• Message to Dave King after board criticism and EGM call
  • Backing for Clement and confident of success on the park
  • Updates on chief executive search and Copland project

John Gilligan has spoken to the media for the first time as interim Rangers chairman. Here is every word he had to say.

Do you have a timeline for the tasks you have been set?

I will stay on as long as required. The main priority is to get a chief executive. We are working on that right away. I can stay on indefinitely, I am expecting a few months and a chairman to come in too.

Does the new CEO need to be barnstorming communicator? 

Recruitment in any walk of life is of the moment. The person needs to be multi-faceted and good at everything. He needs to be an assertive character and we are looking much more to provide for the CEO via the chairman. And also for the CEO to have a lot of power day to day and the chairman to be slightly behind that.

There is a talk of what’s gone wrong - what is plan moving forward? 

There is a plan and I am here to bring stability to the enforcement of that plan. We have been distracted terribly by having to play at Hampden for a few months and a lot of people forget that the original objective here was to create a great facility for our disable supporters. It wasn’t a renovation, it wasn’t a reconstruction. 

Unfortunately the timing was wrong, we got that part of it wrong, and we had to go to Hampden. But everything is in place, the manager is in place and we are ready to keep going. We see some fruits for our labour now with some of the young players coming through and I am here to bring stability and help find a CEO.

Is there a recognition there have been a lot of bad decisions from board? 

Decisions are made, good and bad and things evolve from the decisions that are made. But it’s only fair to say that we are where we are and a good of great things have happened too.

On a personal level how do you feel about being Rangers chairman? 

Really pleased, honoured. Mrs Gilligan is not too happy but I am honoured, it’s a privilege.  I am delighted to come in after John had to step away, because he is a personal friend. Its an honour to help, very much so. I wear two hats because I am a supporter and the chairman, but now I am chairman I need to take the supporter hat off an focus on doing the job.

How do you feel about doing that? 

It’s difficult, but it’s essential. At 3 o’clock on a Saturday I can be a supporter for an hour and a half. But the responsibility of the chairman is to run the club properly.’ 

What is your view on Dave King wanting to return as chairman?

Dave is a major shareholder and he can say whatever he wishes to say. My view is it’s a bit unrealistic. Dave is a real businessman, he knows how shareholdings work. He is a 15 per cent shareholder, the other directors are 10, 12, 13 per cent shareholders. It is unrealistic.

He said the board should call an EGM…

Again, it is a bit unrealistic because EGMs are invariably called by people who wish to change something. But the current board don’t wish to change. So why would we call an EGM?

Is there any indication of fresh investment?

There is fresh investment coming in to the club. But in fairness Dave is talking about fresh investment, but he doesn’t want to invest. I am not quite sure where he means the investment is going to come from. There will be investment.

Dave has characterised Rangers as a club in crisis. Do you recognise that characterisation?

I think he has got it wrong.  I think it is unfair. What exactly is he saying is not good? What exactly is he saying is going wrong? Give us a plan and tell me. If Dave had some terrific plan to tell me where we are all going wrong then we would read that plan and we would consider it.

Has he reached out to you or any member of the board?

No, I haven’t spoken to Dave. Dave gave me one of the happiest days of my life when he asked me to join him 10 years ago and I will never forget it, never forget it. Since then I have met him, played golf and socialised when he has been over. But I haven’t heard from him, no.

How do you compare Rangers now with Rangers in 2015?

It is almost ridiculous to compare it. It would make my cry rather than laugh. You cannot describe how low we were in 2015 and what we inherited in terms of all sorts of aspects of the club. It is unrecognisable since that day. Listen, very day at Rangers Football Club is a challenge, the level of expectancy is enormous. As a fan I am part of that problem. But it is just ridiculous to compare it, to even begin to compare it.

There is a significant gap between Rangers and Celtic on and off the park…

History tells you that happens. Sometimes we are ahead, sometimes Celtic are ahead. At the moment we are chasing. There is no argument there, I am not stupid enough to say otherwise. But we will keep chasing.

How do you bridge that financial gap?

Player trading is the biggest success and qualification for the Champions League. It is a kind of Catch 22 – player trading gets you income, Champions League gets you income. When you fail to get it, it is difficult because Scottish football’s level of support, TV, sponsorship etc, you just can’t compare it to England’s. So it is always a challenge, of course it is. It is all about the squad and bringing in players and winning your matches and moving forward.

How destabilising are Dave’s comments?

It’s only destabilising if the people who are the main shareholders and operating the business don’t have a plan and don’t have people in place to execute it. We have had difficulties recently with the stadium and things but destabilising, no not particularly. Dave is entitled to say what he wants. It’s a free world. But I don’t feel it’s destabilised at all no.

