Smith to continue without Rangers contract

December 7, 2009

Walter Smith will continue as Rangers manager without a contract as majority shareholder David Murray continues his efforts to sell the club, chief executive Martin Bain said Monday.

Bain told the club’s annual general meeting that Smith, whose current contract expires next month, would stay on without signing a new deal and that his assistant Ally McCoist and first-team coach Kenny McDowall would do likewise.

“We are lucky to have a management team who are all true Rangers supporters,” Bain said. “Walter, Ally and Kenny have agreed to work without contracts to protect the club from having a management team that new owners might not want.”

Rangers chairman Alastair Johnson meanwhile ruled out a sale of naming rights to the club’s Ibrox stadium, despite a 31-million-pound debt burden.

“Ibrox is non-negotiable,” Johnson said.

GLASGOW (AFP)

Tags: 31 million, AFP, Alastair Johnson, ally, ally mccoist, annual general meeting, bain, chief executive martin, club chief, contracts, david murray, debt burden, Glasgow, Ibrox Stadium, Kenny, Kenny McDowall, majority shareholder, management team, Martin Bain, new deal, rangers, team coach, Walter, walter smith

Rangers charged over European fan trouble

November 6, 2009

Glasgow Rangers were on Thursday charged with the improper conduct of their supporters following disturbances during Wednesday’s Champions League match against Unirea Urziceni in Bucharest.

The UEFA charge follows scuffles which occurred at half-time of the match which ended 1-1 with supporters shown on TV destroying seats while police used tear gas to quell the trouble.

UEFA’s control and disciplinary body will deal with the case on November 12.

“As far as we can establish at the moment, it seems there were a number of Rangers supporters who came late into the stadium and we need to find out why,” a UEFA spokesman told the BBC.

“Then there was an issue about where they were going to sit as apparently there were banners already placed there, which resulted in the request to remove some banners, which seems to have ended in a clash between stewards and some supporters.

“If we need to discuss with people who were there on site, we will do that and obviously we’ll take action after that.”

Rangers chief executive Martin Bain said the behaviour of some of fans was “unacceptable.”

Bain said on Rangers’ official website: “Obviously the behaviour of some of the fans inside the stadium was unacceptable and no-one likes to see that.

“However, what was equally unacceptable was the fact that Rangers came to this stadium with representatives from UEFA and Unirea a number of weeks ago and arranged for the four turnstiles to be open to give access to our supporters.

“When they arrived there were only two turnstiles open which caused difficulty gaining access and fans then to be sprayed with CS gas is totally unacceptable.”

PARIS (AFP)