Dave King backs Rangers fans in Sydney Super Cup storm and issues Ibrox board demand

RabSpackman said:
In May we heard Gerrard talking about how Rangers had become such a big part of him… by the end of July he looked like he wanted out and our transfer activity was on the minimalist side.

Something happened.

Wary that King and Park are developing quite the spat and that Rangers FC and the wider support will be pawns in that, but if I’ve learned anything over the last 20yrs of football club politics about Rangers it’s that there’s never one party, or one individual who has it 100% right.
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What happened mate was Aston villa.
 
i guessed this was coming. He was after the board a few months ago and got the backing of a few groups. I think this has disaster written all over it, there was nothing surer that he was going to come out and say the opposite on every decision that is seen as contentious.
 
I think the old Joke about two Rangers supporters on a desert island starting three supporters clubs is about to play out all over again. I suspect tomorrow will see a very similar statement on Facebook if it’s not there already.
 
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Dave King is special for all of us because of his part in getting us back to where we belong. He's out now and he should not be sniping and if he is privy to anything regarding the Gerrard departure he should have kept schtum. The media will now be all out to dig up some dirt. As for Club 1872, he should look at the governance of that group before challenging anyone really.
 
Turrabear said:
Maybe if he actually qualified for the champions league he may well have had a better budget.
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If you actually look at our income over the previous two seasons, it was Gerrards leading us to the EL last 16 that raised some serious cash. Yes CL money would have been great but Gerrards contribution to our top line for two seasons cannot be dismissed. He earned backing.
 
Maida Vale Bear said:
If you actually look at our income over the previous two seasons, it was Gerrards leading us to the EL last 16 that raised some serious cash. Yes CL money would have been great but Gerrards contribution to our top line for two seasons cannot be dismissed. He earned backing.
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I,m not dismissing gerrrards contribution mate.
 
Turrabear said:
I,m not dismissing gerrrards contribution mate.
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I know that mate, I just think the board could have made a better effort to secure a few of the hoped for players. It might not have made this seasons CL but might have ensured our dominance in the league this season. Hindsight and all that.
 
cooprfc said:
Very interesting comment on Gerrard.
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Also just shit stirring. Gerrard was always going to go. He failed to get us Champions league football so if the budget wasn’t as much as he expected the club need to now live within its means. Nobody wants a repeat of ten years ago.

As soon as Villa came calling SG was on the train the next day. He bolted as quick as he could - that had nothing to do with transfer money and everything to do with Steven Gerrard.
 
Dave king is right about it being a bad idea however im tired of his input. Forever grateful for him for saving the club but he is no longer there and his attacks on the board help nobody
 
Also, im not sure about the SG comment. I agree that if he was still here we would win the league however to suggest its the board’s fault that Gerrard wanted villa or that Celtic have went on a ridiculous run of 23 wins in 25 games or something is completely unjust. Its also helping nobody.
 
I had also grown tired of DK’s sniping from the sidelines, however the decision on this friendly had given him an open goal and is another example of the naivety of this running the club.

Totally fed up with the sideshow, but been more so with the board and how they have shown complete disregard for the feelings of those fans who on a disposable income basis probably put in more than they ever could.
 
A lot of what he says is correct but it’s time he just sold his shares and moved on. He isn’t contributing meaniglngfully to the club going forward
 
He’s just using the Australia thing as a platform to align with the support on the one issue which we all agree. Very opportunistic - probably discussed the playbook with Traynor. He’s desperate to get onside with us, no doubt to get buy in with his club 1872 fiasco.

Everyone knows that Gerrard’s relationship with the villa owners meant he was going irrespective of anything the club did. That and attacking people who have invested/sunk serious amounts of money to keep the club going betrays King’s total lack of perspective and objectivity on Rangers matters.
 
He needs to elaborate on and clarify his Gerrard comment. He's told us half a story there.

The rest of what he said is spot on.
 
He shouldn’t be blaming the board for Gerrard leaving.
Gerrard wanted to go and if the reason he left is lack of funding then perhaps Gerrard should take part of the blame for those shocking performances against Malmo.
That wasn’t on the board that was on the team and management
 
Gerrard is ambitious
He used us as a stepping stone to larger prizes
He’s using Villa as another stepping stone
I think everyone knows that
Next stop for him Liverpool, unless an even bigger prize swings his way
It was inevitable that he’d leave Scotland, we all knew that.
I had just hoped he wouldn’t leave us mid season.
King’s comments just don’t reflect reality
 
Gerrard wasnt guranteeing 56, we were playing poor when he left so that's an assumption.

As for the Sydney cup , 8 days and 2 frendlies for an entire SPL seasons income. You can see why we have fans who are ok with it. So another assumption.

