Rangers will need an injection of £10 million over the next 18 months according to their former chairman.
Malcolm Murray has hit out at the Rangers board and insisted their victory at the AGM places the club’s long-term future in jeopardy.
The former Light Blues chairman and his requisitioners group suffered overwhelming failure in their bid to prevent Brian Stockbridge and his fellow directors getting re-elected.
Now, victorious Chief Executive Graham Wallace has called for a line to be drawn in the sand and for all sides to move forward.
That is a message which hasn’t found a home with the rebels, unmoved in their opposition to the men charged with mapping out Rangers’ ascent to the top of Scottish game.
“The fact is this club needs investment,” said leading businessman Scott Murdoch.
“And, unless there is a rabbit in the hat waiting to be pulled out, I don’t see who is going to invest in that club if the board remains exactly the way it is just now.
“In the next three months there HAVE to be changes.”
Malcolm Murray takes a slightly longer-term view, but his concern is equally pronounced.
“This thing needs an injection of roughly £10 million over the next 18 months, he said.
“The cost base is outrageously high.
“But with the current board set-up, they won’t get more money from the backers. The danger now is they pile out of this.
“I’m not saying it will happen, but there is a danger that I am worried about.”
The City businessman was part of the board responsible for running up the huge costs.
As such, he accepts a share of the responsibility but insists the main blame lies elsewhere.
“There are things I could have done differently but in life everyone has some things they would like to have done better,” said Murray.
“But I would stress that although I am in the annual reports as having received money for doing the IPO, I did it for nothing. I paid all my own expenses.
“I was a man alone in that regard. An IPO is a big job and usually when a non-exec does them they get a fee, but I didn’t.
“I don’t know who was getting them but it wasn’t me anyway. I would want the others to say something similar.
“Also, all the extra costs were definitely something I was not in favour of.
“The £2.5 million for financial advice, for example was a stunning figure. Quite extraordinary.”
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe