Rangers Chairman Dave King released a statement ahead of yesterday’s game against Alloa Athletic to mark the side lifting the Championship trophy at the final whistle.
With Rangers taking the next step on our journey back from League Two and clinching promotion to the Premiership with the Championship title, at full time yesterday the players lifted the Trophy to celebrate with the fans, and King couldn’t have been more proud.
The Official Site carried his statement, praising the fans for sticking with the club through some dark periods.
‘ON a day that marks the end of one significant part of our journey and heralds the beginning of another I thank all of you, every Rangers supporter, for your loyalty and your belief. I hope you enjoy the Championship presentation today. As befits our status as the most successful club in Scotland it is important that Rangers continues to accumulate the game`s most valuable silverware and titles.’
He went on to say that as a life long fan himself, it’s an honour to be Chairman of the club and he went on to confirm that off pitch improvements to continue our rebuild are ongoing, as well as obvious improvements on the pitch.
‘Solid foundations have been put down since regime change just more than a year ago and the product on the pitch has been greatly improved since the arrival of Mark Warburton, David Weir and their new-look backroom team. We have secured promotion in style, playing an entertaining brand of attacking football which helped us win the Petrofac Training Cup and secure a well deserved victory over Celtic to reach the Scottish Cup final. The manager and the team believed beforehand that they could beat Celtic and there were tears rolling down the faces of every single Board member when this transpired at the end of a pulsating and emotional game.’
Adding.
‘We know what that victory meant to our supporters. This is what it is about. Everything we have done, and continue to do since regime change is for moments like last Sunday at Hampden. To see the reaction of the fans was phenomenal for everybody associated with the Club. It was a measure of how far we`ve come since last season. Our benchmark remains beating Celtic and even though we won on penalties the fact is that Rangers out-played Celtic. You could see on the pitch that Celtic were giving Rangers` footballing qualities a level of respect by firstly sitting deep and then pushing players forward in a futile attempt to force our keeper to play the long ball. This victory over our arch rivals was particularly satisfying given that we deliberately built this team to win the Championship and were always going to add to the squad for next season. It was good to see this team not just hold up against Celtic but beat them. This bodes well for next season when additional players will be introduced to improve and extend the playing squad. We won`t become complacent on the back of one victory over Celtic. Our ambitions are bigger than that.’
With Scottish Cup hopes alive and a possible European return as well this year, he went on to say.
‘If we are fortunate to win the cup final – and we still have a tough game against a good Hibs side to do that – it would get us into Europe a year ahead of schedule. The original plan was to win the Championship this year, improve the squad and challenge for the Premiership next season and hopefully return to Europe the following season. It would be a real bonus if we could accelerate the European part of it by a season. We are all looking forward to competing at the highest level and once again delivering the success that Rangers fans deserve. Our supporters, as ever, have played a key role in our success and your contribution will not be forgotten – or taken for granted.’
The statement ended with King saying.
‘I hope you all enjoy today`s celebrations. It will be a proud moment to see the trophy being presented after the game knowing we will be back competing in the top flight next season and beyond. On behalf of the Board, Management Team and Staff at Rangers, I thank you for your continued and loyal support.’
