless Mike Ashley steps in to save directors Rangers board to lose power unless Ashley steps in 04 Jan 2015 Rangers' squad could be decimated in January 01 Jan 2015 Rangers supporters’ group urges fans to displace Ashley 03 Jan 2015 Ashley's plan to own Rangers hits buffers 02 Jan 2015 Even as the Rangers board sought an agreement to avoid the club's collapse, however, a statement from Sandy Easdale's PR advisor, Jack Irvine, brought a sharp retort from King. Commenting on Easdale's secured funding deal, Irvine said: "Once again Sandy has stepped up to the plate with this half million pound loan from his own pocket. Whilst we welcomed the recent share purchases by Dave King and Douglas Park and his consortium, this unfortunately did not put any funds into the club. "Sandy was the only option for this cash injection at such short notice. The Easdale family remain totally committed to achieving a satisfactory financial future for Rangers and they hope all parties can work together in the future with that common goal."Given that Sandy Easdale rejected new funds and was a chief architect in getting the club into this mess, lending a small amount of money is the minimum he should have done. As part restitution he should make the £500,000 a donation rather than a loan." King retorted angrily and told Telegraph Sport: " The situation whereby a short-term loan of working capital is secured on recently obtained and desperately needed working capital is not only designed to stave off immediate administration, but also to keep the club afloat while the directors try to salvage what they can before surrendering to what now looks like an inevitable takeover by the fan-friendly axis of King and the Three Bears. However, three possibilities are in play. One – currently looking the least likely - is that Mike Ashley will come to the board’s rescue, having secured control over the appointment of two directors in return for £3 million of emergency funding in October. However, the Newcastle United owner had previously tried to negotiate with the Scottish Football Association to increase his stake at Ibrox from 8.92% to 29.9% but was refused by the governing body, who insisted that he should comply with his written undertaking not to go above 10%. The second option is an £18 million takeover offer from Robert Sarver, owner of Phoenix Suns basketball club. That offer was also notified to the Stock Exchange at the start of business this morning. Again, Telegraph Sport led the way in revealing that there had been conversations between Sarver’s advisers and those connected with the Three Bears consortium of wealthy shareholders, who have bought a substantial tranche of Rangers shares, as has the former Ibrox director, Dave King. Rangers’ second Stock Exchange statement today read: “The Company notes recent press speculation and confirms that it has received an approach from Robert Sarver (or a vehicle to be established and controlled by him) ("Mr Sarver") that may or may not lead to an offer being made for the Company. “There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which an offer may be made. A further announcement is expected shortly.” Takeover rules mean that Sarver has until 5pm on February 2 to confirm or withdraw his offer, which is worth £18 million and designed to give him complete control of the club’s equity. Again, there are difficulties with this proposal. As the Telegraph disclosed, Sarver has an interest in investing in European football clubs, as opposed to a strategy based solely on a single outfit such as Rangers. A full equity bid would take time to implement, even if it found favour with the majority of investors. When King placed an offer of £16 million in October – the deal rejected by the Rangers plc board in favour of Ashley’s short term fix of loans – it was in the form of a debt and equity mix that would have lent the club sufficient money to keep it going through the takeover process. Another problem for Sarver is that, taken together, the recent share purchases by King and the Three Bears – Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor – constitute a little over 34% of Rangers’ stock. They have been pledged support by other disenchanted investors and have also been allocated proxy votes. The King/Three Bears axis know that they can now call upon sufficient support to outdistance the Ashley/Easdale camp by a significant margin. Having got themselves into such a favourable position they are not inclined to stand aside for Sarver although they have, as would be expected, let it be known that they will happily have him on board as a like-minded investor. This is well short of Sarver’s original intent of attaining complete control of Rangers before looking elsewhere to acquire other football interests. One obvious objection to that as a long-term strategy is that it would infringe the same dual-ownership regulations that have prompted a disciplinary complaint against Ashley by the SFA. In any case, time is now the pressing enemy of all the contending parties. If the club runs out of cash and is forced to enter administration for the second time in three years Rangers will be consigned to a fourth successive season in the lower leagues – a prospect feared by the Scottish football authorities as well as other clubs who would benefit financially from their return to the top tier, as a consequence of better sponsorship and broadcast deals than are currently available. Rangers are again teetering on the edge of a financial precipice as the principal personalities jostle on the brink to establish who will be thrust over to the rocks below - and who will be left standing to inherit whatever remains of this once immensely proud and respected club.

