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Rangers fans' chief fears protests



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Published Date: 15 August 2008
THE Rangers Supporters Trust have warned chairman Sir David Murray they expect a demonstration against the sale of Carlos Cuellar at tomorrow's game against Hearts.
Ibrox chief Murray yesterday accused those who suggest there is a conspiracy behind the sale of the club's star defender of trying to cause "mayhem" at Ibrox.

He insisted he and his fellow administrators did nothing wrong in agreeing to include a £7.8million release clause in the player's contract when he joined from Osasuna last summer.

That clause was triggered by Aston Villa this week, with Cuellar opting to leave rather than accept vastly-improved terms to stay put.

RST spokesman David Edgar said: "Sadly, I still believe there will be protests. The RST are not in favour of it and will not encourage it but I can see something unorganised happening."

Murray denied there was anything untoward about Cuellar's exit.

He said: "The clear fact is we sent out on the website an honest statement by the chief executive (Martin Bain) explaining the situation. But then people want to read into it and put their own twist on it – there's not a lot we can do."





The full article contains 198 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 15 August 2008 10:45 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Rangers FC
 
1

Scotland Uber Unionists,

15/08/2008 12:00:51
You'd have to be pretty stupid to protest about a player invoking a clause he and his agent insisted upon.
2

Swordsman,

Dublin 15/08/2008 12:01:40
out of the mouths of babes and all that....lol
3

invictager,

Kent 15/08/2008 12:48:48
Lets get it correct here. I would say the fans are not so much upset by Carlos leaving but with the club for failing to ensure the conditions were right for him to stay.

Penny pinching over Davis appears to have lost him, and the same with Loovens. Why were we not out of the traps on that one the minute Carlos left rather than to put in an insulting offer and see him taken from under our noses.

Does anyone think we would have lost to that pub team if we had not tried to be cheap.

Fortunately all is not lost as we actually have a pretty good player at the club who is already a centre back ie. Sasa Papac, why not give him a go. Then we need a left back of course but what about Stevie Smith.
4

invictager,

Kent 15/08/2008 12:49:41
See, this management lark is easy.
5

&Larrsonfixestheradio,

15/08/2008 12:50:49
"First of all, how can you asset strip what you own?" - David Murray

Why would a man who outsourced catering to his own company ask a question like this?

Rangers accounts for Related Party Transactions between Murray's other companies and the football club stand at around 400k a year additionally Rangers spent up to £4.298m with Murray's companies "principally in relation to catering services, call centre, mail order operation, information technology and travel".

... a nice little earner

Murray shifted Rangers Plc debt by £50m, but the debt remained with Murray International Holdings, Rangers parent company. Murray's companies also invested over 30m in a share issue in 2000.

This money is not lost he still owns these shares and will sell them one day.

Smoke and Mirrors LOyal
6

son of william,

15/08/2008 13:13:46
so what do you suggest murray hands over for say 6million ,(the original cost to buy the shareholding)that would leave rangers in a strange position if you expected mih to write off there share holding.The point of the matter is who do you believe rangers or fan zone fans,as for davis can you honestly say with what we seen last year this guy is a 4mill player worth in excess of 30k a week,i do not.carlos was always going to leave and i"m sure a lot of fans thought it would be in the summer.if we had still been in europe he probably would not have left but we cannot change that ,all we can do is get behind the team and support them,from bond holder,36years watching rfc
7

&Larrsonfixestheradio,

15/08/2008 13:26:22
Murray said that he´s lost 100m in Rangers. This is just a bare faced lie that only the arithmetically challenged can accept at face value.

He recently bought the Albion car park from RFC for a good price, some would say at a snip. Lets put it this way Rangers plc were very easy to deal with.

Ask yourself this. Is this the plot of land that has been subject to the planning application and hopefully further development that he referred to in his interview yesterday ?