Come back on the board if you think you can do better.
 
bar72bear said:
A lot of what he says is correct but it’s time he just sold his shares and moved on. He isn’t contributing meaniglngfully to the club going forward
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Only thing he has said which is correct is on the Aussie shitshow. Gerrard crystal ball speculation, Cinch stuff he would have done the same and 1872 is the vehicle he thought would get his money back from so he loves them.
 
MaxMK said:
Also just shit stirring. Gerrard was always going to go. He failed to get us Champions league football so if the budget wasn’t as much as he expected the club need to now live within its means. Nobody wants a repeat of ten years ago.

As soon as Villa came calling SG was on the train the next day. He bolted as quick as he could - that had nothing to do with transfer money and everything to do with Steven Gerrard.
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Or maybe Gerrard had made us plenty in Europe by qualifying for the group stages of Europa league twice whilst achieving an undefeated league season with a record points total to then find the board weren't or couldn't back him in the transfer market. We would certainly have had a much better chance of qualifying against Malmo had the board backed him and we had freshened up the squad. Gerrard laid foundations for us to have a period of prolonged success, there fans were attacking their players, they hadn't beaten us for almost 3 years yet with this board losing him we turned up at the piggery terrified and have managed to lose a convincing lead over them in a matter of weeks and to top things off this board have now agreed a friendly with Celtic.
 
Sandbear said:
Only thing he has said which is correct is on the Aussie shitshow. Gerrard crystal ball speculation, Cinch stuff he would have done the same and 1872 is the vehicle he thought would get his money back from so he loves them.
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Agree. I meant mainly in terms of the friendly which is a nonsense. The rest as you allude to it just moon howling
 
Kylegib said:
Or maybe Gerrard had made us plenty in Europe by qualifying for the group stages of Europa league twice whilst achieving an undefeated league season with a record points total to then find the board weren't or couldn't back him in the transfer market. We would certainly have had a much better chance of qualifying against Malmo had the board backed him and we had freshened up the squad. Gerrard laid foundations for us to have a period of prolonged success, there fans were attacking their players, they hadn't beaten us for almost 3 years yet with this board losing him we turned up at the piggery terrified and have managed to lose a convincing lead over them in a matter of weeks and to top things off this board have now agreed a friendly with Celtic.
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All just maybe.
Then again, maybe not.
Or, maybe, something in between.
 
People who've slammed me for not having a clue all season will probably now lap up what King says word for word. He's absolutely right in everything he says, I've been one to criticise him in the past but there is absolutely no way this shit show happens with him still an active member.
 
monkey magic said:
I have a lot of time for Mr King, but his public feud with Douglas Park is not needed or wanted. Gerrard had to go after the Malmo debacle, which cost us a fortune.
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So Gerrard should have been sacked 2 matches after winning 55????

Must be one of the most mental posts ever on here
 
Not impressed at all with Dave Kings latest ramblings. Think we all know what he is after. The board are now seeing an attack from different angles and this isn’t going to be good for the club.
 
Gerrard fell out with the board, he was actively looking for another opportunity. He was appearing at training less and less in his last few months
 
Jose Calypso said:
This will not be good for the club and the timing is far from ideal.
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Course it isn’t, in the main we’ve been the masters of our own downfall. If we aren’t careful this season is going to fizzle out with a whimper.

It’s a downright farce the regression of the club at all levels in less than a year.

We laughed at them last season, near enough the same has happened here. The board and I include Wilson and GVB in this will have a lot of questions to answer
 
Starting to get worried with all this crap now. Why the hell is our boardroom always a shambles? Off field distractions that Gio and the team do not need at this moment.
 
The way King fails to read the room as far as Club 1872 is concerned is similar to current board being out of touch.

Pushing his own agenda to get shares sold, same thing he’s accusing Park of.

Right about the friendly though and would have been nice if he’d been able to keep it at that.
 
Sandbear said:
Only thing he has said which is correct is on the Aussie shitshow. Gerrard crystal ball speculation, Cinch stuff he would have done the same and 1872 is the vehicle he thought would get his money back from so he loves them.
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All of the Lights said:
The way King fails to read the room as far as Club 1872 is concerned is similar to current board being out of touch.

Pushing his own agenda to get shares sold, same thing he’s accusing Park of.

Right about the friendly though and would have been nice if he’d been able to keep it at that.
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Think his views on the friendly were simply a sound bite to get the fans behind him.
 
The comment RE Gerrard is interesting.

I'm of the view the only man to blame for lack of funds last summer is Gerrard himself. I suspect transfer targets had to be completely rewritten after we crashed out of the CL qualifiers. With one striker we knew would be suspended 4 months prior and the other one on holiday in Colombia.
 
