No grilling, no screaming and shouting, as club ‘saviour’ is given calm passage
Some had predicted fire and brimstone but it was more like a Sunday School picnic as Dave King and his Rangers board sailed through yesterday’s annual general meeting at the Clyde Auditorium with barely a ripple in the water.
There was no grilling, no screaming and shouting. It was as if everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet.
The fans had nearly a month to come up with difficult, probing questions but King probably gets a harder time in his own household.
Of course, some important points were made but – and he won’t like the comparison – he deflected the slightly trickier ones with the same guile that Sir David Murray displayed on these occasions.
Repeatedly he was thanked by a questioner for saving Rangers and therein lies the tale. Those in the room probably felt he didn’t deserve any derision for that act alone.
However, King is astute enough to know that after one indifferent and one disastrous managerial appointment, he needs to make it third time lucky and the biggest complaint from shareholders was the delay in appointing Pedro Caixinha’s successor.
That said, there was as much passion behind a couple of questions on reducing Celtic’s ticket allocation at Ibrox and moving their supporters from filling the entire Broomloan Stand to the corner of that stand and the Sandy Jardine Stand where other away fans sit.
He probably could have done without the attempted wit of a nameless inquisitor
whose cringe-worthy comedy routine was to issue a school report card by starting with the words: “Like you, I’m from Castlemilk. I take it you went to Grange Secondary rather than St Margaretmary’s?”
In a more serious vein, King made it clear that Rangers will continue to be lossmakers for the next couple of seasons at least until they become winners again and regular and successful competitors in Europe.
He has pledged to play his part in funding during this periodandclearlythepassing of Resolution 11 that allows a fresh share issue to shareholders of the board’s choosing will be key in improving the club’s finances.
Rangers had to pay £3 million to release themselves from the ludicrously restrictive commercial deal with Sports Direct, but he pledged that they will make this back within the next year.
That was great business but King admitted they need to buck up their ideas when it comes to moving players on.
He accepted that the sale of Barrie Mckay to Nottingham Forrest for just £500,000 was bad management.
He cleverly dodged a leftfield suggestion that £50m could be raised through a bond scheme in which Ibrox and the Auchenhowie training ground would be owned by fans.
And thankfully there were no questions about cold pies.
“The fans had nearly amonthtocomeup with difficult, probing questions but King probably gets a harder time in his own household”