Club1872 Quarterly Update

[BEARGER 1,830]

 

 

 INTRODUCTION
Our final quarterly update of 2021 took the form of our Contributor meeting, a video of which was made available to Contributors via email and which can also be found on our YouTube channel. Our first update of 2022 returns to a written report format which we hope will be of interest to Contributors and which outlines some of the steps the Board has taken over the past few months to move the organisation forward.
APPOINTMENTS
The Club 1872 Board is delighted to announce that following an extensive recruitment process, we have appointed marketing consultant, Claire French of Media Garden to lead the development of Club 1872’s social media and Contributor engagement platforms. She is an accomplished communications and marketing expert and a sales leader with over twenty years’ experience across various sectors. Claire brings management experience as well as an extensive skillset which we believe will be of great benefit to Club 1872 as we relaunch our Legacy Campaign. The Board believes this appointment will be of huge strategic value to the organisation and will ensure that Club 1872 is continuously promoted to the wider Rangers support in a positive light.
During the recruitment process we were also pleased to interview two other individuals whose skills and experience we believe would complement Claire in her role and provide Club 1872 with a strong team to cover the various aspects of the operations role originally outlined by the Board. We are currently in the process of finalising terms with them and look forward to providing further information on their appointments in the coming days.
All three individuals will be retained within the budget agreed by Contributors and the formation of a small team working in tandem with our volunteers, rather than reliance on any one individual, will further strengthen the organisation’s ability to ensure our public facing operations run smoothly.
CLUB 1872 GOVERNANCE
As we have addressed in previous updates, the Board of Club 1872 has been the subject of sustained criticism based on allegations of failures of corporate governance. Complaints of this nature are very easy to make in order to undermine the work of the Board and frankly the interests of the organisation. However, even where the Board believes that the complaints have no merit and are part of an orchestrated agenda, such complaints must be taken very seriously to mitigate the impact public criticism can have on the organisation and to reassure Contributors that the Regulator supports the actions of the Board.
It was for this reason that in 2021, the Board referred recorded concerns around corporate governance to the Regulator, along with a substantial report on events that had taken place since May 2021. This report included board meeting minutes, email exchanges between Club 1872 Directors and several third parties and details of complaints outlined in both private correspondence to Club 1872 and on social media.
In March 2022, the Regulator confirmed that having received that report, no action was required on her part in relation to any of the issues detailed in the report. The Club 1872

 Board is pleased that the Regulator sees no requirement for further correspondence on any of these matters as this allows the Board to draw a line under the negativity created by the complaints and focus on the core aims of the organisation.
COMMUNICATIONS
From May 2021 till present the Board recognises that it has not been communicating with Contributors as it would have wished. This is a matter of regret for which we apologise to Contributors and hope that you understand and appreciate that it was necessary for the organisation to prioritise engaging with the Regulator and that this has taken up a huge amount of the Board’s time.
Indeed, this was one of the reasons that we identified the need to make the appointments outlined above which will ensure the organisation runs smoothly in the future regardless of any issues which must be dealt with by the Board. Now that the Regulator has indicated her position, we are able to fully focus on developing Club 1872 and to expanding its Contributor base.
Contributors should be aware that the Board does not regard the Regulator’s decision to take no action as the end of a process. On the contrary, during the last 10 months the Board has identified a number of initiatives designed to develop Club 1872 and promote its aspiration to be the largest shareholder in Rangers.
The priority is to increase the number of Contributors and to continue to acquire shares in RIFC. That, in our opinion, is the only way that supporters can ensure their voices will be heard by the RIFC board.
A further key focus is to improve communications both internally and externally. With the appointments detailed above, we look forward to re-energising our Legacy Campaign and improving engagement between the Board and Contributors. In that respect we are aware that we have not been in a position to respond to some enquiries by Contributors. This is an area we commit to improve on.
Our marketing team is currently preparing an in-depth survey of Contributors to record and analyse how communications and engagement can be improved as well as to gather their views on a wide cross section of topics related to Rangers and Club 1872. This will be sent to all Contributors in the coming weeks, along with further details on various other initiatives which the Board has prioritised based on feedback from Contributors. This survey will better inform the Board of the views and priorities of Contributors and it is also our intention to separately run the survey within the wider Rangers support to gain a better picture of their views and experience.
In addition to the above it has become apparent to the Board as a result of practical experience over the last 10 months that it is desirable to make a number of amendments to the Articles of Association both to protect and defend the organisation and to make it more democratic. We have been working on producing a set of amendments to the current Articles and it is the Board’s intention to present a set of amendments to Contributors as soon as possible. Thereafter the Board proposes to carry out a process of consultation which will afford Contributors an opportunity to comment on the proposed amendments and to suggest other improvements.

 Finally, the Board proposes to publish the agenda and minutes for our quarterly Board meetings. Below we set out the dates for those meetings in 2022. Shortly we shall also be seeking feedback from Contributors on a process to enable Contributors to submit matters for consideration by the Board.
Quarterly Board Meeting Dates:
28th June 2022
27th September 2022
20th December 2022
COMMUNICATION WITH RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB BOARDS
Further to our statement on concerns relating to the Executive Management Team at Rangers, in which we confirmed that we had written again to RIFC Directors, we can confirm that no responses have been received. We reiterate that it is a matter of deep regret to the Club 1872 Board that we felt we had no option but to communicate our concerns publicly after a prolonged period of non-engagement. We welcome the positive feedback we have had from Contributors and the wider support, some of whom have encouraged us to engage in private dialogue with the Club. This has always been - and remains - our preference, which is why it is extremely disappointing that the Club has not responded to our recent communications.
We are pleased to inform Contributors that we have, however, recently held productive discussions with a number of other stakeholders in RIFC. These have been positive and we hope they will continue with the shared aim of significantly improving engagement between the Club and supporters.
CLUB 1872 OFFICE
The Club 1872 office is now located at Unit 24, Govan Workspace, 6 Harmony Row. The office will be a base for our team of professionals, Directors and volunteer working group members and will be open to Contributors and the general public by appointment only. Please contact info@club1872.co.uk if you wish to make an appointment.
CONTRIBUTORS MEETING
The next meeting of Contributors will be held in Glasgow prior to the start of next season. Further details on how to register your interest in attending will be emailed to all Contributors.
SHARES
In April 2022, we purchased a further 2,250,000 shares in RIFC Plc, taking our total shareholding to 22,202,838. This represents 5.13% of the total issued share capital of RIFC Plc and returns Club 1872 to the position of 6th largest shareholder. As Contributors will be aware, passing the 5% mark is a significant achievement as this shareholding gives us the right to call General Meetings of RIFC and circulate a written statement.
   
 The shares were purchased for 20p per share at a total cost of £450,000 from New Oasis Asset Limited (Dave King's family trust). This price represents a 20% discount on the most recent share issue of RIFC Plc.
The year from December 2020 to December 2021 saw Club 1872 take in the largest level of donated funds for a single year in the organisation's history - a remarkable achievement in such trying times. This is testament to the incredible dedication our Contributors have for fan representation at Rangers and we thank you all for your continued support.
It is imperative that we now build on the initial success of our Legacy campaign to enable us to meet the objective of becoming the largest single shareholder in RIFC and in turn give supporters a meaningful voice in the future of Rangers Football Club. This will take a huge amount of work and the backing of not only our existing Contributors but also the wider support. We hope that those of you who already make such an important contribution to Club 1872 can assist us in this regard and persuade others to join us and move forward together.