Why Brown is closer to blue than Green

[Frankie 8,473]

I think this sums up the situation very well.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/why-brown-is-closer-to-blue-than-green.17998423

 

The intervention of John Brown has not brought a conclusion to the Rangers story, but it has emphasised the crux of the problem facing Charles Green and Zeus Capital: they can never win the fight for the soul of Rangers.

 

Their Sevco consortium owns the business and assets of the football club, but the support has now rejected them. Any fans wavering in their scepticism will have fallen in line behind Brown.

 

A member of the nine-in-a-row team, a close friend of the manager, Ally McCoist, and the rest of his backroom staff, even a member of it himself until he cleared his desk and left his job as a scout on Monday, Brown remains one of the figures who can galvanise the entire Rangers fanbase. Green and Zeus might have intended to float the club on the stockmarket, they even talked of plans of investment and ambition, but nobody falls for those old grandstanding claims any more.

 

Green and Zeus Capital have left too many questions unanswered, and by making his stand yesterday, Brown has crystallised the objections to their ownership. Green and Zeus Capital have still yet to reveal who owns the club, beyond naming a few minor investors.

 

They have also mishandled the season-ticket renewal process, leaving the money open to the administrators, as well as the players' contracts, allowing several millions of pounds worth of talent to leave the club for nothing, even although a number of them were at least prepared to stay and allow Rangers to sell them, under different ownership.

 

Some fans were still equivocating, but Brown has become a figure to protest behind. Once Walter Smith's consortium formally withdrew their interest, there was no rival owner for the fans to support. Brown has now stepped into that vacuum, and his call for supporters to not renew their season tickets will strike a substantial blow to the plans of Green and Zeus Capital, who were already short of the funding they had promised to raise. They have no credibility, certainly in the eyes of supporters, but seemingly also in the views of potential investors. The club's future is too uncertain, and now the major revenue stream â?? the season tickets â?? has been closed to them. Brown has made a defiant and significant move, but he has not yet presented an answer.

 

Supporters will naturally be drawn to him, there is a resonance in a player making a stand for the club. But he cannot demand full transparency from Green and Zeus Capital without offering the same himself. Vague talk about being backed by powerful and influential Rangers men is not enough. The Ibrox support, however roused they were by his move yesterday, need more than rhetoric.

 

That is what Green and Zeus Capital offered in their talk of 19 signing targets, £30m being raised by the end of July, of a kind of limitless glory. It is also what Craig Whyte and Sir David Murray offered, too: the promise of riches but without the proper substance. Fans are no longer so easily won over, although it has taken almost two months for supporters to rise up in full protest at Green and Zeus Capital.

 

As a club, Rangers needs care and attention, not grandstanding. Brown at least offers the right solution, which is fan ownership, taking the club back into the hands of the people who regularly fund it, and whose emotional investment is worth more than the cash that draws people into football with exploitation in mind. Other potential owners made the same pledges â?? the Blue Knights, led by former Rangers director Paul Murray, always intended to launch a share issue that would open ownership out to the fanbase.

 

Two years ago, McColl was privately prepared to underwrite a bid by the Rangers Supporters Trust to buy the club, and as the protest at Ibrox last night showed, there is enough commitment and passion among the fans to turn that theory into reality. They need assistance, financially and in terms of organisation and process, but the crisis that has engulfed the club might yet lead to a better future.

 

For now, though, a battle is still being fought. Green and Zeus Capital do not appear to have the working capital to run Rangers for any length of time, and now that Brown has urged fans not to renew their season tickets, and highly valued players have left for nothing, there is no means to raise income. The current owners appear caught in a bind, and they now must decide if an exit strategy is worthwhile.

 

Zeus Capital have other clients, and a reputation of sorts to protect. The dramas and difficulties around Rangers have mostly slipped outwith their control; they do not even yet know which league the club will be playing in next season. Will players want to move to Ibrox when the owners have such a troubling reputation that current players are leaving? Brown, and the supporters, have now risen against them. It is not the end, but it signals a key shift in the balance.

 

Green and Zeus Capital own the assets, but in reality they do not own the team. That resides with the fans, whose money and emotional support funds it.

[GovanAllan 0]

Only problem is I wouldn't follow Brown to the end of the road, and imo is just as bad as the rest if not worse by the way he's handled this.

[Gribz 768]

Some fans were still equivocating, but Brown has become a figure to protest behind. Once Walter Smith's consortium formally withdrew their interest, there was no rival owner for the fans to support. Brown has now stepped into that vacuum, and his call for supporters to not renew their season tickets will strike a substantial blow to the plans of Green and Zeus Capital, who were already short of the funding they had promised to raise. They have no credibility, certainly in the eyes of supporters, but seemingly also in the views of potential investors. The club's future is too uncertain, and now the major revenue stream – the season tickets – has been closed to them. Brown has made a defiant and significant move, but he has not yet presented an answer.

 

 

Im a bit confussed over the turning against Green.

 

He stepped in when nobody else did yet now is being made to be the bad one. How can he build us when players are walking away with no fee and no Season Ticket Sales. Surely he needs the investment first before signing those 19 targets. But nobody could even be signed when we dont know what league we are going to be in. The best thing would have him to buy the assets then sell them on for a decent profit.

 

But why is there so much objection to him at the moment? I cant understand why division amongst our own fans would be created when we have enough to put up with from SPL, SFA and other clubs.

