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The National (Scotland)

Sport

Matthew Lindsay

New Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh on the telephone call that changed his life

Andrew Cavenagh Rangers Ibrox Celtic Football EGM SFA 49ers Enterprises

ANDREW Cavenagh was standing outside of a coffee shop on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and preparing to head off to The Bronx to take in a New York Yankees baseball game back in October when the telephone call came in that would change his life.

It was from the United States-based, Edinburgh-born, Hearts-supporting investment banker Les Allan.

Allan asked him, “Would you and your group have an interest in investing in Rangers?”

The response from the Philadelphian healthcare insurance billionaire was instantaneous.

He said, “Absolutely.”

Cavenagh, who last month bought a 51 per cent stake in the Ibrox club in conjunction with his consortium partners 49ers Enterprises, recounted the exchange as he spoke to several hundred shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting in a hotel in Glasgow city centre this morning.

“It was a lightning bolt moment,” said the Rangers chairman. “I had met Les six months prior and he knew our group was looking for a rare but good opportunity in football. I’ve known about Rangers forever as a football fan. Three seconds later I was on the phone to Paraag [49ers Enterprises president and new Ibrox vice-chairman].”

Those in attendance at the EGM were probably more concerned about why the American businessman had come to be a major shareholder of a football club thousands of miles away than how – but he duly explained his reasons for getting involved as well as he outlined to the media his ambitious plans for the future later.

“There are many things about this club that are attractive,” he said. “But there are three big reasons. The first is the supporters - the breadth and depth of the fanbase is incredible. We’ve not seen many other clubs in Europe with this sort of scope and passion.

“The second is stadium. Ibrox is an incredibly magical place to attend as a supporter. We think of it as our castle. And the third is the competitions in which we play, the league, the cups and Europe.

“Champions League is the goal we are trying to get to every year. Every year that is our goal and we have to get through three matches, or three sets of matches and that won’t be easy. It is important because it brings more revenue. It will always be our benchmark.”

Cavenagh continued, “The last few months have been incredible experience. One of my favourite moments in life is the five minutes before the match kicks off when you can feel the electricity.

“I was lucky to go to the match at Parkhead and it was incredible. I learned a couple of few phrases and gestures when I was there, but it was a fantastic experience. It was the first match where our fans were allowed back in and we had 2,500 fans there. But they were incredibly loud and vocal in showing their support.

“It was one of the best football experiences of my life. I’ve been a football fan all my life. I’ve been to five World Cups and five European Championships. I’ve been to countless matches. I think I did 14 new stadiums in the last year.

“It’s a physical experience when you walk upstairs at Ibrox. You walk up the marble stairs to the Blue Room and in the trophy room in particular you can just feel the history. There’s no other way to describe it. You walk in and instantly feel indebted to the people who have come before you. But you also have the desire to do everything you possibly can, not just to improve the history, but also improve the trajectory.”

Making Rangers the dominant force in Scottish football once again, deposing Celtic as Premiership champions, winning the League Cup and the Scottish Cup and continuing to make inroads in Europe are the new regime’s ambitions.

Cavenagh appreciates that will, with their city rivals some distance ahead of them both on and off the pitch, be difficult to do. He seems, though, genuinely excited by the challenges which lie ahead of him and his associates.

“We relish it,” he said. “We are impatient, we are competitive, so we look forward to it. Rivalry is one of the things that makes football great. Our rivalry with Celtic? Rangers wouldn’t quite be the same without that rivalry.

“It’s top five in the world. Boca-River Plate, Lazio-Roma, Celtic-Rangers, those would be the three that come to mind. It’s fantastic to have that rivalry. And we look forward to the challenge.

“There is real work to be done. Everyone is aware of that. Paraag and I are two of the most impatient people you will meet and we are also incredibly competitive. So we share our supporters’ sense of urgency. We are in with both feet today and we will move this forward as fast as we can.

“When I think about the short term, I don’t focus on challenges I focus on opportunities. We have what I believe are the right plans and we are beginning to have the right team in place. By that, I mean the staff not the squad. That will continue to change over the summer.

“Instead of thinking of things that keep you awake at night I think of the opportunities in front of us. This club has so much potential and we are eager to take that potential energy and turn it into kinetic energy.”

So what about the $64,000 question. How much money will new manager Russell Martin have to spend on strengthening his squad?

“This is an area where we will be really opaque,” said Cavenagh. “The window isn’t just one thing that opens and closes the way it sounds like. There are lots of different concurrent things happening over the summer. We can be patient from a financial perspective. When there is the right opportunity we will jump at it, and when it is right to be slow we will be slow.”

The resolutions which were passed by 98 per cent of Rangers shareholders at the EGM enabled Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, along with Douglas Park, Stuart Gibson and George Taylor, to invest £20m in return for shares. But the chairman stressed that injection of cash would not all go on new players.

“That is the amount of primary capital that we are putting in,” he said. “We think £20m is the right amount to put this summer. But we need to make sure we are running the club in a sustainable way. We are not looking for what I think of as the sugar high – come in spend some money, sign some players and try to win something. Then you have the sugar crash that comes from that.”

As well as being a passionate football fan, Cavenagh is a former footballer. So he is acutely aware that results are required to keep Rangers fans, who gave him a warm welcome during his first public appearance as chairman, onside moving forward. He is, however, prepared for whatever is going to come his way, both good and bad.

“I was a goalkeeper growing up,” he said. “We had a play-off match in my senior year and the coach came up to me before it and said, ‘Andrew, everyone on the field today is going to make mistakes today, but they just happen to have a special place to keep track of yours and it is called a scorebox’.

“I wouldn’t make myself out as much of a player, but it teaches you that you can have big moments, that you are going to have to make big decisions, and you have to live with the ones that you get wrong. I am prepared.”

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