SuperGers07 said:
Course it isn’t, in the main we’ve been the masters of our own downfall. If we aren’t careful this season is going to fizzle out with a whimper.

It’s a downright farce the regression of the club at all levels in less than a year.

We laughed at them last season, near enough the same has happened here. The board and I include Wilson and GVB in this will have a lot of questions to answer
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That’s my fear.

A bad result on Saturday and we could see some fans acting similar to them last season.

We need to get right behind the team for the last 8 games. All this unrest will not help on the pitch.
 
Supersonic2.0 said:
DAVE KING has thrown his weight behind furious Rangers supporters and called on chairman Douglas Park to 'reverse the cult of personality' has developed at Ibrox.

The Light Blues board - which has been headed by Park since King stepped down in March 2020 - and the champions' executive team have come under severe criticism following the decision to sanction a controversial trip to Australia.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side will take part in the Sydney Super Cup and play the first ever Old Firm match outside of Glasgow in November as two A-League sides - Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC - also participate in the four-team tournament.

Fans unfurled banners during the Premiership clash with St Johnstone on Wednesday night and made their feelings clear towards their board with a series of protest chants throughout the 1-0 victory.
King has harboured deep worries over events at Ibrox for some time now following Rangers' public fight with the SPFL over the cinch sponsorship deal and the departure of manager Steven Gerrard to Aston Villa in November.

And the former chairman - who voted against the re-election of Graeme Park at the AGM last year - has expressed his concern at the way in which Rangers are being managed at boardroom level as they fight to retain their top flight title.
King told Herald and Times Sport: “I am 100 per cent with all supporters on this. It is not something that I would have sanctioned if I was still on the board.
“Unfortunately, this is another in an increasingly long list of recent instances where the club has shown its indifference to supporter wishes and interests.
“The shoddy treatment of Club 1872, the firing of Mark Hateley, Richard Gough, Derek Johnstone, etc, as ambassadors, the unseemly spat with the football authorities to assist Douglas’s personal agenda, and the completely unnecessary loss of a manager that won title number 55 and would have successfully defended the title are among the concerns that have caught my attention.


“I have not spoken to Douglas since I stepped down as Chairman but, as an ordinary supporter, I call on Douglas to reverse the cult of personality that has developed at the club and to remember that the present board are temporary custodians of the club on behalf of present and future generations of supporters.
“Recent success has unfortunately created short memories and supporters have every right to be concerned.”
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I don’t remember the board being particularly open with the support during Kings time as Chairman either.
 
Interesting comment on Gerrard, clearly he thinks he could and should have stayed. I think differently though. After winning 55 the first decent EPL offer was always going to be seriously considered for financial, professional and family reasons.

I agree with King on the Oz game but he’s clearly using that to generate support from the fan base to further whatever his current ambitions are regarding his involvement in the club. I’m not even entirely sure what those ambitions are now. Sell his shares? Keep his shares? Run Club1872? Get back on the board? Only Dave King himself knows what he wants.

And it does seem a bit ironic of King to mention “the cult of personality” to criticise Park when King himself is probably the biggest and most vocal personality to have been on the Rangers board in recent years. Park seems to me to be a quiet man in comparison, hardly a personality.

It’s a shame it’s come to this but I suppose we need to get used to infighting amongst major shareholders, seems par for the course for anything and everything involved in Rangers, Club1872 being another example of that. We seem to like an argument in the Rangers family.
 
During his last outburst a few months ago King claimed he had more time now and wanted back on the Rangers board. He now tells us he has not spoken to Douglas Park for over 2 years. Now if I was genuine about wanting back on the Rangers board , the 1st person I would be speaking to would be Park, the Chairman. Sadly , Dave King is full of BS most of the time.
 
I seriously doubt if there was any really strong bond between Gerrard and Park for some time. And by that, I mean considerably before the Malmo reverse.

I could be seeing things that I want to see, but I thought that the way Gerrard and Park interacted on trophy day seemed odd. There seemed to be a lack of warmth on Gerrard’s part toward Park and it told me that things might not be all that they seem behind the scenes.

The lack of spending to augment the squad prior to the qualifier was always a concern as was the lack of squad turnover to aid in raising sorely needed cash for a refresh. And that’s not me being smart with 20/20 hindsight. Gerrard always knew that certain players wouldn’t cut it if we wanted to move to the next level. And let’s be honest, he’s been proved correct with guys like Cedric Itten.

King’s comments will be perceived by some as being unhelpful and opportunistic. But is he wrong?

And for sure, he would never have climbed into bed with the enemy for a quick payday. Never.
 
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