For those who doubt
For any of you sick of football talk (to be honest, that includes us) and questioning this blog’s oft-stated belief that the fate of Rangers FC (IL) and the fate of the independence campaign are intertwined, we attach below the minutes of the Rangers Fans’ Fighting Fund meeting held earlier this week at Ibrox Stadium. As far as we’re able to ascertain they’re genuine, and we thank the alert reader who sent us the link. The entire document is below, but we’ll highlight the relevant passage right here:
“A representative from Denny then informed the panel that he had four reasons why we should go into Division 3. First he believed it would test Charles Green resolve; secondly he believed it would show the benefit of Auchenhowie and allow the management team to gain experience. Third, it would galvanise and unite the Rangers support, and lastly it would allow us to move on and concentrate on defeating the SNP’s fight for independence.”
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MINUTES of Fighting Fund Meeting 4 July 2012
Sandy Jardine welcomed all to the meeting and introduced the top table.
The results of the RFFF poll showed an overwhelming desire (76%) from the fans out of almost 20,000 polled to play in Division 3. A straw poll was taken in the room; the result again reflected an overwhelming support for Division 3.
The entire Rangers board then entered the meeting, introduced themselves and explained roughly what they had done in the past.
Malcolm Murray wants to rebuild the club. All assets are owned by Sevco Scotland. Craig Whyte is definitely not involved, sworn statements have been lodged with relevant bodies including the SFA regarding this.
Charles Green talked about ‘balanced shareholding’ – no individual person would have control of the club again. He said everyone ‘outside of this room’ and the people we represent is Anti-Rangers.
The board stated that £11 million has been raised so far and injected into the club. They reckon there is roughly £3 million working capital, with more money coming in over the next couple of weeks.
John Brown asked the panel if they were still going to have £30 million available by mid-July. Charles Green said that figure was expected given while they expected a CVA to be agreed. The board were confident that more money and more investment was coming into the club and that the targets would be met.
A representative from Rangers Unite asked the board “What would you see as an exit price?” Imran replied that he believed on a bad day the club was worth £50 million.
There is currently £3 million in the bank account and an expected £2.6 million coming in over the next two weeks. This further investment is guaranteed and they have legal documents to prove so.
A Rangers Standard representative asked Charles Green to read out the names of the current shareholders. A number of names were read out and it was revealed that the major shareholder is Blue Pitch Holdings with 23%, which would be getting diluted to between 10 and 15% when the other investors come on board. Ian Hart was discussed as the questioner stated that he previously said he wasn’t an investor – the reasons for this were explained by CG.
CG stated the club would be floated on the Stock Market giving fans the chance to own shares in the club.
Vanguard Bears member and representative from RTID NI asked how CG feels about the fans overwhelming wishes to go to Division 3. Charles Green responded with “I have publicly said that I would accept that.”
Charles Green referred to the players that had left as turncoats. Alan McGregor was the only one to call Sandy Jardine afterwards, with Jardine also mentioning ex Celtic PR ma Peter McLean as being Steven Naismith’s agent.
CG expects criminal charges to be brought to the previous regime.
CG was asked if the possibility of playing in England exists and if he made an attempt at buying Bury FC. He responded that he was attracted by Bury and hoped to mention the club along with Rangers. Unfortunately distance was going to be a problem, as after Wimbledon became MK Dons the football league changed its rules to state that any merger between two clubs could only happen if the clubs were within roughly 60 miles of each other.
He also looked at the possibility of buying Carlisle, but believes we cannot merge with an English club. We would have to start at the bottom of the conference if we were to go to England.
A supporter asked when the current money in the club would run out without further investment. No answer was given. The same supporter was asked later to view the Club assets documents (the one’s Findlay wants to see), but declined the offer.
A representative from Denny then informed the panel that he had four reasons why we should go into Division 3. First he believed it would test Charles Green resolve; secondly he believed it would show the benefit of Auchenhowie and allow the management team to gain experience. Third, it would galvanise and unite the Rangers support, and lastly it would allow us to move on and concentrate on defeating the SNP’s fight for independence.
Malcolm Murray stated that the process for changing the name of Murray Park is underway.
John Brown and Andy Goram both asked if Donald Findlay QC could see the title deeds of the club, Brian Stockbridge, the club accountant, told John Brown to give him a call and they would set up a meeting where Donald Findlay could see the title deeds. This didn’t seem enough for Brown, he believed that a secure location had to be set up because Donald Findlay didn’t want people to know that his name had been mentioned, even though John Brown mentioned it on numerous occasions.
