I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.
Whether Charles Green ever compared himself to the overcomer of the Nervii I know not. But in that wee except from Mark Antony’s oration for the dead Caesar there is an eternal truth, and Charles Green has to live with it.
Much of the good that Charles Green has done for Rangers will be forgotten as time goes by, fans have short memories: A bit like David Murray’s reign it composed good and bad.
Charles Green realised he had a worldwide phenomena on his hands and his instincts told him exactly what to do to protect and nurture his investment. His public defence of the club was a breath of fresh air - he’s hadn’t exactly split the atom but his PR barrage was what punters had wanted to hear for years. On that level it’s hardly surprising so many fans would love him back swinging punches at Regan, Lawell and Doncaster.
However, I got the feeling towards the end of his reign that CG had started to believe his own publicity and that made him sloppy. His STV interview was disastrous for his credibility - they might have been white lies but there were too many of them.
If he does come back then many will support, some will publicly oppose, but make no mistake there will be plenty who will remain silent but withhold their support. The second time around is rarely as good as the first - and the club has moved on and now requires a CEO who can build a business and not someone with Green’s Barnum and Bailey touches. Circuses are fun - but they always leave town.
Green did a lot because I think he saw the potential in the club others who are too close to it probably didn't. To raise £22m for a Scottish 3rd Division club, no matter it’s iconic status, in the week before Christmas was no mean feat.
Events are however events and you can’t ignore them. Whether justified or not, Green was effectively sacked. That just drains your credibility. To ignore that is to ignore reality. I may be wrong but for folks who talk to him on a daily basis I think he knows that and won’t be back as CEO.
Imran Ahmad’s behaviour in putting out material on a fans forum was nuts. Plenty of us are frustrated about Chairman Malky’s lack of decisiveness but plastering club business online and inciting folks to turn up to demo at Murray Park was bonkers!
I’d been very suspicious of them at the start but as time went by they ticked off various items on the To Do List - banking facilities, purchase of assets and the jumping through all the regulatory hoops to get the club listed on the AIM market.
The thing I particularly like about Imran was that he thought big - he showed a huge ambition for the club and in commercial deals fought for Premiership style prices. He got it that Rangers were a worldwide club not a local one and he wasn’t for settling for second best.
I’ll admit that on a personal level I actually got to quite like Charles and Imran. Imran in particular was great company.
The problem both Ahmad and Green have - and I put Imran first as he was clearly the boss - is that credibility once gone can never truly be recaptured. In Imran’s case the fact that £137,500 of Craig Whyte’s cash ended up in his mother’s account may have a reasonable explanation but it looks as bent as a four bob note. All his other work perishes on that point never mind the forum postings. For a while I thought he might survive that but looking back I think it was a torpedo below the waterline.
Of course the shareholdings controlled or influenced by Ahmad and Green are considerable - between 30 and 50% I’d say. But as time goes by that will diminish as investors sell up and move on.
There’s also the factor that with all that has happened regulators and corporate investors will look less favourably on Imran and Charles and ordinary fans will question the right to rule of those who obtained their shares at a discount who who choose to hide behind lawyers offices in the Caymans, Beirut or London.
As I write this the Rangers Board are meeting - if I get my calls wrong then I may have to live with being out in the wilderness for a while. But FF coped with that under David Murray and it’s not that bad. What matters is that we do what is best for Rangers.
On balance it’s best that Imran and Charles don’t return and they allow the club to move forward.