RANGERS chief executive Patrick Stewart today refused to state how much of the £20m working capital that Andrew Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers are set to plough into the Ibrox club will be made available to new head coach Russell Martin to strengthen his squad.
Cavenagh, the American healthcare insurance billionaire, and 49ers Enterprises, the business and investment arm of the NFL franchise, completed their £75m takeover of the Glasgow outfit when they bought a 51 per cent shareholding last week.
They are poised to invest £20m into the club once a new share offering is approved at an extraordinary general meeting later this month and supporters are hopeful that Martin, who was officially confirmed as Philippe Clement’s permanent replacement this morning, will be given that money to buy new players.
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But Stewart said, “It's very public knowledge about the primary investment coming in. It's going to be put up for approval on June 23 at the EGM and it’s going to be approved.
“So we're in discussions and have been in discussions with new ownership about how best to utilise that investment. Player trading is a key part of the club's model going forward. So a decent portion will be allocated towards player trading, but we're not going to get into specific amounts just now.”
Meanwhile, Stewart, who replaced James Bisgrove as Rangers chief executive in December, has defended the length of time it has taken to bring in former MK Dons, Swansea City and Southampton manager Martin.
“Russell's appointment is the culmination of a series of steps we've been working on over the past few months since I joined Rangers,” he said. “We started with the football review, which I spoke to the media about in January.
“This led to several insights and recommendations, including the need to modernise our operations and develop a clear footballing identity.
“We also have been developing a clear football style and identity and that's work that's been going on behind the scenes. It's been led by Kevin and it's involved football people.
“We've now culminated in appointing Russell and in Russell we've got a head coach who aligns to the footballing style and identity that we've been developing.
“In addition to wanting a head coach who's going to excel in terms of the style that we're looking to play as a club, we also were looking for a head coach that's going to improve our culture, develop our squad and ultimately win matches. And Russell's been a standout candidate.
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“This appointment is about building a winning team and a strong culture. Now, Russell's no stranger to our club, he's been a player here previously. We expect success and Russell knows that. We're really, really excited for his leadership and for him to get started.”
Stewart added, “I think clearly the appointment of a head coach is a very significant step for the club. As I say, it's the culmination of several key steps that have been taking place over the last few months.
“We've been really focused on doing things in the right order. We've got experts making decisions rather than doing things out of sequence and rushing things through and possibly making the wrong choices. We've been really disciplined in terms of our process. There's been a lot of work going on in the background.”
