John Shields, The Sun 14 December 2004 Murray's ã50m has freed Eck from New Year sale RANGERS chief David Murray says the success of the club's new rights issue means boss Alex McLeish will not have to sell players. The club announced yesterday that more than ã51million had been raised, with Murray's own MHL Limited company underwriting more than ã50million of the total sum. That still leaves Gers almost ã23m in debt but the news that will interest fans most is chairman Murray's claim that McLeish is no longer under pressure to reduce the wage bill and unload players. Murray said: "It now means we are in a position where we do not need to sell any of our players. However, if we do sell any players...." "... the money will immediately be given to Alex McLeish for replacements. Rangers can now look forward to a brighter future." Existing shareholders had the opportunity to match their shares one for one and the results of the rights issue were announced yesterday, with ã51,430,995 being raised through the issue of shares sold at ã1 each. Murray MHL Limited, a company controlled by Murray, took its rights to 11,785,479 and subscribed for a further 38,489,521 shares - a total commitment of ã50,275,000. The total number of shares owned by Murray now represents 91.8% of the issued share capital. In some cases, existing shareholders applied for additional shares, and the rights issue also succeeded in attracting 1,263 new shareholders, raising a further ã307,530. Murray believes the financial future of Rangers now looks far more optimistic as a result of the issue. He said: "I am delighted by this response. It was our intention to have a share issue that was open to all our shareholders and supporters. The number of existing and new shareholders who have subscribed means that we have achieved this objective. "The success of the fundraising was guaranteed by MHL underwriting the issue, but the investment by over 4,500 subscribers demonstrates strong support for this initiative." The Sun Andy Devlin, 15 June 2005 007 sewed up Hem DAVID MURRAY has revealed how James Bond star Sean Connery helped him lure Brahim Hemdani to Rangers. The Ibrox supremo roped in his close pal 007 as the Marseille captain swithered between Gers and German aces Bayer Leverkusen. Murray set up an airport meeting between the 27-year-old French-Algerian stopper, left, and Connery. The veteran actor convinced Hemdani to head for the SPL champs on a lucrative four-year-deal. Murray said: "I enlisted Sean's help to sell Scotland to Brahim. Leverkusen were chasing him too and I arranged for Sean to meet him at Cannes airport to help sell Scotland to him. Brahim then flew over and had a good look round and I'm delighted he agreed to sign." Daily Express Andy McInnes and Gary Keown, 6 July 2005 FAN THE MAN FOR GERS RANGERS last night completed the signing of Jose Karl Pierre-Fanfan on a three-year deal, leaving Old Firm rivals Celtic licking their wounds after failing in a bid earlier in the day to land the French defender. The 29-year-old Paris St Germain star completed his medical last night having been flown into Glasgow on chairman David Murray's private jet to look around Murray Park and Ibrox. Gers chairman Murray slapped down the "sign it or beat it" demand after revealing it was the Greek defender who was holding up his permanent transfer to the Scottish Champions and not his previous club Panathinaikos. "We can't wait for ever so we want an answer from Kyrgiakos about his future as soon as possible, " declared Murray. "It is entirely up to him now. Neither Rangers nor Panathinaikos are holding up this move. It is him. He has said he loves Rangers and wants to play for us, so now he must prove it." The Herald Darryl Broadfoot, 29 July 2005 BARGAIN HUNT ALEX McLEISH'S CANNY EXPLOITATION OF THE TRANSFER MARKET HAS MADE RANGERS TITLE FAVOURITES THIS summer's shopping has cemented Alex McLeish's reputation as one of British football's most prolific and prudent Bosman customers. With the possible exception of Sam Allardyce at cosmopolitan Bolton Wanderers, few have negotiated the market as adeptly as the Rangers manager. Rangers begin the Bank of Scotland Premier League season as favourites for the first time under McLeish's stewardship and he has wasted little time equipping his squad for such heightened expectation. Brahim Hemdani, Jose-Karl PierreFanfan and Ian Murray, established defenders at Marseille, Paris SaintGermain and Hibernian respectively, have galvanised the club for a title defence and improved challenge in the ultimate proving ground, the Champions League. With SPL transfer budgets now regarded as a luxury, McLeish has again painstakingly pored over the Bosman directory and been rewarded for his diligence. Indeed, this season's Rangers starting XI could comprise seven players recruited