As Ross Wilson took to the stage, what sounded like a faint ripple of applause greeted his arrival. Or maybe it was the collective clatter of knuckles being cracked as the angry queue of Rangers shareholders lined up to take a swing at the Ibrox sporting director.
After a year in which the Light Blues board have made a nasty habit of upsetting their fanbase on a seemingly weekly basis, they arrived at the SEC Armadillo yesterday bracing themselves for an onslaught. And they all got it at one point. Chairman Douglas Park was challenged to outline his vision for the future by the fan group that had just announced they were voting against his re-election.
Managing director Stewart Robertson was asked to defend the decision to charge punters an eye-watering £180 for Champions League tickets at a time when inflation was hitting levels last seen during the dark days of the 1970s’
three-day week.
And while commercial boss James Bisgrove wisely ducked a question requesting to know just whose bright idea it was to release for sale on the club website a poster commemorating the record 7-1 pumping from Liverpool, he couldn’t dodge complaints about the club’s controversial MyGers loyalty scheme and the tie-up with kit suppliers Castore. But compared to Wilson, they all got off lightly.
Of course, with Gio van Bronckhorst gone and new boss Michael Beale only just in the door, someone had to carry the can for the slump that has seen Rangers go from Europa League finalists to Premiership also-rans. So it was the recruitment chief who had to roll with the punches as shareholder after shareholder took turns to aim jabs while venting frustrations over this year’s Premiership struggles and the humiliations in Europe.
To be fair to Wilson, he gave as good as he got, snapping back at one questioner’s “nonsense” groans – but only after Robertson had first leapt to his defence. Asked if the board still believed in their sporting director, the managing director declared: “The short answer is yes.
“The progress we have made since Ross Wilson joined has been incredible on the football side. In terms of where we are as a football club compared to where we were three years ago before Ross joined, we are miles forward. You have to look long-term from where the club was. We got to a European final. We won the Scottish Cup.
“We will have ups and downs, there will be different opinions. I get that. But we’re miles away from where we were just a few years ago and it gives me the confidence that we are moving forward in the right direction.”
Wilson was forced to defend his track record as the signings of flop winger Juninho Bacuna and crocked defender John Souttar were brought up. There was criticism too of the fact new boss Beale will be forced to work with a squad largely assembled when he first joined the club four-and-a-half years ago under Steven Gerrard.
“Without being too direct, none of your figures are correct,” Robertson snapped as he responded to a questioner who claimed the club had blown almost £3million signing Bacuna and Aaron Ramsey last term. “The first thing I will say is that Ross Wilson doesn’t sign football players here.
“I don’t like to talk about individual players but I will talk about the two individuals you have named there because to stand at a mic and say Rangers bought Juninho Bacuna for £2m is absolute nonsense. Juninho Bacuna was a free transfer who was brought forward by the coaching staff who were here at the time.
“We all bought into it, he was a free and we actually made a profit on him. That doesn’t make him a good signing, I’m not saying that.
“Secondly, we all went into the John Souttar signing with our eyes wide open. We know he is a big talent but we also know the injury track record makes it difficult for us. We believe we can deal with that. We might be wrong with that and we always have to have the humility to say that we will get things wrong.
“But we believe we can sort that out and we believe that John can be a strong signing for Rangers. Every player that we sign doesn’t need to play over 60 games in the way that Connor Goldson has for us over a number of years.
“We will have players who will be part of the squad and we need to make sure we have Scottish players in our squad to meet European rules. All that needs consideration.”
But Wilson was the first to admit that Rangers need more bang for their buck as it was put to him only Antonio Colak and Malik Tillman have so far made a mark from the seven new recruits who were added this summer. And he did generate another flutter of applause as he said: “When you sit second in the league at Rangers you are always going to be disappointed with the return from the whole squad, rather than focusing on the seven players who came in the summer.
“At this moment in time, of course we’re not happy with the return. We definitely feel some of those players have made a fantastic return for us and others haven’t made a strong enough return yet.
“That goes without saying. It’s up to all of us inside the club, led by Michael on the pitch every day, to get the best out of this squad that we possibly can. And we certainly believe there is more to come from them.”
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