I HAD received a copy of an email from (David) Somers to Justin Barnes, a lawyer acting on behalf of Sports Direct, from a very reliable source two days before the AGM. I was assured it hadn’t been stolen or obtained by other illicit means.
I had no doubts about its authenticity or reliability. The person who passed it on had provided me with information which had stood up on numerous occasions before that.
The email confirmed the board had been prepared to accept the offer of funding from Dave King and showed that Somers was concerned about losing his position – for which he was paid £60,000 a year to work two days a month – if it was.
My initial reaction when I read it was one of complete shock. Here was a director showing he was more concerned with his own position than the future health of the club. He was practically begging Sports Direct to act and improve their offer so he could remain in place.
Craig Houston: My memorable night in the Blue Room with Rangers legends, and my dad
But when I re-read the email I realised it highlighted more. It showed the contract with Sports Direct could be changed. Somers threatened them with that.
It also proved three directors had been ready to accept the offer when two directors had publicly claimed it couldn’t be accepted because they didn’t have enough detail.
It also said that Sandy Easdale wouldn’t survive on the board. But Sandy wasn’t on the board?
It was only a few paragraphs long. But it contained some staggering information. It revealed a lot of things which we had suspected and had been highlighting.
The usual anti-Sons of Struth mob online accused me of making it up. They claimed it wasn’t the work of the Rangers chairman because it read like a 10-year-old had written it. That made me chuckle.
But posting that email online was a defining moment for us. The number of messages I received from supporters after that telling me that they finally understood what we stood for and were trying to achieve was incredible.
Some of them had been quite derogatory previously and actually apologised for what they had written.
Most of those admissions were private, but many were public. That moment was when I felt we had the most backing from the fans.
'Sons of Struth demand the truth' is released on December 11 and available from http://store.sonsofstruth.co.uk/products/sons-of-struth-demand-the-truth-pre-launch-order
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here