Inside the Rangers AGM: What Bennett, Bisgrove and Clement had to say

Philippe Clement was joined by CEO James Bisgrove and chairman John Bennett as shareholders posed a series of questions.

Here are the major headline questions and the responses in full.

Do you have an update on disabled facilities?

James Bisgrove: Yesterday at the board meeting we presented an update on the phased works that primarily were to follow through on commitments to improve disabled facilities at Ibrox. As the chairman indicated in the close season of the summer there will be work on the Copland stand initially. That will mean a brand new disabled platform is installed at the back of the platform creating between 37-40 new bays for disabled supporters. We’re cognisant it will displace a number of supporters who have season tickets at the back of the Copland so our priority is communication and engagement with those supporters. The good news is that as part of these works, we will install a new cantilever which will create 950 new seats and that will be at the bottom of the Copland rear. All supporters who are displaced due to the new disabled platform will get first priority to move into those prime seats. That’s a substantial commitment from the board that was made yesterday. The plan was for this to be phased works so we will continue to improve and invest in disabled facilities at Ibrox stadium and I’m sure we will keep supporters updated as we move forward.

Will a singing section behind the goals be created?

James Bisgrove: At the moment there won’t be changes to the Sandy Jardine stand. The work we’ve undertaken around the singing section, we’ve had a number of trials in terms of the location of that section because an ambition we have as a club in unison with supporters is to maximise the atmosphere in the stadium. We’ve undertaken a lot of research to survey season ticket holders, I think we had 5000 respondents and what was very clear was that 9/10 season ticket holders have asked the club to create a dedicated singing section that’s behind the goal to maximise the atmosphere in the stadium. The board discussed this at length yesterday and at the moment we are continuing to explore that, engage and analyse the data to come to a final decision in terms of any location of a singing section, whether that be behind the goal in the Copland or Broomloan stand.

The post-balance sheet of £13milion, can we have an assurance that will not impact the manager’s ability to rebuild and is there a danger of financial difficulty as a result?

John Bennett: The second question, a resounding no. It will not cause any difficulties that we suffered 10 or so years ago. That’s well and truly over. The first question is also no, it will have no impact on the manager’s plans. He’s been clear in this room about the challenges of the January window. I wouldn’t worry at all about the summer spend impinging on what Philippe wants to do. It’s not just what he wants to do and this is really important. The statement that was made by the club last Friday in relation to Nils Koppen was not just about that appointment. It was very deliberate in terms of the football board. I want all of our fans to know it is a process. It is no longer about backing an individual. It’s about backing the club process, the statement on Friday was very clear about that that’s why you have a football board. That board, newly formed this year, is because we want to back a club process. Please rest assured the summer spent will have no bearing on where we all want and need to take it.

Why did it take seven months to replace Ross Wilson’s role at the club?

John Bennett: I think it has got to suit both parties, James and I led an exhaustive process on candidates. They’ve got to be right for the club, they’ve got to be available, it’s got to be right for them and for their families, where they will move and where they won’t. All that comes into it. We were very deliberate in what we wanted and the role was very important. You could say it’s a split role. I talked about the football board being very important and it’s also very important in the board’s view that we’ve actually spread the load. You’ll see Nils’ title reflects this. It’s a Director of Football Recruitment, it’s lost on absolutely nobody that it’s recruitment we need to get right systematically, not sporadically. That’s why Nils has come in as a Director of Recruitment. We were clear we didn’t want to go down the road of an overarching Sporting Director. We met some candidates but it just confirmed and James can add that we did not want the overarching, all-powerful Sporting Director, that was very important for us. Did that make it a bit more niche as a lot of people have the ambition, and I speak from experience of interviewing some of these people, they want to be celebrity Sporting Director. We don’t need that and we don’t want that. We know what we want to fix, recruitment. That’s why Nils is here. Maybe it’s a bit more specific and it took a little more time. Even if you hired somebody in April, did they have a three-month get-out clause? A whole lot has to align. What was much more important for us as a board was getting the right individual for that very specific role, recruitment.

