Fitbafan

Wrt the Rangers deal, Ashley seems to have capitulated, new deal in place for 1 year only (down from 7 years) and a much more even split in profits

I don't think relegation would make any difference to be honest. I'm assuming he's doing well financially out of any retail deal you have and possibly in some other ways so that won't change with relegation. Let's face it, if he was interested in us (Rangers) who are playing in a league with literally no money these days then I don't think a drop to the Championship would phase him.

Club statement claims that the NOMAD has advised that they couldn't proceed due to the companies profile in the previous few years and the failings in corporate governance during this time. There was something a little suspicious about the fact we'd gone through about 4 NOMAD's during this time and the last one involved the same employee moving from a previous company to a new one to continue this role (Paul Shackleton) Apparently the NOMAD who was approached was Cantor Fitzgerald but the club haven't publicly confirmed this. To be honest I don't really see much of an issue with being de-listed from AIM and moving to another exchange. AIM would've been handy if we were looking to attract outside investment but that's never gonna happen at this stage anyway. We're at a stage now as a fanbase where we've probably got a better chance of explaining financial regulations. NOMAD's etc than we do of explaining the current offside law Would be nice to get back to concentrating on the football but thankfully we're getting there.

He probably is the kind of crackpot that likes guns.

The guy is an utter crackpot and was paid to write articles that were supportive of the old board (fantastic stories of £50 million investment etc). He is now paid to write articles that are critical of the current board. No one bothers with his articles other than to berate his nonsense so I find it a bit bizarre that you have dug out someone so far off the beaten path to try to support your views. It's akin to the method used by conspiracy theorists to confirm their worldview.

What is the general opinion among fans about the reasons for Ashley's continued involvement with Newcastle? Is it because of the exposure it gives his brands? If so I fail to see the benefit given the general view of him Is it because he is making money from the club from retail etc? Is he hoping to sell at a profit? An experiment gone wrong for him?

Seriously? This is who you are reading? The screwball who sells holy water and is paid to spin for the old board (and mocked everywhere for it)? David Icke has more credibility than him. Honestly, if that's your source for all things Rangers then you really need to take a look at your filtering process

Probably some ex council flat that Lambias bought on the cheap.

I pretty much agree with your post. We were forced to sell our best young player (and probably the best player in our squad), MacLeod, in January for less than the loan deal. This is all just another way of Ashley screwing us out of a few quid. Vukic has done reasonably well but I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't rather have MacLeod back instead. I'm confident we will get promoted but that's not down to Vukic coming in, it'll be due to the new manager and the influence he is having. On the footballing side our biggest problem was having McDowall in charge when he clearly didn't want the role. During his 10 games in charge we won 3 games. At the point McDowall took charge we were in 2nd place, 7 points ahead of 3rd. Lambias/ Ashley have to take the blame for that one as there were no moves to bring in a manger. Re the loan deal: it involves £1k a week for 5 players. 3 of whom were never gonna play, 1 of whom was unlikely to have enough match fitness to play and 1 who has done okay. On top of that we're supposed o be paying £1k a month for a flat for each of them, 3 of which have never been lived in, and there is the £500k promotion bonus. It's all a bit of a sick joke to be honest. There are rumours that the flat's being let out may be connected in some way to the old board but I'm not 100% on that one yet.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-set-answer-50million-8931716

Poor Ashley's human rights are being violated http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rangers-shareholder-mike-ashley-claims-5366096

Can't be any worse than the current crop we have...

Don't know if there's any truth in it or not but there is a rumour that one of the players who was sent to us on loan has Hep B and can't play football.