Andy Nicol ‏@AndyNic9 Highlight of day at Scotstoun was bumping into Ally McCoist. Great to see him smiling again! #loveshisrugby Daily Record Sport ‏@Record_Sport Not exactly gardening weather, Ally McCoist instead spent his first Saturday off at the Rugby!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/11317458/Mike-Ashley-has-left-Newcastle-stagnant-and-stained-with-his-greedy-ownership-who-would-want-the-job-now.html Mike Ashley has left Newcastle stagnant and stained with his greedy ownership - who would want the job now? St James' Park now resembles a branch of Sports Direct - piled high with nonsense, with Ashley treating his critics as pygmies with pea-shooters, writes Paul Hayward Standing up to a ruthless owner who is worth £3.75 billion might sound like the definition of futility, but it happens to be the only option for the next man in at Newcastle United, where the nonsense is piled as high as the gear in Mike Ashley’s retail empire. Ashley is one of those moguls who has come to feel he has the globe on a string. Zero-hours contracts at Sports Direct? Get stuffed, liberals. Wonga shirt sponsorship? What has it got to do with you? Ashley’s business ethic is to treat his critics as pygmies with pea-shooters. He bestrides the swamp of unregulated free-market enterprise. Wealth is the only show in town. Observe the big man’s skill. Instead of having to go through the tedious business of sacking Alan Pardew, Ashley simply waited for Crystal Palace to come along and offer him £2.5 million in compensation to take ‘Pards’ away. What a deal. Not since he made £926 million in a single day floating his sportswear firm has such a cherry dropped off Ashley’s tree. No wonder his facial expression suggests omnipotence. Newcastle’s fans are understandably conflicted about Palace’s raid on St James’ Park. Those who held up a bedsheet declaring “Pardew is a muppet” will be glad to see him go. But they must know too that Ashley will want a continuation of the owner-manager relationship established during Pardew’s four years in charge. It would be a major turn-up if the proprietor ditched the current model of managerial subservience in favour of, say, Tony Pulis. Don Hutchison, the former Liverpool and Sunderland midfielder, writes in his Newcastle Chronicle column: “I’m not sure he [Ashley] actually wants the hassle of a manager who would demand money to sign players who can take Newcastle to the next level. “And I’m really not sure that he wants a manager who is going to sit there and say ‘I want this striker and he’ll cost £15million.’ I don’t think a manager like that would last five minutes at Newcastle at the moment.” Pardew, we know, endured his own powerlessness with a peculiarly strained expression, unless he was verbally abusing Manuel Pellegrini or putting the nut on Hull’s David Meyler. His disinclination to take on Ashley publicly on all the important points – Joe Kinnear, for example – took me back to the day Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano signed for West Ham, and Pardew, the manager at the time, called it “intriguing.” He clearly had no say in the club’s decision to park them at Upton Park. Multiply that many times and you find Pardew answering to Kinnear (briefly), spectating as Andy Carroll moved to Liverpool and having little say in Newcastle’s overall transfer dealings. It was during Pardew’s reign that Ashley decided he wanted 100% control over where his money went. Newcastle, who have a wage to income ratio of 64% (the Premier League average is 70%) have become a stepping-stone club for expertly-scouted players: an exercise in mid-table stagnation. Pardew never had the powerbase to resist this drift. The fans regarded him as Ashley’s puppet: another mouth from the south. Rather than fight the owner, he found a way to leave, returning to his roots at Palace. A more self-aware owner than Ashley might reflect that his manager is taking a demotion (to Palace) to escape the shadow he casts. The thought would not trouble him for long. Newcastle have previous here. Long before Ashley stepped into the Premier League casino Sir Bobby Robson and others struggled with Freddy Shepherd, a local heavyweight who also liked to do the deals. Under Robson’s tenure the late Gary Speed was sold to Bolton Wanderers without the manager’s prior approval and Patrick Kluivert’s arrival on Tyneside was conceived at boardroom level. Robson tolerated these interventions because he loved the job too much to give it up, and backed himself to produce a winning team from whatever resources were available to him. After he left, in 2004, and the job passed to eight managers inside a decade, there was one quick way to annoy Sir Bobby. All you had to do was ask him: “Who on earth would take the Newcastle job?” “It’s a wonderful job,” he would say. “Any ambitious manager would want that job. They’ll be inundated by applications.” He saw 52,000 fans, a deep love of the game on Tyneside, a strong local tradition and culture, even if they lacked the trophies to go with it. But to be Newcastle manager, now, without power, or even influence, is no siren call. Pardew’s successor will either have to lay out his terms at the first negotiation stage or step into Ashley’s empire as a departmental head, while the real business goes on elsewhere. Pardew stopped being a yes-man in the end. He accepted defeat, and fled.

