Latest news with #Cavenagh
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Inside Rangers owner Andrew Cavenagh's secret Ibrox mission as he bought ticket and sat with normal fans before takeover
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ANDREW CAVENAGH made up his mind to secure a controlling investment in Rangers as he brought a regular ticket and sat in the cheap seats in the Copland Stand. Cavenagh, who made his money in the US health insurance sector, secured a 51% stake in tandem with 49ers Enterprises big hitter Paraag Marathe in June. Sign up for the Rangers newsletter Sign up 4 Chairman Andrew Cavenagh and vice-chair Paarag Marathe at Ibrox Stadium Credit: Willie Vass 4 Fans at Ibrox 4 Andrew Cavenagh Credit: Getty And he was sold on the deal when making a secret mission to the Copland Stand on November 23 - buying a normal ticket to sit amongst the fans after battling through a snowstorm. Former Rangers director Paul Murray, who had met Cavenagh weeks earlier, told the Daily Record: "I think the two things which really struck me about Andrew that day were, first of all he was really engaged and obviously really interested in what I was saying, but also we were playing a game against Hearts at Ibrox a couple of days later on the Sunday. "He actually said to me, 'I think I'll just with all fly up to and he Ibrox and go to the 'I'm game.' "I asked if he wanted me on his chat to try to speak to someone and he said, 'No, I'll just get a ticket and I'll just go.' "As it turned out, for various reasons he wasn't able to go as he had some family stuff on, but he then contacted me about a week later and said he wanted to go to the Dundee United game, which was in the middle of November. "Again, I asked if he wanted me to help and he said, 'No, I'll just go and get a ticket - a normal ticket for any area of the ground.' I think he actually went into the Copland (Road) Stand. "But I thought that was quite interesting. A guy with that wealth and he just thought, 'I'm going to buy a ticket.' "He flew up to Glasgow, bought a ticket on his own. He went with a couple of other guys and you might remember it was a really bizarre game because it was meant to be a three o'clock kick-off on the Saturday and it was really bad weather. "It was the middle of November, but there were snow drifts and crazy weather to the point that Dundee United couldn't get down the A9. Rangers fans unfurl giant tifo ahead of Russell Martin's first match "He actually contacted me to say, 'When does the game start?' "I said, 'I've just looked and apparently it's been delayed until four o'clock!' "So it was a really weird day and Andrew was basically walking about the stadium, looking at the stands and nobody knew who this guy was. "The other thing that happened that day was there were quite a lot of fan protests as well as having the snow drifts to contend with. But it obviously didn't put him off." Have YOU got a point for Kris Boyd? Kris Boyd and Roger Hannah chew over the big talking points each week SOMETHING you've just got to get off your chest from the weekend action? A burning Scottish football talking point you can't wait to bring up with Kris Boyd and Roger Hannah? SunSport's GoBallistic show wants to hear from you! So why not help set the Scottish football agenda for the week ahead! Have your say on the game's big topics by emailing us on: GoBallistic@ It's YOUR turn to Go Ballistic! 4 Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Andrew Cavenagh pushed the button on Rangers takeover after undercover spying mission on the Copland Road
It was after this spying mission that Cavenagh opened the talks which would lead to his successful takeover in May of this year Andrew Cavenagh decided to push the button on his multi-million pound buy out of Rangers after going deep undercover to mingle with match day punters in the Copland Road stand. The health insurance tycoon made the secret trip to Glasgow on November 23 last year, battling through a snow storm to buy a ticket for a 1-1 draw with Dundee United. And it was after this spying mission that the American businessman opened the talks which would lead to his successful takeover in May of this year, along with his backers from the San Francisco 49ers The story of Cavenagh 's first ever trip to Ibrox has been revealed by Paul Murray in part of an in depth exclusive interview with our groundbreaking Hotline Live show, which is available to view online. And Murray, who helped Cavenagh and his consortium pull the deal together from the inside, has told how he knew the Americans were destined to take control from the moment the main man turned down a VIP seat in the directors' box to sit among the fans instead. Murray revealed: 'I met Andrew for the first time on a Zoom call in October last year, so nine months ago. We had a bit of a chat - nice guy - and he was then coming to London a week later. 