John Brown then claimed that a friend of his offered £11 million for the club before Charles Green’s consortium and that Duff and Phelps had rejected it or ignored it. This was debunked and denied by the board.
Brian Stockbridge twice explained the financial situation to Brown which appeared to go in one ear and out the other….
Charles Green left the meeting to attend another meeting with our enemies.
Various supporters took to the floor offering best wishes to Ally McCoist, stating they would be renewing their Season Tickets as there was no alternative.
Questions to Ally McCoist :
Q – Will you be asking the fans to renew their ST’s?
A – Ally said he couldn’t ask the fans to renew ST’s as he didn’t know which players would be there or where we would be playing and he wouldn’t want it on his conscience that our hard-earned cash was being spent on something he couldn’t guarantee. Also, he didn’t have full trust in the current board for two reasons; he hasn’t known them long enough yet and because of the actions of the previous incumbents.
Q – If you were at our (the supporters) side of the table would you buy a ST?
A – Ally responded, “In a heartbeat…..”
Q – Would the manager prefer Division I or Division 3?
A – Ally replied that he felt his duty as the manager was to carry out the fans wishes, if 80% of them wanted Division 3 then he would be 100% behind that. He said that only six first-team players turned up for training plus all the kids. He was unsure if Edu, Bocanegra and Goian would return from their extended break.
Q – It was reported in the rags that you were resigning from the club, was that the case?
A – It was explained by Ally that he had a fall out with CG – things like that happen, but never at any time was he for walking away.
John Brown was then asked to take the microphone for 10 mins – which turned into almost 30. Virtually nothing of the way forward for Rangers was discussed. He was prompted to come to the top table by RFFF Chairman to view the relevant documentation to satisfy his demands, which he declined. The meeting was then informed by Chairman McCormick that he was Brown’s accountant, which brought about many wry smiles from those assembled.
Sandy Jardine then informed the meeting before closing that there will be another RFFF meeting convened soon to discuss the position of the RFFF and funds within it.
Apologies nul
Would shut you all down & prosecute the lot of you: Each & every one.
There’s a lot of paranoia in that room!
I was just looking for a link to this to send you, but searching for “Rangers fighting fund” from the past 24 hours brought your blog up at the top of the results!
It’s quite astonishing. While it’s demonstrably untrue to suggest ALL Rangers fans are unionists (I follow a few nationalist Rangers fans on Twitter), it does highlight how deeply engrained unionism is in the psyche of the more slack-jawed Neanderthal Rangers fan. They’re supposed to be trying to save their club, yet saving the union is foremost in their minds? As long as you have these nutters around, there will be more moderate types who will be getting unduly influenced by their rhetoric. These people aren’t football supporters, they just feed on hate, as a quick glance of the “Vanguard bears” badge highlights. I can’t help feeling slightly disturbed by the RTID NI, which I assume stands for Rangers Till I Die (Northern Ireland) – one suspects they mean this far more literally than supporters of other clubs.
If nothing else, the death of Rangers would certainly not be BAD for independence…
So, the death (or 3 year holiday) of Rangers is going to create an army of committed Unionists dedicated to thwarting the evil Salmond (secret architect of Rangers’ downfall, natch)…
Bloomin heck.
Also – it’s a football team. Amazing how central it is to these sad gits’ identities.
Given these are believed to be the minutes of an organisation that was portraying itself in the media as a serious fans body to try and save Oldco RFC the tone of the minutes make it clear these are not decent or nice people.
Anyone that’s ever taken a minute in a serious context would not use language like “enemies” “rag” etc but the icing on the cake has to be: “Brian Stockbridge twice explained the financial situation to Brown which appeared to go in one ear and out the other….”
I’m 100% in favour of fans running their own clubs but when you’ve got a fans group that appoints someone to take the minutes, who can’t work out the difference between keeping a record that any of the members of the RFF (including Brown) has ask to see and taking notes for your mates in the pub, it does the cause of supporters running football no good at all.
RFC – Scotland’s shame right enough!
We would have to start at the bottom of the conference if we were to go to England.
How delusional are they? The Conference wouldn’t allow it. The FA wouldn’t allow it. The Football League wouldn’t allow it. UEFA wouldn’t allow it. The clubs wouldn’t allow it. The fans wouldn’t allow it.
But aside from all that, the only problem is they would have to start too far down? Because no-one else gets to dictate where Rangers play except Rangers?
Sorry to be cynical, but do these people really take minutes at their meetings? Isn’t it a bit convenient that a copy made its way to you?
It looks as though they have, yes. Certainly, nobody on the Rangers Media forum appears to have cast aspersions on its veracity as yet.
