RST Chairman - "Boycott of Lloyds can't be ruled out"

[Zappa 0]

RST Chairman "Boycott of Lloyds can't be ruled out"

07 January by therabbitt

 

 

Speaking to the BBC on the subject of Walter Smith's comments regarding the controlling influence of the bank on Rangers, RST chairman Stephen Smith was pointed in his criticism of Lloyds. Rangers are currently being held at gunpoint by Lloyds and Smith intimated that the sooner the clubs hands are untied, the better.

 

"The sooner Lloyds are disentangled from the running of Rangers Football Club the better. I'm as worried now as I was last year when the manager felt strongly enough to publicly criticise the bank's role.

 

Echoing the managers sentiments, the RST chairman discussed the fact that with successes in the Champions League, it would be expected that Lloyds wouldnt be holding such a stern view on the finances of the club, "We've had a successful Champions League campaign, we're guaranteed at least two more European games, yet there has still been no change in attitude from Lloyds. We're challenging for four competitions and that's why the size of the squad is a concern."

 

In a more barbed comment, Smith backed up his managerial namesake, chosing to brand the banks treatment of the club as being 'vindictive', "If the manager's saying we need help, why are Lloyds behaving in such a vindictive way towards Rangers?"

 

Signalling the RST's intent, Smith then refused to rule out that if the situation isn't improved, then the RST would consider finding a way to take action against the bank, "If that begins to materially affect Rangers on the park, we will certainly look to take action to try to change that.

 

"Getting the Rangers family involved in a boycott of Lloyds Bank can't be ruled out."

 

 

http://www.rangersmedia.co.uk/homepage/index.php/component/content/article/41-finances/895-rst-qboycott-of-lloyds-cant-be-ruled-outq.html

[rbr 1,256]

Bunch of fool's , more empty threats

[ascender 352]

Utterly bizarre. Apart from the historic issues that our support has when it comes to presenting a united front for anything whatsoever, I'd be surprised if a boycott by the whole "family" would even register on Lloyds scale given just how big a customer base they now have.

 

And why are they so quick to believe everything Smith says?

[maineflyer 0]

Bunch of fool's , more empty threats

 

Utterly baffling, why don't they just stop wasting God's good air and stop pretending they give a monkeys what Lloyds do. If there is anything more pointless and ineffective than the RST then it has yet to reveal itself.

[Zappa 0]

Someone from the beeb must have contacted Stephen Smith to ask for comments.

[Zappa 0]

Stephen Smith is on Sportsound right now - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/6407137.stm

[BrahimHemdani 1]

I think that Mr Smith would be better placed sticking to the affairs of RST than commenting on the business practices of Lloyds Bank. We may not agree with them and they get themselves in trouble with their own greed but generally they are not vindictive. They make risk assessments and clearly their current assessment of the risk posed by Rangers (chances of winning the SPL and qualifying for next season's CL) is quite high and hence they want to reduce or even eradicate the overdraft facility. We may not like what that means for our club but to acuse them of being vindictive is just plain stupid.

 

This type of empty threat by RST, which is the exact same as made in late 2009, simply demonstrates the truth of what I said when I resigned as Secretary last August "that without a complete change of leadership and direction, the Trust is bound to fail because (it has) no credibility with the Club or the Rangers fans at large."

[maineflyer 0]

I think that Mr Smith would be better placed sticking to the affairs of RST than commenting on the business practices of Lloyds Bank. We may not agree with them and they get themselves in trouble with their own greed but generally they are not vindictive. They make risk assessments and clearly their current assessment of the risk posed by Rangers (chances of winning the SPL and qualifying for next season's CL) is quite high and hence they want to reduce or even eradicate the overdraft facility. We may not like what that means for our club but to acuse them of being vindictive is just plain stupid.

 

This type of empty threat by RST, which is the exact same as made in late 2009, simply demonstrates the truth of what I said when I resigned as Secretary last August "that without a complete change of leadership and direction, the Trust is bound to fail because (it has) no credibility with the Club or the Rangers fans at large."

 

What a pity you didn't say as much when you were on the RST board as you did when you left. Why is it that so many people are prepared to accept the office but cannot open their eyes or mouths until they leave? Bearwood Bear does make you laugh though, what a prize fool!