READ MORE: 'Todd was an example': Philippe Clement on Cantwell talks and Nico Raskin blow - Q+A

The board has outlined player trading as key, will the current lack of quality lead to a lack of sellable assets and leave minimal scope for profit to be reinvested? Where will funds come from for the new manager?

John Bennett: First of all, the board will not make a pronouncement on the squad. I think that is down to the manager and his staff. The manager has been very clear and Philippe and I had a lengthy meeting on Friday on this and other matters, Philippe continues to assess the squad. What I can tell you is that the board will be ready whether for January or the summer. I don’t think the last window’s business impinges on our ability to strengthen this squad. I think we need to do that almost every window, if not every window. That must be a given. I don’t see limitations. Do also bear in mind that there will be contract expiries as there are. That’s quite significant depending on what we do with that at the end of this season. It’s not just about transfers. It’s about recycling wages that roll off which are fairly significant. It’s not just about a transfer kitty. It’s also about being clever and more clever than we’ve been frankly in the recycling of wages rolling off.

There’s a generation who lack Rangers moments, I desperately want to see those boys and girls have something to cheer.

Philippe Clement: It’s really important to get this synergy back and I know it’s a two-way street. It’s about us showing the right things and getting those things back from the fans so I am really happy with the reaction here. I talked about that at the barber this morning. To be serious it’s a major thing. The chairman and James can say what happened the first thing we talked about Rangers was why I came here. I see so much potential with this club, the fans, this energy. Along the way, it has been lost at the beginning of this season and it’s a major thing for me to rebuild that but I cannot do it alone. I need to do it with the players of course. I ask the support of everyone in that story. Because of that, I am really happy about the reaction today and when the gentleman spoke because it’s about that. We won’t go like a rocket, there will be bumps but then we need the support even more. I’ve come out of a club with almost no supporters and I felt how much I missed it. I saw how much the players missed it. The support, it’s an incredible amount of energy you can give the team in the good moments but for sure in the difficult ones. You need to embrace this force and I hope everyone can help and we can have a few good parties also with some silverware.

The numbers don’t stack up, do we need to sell high every year to be self-sufficient? The numbers this year don’t look great and we’ve wasted money with the previous manager on transfers?

John Bennett: I'm focused on more than one number but there is one number that I'd ask you to focus on in that profit and loss account. Yes, this club, for the second year in a row posted an operating profit but that was post-player trading. This club last year lost £10.5m pre-player trading. Keep your eye on that figure. It has to go away. The club has to drive this and the whole new executive team, and it's new for a reason, and it is tasked as I wrote in the chairman's statement not just with growing the club but driving through operating efficiencies. There's a lot of low-hanging fruit there we can squeeze out in my view. That's a cultural change, it's underway and it's driven by the executive team. The £10.5m has to become at worse, zero. I've got closer to the operations over the last six months, kicking the tyres etc, that £10.5m has to go away. Now not every club in this country or in Europe operates at that level, minimum break even prior to player trading. They need player trading to have a model. We want to take Rangers to a place where it breaks even or better from that £10.5m and I can tell you right now it's turning, that will turn. Please don't be concerned about that.

Do we have a serious injury issue?

Philippe Clement: It’s case by case. It’s important to look at the causes which can be several things. A human body, not enough training, a lot of other things. That’s why it was really important to get a director of performance into the building. We have a lot of good staff working with the players. In the six weeks, I’ve seen all the players working hard, also the injured players. We found someone who’s really good, also in making players better who had problems before. Tom Taylor comes from Brighton who have a good reputation in the last couple of years, working with players who have had issues before. I had this experience in older clubs where my players were more fit than before. We’re going to work together to make these things work in a better way here at Rangers. I can make a promise, give us a few months and you will see a lot fewer injuries.