'So I flew down to London and had lunch with him in central London. We had a really good chat. 'He didn't actually mention the 49ers at that time but he was actually with a guy from Leeds so I kind of figured out that there was something else maybe going on. 'We had a really good chat and my first impressions were, 'Really nice guy, very easy to talk to,'. 'As we've been discussing, over the last 20 years I've met a lot of people who want to invest in Rangers and who come forward - I think we all know some of the people we've just been mentioning! 'Andrew was different. You just got a sense immediately this guy is, first of all, he's a very successful businessman in his own right. A very serious guy but also a nice guy and also engaged. 'I talked him through the history of the club, the last 15 years and some of the things that had happened. You could tell he was really engaged. He obviously knew a lot of the things we were talking about. 'As it happened, because the guy was there from Leeds, I did take the opportunity of mentioning the Battle of Britain from 30 years ago which they were quite amused by. 'I said, 'That shows you where Rangers were 30 years ago. Before the English Premier League came into existence, we were, if not the biggest club in Britain, certainly one of the biggest clubs in Britain,'. So they were actually quite interested in that. 'I think the two things which really struck me about Andrew that day were, first of all he was really engaged and obviously really interested in what I was saying but also we were playing a game against Hearts at Ibrox a couple of days later on the Sunday. 'He actually said to me, 'I think I'll just fly up to Ibrox and go to the game,'. 'I asked if he wanted me to try to speak with someone and he said, 'No, I'll just get a ticket and I'll just go,'. 'As it turned out, for various reasons he wasn't able to go as he had some family stuff on but he then contacted me about a week later and said he wanted to go to the Dundee United game, which was in the middle of November. 'Again, I asked if he wanted me to help and he said, 'No, I'll just go and get a ticket - a normal ticket for any area of the ground,'. I think he actually went into the Copland Stand. 'But I thought that was quite interesting. A guy with that wealth and he just thought, 'I'm going to buy a ticket,'. 'He flew up to Glasgow, bought a ticket on his own. He went with a couple of other guys and you might remember it was a really bizarre game because it was meant to be a three o'clock kick-off on the Saturday and it was really bad weather. 'It was the middle of November but there were snow drifts and crazy weather to the point that Dundee United couldn't get down the A9. 'He actually contacted me to say, 'When does the game start?'. 'I said, 'I've just looked and apparently it's been delayed until four o'clock!'. 'So it was a really weird day and Andrew was basically walking about the stadium, looking at the stands and nobody knew who this guy was. 'I thought it was actually really interesting that a guy like that would take the time - because normally these guys want to go to the directors box as VIPs - but this guy was prepared to put on his work clothes if you like and just go and look at it. 'The other thing that happened that day was there were quite a lot of fan protests as well as having the snow drifts to contend with. But it obviously didn't put him off.' Now, a decade after helping Dave King take control of Ibrox in a boardroom purge, Murray believes his club has been passed into the best possible hands. He said: 'There are no guarantees. But I'm hugely excited. 'I spent a good bit of time with Andrew in the early days - I don't know Paraag just as well but we did have a couple of meetings - and I think these guys are going to be great for the club. 'I think, in a funny kind of way, the fact that they are not Rangers fans is a good thing because we've had Rangers fans on the board for a long time and it is difficult. 'It's hard to convey when you are a fan but you are also on the board as a custodian, you feel the weight of expectation on your shoulders. 'In fact, my very last game on the board of directors was just before Steven Gerrard came, when we lost 5-0 at Celtic Park and Celtic won the league. 'I remember leaving that day and I was actually finished. I just had to resign because I was emotionally spent. You sit there as a fan and as a director and it's hard to take. 'These guys are clearly going to be invested in the club from an emotional point of view but they are a bit more detached. And that gives them more objectivity which is a good thing. 'I don't know Paraag as well as Andrew but I think they are quite a complimentary duo and it's maybe this east coast west coast thing. Andrew is obviously from Philadelphia and I think Paraag is from California. 'So they have slightly different styles and backgrounds but I think they are quite complementary.'
