Newcastle United have become collateral damage in the battle for Rangers

[craig 5,199]

A bit like Nostradamus?

 

He has been more specific than Nostradamus ever was. Not 100% accurate - but for dB to suggest that it is debatable on who has had a better "hit rate" is, frankly, laughable.

 

I may go back to have another read at Nostradamus - has been a while, though I looked him up the other day too for some obscure reason

[forlanssister 3,114]

A few make a hobby* out of telling me this, when - as with Ashley - I did not jump instantly in with all the doom- and gloom-singers. What I kept was a more neutral perspective that went wrong on occasion, not least with Whyte. But crystal balls or not, hardly anyone could have predicted what he had done or would do. Thousands believed in Green and Co., that he and his turned out to be money-grabbers was not exactly a foregone conclusion either. Easy to say for FS and Co. nowadays though. What I continue to say too is that e.g. Wallace et al needed time to implement any changes or get the plans set out for the club earlier this year in motion. I'm still saying that all much of what might have been planned for this season went down in flames because of King's intervention regarding the ST sales. The whole business and investment side went down hill after that and let - again - more money grabbers into the fray. Is Wallace** good enough for the job? Is Ashley the answer? No, they are not. And no-one is saying that. It is what we have and face and removing them or the shareholders in power is next to impossible without risking the club's future as such - again.

 

What you consider doom and gloom is nothing more than reality, we'd all love to live in Brigadoon but alas it doesn't exist and we have to live in what does exist. What Whyte did was in actual entirely predictable in fact it was inevitable, second sight and crystal balls were irrelevant. Same with Green anybody that bothered to look at his record (and contrary to what you appear to believe plenty did) would have seen what he was going to do, his time at Sheffield United was ample demonstration of what was to come and Panceltica with hundreds of millions of value destroyed in 18 months should have been clear enough warning for even the most myopic. It was all there to see and if you couldn't be arsed to check it out for yourself then that's not mine or anyone else's.

 

I think Wallace was (and probably still is) a decent and capable enough guy but he knew exactly what he was taking on at the time and exactly what he was doing and whose bidding he was doing. Dave King didn't prevent one single fan renewing their season ticket each and everyone made their own decision and I salute them for it they're better men than me.

 

Risking the clubs future? Once again you fail massively to appreciate the predicament we're actually in at present and that's not doom and gloom that's the actualité , and it's the result of not what the fans have done but what Greenco have done and continue to do.

 

*Sadly enough, none more so than FS and a handful of his loyal followers.

**I know full well that he grabs his bonuses et al ... but I find it rather strange that nigh all of you, who have brought up in a country deeply rooted in capitalism, go ballistic over a behaviour that marks capitalist businessmen to the core for decades, if not centuries. All like to applaud those "good characters" who forfeit their bonuses for the good of the company et al, but that is far from the norm, is it not? Yet someone who is not emotionally tied to the club like the support is acting out of order and heinously if he does what all capitalists tend to do regularly?

And before people get me wrong, I don't like his actions in this case not one single bit, rather on the contrary. But likewise I do not make a bogeyman out of him for behaving like he does in this case.

 

Those of us who have been brought up knowing only Capitalism are well aware of how it works and equally aware of how it's abused.

 

 

Is that how he became as successful a businessman as he is? Wouldn't you agree that if he tries the Newcastle route with us and keeps us floundering, his actual return from anything Rangers SD-wise will be minimal ... as opposed to what it might be?

 

More generally, we may run out of money in two months - if predictions are true. Now, King might strike a deal one way or another, but if he doesn't, what options do we have? We can always hate the type of character and capitalist Ashley is, much like the Magpies do (though I actually think they hate him for not investing 50m a season instead of any SD deal). No dispute about that. But at this moment and time (sic!), he appears the only person out there able to invest or at least keep the club in business. Essentially, it's like being recused at sea by a canoe of cannibals. You can decide to drown now or get saved, buy time and think of another escape route while you are on the way to the dinner table.

