Rangers International Football Club PLC Annual Report

[CammyF 8,017]

Anyone heard any update on the bar going into the old superstore? 

[CammyF 8,017]

Some snippets from today's Q&A with Graeme Souness which was hosted by Gordon Smith.

 

Souness explained his part in the recruitment of the new manager and he interviewed all candidates. As was reported at the time, his preferred candidate was Frank Lampard. He explained why it was down to Lampard's very good relationship with Chelsea & Man City, his knowledge of their Youth set-ups / players and his ability to bring players from both those clubs on loan given our limited budget.

 

He did go on to say that he was impressed with Clement during the interview and believes Clement is doing as best as can be expected given the players at his disposal.  He also sticks by his comment that we need better players.

 

At that point Gordon Smith said that he agrees and what is required is fresh income. He insisted that there was an interest in buying Rangers and a meeting was set up for a deal to be completed only for the Rangers board to pull the plug. 

 

Both said that there remains interest in Rangers but with the shareholdings being held by many different people, it's difficult to get them all to agree to a sale. Both agreed that without the board selling the club on, we'll not move forward.

 

It was an excellent day and Souness & Smith spoke really well. Souness said Gough was his best signing but mentioned Butcher, Wilkins as well. Said Derek Ferguson was an absolute talent as was Durrant. He also rated Terry Hurlock and Ian Ferguson. 

 

Said the 2 mistakes he made at Rangers were ; letting Davie Cooper leave for Motherwell and accepting the Liverpool role. He said he should have moved "upstairs" and let Walter take over.

 

As I said it was an excellent day and great to be in the company of Rangers people and Rangers royalty. 

Edited 10 hours ago by CammyF

[Rousseau 10,560]

I can see where Souness is coming from with his Lampard preference - I've dismissed it out of hand before - but I don't think that's the sort of 'positive' we require. I mean, not only will they be more expensive than he thinks, but I doubt many fans would be happy with a raft of loans.

 

It is good to get his reasoning. 

[CammyF 8,017]

15 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I can see where Souness is coming from with his Lampard preference - I've dismissed it out of hand before - but I don't think that's the sort of 'positive' we require. I mean, not only will they be more expensive than he thinks, but I doubt many fans would be happy with a raft of loans.

 

It is good to get his reasoning. 

Yeah, he seemed genuine in everything he said both about his time at Rangers and his part in the recruitment process. Think he was a bit miffed at the way it was reported. Said he was asked to interview the candidates and give the board his feedback. 

 

He was never under the illusion that his choice would be chosen by the board. He picked Lampard for the reasons above but said Clement is a football person and was a great candidate. 

 

I get what you are saying about loans, but it shows Souness was thinking of who would be able to enhance our budget with other avenues. 

 

Given Lampard's knowledge of both Chelsea and City's youth setup he might have meant picking up some exciting young players who would make the move due to Lampard's influence. 

 

All water under the bridge now off course and for me, Smith's comments regarding a deal to sell the club being discussed and a meeting arranged was the most interesting takeaway. 

 

Souness obviously spent some time talking about his playing career at Liverpool and it's easy to forget just how good that Liverpool team was. Sure it was 5 1st division titles and 3 European cups. During that time he insists that they never recieved a team talk. The management just trusted them to go out and do their jobs. 

Edited 10 hours ago by CammyF

[Rousseau 10,560]

6 minutes ago, CammyF said:

Yeah, he seemed genuine in everything he said both about his time at Rangers and his part in the recruitment process. Think he was a bit miffed at the way it was reported. Said he was asked to interview the candidates and give the board his feedback. 

 

He was never under the illusion that his choice would be chosen by the board. He picked Lampard for the reasons above but said Clement is a football person and was a great candidate. 

 

I get what you are saying about loans, but it shows Souness was thinking of who would be able to enhance our budget with other avenues. 

 

Given Lampard's knowledge of both Chelsea and City's youth setup he might have meant picking up some exciting young players who would make the move due to Lampard's influence. 

 

All water under the bridge now off course and for me, Smith's comments regarding a deal to sell the club being discussed and a meeting arranged was the most interesting takeaway. 

 

Souness obviously spent some time talking about his playing career at Liverpool and it's easy to forget just how good that Liverpool team was. Sure it was 5 1st division titles and 3 European cups. During that time he insists that they never recieved a team talk. The management just trusted them to go out and do their jobs. 

The famous boot room. 

 

You couldn't run a club that way now. 

[Gonzo79 15,279]

Souness isn't someone whose opinion we should be paying a great deal of attention to, in my opinion.  He's yesterday's news (and he didn't think twice about leaving Rangers in 1991).  

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,305]

Lampard's a dreadful manager.

[CammyF 8,017]

34 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

 (and he didn't think twice about leaving Rangers in 1991).  

Really? And you know this how? 

 

He must have been lying in this interview and today when he told the exact same version of events.

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by CammyF

[CammyF 8,017]

5 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Lampard's a dreadful manager.

Didn't want him as manager but was interesting to hear why Souness recommended him.

 

Also good to hear Souness talk positively about Clement.