RANGERS TAKEOVER: THE S*N LET’S THE SECRET OUT IN LATEST PUFF-PIECE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Jun 25
- 3 min read
We’re a couple of days on from the Rangers EGM now, which officially confirmed the new owners over at the stadium John Brown played for.
However, after new chairman Andrew Cavenagh’s bombshell at the EGM that he had no intention of telling gathered shareholders and fans what exactly he planned to do with the 20 million “war chest” the media have been banging on about for weeks, we have further drips and drabs of reality seeping out this morning.
They come courtesy of The S*n’s sycophantic sit-down with Cavenagh and his number 2 Paraag Marathe.
Rangers Takeover: The S*n Takes “Polishing a T*rd” to a Whole New Level
Of course, in their usual style (or total lack thereof) The S*n did their level best to hand-pick only the most positive quotes from the interview. However, watching the actual video in its entirety tells a quite different story about the fallout from the Rangers takeover.
First off amidst all the expected blowing of smoke up the collective backsides of the Rangers support, it’s interesting to note that Cavenagh made no mention of any intention for Rangers to win the League.
He said: “We can compete for cups, the league and in Europe every season. Most clubs would give anything to have just one of those opportunities. At Rangers we have all three”.
Competing, not winning, just competing. I guess it’s refreshing to hear some degree of realism coming out of Snake Mountain for a change.
However, I think that what Cavenagh’s subordinate, Marathe had to say next was perhaps the most inciteful.
Asked what attracted him to the job at Rangers, he said: “I’ve already had experience of two turnaround projects, at the 49ers and Leeds United”.
So, this is now a turnaround project. When businesses talk about a turnaround, that usually means cutbacks, balancing the books, that kind of thing. In reality this is exactly what a basket case of a business like Rangers needs.
However, it’s also the very thing that most of their fans absolutely dread and will never accept.
Let’s look at these two turnaround projects. Now both Leeds United and The San Francisco 49ers have a solid financial base. They’ve also won nothing in decades.
Although the 49ers reached the Superbowl twice in recent years, they haven’t won it since the mid-90s.
Leeds United last won the English First Division Title (The Premier League didn’t exist then) back in 1992.
Turnaround, in the businessman-like terms Marathe is used to speaking means sustainability, realistic budgets and living within ones means.
Yeah, good luck trying to sell that to a group as entitled and self-deluded as The Rangers support.
Cavenagh further elaborated that current Rangers chief Executive Patrick Stewart (Paddy Bhoy to his friends) will continue to run the club on a day-to-day basis and will “formulate a multi-year strategy for taking the club forward”.
So, it seems previous suspicions were correct and neither Cavenagh nor Marathe will actually have much to do with the standard daily operations over at Ibrox.
When asked about aims for the upcoming season, Marathe once again poured on another serving of reality that the Rangers support won’t like.
He said that “building a solid foundation” takes precedent over instant success. He said “we will control what we can control”.
You know, it’s almost impressive, the skill with which The S*n has managed to spin this interview into an overwhelmingly positive read, when, in reality, it's a pretty sobering listen, if you’re unfortunate enough to be a Rangers fan.
Thankfully, I’m not and hopefully, you’re not either.
Like we’ve discussed before, these guys will bring a certain professionalism, particularly when it comes to marketing, commercial aspects and PR. Celtic to need to up our game in these areas to maintain our advantage.
However, for the foreseeable future we still have, and will continue to have a significant financial and on-the-pitch advantage over whatever club is playing at Ibrox these days.
No amount of fluffing by The S*n or any other outlet can mask that reality.
