James Bisgrove has, as you will all know, been giving his first comments as official CEO of the club, albeit he doesn’t properly start the role for a few weeks.
Effectively, the incoming boss of the day-to-day running of Rangers FC has been speaking about a wide array of topics, and Ibrox Noise wanted to cover one of them particularly in this piece, which is about the club’s relationship with other clubs, and with the media.
In short, it hasn’t been good enough. In part, yes, a lot of it boils down to how our peers cast us to the flames in 2012, but that was now 11 years ago and Bisgrove makes it clear that he wants us to be on a better footing with our fellow Scottish Premiership sides and the way we’re viewed in the media.
He said:
“You’ll see that more in our interactions with [other] stakeholders be that with UEFA, with other clubs in the Scottish Premiership and the media as well, that’s another area where we want to build relationships and we want to be visible and outward-facing to make sure that the brand of Rangers is portrayed in the best possible light.”
This is a big, big thing for a Rangers CEO to say, and it’s been 10 years in the making.
Rangers, regardless of the reasons or justification, have been a pariah in Scotland for over a decade – some fans want us to hate everyone, be hated, and that be that.
Unfortunately, as a business, it doesn’t work – Celtic have had their fingers in every Scottish pie and a few beyond, and look at the impact. They’ve dominated the media and the league and the running of the sport north of the border, and Bisgrove is saying, clearly, it’s time for Rangers to get our foot in that door.
Bisgrove, as a non-Rangers man but especially good at what he does, figured that outside three seconds of becoming CEO.
Like it or not, it’s the way forward.