Rangers manager Philippe Clement insists he had no other option but to make his team younger to avoid “taking the club into a dangerous place as it was before”.
Clement and the Rangers board were present at the club’s annual general meeting on Thursday lunchtime, where a number of matters were broached, including the team’s on-field performances, finances, the temporary move to Hampden after delays to Ibrox construction works and transfer dealings.
Among many issues raised was Rangers’ bid to operate with a more inexperienced squad, with the club targeting players such as Jefte, Mohamed Diomande and Hamza Igamane who could become sellable assets in the future. One shareholder asked if supporters need to curb expectation levels and if a rebuild could take several years.
The current Rangers boss responded to the question and said that he was working hard with everyone within the club to bring success back, but reiterated that they could not repeat mistakes that previously led to financial ruin. Rangers’ latest accounts were grim reading, with a loss of £17.2 million posted at the end of October.
“It’s good to have this meeting and numbers are very clear,” Clement was reported to have said at the AGM. “Decisions had to be made to make the club sustainable and avoid taking club into a dangerous place as was before. We’ve spoken about rebuild. People can see the numbers now. But legacy of Rangers is winning. The day we lower that bar, Rangers is not Rangers anymore. That’s my message in dressing room. We need to keep this culture in club.
“It’s true things in football are decided by money. The more you have the more you can buy. But it’s also about hard work and we’re working really hard to get a better team.
Driven to make things better
“We know mistakes made in the past. I understand people don’t understand why we sign a young guy from Morocco [Igamane]. But we’re working hard to make things better and I promise we will keep on doing that.
“I know it was a tough challenge to make team younger without a big budget to get quality fans in now but we are working hard to become champions and win more trophies.”
Clement was joined at the top table at the Clyde Auditorium for the AGM by directors Alistair Johnston, Graeme Park, Donald Gillies, interim chairman John Gilligan, technical director Nils Koppen, commercial director Karim Virani and investor George Taylor. Gilligan admitted in his opening address that it has been a recent “challenging period” for the club.
Rangers currently trail Celtic by 11 points in the Premiership title race and are third in the table, four points off Aberdeen. There is a sentiment among Rangers fans that the club has regressed since winning its 55th league title in season 2020/21 – the last time they beat Celtic to the league crown. The underperformance was noted by members of the board.
Responding to a point surrounding Rangers’ “rapid decline”, Gilligan said: “Any board has to make decisions and stand by them. A number of decisions made were well supported at time but haven’t delivered what we wanted.”
The answer was backed up by Virami, who said: “We share sentiment that club hasn’t been performing since 55. Football decisions don’t always pan out how you hope. The determination to win still exists across the club. We’re working night and day to put us where we should be.”
Hampden cost for Rangers
Rangers faced strife off the pitch before this season even began after delays to steel shipments from Asia resulted in work to improve disabled facilities in the Broomloan Road Stand and a temporary flit to Hampden. Rangers played four matches there in August and Gilligan revealed the cost. “It runs to six figures and will be in next year’s accounts,” he said. “It was an inevitability but we had no choice.”
Chief finance offer James Taylor added: “From my perspective the steel was ordered when we were told to order it by our professional advisors. Look, it was an ambitious project. Overly ambitious. We’d like to extend John Gilligan’s apology on behalf of the board.”
Koppen and Clement were both handed new deals this year and on the contracts given to the duo when the jury remains out on their performance, Gilligan said: “We have history of making decisions under duress mid season. We wanted the manager to have comfort that he had time to bring in younger players. Time will tell if it’s right decision but we stand by it.”
The £800k bombshell
Player trading for the current year will not be helped by confirmation from Taylor at the AGM that the club had received a combined amount of just £800,000 in transfer fees for Connor Goldson, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers, Scott Wright and Robby McCrorie this summer.
The figure was first revealed in the club’s accounts for last season, on events that took place after the period in question. Rangers revealed they had signed 10 players for a combined total of £13.4 million and received £0.81million following the departure of five players on permanent transfers and four on loan deals.
Gilligan also believes Rangers are set for a brighter future under a “reconfigured and refreshed” board, revealing that the directors had reviewed governance of the club and decided a change in structure would be beneficial.
Board refit
The current board is largely made up of investors but Rangers’ hierarchy are intent on ensuring “a strong role from independent, non-shareholder, non-executives and more representation from our executive team”. The board reconfiguration is expected to be completed by next year’s AGM.
Gilligan said: “The directors have recently reviewed the current governance of the company and concluded that the existing board structure should be reconfigured and refreshed.
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“Currently the board is made up entirely of investors who have consistently funded the club over the last 10 years. This structure served the club well in the initial phase of our recovery. Rangers is now in a much stronger financial position and this, combined with the current refinancing exercise, means our business model is now sustainable.
“Our board structure should reflect this, with a strong role from independent, non-shareholder, non-executives and more representation from our executive team.
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