With the massive news on Thursday that CEO James Bisgrove is gone, Ibrox Noise examines what effect this will have on Rangers, with arguably the best board member the club has had in a generation now moving to Saudi Arabia.
The first big thing to say is that Bisgrove’s talents were in commercial, and the massive number of endorsements and sponsorships he had secured the club.
Since he went to CEO, those endorsements had/have MASSIVELY declined, with only a handful of new deals coming in under last summer’s new Commercial Officer Karim Virani.
So we were already feeling the effect of losing him from the commercial sector of the club.
But as CEO, how effective was he?
Well we can’t measure the CEO on signings, because it’s not his specialty, but the club’s running the past 12 months was under his watch, and we will admit it wasn’t great.
Bear in mind, Bisgrove is a businessman, and a good one, he was in football but for the business and commercial side of it, he wasn’t strictly in it for Rangers’ best interests, but to do a job for us.
And in all honesty, Rangers have declined since August last year, due to Virani’s appointment in his old position and his own promotion.
It’s hard to ‘measure’ a CEO, but aside the appointment of Philippe Clement, itself a grey area for now in terms of success, there’s not much to judge Bisgrove on, and no obvious barometer.
He was in the job for one full year (his promotion announced last May), and in that time endorsements went hugely down, and revenue went down due to his replacement being nowhere near as good as him.
But as CEO, it’s a tough one to judge.
Better than predecessor Robertson? Again, hard to say. He promised fan engagement and what we got were fan forums every so often, and we guarantee those will be axed now that he’s gone.
He was better as commercial than CEO, and we have no idea what job he’s taken in the Middle East.
The reaction from a lot of fans (not all) at this news was to spew hate at him, which probably justifies his exit in truth.
The relationship between club and fans is at an all-time low, and we don’t really blame anyone who leaves at the moment.
Especially for a cushy gig in Saudi Arabia.
But we will say this – it was a mistake to promote him. He was best served in commercial, and while it was easy at the time to praise the promotion, which Ibrox Noise absolutely did, hindsight shows we took a commercial genius out of his comfort zone where he was boosting our club, and put him into a position he wasn’t really at his best in.
The whole thing has ended up a mistake, and Bisgrove himself clearly figured out he wasn’t at his best as CEO, and was happy to take the job in the Gulf.
Now we’re in a bit of a mess – we have no full-time CEO, just a part time chairman and acting CEO, and most of the promises Bennett made haven’t actually materialised. This departure throws everything in the air.
That Nils Koppen and Philippe Clement are now taking up Bisgrove’s responsibility is exactly the upheaval that happened last summer when Wilson exited and Michael Beale ended up doing everything.
The transfer window has started shockingly for Rangers, one minor signing made, and chaos again in the boardroom.
It’s groundhog day season-after-season for this club.