Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart addressed and answered supporters’ questions alongside a panel of senior members of staff.
Hosted by Head of Communications, Nick Thomson, he was joined by Chief Financial Officer James Taylor, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Greig Mailer, and Business Growth Director, Natalie Nairn.
The CEO spoke about the appointment of incoming Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell, which was announced officially by the club on Wednesday night. He also referred to the media statement which had been released earlier in the day around the ongoing conversations with a consortium interested in acquiring control of the club.
An update was also shared about how decisions are made at the club. A new policy has been introduced that gives the club’s leadership team more freedom to make day-to-day decisions without needing formal board approval. There are, however, still some matters which are ‘reserved’ and require board input. This change was made shortly after Patrick joined.
There was an update on kit, with confirmation that the club will play in Umbro next season, under the Castore partnership.
It was confirmed that recruitment will begin in due course for someone to head up the Academy, to report into the new Sporting Director. The club are also in discussions with the SPFL and the Scottish FA about increasing opportunities for young players in Scotland to play first-team football.
James Taylor outlined that the remaining works on the Copland Stand toilet areas will commencing imminently, with a view to being completed ahead of the 2025/26 season. There are no immediate plans to undergo any future major infrastructure projects on the Broomloan and Sandy Jardine stands.
Greig Mailer introduced his new role with the club after joining a little over two weeks ago, with his priorities being to build trust and relationships with the fans, support ongoing work on the matchday experience and promote and defend the club’s reputation.
Another talking point was QR codes being in use for ticketing at non-league fixtures at Ibrox. The root cause of this is tied back to the introduction of the new ticketing system, combined with issues created by the move to Hampden at the start of the season. The broad feedback on the new ticketing platform has been positive in terms of the online experience, but the club are well aware of the access issues and queuing at non-league matches with a number of different options being explored to address it.
Entry for away fans was also discussed, given the impact this sometimes has on 360-degree movement around the Ibrox footprint. This will be addressed for May’s Old Firm match to allow home supporters full access around the stadium prior to kick-off.
Natalie Nairn fielded a number of questions in relation to ticket access for MyGers members. The ongoing challenge is to manage the significant demand for away matches. Natalie noted that over 200,000 MyGers domestic away ticket applications were received this season with around 25,000 tickets available to MyGers members. There is a commitment to working with the Fan Advisory Board to system on an ongoing basis to try to refine and balance the competing demands.
Alcohol being sold to general access supporters was discussed. Patrick Stewart spoke at length on this, and said he felt it was unfair that football supporters are not treated on par with the supporters of other sports, an issue which he believes Scottish football is aligned on. A change in legislation will be a political matter, but it is something the club would like to see.
Following the event, CEO Patrick Stewart commented: “This event was really important, and it was something I committed to when I joined the club, to have regular dialogue with supporters.
“I hope the supporters felt we gave honest answers. We certainly took every question that was asked of us but hopefully it is useful, and they want to see more of these events.
“As a management team we are really keen to communicate with fans and to deal with the questions honestly, so I’ll be interested to hear the feedback.”