I would take a billionaire sugar daddy like Chelsea, Man City and United have in England long before anything right now. All across Europe we have teams notably from Eastern Europe run by Billionaires with fans following in their droves, watching seriously clever players in packed stadiums with total tv exposure. In my lifetime, football clubs, and how they are run has changed dramatically over time. Spain, Germany, England and even Russia have total control of all things good (or bad) in football. The days of an 'honest' football club operating in today's world are long gone. The idea of Rangers being or at least trying to enter that elite fills me with some degree of hope. I want our club to be part of that elite once again. We have a far wider fan base than any other club in the world and if the the right people come in regardless of their greed then we should accept that. Our club has the potential to feed the 'Hobbiest' as well as the fans, and make it's mark once again. Only a pessimist would disagree with that. Mike Ashley grabbed Newcastle United to promote his business empire, and it worked, it's Newcastle United ffs! If Ashley wants to take on the Rangers it's because he believes it may well be the biggest thing he's ever took on in his life, and possibly his most rewarding. We are a sleeping giant. I'm looking forward to very prosperous times in the the future. It is just round the corner somewhere. Edit: This is Bearmans view not necessarily yours.

Sons of Struth have received information that in return for the naming rights deal Sports Direct now own the shirt sponsorship rights when the 32red deal expires, this deal has in practice cost Sports direct £1. Sports Direct can do two things now, the can become our shirts sponsor for £1 or they can sell the rights to another sponsor and they they will receive the money Our board have now handed away yet another income stream to mike Ashley for no financial advantage to our club He now owns our shirt sponsorship for a quid, our shops, our merchandise, our carpark, our edmiston house which was paid for by fans via Rangers Pools, almost half the adverts at ibrox (no one knows how much if anything was paid for these0 and he attempted to own our badge and crest and we still have no answer from the board if this has actually happened I dont think his shops run BOGOF offers but it appears he managed to get one when he bought his original shares, I wonder why and more on that as we clarify it. Most fans would consider his involvement only occurred after admin, you are wrong, more on that to follow soon also......... Craig

As posted on FF: "Sons of Struth have received information that in return for the naming rights deal Sports Direct now own the shirt sponsorship rights when the 32red deal expires, this deal has in practice cost Sports direct £1. Sports Direct can do two things now, the can become our shirts sponsor for £1 or they can sell the rights to another sponsor and they they will receive the money Our board have now handed away yet another income stream to mike Ashley for no financial advantage to our club He now owns our shirt sponsorship for a quid, our shops, our merchandise, our carpark, our edmiston house which was paid for by fans via Rangers Pools, almost half the adverts at ibrox (no one knows how much if anything was paid for these0 and he attempted to own our badge and crest and we still have no answer from the board if this has actually happened I dont think his shops run BOGOF offers but it appears he managed to get one when he bought his original shares, I wonder why and more on that as we clarify it. Most fans would consider his involvement only occurred after admin, you are wrong, more on that to follow soon also......... Craig"

Apparently today's top table location...

