Rangers chairman John Bennett has addressed frustrated supporters amid a brewing summer of discontent at Ibrox.
The Rangers chairman has had quite a few weeks after works to the Copland Stand at Ibrox were delayed, forcing the club to rehouse supporters at Hampden ahead of the new season.
The situation has been further inflamed by frustrations over the club’s transfer activity and CEO James Bisgrove jumping ship to Saudi Arabia.
After John Bennett promised fans a fuller update at the end of July, the Rangers chairman has been speaking to RangersTV about a number of issues at the club.
Here are the nine big takeaways from the bumper interview as Rangers fans find out when they could return to Ibrox, when to expect ticketing updates from Hampden, and the future of Philippe Clement.
Focus on return to Ibrox
John Bennett has insisted that everyone at Rangers is working around the clock to get the fans back into Ibrox.
But the Ibrox chair has also pleaded with supporters not to lose sight of the reasons for the upgrade, which centre around the club’s disabled supporters.
Insisting that Rangers ‘will finish the job’ Bennett has also given greater clarity over the reasons for the delay to the works.
“I think it is important to look at the chain of events,” said Bennett. “People like to say, quite rightly, that nature abhors a vacuum.
“I was fully aware of the vacuum that seemed to be created. Nobody was straining more than myself for clarity and for certainty.
“I wanted to, I have wanted to deliver, a certainty that we couldn’t deliver.
“I apologise again on behalf of this club for the uncertainty it’s caused our fans.
“I can assure the fans that the people in this club are working tirelessly to get this done. We need to finish the job.
“We almost not lose sight of for whom this job was undertaken; our fans and in particular our disabled fans.
“We have to finish this job and we will finish this job.
“What we’re dealing with is a materials delay. We have a delay mid-shipment of our materials and we’re not alone, it’s happening globally.
“Our situation is we have three consignments on three vessels making their way to Glasgow. Pinch points are the ports, Singapore probably the biggest.
“Vessel number one has arrived, it is in Glasgow, and we await vessels two and three.”
When will Rangers fans return to Ibrox?
Naturally Rangers fans and the club’s season ticket holders want to know when they’ll be returning to Ibrox.
John Bennett was apprehensive to give a definitive date but there is a target in mind for the club.
Rangers fans look set to spend around two months at Hampden with the Gers targeting a return on the 28th September against Hibs.
“As things stand delivery number two, and it’s on delivery number two that you will see what I would call the beginning of the final installation,” said Bennett. “That’ll take time.
“That is scheduled to arrive in Glasgow on the second week of August. Vessel three is scheduled to arrive in the third week of August.
“When I think of the timeline of us returning our home, clearly after the September international break.
“We can aspire for that to be at the end of September but it’s an aspiration and I am sorry that I have to caveat it.
“I have an aspiration to get our people back into our hoe for the final game in September (28th v Hibs) but yes it could slip beyond that.”
Decision to play at Hampden explained
Bennett has also been explaining why Rangers chose to pursue a temporary residence at Hampden.
There were also opportunities mooted at Murrayfield in Edinburgh and Rangers might’ve looked to play at Ibrox with a reduced capacity.
But in order to minimise disruption, Bennett has explained why Hampden was the best outcome for all involved.
“We’re not the first club that’s ever had to decant and we don’t be the last,” said Bennett.
“I said to the board the number one aim here as we decant is ‘maximise the number of our fans that can follow their team and minimise the disruption to those fans’.
“So for me the prime choice – and we had some options – for me, prioritise Hampden for our fans.
“We know the geographic dispersion of our season ticket holders, maximise the number – so a stadium big enough to house them – and minimise the disruption – so that’s why it was all systems go for Hampden.
“When you are trying to secure that venue it’s a multi-party arrangement.
“People talk about stakeholders, if I can use that term, it’s not just Rangers have made a decision and that’s it.
“You have to have your partners, your counterparts, sign up and agree to that and that does take a bit of time.
“And you have to co-ordinate so it’s not just a case of Rangers putting out a statement saying we’re off to Hampden and that does take time.”
Later Bennett was asked about when fans would receive ticketing information for Hampden and responded: “I am hopeful that by the end of this week we can provide an update.”
Bennett praises SFA & SPFL as ‘partners’
Rangers have had a long-running dispute with the governance of Scottish football.
Over the last few years routine clashes between Hampden chiefs and Rangers has resulted in a strained relationship, particularly with the SPFL.
But John Bennett took the opportunity to thank the SFA and the SPFL for their role in securing Hampden, labelling the organisations as ‘partners’.
“I thank again our people in the club for what they’re doing right now and the challenges of that,” said Bennett.
“They’re working so hard to make this as seamless as we possibly can and minimise disruption.
“But the other people I want to thank are our counterparts, specifically at the SFA, because they also rose to this challenge and they acted like partners with us.
“And that’s what you need.
“In times of crisis you find people out. You find out who stands up and who hides and so many people in the club have stood up.
“And the SFA stood with us, like partners actually, and the SPFL I want to thank as well.”
‘Cultural change’ driving down £10.5m loss
John Bennett has also been talking about Rangers’ finances and chose to focus on pre-player trading losses.
The Rangers chairman has claimed that the number one focus of his reign at the top of the club will be to bring the £10.5m losses pre-player trading right down.
With the losses unsustainable, there is some positive news on this front with things moving in the right direction.
“I very deliberately called out a number at the AGM,” said Bennett.
“On becoming chairman my number one mission off the pitch was to rid the club of pre-player trading losses.
“And I called that out at the AGM.
“That number to June 2023 was £10.5m, that’s unsustainable and we should talk about sustainability and financial fair play, etc.
