Rangers still being run by board and not the bank, says Murray jnr

[ian1964 10,720]

DAVID Murray jnr last night insisted his father's company are still in charge of operations at Rangers and claimed "frustration" prompted Walter Smith's observation that Lloyds Banking Group are now running the financially-troubled Ibrox club.

Smith yesterday refused to elaborate on his weekend comments, the manager even threatening to walk out of his broadcast media conference at Murray Park unless questions were restricted to tonight's Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final against Dundee at Dens Park. Lloyds later issued a statement denying they are in control of Rangers, who are currently �£30 million in debt, and firmly refuting one newspaper report which stated they had forced Sir David Murray's decision to step down as chairman of the club in August this year.

 

Murray's son, managing director of the Murray Capital investment arm of Murray International Holdings who own almost 90 per cent of Rangers, told The Scotsman the club and Lloyds Banking Group are united in their search for a new owner.

 

"The bank are going to continue to support the club until such time as we find somebody to buy the club," said Murray. "That is what we are trying to do. What they are trying to get towards is a sustainable business plan and so are we, if we can find someone who wants to buy the club. We have said that for a long time. Walter's comment came from a little bit of frustration.

 

"My father doesn't have anything to add to what has been said. As we stand, there are no firm offers for the club. It is business as normal."

 

In their most recent accounts, Murray International had a net debt of �£760 million, of which �£704 million was from bank loans, with �£432 million payable within one to two years.

 

Lloyds now own an 11.4 per cent stake in Murray International, but Murray jnr says that has no bearing on the situation at Rangers.

 

"They are separate issues," he added. "This is a separate matter to do with Rangers, there is nothing to say at this stage about Murray International. There is no direct correlation."

 

Speculation surrounding the level of influence of Lloyds Banking Group at the club has been intense since the appointment of Donald Muir, a 50-year-old "business transformation specialist", as their representative on the Ibrox board of directors. Among Muir's assignments during the current recession was the rescue of the Northern Rock building society. But a Lloyds spokesman again insisted yesterday that they are working in tandem with the existing Rangers management team, rather than directing operations.

 

"Lloyds Banking Group is a bank which provides finance to many companies and households across the country," said the spokesman.

 

"Our interest is in helping those customers grow and prosper. We do not run or manage the companies that we bank. That is, quite properly, the responsibility of the management.

 

"Given the recent press coverage, we would therefore like to be clear that Rangers FC is neither operated or run by Lloyds Banking Group. We would also like to be clear that Sir David Murray's decision to step down as Chairman was a personal decision and not at the behest of Lloyds Banking Group.

 

"The Board of Rangers FC is developing and implementing a sustainable business plan and we have agreed to support this plan. The Group is aware of the unique position that football occupies across many Scottish communities and has been working with Scottish football clubs, including Rangers, for many years."

 

But Smith's appreciation of the circumstances he is working under at Rangers, where he has been unable to buy a player since August 2008 and forced to radically cut the size of his squad, make it plain his concerns are valid.

 

Clearly mindful of the reaction provoked by his weekend comments, Smith was unwilling to engage in further discussion on the issue with the media yesterday.

 

"They (the club] issued a statement and that's it," was his response to the opening question on the financial position.

 

The next enquiry received a similar answer, Smith saying: "I said the club issued a statement last night and that's it as far as I'm concerned, that is it finished with."

 

He did, however, stress again that the speculation surrounding the club and the future of both its management and playing staff, is having an impact.

 

"If there is a level of negativity around the place, it affects everyone, not just the players," he said.

 

"The thing that we have to concentrate on is the results of the games.

 

"We had an extremely poor result in the Champions League last week and we had a decent game with Hibs, and both teams deserve a bit of credit for the way they played.

 

"Now we have a difficult cup tie coming up and, while there may be levels of negativity around the place, we don't and can't allow it to affect us. You've got to overcome that aspect of it."

 

http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Rangers-still-being-run-by.5767861.jp

[gisabeer 409]

But Smith's appreciation of the circumstances he is working under at Rangers, where he has been unable to buy a player since August 2008 and forced to radically cut the size of his squad, make it plain his concerns are valid.

 

Spent 18 million in a panic buying spree to appease the fans after the Kuanus dibacle and then told us we had too man players 6 weeks later.

 

this is where our current financial crisis stems from. And i hold Smith as the main perpetrator.

[craig 5,199]

I dont.

 

I blame Murray and Bain - they are the ones with the chequebook. They are the ones who should have been managing the finances appropriately.

 

Walter Smith is a football manager, not a financial analyst.

 

Murray is the financier and if he didnt have the funds to support the purchases he shouldnt have provided it.

 

Bain is the CEO and has a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders of the club and he should never have agreed to the spend if the club would be put in a financial bind because of it.

 

WS is culpable but not even the major culprit IMO.

[gisabeer 409]

I dont.

 

I blame Murray and Bain - they are the ones with the chequebook. They are the ones who should have been managing the finances appropriately.

 

Walter Smith is a football manager, not a financial analyst.

 

Murray is the financier and if he didnt have the funds to support the purchases he shouldnt have provided it.

 

Bain is the CEO and has a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders of the club and he should never have agreed to the spend if the club would be put in a financial bind because of it.

 

WS is culpable but not even the major culprit IMO.

 

smith is very culpable. he totally overestimated his squad and laid far too much faith in too many under achievers. wasted a kings ransom in the transfer market too.

 

he is very very culpable craig. murray was guilty of giving him a free hand to manage the club.

 

if murray had been seen to interfere with in the transfer dealings of the manager he would have been lambasted by the fans.

 

smith made alot of very bad decisions that summer that will haunt the club for the next decade.