RNS Number : 4108A Rangers Int. Football Club PLC 22 December 2014  Rangers International Football Club plc ("Rangers" or the "Company")
 
AGM Statement As previously announced, the Company's Annual General Meeting will be held at 10:30am today, Monday 22 December 2014, at Ibrox Stadium, 150 Edmiston Drive, Glasgow G51 2XD. Access will be through Exit 30 of the Broomloan Stand which is adjacent to turnstile 64. Shareholders will have access to the Albion car park with access to the Stadium footprint for disabled Blue Badge holders to park near the entrance. Shareholders are asked to arrive in good time from 9am in order to clear the registration process. Shareholders should bring the attendance card which was included with the Notice of AGM, posted to registered addresses on 28 November 2014. In the event that the attendance card is lost, Shareholders should bring some other form of ID (a credit/debit card will suffice). Shareholders whose shares are held in a nominee account with their stockbroker will need a Corporate Representative's letter (issued by the custodian of their shares) in order to be admitted. Non-shareholders including guests of shareholders, will not be admitted. The meeting will consider the 9 Resolutions set out in the Notice of AGM, each of which will be subject to a vote by Poll, which will be verified by Capita Registrars Limited. The result of these Resolutions will be released to the London Stock Exchange by no later than 7am on Tuesday 23 December 2014. At the AGM the Chairman, David Somers, will make the following statement: "Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to this Annual General Meeting of Rangers International Football Club plc. It feels like years since I last stood in front of you and it is amazing that it is only just over 12 months. 12 months ago, as I had just joined the Rangers Board, I was given the impression that the Club had enough money to see it through the first few months to the season ticket window. Sadly, I quickly discovered that this was not the case. The Board then began metaphorically to take up all of the carpets; after which we were left with a very long list of legacy issues that needed to be sorted out, often as our finances would allow. So in the first few months, we reviewed all of the contracts, the finances and the legal issues, ending up with a long list of legacy issues that would need to be dealt with over time. Since then we have spent many months focusing on these legacy issues dealing with them one by one. To be honest, it is frustrating dealing with legacy issues, because you are effectively looking backwards during this time and dealing with issues you didn't create yourself. I know that most fans will not really be interested in such efforts, because it is not about football, but these legacy issues and contracts have had to be dealt with so that we can begin to move forward. I was always taught to be cautious, so I hesitate to say that we have dealt with all of these legacy issues, as whenever I think that, another legacy issue quietly appears, but we do seem to have addressed many or most of them. One of our biggest remaining legacy issues is the weak state of the Rangers finances. In the financial area, we have been fortunate that a number of people have supported us with loans during the last 12 months, namely Sandy Easdale, George Letham and Mash Holdings. I sincerely thank them for their support, which in some cases, has included their loans being interest free. In the early days, while developing our list of legacy issues to be addressed, Graham Wallace wrote a review, which became known as the 120 day review. In this he indicated a desire to spend £20-30 millions in reaching the top levels of Scottish and European football. After visits to various City institutions the Board believed that such a level of expenditure would be supported by the City institutions, and the then monthly rate of loss, would also be supported by the shareholders. In the event, this was discovered not to be the case, because when we came to raise funds through a share issue, we soon found that there was a lack of appetite from shareholders to invest significant extra funds just to pay wages and utility bills. Accordingly, we have moved to cut costs significantly. Like any household, Rangers can ultimately only spend what it earns and, as has been reported in the media, we have moved quickly to bring our costs down and much more in line with our income. Rangers Football Club has been living beyond its means for many years and much of the cost cutting and efficiency improvements should have been addressed years ago by previous boards when we were in the lower divisions. But they weren't, so we are doing it. A material part of our costs relate to player costs, however, and these can only be addressed over a long period of time because of the length of the contracts. These contracts are often measured in years, not months. In these past 12 months, I have been surprised at a number of things. Firstly, the highly negative aspect of most of the media reporting regarding Rangers. Secondly, because it is clear to me that a stronger Rangers is good for Scottish football, I have been very disappointed to realise that outside of Ibrox, there sadly still exists a great deal of anti- Rangers feeling, perhaps (although I hope not) even in the football establishment. Rangers return to the top flight of our game, I am sure you will agree, will be more easily achieved if everyone who cares about the Club works together for the betterment of Rangers. This turbulent year has seen people calling for a season ticket boycott, seen the disruptive creation of a season ticket trust for a while and other negative ideas. Such negativity is expensive for Rangers as it reduces season ticket and overall ticket sales, increasing the likelihood that I will have to borrow money to cover the shortfalls created. Our path to restoring Rangers to where we all want the Club to be, can only be achieved with the continued support of all supporters, shareholders and business partners. 