Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston has revealed the depth of hostility that ‘turnaround specialist’ Donald Muir has encountered in the Ibrox boardroom.
Muir was appointed a director 18 months ago shortly before Walter Smith made his first public claim that Rangers were being controlled by the bank.
That brought a public denial from Lloyds TSB with claims that Muir had been appointed by Sir David Murray.
Many Rangers supporters have suspected that Muir is on the board to look after Lloyds interests with Johnston confirming that yesterday as he discussed the club’s latest accounts and the possibility of Craig Whyte taking over from Murray.
“It’s a condition of our credit facility agreement that Donald Muir is the representative of the bank on the board,” Johnston confirmed. “This was a thing that was put in place a couple of years ago when the predecessor of the guy we deal with at Lloyds Bank was there and it’s been terribly compromising to have. It’s actually terribly compromising for Donald Muir.
“It’s very tough to engage in conversations at board level about strategies with the bank when we know that the bank guy is sitting there.”
The strain of the on-going takeover saga seems to be taking it’s toll on Johnston who has generally kept his comments neutral in a delicate situation.
Asked about the denials that Muir was the banks man on the board the Rangers chairman added: “It’s been denied by a lot of people, but I’m telling you what the issue is right now. I decided that I might as well. I think it was Donald that denied that.
“To be honest it’s not nearly as counter-productive as it was in the early days. What happened when I got here was that the banker that was involved with us refused to talk to our chief executive or to our chief financial officer.
“It was one of the most stupid aberrations that I’ve ever come across and I said that to the bank when I came in. He had never met our chief financial officer. He had never met Martin Bain. After about six months I said that this was the biggest, nuttiest thing I have ever heard.
“To be fair, fortuitously or for whatever reason, the guy involved with the bank got replaced and then the situation became a whole lot better.”
Incredible comment from Rangers chairman.
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“To be fair, fortuitously or for whatever reason, the guy involved with the bank got replaced and then the situation became a whole lot better”
translated this means enough outside pressure from the rangers loving media and politicians forced Lloyds to get rid of the 1st guy and ensure rangers were treated differently than everyone else the bank had ever dealt with before.