Rangers Q&A: Stewart Robertson on Club 1872, Hampden, Hibs, the Billy Boys, the SPFL and Mark Warburton

HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THIS ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY, STEWART?

SR: It is massive for the club. When you think what the supporters have done for this club, over the last four or five years especially in fighting the fight against previous regimes, they have contributed to getting the new board in which has moved us forward massively. The unification of the various groups is a massive step forward for them and for the club as a whole. It is the first time the fans have had one voice and credit to the various groups for pulling it together, because it’s not easy when people are set in their ways. By signing up, part of your money is going to go into buying shares. The club are going to have to pitch for the money, if you like, it won’t just be given to us. By keeping their independence, they are also going to keep this board accountable to the fans. So we will never see again what happened in the past three or four years.

IT TOOK QUITE A WHILE TO DO IT DIDN’T IT?

SR: It has taken the guts of a year, and probably longer than that, to get it done. The groups all had their own objectives and strategies. All had their various strengths and weaknesses. With any merger of any entity, it is fraught with difficulty, so credit to the guys for pulling it off.

THERE ARE IMPLICATIONS FOR SHAREHOLDINGS NOW BECAUSE THERE IS AN INTENTION TO FORM A VOTING BLOC ISN'T THERE?

SR: One of their key principles is to get to 25 per cent plus one in terms of shareholding. You need 75 per cent to get a special resolution passed. So that would give them an element of control and blocking rights.

WHAT IS THE COMBINED STAKE NOW THAT BUY RANGERS AND RANGERS FIRST HAVE JOINED TOGETHER?

SR: I think the current stake is around 5.6 per cent.

AS THEY INCREASE THEIR STAKE, IT ENTITLES THEM TO DIFFERENT THINGS. WILL THEY HAVE A GREATER SAY IN THE RUNNING OF THE CLUB?

SR: As a group, because they are independent, they have said they don’t want a director on the club board. That’s different from what you would normally hear from fans’ groups. That may change, but their very clear intention right now is not to have a representative on the board. It’s all about shares at the moment and holding us accountable from the outside, rather than the inside.

HAVE YOU DISCUSSED WITH THEM PAYMENTS FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE STADIUM?

SR: We have to find projects, as part of our business plan, and say why we think they work for the club. Here’s why we are asking them to back this. We have to show the business case for the propositions we put forward. It’s a check and balance on us. It challenges us to make sure we do things for the right reasons.

WHAT KIND OF PROPOSITIONS ARE YOU PUTTING FORWARD AT THE MOMENT?

SR: There is nothing specific at the moment, but there are things like stadium development. I don’t mean the stands, but around the stadium. Look at Edmiston House, for example. It’s a building we own but it’s a bit of an eyesore. What can we use it for? There’s a big bit of space there. Surely we can find something revenue generating, something which helps the match day experience for the fans. Perhaps a museum. One of Club 1872’s key pillars is standing up for the Rangers fans. There is a general feeling the fans have never been co-ordinated enough to have that voice and put the views of the Rangers fans across. When you see what’s happened over the last few years, that’s really important.

IS THAT SOMETHING THAT COULD BE IMPORTANT IN THE AFTERMATH OF WHAT HAPPENED AT THE WEEKEND? THE FANS HAVE TO HAVE A UNITED VOICE TO ADDRESS CERTAIN ISSUES

SR: First of all, can I just say congratulations to Hibs on winning the cup. It was obviously a big day for them after 114 years. They deserved their victory, so well done to Hibs. We have had good dialogue with the SFA. Stewart Regan has been on the ‘phone a couple of times, on Saturday night and Monday morning. He has also said what he’s said publicly. I’ve had an email from Hibs.

HAVE YOU HAD DIALOGUE WITH HIBS NOW? HAVE THEY BEEN IN TOUCH?

SR: We have had good dialogue with the SFA, Stewart Regan has been on the phone a couple of times, on Saturday night and Monday morning, and he has publicly said what he has said. I have had an email from Hibs.

