Rangers fans welcome departure of Jack Irvine

RANGERS supporters have welcomed the departure of the club’s ‘PR bulldog’ Jack Irvine, after the club severed ties with the former newspaper editor’s Media House firm yesterday.

Jack Irvine and Rangers have parted company. Picture: TSPL

The Ibrox club parted company with the PR firm but there was no word on whether Mr Irvine would still be representing directors - and major investors - Sandy and James Easdale.

Sandy Easdale holds a 4.5 per cent stake in the Rangers plc, and along with the Isle of Man-based investment firm Laxey Partners, is at the centre of the furore over a £1.5 million loan designed to prevent a second insolvency.

Media House has acted on behalf of former owner Craig Whyte, one-time chairman Sir David Murray, Charles Green, administrators Duff and Phelps and the club itself.

The initial contract ran out in 2012, but the firm was re-hired last year, to handle the club’s media strategy.

A brief club statement released yesterday said: “Rangers Football Club and Media House International Ltd announce that by mutual consent their current business relationship will end on March 11th 2014.”

The decision comes after the club was handed a petition backed by 2000 supporters demanding the cancellation of the contract, and that the club ‘cleanse itself of any connection to its chairman Jack Irvine.’

Drew Roberton of the Rangers Supporters Association told the Herald that most fans would be saying ‘goodbye and good riddance’, adding: “My biggest concern about Media House was that it is Rangers’ finances which were paying for them [yet] they appeared to be working individual directors.”

And Chris Graham, from the Union of Fans, told the Daily Record: “This is good news as he’d become toxic to the club’s support.”

Media House came under fire last year, when a leaked email allegedly from Jack Irvine contained remarks about Ibrox legend John Greig, describing him as ‘thick’ and ‘contributes nothing’.

Chief executive at the time Craig Mather reportedly apologised for the comments at a meeting of the Rangers Supporters Trust, after the group expressed ‘deep concern’ about Media House’s actions.

Mr Mather had organised an investigation into the alleged comments, written during Mr Greig’s time on the Ibrox board prior to his resignation in October 2011 in protest against Craig Whyte.