Scottish businessman Jim McColl "has rejected a call" from Scottish Second Division Rangers' major shareholder Charles Green to invest £14M ($22M) into the crisis-hit club by Friday or "stop demanding changes to the Ibrox boardroom," according to Campsie & McConnell of the HERALD SCOTLAND. McColl and former Dir Paul Murray "have mounted a bid to oust" the club's new CEO Craig Mather and two others by "forcing an Extraordinary General Meeting." McColl said that he had "no interest in sitting on the board or increasing his small shareholding," but had been "motivated to force changes given disenchantment among a section of investors and fans with the current set-up." McColl said that as a club supporter and small shareholder, he could "not sit by knowing that disenchanted investors could ditch their shares and put Rangers' future power to attract capital at risk." Green said that McColl's earlier discussions with various consortiums to buy a major stake in Rangers "had led to nothing, claiming that the latest attempt to overhaul the boardroom was an exercise in vanity." Green: "What I am saying to Jim McColl is 'look, you are the world's richest Scotsman, you are a billionaire. You have got until Friday to put £14M into stockbroker Daniel Stewart's client account, and me and my consortium will sell you 20 million shares at the same price that all the Rangers fans bought in the IPO and you will have 28% of this club.'" Green added, "Then I know you and your consortium are serious about what you want to do, and if you are not going to do it by Friday just shut up and let the club move on" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 8/7).
MASTER PLAN: In Glasgow, Keith Jackson reported Green’s "media onslaught was a premeditated plan to ridicule McColl’s move to wipe out the current boardroom, even though the Scot has the backing of a huge percentage of the institutional shareholders who are the club’s majority shareholders." McColl came back "with all guns blazing." McColl: "There is a bigger job here to safeguard the future of the club -- it’s not about lining Charles Green’s pockets. It’s about cleaning up the mess these people have created and doing what is right for Rangers." He added, "That’s the point many people are missing, Green included. This was never going to be a buy-out or a takeover. This is just a matter of ensuring that the club is run correctly by people who have Rangers’ interests at heart" (DAILY RECORD, 8/7).