 

Ashley himself at the Sports Direct AGM lay bare the fact that owning Newcastle is good for Sports Direct and that's all that matters. It will be no different if he gets his hands on Rangers but he doesn't even need to increase his stake by so much as a single share for us to be forever beholden to him. Forget the Rangers in the Champions League nonsense for that's all it is we're years and tens of millions of pounds from there and he doesn't need to risk millions to reap the rewards, he can get millions of bog standard plain white polo shirts made for pennies and punt them for a couple of quid, splash the Slazenger/Lonsdale/Dunlop whatever logo on them and knock them out at a fiver or stick a Rangers crest on them and flog them for £15 that's the attraction of Rangers to Ashley not a football club to win trophies but merely a brand to extract maximum value for Sports Direct and himself at the minimum possible cost, that's how he made his billions.

[forlanssister 3,114]

A bit like Nostradamus?

 

LOL... the Great Pontificator parks up his bike and graces us with his presence I dare say some sermons are on their way.

[der Berliner 3,744]

I think Wallace was (and probably still is) a decent and capable enough guy but he knew exactly what he was taking on at the time and exactly what he was doing and whose bidding he was doing. Dave King didn't prevent one single fan renewing their season ticket each and everyone made their own decision and I salute them for it they're better men than me.

 

I salute you for not letting the club die a slow death. As far as I see it, ST and money from on-the-day ticket sales keep the club as such running and it is very much up to debate how much is being squeezed out of those sums by the undesirables. King's actions and the subsequent call by the various supporters groups went hand in hand, while a few might have declined to renew because of McCoist and the playing standards et al.

 

Risking the clubs future? Once again you fail massively to appreciate the predicament we're actually in at present and that's not doom and gloom that's the actualité , and it's the result of not what the fans have done but what Greenco have done and continue to do.

 

Don't twist my reasoning. I have remarked time and again on who is responsible for the current state of affairs. Since January though, the current board was left with the shambles of the post-IPO status, dwindling cash reserves and people not renewing. I doubt they were sitting there and were waiting for a saviour either, but while you can look for investors all day long, if no-one shows up or no-one is interested, what can you do? Realistic and reasonable answers on a postcard or otherwise. (BTW, that's not taking the side of the board. It's just a look on what they face.)

 

Ashley himself at the Sports Direct AGM lay bare the fact that owning Newcastle is good for Sports Direct and that's all that matters. It will be no different if he gets his hands on Rangers but he doesn't even need to increase his stake by so much as a single share for us to be forever beholden to him. Forget the Rangers in the Champions League nonsense for that's all it is we're years and tens of millions of pounds from there and he doesn't need to risk millions to reap the rewards, he can get millions of bog standard plain white polo shirts made for pennies and punt them for a couple of quid, splash the Slazenger/Lonsdale/Dunlop whatever logo on them and knock them out at a fiver or stick a Rangers crest on them and flog them for £15 that's the attraction of Rangers to Ashley not a football club to win trophies but merely a brand to extract maximum value for Sports Direct and himself at the minimum possible cost, that's how he made his billions.

 

All fine and well. The thing left unanswered still remains: if he'd keep Rangers on life-aid in the Championship or the lower half of the Premiership, do you think that the support would thank him for that by buying his (and that's now well puplicised) merchandise? Wouldn't you agree that it would make much more sense for him to invest or loan enough money to Rangers so that they win Scottish trophies and get back to Europe? For people would start buying Rangers tops et al due to the team's success and ignore any SD boycot campaigning?

[buster. 5,186]

A comic interlude with several different ways of relating the video to our situation.

 

 

Monty Python-The Black Knight

 

[calscot 0]

LOL... the Great Pontificator parks up his bike and graces us with his presence I dare say some sermons are on their way.

 

So, is that another one of your mysterious and inscrutable predictions or are you just pouring scorn? I never could tell the difference...