Probably. They tried to get access to the Rangers Lotto fund money, which is ringfenced for youth development, right up till the EGM. The person who runs the fund, Colin Stewart, was put under enormous pressure and refused to hand it over. He said he had 6 calls demanding the money in the hour before the EGM. @RFC_Colin: To confirm, despite fierce pressure all week & right up to 11am I refused point blank to transfer Development Fund money to club. 1/2 @RFC_Colin: Funds contributed by fans will now be released to our new board. I can confirm I was not flavour of the month with previous board 2/2 @RFC_Colin: In recent months my anger grew. I was thinking more of my grandfather, cousin & friends no longer with us & thought -No enough @RFC_Colin: If staff were allowed to write a book. A chapter each from a select few. I could include my emails from Monaco !! #Bestseller @RFC_Colin: At one point last week I decided to leave the office & work remotely. They were genuinely shocked I refused them @RFC_Colin: 6 phone calls between 10am & 10:30

Sandy Easdale has quit, which just leaves Lambias and Leach. Pretty much says it all that everyone else has realised the game is up and has left but Ashley's henchmen are refusing to go. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mike-ashley-battle-rangers-what-8789250

Yeah he's still comfortably off. I'm kinda torn with regards to him. On the one hand he was at the helm of such a successful period for us and that has given me so many unforgettable memories. But all that is soured by the decision to sell the club to Craig Whyte. I understand that due to his failing business empire it was basically forced on him by the bank but to sell to that charlatan against the advice of the oher directors is unforgiveable.

Given our low wages/ turnover ratio it isn't clear at the moment why we are spending more than we earn but Lambias is the last person we want there to 'sort' it out. Especially as he seems to be lining his own pockets paying his own PR company for unknown work. Will be interesting to see what else comes out when the books are looked at. The person who runs the Rangers Pools and Lotto has been online posting about how he was put under enormous pressure to hand over the money from this fund, which is used for youth development, over the past week. He hasn't named any names but it is clear that it was either Lambias or Leach. He received 6 phonecalls from them demanding the money in the half hour before the EGM when they lost their places on the board. God only knows what they planned to do with this. Re Murray, the problem wasn't so much Rangers at the time it was the fact that his business empire was pretty much crumbling and unfortunately the club was caught up in this. There was only a debt of £18 million which was very manageable given our turnover.

Not sure where you get all this taig stuff from. Not a term I'd use and I never mentioned any particular team, just one of our rivals. I think your statement about hoping that someday a club that goes bust fucks off forever puts us pretty much at odds. I'm a Rangers supporter and also support my local junior team but in addition to that I'm also a football fan in general. Therefore I wouldn't want to see any club fucking off forever. Re the SFA, not sure why you'd only mention Ogilvie as though he is the one solely making the decision. Petrie and Lawell are also on the board. And with regards to the stock exchange rules, I wouldn't be so certain that he will have a problem with them given the way Whyte was running the club, and I use the term 'running' loosely here, at the time. There were no board meetings and the other directors were basically kept in the dark by someone who had the controlling share in the club. I'm sure King has evidence that he was questioning Whyte's actions at this time. Alistair Johnston has confirmed that he certainly has a lot of evidence that this was the case.

You'd need the headexplode.gif for that one To be honest, there's no chance this is the case.

The SFA's fit and proper test seems to be a bit vague but as far as I'm aware it is intended to stop people taking advantage of clubs financially etc, which is kinda ironic given the shysters we've had over the past 4 years. King can rightly point out that he has previously invested, and lost, £20 million in the club and has come in promising further investment that he also expects to lose. I can't see the SFA knocking him back given his inentions and previous history with the club.

I've gotta ask given many of the terms you've used (Mini-Murray etc) I take it you are a fan, or have a soft spot for, one of our rivals?

That's not going to happen. King has already said that he, along with other investors, will need to put in over £20 million over the next couple of years. In addition to that the fans boycott will end increasing the clubs revenues. No doubt there will be various savings to be made as well when they get a look at the books, for example, paying a PR company that Lambias just happens to have a 50% share in £30k per month when no one can actually point to any PR work they have done.

Police advised the Sports Direct van to leave as they feared there could be bother. Unfortunately it did manage to leave in one piece

Absolutely delighted with the outcome of the EGM and that is Ashley's boardroom influence pretty much gone, although he still has a 9% shareholding. We have a couple of loans to pay back and he has too much control over our retail division but those battles lie in the future. Ultimately the shareholding block that supported him crumbled making it pretty much a landslide but even without that he was going to lose, just by less of a margin.

Can you expand on that?