John Gilligan believes Rangers are set for a brighter future under a “reconfigured and refreshed” board.
The interim chairman revealed at Gers’ annual general meeting on Thursday that the directors had reviewed governance of the club and decided a change in structure would be beneficial.
The current board is largely made up of investors but Rangers’ hierarchy are intent on ensuring “a strong role from independent, non-shareholder, non-executives and more representation from our executive team”. The board reconfiguration is expected to be completed by next year’s AGM.
Gilligan said in an address to shareholders at Glasgow’s Clyde Auditorium on Thursday: “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.”
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The Rangers PLC board currently contains Gilligan, John Halsted, Alastair Johnston, Graeme Park, George Taylor, Julian Wolhardt and recently-appointed club secretary Graham Horsman.
Gilligan intends to step away from his interim role to make way for a new chairman imminently, while Patrick Stewart will start as the club’s new chief executive a week on Monday.
Another change to the leadership at Ibrox occurred last month with Rangers promoting director of football recruitment Nils Koppen to the role of technical director. The 39-year-old Belgian is charged with overseeing the club’s transfer strategy and overall responsibility for the men’s academy, medical, football operations, performance and analysis departments.
The Ibrox club made a net loss of £17.2million in their latest trading year. The figures did show a record revenue of £88.3m but a player trading loss of £8m contributed to the overall figures.
Player trading for the current year will not be helped by confirmation from chief financial officer James Taylor at the AGM that the club had received a combined amount of just £800,000 in transfer fees for Connor Goldson, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers, Scott Wright and Robby McCrorie this summer.
The figure was first revealed in the club’s accounts for last season, on events that took place after the period in question. Rangers revealed they had signed 10 players for a combined total of £13.4 million and received £0.81million following the departure of five players on permanent transfers and four on loan deals.
Gilligan, however, outlined his confidence that the club’s player trading will improve under Koppen’s stewardship.
“Nils has set our men’s first team on a course to be significantly more sustainable in the years ahead,” he said.
