The Herald, 31 May 1997 Ronaldo Striker Ronaldo is reported to have turned down a financial package worth a few pounds short of ã40m, ã20m being the transfer fee, to join Rangers. The 20-year-old Ronaldo is expected to join Inter Milan. Rangers chairman David Murray has used the massive bid to underline the fact that, in the first place, it was not a publicity stunt, and secondly that Rangers were able to compete with the biggest clubs in the world, although obviously showing his disappointment at probably losing out in this case. Paul Sinclair, The Herald 23 June 1997 "I can accept the reasons why [Manchester] United may receive more television money, but in other terms we can match or better them. It is time for us to compete better commercially" Murray says. The branding of Rangers can be expanded world-wide. We have already seen from the signings we have made that we are acknowledged as a major name as far afield as Italy and Chile. Now we want to take commercial advantage of the support we have at home and also in places like Canada and Australia - wherever we are known," Murray says. "I think we would open shops in Australia even if it was not the most viable operation" Murray insists. "It would provide a service for our supporters there and take our name to a new market. We are looking at the Far East as a potential market, but we know you have to get things right at home before you start to try to export abroad." James Traynor, Daily Record 19 November 1998 SECRET FEAR THAT DRIVES ME TO WIN 10 IN A ROW: Rangers chairman David Murray opens up on the highs and lows of his decade in charge of Rangers and promises that the best is still to come Exclusive: James Traynor To hear him speak was to listen to a man who believes himself to be charged with some kind of great and mighty mission. Murray, who chose to talk only to the Record about his dreams and ambitions for Rangers, said: "No one should doubt that Rangers are the biggest club in the country, but I know that talk is cheap in this business and that we will have to prove just how big we are. "That doesn't really bother me because as long as I am able to influence this club we will be the biggest and we will be the best. I have spent 10 years of my life, and I know that sometimes I gave up too much of myself to Rangers, but I am not about to give up now. Neither am I willing to stand aside and allow another club to overtake Rangers. The failure of last season hurt me a lot and that pain was something I didn't need nor want. It is also a pain which I never want to suffer again, but by God that sort of thing just makes me even more determined to succeed. I am still as driven, still as enthusiastic and I will welcome the challenge of anyone out there." "I look upon these last 10 years as a having been a great era, but it is over and Rangers are about to head on into a new era," he said over a glass of the finest red. He was about to take in another mouthful of the most succulent lamb - anyone who knows Murray shouldn't be surprised to learn he is a full-blooded, unashamed red meat eater - when he put down his knife and fork. It was like a statement of intent and looking directly across the table to make sure I hadn't yet succumbed to the wine, he said: "Bring on the next 10 years, there's more to come for Rangers.ââ¬Â "What I'm saying here is that no matter who buys Celtic from Fergus, they will need to have the deepest of pockets imaginable. The fresh challenge would be good for the Scottish game and lift the profile, but Celtic's new owners had better be prepared to spend. In the past, Celtic's people maybe just haven't fancied trying to take Rangers on financially, but if I have to go in deeper to keep my club up there then I will. I have done it too many times to be frightened now. "From anyone else such talk could be dismissed as no more than empty rhetoric, but with Murray you just feel it is more than bluster and besides, he does have a track record as a spender. There have been times in his 10 years when he has taken Rangers somewhere between ã15m and ã20m into debt and he knows that if this season goes belly up like the last one he could be looking at a potential debt of ã20m. However, having taken the value of Rangers from ã6m to approximately ã186m in 10 years he knows how far he can gamble in pursuit of success. This season alone he has allowed his new manager Dick Advocaat to spend almost ã30m, but he refuses to lose any sleep over it. He said: "I don't because I consider spending as much as ã5million on someone like Andrei Kanchelskis as a necessity. If a club like ours doesn't do that then we fall by the wayside. "Look, I have many other businesses so I could find many other things to worry about, but I love sport and I want Rangers to be successful. I know this won't be accepted by some people but this isn't about making money. ã56m has been invested in the stadium and in my time ã200m has been turned over and after interest our trading profit is minimal. Perhaps as much as ã60m has been spent on players and I have even paid in about ã1m in hospitality but never taken a salary from the place.ââ¬Â "I get six complimentary tickets the same as everyone else and if I want extra I have to pay for them the same as everyone else.There are no free lunches for David Murray at Ibrox and I have never taken part or been at the centre of any of the numerous victory celebrations we have had.