“Put not your trust in princes” - so sayeth the 146th Psalm, and by now any Rangers fan who believes in anyone producing a big wand to magic all the hurt, the lies and the deceit away probably also believes in the Tooth Fairy. Keep dreaming of that silver sixpence appearing under your pillow.
Despite the clamour from the supporters of the current regime for Ashley to invest he does seem to be a peculiar kind of saviour. I mean - what kind of saviour gets the naming rights of Ibrox for a pound?, what sort of saviour has the kind of onerous merchandising contract Ashley was given?, what sort of saviour gets the Rangers Shops for two balloons and a party hat?
Through all the years of David Murray’s reign the one thing that made money was the Retail Division. It flourished under Nick Peel and the alarm bells went off when Murray and Bain effectively mortgaged it away to JJB. It was all downhill after that. It’s like when Howard Hughes sold off the Hughes Tool Corporation - that was the basis of his wealth - the steady, unspectacular cash cow that just kept pumping out the dough. When that went you knew the family silver was being sold.
So, Ashley might be many things but Saviour he ain’t.
For those wishful thinkers a dosh of smelling salts and a perusal of the Newcastle United fans forums and Facebook pages might lead you to an alternate view of Ashley. Rather than being a visionary he’s turned out to have been the captain of stagnation and wasted chances at St James park. Budgets cut almost as deeply as ambition never mind the free fall in their commercial revenues outside of TV.
On top of his performance at Newcastle fans may care to look at who he has allied himself with at Ibrox. He’s clearly in bed with the cabal who have brought the club low while stripping it of cash and virtually anything that moves. You might also want to have a look at the shareholder rebellions he has had in Sports Direct where they have said no to renumeration packages.
Consider this peculiar transaction - he bought his latest tranche of shares from Hale Hargreaves. The money went to Hale Hargreaves. He could have chosen to invest in the recent share issue to existing shareholders where the money would have gone into the club. He chose not to. But he did take out one of the larger shareholders in opposition to the cabal. Curious.
The last straw proponents of Ashley cling onto is the desperate cry that “he’ll only make money if Rangers make money” - oh yeah? Well that wasn’t exactly the case for Charles Green, Ahmad, Mather, Stockbridge or the rest of them was it? Salaries, payoffs, sales of assets, onerous contracts - take your pick from the Ibrox Lucky Bag.
We’ve heard it all before - Ashley will probably claim to contract Rangersitis like all the rest of them - but this particularly cancerous ailment always seems to weaken the victim and reward the carrier of the infection.
ALTERNATIVES TO ASHLEY
You may care to invest in Black and Red shirts or scarves - the profits from which will be used to buy Rangers shares for fans.
http://www.redandblackshirt.com
http://redandblackscarf.co.uk