LONE VOICE LED TO IBROX POWER SHIFT
Regime scored huge own goal by axing dissenter Crighton after conference call
THE chain of events which sparked an auction for Rangers can be traced back to a conference call two weeks before Christmas. Norman Crighton, a f ormer non-executive director of Rangers, took his l eave of Ibrox on a Wednesday morning. His departure not only removed the first point of contact for Robert Sarver, the American who has upped his bid for the club to £20million plus £6.5m in short-term loans. It also ended the uneasy alliance safeguarding Mike Ashley’s powerbase.
An undemonstrative financier, Crighton was never, as people had speculated, the appointed representative of Laxey Partners on the plc board.
Colin Kingsnorth, chairman of Laxey, put his name forward to the club’s former nominated advisers Daniel Stewart. But the f i nal approval for his appointment was granted by chairman David Somers, James Easdale and former finance director Brian Stockbridge.
A quietly spoken Dundonian with a strong ethical streak and extensive
Crighton remained a sceptic. He stood back
experience of publicly quoted companies, Crighton took his boardroom responsibilities at Rangers seriously. Guarding the interests of Laxey was never his goal. Protecting the wider body of shareholders was.
While others, including the Easdale brothers and Somers, threw their weight behind Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s takeover by stealth, Crighton remained a sceptic. He stood back from the crowd and applied a critical eye.
He began to ask questions. Plenty of them. Few were of the type his fellow directors cared to answer. In the weeks before his departure, Crighton sent a steady stream of emails querying the club’s running to Somers. All went unanswered.
His queries were wide-ranging and complex. One was shared by many supporters. Why was Ashley obtaining so much power and influence.
He had provided £3m of short- term loans. But the offer of £16m for a 51 per cent stake from Dave King and George Letham appeared to be better for shareholders.
The issue was one of timing. The Ashley cash was available more quickly than the King cash and the board had failed to receive proof of funds from the South Africa - based former director.
Apparently ignoring the club’s broader interests, Ashley pushed on at some pace. He pursued SFA dispensation to up his stake in the club to 29.9 per cent. Dual interest regulations would frustrate him in the end. Yet, two weeks before the club’s annual general meeting or the SFA edict, he was acting as if the deed was done. Sports Direct were effectively calling the shots.
This struck some investors, most notably Laxey, as unsatisfactory. Ashley, after all, had just 8.92 per cent of the shares. He was a significant shareholder but by no means a majority one.
With Rangers running out of money, however, a wealthy benefactor was needed. He was also prepared to work with the existing directors, Somers and the Easdales, so long as they supported his goals.
To the outside world, Ashley’s goal appeared to be to protect the lucrative Rangers merchandising contracts which poured millions into the coffers of Sports Direct. His trusted lieutenants Derek Llambias and Barry Leach were brought in and became influential.
So much so that, weeks before his appointment as chief executive was confirmed to the stock market, Llambias was t he man who instigated the dismissal of Crighton during a conference call which became heated following more awkward, unwanted questions.
To an outsider, Crighton’s questions would have seemed logical — necessary even. They were concerns any shareholder or non-executive director with the broader interests of the club might ask.
But the broader i nterests of Rangers were no longer what was at stake two weeks before Christmas. What mattered by then were the interests of Ashley and Sports Direct. So it was, then, that Crighton was informed down a telephone line that his fellow directors no longer wished to work with him.
Sources say he had become a persistent, troublesome thorn in the side of Ashley’s unquestioning acolytes. They could have waited until the AGM two weeks later, when Crighton was up for re-election anyway, and allowed shareholders to decide. But t ension was growing and, as the subsequent emails have revealed, some on the Rangers board would do whatever it took to keep hold of their blazers and ties.
Crighton’s exit, when i t was confirmed, was low-key. Quickly forgotten.
Within 48 hours Ally McCoist, an Ibrox icon, had resigned. The departure of a non- executive director threatened to become a footnote.
Yet what happened that day proved to be critical. It was the beginning of the end for the Ibrox status quo.
By bulleting Crighton, the Rangers directors created a substantial problem for themselves. In time, it may even prove to be their downfall.
Laxey Partners, chaired by Kingsnorth, had been broadly supportive of the Ashley and Easdale powerbase during key votes. But the Isle of Man hedge fund were becoming concerned by the direction the club was moving in. Ashley’s interests, they believed, no longer aligned with theirs or those of Rangers as a club.
Crighton’s removal was the final straw. It convinced Kingsnorth to sell the firm’s 14.5 per cent stake in the club.
They were sold to the ‘Three Bears’ of George Letham, Douglas Park and George Taylor with a final
His removal may prove the downfall of the directors
withering salvo. In a statement, Kingsnorth blamed Somers for the departure of Crighton and described the chairman — a much- derided figure these days — as a ‘wet fish’.
Laxey were appalled by a staggering request from Somers for a rise in his £ 60,000- a- year non- executive chairman’s salary. This at a time when the club were running out of cash.
Yet Laxey’s shares might easily have gone elsewhere — to the man whose belated bid to purchase the club has just been rejected.
Whilst still on the board, Crighton had received an approach from Sarver, the soccer-loving owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team.
Keen to acquire control of a f ootball club i n the UK, the American banker was persuaded by former Ibrox defender David Robertson — a fellow resident of Arizona — to consider saving Rangers.
Through mutual friends, he was put in touch with Crighton.
Opting to make an £18m offer for new shares — raised to £20m plus a £6.5m short-term loan yesterday — Sarver took a different path.
The Laxey shares went instead to Park, Letham and Taylor. And within days King — acting separately, but with a common interest — would also purchase a near 15 per cent stake in the club.
Previously untouchable, Ashley had been blindsided. Soon Leach was appointed finance director. It is presumed it was done on the say- so of his Sports Direct boss, but that has never been confirmed.
Either way, the best strategy for Ashley now may be to work with the potential new investors rather than against them.
If — or, rather, when — regime change happens, the chances of Somers or the Easdales retaining their cherished positions on the Rangers board diminish greatly.
Another reason why they, as power slips from their fingers, must wish a conference call in mid- December had t aken a different course.