 

Honestly, what have I missed that Green has done wrong behind the scenes?? Ive been travelling for 10 days and barely kept up so may well have missed something.

[Craigy1881 79]

Only problem is I wouldn't follow Brown to the end of the road, and imo is just as bad as the rest if not worse by the way he's handled this.

 

Part of me agrees with you GA but I am now at the stage where an aggressive approach like this is required, Green is giving us nothing. Day and day passes and he still offers up nothing. His first interview ever he sat back and said he would be transparent with fans and keep them in the loop. Don't think I have ever felt more out the loop to be honest. Only thing he has told us since taking over is go buy your season tickets. Short of having someone just walk in and plonk £20 million down on the table and saying do one I don't see what else we can do if he is being that hard to bring to the table.

[Craigy1881 79]

Im a bit confussed over the turning against Green.

 

He stepped in when nobody else did yet now is being made to be the bad one. How can he build us when players are walking away with no fee and no Season Ticket Sales. Surely he needs the investment first before signing those 19 targets. But nobody could even be signed when we dont know what league we are going to be in. The best thing would have him to buy the assets then sell them on for a decent profit.

 

But why is there so much objection to him at the moment? I cant understand why division amongst our own fans would be created when we have enough to put up with from SPL, SFA and other clubs.

 

Honestly, what have I missed that Green has done wrong behind the scenes?? Ive been travelling for 10 days and barely kept up so may well have missed something.

 

Why has he not already applied for the SFA membership? Are you confident he will provide all the relevant information to the SFA tomorrow to get this? Because I'm not. He talks about season ticket money being ring fenced but from what I have read that is lies, the oldco can still get their hands on it. Also he can't really expect people to part with cash just now surely when we don't even have a league to play in.

 

Think I read something on twitter the other night someone correct me if this is wrong, but the RFFF said they didn;t actually get to see proof of funding but we're told in good will it was ok and proof would come this week maybe.

 

The water at ibrox is as dirty as it ever has been and the last time it was like this I just accepted what crook Whyte was telling us. Struggling to swallow it this time to be honest.

[GovanAllan 0]

Part of me agrees with you GA but I am now at the stage where an aggressive approach like this is required, Green is giving us nothing. Day and day passes and he still offers up nothing. His first interview ever he sat back and said he would be transparent with fans and keep them in the loop. Don't think I have ever felt more out the loop to be honest. Only thing he has told us since taking over is go buy your season tickets. Short of having someone just walk in and plonk £20 million down on the table and saying do one I don't see what else we can do if he is being that hard to bring to the table.

 

He's the only guy there at the moment so he gets my backing until I find out he's done anything illegal, I don't think for a minute he expected all this shit from the off. As for Brown if he lays all his cards on the table and I like what I see and it's better than Green I'm in but he's not even close to point yet.

 

One thing you can say about Green is he's not running around throwing mud about like the so called Rangers men he's getting on with the job in hand, it's up to the individual if they agree with how he's doing it.

[Bluedell 5,553]

The OP is just another part of the anti-Green propoganda , whch he has been doing quite a bit of recently, albeit more subtle than most.

 

There's no reason the fans would not get behind Green if he delivered a successful team.

 

He's got a cheek to imply that Green is the one who is grandstanding. That's all Brown has been doing. And goodness knows how he can conclude that Brown offers the right solution given Brown has released virtually no plans.

 

I still don't know whether Green is good, bad or indifferent but and he may lack substance as Wilson suggests, but so might Brown's consortium but that doesn't seem to be an option for the OP.

[Frankie 8,473]

I read it as Brown grandstanding myself.

 

I also feel Wilson has been quite fair lately. Sure he appears anti-Green but I think he's been objective enough and has asked the right questions of Green (and now Brown).

[Juancornetto 1]

Green is the man in the hotseat, the question is did Duff and Phelps engineer it so that he was the only option? That would be both unethical and illegal.

 

I get the feeling that the whole house of cards is going to come tumbling down. It's just a shame that our governing bodies are so focused on destroying us, we could really do with their help.

[Tannochsidebear 2,402]

If Brown had just resigned from his scouting post and was leading the fans in a bid for answers from Green, I would have a lot more respect for him.

 

As it is, he is doing exactly what TBK have done consistently over the last 6 months. Throw mud around and try to get the fans onside with an underfunded undervalued bid and put pressure on the current owners to sell to them.

 

John Brown doesnt want answers because he is a Rangers fan. He doesnt want answers because he is concerned about the way the club is being run. He is shouting his mouth off because he is representing an anonymous consortium who want to take control of the club.

 

I will say that again - an anonymous consortium.

 

I read online last night on a thread about the "protest" at Ibrox last night that he called for answers about who was in the Sevco consortium, but refused to name anyone in his consortium. He actually had the balls to say that?

 

It may be that there are genuine fears (not fabricated rumours) about the holdings of our assets. It may be that the Sevco consortium has funding shortfalls. It may be that their business plan is now a shambles due to the possibility of Division 3 income streams instead of SPL income streams.

 

But I want these questions answered directly by the owners to the fans of the club. I fear the more these consortiums keep turning up shouting about buying the club and offers made when allt his business should have been done in private, the more the really important big questions that we the fans want answered will be ignored, as the owners continually have to deal with other issues instead of concentrating on getting us into a league for the fast approaching new season, and getting us a squad of players for Ally to manage in that league.