THERE HAS BEEN A BELATED CHANGE OF TACT FROM ROD PETRIE IN TERMS OF HIS SECOND STATEMENT. HAS THIS INEVITABLY DAMAGED BOARDROOM RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO CLUBS?

SR: We need to get the investigation out of the way. We asked the SFA and Police Scotland for investigations and they have been set up very quickly. We need to wait and see what comes out of that, what has gone wrong. Then we can progress discussions.

ASIDE FROM THE INVESTIGATION, IT IS ANOTHER THING HOW THEY AS A CLUB AND INDIVIDUALS RESPONDED TO WHAT HAPPENED.

SR: They (Hibs) have to do what they believe is the right thing to do. That’s a decision for them. I can’t comment on how they perceive the best way to take these things forward.

WITHOUT THE DETAIL OF THE EMAIL, WHAT WAS THE GIST OF WHAT IT WAS ABOUT?

SR: They were just acknowledging what had happened. You have to remember that when the final whistle blows, Hibs fans come over the top, run up the pitch and get to the halfway line, attack our players, continue running up the pitch and actually goad, taunt and provoke our fans. That’s just not acceptable. It’s not acceptable that we have players and staff attacked at their place of work. It’s just not right.

WAS THAT THE GIST OF THE EMAIL?

SR: In the email, Hibs were regretting what had happened.

WHEN YOU SAW HIBS’ COMMENTS ON SATURDAY NIGHT, HOW DISAPPOINTED WERE YOU WITH THE WAY THEY HANDLED THE INITIAL FALL-OUT?

SR: I don’t know when Rod made his comments. It struck me from what I saw that it was very clear what had happened. Whether he was aware of that or not, I don’t know, but I was surprised at the comments that were made on Saturday evening. It seems very clear to us what had happened. In our dressing room you saw how shaken up the boys were by trauma that had been caused by the events on Saturday. There was no doubt in our mind what had happened.

AS A MATTER OF FACT, HOW MANY PLAYERS HAVE YOU ESTABLISHED WERE ASSAULTED OR SPAT ON?

SR: Every one of those players coming off that pitch was pretty badly impacted by what happened and three members of staff that I’m aware of – a couple of guys have gone on holiday so we’re still checking to get the final numbers, to be honest. All of that has now gone to the police or is going to the police, so we’re going to step back about making much more public comment and just let the investigations take their path.

WILL THE PLAYERS NOW HAVE TO GO AND SPEAK TO THE POLICE?

SR: I’m sure they will. If they’re going to bring criminal charges they need to get the evidence for that. I’m not a lawyer but I assume they’ll have to take statements.

NOBODY IS DISPUTING WHAT AN ELEMENT OF THE HIBS SUPPORT DID. BUT AN ELEMENT OF THE RANGERS SUPPORT LET THE CLUB DOWN AS WELL. HOW DISAPPOINTED WERE YOU IN THAT?

SR: We don’t condone any act of violence ion football and some of our fans ended up on the pitch, but I think you have to go back to the provocation, the taunting and the goading. I’ve seen some of the footage from close up and they felt threatened. They saw players being attacked by the Hibs fans. Let’s not forget that the Hibs fans came over the top. The Hibs fans initiated everything that happened. The Hibs fans ran towards them. But the investigations will inevitably lead to some of those fans who were on the pitch being punished and we will take appropriate action against those fans and do the right thing.

WE HAVE NOT HEARD FROM THE MANAGER SINCE THE GAME. HOW SHAKEN UP WAS HE BY THE EVENTS?

SR: Everybody was shaken up. We took the decision just to get out of the stadium, not because we couldn’t guarantee the players’ safety but because nobody could guarantee the players’ safety. We got handed the medals. It was a pretty shaken up group of guys who were in that dressing room on Saturday. I hadn’t seen anything like that in my life and Mark certainly hadn’t seen anything like it.

THERE WILL NOW BE A STRAIN BETWEEN THE CLUBS, AN ATMOSPHERE THE NEXT TIME YOU MEET, WHENEVER THAT MAY BE. DO YOU THINK THERE IS A RESPONSIBILITY ON BOTH CLUBS TO TRY AND FIND SOME DIPLOMATIC WAY OF DEFUSING THIS WELL IN ADVANCE?