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
The secret lunch that sparked the Rangers takeover and united one time saviour with new king of Ibrox
Paul Murray met Andrew Cavenagh over a meal and knew right away he was the man to take Rangers to a whole new level Paul Murray explains why he knew Andrew Cavenagh was right for Rangers | Hotline Live Paul Murray has revealed how he knew Andrew Cavenagh would become the new king of Ibrox after one lunch together in London. Former Rangers chairman Murray has spoken for the first time about his role in facilitating the transformational American takeover which has seen Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers take control of the Glasgow club. As part of a fascinating exclusive interview with our agenda setting online show Hotline Live, Murray has told how he flew south to meet with the health insurance tycoon in November last year to begin exploratory discussions about a possible multi-million pound deal. How he left that meeting convinced that Cavenagh and his consortium, including 49ers chief Paraag Marathe, were the right men to take control. And how he immediately set-up the negotiations with Dave King which led to Cavenagh's buyout. Murray said: 'If you spend some time with him you realise he's a serious guy. After I had met him for the first time, for lunch, I messaged him on my way back to the saying, 'I think you and your colleagues would be great owners for the club'. 'I just kind of felt it. Having met tons of people over the years who came forward you just knew this was a different sort of animal. 'I've got an expression about 'proper people'. And what you're dealing with here is a proper guy. I don't know Paraag just as well but I think he's the same. That was my sense after the first meeting. 'So I introduced him to Dave who was the single largest shareholder and after some meetings and calls it became clear that Andrew and his colleagues wanted to get control of the club, 51 per cent, which they wouldn't get just by buying Dave's shares. 'At that point I then introduced Andrew to the club. He had to speak to the board and the other shareholders to try to piece together the deal. 'It was quite a complicated deal and that's why it took the best part of seven months to get from that initial meeting in London to the completion of the deal.' Record Sport broke the news of Cavenagh's plans in February this year. In May the deal to snap up a 51 per cent stake was concluded with Cavenagh appointed chairman and Marathe installed as his right hand man. And Murray is now urging the Rangers supporters to give their American owners time to get to grips with the task of turning their club around. He said: 'You've heard him speaking. He's quite a measured and considered guy, which I quite like. 'I've only met him a few times but in the dealings I've had with him, which were quite a few, I think he's a considered, measured guy who has obviously been very successful in business. 'He's not going to be prone to hyperbole. The danger in football is you get prone to the hyperbole, 'We're going to spend £100m and win the Champions League in 10 minutes'. 'I think we've got to be realistic and let these guys take their time, look at the situation and let them build it going forward.'
Daily Record
29-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh should note these 13 words and I had to laugh about one fan nickname
I had to laugh when the first Rangers fan on the radio on Monday night's phone-in referred to 'the boy Cavenagh'. That will be Andrew Cavenagh, I presume. Newly installed, multi-millionaire chairman at Ibrox. The man who built his fortune on a billion-dollar healthcare insurance firm in the United States. That 'boy'? The boy Cavenagh had made a sound first impression on the caller because of what he had to say to shareholders at an EGM earlier in the day which had ratified the injection of £20million worth of fresh investment in the club. But the Ibrox media department might, going forward, have to issue Andrew with a copy of the newly-published Oxford English Dictionary, which has incorporated a total of 13 Scottish words that might be instructional on the basis that America and Scotland are countries separated by a common language. One of the words is 'shoogly' – which will be the description used to describe the peg Andrew's jacket is hanging from in the event of Rangers making a bad start to the new season. 