Concessions must be made to win round fans.
In getting all their members successfully re-elected at Thursday’s AGM, the group led by Graham Wallace secured power and control of Rangers Football Club at last Thursday’s AGM.
It was quite a result.
The new Chief Executive has impressed since his appointment around a month ago. A former chief operating officer of Manchester City, he looks and sounds the part.
Nevertheless the scale of the backing from the institutional investors was more pronounced than I, for one, would have expected. Yet as Wallace himself has admitted, so much more work remains to be done.
To get returned to a position where they can challenge Celtic, Rangers are going to need investment.
I believe there is certainly an appetite among the institutions to put money into the club.
Given Rangers have proved they can attract 45,000 people in through the door at even the lowest level of Scottish football, why would there not be?
However, common sense tells you they can’t do so when the club is in turmoil.
A decisive result in the AGM for the board was a big step towards establishing stability at Ibrox.
Now what they HAVE to do is get the fans behind their plans for the future.
One reason is a unified front will be more appealing to investors. Another, even bigger, motivation is the need to get these supporters in the frame of mind to buy season tickets for next year.
Now I understand there are plenty of Rangers fans who will buy come what may.
But if social media is to be believed then there are many others who would be prepared to withhold their cash as a protest. It is a threat the club will discount at their peril.
The sight of a sea of red cards protesting against the board at the recent game against Ayr was one of the most striking images of the season.
I think in order to win fans round the board are going to have to make concessions.
The beleaguered finance director, Brian Stockbridge was among those re-elected on Thursday, albeit with the smallest share of the vote. Whether he survives in the long term remains to be seen.
The Chief Executive has stressed it would be wrong for him to start sacking people before he had completed a month in the post.
I have been a chief exec myself, with the SFA, and that makes perfect sense to me.
You don’t act on impulse. Instead you carry out reviews, you carefully assess situations and then you take the action which best serves the interests of the organisation you work for. That is the job.
The question is whether Stockbridge being moved on is in the best interests of Rangers Football Club?
If Wallace comes to that conclusion then, no matter how long it takes, that is what is likely to happen.
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