History
Rangers Supporters' Trust
In January 2003, three of the trust's founders, Mark Dingwall (then the editor of the Rangers fanzine Follow Follow), Colin Glass and Gordon Semple, later joined by Stevie Tyrie, decided to form a trust, after attending an open day held by Supporters Direct, an umbrella body for supporters' groups. Glass, the Trust's first chairman, met officials of Rangers in March 2003, and although the club declined the Trust's requests for help, a launch meeting was held on 5 April 2003, with former Rangers player Mark Walters as a guest of honour. In the Summer of 2008, seven members of the twenty-strong Trust Board resigned over the issue of supporter representation on the Rangers FC plc board. These included the chair and vice-chair who had led negotiations with the chairman of Rangers FC, Sir David Murray. A majority of Trust board members were unhappy at the lack of progress and the lack of feedback and accountability shown. On 31 May 2008 Stephen Smith and Derek Howie (acting Chair and Secretary) assumed joint responsibility for conducting the Trust's business. Smith was subsequently elected as the Trust's chair, and media spokesperson David Edgar as vice-chair. A year later, the trust were involved in a war of words with the then Rangers chairman David Murray over its "We Deserve Better" campaign. Murray accused the trust of "whipping up hysteria" regarding the club's perceived lack of transparency and fan involvement whilst the trust hit back telling the chairman to not "shoot the messenger".Rangers First
Formed in 2014 as aMerger to form Club 1872
In October 2015, the Rangers Fan Board contacted several Rangers fans group to gauge support for the creation of a single fans organisation capable of buying a significant block of shares and forcing out unwanted investors holding onto interests in the club. In May 2016, after months of discussion, Rangers fan groups Rangers Supporters' Trust and Rangers First merged to form Club 1872 and launched the new organisation atOrganisation structure
There are five entities which form Club 1872 and all of these entities are overseen by a single board of directors (the board of Club 1872). It will consist of Rangers First which will be used as the shareholding vehicle, the Rangers Supporters Trust which will be used for projects, while Club 1872 Limited will control ownership of Club 1872 intellectual property and other assets other than shares or money which had been donated specifically for projects. The other entities of the organisation are Supporters Voice Limited which is responsible for promoting the views of Rangers fans both to the club and wider media. Finally, Rangers supporters clubs will provide a liaison service between the wider network of supporters groups across the world.Shareholding in Rangers Football Club
Upon its formation the organisation held 4,590,496 shares in Rangers International Football Club plc ("RIFC"), the combined total of the shares held by the Rangers Supporters Trust and Rangers First. This equated to approximately 5.6% of issued share capital. However, less than three-week after it was announced that Club 1872 had purchased additional shares, enough to make it the sixth largest individual shareholder in RIFC. In November, the fans group increased its holding further to become the fifth largest individual shareholder, possessing just over five million ordinary shares. In June 2017 Club 1872 announced they had purchased 4.46% of shares from MASH Holdings Limited making Club 1872 the second largest shareholder in RIFC, with a 10.71% total shareholding.References
External links