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GLASGOW, Scotland 24/06/04 -- RANGERS to relocate.
Officials of Rangers FC report plans to move the club to the Isle of Bute. More to follow...
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ROTHESAY, Scotland 24/06/04 -- 18.06 -- RANGERS relocation approved by SPL.
Scottish Premier League sources confirm that Rangers FC have been given permission to move to a new ground at Rothesay, Isle of Bute.
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ROTHESAY, Scotland 24/06/04 -- 18.04 -- CONSTRUCTION work commences.
Ground was broken today on a new ground for Rangers FC, who are rumoured to be rebranding as Rothesay Rangers, at Rothesay, Isle of Bute. Reports suggest that £100,000,000.00 has been provided by the Chairman, David Murray, to ensure the project, a 43,000 all-seater venue, is in place for the start of the season in August. News of the proposed capacity at that time is unclear, though it is belived only one stand will be available for some time.
...Sources at the relocated club suggest that creditors are not pleased with the move and with Chairman David Murray demanding that his £100,000,000.00 investment be repaid within two years, the financial position facing new boss Rob Scarlett is not one many would envy.
The bottom line is that players on high wages or with any kind of sale value are likely to be shopped around almost immediately, and Scarlett will be left with the dregs of a staff to make his impact. All the staff at the club were asked to resign, though many refused and will now be paid whilst on effectual gardening leave. The club is in a poor state and needs to make an impact on the pitch if respectablility is to be restored.
Rothesay Rangers v HJK Helsinki UEFA Champions League, 2nd Qualifying Round
With a number of high profile departures prior to the first competitive test of the season and most of the arrivals, low key as they were, ineligible the Champions League qualifier looked set to provide a stiff test for Scarlett and his boys.
Jari Tuominen opened the scoring for the visitors after about twenty minutes, but new signing, player/coach Emmanuel Petit levelled matters before the interval.
The second half saw Rothesay in the ascendency, but new boy David Clarkson, a £500,000 capture from Motherwell, spurned a couple of good chances and Hamed Namouchi was narrowly over from twenty yards. Ross McCormack, a substitute for the exhausted Clarkson, fired over from 30 yards as time seemed set to run out, but the tale of the game was the goalkeeping performance of Aki Tuominen for HJK.
That it took a near flawless performance in goals to deny Rothesay a first leg advantage was encouraging for Scarlett, but it would be for nothing if progress could not be secured when he took his side to Finland for the return leg.
It was hard to keep the grin from Rothesay Rangers' boss Rob Scarlett at a press conference yesterday as he announced the £3,500,000 capture of youngster Aiden McGeady from rivals Celtic.
Scarlett was in high spirits as he explained to the confused media analysts that the deal was funded by a number of high profile sales and was "well within our budget for this year".
It is thought that Rangers have just 24 months to repay almost £150,000,000 to various creditors, primarily the Chairman, David Murray. Many will question Scarlett's reasoning, but it was hard not to spare a smile for a man who will doubtless have harder days to come before too long.
HJK Helsinki v Rothesay Rangers
[i]UEFA Champions League, 2nd Qualifying Round[/b]
Twenty minutes into this all important game and Rob Scarlett would've been pulling his hair out, if he had any. Marko Kalenga, for all his inexperience, made an unforgivable challenge and the resulting red card looked set to send Rangers crashing out of the competition.
With eight minutes of the game remaining the Finns scored a goal, against the emphatic run of play, that meant a Rangers strike would provide only extra time, not victory, but as effort after effort failed to find the net it mattered little.
The final whistle brought the curtain down on another game dominated by goalkeepers, and brought the curtain down on a major potential source of income for Rothesay. Scarlett was not so jovial after the match, and it is no wonder with his players letting him down on the big stage. Marko Kalenga will have a much lighter pay packet this week and it will be well deserved.
With the unfortunate Champions League exit in his back pocket, Scarlett really could have done without an apalling start to his league campaign that saw two points dropped at home to Motherwell and all three in the second league game to be held at Rothesay Park against Dundee as a pair of penalties handed the visitors a 2-1 win.
A trip to Inverness should've yielded the first three-point haul of the season, but the home team were determined and took a deserved nineteenth minute lead. It was a lead that held till full time and now Rothesay Rangers were on the rocks.
The panic addition of Alexander Mostovoi on a big, short-term, deal was a major gamble, but on his debut at Livingston the veteran Russian midfielder was impressive. A dominant Rangers performance ensued, but wayward shooting from Riordan and ultimately Clarkson led to a 0-0 draw. Winless from four and this was not the start the doctor ordered.
7 August 2004Rothesay 1-1 Motherwell 15 August 2004Rothesay 1-2 Dundee 21 August 2004Inverness 1-0 Rothesay 28 August 2004Livingston 0-0 Rothesay
More cash was invested in Cote D'Ivoire international Guy Demel of Dortmund and Brechin's Kevin Byers as the transfer deadline arrived, though the outstanding performances of Barry Sellars maybe made directing funds to the midfield a little unnecessary.
Hibs travelled to the island to open September with most pundits anticipating Scarlett's side would break their duck at long last. They didn't as the game ended 0-0, but back to back clean sheets was promising. Perhaps.
As illness swept the squad Scarlett tried desperately to rally his troops. Chris Templeman was called in for his debut up front, with former Forfar duo Kevin Byers and Barry Sellars starting in the heart of the midfield at Tannadice. The home side took advantage early on with Andy McLaren ending the long run without losing a goal, but the even longer run without scoring also ended as goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld put the ball in his own net before the interval. The 1-1 tie though postponed for another week the inevitable first victory for the relocated side.
Peter Weatherson was next to get the nod in attack as Dunfermline travelled to Bute off the back of a win over Celtic. Guy Demel opened his Rothesay account after 23 minutes as the first lead of the season was finally established in the ninth match. Only an offside flag denied Weatherson in the second period, but he wasn't to be denied and made it 2-0 with twenty minutes to play. The victory moved Rothesay up to eighth place and that was the direction they hoped to keep moving.
11 September 2004Rothesay 0-0 Hibs 18 September 2004Dundee United 1-1 Rothesay 25 September 2004Rothesay 2-0 Dunfermline
Walking on the Beach 
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