Keith Jackson - The Tanks Roll In

[chilledbear 16]

THE WAR is over. The retailer has won. This morning Graham Wallace will be fired from his position as Rangers chief 
executive and this crisis-ravaged club will belong lock, stock and smoking barrel to Mike Ashley.

 

Quite what Ashley has planned for it is still a matter of conjecture but the ruthless manner in which he went about last week’s power grab certainly suggests he wants it badly and also sees a way to make a killing by rolling his tanks into Glasgow.

 

He now has security over two 
of the club’s major assets, the 
Albion car park and Edmiston House, and when his placemen arrive in the boardroom this week he’ll have grabbed this club firmly 
by the throat.

 

As with everything Rangers, Ashley’s arrival on the scene will be spun in a variety of ways.

 

The dark arts were evidenced 
over the weekend when it was leaked that, without his intervention, this basketcase would have gone bust within 48 hours.

 

There were even muffled whispers from the shadowy sidelines Ashley had in fact ‘saved the club’ but the very notion the Newcastle United chairman had ridden to Rangers rescue in some sort of philanthropic or heroic act is completely absurd.

 

In many ways, what actually went on amid increasingly frantic 
discussions on Thursday and Friday was a throwback to May 2011 when Sir David Murray invited Craig Whyte to trigger this omnishambles and set in action the catastrophic chain of events that has now led to Ashley’s increased involvement.

 

That deal was a great bit of 
business for Whyte and for Lloyds Bank in particular – the £18million they recouped from the sale remains the outstanding trade of the last three and a half chaotic years – but it was a spectacularly awful one for the Ibrox club.

 

Similarly, by taking control of Rangers for the price of a £2m loan, every penny of which will be paid back, Ashley has pulled off a serious coup in more ways than one.

 

This is why he is known as the biggest beast in the jungle but even the Newcastle owner must be laughing up the sleeve of his safari suit at the way in which he managed to pull this one off.

 

It was typically bold and eye poppingly aggressive and it included issuing the remnants of the Rangers board with threats of legal action both collectively and individually, should they turn him down in favour of a £3m loan from Brian Kennedy.

 

Each of these directors was warned of potentially devastating repercussions should Ashley not get his way and as a result Rangers is his now to do with as he wishes. And all for less than the cost of a Sports Direct poly bag. It was an extraordinary stunt and it’s no wonder Sale Sharks owner Kennedy left Glasgow on Saturday still unsure as to how on earth the dysfunctional Rangers board – a collection of directors who have run the business into the ground – could allow it to happen in spite of his impassioned pleas.

 

The farce began with the rejection of Dave King’s £16m bailout offer by the mysterious bloc of shareholders whose 26 per cent voting rights are represented by Sandy Easdale. On Thursday CEO Wallace, who knew his £300,000-a-year neck was now well and truly on the line, reached out to Kennedy and pleaded with him to make a counter offer.

 

Kennedy worked through the night with his legal team to come up with his £3m offer, dependent only on him being allowed to place one man on the current board. He flew to Glasgow at lunchtime on Friday in the hope of getting the deal done.

 

Kennedy was wasting his jet fuel. Not one of these directors was even at Ibrox on the day it was determined Ashley should be handed the keys. The fact all these discussions were held via conference call, underlines how little feel for the club these men have.

 

Wallace headed for a beach in Greece despite being urged by at least two key protagonists to 
postpone his holiday for 24 hours.

 

Finance director Philip Nash went one better by resigning and washing his hands of the entire Ashley v Kennedy showdown.

 

That Nash threw in the towel is an indication he suspected the game was up and that another director, Laxey’s lackey Norman Crighton, had jumped camps at the last minute.

 

Crighton had voiced his concern at Ashley’s move and had even said the Cockney must be stopped ‘at all costs’ but he performed a 180-degree turn at the last minute to leave Kennedy’s proposal in tatters.

