Quotes from Rangers legend John Greig on the sold Arsenal shares which had previously been held by the club for over a century have resurfaced.
This is ahead of the club’s visit of the Premier League giants this weekend, who arrive at Ibrox as part of the Gers’ 150th-anniversary celebrations.
Rangers and Arsenal have an historic connection which stretches back to the turn of the 20th century.
The Gers famously helped support the London club financially by purchasing two shares back in 1910 as part of a share issue.
Rangers were rewarded for their investment by Arsenal 20 years later as legendary Ibrox manager Bill Struth struck up a friendship with Gunners equivalent Herbert Chapman.
Rangers were awarded a further 14 shares and they stood as a monument to the historic friendship between the two clubs.
However, in 2012 Ibrox pariah Craig Whyte took ownership of the shares and sold them on for little over £100k, selling off the priceless history that came with them in the process.
As first resurfaced by Vital Rangers here’s what Ibrox legend Greig had to say back in 2012 as he expressed his bitter disappointment over the sale.
“I am deeply saddened by this. I always held that these shares, which are a vital part of Rangers’ heritage, should never be sold. Now they’re gone,” said Greig, who was voted the Ibrox club’s Greatest Ever Ranger [Daily Record].
“Rangers were built on strength of character and achieved a significant standing in football. There was integrity and I worry about that being lost too.
“But those shares should never have been sold. They were about something more than money.”
Rangers are preparing to welcome Arsenal to Ibrox tomorrow afternoon (17/07) at 2pm and it will be the first time fans have been at the ground since March 2020.
But the number of fans who’ve been admitted is the source of sizeable frustration as the Scottish Government embarrass themselves over their justification.