'Aye, right' is another addition. Andrew will need to know this one because it will be the response he'll get from every Rangers fan he meets if his explanation for a poor start is found to be unsatisfactory. Conversely, Rangers, under new head coach Russell Martin, could carry all before them and end the first month of the season with a win over Celtic at Ibrox on August 31. At which point Andrew will need to consult his dictionary to translate the newly-added 'hoaching' – which means crowded or thronging. It was Cavenagh's vice-chairman, Paraag Marathe, who said after the EGM that if Ibrox could be redesigned to accommodate 200,000 fans then the ground would always be full to capacity. Paraag, or 'the boy Marathe' as he might become known in the fullness of time, is the song-and-dance man of the new duo occupying centre stage at Ibrox, judging by his media conference after Monday's meeting. He launched what I would describe as Operation Govan Gravitas during his inaugural introduction to the public at large. Gravitas was the word that peppered his conversation concerning the immediate future for Rangers. 49ers Enterprises, he said, would bring 'global gravitas' to Rangers because of the business association between the pair of them. And Marathe put forward the notion there is a certain 'extra gravitas' which will help attract new players to the club because of the business link to an NFL team in San Francisco. Extra gravitas, as opposed to falling on your gravitas, so to speak. There's a saying in football that you only get one chance to make a first impression and Cavenagh and Marathe look to have grabbed that opportunity. There's always one, of course. And Monday's opening turn at the top table has subsequently brought forward former Labour MP Sir Brian Donohoe to question whether the interests of the minority shareholders are looked after under the articles of association drawn up by a now private, as opposed to public limited, company. Time will tell. In the meantime, you have to wonder, with the benefit of hindsight, how so many chancers and snake oil salesmen managed to inveigle themselves into positions of power at Ibrox during the pain-in-the- gravitas years from 2011 until the present day. A time that was spent accumulating so many financial difficulties that 49ers Enterprises have arrived like the cavalry to prevent further calamity from striking. Cavenagh calls it 'building a culture'. That is to say, transforming a culture of failure on and off the park at Rangers into a culture of achievement through Operation Govan Gravitas. What Cavenagh and Marathe have to be aware of as they prepare for the start of domestic matches and in Europe are two of the other words now in the Oxford English Dictionary. One is 'bummer' and the other is 'beamer'. Cavenagh is the heid bummer at Ibrox, otherwise known as the man with whom the buck stops. Marathe and the chairman have to avoid a beamer, otherwise known as a flushed face in the aftermath of an embarrassing situation. Marathe says everything Rangers do from now on will be built on 'discipline and thoughtful, analytical, data-based decision making'. The man who called the chairman 'the boy Cavenagh' would probably beg to differ.
Glasgow Times
26-06-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Ex-MP warns Rangers' articles of association aren't 'fit for purpose'
The former Labour politician, who served as an MP in his native Ayrshire between 1992 and 2015, is hopeful the new majority shareholders, who completed their £75m purchase of a 51 per cent stake last month, can oversee an upturn in fortunes both on and off the park in the coming season and beyond. The 76-year-old does, however, have his concerns. He has reservations about the implications of the Govan giants transitioning from a public limited company to a private limited company. He was unsettled when he read Rangers' new articles of association - which were adopted following a vote at an Extraordinary General Meeting in Glasgow city centre on Monday morning - and is worried about how minority shareholders like himself will be represented going forward. Read more: Sir Brian's misgivings prompted him to attend the EGM, ask new chairman Cavenagh and vice-chairman Paraag Marathe directly who will look after the interests of those who jointly own a 49 per cent stake in the club and enquire how they will be shown the 'respect' which he believes they deserve. 'I chair an investment fund with some £800m in its kitty,' he told a gathering of several hundred Rangers shareholders. 'I have to watch over that. It is a pension scheme for members of parliament. 'But I have never seen articles of association like those you have presented to us. I have read them four or five times and I still can't see where the 49 per cent of the shareholders are being represented.' Cavenagh responded at length. He pointed out that 75 per cent shareholder approval is needed under UK law before significant corporate actions can be taken. He stressed that non-executive directors George Taylor and John Halsted will represent minority shareholders on the board. He also promised there will be regular dialogue with supporters despite there no longer being a legal requirement to hold an AGM. (Image: SNS Group Rob Casey) So has Sir Brian, who is a former chairman of the Westminster Rangers Supporters Club and who was on the board of the fan ownership group Rangers First before it merged with the Rangers Supporters' Trust to form Club 1872 back in 2016, had his fears assuaged by those assurances? Not particularly. He is certainly prepared to give the new hierarchy the chance to prove their worth. However, he remains interested to see how the private limited company functions in practice and is going to reserve his judgement until he does so. 