Gersnet Editorial The clock is ticking...

[JohnMc 2,754]

3 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

Although some posters go over the top with continual and repetitive negativity, what has Bennett done at Rangers that you (or anyone?) has been impressed by?

 

We have to judge him on what he does at Rangers. 

We do, that's fair, whatever he achieved before doesn't really matter now.

As the Chairman I'm not sure how much day to day decision making he was involved in before becoming our acting CEO in June. I assume he was involved in the big decisions. So sacking Beale, I assume he was in agreement on. That was a big call, there must have been some voices saying 'give him the season'. I personally think that was the correct decision. Time will tell if Clement is the correct appointment. 

Ironically the work on the Copland Road stand. It must have been instigated by the board, when it must have been tempting to palm off our wheelchair support, again, and earmark that money for something else. Obviously the project management has been poor, but the project itself is something we as a support should be proud of, I think. 

I wasn't in favour of the museum. I didn't think it would work, but I was wrong, it's excellent. 

Sticking our ground over away tickets for Celtic might have seemed an easy decision to fans, but I imagine there was a lot of pressure at a high level being applied. Previous boards would have caved I think. 

Overall though I like that the board seems calm and focussed now. In the recent past it felt like we were only ever a few weeks away from someone suing us, or public fall-outs as well as high profile PR people making things worse rather than better. My sense is that's not what we have now, there seems to be some stability, with grown-ups making decisions. 

 

[JohnMc 2,754]

3 hours ago, buster. said:

This isn't a job interview, I don't care what school he went to. 

 

 

What! This is the Rangers Chairman, of course we care about what school he went to!! 

 

[JohnMc 2,754]

3 hours ago, buster. said:

This isn't a job interview, I don't care what school he went to. 

 

He has been chairman since April of last year and he has made a horlicks of it.

 

I recognise what he has achieved in his business career, that he chose to invest in Rangers at a time of need and that he has extended credit facilities to the club at lower than market rate. Great !!

 

It is obvious that he is dedicated to what he is doing and he is giving everything towards the cause.

 

All that said, he isn't the type of leader that the club need at this moment. 

The board need to bring in a particular type of CEO to do that job. 

Bennett has a good idea of what is needed but along with the board, he has to give this remit to a man who, with a fair wind and sufficient finance, is capable of delivering.

 

Easy to say, but very difficult to find the right man and for that man to go to a gun fight with only a knife. I mentioned  "a young David Holmes" earlier. He was given an automatic machine gun.

 

 

 

I mentioned his background simply to illustrate what he'd achieved in his chosen field. 

The role of a Chairman is to focus and lead the board. From the outside it feels like he's done that quite well. Important decisions have been made, the previous leaks and briefings seem to have stopped, the board seem to be in agreement on direction. That might sound straightforward but it often isn't. Reading above it sounds like you're judging him on his stand-in role as acting CEO following Bisgrove's departure. I don't think that's a job he wants full-time, I understand he's stepping in until someone new is appointed. You're correct, he's not what we need as CEO, but I think he fully agrees with you on that. 

I'm not sure how much blame can be laid at his door over the Copland stand problems, but as Chair he must take his fair share of the blame. 

[stewarty 2,025]

1 hour ago, Gonzo79 said:

That sentence really needs a comma.  

I'd say two, in fairness. 😁

[stewarty 2,025]

I might update my CV but one thing Rangers need is a strong internal audit function.   I wrote a piece for Gersnet in our then regular  column in the Seventy2 magazine about 10 years ago making this point.  I'm sad to say that it is never more relevant.

 

Ironically around 2 years after that, I got approached by a recruiter for the position as Head of Audit for Celtic!  I politely declined, for obvious reasons, but it simply underlined just how far behind we were a decade ago in terms of good governance.  

 

As a for example, one thing I heard about the Copland Rd project is that at least one significant and local contractor, who are known club supporters, declined to tender for the work because the timescales that were required were unachievable.  It seems the club/project team went and found a contractor who promised otherwise.   A good internal auditor involved in monitoring the project would have challenged the decisions made by management and at the very least, shone a light on what was happening to the Board to enable the likes of Bennett to properly scrutinise what was going on, well before we got to the situation we are in now.

 

 

Edited August 1 by stewarty
typo

[ranger_syntax 4,322]

50 minutes ago, stewarty said:

Ironically around 2 years after that, I got approached by a recruiter for the position as Head of Audit for Celtic!  I politely declined, for obvious reasons

This is why we lose.

[ranger_syntax 4,322]

2 hours ago, buster. said:

It is little wonder that as a group, we have been shown to be so gullible and easy to exploit. 

I don't believe you.

[Bluedell 5,627]

1 hour ago, stewarty said:

Ironically around 2 years after that, I got approached by a recruiter for the position as Head of Audit for Celtic!  I politely declined, for obvious reasons, but it simply underlined just how far behind a decade ago in terms of good governance.

 

They obviously think that you look like one 

[compo 7,044]

What our clubs needs is someone along the lines of Fergus McCann I remember lots of our fans ridiculing him as the wee man in the bunnet with beady eyes but to give him his due he eventually got it right and laid solid foundations for them to build upon and as for this stand extension the club should have had a professional project manager on board from the planning stage maybe someday we will get the right pegs in the right holes.

[Scott7 6,009]

2 hours ago, stewarty said:

It seems the club/project team went and found a contractor who promised otherwise.

Never fear. Rangers are red hot on contract matters. There will be watertight completion delay clause with cast iron damages quantification.

 

There you are - Rangers legal, red hot, watertight and cast iron.