2013/14 saw Rangers Football Club complete the second stage of our rise back to the top of Scottish football and the year also brought another vital component for a new Rangers to emerge for the future - a structured and measured approach to rebuilding the football club. An unbeaten SPFL League One campaign was an excellent return for Alistair, his staff and the players and they deserve our congratulations. While we were all ultimately disappointed to have been defeated in both the Ramsdens Cup Final and the William Hill Scottish Cup semi final, our fundamental objective of achieving promotion was comfortably achieved with a points total into three figures. I was delighted that the Board was able to further support the Manager in providing funds for the recruitment of nine players in 2013/14 and also in the period immediately after the end of the financial year when we brought Kenny Miller, Kris Boyd, Steve Simonsen and Lee Robinson back to the Club, together with the signings of Marius Zaliukas and Darren McGregor. While the success of any major football club will always be benchmarked by its first team, a strong Youth Academy is also an informative barometer of long-term health and well being. It is very pleasing to see the quality and quantity of young talent being nurtured at Murray Park. Last season our Under20s won the SFA Youth Cup and narrowly lost out in the title race in the final week of the campaign. 57 players from our Under 14 to Under 21 age groups were called into international squads and three more Murray Park Academy graduates made their first team debuts. The ladies and girls teams have come a long way in a short space of time, enjoying significant success. In season 2013, the Ladies reached the semi final of the Scottish Cup, The Under 17s team secured the league, Scottish Cup and League Cup treble, the U15s and U13s finished second in the leagues and a new U11s team has been introduced. Internationally, the Rangers ladies teams have contributed 22 players to the Scotland teams across all age groups. We are charting our future strategy in the five key areas of: • Developing Football Performance • Focus on Player Asset Management and Youth Development • Re-connecting effectively to our Local and Global Fan Base • Developing Best in Class Commercial and Operational Capability • Strengthening Commitment to our Communities The year also saw Rangers make the first, important steps towards building an effective programme of engagement with our fan base. Fans were contacted via email, SMS, online and at matchdays to assist in our Ready To Listen Initiative, showing we are serious about improving communications and dialogue with all supporters. Subsequent focus groups took place in Ibrox with feedback generated helping to shape the direction of the Club's fan engagement strategy. I think that we would all agree that we still have work to do in this area and one in which we must increase our endeavours. Although we have experienced difficult trading conditions, there have been a number of important and positive, developments in our fiscal position during the financial year. A 32% increase in total revenue from £19.1m to £25.2m was recorded in the year ending 30 June 2014, with the majority of the uplift due to the first full year of our retail venture with our long term partner Sports Direct. Reduced revenues from gate receipts and hospitality are down from £13.2m to £12.4m and were a direct result of the lower matchday attendances from both season ticket holders and walk-ins. This shortfall was offset by increased revenue from sponsorship and advertising up from £0.8m to £1.5m illustrating the improvements in the Rangers brand perception. Proceeds from ticket sales were also adversely impacted by the decision not to increase prices of either season or matchday tickets from the previous season. Season ticket sales were sadly down from 38,228 in 2012/13 to 36,039 in the 2013/14 financial year, resulting in a fall in revenue from £8.1m to £7.7m in financial years 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively. Our average home league attendance also fell from 45,111 in the 2012/13 season to 41,444 in 2013/14. Other Operating Income rose from £1.7m to £2.1m, a 22% increase, mainly as a result of hosting both Scottish Cup Semi Finals and an increased associated uplift in matchday catering revenues. At this AGM, we are requesting permission from shareholders to enable us to issue shares to improve the long term financial stability of the Club. We were not able to last year and I sincerely hope, for the good of the financial stability and future of the Club, that it will be forthcoming this year. We are now increasingly looking forward. An immediate priority is to re-build the Board with suitably experienced people and this is already well underway. We also need to look at the football side for a number of reasons. Firstly, there has for some time existed a chasm between the talented young players being developed