ââ¬Â "I hope I can say that in my 10 years so far I've been fairly good at that, but the day I run out of ideas is the day I'll know it's over. I'm sure someone will tell me because I have good people around me, I always have. But I'm not ready yet to step back and I see enough fresh challenges, staying ahead at home and winning a place at the European table, ahead in the next 10 years to keep my own adrenaline flowing." He knows roughly how much it will cost him and he's heard the rumours that ENIC, who have invested ã40m in Rangers, are uneasy at the club's spending policies but Murray claims these backers have always been supportive of his methods. He said: "They could kick up a fuss but they don't. Besides, I am the owner of the club and so far most people seem to like what I've done." The Times, 15 March 1999 DAVID MURRAY, the Rangers chairman, has revealed that a UEFA ruling forced him to abandon his plans to buy Manchester City, of the Nationwide League second division, last year. Murray confirmed that he had several meetings with representatives of the club with a view to a ã30 million takeover. However, Jim Farry, the then chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, advised Murray that if the deal had gone through, UEFA could have used its powers to expel Rangers from European competition. "Mr Farry advised me there could be serious difficulties with me having a controlling interest in Rangers and Manchester City if we were both in the same European tournament," he said. "One of the teams would have been forced to withdraw from the competition. Therefore, we decided that it would be better to walk away from the deal". Sunday Herald, 13 July 1999 KEN GALLACHER David Murray reveals his ambitions for the Ibrox club Rangers have won 19 trophies during your time as chairman, does that bring you a great deal of personal satisfaction? Murray: I'm not interested in personal glory. After the cup final - which I left five minutes early, by the way - I went back through to Edinburgh to have dinner with friends. I didn't even go to the celebration party. That was for the players. I only join them when they lose and they don't do that too often, I am glad to say. There has been a wage explosion following Bosman. Do you see danger signs for clubs in this? Murray: Yes. Some of them will go bust. I don't say that about the top teams, but the middle-of-the-road teams in England - the ones who are trying to keep up by using television money - will find themselves in trouble.I don't know where some of the medium-sized clubs get the money to pay the kind of wages they are currently paying to players.I don't see it happening here in Scotland but there is a problem in the south. The big clubs will survive - they will always survive - but the others tucked in just below them could be in serious bother. Something has got to give - and something will. News of the World, 21 November 1999 If Dick stays on at Ibrox he will go on to stake his claim to be simply the best of the legends DICK ADVOCAAT could have walked into the Real Madrid manager's seat vacated by John Toshack last week. That says everything about the calibre of the man currently in charge of Glasgow Rangers. It's still very early days in the Dutchman's Ibrox reign but so many things are beginning to fall into place under Advocaat. I suspect we could just be witnessing the arrival of the best pound-for-pound manager in Rangers' history. Spanish insiders revealed last night that the Euro giants were willing to DOUBLE Advocaat's Ibrox salary after being impressed by Rangers' displays in Europe this season. Murray told me: "Dick has made me fully aware that certain parties have been in contact with him to see if he would be interested in moving. "He informed me right away and told me in no uncertain terms he would not be leaving Rangers.
Aha. So that's where the "succulent lamb" references stem from. I've seen it mentioned a few times, DevAdvocate, and never really knew what it meant. Perhaps unbelievably, however, I'm made to feel almost sorry for James Traynor when reading this. What an abject, snivelling, craven little crawler the man makes himself appear to be. Maybe he feels bad about being a sports journalist, I don't know, but his literary-lite attempts at colouring this piece are almost shameful in their doleful inadequacy. When a man tries that hard, I feel, it becomes borderline cruelty to laugh out loud at his failures. Incidentally, I once tried to copy his style on 606 - a dispiritingly unsuccessful attempt at a WUM - and was told by a Rangers fan that James Traynor actually supported Celtic. Can that possibly be true? Either way, the man is a walking tragedy. (Maybe not quite in the Chick Young league, right enough, but mighty, mighty close.)
I had my doubts that Traynor is Rangers man but Chick Young and he recently had an on air spat where they both accused each other of being Gers men, I cannot see why Young - idiot though he is - would make that accusation were there not something behind it.
I didn't know that - the thing about their on air spat. I tend to agree that Chicky wouldn't say such a thing without some basis in fact. I know that James Traynor says he supports Airdrie - or he did when I was in Scotland - but this always felt rather hard to believe. There's absolutely nothing wrong with supporting Rangers, of course, but the pretence of a neutrality does my head in, even if this is what we should expect from our journalists.
Considering the number of sports journalists in Scotland it really is amazing that seemingly none of them support the OF. As you say, there is nothing wrong with someone supporting either half of the OF, but in Scotland a Hack admitting to having a preference is akin to giving yourself the sack.
I don't know if Traynor's a Rangers supporter or not but I think like many Scottish tabloid journalists over the past 20 years he's been in Murray's pocket. Whether he'll change once (if?) the takeover goes ahead it remains to be seen.
