Rather unimpressed- Simon Jordan names the Ibrox director that isn’t the sharpest

Simon Jordan has diplomatically admitted to be being rather unimpressed by the calibre of the guys in the Blue Room of Unsurpassed dignity- highlighting Graeme Park for special attention.

The former Crystal Palace owner was asked about the vacant CEO position at Ibrox by Jim Whyte on TalkSPORT yesterday with the former Sky Sports presenter a close contact and loyal messenger for the Ibrox board.

From Dave Murray to Charles Green and Dave King, Whyte can be relied on to get a sympathetic message out to the loyal support that all is well inside The Big Hoos.

Ibrox has of course been closed since May, CEO James Bisgrove quit after less than a year in the job, Phil Clement’s side missed out on the £40m Champions League prize while Chairman John Bennett tries to chop £10m a year from the wage bill- the equivalent of a team of being paid £17,500 a week.

The end of season exits of John Lundstram and Kemar Roofe will have taken about £4m off the wage bill but more has to be done with St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie is being linked with the job of CEO.

Gillespie is apparently a right good blue nose with a strong understanding of the club but that claim also applies to Douglas and Graeme Park while chairman Bennett is uber staunch as he watches Celtic dominate Scottish football.

With a close friendship to Pedro Mendes Graeme is believed to be the brains behind the appointment of Pedro Caixinha in 2017, since then his Daddy has ensured that his errant boy is kept away from decision making.

Douglas is now into his seventies with Graeme’s role appearing to be to keep an eye on the family ‘investment’ while padding about on matchday in an oversized blazer and brogues.

Jordan doesn’t shy away from the fact that Crystal Palace went into administration on his watch but isn’t slow to highlight incompetence in football boardrooms.

1 minute 40 seconds

Simon Jordan: I was rather unimpressed with the calibre of the Rangers guys when I met them.

Jim White: Up in the boardroom when we were at Rangers v Celtic

SJ: I discussed with them various things about the challenges that they had, I think it was Douglas Park’s son wasn’t it? About the ownership model that they have there and I didn’t come away thinking, ‘wow, this is progressive thinking, these are ambitious guys, they are going to cut a swathe through certain challenges’.

It’s not easy, it’s not easy running a football club – I know, I had one for 10 years and my challenges were very clear and were very clear at the end. So it’s not a case of I know better than everybody else but I also know what winning looks like and what losing looks like.

Those are good ingredients to know what the future might look like if you want to be successful. And I think that Rangers and Celtic have the ability to have very capable people running their operations. Celtic do don’t they?

ENDS

Finising sentences with We Are The People is unlikely to have impressed Jordan or business leaders outside the west of Scotland.

The Ibrox club website describes Graeme as:

Graeme is a Director of Park’s of Hamilton and their various subsidiaries and has served on the board there since 2012. He has worked full time in the family business since graduating from The University of Strathclyde’s Business School in 2005. He is a lifelong fan of the Club and represents the board on the committee for the 150thanniversary celebrations.

He joined the RIFC board in August 2015 and briefly served on the TRFC board during the early stages whilst the management team was grown. His educational background at University focussed on marketing and business law and he continues to take a keen interest in these areas within his main business.

Soon after the Three Bears seized control of the Blue Room in March 2015 Douglas Park stepped down Ibrox board, giving his brogues to Graeme but he soon returned as losses piled up.