 

Chairman David Somers is another who may have cause to be persecuted by his own conscience. At least Nash had the principle to resign from his £1,000-a-day post.

 

While Wallace was clinging on for dear life for his pay-off, Nash wanted no part of it and this included telling Ashley’s people he was unwilling to work for their man in the event he was successful. Having previously called for the removal of Nash and Walllace, Ashley had a change of heart. It’s understood he wanted Nash on board after crediting him with making £5m worth of cuts since February.

 

One of those cuts was to a contract worth in excess of £100,000-a-year to Ashley’s own PR firm Keith Bishop Associates. This agreement was done as part of the £1 stadium naming rights deal Ashley agreed with Charles Green and which was signed off by Imran Ahmad – who then sued Rangers for £300,000 in bonuses for all of his good work.

 

Deals like these are precisely why Rangers should brace itself for the full impact of Ashley’s arrival. He already pockets 49 per cent of all income from merchandise sales but may think this arrangement can be tweaked and improved in his favour.

 

With two of his men on the board, a compliant chairman and confirmed allies in James Easdale and Crighton, he can do pretty much as he pleases.

 

The only comfort in any of this for the Rangers supporters is to be found in the depth of Ashley’s pockets. He will not allow this club to go under, that much is certain.

 

But from here on in Rangers will be run his way and for his benefit.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/opinion/sport/keith-jackson-mike-ashleys-rangers-4515761

[Frankie 8,562]

Apparently a Dave King statement likely later as well.

 

In King's case the pen has definitely not been mightier than the sword so far. I'm not anticipating anything different this time.

[True_Ger_1872 2]

Apparently a Dave King statement likely later as well.

 

In King's case the pen has definitely not been mightier than the sword so far. I'm not anticipating anything different this time.

 

Do you think it will be a bit of a damp squib of a statement effectively throwing in the towel? What more can he really say now? His lack of action of the past 6 months has been very much a damning influence into the end result from this weekend - surely he cannot detract from that. His last statement mentioned needing the fans support at a later date or the likes - i sincerely hope it isn't another one of those statements asking for fan action. The various fan groups who have supported him have had their weaknesses and lack of full-on support shown up in the MSM now. Very little we can do now!

[Super Cooper 0]

King is finished, time to forget about him.

[chilledbear 16]

Apparently a Dave King statement likely later as well.

 

In King's case the pen has definitely not been mightier than the sword so far. I'm not anticipating anything different this time.

 

Completely outmanoeuvred at every stage.

[der Berliner 3,743]

It will be "interesting" to see how Ashley excerts his control over the club as long as the current "guidelines" theoretically prohibit him from doing this.

[Frankie 8,562]

Do you think it will be a bit of a damp squib of a statement effectively throwing in the towel? What more can he really say now? His lack of action of the past 6 months has been very much a damning influence into the end result from this weekend - surely he cannot detract from that. His last statement mentioned needing the fans support at a later date or the likes - i sincerely hope it isn't another one of those statements asking for fan action. The various fan groups who have supported him have had their weaknesses and lack of full-on support shown up in the MSM now. Very little we can do now!

 

One can only assume King would have a plan for this outcome.

 

I don't doubt his words will be interesting but, perhaps most likely impotent.

[Anchorman 0]

Completely outmanoeuvred at every stage.

 

Disappointed King didn't cover all bases when trying to outwit Ashley, but if the reports are true about Ashley acting like an intimidating despot by threatening anyone who would stand in his way, I'm not sure how King would have been able to counter that.

[Frankie 8,562]

Disappointed King didn't cover all bases when trying to outwit Ashley, but if the reports are true about Ashley acting like an intimidating despot by threatening anyone who would stand in his way, I'm not sure how King would have been able to counter that.

 

King must have had chance to buy Hargreave Hale shares which would have given him a solid, credible base to build from.

 

Not taking that gave Ashley the upper-hand for sure.

[chilledbear 16]

King should have involved the fans in buying shares from the start. He was someone the Support would have rallied round.