SR: There’s a responsibility on the authorities. There’s a responsibility on football clubs. There’s a responsibility on everybody who goes to a football match to behave in an appropriate way. We’ve been involved in some big matches this year. We – as we always do – take the appropriate security measures before the games and make sure that we run these games properly and I’m sure other clubs will do the same. Hopefully, the investigation will identify is what went wrong – why were the Hibs fans allowed to come on to the pitch and attack our players and staff? How can we deal with it in future? How can we prevent it happening again? Nobody wants to see those scenes.

WHERE YOU SURPRISED THERE WASN’T A RING OF POLICE AT FULL-TIME?

SR: To be honest, I wasn’t really concentrating on what was going on behind the goal. I was hoping for a last minute equaliser. It’s hard for me to comment on that. I don’t know the weight of numbers who came over but it just shouldn’t happen. It’ll send out a negative message about Scottish football at a time when the SFA and SPFL are trying to attract sponsors and grow the business again. We’ve just got ourselves out of a time where Scottish football was in turmoil. It’s beginning to go the right way but there’s still a long, long way to go.

YOU ARE TRYING TO BUILD UP RANGERS AFTER SEVERAL DIFFICULT YEARS. DO YOU THINK THIS RIOT WILL IMPACT UPON THAT AND SEND OUT A NEGATIVE IMAGE OF THE CLUB AT ALL, OR OF SCOTTISH FOOTBALL, AND MAKE YOUR JOB MORE DIFFICULT?

SR: It can’t help. In terms of the club, I don’t think it will; have an impact. We have a very clear plan on where we want to take the club and how to grow the club and we’re on the right path. Winning the cup would have been ahead of schedule for us. Getting into Europe would have been ahead of schedule for us. The key objective was to get into the Premiership and we did that.

DO YOU THINK COMMENTATORS WERE WRONG TO FOCUS ON RANGERS FANS SINGING THE BILLY BOYS IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE UNSAVOURY EVENTS?

SR: If I recall correctly, the Billy Boys was sung after the Hibs fans came on to the pitch. We don’t condone that kind of behaviour. However, if I had a choice between the fans singing a song or piling over the wall into a pitched battle with the Hibs fans, I know what I would choose. That doesn’t make it right but you have to put it into context. I’d rather have that than two or three thousand piling over the wall and we have a riot on our hands.

DO YOU THINK IF ANY OTHER CLUB HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN THAT FINAL HIBS FANS WOULD HAVE REACTED SO AGGRESSIVELY AFTER THEIR INITIAL EXUBERANCE?

SR: I can’t comment on that.

RANGERS FANS APPEAR TO FEEL THEY HAVE BECOME MORE OF A TARGET IN THE LAST FOUR OR FIVE YEARS. DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT ASSESSEMENT FROM A LOT OF RANGERS FANS?

SR: I can see why Rangers fans feel they have been given a hard time over the last four or five years. Part of the rationale behind Club 1872 is to give the Rangers fans a voice and stand up for the Rangers fans. Rangers fans, some of them feel vilified over the last four or five years. Hopefully, we are back on an even keel, the club is back in the Premiership, so let’s get back to focusing on football. Get back to playing football and moving Scottish football forward. Let’s be positive about Scottish football and get away from all the nonsense in the background. Will we ever do it? I doubt it because we live in Scotland and Glasgow. But we need to get back to just focusing on football.

DO YOU FEEL, AS A CLUB, THAT YOU ARE BEING ENGAGED WITH ENOUGH BY THE AUTHORITIES IN TERMS OF WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO AS A NEW BOARD?

SR: We have regular conversations with the authorities. We don’t always agree with the decisions taken but that is the environment we work in and the way of it. We would like to have more influence in some of the decisions that are taken. The SPFL elections are in July and I will stand for those. We need to start having more of an influence again. We have got a very strong board at Rangers, a lot of good brains round that board and working business people that have got a lot to add to Scottish football. We need to keep working away at having our voice heard.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR RANGERS, AS ONE OF THE BIGGEST CLUBS IN THE COUNTRY, TO BE BACK ON THE SPFL AND SFA BOARDS AND TO HAVE A VOICE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL AGAIN?