at Murray Park and our first team. We need to focus on ways of developing our own young players for the first team rather than continually buying-in players. Secondly, as you all know Ally has decided to resign and has given us the required 12 months notice of his intention to leave the Club, as of yesterday Ally is on gardening leave. Sadly, this year, one of our greatest ever supporters will not be with us on the rest of our long journey. In April we lost Sandy Jardine - a truly inspirational man and Ranger. I had the privilege of meeting him a number of times before he left us and I found him to be one of football's true gentlemen. Sandy will be forever revered and the re-naming of the Govan Stand in his memory is a fitting tribute to a truly wonderful person who cared so passionately about his Club. My personal goals remain what they were 12 months ago. Namely to ensure that the events of Rangers' recent past can never happen again; to cleanse the Club of these events, and also to ensure that Rangers gets back to the top in football. I now recognise that we will not get much support outside of Ibrox for this; we have to do it ourselves. And we will. Last year I said that I was proud to be Chairman of Rangers. I will repeat that again today, because I genuinely believe it is a privilege to be in this position." http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/12192436.html

"The intention will be to settle the absolute minimum with creditors before they can cash their chips and make money off the ground, most supporters thus feel the club may as well go bust so that at least a phoenix team may be able to take the stadium. But the incumbents have a history of doing this at other clubs and are well connected. The club has had 4 chairmen in 6 months as they pass it around dodging winding up orders and pesky owners and directors tests, I'm sure they'll come through this somehow still in possession of whats left of the club. A friend of mine is a Darlo fan, watching his team cease to exist was pretty tough but in the end he was relieved when their farcical former incarnation came to an end. I don't think it's an easy task to come back but enough teams have to show it can be done." For fans of a certain age, Ronnie Radford's 'rocket' speaks of an entirely different world of football. Mud bath pitches, genuine cup shocks, a pitch invasion not immediately followed by FA investigations and/or police reprisal, even the flared trousers of the kids take the viewer back to an era when daytime TV was more Open University than Loose Women, Mash and Fray Bentos was an aspirational dinner, and football was a stable certainty, with even the most badly run club more or less safe from extinction if they had any fans at all. Sadly for Hereford, the times have seriously changed. Banned from any and all football activity by the FA owing to failure to complete paperwork - rather than the various questionable practices by various questionable owners, the usual 'Al Capone' approach to oversight taken by enfeebled football authorities - the present era of free ownership by speculators rather than fans has led to an on field decline and a boycott by the vast majority of supporters, dismayed at the hollow shell their beloved club has become - this sounds familiar to the Rangers fan. It's come to the point where the FA ban is hailed as good news, at least to this Guardian commenter: "This news has been welcomed by myself and 90% of my fellow Hereford United fans. The club's demise this season has been heart-breaking and the response from the authorities has been either non-existent or completely toothless until now. It's good to see that the FA have finally acted but it's taken far too long." Late Friday has brought the news that, owing to the owner being stuck in traffic with a guarantee of funding, the club has in fact been wound up. It's the sort of farce that Bears are all too familiar with, and sends out the message that, should your owner be incompetent enough, extinction is all too possible. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-30542821 Why football authorities are so slow to protect their game is mystifying. Hereford might not be up there, financially, with Chelsea or Man City, but in football the whole is very much the sum of the parts, a lesson forgotten too easily by too many. Trying to sell a top league with no substrata will not be so easy as it might sound: if we have no Hereford, before long we have no Chelsea, at least not as we know it, for we lose the FA Cup, the League Cup, eventually losing entirely the interaction between 'giant' and 'killer'. If you have a lack of clubs who can aspire to the Premiership, the Premiership ceases to be aspirational. For some, replacement with an UltraEuroSuperLeague sounds very appealing, but shrinking the game to a super elite is no basis for a sustainable future. Lose the Body of the Kirk & you must reinvent yourself: and re-invention comes with no guarantee of success, as the Church of Scotland could attest. And just as important as a coherent national structure is a coherent model of ownership. Like much of Britain since the 70's, football has seen a decline in any form of social responsibility and a lurch into unfettered capitalism. Allowing teams to be owned by anyone who happens by with a chequebook - or whatever they have now - then belatedly issuing punishments which further damage the club rather than the dodgy owner is not common sense or natural law but it's symptomatic of Britain nowadays. You can see this kind