I WAS interested to read in yesterday’s SportTimes that Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson believes the club should have more of a say at board level in the Scottish game.

And he is quite right.

Over the past few years with the board that Rangers have had, I don’t think there was one person you actually could have said would have been able to represent the club on any board in Scottish football.

Such were the stories that were leaking every week about them, the level of trust wasn’t there between the supporters and those in charge at Ibrox.

But now Dave King has taken over and the new board are in place, it’s a settled place now and the boardroom is filled with people who care for the club, as well as Scottish football.

Rangers are still a massive, massive club in this country even though they are not in the top flight, despite what anyone says. I think their say should be heard now they have a board that is firmly in place.

It was unbelievable that just a few months ago Stewart Robertson and Hearts owner Ann Budge were knocked back from going on the SPFL board, basically so the clique already in place can stay there.

Ann has come into football and more specifically into a football cub that was really toiling financially and, ultimately, going down the pan.

Despite that, she managed to save them, and get Hearts back up into the Premiership challenging at the top end after winning the Championship.

She has been in charge of everything and has appointed the people at Hearts who have helped take the club forward, and that all stems from her.

She has the business acumen that Scottish football needs.

Robertson is the same. He did a tremendous job at Motherwell for a club that was under real pressure. He knows what it is all about when a club has financial issues and he has come into Rangers and now all the top spots are filled with good people.

He has come to grips with things and he was rightly put forward to be on the SPFL board as well. Again, he was voted off by people who don’t want anyone else involved.

I think it is ridiculous when clubs in Scottish football don’t have representation on various boards.

There’s not a lot from the bigger teams in the country, they would rather have the people from the Championship and League One rather than the people that matter a lot.

I’m not saying the small clubs don’t matter, but people at the top level who have been there, seen it and done it in the big time should be involved. It’s about time everyone sat down and got to grips with that.

We all know it is a vote but do you think the ones already on the board are going to vote against each other? They want to keep their positions, they don’t want anyone else sticking their nose in which is ridiculous.

Stewart and Ann would want to come in and make a change. We all want to make Scottish football better, and the more brains we have working towards that the better.

It is time we sat down and say ‘Let’s throw the last three years away, we know what has happened to various clubs, let’s sit down and talk about this because our game is going down the pan’.

Both Rangers and Hearts need to be there to sort things out, you can’t ignore them.

Europe is out of the question at the moment. Celtic have done well previously, as have Rangers, but every other club has failed miserably and you have to start asking questions why and try to make things better.

Gordon Strachan was great after Celtic’s defeat to Molde when he said things need to change. He was spot-on.

They need to play against teams who are going to give them more of a game if they want to do well, and that goes for all Scottish teams in Europe.

As Scotland manager, he has the hardest job going in the game up here. You have the expectations of the whole country resting on his shoulders so he knows what he is talking about.

If he is going to take Scotland forward, he needs the players to do it. Clearly right now we don’t have the right people and haven’t since 1998.

Gordon needs help. He is a very passionate man and he can see what everyone else sees, but he is the first one to come and say that we need to sit down and look at where Scottish football is going.

As well as people like Stewart and Ann, we need football people from the top of our game to get involved. Guys like Walter Smith, Sir Alex Ferguson, Graeme Souness, people passionate about our game.

We need the football men round a table with all these club chiefs and ask them what they think.

Scottish football needs to listen to opinions of others. We all want to see Scottish football as a whole going forward, we need to let those able to help to get involved.

Ashley doesn’t care about Rangers

Glasgow Times:

MIKE ASHLEY has launched a court challenge over the SFA’s decision to approve Dave King’s appointment at Rangers, and I’m just astonished.

Ashley is a man who has probably had things all his own way throughout life. Why? Because he has money to back him up. If anyone messes with him, he can afford to get his lawyers on to it.

Dave King is probably one of the few men who has really tested him, and Ashley’s not having it. As long as he has money and lawyers he will fight absolutely anything.

I said a few weeks ago that I hope the two of them can get together and sort something out because nobody is going to buy the Rangers stuff from Sports Direct knowing hardly any of the money is going back into the club. There is no way the deal currently in place is good for Rangers.

So I suggested they get together and maybe thrash out an agreement, but that is never going to happen now.

Ashley is happy with the deal he got legally, even though it is horrendous for Rangers.

In my eyes, he couldn’t care less about the club in my eyes, if I’m being perfectly honest. Whether Rangers sells his stuff or not, they still have to buy it in, so he gets money regardless.

It doesn’t matter what Rangers do, he’s still going to be in there with his shares and he’s still going to be taking money.

He can afford to say to his lawyers to have a go at the SFA because he doesn’t like Dave King, let’s see if we can do some damage to him.

At least the SFA are standing by their decision and are fighting him. As they should.

Alloa win sent out the right message

AFTER the defeat to Hibernian a couple of weeks ago, it was pleasing to see Rangers get back to winning ways in the 4-0 drubbing of Alloa.

As the manager keeps saying, you can’t play on the past. They have had their praise for the way they perform in games, but it is all about what you do in the next one that counts.

The team has taken a fair bit of stick since the Hibs game, but I still don’t believe they deserved to be beaten. I thought they merited something, but the bottom line is they lost.

So it is how you continue that on the following week. There would have been a lot of talking and working in training in the aftermath of that loss at Easter Road, and it should have been all about putting out a message in that game against Alloa.

They went out and won the game and it could have been a lot more.

If it was 7-0 or 8-0 I don’t think Danny Lennon or his side could have complained.

The fans are still turning up in their droves to see the team and they got a 4-0 win, so it was a decent performance.having witnessed the week before, they are back on track.

But it is worth remembering Hibs are also still on a strong run of form. People who thought Rangers would win the Championship by Christmas are just kidding themselves on, this will go to the death.

If you look at Hibs’ record before the game with Mark Warburton’s side, it was utterly incredible.

They are on a terrific run and they have proven they have a terrific side when everyone is fit.

There is a long way to go yet.