Many Rangers fans want one more man removed from Ibrox

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Many Rangers fans want one more man removed from Ibrox
Rangers fans await kick off ahead of the UEFA Europa League Semi-final, second leg football match between Rangers and RB Leipzig at the Ibrox Stadium, in Glasgow, on May 5, 2022. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

We alluded to the Graeme Park story in an earlier piece, the son of now-resigned ex-chairman Douglas Park, and how a lot of fans pin blame on Park jnr for many of Rangers’ woes.

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We don’t know Graeme, so we’re not going to engage in character assassinations or indeed endorsements, but one thing we will ask is what influence a non-executive director can actually have on a football club.

His father was executive as chairman, of course, but Park jnr was non, and he wasn’t on the football side of the company, only the business side, so that’s worth bearing in mind regarding his influence.

The two big charges fans make against Graeme Park are:

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Pedro, and fan engagement.

Let’s tackle the first one – Pedro Caixinha was NOT Graeme Park’s choice. And even if he had some interest in the Portuguese, he had NO influence because his father, Douglas, was only non-exec vice chairman at the time to Dave King. Pedro was Stewart Robertson’s baby, his project, he was the one splashed all over the media unveiling and he had executive power to make that appointment.

Are you honestly telling us a non-exec director influenced both Dave King and Stewart Robertson into appointing a no-mark nobody as manager?

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That really is pushing the extent of Park jnr’s influence back in 2017 somewhat.

Secondly, the topic of fan engagement.

He isn’t popular because he’s reckoned to be pushing fans out, and avoiding contact with supporters trying to engage with the board.

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Again, Park has no influence – he’s non-exec. He’s ALSO not on the football side of the company, a side which deals with the supporters. The one who you should be talking to is Greg Marshall, Supporter Liaison Officer, who isn’t on any of Rangers’ boards. He is the one who relates this stuff to the two Rangers boards and if things aren’t happening, he’s not doing his job.

We’re not saying he’s pushing fans away, but he is the point of contact for supporters’ groups etc to connect with, and indeed only a few weeks ago Douglas Park, prior to resigning, agreed to meet fan groups and talk, but for unknown reasons, it didn’t happen and he’s gone.

So is Park guilty of getting fans out of the picture?

We don’t really see how, frankly.

This is not a defence of Graeme Park, we just like to go with known facts, and while there’s clearly issues between the (old) board and fans, we can’t really pin them all on him.

One to think about.

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