of withdrawal from the social sphere all over the UK. The choking of funding to local government has seen the loss of effective town planning, resulting in ugly, empty and unattractive urban centres people would flee if only they could. In 2014 Britain, absolutely nothing is sacred, nothing is off the table, and mere football clubs going to the wall not just possible but starkly likely. "The club is still in the hands of conmen with another date at the High Court coming up on Monday (the 7th time...or is it the 8th...or 9th) that the club has been back there. Winding-up orders have been staved off due to the mysterious shifting around of funds by even more mysterious 'investors' and the involvement of shell companies." Iffy owners and bizarre financials have become part and parcel of the game, from Premiership to Pontins League, if that still exists. A big name is no guarantee of safety: in Scotland, Rangers currently tick most of the nightmare boxes Hereford were opening, like some nightmarish advent calendar, while the Scottish FA veer between anger, contempt and hamfisted appeasement in their attitude to the various owners who take the stage, but never actually achieve anything that might either kill or cure the Ibrox side: they, too, have adopted the light touch which in actuality is the expression of their powerlessness, so desperate are they for the financial benefit the club brings to overlook financial lunacy. This is not mere arrogance: the League Cup in Scotland, without a real sponsor for several seasons, suddenly gets one at this year's semi-final stage, with a much needed six figure sum going into the game. I'm sure the fact that one semi-final features Rangers playing Celtic is complete coincidence. Aping the attitude of Hereford's owners, Rangers treat their paying customer with total contempt. Last week, Rangers board member Mr Sandy Easdale took the opportunity to berate fans for not celebrating hard enough that naming rights to Ibrox Stadium, originally 'sold' to Mike Ashley of Newcastle Utd fame for the princely sum of £1, had been reclaimed. That this secret and stupid deal was rescinded only after a fan outcry apparently bypasses Mr Easdale; they should celebrate that the club was dragged into acting in the best interests of itself. His words: "We've gotten these (rights) back and the fans haven’t celebrated enough on this topic." The expression 'beyond parody' comes to mind. On the pitch the team is terrible. At least when Hereford's 'owner' Andy Lonsdale did the dirty on Feltham FC, by dumping rubbish on their pitch, he wasn't paying the rubbish £10,000 a week. [http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bedfont--feltham-president-plays-7296079] There is an alternative to this ongoing horror story, though. It's nihilistic, dangerous and offers no guarantee of success, but at least it - unlike the present conditions - does have a potentially positive outcome. "Follow my team AFC Wimbledon and start again. You won't regret it and you won't feel like your being shafted each week by a rich owner with no understanding of a clubs place in the community." I find it astonishing that, as a Rangers man of 30 years and more, I can contemplate the death of my club, on the basis that the present incarnation is so hateful that either a rebirth, or nothing, would be preferable. It's certainly a scorched earth policy, but there have to be limits: currently Ibrox stadium is fast approaching decrepitude, a state of affairs completely unacceptable at a club where 66 people died in the 1971 disaster. Money comes in and disappears. Chairmen come and go, directors likewise. Majority shareholders emerge, only to retreat to offshore shadows. There seems no future. At a recent fan board meeting, one representative delivered an excoriating warning to the club that their attitude and provision toward disabled fans will see them barred from competing in UEFA competitions unless a serious amount of money is invested, now. Setting aside the grim mirth that the idea of the present Rangers team competing in Europe occasions - frankly, Hereford would probably put up a better showing - what UEFA decrees now, domestic bodies follow sooner or later, and Rangers will not be 'Ready', mocking the club's increasingly ironic motto. Rangers are so far from any kind of stability it's not true, and it's sad to see a club so far away from an even keel still spout the same rubbish about business reviews, plans going forward, all in it together, Champions League: the bullshit merchants of Glasgow are no more believable than their Wyvern equivalents in Hereford, just less honest. Coming back from the position Hereford and Rangers find themselves in is not easy, nor is it guaranteed, so I expect many if not all Rangers fans will consider a course of voluntary self-destruction, with only at best a 50-50 chance of a rebirth afterwards, insanity. Well, I'm certain I don't want to see the current mess go on any longer, and I'm selfish enough to believe that if it's not good enough for me, it shouldn't be good enough for anyone else. But I don't know that I've ever been entirely sane on the subject of my team: it was always about love, not reason. At present I am in the cowardly position of having little feeling for what is currently calling itself Rangers, but not having the guts to call for a completely new start, irrespective of history or heritage. "We're all hoping the end might, finally, be in sight." Whether the end turns out to be a new beginning, though, that's another question.

