CROWN JEWELS AT DIRECT RISK
Uproar at regime’s stadium ‘betrayal’
ACOLD war has l i ngered f or l ong enough between rangers fans and the club’s board. what emerged yesterday, however, felt like reaching for the nuclear button.
News that advance notices of security against Ibrox and Murray Park had been lodged on behalf of Sports Direct, Mike ashley’s retail company, caused an earth-shaking reaction from supporters.
Social media was aflame. Statements from fans’ organisations expressed fury, despair and a sense of betrayal. To many, the prospect is viewed as the club’s crown jewels being handed to ashley on a velvet cushion by a regime already under his control.
They were told last May Ibrox was ‘sacrosanct’. Yet, if the recent past at rangers has delivered any lesson, it is that promises are malleable.
The move appears to be a precursor to acceptance of a £10million loan from ashley by the current directors.
It also means no one else can be granted security over either asset for the next 35 days, effectively thwarting a rival funding offer from Douglas Park’s consortium which has been on the table for the last week. It is thought they had wanted to hedge their £5m package against the training ground.
at any football club, the stadium carries emotional significance. To rangers fans, that feeling is deeply profound. The current incarnation of Ibrox was developed in response to the 1971 disaster that claimed the lives of 66 supporters and it is where they are still commemorated.
Tonight, the ground will play host to its most important game of the season. Lose against Hearts and any remaining sliver of hope about automatic promotion will surely evaporate for Kenny McDowall’s side.
Yet even that potentially defining occasion could be overshadowed by the anger created by ashley’s latest power play. rangers desperately need money. But offering security against Ibrox to a man eyed with suspicion is deemed to be beyond the pale when an alternative source of cash has been available.
The Union of Fans — an umbrella group pushing for boardroom change — has called for a mass protest on Edmiston Drive and for fans to then refrain from attending the game.
‘we have been campaigning for 18 months to try to secure our stadium,’ they said in a statement issued yesterday afternoon.
‘It is not yet too late but the only people who can stop this now are the fans and we would ask them to do two things.
‘First, please come to the ground 45 minutes before kick-off and stage a mass demonstration at the front door of our Ibrox home.
‘we would also ask fans not to enter the game but if they feel they have to, in order to support the team in an important game, then we would ask them to make their feelings known in the strongest possible fashion to the board.
‘Our strength is in numbers and acting together. It is time for the fans to make their voices heard.’
The Union of Fans joined forces with Dave King last summer to create a fund they hoped would attract season-ticket money from dissenting supporters. The concept was that the money raised would then be passed to the club if they offered security over Ibrox and Murray Park in return, enabling the assets to be ‘safeguarded’.
The board promptly accused those behind the scheme of displaying ‘twisted logic’ and, on May 6, issued the following statement: ‘For the avoidance of doubt and so that all rangers fans are again reassured, the board has stated that it has no intention of granting security over Ibrox to anybody.
‘we have already shown in our actions — and not words — that our stadium is sacrosanct.’
Security over Ibrox was again portrayed as a reason why Brian Kennedy’s loan offer was rejected by rangers in favour of an initial £2m from ashley, subsequently raised to £3m, last October.
The Sale Sharks owner l ater revealed he had proposed that Ibrox be ‘protected in a trust or a similar legal mechanism that would allow this asset to be used solely for rFC in whatever legal entity to play football in perpetuity.’
Kennedy yesterday insisted that ashley could defuse much of the hostility were he to offer a similar assurance. There is sense in that view, yet the fact remains that the Newcastle United owner has yet to utter a word about any aspect of his plans for rangers.
For now, the ire is directed as much against those who fill the seats around the boardroom table. The depth of ill feeling was laid bare at the club’s aGM before Christmas, which managed to outdo the fury surrounding the previous year’s event.
The Union of Fans view the apparent U-turn on security over Ibrox as ‘the last straw’.
‘we are sickened by the news the board is attempting to mortgage Ibrox and Murray Park to Sports Direct,’ their statement continued.
‘Mr James Easdale, Mr Sandy Easdale and Mr David Somers have lied to fans and shareholders. They have engineered a situation where they are handing the most prized assets of the club to Mike ashley despite other, better funding offers once again being on the table.
‘Derek Llambias and Barry Leach have been appointed by Mr ashley to ensure he grabs the remaining assets. Mr ashley and his board stooges have shown blatant disregard for the club and the fans.
‘John Brown could not have been more accurate when he described them as “rats”.’
‘The board has stated that it has no intention of granting security over Ibrox to anybody’
May 2014 ‘The board will not enter into any form of sale, securitisation or leaseback of Ibrox Stadium’
July 2014