SR: It is not just the size of the club, it is what you can bring to the party. We are now at a stage where the three years has finished in terms of post-merger and it ties in with a couple of clubs being relegated whose representatives were on the board. Eric Riley is retiring, he is a top man who has done a good job. When I was on the SPL board, Eric was a really good guy. There is an opportunity for change now and an opportunity for fresh faces to get round the table and look at things a bit differently. In any organisation, if you don’t change it up occasionally you get strained. If you don’t bring in fresh voices, you don’t see the bigger picture and the opportunities that are there.

WILL YOU BE SITTING DOWN TO DISCUSS A NEW CONTRACT WITH THE MANAGER?

SR: Mark and Davie have been fantastic. The brand of football they have played, the way we have come through the Championship and the squad he has put together. There are a lot of things you guys won’t see but the atmosphere up at Auchenhowie and the backroom team is terrific. We want them to stay as long as we can. Like any of your best employees, we have constant dialogue with them.

IS THAT QUITE CLOSE?

SR: Who knows in football? But we would love Mark and Davie to stay as long as they possibly can.

IS IT AN EXTENSION OR JUST AN IMPROVED CONTRACT THAT IS ON THE TABLE?

SR: There are lots of pieces come together to make the jigsaw when it comes to a contract. We will see how it develops but we would love them to stay longer.

RETURNING TO THE SPFL BOARD, IS IT TRADITIONAL THAT BOTH SIDES OF THE OLD FIRM ARE REPRESENTED ON THE LEAGUE BOARD OR DOES ONE SIDE ALMOST ACT AS A CONCERT PARTY WITH THE OTHER?

SR: In the days when I was on the board of the SPL, we had four directors from the club. This is the way the voting would work. It wasn’t a concert party, it was just a natural evolution. You had one from Rangers or Celtic, you tended to have one from Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs and then two from the balance. When I was at Motherwell, it was myself and Stewart Gilmour or myself and Eddie Thompson. That just tended to be the natural way of it because clubs would never vote for Rangers and Celtic. The other clubs would never vote for Rangers and Celtic to get on the board because the perception would be that they would have too much power and drive things through that others didn’t want. I can’t comment since the SPFL merger but I would be really surprised if, out of three representatives, two come from the Old Firm.

IF ERIC RILEY IS STEPPING DOWN, WOULD YOU HAVE DISCUSSIONS WITH CELTIC ABOUT ONE OF YOU PUTTING A CANDIDATE FORWARD OR DO YOU JUST PUT YOURSELF FORWARD?

SR: You need to put yourself forward. Eric doesn’t retire until the end of June. He is a fantastic individual and he has been a great servant to the SPL and SPFL. We will put ourselves forward and Celtic may or may not put themselves forward.

WOULD YOU APPROACH CELTIC TO TRY AND DO A DEAL?

SR: We haven’t. We have been in a different league from Celtic so our paths don’t cross that often. You meet at the odd General Meeting but we don’t have massive dialogue with them. A little bit, but not massive. We had to get back in the Premiership. There was an element of we have to get out of the Championship, lets focus on that, then we can start engaging with clubs in the Premiership. To have done it earlier than that would have been arrogant and assuming we would go up, and that is not right.

WHAT ARE THE BOARD'S EXPECTATIONS FOR NEXT SEASON? IS IT TO GO UP AND WIN THE LEAGUE OR GO UP AND COMPETE IN THE LEAGUE?

SR: We have to go up, we are dealing with Rangers here, and we are in the Premiership so we have to go and compete hard. The objective is to win the league. We have made some good signings so far, Joey Barton is a fantastic signing for us, and Jordan Rossiter, Matt Crooks and Josh Windass as well. We have high hopes for them as well. There are more to come in, there are several more players to come in. I am really excited about next year and I know Mark and the guys are. It is a good challenge but we will put our best foot forward and try and win the league.