49ers First Report Card

It has been three months since Rangers takeover was completed by new majority owners Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises. Since then, there have been a sea of changes at our famous old club. Many good, some still under scrutiny from the support. We look at what has been achieved and what remains to be done by our team’s new custodians.

The consortium concluded their takeover in late May 2025, securing a 51% stake in the club, quickly reshuffling the boardroom. Mark Taber, Andrew Clayton, and Gene Schneur, joined Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe, President of 49ers Enterprises and Chairman of Leeds United on the Ibrox board.

They replaced the outgoing Graeme Park, Julian Wolhardt, and Alastair Johnston all stepped down to make way for the new members, with Dave King also selling his shares and ending his ten-year involvement with the club at the same time.

These changes were badly needed, despite the best interests of those who departed, along with those who remain in diminished roles like Douglas Park and George Taylor, there had been years of decline and mismanagement since the 55-title win in 2021 and the Europa League final run the following year.

Managers had been hired and sacked year after year, transfer money spent unwisely and rash decisions made to appease a frustrated support in haste. The new owners will be disconnected from the fans, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. These are pragmatic, experienced businessmen who will view the club as a vehicle to success and monetary gain, they will be able to take a step back and look at situations without emotion. This will frustrate us as fans at time, but in the long run is a positive for the club as a whole.

They then called an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in June, where shareholders, new and old, approved a £20 million cash injection into the club and a reclassification from a public limited company (PLC) to a private limited company (LTD).

This placed the club on an even financial footing but took away any control supporters had in the running of the club. Club 1872 resurfaced but with diminished responsibilities. A risky move from the perspective of the fans, but one that should improve governance in the long run.

Now, on to the changes that impact on the park.

For years the club spoke about a structure to ease the burden on the managerial merry-go-round without much implementation. Mark Allen, Ross Wilson and latterly James Bisgrove all held roles that should have reduced the control of managers, but it was just lip service.

With the appointments this summer of Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell and Technical Director Dan Purdy, both formerly of Everton. Added to the additions at board level of new Chairman Fraser Thornton and CEO Patrick Stewart, brought in from English giants Manchester United, we finally have a modern footballing hierarchy.

Thelwell and co got to work straight away on appointing a head coach, not a manager, for the start of the new era and the new season. Linked with the likes of ex-boss Steven Gerrard, Danny Rohl and Davide Ancelotti, son of the iconic Carlo, before settling on former Rangers defender and Southampton boss Russell Martin, who signed a three-year deal on June 5th.

Another big point for the new regime is the reintroduction of Sir Alex Ferguson to Rangers, the former Ibrox striker and legendary Man Utd manager has been at multiple games this year and will be a valuable resource not just for Martin, but for all at the club.

While Martin was an unpopular choice amongst the general fanbase, this showed that the new regime will make their own choices and not just ones to appease fans, which the former board did with the disastrous appointment of Michael Beale. It shows that they are committed to playing a certain possession-based style, typical for the biggest, most dominant team in the country that we want to be.

While his start his been poor, including four consecutive league draws to kick off our SPFL Premiership campaign, and a humiliating 9-1 aggregate loss to Club Brugge to exit the UEFA Champions League in the playoff round, Martin did do well to navigate the road to the final stage of qualification with wins over Greek side Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen of Czechia to get there.

Despite awful showings in 1-1 draws with Motherwell, Dundee and St Mirren, our fourth draw, a stalemate with Celtic at Ibrox showed he has learned and has slightly adapted his style. Gone was the suicidally high defensive line, and the clearly unfit Joe Rothwell. We went longer at times and after the Belgian horror show, we looked harder to beat and a team finally, on the rise again.

Martin’s man management has also been questioned, the Hamza Igamane situation and the fallout with Nicolas Raskin have shown his deficiencies in that area. But the swift sale of the Moroccan and the reopening of talks with Raskin show an ability to quickly resolve issues, despite the root causes perhaps being down to the boss.

The appointment of Martin is one the new boards reputation will live or die by. Cavanagh has backed the boss, whether it will prove to be the correct decision in the long run remains to be seen. But it shows a loyalty and a steel at board level not seen before when Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was sacked perhaps prematurely due to fan pressure.

In terms of transfers we have spent big, Thelwell confirmed to Rangers TV we had spent over £30m, including a potential £10m+ on Portuguese forward Yousef Chermiti, and had a £20m net spend. The new investors putting capital into the club to close the gap on Celtic. Something badly needed and badly missing in recent years. It is a gamble that we hope will pay off, especially with the transfer struggles across the city.

There have also been investments in the youth team, the Rangers Training Centre, the Women’s team, who themselves have a new boss in Leanne Crichton, and general sponsorship boosts.

It is to early to properly review the new leaders, but the early signs are positive, with money spent and the club clearly being modernised. The appointment of Martin is the major question mark so far, should results not improve we could be in a position that they league is gone by Halloween once again. The board are backing their man, hopefully their experience will prove the general fan feeling wrong, and Martin will grow and become the first boss since Gerrard to deliver the league championship back to its rightful home within the Trophy Room at Ibrox Park.