Rangers require a new beginning. NOT a throwback: Keith Jackson explains why the Ibrox club should go cautiously with Dave King’s comeback.
John Bennett has resigned as the Ibrox club chairman.
Now that John Bennett has emerged from the mayhem at Rangers, let’s begin by wishing him a complete and quick recovery.
Bennett is essentially a really good man who was willing to give his football team about £24 million of his personal wealth because he was committed to acting in their best interests. The sickest irony of it all was that angry sections of his own fan base eventually turned against and even hated the retiring chairman.
Even if Bennett’s last few months as president were excruciating and infuriating, the truth is that he acted with the best of intentions. He has been caught off guard and duped at critical junctures during the past 12 months, which has left him to bear the responsibility and take personal responsibility for the destruction caused all around. Of course, Bennett made mistakes along the way as well, but his biggest failing was probably putting too much faith in other people and doing business with the belief that they had the same intense desire for the Rangers to succeed as he did.
He positively willed the likes of Michael Beale and James Bisgrove to do well in their respective roles without recognising that this B team was doing more harm than good. And it was only after Bisgrove had jumped ship to Saudi Arabia that the unsuspecting Bennett was forced to look under the bonnet to discover – to his absolute horror – the full extent of the damage.
Bennett’s stress levels reached unbearable heights when he learnt that Rangers would be unable to access Ibrox for the first several months of the season. At that point, Bennett found himself locked into a losing battle. Bennett had been working hard to reduce the massive financial waste that he estimated was costing the club about £10 million annually. Suddenly, however, Bennett was going to have to shell out a substantial sum to clear up the disastrous mess that Bisgrove had left in his office drawer.
Not only did he have to lead by example, but he also had to face the backlash of supporters who were still bitter about losing out on a domestic triple crown in the closing weeks of the previous year.
After years of internal strife, bloodletting in the boardroom, and ultimately poor management, they held Bennett responsible for nearly everything they could see right in front of their eyes, but in reality, he was steering the team in a more positive direction behind closed doors. In addition to trying to bring Rangers together, he also tried to provide more composed, level-headed leadership.
Bennett was put in charge of a basket case and, as a result, left behind a bin fire.He has been swallowed up and spat back out again by a club which he cares passionately about and that is a desperately sad state of affairs. But the prospect of dousing this blaze with two more years of Dave King and his gun powder brand of leadership all feels, well, a bit too Trumpian for comfort.
The businessman from South Africa has put himself out there for a second term as president, but Rangers would be better to decline his offer and promptly write it off as a move in the wrong way.
The Rangers would be better off avoiding this relapse, even though King may think he has a plan to turn the team around. If that plan involves going back to the days when he would pick fights in empty Blue Rooms, then that is.
Now that the peacemaker has been forced to throw in the towel, if King and Park are put back on a collision course the collateral damage could be spectacular and, let’s face it, over the last 13 years Rangers have had quite enough of these ego fuelled sideshows and circuses.
King may have been the right man in the right place ten years ago when he picked the fight with Mike Ashley which would eventually see him seize control of the club along with Paul Murray and John Gilligan in March 2015.
Not too long ago, during his audition for the position of chairman. Douglas Park put an end to one of them at the pass, responding angrily and hostilely to an approach from American entrepreneur Kyle Fox to invest £60 million.
If Park’s emotional commitment in Rangers was not as strong, he would not consider the possibility that the team might be in better hands.
Even if it may not be to everyone’s taste, that currently appears to be the best course of action for a team that is in desperate need of some levelheaded leadership, new funding, innovative ideas, and fresh perspectives. Bennett might eventually succeed in that endeavour if that is the lasting impact of his final stand.
Read more news on https://sportupdates.co.uk/
Leave a Reply