Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IBROX CHIEF HAS A SHARP SET OF TEETH
STEWART ROBERTSON has found himself in the eye of one of Scottish football’s biggest ever storms after leading Rangers in their war against the SPFL.
But while he is at the centre of a bitter row it was a different story when he was in the background at Motherwell.
It has been an eye opener for those who worked with Robertson at Fir Park to see Rangers’ managing director embroiled in a battle with the football authorities.
Robertson blasted the SPFL’S current governance as the worst he has experienced in five spells on the SPFL board which prompted a furious response from fellow members – including protege Alan Burrows. Burrows (inset) previously admitted he is hugely indebted to Robertson and worked closely with him on the sale of Motherwell to Les Hutchison in 2015. The Fir Park chief is on the nine-man SPFL board from which Robertson now finds himself ostracised after a bitter war of words ahead of tomorrow’s egm.
One man who worked closely with Robertson in Lanarkshire described him as “non-confrontional” and admitted his role now is a far cry from his decade at Motherwell.
Derek Weir joined the Fir Park board in 2008 and is intrigued to now see his old colleague front and centre.
He said: “The situation Stewart was in when I worked with him was very different to the one he currently finds himself in, that’s for sure!
“I would absolutely have described Stewart as balanced and you would have put him in the non-confrontational category.
“I’m surprised to see him taking such a high profile role and it’s certainly not what he was like when I worked with him. I suppose it’s just circumstances now. He’s at Rangers and also an SPFL board member so he finds himself caught up in all that.
“He knew his stuff. He understood the business but his role when I knew him was very much the back office kind of guy, doing all the work and planning.
“When he moved to Rangers I was pleased for him. He liked football and while he had been on the board of Motherwell he was obviously a Rangers fan and it was a good move for him.”