The first thing new CEO Graham
Wallace did as part of his role at the head of Rangers’ new boardroom was to
peddle the line of a “120-day business review”. Essentially this was a
4-month internal focus on exactly where the money is coming from, where it is going,
how it is being managed, and what can be done to resolve the club’s financial
travails.
At the rate Rangers are bleeding
cash, the club cannot self-sustain long-term. No exact figures are available,
but gross estimates would wager a guess at anywhere between £200,000 and
£1,000,000 per month cash lost.
Now-departed Finance Director
Brian Stockbridge previously stated that, quite simply, the current cash in the
club’s coffers would ‘run out’ by April. Wallace announced the 120-day plan at
the AGM, on the 19th of December. That is well over a month ago which leaves,
if Stockbridge’s claim is correct, just over two months before the cash is gone
but a further month after that before the review is complete.
Either Stockbridge’s sums are
miles off, possibly leading to his departure, or there is a massive discrepancy
between Wallace’s plan and Stockbridge’s projections.
It is much easier to trust
Wallace, admittedly, in light of the fact he has thus far been true to his
promises. He did say there would be cuts at boardroom, and ‘was aware’ of how
‘certain members’ are/were viewed.
In other words, using savvy,
Wallace has caught on to who the paying customers dislike, AKA Stockbridge, and
parted company with him. Whether the fans are right or wrong to have blamed
Stockbridge for so much barely matters – his presence in the boardroom was a
source of ire among them and his removal has brought some harmony.
But this is academic because it
does not answer the big question; where will
the money come from? Whether Stockbridge is right or not with his
estimates, there will come a point when the cash does indeed run out, and there
is absolutely no sign of fresh investment from anywhere.
The Daily Express recently ran
this story about the Easdale Brothers intending to sell their McGills bus
business and use the proceeds to invest £20M into the club. Fans were mostly
sceptical of this as nothing more than a fairy story, and sadly my information
is they are correct as the Easdales have, non-publicly, denied it. I am not fully
clear on if the denial relates to selling their business or that they are
investing the received cash, but it does confirm either way they will not be
ploughing the cash the club needs any time soon.
So where does that leave the
club? The only other name linked to cash injections into the club is of course
Dave King, and after nearly a decade of hot air and press soundbites, not to
mention mixed messages, it is hard not to be equally sceptical of his
intentions. Yes, briefly it appeared Mather was grooming him for outright
ownership in light of the proposed appointment to chairman, but that died down
once Mather departed and King’s only reappearance has been self-important
comments in the press.
None of which have come to
fruition.
Dave King can almost certainly
now be discounted.
Beyond him, nothing is left. With
the recent wage cut rejected, the players are not interested in helping either,
and there is no way to magic in more money.
Whatever Wallace, his new (as yet
unknown) Finance Director and financial consultant Philip Nash have in mind to
get the club out this financial pickle better be something pretty radical.