Equity Is King

Last updated : 22 April 2014 By Grandmaster Suck

 

We need more shares in the hands of people who actually support the club.  Call me naive - but that’s the only thing that makes me feel safe about our future.

I recall an interview with David Murray where he said the most vital lesson he learned was from his mentor the merchant banker Sir Angus Grossart - “Equity Is King.”

It’s a phrase that stuck with me.   When Joe Lewis et al piled in to the club David Murray’s stake holding went down - but look where it went down to - 50.1%

There was no way that Murray was going to take a chance that his partners would at some date in the future turn against him.   He wanted to be in control.

If you look at his hundred plus other businesses he very often has a few percentage points in the share register going to Grossart, the bank or his partners.   But he likes to be in control.  It has served him well.

The share register matters.  Through the votes at the AGM we have got landed with the regime we have.   If we as a support had controlled more of the shares we could influence the vote, get reliable people on there.

At the moment the club is at the mercy of predatory hedge funds, Beirut dentists and all sorts of God knows who hidden behind lawyers offices around the world.   We can guess at who is puling their strings.

However we got here, and we can argue about that later, we need to get out of this nightmare by ensuring that the majority of shares are in the hands of people who actually care about the club.  We need a way out.

The finances are such that the club is crying out for money.   The Board and their masters want it put into season tickets and other spending - we pay for their circuses and expenses but they don’t want the ownership structure to change - we, the mug punters, cough up the dough to make the wheels go around but they enjoy the profits.

Rangers need a lot of money to improve the stadium and infrastructure never mind the playing squad.   The level of investment means that can only be done by a share issue.   That might dilute the existing shareholders - tough.  The club matters more than any individual.

After having our fingers burnt no-one is keen to have dirty money sloshing around the club - and by that I don’t mean the heirs of Pablo Escobar - I mean the friends and associates of the crew that put us in this situation.

Any deal concocted which sees them retain their influence will not fly.

It requires someone like Dave King in whom the majority trust, who has a track record of investing - he lost £20million under David Murray - and who has demonstrated a desire for real change.  We can back a share issue like that.

I’d obviously advise fans to do it through the Trust’s Buy Rangers scheme - www.BuyRangers.Org - but if we all do it collectively or individually we need to get to a point where the club is our hands - or the hands of people like us.   There will be arguments no doubt but a properly financed club is the only alternative to this current nightmare.

I honestly believe that the trust potential of the Rangers support has yet to be seen - the last share issue was a done a week before Christmas and in haste.  

This time we can get it right.  It needs to be done.