for free. Ronald Waterreus, should he retain his place despite the return of Stefan Klos, Marvin Andrews, PierreFanfan, Murray, Alex Rae, Hemdani and Dado Prso are all ideal examples of McLeish's astute policy. Darrell King, Evening Times 10 February 2006 FOR a man who likes to think of Rangers as his family, clearly being attacked from those within his inner circle was just too much. The 300 fans who protested outside Ibrox after last week's Scottish Cup defeat to Hibs, and the dozen or so who unfurled a 'Murray Out' banner at Pittodrie before Wednesday night's defeat, may have been small in number. But David Murray sensed a major fall-out was on the way - something that may even have ended in damaging feuding or even acrimonious divorce. When the final whistle blew in Aberdeen, Rangers yet again on the end of a defeat, the Ibrox owner and chairman knew it was time to act. Today he has called for unity behind his decision to reveal that his embattled manager Alex McLeish will go at the end of the season. In his own inimitable style, Murray also rolled out the big guns - a new manager is more or less in place, huge investment is on the way to fund his rebuilding of this pitiful Rangers line-up and the club is making record amounts of cash. Like the head of the family calling everyone around the table, he has spoken. Now, he wants the Rangers support to prepare themselves for what he will bring to that very table - and if they are not pleased, he says they can protest all they like. Murray said: "I will leave no stone unturned. I am working very hard with Martin Bain to bring all these deals together and bring the direction this club needs. "That (protests) is not Rangers' way. I understand people have the right to stand outside and protest. But Rangers do things another way, not like that. That's why I meet the Trust, the Assembly, we do it by talking. "It is people's entitlement. It does not sway me, nor does it put me off - I will still do my job to the very best. I can understand 300 people getting bloody annoyed if they felt there wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel - but there is a massive moonbeam of success waiting for us. "People must accept there are legal issues, stock exchange issues, timing factors - but this will happen. And when we make the changes, and if people are not happy then protest all you want - but big plans are on the way for Rangers. There is a massive moonbeam of success coming to us" Darrell King, Evening Times, 9 March 2006 ON the day after their European dreams came to an agonising end, the Rangers support received the fillip their chairman had promised. As always, the timing from club owner David Murray was impeccable. But this is no sweetener just to keep the legions happy after defeat in Villarreal consigned them to nothing more than 10 SPL games between now and the end of the season. Murray wasn't in at the start 20 years ago when Graeme Souness kick-started the Rangers revolution that reshaped the face of Scottish football. But the Edinburgh millionaire is at the very forefront this time, in direct response to a season from hell that has seen his club fall so far behind Celtic in the league championship that it is simply intolerable for the supporters. In a momentous week for the Ibrox club, which included the brave end of their Champions League adventure, the Rangers fans have now witnessed the first shafts of light in the "moonbeam of success" that Murray said was lying in wait for the club. The outstanding French coach Paul Le Guen is expected to confirm this weekend that he will take charge of Rangers next season. That news preceded the tie in Villarreal. But the announcement last night of the massive guaranteed ã48m retail deal that Murray has brokered with sports chain JJB, proves to fans that Le Guen will be armed with the transfer cash he needs to rebuild the team. It is believed Le Guen will be handed upwards of ã15m this summer to spend on new players, and that eight new faces have been earmarked. For some time now the name of the ã6m-rated French internationalist Sidney Govou has been circulating. Every manager has a player who follows him around the clubs he works at and, such is the relationship between Le Guen and Govou from their time at Lyon, the winger is said to be the incoming manager's No.1 target. His Easter Road team-mate Scott Brown, was the player McLeish wanted to sign for a year now and that is another move strongly being tipped in the Ibrox corridors. With eight new players expected, Le Guen will have to trim the squad but that can be done without too many problems.
5 ****ing threads of this ****e going back over a decade. Never was an Obsession logo more appropriate.
And here you are commenting on the Celtic board? Is this a thread about Rangers or is this a thread about the media?