'Time will tell,' he said. 'It is not one of these things I would ever have a knee-jerk reaction to. I wouldn't do that with what goes on on the field either. Having said that, if we don't have wins in our first four games this season I do think we will struggle. 'But I have to tell you, I don't see the articles of association as being fit for purpose. They are 40 pages long. Previous ones for this club have maybe been two or three pages long. But they are not as specific as I would have thought they would have been. 'At the end of the day, the highlight is the majority shareholder has absolute control. That is where there is a failure for me. How they use that will determine how I will think in the future.' Read more: Sir Brian continued, 'I think you have to give them time. But, at the same time, they are talking about there being transparency and I am not sure that there is transparency. 'When you take a company from where it was into being a private company then you've got a big problem I think. That's my personal point of view. I would never invest in such a company myself, never. 'Taking the company from being publicly accountable to being private means it takes it out of all of the formal regulation that there is. When a company is public you can go and get representations made on your behalf, but when it is private you can't, there is no possibility of that. They're private in every sense of the word. 'If you read the articles of association, it's clearer by the page that it's a private company with no input whatsoever from fans and certainly no input from shareholders like myself. That's where we're at.' Is Sir Brian not heartened by the presence of Taylor, the head of investment banking with Morgan Stanley in Asia who has been a major shareholder in his boyhood heroes since 2015, and Halsted, an American investor who has 30 years of equity experience, on the new Rangers board? He is far from reassured. (Image: Andrew Milligan) 'I knew George Taylor's father Teddy (the former Conservative MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland) extremely well,' he said. 'He was a great guy. He and I used to debate across the country. 'But I have never met George. I have asked to have a discussion with him through a mutual friend of ours, but unfortunately we have never had that discussion. That is a disappointment. 'Given each of the resolutions at the EGM on Monday were passed by a 98 per cent majority, George must have voted for all those motions, including for these articles of association. That disappoints me as well.' Cavenagh stated that Rangers will make their accounts publicly available every year because they are, despite no longer being a public limited company, obliged to by regulators during the course of a lengthy grilling by bloggers and members of the media at Ibrox following the EGM. Sir Brian is optimistic the new regime will, after years of watching Rangers suffer repeated domestic failures and post heavy financial losses, be able to put a self-sustainable business model in place in time and deliver consistent success both at home and abroad. Read more: 'These two guys, the chairman and the vice-chairman, are both very switched-on individuals,' he said. 'They're not anybody's fools. They won't necessarily be hands-on, but I don't believe a chairman or a vice-chairman should be hands-on. As long as the corporate organisation itself is in tune with what I would want, then they'll be fine.' But the shameful actions of previous custodians of the Ibrox club in the not-too-distant past remain fresh in his memory. He revealed that he will turn to his many acquaintances in the corridors of power at Westminster and ask them to apply political pressure if he is unhappy with how Rangers are operating. He has done so in the past. The former trade unionist publicly called, long before the possibility of creating an independent regulator for football had been raised, for a parliamentary inquiry into football clubs' finances, in particular their use of tax avoidance schemes like Employee Benefit Trusts, back in 2012 after Rangers were placed into administration. The then MP for Central Ayrshire also demanded that the stewardship of the 150-year-old institution by both Sir David Murray and Craig Whyte be scrutinised by the government. 'I've got other ways of making my voice heard as you can appreciate,' said Sir Brian. 'I can go to members of parliament. I know plenty. I'm in London quite often and I talk to them regularly. They can raise matters at the House of Commons. That will not really suit, I shouldn't think, the directors of this company (Rangers). But I've done it before and will do it again.'
