Leggo - DAVID MURRAY AND THE RANGERS CRISIS

[ian1964 10,578]

THE troubles engulfing Rangers are more than the fault of just one man. But one man is at the core of everything. His name is David Murray.

 

Yet, since he left the club, hardly a word has been written anywhere about just what a mess Rangers were left in at the end of his more than two decades of ownership.

 

Why the silence?

 

And before going any further, I have to make a confession. During those twenty years I was as culpable as any other journalist in failing to pin Murray down about the style of his stewardship of Rangers.

 

There were many times when I quizzed Murray. In the Blue Room, in Bill Struthâ??s old managerâ??s office at the top of the marble stairs where he held court on matchdays, in the boardroom of his companyâ??s Charlotte Square headquarters in Edinburgh and also at the clubâ??s Milngavie training centre.

 

On each occasion, whatever he was asked, was always answered with such a confident swagger that I felt he was in control of the situation and the many doubts about his stewardship, expressed to me by sensible and serious people, were unfounded.

 

Only once did I feel that I had ruffled his feathers.

 

That came on the day the training complex was opened. Murray was asked to speak to Sunday newspaper reporters, of whom I was one, and almost refused, claiming I was writing too much that was critical of his then manager, Dick Advocaat, before going ahead with his press briefing and answering questions with his usual mixture of confidence and bombast.

 

Later, when Alex McLeish â?? who, unlike Advocaat, met with my approval â?? was in charge and I sat with David Murray in the opulent Edinburgh heart of his empire, in the expensive New Town, it was hard not to believe that a businessman whose achievements were so obvious, could possibly be anything but good news for Rangers.

 

It was a mistake. But I was not the only one to make it. Many others â?? themselves shrewd and clever wealthy self made businessmen â?? believed in and trusted Murray to make sure Rangers were always all right.

 

You wonâ??t find any of those erstwhile Murray supporters saying a good word about him now.

 

If Murray had been less inclined to believe his own bombastic bragging, if he had been more astute at reading the financial runes in football and business at large, had he been less vulnerable to outrageous flattery and had he been a wee bit humble, Rangers would not be in the mess they are in right now.

 

But David Murray is as he is and Rangers are where they are.

 

Much of the blame for Rangers present plight has been laid at the door of the immediate past Ibrox board, particularly those who have spoken out against Craig Whyte, led by Paul Murray.

 

In seeking to defend himself, Whyte has highlighted the responsibility Paul Murray and his fellow directors should shoulder for the rubble the current owner sits in the midst of at Ibrox.

 

That, however, is only partly true.

 

In common with many others, they were kept in the dark by David Murray until the final couple of years or so when, after David Murray resigned from the board, but remained as the owner, they took charge.

 

It was only then that the true picture began to emerge and the terrible truth of the bleakness of the outcome which followed the David Murray regime started to dawn on the men he left to pick up the pieces.

 

However, after David Murray left the boardroom, the directors, led by chairman Alistair Johnston and with Paul Murray and John McCelland providing added business acumen, responded well and the Rangers debt to Lloyds Bank was slashed by two thirds from what it had been when David Murray left, to an eminently manageable £18M.

 

Of course it is Paul Murray, Johnston and McClelland who wanted to take over last year, but were thwarted by David Murray and possibly others, in favour of Whyte, and they have been outspoken in attacking Whyte and are therefore his targets when he replies.

 

But the architect of Rangersâ?? downfall was David Murray? And there is only one reason I can think of why Whyte has not turned his guns on him. That could be that when David Murray signed over the club to Whyte for a quid, the contract contained a gag clause.

 

If it did, and if it was inserted into the contract at David Murrayâ??s behest, then that poses another question.

 

Why?

 

 

â?¦..AND

 

AS I said at the very start, David Murray is not the only man responsible for the sorry state Rangers are in. Tomorrow we shall shine the spotlight on others who have led the club down the rocky road to the very brink of ruin.

 

And question their motives.

 

HERE!

 

TOMORROW!

 

.....AND FINALLY

 

 

BBC SCOTLAND and their rabid Celtic supporting reporter, Chris McLaughlin, could be in trouble over a sectarian attack on Rangers.

 

In the middle of his report on why Jelavic left Ibrox, as he sought to blame Whyte for ushering the player out of the door, McLaughlin blundered.

 

As he attempted to dramatise the story, which had been trailed THREE times, McLaughlin resorted to Twitter and held up his phone to show a number of Tweets.

 

One was from a Celtic bigot and zealot named, HUNSKELPER.

 

Hun has been banned by the BBC and has now been designated as a sectarian word by no less an authority than the assistant chief constable of Strathclyde, Campbell Corrigan.

 

Therefore, BBC Scotland bosses can expect to be flooded with complaints about McLaughlin's reckless reporting on Reporting Scotland and he may even be interviewed by police.

 

BBC Scotland have of course had all co-operation with the club withdrawn by Rangers and their ire at this is driving them to broadcasting further extremes of anti Rangers propaganda, especially on Reporting Scotland where rabid Celtic man McLaughlin is flavour of the month.

 

He seemingly needs no extra urging to put the put the boot into Rangers. Perhaps McLaughlin is still feeling the pain of a broadcasting castration when his mic was taken away from him in the Rangers media room earlier this season when he tried to beat the ban.

 

http://leggoland2.blogspot.com/

[ascender 352]

What I don't understand in all of this is that before Whyte took over, the same media campaigns containing the same messages were being run then - I.e. we're all doomed; administration is a very real possibility and the main one being that the bankers were running the club and as a result we had no money to spend and our hands were tied.

 

Yet now, in some comments from those who were on the board at the time and involved with the club, those times are almost being painted as the "good old days". But I can't just be me who remembers all those dire warnings about how the club was being run? Now we're being told that Lloyds weren't that bad after all and even some fans on forums seem to be buying in to this piece of revisionism.

[26th of foot 5,931]

I am glad Leggo has turned the spotlight on BBC Scotland's Chris McLaughlin.

 

I watched his report last evening on whether Jelavic jumped or was pushed. He walks towards camera on the Pacific Quay atrium introducing the item. A change of camera angle sees him leaning on the atrium bannister, the camera looks over his shoulder as he peruses his palm pilot. On screen is his Twitter account and he reads off contributions to the debate.

 

There are three takes of the Twitter screen and the 'Hunskelper' contribution is prominent in each. I believe it's more of the same old, same old from BBC Scotland and ChrisBhoy, tell all the mates to look in and see how we stick it up ra Huns this week. You know, it's not just him, those 5-6 shots probably took 30-40 minutes to put together a 2 minute piece to camera. There's a Director, Producer, Editor, ........ etc involved. The sound of stifled giggling must have slowly drifted up the several floors of the atrium.