ian1964 10,622 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 US-BASED coach persuaded Pheonix Suns owner to mount £20m bid and reckons Ibrox board failed the club by rejecting the offer. DAVID ROBERTSON last night insisted Rangers have blown a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by ditching a takeover bid from American millionaire Robert Sarver. The former Ibrox full-back also accused the board of failing to act in the best interests of their club by rejecting a £20m offer from the Phoenix Suns owner. Sarver opted against a further attempt to do business after his approach to gain a controlling stake was kicked out by the directors who failed to find the required 75 per cent shareholder backing. But Robertson is adamant Rangers’ loss will be another club’s gain and insists they have looked a gift horse in the mouth. The 46-year-old played a key role in pitching the idea of an Ibrox bid to the Phoenix Suns owner. Robertson’s role as head coach of Phoenix FC allowed his path to cross the American financier’s and he admits it should have been a twist of fate that would have shaped an exciting future for the Light Blues. He said: “I run a club in Phoenix and his kids play within the club, I coach one of his kids. “He’s just like any other parent, he stands on the sidelines and cheers his kids on. He’s a down to earth guy and has been generous to our club. “It’s a good relationship I’ve got with him. It was actually by chance that he was talking about buying a football club and I mentioned Rangers. He took a big shine to it. “If you look at his interviews then that’s the type of guy he is. He’s by the book and straight talking. He’s not going to go around doing anything dodgy behind the scenes. He’s out in the open and he put in a couple of offers that have been turned down. “Rob’s the type of guy who wants to make a bad situation good. He would do whatever it would take. He was prepared to invest a lot. “Rob’s got the know-how of a pretty big sports franchise to implement a lot of stuff. “I know Rangers as a club – even on the business side of it – are not operating to full capacity. “Whoever ends up in control of Rangers, there’s got to be a good solid plan. It’s got to be long term.” As one of the best defenders of his generation, Robertson’s six years at Ibrox brought six titles and countless trophies as well as three Scotland caps. After flying back to Glasgow to start his SFA UEFA Pro Licence course, it allowed time for the former Aberdeen player to provide a detailed analysis of the origins behind Sarver’s bid but he is adamant a quick trip to Google would have done the trick. He said: “With technology these days it doesn’t take you long to work out what a good guy he is. “He’s got a heart foundation. My daughter goes to school in Tucson, University of Arizona, and he’s got the Sarver Heart Foundation, so he does a lot of charity work there. “He’s also a winner. The Phoenix Suns are on a fantastic run at the moment, Rob’s got all the infrastructure. He’s obviously got the wealth to invest in a football club and at some point he will. “You’ve got to meet tough guidelines with the franchise every year, every week. Whatever club he ends up at, he can certainly bring all that. “Even just the Phoenix Suns alone, he has had the franchise for 10 years. He has invested a lot of money in every single aspect of that franchise. “I’ve had a few conversations with Robert but it’s mainly just about my views on Rangers as a club. “The one thing he has said is he loves the passion that the club has and that the Rangers supporters have. He has had loads of messages and thank you notes, he’ll definitely remember Rangers for a long time.” One of the more reasonable suggestions for Robertson was to expect a call from someone from the Rangers board on a fact-finding mission about Sarver. He said: “No one called, I do feel if they were looking for info then it’s surprising. “I had a lot of people contact me at certain points from the media but I’m so much away from it that I didn’t want to get involved.” Cynics may suggest Robertson’s initial motivation for inviting Sarver to attempt a salvage operation at Rangers could have been to try to carve out a coaching return to Ibrox but he says there’s no hidden agenda. He said: “That was never spoken about. I’m not the type of guy who goes out to try to do something like this to get an opportunity. “He has taken a big shine to it and all the conversations I’ve had have been about my knowledge of Rangers.” There is frustration both as a friend of Sarver’s and also as a former Rangers player that the takeover has not been realised but there are no hard feelings for Robertson, only a suspicion the Ibrox board have a selfish motive not to relinquish control. He said: “It’s a difficult situation. He needed 75 per cent and they felt they couldn’t have got that. The shareholders really could have made it happen. “I don’t know how far he would have gone but he’s such an honest guy, whatever he says you can take as gospel. “He had visions of getting Rangers back to where they were. He has never been negative towards Rangers or anything but he’s disappointed the way it has turned out. “I talk to him now and again. He’s never going to give too much away. But he was serious about Rangers.” ● David Robertson was speaking at the SFA’s UEFA Pro Licence course. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ex-ibrox-star-david-robertson-says-5042436 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 would certainly have been much better than what we have at present. would also have been interesting to get an outside view on the deals greenco have done for us. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,562 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 You'd hope that Sarver is not out of the picture for good. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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