Dear Mr Chairman,
Please allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate you on becoming the chairman of our great club.
Today will be the first time since you were appointed chairman than the Rangers fans will be hearing from you properly, which has been a disappointment to many as there has been a severe lack of communication between the club and the fans form the top of the club for some time, however, it’s better late than never.
You’ll have to accept my apologies for the tone of some of the things I may say here: You will have your predecessor to thank for that, but due to the previously mentioned lack of communication from the club and the financial uncertainty that continues to surround it, many supporters like myself have been left concerned and frustrated at the way the club has been operating for some time.
One of the biggest mistakes you will make – possibly an irreversible one depending on how things go – would be to patronise the Rangers support. Today, any kind of reference to ‘carrying on the legacy of Sir David Murray’ will be treated with derision from many. Not out of badness – but down to the fact that it would be a lie. The club seems to have secured financial comfort by winning the title last season, but the club’s debt appears to be a huge concern which has restricted as badly on and off the park. The current custodian and previous chairman is almost entirely to blame for this situation and it would be churlish to try and alter this particular reality.
Therefore, from here on in – it’s all about what you are going to do differently. One of the few quotes we’ve heard from you Mr Johnston is that you have been adamant that you would not have accepted chairmanship of the club if you didn’t think you could make a difference – yet this week has marked your first appearance in 6 weeks, the media have also reported that our chief executive, Martin Bain, now has more responsibilities within the club since the departure of Sir David Murray as chairman.
So, in short, our CEO does more work, our chairman is here less often than the predecessor when one of the reasons cited for the Sir David Murray’s departure was his inability to pay Rangers the attention it needs due to his other business interests.
This causes great concern to me as a supporter, and I hope that at today’s press briefing you can clarify this.
I would also be interested to hear you elaborate on how you feel the club could utilise it’s scant resources better, as per quotes you made during a telephone call to STV at the time of your appointment.
Our wonderful support have been pilloried from every direction for a number of years due to alleged ‘inappropriate chanting’, I would love to hear your plans on defending the club in these situations and what action the club will take against fans such as those of Aberdeen, who once again mocked a sickening attack on one of our players 21 years ago and the Ibrox disaster during our game with them on Saturday afternoon.
I might be blown away with optimism today following your meeting with the press, and I hope I am, but sadly, thanks to the actions of your predecessor, you are running a club with a huge debt, no room for manoeuvre in the transfer market and a name that has been tarnished significantly by people with their own agendas in this country. If tomday’s meeting with the press serves a mere filler laden with undue tributes to the former chairman who has brought us to the financial brink, the fans will not and should not be happy.
In short, your arrival as chairman Mr Johnston requires things to be done differently. Merely overseeing things until a takeover is mounted will simply not do.
The club needs a new approach, fresh-thinking and someone innovative at the helm to make this happen. It also needs to protect the name of the club and it’s life-blood: The Fans.
I wish you every success and hope that your appointment as chairman will result in the changes the club clearly needs to not only move forward, but survive.
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