By Andrew Warshaw
August 6 – Fallen Scottish giants Rangers are once again embroiled in turmoil after chairman Walter Smith quit less than a week before the start of the new league season describing the boardroom as “highly dysfunctional” and lacking integrity.
Smith’s departure after little more than two months in the job was confirmed with a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange and is the latest setback for a club that was thrown into the fourth and lowest tier of the professional league pyramid in Scotland (they have since gained one promotion) and was forced to reform following a humiliating cash crisis.
The exit of the highly popular Smith, a former Rangers manager, co-incided with return of one-time chief executive Charles Green as a paid consultant.
Smith led Rangers to 10 Scottish Premier League titles and became chairman in May following the departure from the board of director Malcolm Murray, a month after Green himself quit as chief executive.
Three Rangers supporters clubs issued a joint statement declaring “deep anxiety” over Smith’s resignation.
“The Rangers Supporters Association, Rangers Supporters Assembly and the Rangers Supporters Trust are extremely concerned with current events at our club,” read the statement. “Walter Smith’s resignation is a matter of deep anxiety and we trust that Walter will give supporters a detailed statement outlining his reasons for leaving.”
“The recent request for an EGM to replace key personnel would suggest our concerns are shared by other significant shareholders. We would therefore urge the board of Rangers Football Club to agree to allow the EGM to proceed as soon as possible to enable the thousands of fans who have invested in the club to hear all sides in an open forum.”
Manager Ally McCoist described Smith as the “glue” that held Rangers together and his resignation prompted fears that their club may be ripped apart again.
Smith said the decision to walk away was “heartbreaking” and the hardest he had taken in his Ibrox career. However, he added that it was his only option given the damaging power struggle going on at the club.
The move co-incided with a takeover bid launched by billionaire businessman Jim McColl along with Murray. “Working with a board which could rarely find consensus and agreement has created a highly dysfunctional environment which has not been good for the club,” said Smith.
“On top of that, there has been recent further disruption which again has rendered the board less effective and efficient than it ought to have been. It is clear that boardroom change is required and I would urge Rangers fans to get fully behind the resolutions which last week were presented to the board and shareholders.”
Smith said the fans had “suffered agonies and tortures” over the last two years. “They are a reminder to those in the boardroom that directors have the massive and ultimate responsibility of serving, protecting and nourishing this club for the benefit of the fans and not an individual or any associates. As a manager I had to make many difficult decisions but none was tougher than the one I have just made.”
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