Greig honours pledge not to ‘overstay his welcome’

IT IS certain that John Greig will not have taken the decision to step down from the Rangers board lightly. However, at the same time, it could not have been a hard choice to make once he realised that his input was no longer required at the club he has been associated with for over half a century.

In his own autobiography Greig vowed to stop working for Rangers when he felt he was no longer making a contribution. He possibly did not expect to be prevented from making a contribution, as has been the case since Craig Whyte took over ownership of the club earlier this year.

Greig was always identified as a David Murray man having been officially invited back to Ibrox by the former owner, although an attempt by Lawrence Marlborough had pre-dated even this. Greig was sounded out by David Holmes, the then chairman, but the role – a directorship combined with responsibility for youth development – proved too ill-defined for his liking. Besides, he was concerned that Jock Wallace, the then manager and someone who had succeeded Greig in the chair, “did not know a thing about it”.

Dignity has long been a mark of the man. He refused to tell his story in the press after he resigned as manager on 28 October, 1983. “One of the worst days of my life” he recalls in his autobiography.

His most recent term of service has lasted 21 years. Surprisingly, it is only two years shorter than the first term, which remains the one which defines him as a Rangers legend. Or, as he put it himself in print, “John Greig of the Rangers”. Or, as the Ibrox fans elected him, “Greatest Ever Ranger”.

He played 857 first team games for the club and, as a centre-half, scored an almighty 136 goals. He was the first Rangers player to receive a testimonial, and 70,000 people turned to pay tribute.

Among those likely to be saddened by his departure is manager Ally McCoist, who Greig brought to the club in 1983 from Sunderland. “He epitomises the Rangers spirit and is the genuine article – a true Rangers legend,” noted McCoist on the cover of My Story, the autobiography of Greig published in 2005.

Six years on it is unlikely that McCoist’s opinion has changed, although he was not around yesterday to provide another tribute. Kenny McDowall took the pre-match briefing prior to tonight’s friendly with Liverpool. No questions on Greig were permitted.

Perhaps this is one reason why Greig had grown to feel uncomfortable at Rangers. He had started to walk down too many corridors stretching to the past and he sensed he had begun to live out what he dreaded. In the statement released by Greig and John McClelland, who also tendered his resignation from the board yesterday, they complained of being “excluded” from the workings of the club.

“One thing is for sure, though, when the time comes they won’t have to drag me screaming from my office at Murray Park,” he declared in My Story. “I promise that I’ll go quietly, albeit reluctantly. I won’t continue to work for Rangers unless I feel that I still have a contribution to make. I would never want to become a hindrance or an embarrassment to the club that has been my life since I was a teenager.”

He promised not to “overstay my welcome”, hence yesterday’s news. It brought to an end a varied second life at Ibrox, where he has fulfilled roles ranging from “public executive” to press officer during Dick Advocaat’s reign as manager. Yesterday at Murray Park the bronze name plaque on his office door remained. The light was on, the door slightly ajar, as if he had just walked out. While someone else will move in there is a sense of permanence about Greig at Rangers. The statue which stands outside Ibrox, on the corner of the Main Stand and the Copland Road Stand, will remain long after Whtye and his cohorts have moved on.

Perhaps Greig has chosen the right time to leave, weeks before a potentially devastating legal case brought by HM Revenue & Customs, and where Rangers stand to lose as much as £49 million. Whyte will be pilloried by some sections of the support but given the gradual severing of ties between the present owner and the last regime, it seemed logical that Greig would depart sooner or later. That he has resigned seemingly on his own accord at least grants him the dignity he wished.

It is possible that Whyte was not taken with the idea of involving either Greig or McClelland in the issue of corporate governance of the club in light of the financial chaos overseen by the previous board, which included both men. Greig would surely admit that his expertise lay in football-related matters, and his input in this department will be missed by, among others, Sandy Jardine, who still helps co-ordinate scouting at Ibrox. The pair used to accompany one another through from Edinburgh to Glasgow as players.

In his book, Greig recalls the day he fell for Rangers. It was tougher than one might think given his long-term association with the club. The teenage Greig was a Hearts fan and wanted, more than anything, to play for the Tynecastle club.

However, Greig was urged by his father to sign for Rangers and then promptly dissolving into tears when the club’s scout, Bob McAuley, had left the room.

“I had dreamed of playing for Hearts and the dream had just been shattered, but eventually I dried my eyes and resigned myself to my fate,” recalled Greig.

Rangers were due at Easter Road the following weekend. Greig resolved to the go to the game and watched Rangers defeat a decent Hibs side 6-1. “From that day onwards I was a Rangers fan,” he wrote, in 2005. “Not once in the past 46 years has my loyalty ever wavered.”

Despite the way things have ended, it is probably something Greig can continue to say for the rest of his life.