AGM 2024: Chairman's Speech

RANGERS Interim Chairman John Gilligan addressed Rangers shareholders and supporters at today's 2024 AGM and you can read his speech in full here.

Good afternoon fellow supporters and shareholders, and thank you all for your attendance here today.

It is a real privilege for me to address you as the Interim Chairman of Rangers Football Club, and while I haven’t been in this role for the entire year since our last company meeting, I have been present as both a supporter and ambassador of this great club.

There is no doubt it has been a challenging period for the club since last we met, with significant change occurring both on and off the park throughout the football season, and over the summer period.

Our previous Chairman, John Bennett, stepped back from his role due to health issues. John remains a major supporter and a hugely supportive investor and I have to thank John for his huge financial and personal contribution over the last nine years. We send John our best wishes and look forward to seeing him back at Ibrox soon.

Our CEO, James Bisgrove, also left us to take up a role in Saudi Arabia. Creag Robertson departed last month but we have altered the structure and appointed Nils Koppen to Technical Director. Nils now has overall responsibility for all areas supporting the men’s first-team, including the Academy.

Nils remains on our executive team alongside our Chief Financial Officer, James Taylor, and our Chief Commercial Officer, Karim Virani.

James and Karim deserve enormous credit for their work in delivering record core revenue for the club, while Nils has set our men’s first-team on a course to be significantly more sustainable in the years ahead.

On taking up the position of Chair, I promised our supporters the recruitment of the CEO was a priority. We were therefore delighted to recently announce the appointment of Patrick Stewart, and he will take up his new role on December 16.

Patrick brings a wealth of experience and knowledge having spent over 20 years working in football. Indeed, he operated at Manchester United for 18 years, and held a variety of senior positions there, including that of Interim CEO. We look forward greatly to him joining us, and to him leading us into a new era.

One of the biggest challenges for the club in the last year has been the redevelopment of the Copland Road stand, and the delay to that which meant we began our season at Hampden.

I want to again, on behalf of the Board, offer a full apology to you, our supporters for the inconvenience this caused, and thank you all for the outstanding support you gave the team at Hampden. I’d also like to thank the Scottish FA, SPFL and UEFA for their understanding and support through that trying period.

With the works on the disabled section now complete, we are proud to boast some of the best disabled facilities in Europe, with the Board having committed to upgrading and improving facilities for our disabled supporters at a previous AGM.

We have recently appointed Peter Dallas as Operations Director to oversee all aspects at Ibrox Stadium and Auchenhowie. Peter has vast experience having previously been MD of Hampden Park.

We were also extremely proud to unveil the long-awaited statue of the great Walter Smith. Walter was a friend to me, and indeed, to so many, and he remains an inspiration to all of us who come to work at our great football club. Having Walter’s family present on the day of the unveiling was an emotional moment, and a permanent memorial to his memory is the least the football club could do given the enormous contribution he gave to us.

Everyone at the club is now looking forward to marking the 125th anniversary of our famed Ibrox Stadium later this month, with our match with Dundee designated as the culmination of a month of build-up. Ibrox is something we are all extremely proud of and will ensure we celebrate throughout the month of December and around our match against Dundee.

The focus of the Football Department is always winning trophies. There is no doubt it has been a challenging few months for us in the league, and we know Philippe’s full focus is on getting more consistency in results and performances. We have performed very well in the Europa League after a disappointing exit to Dinamo Kyiv in the Champions League, while we also have the opportunity to defend our League Cup on December 15.

There was a significant turnover of players in the summer, and there has also been some bad luck on the injury front, albeit the medical and performance departments deserve credit for the improvement on our injury record so far this season.

Our women’s first-team have begun their season strongly after winning both cups last season, and are well in contention to reclaim the league title once again after a strong start. Their recent defeat of Celtic away from home was outstanding, while they have a semi-final in the Sky Sports Cup against their great rivals to look forward to also.

I want to acknowledge the ongoing, fantastic work of the Rangers Charity Foundation.

We have recently renovated the playing surface at the Ibrox Complex after taking ownership back from Glasgow City Council, and the continued improvements to the complex provide a fantastic facility both for our charity work and club activities. The work and investment undertaken both in the Govan community and wider afield is making an enormous difference and continues to be supported and made possible by the generosity of the Rangers supporters.

The directors have recently reviewed the current governance of the company and concluded that the existing Board structure should be reconfigured and refreshed.

Currently the Board is made up entirely of investors who have consistently funded the club over the last 10 years. This structure served the club well in the initial phase of our recovery. Rangers is now in a much stronger financial position and this, combined with the current refinancing exercise, means our business model is now sustainable. Our Board structure should reflect this, with a strong role from independent, non-shareholder, non-executives and more representation from our executive team.

A new, independent, non-executive Chair will also be announced shortly with the brief to reconfigure the Board to include two further independent non-executive Directors, two-three Executive Directors including the CEO and CFO and two-three Investor Directors.

George Taylor and Julian Wolhardt are seeking re-election for one year only rather than the normal two years. All directors will therefore be eligible for re-election at the next AGM and it is anticipated that the Board reconfiguration will be completed before then.

I want to end my address by thanking everyone involved with the football club, from my fellow Board members, the staff, players, and investors.

I want to, above all, thank you, our loyal supporters once again for your continued and phenomenal backing. That backing cannot ever and will not ever be taken for granted.