Never mind panto season – it’s AGM season in Scotland and there’s even more scope for entertainment.
The only thing missing from Celtic’ s annual get-together on Friday was Elaine C Smith doing a duet with Grado. It’s all so hunky dory at Parkhead right now the bash turned into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on acid with all kind of mind-bending stuff going on. Rangers fans peering in on the updates could point and laugh at some of the more wacky parts.
But sensible Gers punters sat this one out – because they know their AGM is coming up. That one could be more of a gritty drama than slapstick comedy. At least it should be. Unlike some of the bizarre nonsense in the Kerrydale Suite the other day, there are some real questions that need to be asked. Whether the shareholders and fans will get the answers is another thing though.
Right now, it’s a wonder how the club will fill the top table. It could be John Gilligan flying solo for all we know. The interim chairman could get a comfy seat and do it like a Ronnie Corbett monologue.
And that is part of the problem. Nils Koppen will have a new seat up there – and that’s another issue that needs addressed. The Belgian’s promotion to technical director is another slightly strange move – given there are no bums on seats in the roles above him.
In some ways it makes sense for Koppen to get the gig, even if it’s just for now. He has picked up a lot of the slack around the club so it’s probably about time he got paid for his extra graft.
Yet the move does seem to raise more questions. Like, is Koppen now above his pal Philippe Clement in the Ibrox food chain? It’s usually the sporting director, the director of football or whatever the title is, who deals with the hiring and firing of managers.
Is Koppen going to be giving his big pal the tap on the shoulder if it all goes a bit haywire in the next few hectic weeks? Unlikely. That really would be panto style with the crowd shouting out, ‘He’s behind you.’ And what if a new chairman and chief executive finally arrive and they have a big new vision for Rangers? What if Koppen isn’t their cup of tea?
This is a club that could do with some radical new thinking and any incoming CEO worth their salt would want to do a DIY SOS makeover of the place. If major change isn’t part of the PowerPoint presentation then they shouldn’t be considered for the job in the first place.
You suspect, if that is the case, Koppen might step back down to his recruitment role. Even that prospect isn’t filling Gers punters with too much festive cheer after the summer recruitment drive. In fairness to Koppen, he’s working with both hands tied behind his back and for every new arrival there were half a dozen knock-backs as well.
It’s a thankless task but it’s just another example of Rangers treading water right now. They are stuck in a holding pattern and either blindly hoping things will get better or waiting with gritted teeth for the next boot in the delicates. It’s no way to exist, that’s for sure.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the over-promoted James Bisgrove shot the craw in May, beleaguered John Bennett chucked it in September and Creag Robertson slapped in his resignation over a month ago. Rangers don’t have enough cast members to fill Snow White’s cottage and shareholders certainly won’t be rolling in the aisles if they don’t get some kind of answers a week on Thursday at the AGM.