What was said at Rangers' AGM
Rangers held their annual general meeting in Glasgow on Tuesday morning.
Rangers held their annual general meeting in Glasgow on Tuesday morning.While chairman Dave King addressed issues such as the number of tickets Celtic will receive for Old Firm clashes at Ibrox and the long-running dispute with Sports Direct, managing director Stewart Robertson also dealt with several other matters.
Here are some of the topics discussed:
On Rangers' relationship with referees:The referees are handled and dealt with by the SFA and we have regular dialogue with the SFA. I think everyone wants to see the standard of refereeing be as high as it possibly can. We don't want games or players' livelihoods affected by poor decisions and I know the SFA want that as well. We need to make sure we are fighting the corner for Rangers and hopefully the standard will begin to improve.''
On the possibility of introducing safe standing at Ibrox:We got a fresh proposal last week looking at the possibility of safe standing in the front of the Broomloan (Road Stand). We have only just received that so we are going through that just now and it will probably be into the new year when we will be looking to get back with some thoughts on it.''
On improvement works planned for the stadium and surrounding areas:In relation to the improvement of the facilities, there has been a lot going on over the last 18 months in terms of background work and we are now at a stage where we have a framework which we can take forward. In fact, it was discussed at the board meeting yesterday. We are looking at the reinstitution of Edmiston House, for example, in terms of we need to look at better conference facilities and a flexible space there. We are looking at better retail space, looking at a museum. All these things are at the stage where we need to take it to a formal business plan and look at the feasibility. These have all been received very positively by the board and hopefully over the next 12 to 18 months you will see a real upgrade in terms of the facilities outside the stadium. We are also looking, and are very conscious, that we need to upgrade the facilities for disabled supporters. They are not fit for purpose at the moment and we need to be better in terms of what we do there. We have got a couple of reviews going on just now. These things take time, especially with an older stadium, but hopefully over the next 12 to 18 months you will start to see a real difference to the facilities in and around the ground.''On the recent row with Glasgow City councillors over plans for an Ibrox fanzone:We have obviously had pretty well-publicised issues with the council a couple of months ago. That has been at the councillor level and what I would say is that at the officer level, Glasgow City Council are working very closely with us. Since we had that issue a few weeks ago, we have actually had very positive dialogue with them. I am hopeful, whilst there will still be voices inevitably that won't be our biggest fans, that the plans we put forward will meet with the approval of the council and we won't have any issues with planning.''