ALEX Mackie, one of the founding members of the Foundation of Hearts fan ownership group, has claimed that Rangers supporters “missed an opportunity” by failing to follow their blueprint for success.
The foundation, who made the Tynecastle club the largest to be fan-owned in the United Kingdom when they acquired a 75.1 per cent stake from Bidco 1874 in 2021, has over 8,000 members who have paid in over £15.9m since their formation 15 years ago.
There were high hopes that Club 1872, which was set up in 2016 when the Rangers Supporters’ Trust and Rangers First merged, could exert the same kind of influence over the Ibrox club during the early years of their existence.
Mackie revealed yesterday how Hearts fans had met with their Rangers counterparts to offer them advice when they were starting out and recalled how he had been impressed with their plans and ambition.
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The Edinburgh-based chartered accountant had urged them to appoint directors with high levels of professional expertise in a variety of different fields to their board so that fans had complete faith their money was being well looked after.
That was something which he had insisted on when the Foundation of Hearts was being set up - and is convinced has been integral to the organisation’s success in the years since they were launched back in 2010.
But Club 1872, who at one stage were the second largest shareholders in Rangers with a 10.71 per cent stake, have been plagued by accusations about their governance, transparency and independence in recent years and have seen their number of monthly contributors fall from around 8,000 to 4,850.
“We were approached by the Rangers fans,” said Mackie. “They had put together their own fan ownership vehicle and something like 12,000 people had signed up to it I believe. But they failed to push it through like we did. They missed such an opportunity.
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“There are so many more Hearts fans than there are members of the foundation at the moment. But how many more Rangers fans are there than are signed up to their fan ownership club? Half a million? More? They have a huge number of fans around the world.
“Rangers must have a database with the identities of all of the fans who have bought season tickets or merchandise off them. Imagine what they could do if they got half a million fans paying £10 a month? Imagine they had that bedrock. I have often thought that is the way it should be with Rangers.
“What could they achieve if they had prominent businesspeople who provided a high level of corporate governance taking care of a fan ownership vehicle? I still don’t think they’ve got that.
“The people I met back then, and we are going back to 2011 or 2012, I thought were good people. I can remember saying, ‘Keep going! Push it through! Have the courage of your convictions!’. But there were so many forces surrounding Rangers and it didn’t work out the way they had hoped."