Can you provide details of future investment?

What I meant was the current investors have invested considerably over the years and are willing to do so again. We are open to anyone who approaches us on investment. We get approaches from all over the world from various sources. But it has to be the right people and the right conditions and for the right amount of shares. We don’t want one person owning the club.

Dave reckons £50million is needed to bridge the gap - what do you think?

I don’t think you can put a number on it. The gap at the moment is considerable but you just have to win your games, get back challenging for the top spot and then if we get into the level of Europe we hope to get to then the gap can change quite quickly.

What did you say to Philippe Clement about your vision for Rangers?

I was very impressed with the manager. We had a long talk myself and George Letham. He was very impressive. The long and short of it is I don’t talk about football myself, the manager is in charge, we’re here to operate the business and the manager is supported to operate the training academy and football side of things.

We will never interfere in that. The one thing I will say is the manager had been put forward as a spokesperson for the club which put him under undue pressure at times because it’s an area of the business that’s not his. Hopefully I or someone else will pick that up. The manager was very impressive.

Does he still have the full backing of the board?

Absolutely yes. Famous last words of endearment!

Would you go outside of football for the CEO appointment?

It would need to be someone exceptional. When you are recruiting you are looking at four or five must haves. That’s not really a must have. But it’s pretty close. If someone exceptional appeared…. If he didn’t have an interest or understanding of football then it would be a bit like me asking to be chief exec of a technology company. It’s difficult. Without the knowledge of the product and business it would be difficult.

What are the timescales?

We are well on. We have quite a number of people around it who we can pick up with again. We are moving quickly on it.

Regarding the chairman, could you go for somebody who is independent of existing people of board to come?

I don’t see that being an issue for the board. A non-executive chairman going forward, once we get a proper CEO in place, that’s possible.

What are the must-haves for the CEO?

They need to have a strong business acumen, experience, they need to have ran businesses where there’s pressure and ned to deliver, it can’t be a comfortable business because the stress and pressure of being CEO of a football club is pretty big. They need to be a good communicator and getting to people. And they need a tremendous work ethic because it goes without saying it’s unbelievably difficult. They need to be a good person. I like decent people.

Dave has said the hiring of a recruitment agent is a waste of money?

That [a waste of money] is not true. We've got several people who will be announced as consultants and we'll go through a proper process. I've got no idea what he is referring to when he says that.

How much will be being back at Ibrox help?

I think it will be huge. Winning on the pitch always does everything but it's been a real tough time. I have to thank Mike Mulraney and Neil Doncaster for helping us and allowing us to play at Hampden, because that was a big thing for us. There was nowhere else big enough for us. But this is home, and we're back. It's a phenomenal difference. 

Where are you with the Copland?

It's imminent, we are really hopeful. But we've got to be respectful of local authority approval etc, fire and insurances - it's all the little things now. Structurally, we are pretty much there.

Why would Dave not be welcomed back?

That's another great question. Again it's not really for me to say, I'm just the interim chairman. But if you look at what's been said and what the guys have been saying, there's a shareholder structure to the business, there's a projection plan. Dave was chairman, Dave's still a major investor and can attend the AGM and ask questions, but there's just no appetite for it at the moment because, one, Dave was here before and he stepped away. Other people stepped up - Douglas [Park] stepped up, then stepped down and John [Bennett] stepped down. There's just no appetite.

Are you confident Clement can deliver success?

Yes. Personally he inspired a bit of confidence. He's a very intelligent man and knows what he is trying to do, what he's trying to do for the club.

Would your message to Dave to be to shut up now?

I'm trying to think, has any other director or any person said anything about Dave? No. Have they responded publicly? No. Will I ever say anything bad about Dave? No. So in answer to your question, do I wish he would stop? Yes. I just say to Dave, 'please take it below the radar, behave like a proper shareholder. Don't do what you are doing'. It's just a shame because he is a great character and he had a massive influence on the club at the time. I'll always respect that.

Is it hard to get a top level CEO in?

This is Rangers Football Club and with respect to the other sports [rugby and golf], football is the dominant sport in the country and much more attractive. As a golfer - certainly not a rugby player! - I accept that. We would expect to attract a top-level candidate.

Are there other plans for the football board such as a sporting director?

It will be full focus on the chief executive because in turn, if we bring in people, we'd really like to think we would be part of that. We've also got a very competent executive team here, heading up commercial and marketing, finance, stadium. We've got a very competent team of guys and girls here. We'll be fine. They're not connected, sometimes people get headhunted and move on. We're in a strong place.