Don’t forget also that this club has a great affinity with the Orange Order and they are reportedly doing deals with pro-union Labour.
Interesting point by gnohbdi about galvanising thier determination to thwart Salmond. Somehow this will all be his fault. I’m surprised no-one is accusing him of failing to introduce regulations in sport to avoid this kind of thing back in the early 90s when there wasn’t even a Scottish Parliament!!! Everything that has happend to the club is the fault of David Murray, but because he won trophies and led them to nine in a row they cannot bring themselves to blame him. Their hatred is reserved for Craig Whyte, possibly deserved, Charlse Green, so far undeserved and lets not forget Bill Miller, who alledgedly was scared off by threats and hate mail before he’d even bought the club. But you’re right. It’s all the fault of Alex Salmond and those damned Cybernats….
My favourite on Rangers Media was the theory that the collapse of Rangers has been worked by the IRA, who having been defeated in war have now infiltrated the SPL, SFA and SNP to bring down the mightiest bastion of the Union.
Having been made aware of, and read this document, I came here to put a link up so others could see it with their own eyes … but I’ve been beaten to it, because it’s already up there as a blog entry … and all the better for that! So, well done Stu!
When I first read it I thought it must be a fake. I still don’t know if it is or not. But, if it is real, well then… It is a real eye-opener of epic proportions on the inner machinations at Ibrox and the delusions of entitlement of all and sundry, from ‘the management’ to the ‘supporters’ in attendance.
They have had their way for so long that now it seems like they are going through a denial stage, unable, or willing to accept the truth. The “enough is enough” statements are typical behaviour. There is also all the reverse psychology being shown: blaming the victims and trying to shift the blame and guilt on to others. There has still been no contrition shown and even less acceptance of the situation.
Saying that they should now play in SFL Div. 3 – noble sentiments, but there’s that entitlement thing again rearing its ugly head. They can’t ‘just’ go to Div. 3. There are procedures to go through before entry is even considered. It’ll be hard for them to accept, but it won’t be THEIR choice. Others will be making the decisions. They may not gain entry into any of the SFL’s leagues. Whatever the final decisions, let’s hope they are done ‘clean’ and free of outside ‘influences’.
The whole thing is starting to stink of corruption. It is looking more and more as if ‘the (useless) powers that be” knew what was going on with Rangers but said or did nothing. They were all getting away with it, so why would anyone speak out? Who’s to say that palms weren’t being greased, you know, to keep things running smoothly, and that? Rangers were being very successful in Scotland, with close to fifty thousand at Ibrox every second week. Then all the domestic cup runs. And Champions League entry and UEFA cup runs. That is, to say the least, a good steady stream of cash coming in. So, was it a case of just-do-the-three-monkeys-trick and then all’s well? But if so, for who? Who all was gaining from this illegality?
Another thing. There is no way that those within the Scottish football MSM could not have known what was going on, especially those in Glasgow. Surely. Yes, they, or, at least, certain members of that MSM field, can be pretty hopeless, but I find it hard to believe that not even one of them knew what was going on at Ibrox. Football hacks may work for different organisations, but they still speak to each other. So, were some of these benefiting illegally by NOT disclosing to the general public of the thievery and corruption at RFC?
Conclusions and assertions can be made. Maybe the truth, all of it, will be revealed one day. For the sake of professional football in Scotland I hope so.
(In case of any legal repercussions, the views in this post are mine and mine alone!)
By the way, that statement, “…it would allow us to move on and concentrate on defeating the SNP’s fight for independence.” deserves a blog entry of its own!
“By the way, that statement, “…it would allow us to move on and concentrate on defeating the SNP’s fight for independence.” deserves a blog entry of its own!”
Well, that’s really what this is, hence the title and intro. I just stuck the rest of the statement at the bottom for completeness.
Denny is rarely referred to anywhere but the Falkirk Herald, and as someone who was raised there and lived there until my late twenties, I’m embarrassed to see it mentioned in this context. Not surprised though because it is and always was a religiously divided town – quite bitter in certain sections of the community and all the worse since the Glasgow overspill in the late sixties.
I’ve lately been coming round to thinking that Glasgow with it’s ‘Old Firm’, N Ireland connections, Orange Walks and seemingly endemic seediness and corruption, is a disease which Scotland needs cured of.
Obviously, saying that the past history of Doncaster and Regan might be worth looking into is dangerous, or not ‘on side?
Yet another post goes missing on NNS.
Rangers were an organisation dedicated to the preservation of the Union, Scotland is well rid.