Keith Jackson:

[ian1964 10,724]

Ringing fugitive on Interpol wanted list not unusual in new world of Rangers

 

KEITH tells how trying to make contact with a man on Interpol's most wanted list is hardly unusual in the weird world which Rangers now inhabit.

 

 

 

IT’S not every week you speak to someone on Interpol’s most wanted list. In fact, after 20-odd years writing about football for a living, this was something of a first.

 

Not that it was actually much of a conversation.

 

“Hello, Mr Rizvi,”

 

“Hello, who is this?”

 

“Keith Jackson from the Daily Record newspaper in Glasgow, I want to speak to you about your involvement in Blue Pitch Holdings.”

 

“I think you have the wrong number my friend, I would ahem (click)...”

 

“Mr Rizvi? Rafat? Hello?”

 

“BEEEEEEEEEEEP!”

 

That was about the size of it. Hardly earth-shattering stuff.

 

In fact, the only truly remarkable thing about this conversation is that it needed to take place at all.

 

But this is the way of it at Rangers in 2013 – this club has long since disappeared through the looking glass.

 

Vanished into a world which is as much about the fugitives as it is about the football.

 

I phoned straight back but Rafat Rizvi, or whatever this plummy-voiced gentleman calls himself these days, didn’t answer.

 

So I followed up with a text message, offering to speak on or off the record and pointing out that the identities of those anonymous investors behind Blue Pitch and Margarita Holdings were likely to be made public soon.

 

Again, no response. Perhaps he was just busy.

 

Then again, perhaps men who are on the run from the authorities over a £600million bank fraud, facing a potential death penalty in Indonesia, don’t do protracted conversations. Not with press men at any rate.

 

Which would be fair enough were it not for the fact the future of Rangers hangs in the balance all over again and that there are many thousands of supporters out there who are beside themselves with worry and who are asking for one simple thing from their club, the truth. Remember that?

 

It’s not easy where Rangers are concerned. This is a club which currently employs more spin doctors than it does directors, a business which is engulfed in a cloud of its own toxicity. A company which attempts to confuse its own customers with an unrelenting barrage of spin and counter-spin.

 

The truth? So many lies and so much misinformation has been spread in the name of Rangers that the truth has become a complete stranger.

 

It has been twisted and distorted to such an extent that it has become almost unrecognisable.

 

And it has to stop, for the sake of the fans and for the greater good of the Scottish game in general. It is time for Rangers to reconnect with the truth.

 

Which is why it would have been nice had Rizvi stayed on the phone for a longer chat. He might have been able to clear up many of the issues which continue to distress these supporters and cause them sleepless nights. Just who are Blue Pitch for example? These mysterious offshore backers of Charles Green, who financed the Yorkshireman’s takeover, buying up Ibrox and Murray Park for a £5.5m snip thanks to the stupendous generosity of administrators Duff and Phelps.

 

It would also have been of interest to ask Mr Rizvi, a long-standing associate of Green and shamed former commercial director Imran Ahmad, if he could shed any light on some of the names of those behind the equally mysterious Margarita.

 

Between them, Blue Pitch and Margarita hold a 15 per cent stake in the club and their voting power – which has been handed over by proxy to the Easdale Brothers – could swing the balance whenever this club finally allows its shareholders to vote on the make-up of the boardroom at its long awaited agm. Could it be that Brian Stockbridge, for example, is to be found standing behind Margarita’s door?

 

Just asking because if the financial director was to be among these penny-a-share investors then it’s no wonder they are attempting to block the changes that would ultimately lead to Stockbridge’s removal from power. Right?

 

Here’s another thing. Did you know Stockbridge and James Easdale last week signed off on a robustly worded warning to the club’s entire workforce, making it clear that information leaks from inside Ibrox will not be tolerated?

 

That’s right. Stockbridge, who infamously filmed former chairman Malcolm Murray worse for wear at the end of a long night out, and Easdale, who endorsed the return of a certain spin doctor to the club.

 

The hypocrisy is mind boggling. In fact, it smacks of yet another hamfisted and ever so slightly sinister attempt to suppress the truth.

 

The fact that their internal memo has already been leaked out on to the internet is a delicious irony.

 

Much has gone on behind the scenes of this club in recent times which defies belief. Senior, trusted and hugely respected figures have been horribly intimidated.

 

These people too have a story to tell. Just like Rizvi.

 

It would do Rangers a world of good if one day the whole truth emerges from this distasteful debacle, no matter how unpleasant or even inconvenient that truth might be.

 

The truth is all that can pull Rangers back from this world through the looking glass and allow it to look at itself in the mirror once again.

[Super Cooper 0]

Our problem is too many fans refuse to look in the mirror and accept that there may be issues, and that goes for on the pitch as well as off it. We have never needed honesty more than we do now.

[crucible 0]

I couldn't stop laughing at the thought of a stranger ringing up Interpol's most wanted and getting an answer, while Interpol appear unable to find their most wanted, beyond parody.

[ian1964 10,724]

I couldn't stop laughing at the thought of a stranger ringing up Interpol's most wanted and getting an answer, while Interpol appear unable to find their most wanted, beyond parody.

 

Why does Jackson not just hand over the phone number to Interpol?

[calscot 0]

So let's get this straight. Jackson, without giving any reasoning whatsoever, calls a number which he expects to be answered by a wanted criminal whom he wants to seemingly randomly ask if he has shares in Rangers, is told he has the wrong number and the phone is hung up. And this is news why?

 

It's the lowest form of propaganda, make something up, show your complete lack of evidence but dress it up as fact and try and have the mud stick by innuendo.

 

You could phone any number in the world at random and get the same result. Or choose the numbers of most unsavoury characters you can think of. It means absolutely NOTHING.

 

Even if the most scummy person you could think of - say some British hating terrorist who bombs innocent women and children and runs a brutal organised crime gang in their home country for instance, and if you actually find they have anonymous shares in a football club - what has that got to do with the club and its fans? How do you stop anyone you don't like anonymously buying shares in any company?

 

I'm sure there is different club from Rangers where you could find quite a few of these investors - but the massive difference is that they are also hero worshipped by the clubs fans and indeed players and manager.

 

I really can't believe people were giving respect to this lying Rangers hater just because for he once had some actual embarrassing truths to preach his bigotry with.

 

I can't believe that anyone with the interests of Rangers at heart would either buy this rag or collaborate in a story. We need to fight this one.

 

Yes, we want to know if we have scum investing in our club but this is just using propaganda to drag our name through the dirt. Along with the Red hand salute story the smear campaign is really getting up through the gears. There seems to be no motivation other than to incite hatred against a section of our population.

 

We have to start fighting it.

[calscot 0]

Why does Jackson not just hand over the phone number to Interpol?

 

Well, apparently it's the wrong number...

[crucible 0]

Why does Jackson not just hand over the phone number to Interpol?

 

The day late rhebel is anti Rangers anti Union, their front page today is a disgrace jumping on the tailcoats of other rhags, the published pictures are about 7 years old iircc the uniforms are pre 2006 issue.

 

Jackson is a poor journalist who is only interested in doing his Rangers hating editors bidding to keep his job, truth being the price of that job.

 

The fhilthy rhag and its staff should be banned from Ibrox and any contact with club staff whatsoever manager and players included.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

your all assuming that rivizi is daft enough to be in a country that will extradite him.

 

the notion he doesn't have a phone wherever he is is daft.

[crucible 0]

The fact that FF and its owner are pushing this story as credible is sickening and shameful.

[calscot 0]

It is credible. ANYONE could have shares in our club. The relevance is zero as is the evidence given.