QTS have been announced as the sponsors of the latter stages of the Scottish League Cup. STV has learned that the league body has agreed a deal in the region of £100,000 for sponsorship of the semi-finals and final of this year’s competition. The rail infrastructure firm's name currently appears on the shirts of Scottish Premiership side Kilmarnock. Dundee United and Aberdeen contest the first semi-final on January 31, with Celtic and Rangers meeting at Hampden the following day. The League Cup has been without a sponsor this season, while the league has been searching for a new sponsor for three years. SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with QTS, an ambitious and growing Scottish business with a proud history of successful sport sponsorship – a perfect fit for the competition. "With two cracking Scottish League Cup semi-finals in the New Year, as well as the final in March, everyone at the SPFL is looking forward to working with QTS to maximise the profile of both the competition and of the business and to bring excitement to fans of the clubs and Scottish football." Clydesdale Bank announced in November 2011 they were ending their involvement with the then Scottish Premier League. http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/dundee-united/304094-qts-to-be-named-sponsor-for-latter-stages-of-scottish-league-cup/?

Notices of Complaint: Rangers FC and Michael Ashley Monday, 15 December 2014 The Compliance Officer has issued the following Notices of Complaint: Alleged Party in Breach: Rangers FC Disciplinary Rule(s) allegedly breached: Disciplinary Rule 1: All members shall: (b) be subject to and comply with (i) the Articles (ii) this protocol. (f) behave towards the Scottish FA and other members with the utmost good faith. Disciplinary Rule 19: Except with the prior written consent of the Board: (a) no club or nominee of a club; and (b) no person, whether absolutely or as a trustee, either alone or in conjunction with one or more associates or solely through an associate or associates (even where such person has no formal interest), who: (i) is a member of a club; or (ii) is involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management or administration of a club, or (iii) has any power whatsoever to influence the management or administration or a club, may at the same time either directly or indirectly:- (a) be a member of another club; or (b) be involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management or administration of another club; or © have any power whatsoever to influence the management or administration of another club. Disciplinary Rule 77: A recognised football body, club, official, Team Official, other member of Team Staff, player, match official or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA shall, at all times, act in the best interests of Association Football. Principal Hearing date: Tuesday, 27th January 2015 Alleged Party in Breach: Michael Ashley Disciplinary Rule(s) allegedly breached: Disciplinary Rule 19: Except with the prior written consent of the Board: (a) no club or nominee of a club; and (b) no person, whether absolutely or as a trustee, either alone or in conjunction with one or more associates or solely through an associate or associates (even where such person has no formal interest), who: (i) is a member of a club; or (ii) is involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management or administration of a club, or (iii) has any power whatsoever to influence the management or administration or a club, may at the same time either directly or indirectly:- (a) be a member of another club; or (b) be involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management or administration of another club; or © have any power whatsoever to influence the management or administration of another club. Disciplinary Rule 77: A recognised football body, club, official, Team Official, other member of Team Staff, player, match official or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA shall, at all times, act in the best interests of Association Football. Principal Hearing date: Tuesday, 27th January 2015 http://scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2566&newsCategoryID=1&newsID=14110