5 Rangers EGM takeaways you may have missed from bold Ibrox expansion to the real reason for takeover

Daily Record

4 hours ago

Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe faced investors for the first time this week
Andrew Cavenagh has been a familiar face at Ibrox for months.
But Monday's shareholder summit was the first time the Light Blue legions got to hear from the man himself on just what it is that he has planned for his Rangers revolution.
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The emergency general meeting held at Glasgow's DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel was on a very basic level about crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on the new American regime's £95million takeover.
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But more importantly for the Gers support, it was a chance to look into the whites of their new chairman's eyes and assess for themselves whether they can trust him to Make Rangers Great Again.
There was no Trumpian grandstanding, right enough. Cavenagh, it seems, isn't the type for wild boasts nor sweeping declarations.
But the US health insurance tycoon and his partner from the San Francisco 49ers Paraag Marathe certainly spoke with enough confidence and conviction to win over any sceptics in attendance during a slick 90 minute address.
A winning team
The Americans can talk all they want about how the plan to upgrade Rangers' operations off the pitch but the be all and end all for the fans is that they drastically improve fortunes on it.
Cavenagh and Co have just bought themselves a team that failed consistently for a decade and longer. The challenge for them is to take a team that has been perennially second best and make them top dogs in Scotland.
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But the new owners are wary of throwing cash at a problem squad without fixing the underlying issues that have allowed Celtic to win 13 of the last 14 league titles.
'Our ambition is to put the team in a position to win the league and compete in Europe,' Cavenagh told the meeting. 'We're not here to throw money at the team, win a title and then ride off into sunset. Paraag and I are here for the long-term. We all know this club has had some tough times financially so our aim is to sustain winning and to win sustainably.'
Stadium expansion
Ibrox remains the pride and joy of the Rangers support but there is little doubt the old place is starting to show its age. The main stand that dates back to 1929 has had some upgrades in recent years but other parts of the ground are in desperate need of some TLC.
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The new board has already drawn up some short-term upgrades to the concourses and hospitality lounges. But further ahead, Cavenagh and Marathe are conscious of the need to add to Ibrox's capacity.
There's a financial imperative to do just that. With the ground seating 9,000 fewer fans than Celtic Park, the Americans realise that they are being left behind by an in-built financial advantage which allows the Hoops to rake in far more in match-day income on a weekly basis.
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The good news is that with a 10,000-long waiting list of punters desperate for a season ticket, there is plenty of demand. Marathe said: 'However big we expand Ibrox, we'll know we'll fill it.'
What's in it for you?
While the new takeover has been welcomed with open arms by the majority of success-starved fans, there is certainly a more suspicious element of the support.
'Why exactly would a health insurance firm owner from Philadelphia and an NFL executive from California be interested in a team in Scotland?' they ask.
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Well for Cavenagh, his keenness comes from a life-long love of football. A former college-level goalkeeper, he has spent the last 40 years travelling the globe to follow the game, attending a string of World Cup and European Championship clashes along the way.
Marathe, meanwhile, may have started his career in the sports business in the gridiron game but he's been bitten by the round-ball bug since taking over as Leeds chairman. Now both men plan to bring their years of business expertise to Glasgow.
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Supporter Scott Waters of the Dubai Loyal Supporters Club asked of the new regime: "How do you plan to monetise your investment because at some point you're going to want a return?'
That question drew a plain spoken response from Cavenagh: 'I'll be very blunt. We don't have an exit plan, we have a growth plan. We'll figure out the exit plan once we succeed with the growth plan.'
Transfer teases
As Cavenagh and Marathe were meeting shareholders, Russell Martin was six miles up the road greeting his new squad for the first time at the club's Auchenhowie training base.
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The former Southampton man has been the man tasked with turning around a failing team but so far the only new face in through the door is Lyall Cameron.
Max Aarons should follow on a season-long loan from Bournemouth shortly but there's little doubt the fans would have preferred to see more new arrivals in by now.
The new boardroom chiefs weren't giving away many transfer tidbits despite the best attempts of a couple of fans to prise the names of the club's targets.
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But both Cavenagh and Marathe were confident that the fans will be happy with the improvements Martin and new sporting director Kevin Thelwell are working on.
Marathe said: 'If we give you a number right now, suddenly that winger we're targeting becomes a lot more expensive so it's best for you all if we surprise you with the players we bring in!'
The silent minority
The new regime have snapped up a 51 percent slice of the club but new Takeover Panel rules mean that foreign investors no longer have to make a bid for the remainder of the parent company's shares.
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That has left some fans fearing their stake is now worthless and that they will be left without a say in the running of Rangers.
But Cavenagh was quick to make clear that the new board will continue to keep in close dialogue with the club's small stakeholders.
He's confirmed they will continue to hold an annual shareholder meeting, despite there being no legal requirement now that the company has been taken back into private hands.
And he's vowed to make the club's financial reports public in order to let the punters scrutinise their handling of club coffers.