“That right there is wholly unsustainable and I said that has to go away, well you can’t just will things to go away. It takes action.
“If I look at that number that is well on the way to being eradicated and that’s taken a lot of work from a lot of people and I have driven that.
“It’s been hard on some people to drive that through and execute it but execute it we must.
“I’m not having a club, because we’ll come to player trading model and the famed player trading model, but first get after what I called low-hanging fruit.
“This club should not be losing £10.5m pre-player trading in a year and it’s not overstatement to say this required cultural change.
“Football clubs are brilliant at wasting resources, I talked to people across the country and Europe and football clubs are really good at wasting other people’s money, at wasting resources.
“We were good at that as well, and that’s changing big style and fast. That’s cultural change, it’s required people change, we’re not done in terms of that cultural change.
“Eradicate that £10.5m and that’s not a sustainable business model if you’re sitting there with that kind of number.”
Rangers have paid £11.5m in transfers in 2024
With Rangers fans frustrated over a lack of perceived transfer activity, the club’s owners have come in for criticism.
The Gers support is unhappy with how the club has handled transfers in and out of the club in recent seasons and want to see Philippe Clement given backing to execute his plans.
But John Bennett has explained that, even before loan players, Rangers have spent £11.5m between the two windows Clement has been at the club.
“There’s often talk about the phasing of buying and selling,” said Bennett.
“If you actually look at the facts, not just in this window, but prior to this window, how has Rangers operated?
“And I want us to get away from how we’ve operated but how we’ve operated has been the board has essentially backstopped each window.
“If I take 2024 the January window and this window, excluding loans, we’re double digit millions in commitments, in transfer payables.
“Excluding loans we’re about £11.5m in thus far on transfer payables, and loans, they’re not free.”
Clement is ‘all-in’ on Rangers project
Amid the mire of Rangers’ disastrous preparations this season, many felt Philippe Clement might have his head turned.
In a seemingly loaded barb about things at Ibrox being different from his initial interpretation, there was a lingering fear that all was not well in the background of the club.
But John Bennett has moved to quelled any of this chatter by claiming that Philippe Clement is ‘all-in’ on the project at Rangers.
The Ibrox chairman has also praised the the Rangers manager for bringing ‘leadership’ back to the playing side of the club.
“I think Philippe brought a lot of things, a lot of the right things,” said Bennett.
“It’s maybe unfair or wrong or you’re going to miss certain other points or words or strengths if you only mention one or two.
“Leadership, which is crucial, vision, and he’s all-in, Philippe like a number of us, is all-in on this.
“And when I say he’s all in, I’ve been struck by something that I completely endorse that he’s said only recently and he’s been very, very clear.
“And that’s regarding the player trading model, transfers if you like.
“When Philippe’s been asked in the media about the recruitment strategy he’s nailed it and we endorse it.
“And that is recruiting for the long term as well as for the short term.
“He’s gone further than that and if I can paraphrase him, recruiting only for the short term has caused problems historically.
“I completely endorse that, even to the point to say that lessons, and at times brutal lessons, have been learned.
“While I am chairman I want to end the years of rinse and repeat.
“And I think you know what I’m talking about, by October there are big changes at the club, hugely damaging at every level.
“That must end, we must all be all-in. Philippe’s all-in, we’re all aligned and we have to deliver, that very tricky challenge we have to rise to.”
‘Mythical’ player trading comes to life
Rangers have mused over player trading for years without ever implementing a successful strategy.
It’s been the bug bear of supporters to repeatedly hear the phrase without ever seeing the club seriously kick it into action.
John Bennett has been touching on player trading once again and claims that Rangers are now determined to make more long-term recruitment decisions.
It comes after years of failure in this department by previous management regimes and boards.
“This is a really tricky one in terms of the balance of this long-term short-term recruitment strategy,” said Bennett.
“There’s a twin imperative here now. Rangers will always have imperative number one, this is a club that needs to win.
“At a club like Rangers you don’t get time, that won’t change, Rangers is compelled to win, that’s the impulse, that’s why it exists, it needs to win. Won’t change.
“But the second imperative is if you’re really serious about building – and I’ve heard it a lot – and again it frustrates me as much as it frustrates every Rangers support is this fabled, almost mythical player trading model.
“It’s not up and running, I don’t see it, that would be an accurate observation and criticism.
“Imperative two, if you are going to build a truly sustainable, operating player trading model having fixed the line above it, the pre-player trading losses.
“If you are going to be serious about doing that then you’re going to have to invest in player recruitment for the long-term as well as the short-term.
“That’s a really challenging route to navigate and it’s not done in one window.
“I like to think that people can see the complexion of this window has long-term in it as well as short-term.
“Philippe talked about ‘this is a bigger rebuild’.
“We sat down in May and reviewed the season. ‘This is a bigger rebuild than I expected’ and that was what he was referring to recently.
“That’s the first thing he said to me when he sat down for the review in May and I says ‘Philippe, me too’.
“Not least given the investment we put in the prior year and that’s what we’ve got, we need to grip it and he gets that.
“We talked recently about the alignment, he’s all in on this and he’s aligned, he and his team and we’ve strengthened the team recently with the appointment of Andries (Ulderink), and we’re fully aligned with (player trading).”
Rangers closing in on new CEO
The final subject touched on by Bennett involved the appointment of a new CEO at Rangers.
The club have been forced to prioritise other areas of the business this summer but the Rangers chairman believes there should be movement in this regard soon.
“I wouldn’t say that absolutely everything was parked when I got this call in June that we had this materials delay,” said Bennett.
“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.”