[BrahimHemdani 1]

What a pity you didn't say as much when you were on the RST board as you did when you left.

 

I am sorry you feel that way.

 

When you are a member of a board, even the board of RST, there is a doctrine of collective responsibility, so it is very difficult to speak out in public against the collective view of the board and/or the office bearers and remain a member of the board. When I was elected in Sept 09, I thought that I could reform some of the practices and the first thing that I did was re-write the rules of Gersave and you would need to ask others why they were never implemented. When I accepted office as Secretary in Feb10 I specifically asked for the support of the entire Board and whilst they paid lip service to that it is abundantly clear that there were those who saw me as a threat to their way of conducting affairs. Nonetheless, I ensured that there were proper agendas and minutes for all Exec and Board meetings and against substantial opposition I successfully introduced an open and fair election process based on SD best practice. The reasons for my resignatiion as Secretary have been very well rehearsed: financial irregularities and mismanagement revealed by the audit of RST Accounts for the Year ended 5 April 2010 and the fact that it had become impossible for me to perform the role of Secretary due to lack of support by the Chair and others who had actively undermined my position. There is no point in going over old ground in that respect but again as I said at the time of my resignation from the Board in October "As you know it was my intention to resign from the Board at the same time as resigning as Secretary on 12 August 2010 but several Board members persuaded me to remain on the Board as they sought to remove yourself (Mr Smith) and Mr Mark Dingwall. At the same time I wanted to ensure that my financial management proposals were implemented in full." The moves to remove Messrs Smith and Dingwall failed so I had no choice but to resign form the Board.

 

In effect you try to do as much as you can from within but ultimately there comes a point when you have to decide if you accept that the changes you have made are enough or else you have to resign.

 

One other point if I may. The main reason why I joined the Trust and remain a member is that I believe in the principle of fan ownership or at least greater fan involvement in our and indeed all football clubs. There is no question that this is coming, in England at least a Select Committee has been established that will begin hearing evidence later this month. In Scotland, McLeish adopted many of the SD proposals in his report and I am sure we will see gradual implementation in the months and years ahead. What I didn't like about RST, and hoped to change (I didn't know anything about the governance issues until I joined the board and as you know I still didn't know half of what was going on) was the way they expressed themselves in public. Essentially that was controlled by SS, MD and David Edgar as the spokesperson. I tried on numerous occasions and in many different ways to have RST establish a policy on public pronouncements and had many a discussion with Mr Edgar about the way he expressed himslef in certain situations. I have a great deal of respect for his historic knowledge and ability to deal with the media but I often felt that his one liners (most notably comparing comparing SDM with Fred Goodwin of RBS) were shall we say less than helpful to our cause. I believe that one of the reasons why David stepped down was that he knew he had been compromised by much of what he had said in the press about the King/Park consortium bid in late 2009 and that RST's media persona needed a new face.

 

Now that we can see that that new face is the same old Mr Smith sprouting the same old nonsense, we can clearly see that RST has changed not one bit.

 

Do I regret that I wasted a year of my life on it, well I believe I did some good but ultimately I failed, so yes I have deep regrets, particularly as I still think it could do so much good.

 

However, I remain a director of SD and am doing my best to use the experience I have gained to benefit the trust movement in general and represent fans views in particular, which is one reason why I find the diverse views on Gersnet so valuable.

 

Regardless of your opinion about what I did or did not do as a member of the board of RST, I hope you will accept that I was honest and sincere and did my best. I am very sorry that my best was not good enough to bring about all the changes that I felt necessary.

Edited January 8, 2011 by BrahimHemdani
typo

[maineflyer 0]

Don't take it personally BH, at least you said your piece in the end and I think you were rightly given the credit you deserved for doing so. You certainly were by me and others on this site. However, this stuff about collective responsibility is nonsense, the stuff people always hide behind in lieu of standing up, speaking out and risking the cozy relationship with their peers. Here's the thing ... those who genuinely want to make a difference are never really concerned with these minor protocols and always aim for the big targets. It's too late now but the person who spoke out and took on the RST careerists in public could have taken over the RST and gathered the wider support around him .... it's the leadership we always talk about but never find and it will never emerge by playing at committees. Just my view of course but what would I know about such elevated affairs?