Rangers are set to appoint St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie as the club’s new CEO.
The Gers have been on the hunt for someone to come in and fill the void left by the departure of James Bisgrove to Saudi Arabia earlier in the summer.
Former Rangers communications director Bisgrove had only been in the job for around a year and left Ibrox in a state of disarray before jumping ship.
With the ex-UEFA chief leading the now delayed renovation of the Copland Stand at Ibrox, there has been a suggestion Bisgrove jumped before he was pushed.
Now, Rangers appear to have got their man as they raid Scottish Premiership rivals St Mirren for a lifelong bluenose with strong connections across the nation’s game.
Who is Jim Gillespie?
The first question on every Rangers fan’s mind will be who is Jim Gillespie?
The Scottish Sun first broke the story that Rangers had set their sights on the St Mirren vice-chairman.
According to the report, Gillespie is an ‘award winning’ CEO with Renfrewshire care charity the Kibble.
The Kibble provides specialist services and support for young people including residential care in order to give them another chance in life.
Kibble are also shareholders in St Mirren, having paid around £400k for 27% of the Paisley club in 2020.
Last summer, Jim Gillespie picked up two awards from 12 national and six regional categories at the annual Institute of Directors (IoD) Scotland Awards.
Back in 2021, Gillespie was named Regional Director of the year for Glasgow and the West at the Institute of Directors (IoD) Awards.
Gillespie has also been a director at St Mirren since 2020 whilst he was appointed St Mirren vice-chairman in 2021.
Bennett stays true to Rangers promise
The reports comes after Rangers chairman John Bennett had promised an update to supporters on the position earlier in the summer.
Rangers are currently in the midst of the delayed renovation of the Copland Stand, forcing the club to play their ‘home games’ at Hampden this summer.
Speaking as part of a wider update to fans, Bennett was asked about the situation with the CEO at Ibrox and gave the following response.
Asked if the hunt for a CEO was ‘parked’ whilst the Ibrox renovations were completed, Bennett said:
“I wouldn’t say that absolutely everything was parked when I got this call in June that we had this materials delay.
“I wouldn’t say everything was parked but it was kind of almost like that, the first priority was dealing with that.
“So everything else was kind of slowed down but that’s been my other objective, is to get that delivered and I hope to have some news pretty soon about our CEO.”
It now looks like Rangers are closing in on Jim Gillespie to be the club’s new CEO with an official statement expected in the coming days.
