Rangers liquidation: Walter Smith group has stirred up ‘phoney war’ says Murray

By TOM ENGLISH
Published on 17/06/2012 00:00

MALCOLM Murray, the chairman of Rangers, has fired another volley in the PR battle between Charles Green’s consortium and the group headed by Walter Smith, calling it a phoney war while accusing the Smith group of posturing.

Murray has also said that the SPL clubs are in danger of committing to a “mass suicide pact” if they vote to keep Rangers out of the competition.

“This is a phoney war because there has been no bid from Walter Smith or his group and all the posturing is not helpful,” he said. “I have had no contact whatsoever with Walter or anyone in his group although I understand one of our people has had minimum contact. We have asked for a proper sit-down meeting. I am waiting to see if anyone wants to see me anywhere.

“What I feel is that we really must sit down with them asap – Monday – and hear what they have to say. We must get together although I understand Walter is abroad and that it would perhaps be his business people. We have to listen to them and them to us. But it would be much better if we could co-exist and keep it simple.”

Murray talks about the emotion swirling around the Rangers story and common sense going out of the window. He says the situation with the Smith group and their criticism of Green has become highly-charged and that the time has come for everybody to sit down and talk “calmly and quietly.”

“Frankly, and I am quite experienced in business, I have never seen anything like this before in the history of finance. It is bizarre. A meeting is of paramount importance although it is difficult to speculate on any (Smith) bid that doesn’t actually exist.”

There was talk yesterday that Rangers will lose sponsorship under Green and that the supporters are mobilising for a protest march in the near future as well as delaying their purchase of season tickets. “No sponsors or season tickets and talk of marches is obviously a concern,” said Murray, “but that would seem to me an absurd way of getting control of a company. Whatever people say about Charles Green, he shoots from the hip. It is not his intention to be bought out. He doesn’t want to walk away. It is far too complex to be simply them or us.”

Referring to the SPL vote on the newco entering the SPL, Murray accused some of bloodlust against the club. “All the rhetoric about smashing Rangers into the ground that is coming from elsewhere is of far more interest and concern to me than any possible bid. Endless punishments for the club don’t help anyone, Surely it is right that only a few individuals get punished

“This shouldn’t be about revenge or anything like that. For me, there is no point in killing the patient while he’s trying to recover. Do that and the whole ward dies. It would be like a mass suicide pact and that doesn’t make any sense. Hopefully people will look at compromise because it won’t help any other club if there is less revenue from television or anywhere else.”

The new chairman addressed the Ally McCoist situation also, saying that he spoke to the manager yesterday morning and that he is committed to continuing in his job. “Ally has told both Charles and myself that he is staying and that is a massive bridge between us and others. He agrees that no one individual is bigger than Rangers.”