The Daily Record has shamelessly airbrushed David Murray out of the history of Rangers.
Almost anyone connected to Scottish football would associate Graeme Souness with the former Chairman. The captain of industry that sold the second biggest institution in Scotland for £1 in May 2011.
Souness is currently on a tour of legacy media outlets as he tries to sell tickets for a Q and A session at Edmiston House on May 1. Loyal bears can fork out £50-70 to wallow in the good old days.
Over the decades, changes of manager, ownership and even changes of club the Record has been a staunch ally of all things Ibrox.
During the nineties the Record and Murray were almost inseparable.
MURRAY AND THE DAILY RECORD LOVE-IN
Any time Murray wanted to get a message out he would toss a coin to decide whether to phone Jim Traynor or Keith Jackson.
When the Record needed a front or back page story Murray would always oblige.
Whether it was signing Ronado or Luca Vialli or the construction of a 70,000 seater Super stadium at Ibrox Murray would give the nod. ‘Senior sources confirmed’.
Despite that background, including the famous succulent lamb comment from 1998, the Record makes no mention of Murray in their fawning Souness interview.
Introducing the paranoid rant the Record reminds their army of readers of the glory days under Souness
Three Championship title wins and four League Cup triumphs during a 261 game reign were delivered by Souness against the backdrop of what he believes was an ‘us-against-the-world’ approach.
Two of those Championships were won with Murray as Chairman. As were two of the League Cups.
The Record reports Souness saying:
I was very lucky, I went to a club which had David Holmes as chief executive and owner Lawrence Marlborough who were okaying things. The amount of support I received from them was incredible, I never received a ‘no’ from David.
He would digest what I asking for, he would ask about what sort of money I thought would be needed when it came to buying players and about fees and salaries and he never once said ‘no’ to me. That is unheard of.
Mangers always want more and better players but David was so receptive to my requests and I was an enormous risk to Rangers as they were taking a chance on me as a manager as they were gambling on a guy who had no experience so for that I will be forever grateful. He had complete faith in me.
Murray got funding of £6m from the Bank of Scotland to buy out Marlborough in November 1988.
Souness bought a 15% share in the club which he had to sell to Murray when he left for Liverpool in April 1991.
It seems unlikely that Murray will be joining the special guests on stage on May 1.
Even after Souness had left he remained close to his pal Murray.
Signing Barry Ferguson and Tugay for Blackburn Rovers and taking Craig Moore and Jean-Alain Boumsong to Newcastle.
Souness was so close that Murray that he was gifted an EBT payment.
If Souness rode down Edminston Drive bollock naked on top of a white steed shouting at the top of his voice ‘ I’m the hardest bas@#rd in world football ‘ the daily Record would represent the story as a masterstroke for Summertime living with the rewards and advantages of bare horseback riding in the sun – buck naked ! Always get your daily dose of Vitamin D ……with plenty of fresh air !