Rangers look set to turn to the House of Lords for their new chairman, with Malcolm Offord to replace John Bennett in the role.
Bennett – who replaced Douglas Park in March 2023 – stepped down in September after just over a year as the club’s chairman, citing health reasons for his decision, with former director John Gilligan taking over on a temporary basis. However the Ibrox club are now turning to merchant banker and Conservative peer Malcolm Offord as they look for stability off the park.
Offord – who holds the title Baron Offord of Garvel – will join incoming chief executive Patrick Stewart in a new look Ibrox boardroom. With the former Manchester United supremo replacing James Bisgrove following his lucrative move to Saudi Arabia six months ago. Here Record Sport takes a closer look at the man set for the top job in Glasgow’s south side.
Who is Malcolm Offord?
Offord was born in Greenock in September of 1964 and completed a law degree at the University of Edinburgh, before starting a career in investment banking that would last for 25 years. After leaving the city he established the Edinburgh-based management consultancy Badenoch & Co in 2013, but is no longer listed as a director of the firm on Companies House. He currently holds six active directorships, and has been involved in 64 now-inactive roles at other firms.
Aside from his work background, Offord is an active figure in politics and was appointed a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords in 2021, serving in the governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. He was an outspoken campaigner against Scottish independence, and set up the pro-UK campaign group No Borders prior to the 2014 vote.
What is his suitability for the position at Rangers?
This will mark Offord’s first venture into football, but he comes with extensive experience in finance – which might prove useful to the rest of the Ibrox board, after the club posted losses of more than £17m earlier this year. And it isn’t his first move in sport, having been inducted into the London Scottish Rugby Club’s Hall of Fame in 2023.
He served as the club’s representative on the Scottish Rugby Council and sat on the Board of the SRU from 2019-21. In a statement announcing his place in the Exiles’ Hall of Fame, he is credited with steering the club through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic – where they saw a 75 percent reduction in funding.
What has been said about him?
Offord’s political donations have seen him face heavy criticism, with Boris Johnson accused of running “a banana republic” when he made the decision to appoint him to the House of Lords in 2021. At the time records showed that he had given £147,500 to the party, both through central office and MPs, including then Housing Secretary Michael Gove, with a Labour critic saying: “If you just give the Conservative Party enough of your money they’ll pay you back with some of the public’s. This is cronyism which would shame a banana republic.”
What will be in his Ibrox in-tray?
Offord joins Rangers at a time where the club feel like they are in desperate need of leadership, after they posted eyewatering losses and continue to underperform on the park. His first role could be to decide on the future of under-fire Philippe Clement, with the Ibrox side sitting 11 points adrift of Celtic eight adrift of second placed Aberdeen in the Premiership table.