 

if there is a club left to haunt that is.

[craig 5,199]

smith is very culpable. he totally overestimated his squad and laid far too much faith in too many under achievers. wasted a kings ransom in the transfer market too.

 

he is very very culpable craig. murray was guilty of giving him a free hand to manage the club.

 

if murray had been seen to interfere with in the transfer dealings of the manager he would have been lambasted by the fans.

 

smith made alot of very bad decisions that summer that will haunt the club for the next decade.

 

if there is a club left to haunt that is.

 

Regardless though, the ultimate responsibility is the man who writes the cheques.

 

We are in a FINANCIAL mess, would you agree ? That being the case those MOST culpable are those who spend the money.

 

We missed out on CL football and went and spent over 10 million thereafter.... 10 million it now appears we didnt have. That isnt Smith's domain, it is the domain of 3 people IMO (SDM as Chairman, Bain as CEO and McIntrye as FD).

 

Whether we like it or not it is Murrays position to be lambasted by the fans if he doesnt control the club financially prudently. In fact, if that was a concern of his at the time then he should never be in control of the club. If he allowed WS to spend with an open cheque book simply because he didnt want to take the flak of the fans then that actually strengthens my argument that SDM should take most of the flak.

 

If the money isnt there then he shouldnt have allowed WS to spend it. It really is that simple.

 

Smith made signings that were approved by his board. We can debate all day long as to how good, or bad, those signings were (at the time I felt, and still do, that our signing policy that year was very much a scatter-gun approach) but, and it is a big but, if the money wasnt there then he shouldnt have been given approval to make those signings.

 

You may very well be right that we will be haunted for a decade but I would contend it is because of SDM & Bain not being fiscally prudent with the club more than it is with the signings Smith made.

 

Or are we forgetting that after the 80 million debt debacle that SDM said he would never let it happen again..... that statement didnt last even 5 years !!!

[maineflyer 0]

What a fukking mess. From one end of the club to the other, there isn't one person can honestly hold his head up and say he didn't contribute to the shambles we se today. They're all culpable, please don't make excuses for anyone at Ibrox, whether in the boardroom or the dressing room.

 

They're all to blame and we have been grossly let down at every turn. Lied to and taken for such a ride that many fans still can't see the truth behind the collapse of this club. Shame on the lot of them.

[Tannochsidebear 2,405]

What a fukking mess. From one end of the club to the other, there isn't one person can honestly hold his head up and say he didn't contribute to the shambles we se today. They're all culpable, please don't make excuses for anyone at Ibrox, whether in the boardroom or the dressing room.

 

They're all to blame and we have been grossly let down at every turn. Lied to and taken for such a ride that many fans still can't see the truth behind the collapse of this club. Shame on the lot of them.

 

Exactly, trying to apportion blame to some and prevent criticism of others is not on. Clearly some are more to blame than others, but to try to excuse anybody of blame is fanciful.

 

We must also include ourselves, as fans, as being partly to blame. We have allowed ourselves to be so split into different factions that we have no power in any of them. We have the Trust, Assembly, Association, Gersnet, RangersMedia, Followfollow website, VanguardBears, Followfollow fanzine, Number 1 fanzine, The Blue Order, Union Bears, all singing different songs in a different tune from the rest of them, and the result is a support so fractured and split we have no voice and nobody to take the club to task.

 

Add to that a 92% shareholder who has the media in his pocket in exchange for refusing to defend the fans, and who is both untouchable and still much admired by a large number of the support, and it is easy to see how we got to where we are.

 

The real debate is now that we are here, what do we, the fans, do to change things?

[Zappa 0]

We must also include ourselves, as fans, as being partly to blame. We have allowed ourselves to be so split into different factions that we have no power in any of them. We have the Trust, Assembly, Association, Gersnet, RangersMedia, Followfollow website, VanguardBears, Followfollow fanzine, Number 1 fanzine, The Blue Order, Union Bears, all singing different songs in a different tune from the rest of them, and the result is a support so fractured and split we have no voice and nobody to take the club to task.

Sad, but true. The support are extremely divided & rarely agree on anything. That's one of the reasons why I think that the RST touted goal of fan ownership of the club is worrying. It's a subject that was discussed in the STS report and it's quite a popular concept amongst the fans for obvious reasons, but to my mind it's exactly what Rangers Football Club doesn't need. Just because it works for Barcelona, doesn't mean it would work for us. In our case I can't help thinking of Orwell. Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others.

[craig 5,199]

But none of us said that they werent all to blame.

 

gisa said WS was the main perpetrator, I disagreed. But either way we both recognise that SDM, Bain, Smith et al ALL have a part to play in varying degrees.

 

Although, that said, at this point the variability of apportionment of blame does seem pointless.

[gisabeer 409]

totally agree with the point about spending money we didnt have. Murray should never have sanctioned the cash in the first place. this was the mistake that was made with DA. Blind loyalty from our chairman to his manager. You would have thought that murray would have learned a valuable lesson there.

 

had walter smith done his job properly we wouldnt have had to go on the scatter gun spending spree that took place in the wake of what can only be described as a monumental disaster in the history of Rangers football club.

 

In the end the the cash was spent to appease the fans and more importantly

to cover walters arse after he made an absolute jeff hunt of it.

 

It gauls me that no one held him to account at the time. And it gauls me that he has never acknowledged the fact that he got it so so wrong.

 

I would have sacked him on the spot. There is no way Rangers football club should have ever lost to a team of so little stature.

 

But then again it was nothing new losing to a pub team under smith. you only have to look at his Euro record the first time round to know that he would never cut in europe.

 

Something else our chaireman should have realised.