They might even be really lucky and get some rain.
I think it would be pointless to ask “why” David Murray has chosen to come back, I think we should concentrate on what it will mean.
We’ve been in similar situations before - the cash injections from ENIC, NTL and Dave King should have lifted the club to a new level. If we are to be convinced that it won’t be a rerun of previous spending sprees I think we need to see an organisational and football agenda to go along with the share offer document. So far it seems as if Mr Murray will simply be rejoining his Board colleagues and the club will run in the same manner except that this time there will be less debt.
Murray’s money will go straight to repaying the debt - the £20million or we’ll be left with will be a mixture of long-term loan and overdraft from the bank. There has been talk in the media of wiping out the debt entirely via some scheme which involves hiving off the retail operation or getting involved in some joint enterprise with an outside investor - another case of mortgaging the crown jewels I suspect. Selling the family silver is not a serious option in the long-term and any attempt to do so must be greeted with great suspicion.
If there is to be no change in the way the club is run then we are condemned to mediocrity for the next five to ten years. We are a support dead on our feet - the lack of enthusiasm against CSKA and Hearts away speak volumes. In an era when Celtic have never been more Catholic, Republican or Irish in my lifetime Rangers are in a malaise of uncertainty and rudderless - that lack of vision over the non-football aspects of the club sum up what is wrong.
Murray’s money will take some of the pressure off - but by no means all of it. It’ll free up around £4million a year - but that £4million can be easily swamped by the lack of the Champions League money or the transfer money we brought in for Amo, Barry and Neil. In short - expect no great signings in the coming couple of years.
We have to ask in addition to the lack of interest in, never mind promotion of, the identity of the club if Mr Murray will finally address - and he’s had nigh on two decades to do so - the problem of the monstrous coverage Rangers and Rangers fans suffer from in the media? This costs us millions every year in terms of bad PR - would he stand for it if his steel businesses were kopping similar flak? To do so would be a great moral booster and pointer for the future.
Under David Murray we’ve had good times - but we’ve also squandered many opportunities and tens of millions of pounds - he simply has to come up with a sporting, managerial and social agenda to accompany the cash injection - if he doesn’t it’s a sign he’s not serious about the sweeping changes we need on and off the part. Doing things in the same old way just doesn’t come up to scratch.
A sign of seriousness would be genuine supporters representation - Rangers fans are far and away the biggest investors in Rangers. Who could possibly have a problem with a couple of directly elected Bluenoses on the Board to supervise the operation of the Executive Board once a month?
There’s been some drivel talked along the lines of “how would we know fans directors could read a balance sheet?” - what like John Greig pulls David Murray up about our balance sheet problems? It was directors who supposedly could read balance sheets who took us to the brink of £100million debts and receivership.
Likewise - talk has resurfaced about a fans rep being able to toddle along four times a year to the statutory Board meetings and ‘sit in for part of the meeting’ - are they joking? If you’re going to indulge in tokenism at least try not to make it so humiliating for the fall-guy. Let’s be grown up about it. Directorships matter because they come with legal powers and responsibilities - anything else is window-dressing.
All these problems and opportunities will come to a head at the club AGM - I’m not for being bought off with more promises of jam tomorrow and being bought off for another year or two while we indulge in meaningless “consultations.” If those in charge haven’t got their act and their proposals together for the AGM then they simply aren’t serious about change.
After the AGM Bears will have to ask themselves some serious questions - I’ve written too many ‘Rangers At The Crossroads’ over the years to go through the motions of outrage again, I’m sick to death of that. In the event the Board disappoints those of you who are content to be customers are free to go your own way - those of us who want to be active members of the Rangers Football Club in a meaningful way will then have to decide how we organise ourselves for the years ahead and how best create alternative structures within which to organise our sporting lives.
A wee point to ponder for the current Board - a few months ago the Blue Order and the Rangers Supporters Trust organised a couple of events over a weekend - when you factor in the money taken in over the bars and hotel accommodation you get turnover of around £100,000. RFC under the current regime never saw a penny of that.
We can organise ourselves on a massive scale if we choose to.
GRANDMASTER SUCK