[forlanssister 3,114]

I salute you for not letting the club die a slow death. As far as I see it, ST and money from on-the-day ticket sales keep the club as such running and it is very much up to debate how much is being squeezed out of those sums by the undesirables. King's actions and the subsequent call by the various supporters groups went hand in hand, while a few might have declined to renew because of McCoist and the playing standards et al.

 

Then you see it wrong. Even if every available season ticket was sold in June it still wouldn't provide enough cash to last the season. All King and fans group actions have done is bring the inevitable forward by perhaps a couple of months.

 

 

Don't twist my reasoning. I have remarked time and again on who is responsible for the current state of affairs. Since January though, the current board was left with the shambles of the post-IPO status, dwindling cash reserves and people not renewing. I doubt they were sitting there and were waiting for a saviour either, but while you can look for investors all day long, if no-one shows up or no-one is interested, what can you do? Realistic and reasonable answers on a postcard or otherwise. (BTW, that's not taking the side of the board. It's just a look on what they face.)

 

This old board/current board stuff is nonsense, some faces may have changed but those pulling the strings have remained constant. Investors have showed up though haven't they? Perhaps not ones that tickle your fancy but there's an offer of investment on the table nonetheless. If the RIFC plc were a truly independent board then that offer would already have been accepted but it hasn't and they're not.

 

 

All fine and well. The thing left unanswered still remains: if he'd keep Rangers on life-aid in the Championship or the lower half of the Premiership, do you think that the support would thank him for that by buying his (and that's now well puplicised) merchandise? Wouldn't you agree that it would make much more sense for him to invest or loan enough money to Rangers so that they win Scottish trophies and get back to Europe? For people would start buying Rangers tops et al due to the team's success and ignore any SD boycot campaigning?

 

"If he'd keep Rangers on life-aid in the Championship..."? Seriously are you unaware that the last two RIFC accounts have included "cash balances not immediately available to the club", the last reported amount was £2.7m of money that belongs to Rangers but being kept from Rangers solely because Mike Ashley chooses not to release it, what possible reason could he have for doing that?

 

I believe Rangers should be run for the benefit of Rangers not as some subsidiary of Sports Direct. Whyte never changed his modus operandi when he got control of Rangers neither did Green and it is fanciful to think that Ashley would change his. A business model of Ashley loaning us money to chase European glory is frankly suicidal.

[RANGERRAB 3,664]

Then you see it wrong. Even if every available season ticket was sold in June it still wouldn't provide enough cash to last the season. All King and fans group actions have done is bring the inevitable forward by perhaps a couple of months.

 

 

 

 

This old board/current board stuff is nonsense, some faces may have changed but those pulling the strings have remained constant. Investors have showed up though haven't they? Perhaps not ones that tickle your fancy but there's an offer of investment on the table nonetheless. If the RIFC plc were a truly independent board then that offer would already have been accepted but it hasn't and they're not.

 

 

 

 

"If he'd keep Rangers on life-aid in the Championship..."? Seriously are you unaware that the last two RIFC accounts have included "cash balances not immediately available to the club", the last reported amount was £2.7m of money that belongs to Rangers but being kept from Rangers solely because Mike Ashley chooses not to release it, what possible reason could he have for doing that?

 

I believe Rangers should be run for the benefit of Rangers not as some subsidiary of Sports Direct. Whyte never changed his modus operandi when he got control of Rangers neither did Green and it is fanciful to think that Ashley would change his. A business model of Ashley loaning us money to chase European glory is frankly suicidal.

 

the board cannot accept DK's offer as you say. It needs shareholder approval at an AGM/EGM

[forlanssister 3,114]

So, is that another one of your mysterious and inscrutable predictions or are you just pouring scorn? I never could tell the difference...

 

Na, just a leopard and spots thing.

[forlanssister 3,114]

the board cannot accept DK's offer as you say. It needs shareholder approval at an AGM/EGM

 

They can accept it and recommend it be approved at a GM, however you're correct insofar the conversion part does need 75% of votes cast to be in its favour.