If so then this plot of land is going to be worth far more than what he paid Rangers for it. Will he still be chairman of Rangers by the time the development is finished ?
8

Helter Skelter,

15/08/2008 13:58:55
You have to give minty his due, he knows how to manipulate a story to his own advantage.

He knows that he's dealing with an audience that generally lacks the capacity for careful scrutiny...as long as 60-70% are taken in, the more discerning observors are marginalised, and that suits minty.

Minty, as he well knows, carries the full burden of responsibility for the crisis currently engulfing Rangers, and it stems from the one question
that he studiously avoided all mention of in his latest statement :

Why didn't he inform the Rangers fans at that meeting last Friday that there WAS a release clause ?

Why did he lead them to believe that Rangers had a discretion as regards whether or not to accept any bids that came in ?

That is why there is so much anger...they left that meeting with Minty's assurance that Cuellar would only go if an offer of "silly money" came in.

They were given a false impression, and that is the reason why there has been such a backlash.

Minty is diverting attention away from that, and focussing on whether the release clause itself was justifiable.
But it's just more bluff and bluster.

He knows exactly what lit the fuse, and he is evading it.
Had Minty came out last Friday and said , 'cards on the table', Cuellar has a release clause, and if a bid for 10m euros comes in, our hands will be tied.

Sure, there might have been a few gasps from the asssembled berz, probably a few angry questions, but, THAT was the time to make a case for having agreed to the release clause....not now.
Minty's immoveable focus on the reasons for having the release clause are a diversion for the false impression he gave last week.
9

Glorious Hearts,

15/08/2008 15:48:21
#8 So let me get this straight- after interest from clubs last season and talk of a £12million fee being bandied about, you think that Rangers should have told the world that £7.8million would be enough to force them to sell??

10

Helter Skelter,

15/08/2008 16:42:46
9

"talk of £12m fee being bandied about."

Actually the talk, which was confined to minty's poodles at the evening times (thomas jordan and darryl king) and the daily record (mark hately and keith jackson) was of £10m, and it started in the week leading up to the transfer.
The phrase "£10m rated player" first appeared (only in certain sections of the scottish press) a matter of days before the deal went through.

Last Friday's lunchtime edition of The Evening Times ran the story that Martin O'Neil was about to make a bid for Cuellar.
Release clauses are so common nowadays that clubs will always check the position before tendering a bid.
In any case, unless the rules were broken, it seems pretty clear that by then Rangers had already given permission for Cuellar to speak to Villa.

No agreement is binding until the player agrees personal terms with the new club. Clearly, Cuellar isn't going to keep quiet about the release clause during negotiations with villa.
It's not exactly going to make him the most popular person in the changing room were it to come out in the wash later that there was a release clause that he kept quiet about.

If he did keep quiet about it, Minty would have had a hold over him for the whole time he remained at Villa.
Minty loves to blow his trumpet, and he would have found it difficult to resist rubbing MON's nose in it by announcing that villa paid over the odds.
Cuellar would have lived under a shadow of dread that Minty might say something.

So, realistically, the suggestion that Minty's retisence was down to shrewd negotiation tactics is full of holes, and possibly explains why Minty hasn't put that forward as an excuse for leading all those far travelled rangers fans a merry dance.
11

Helter Skelter,

15/08/2008 16:49:30
I think minty simply knew that the news of a release clause wasn't going to go down well, and he didn't fancy bringing it up at that meeting in case things got out of hand, as they might very well have done.

It seems to me that minty felt that it would be better to defer the announcement , let it seep out in the press, and then fight a PR campaign to put a good show on things.

Basically, the atmosphere leading up to the meeting wasn't at all good, there was already an expectation of disharmony...news of a release clause AND Villa's interest might have been the straw to break the camel's back.

I'm just saying that showed cowardice and poor judgement, and showed a lack of respect.
12

Ribbonman,

Glasgow (east) 16/08/2008 12:26:26
I am sure that there will be a bigger protest at the end of the game ,when Hearts give rankers a severe beating.

 

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