Andrew Cavenagh Press Conference Q&A Part One (Patreon)

Q. How do you plan to increase revenues?

The expansion of Ibrox is something of interest to us but not one of our short term goals. 

Right now, we’re focused on improving on-pitch performance as well as the infrastructure of the club itself. 

Any increase in revenue we can get, we’ll put it back on to the pitch. 

There are lots of different levers to pull on, certainly more than on the commercial side.

Q. When did you first hear about Rangers as an opportunity?

I was on the upper east side of Manhattan outside a coffee shop about to go to a New York Yankees game. 

I’ve known about Rangers forever as a football fan. So when the phone call came to ask if I’d have an interest, it was a lightning bolt moment. 

The call was from Les Allan, a banker in New York. I had met him six months prior and he knew our group was interested in a rare but good opportunity in football. 

Les called me and I said absolutely. Three seconds later I was on the phone to Paraag.

Q. What made this club attractive to you?

There are many things about this club that are attractive. 

But the big three are the supporters - the breadth and depth of the fanbase is incredible. We’ve not seen many other clubs in Europe with this sort of scope and passion. 

Ibrox is an incredibly magical place to attend as a supporter. 

And the competitions in which we play, the league, the cups and Europe.

Q. How have your experiences been following the team these last few months?

The last few months have been incredible experience. One of my favourite moments in life is the five minutes before the match kicks off when you can feel the electricity.  

I was lucky to go to the match at Parkhead and it was incredible. 

I learned a couple of new phrases and gestures when I was there but it was a fantastic experience. It was the first match where our fans were allowed back in and we had 2500 fans there. But they were incredibly loud and vocal in showing their support. 

It was one of the best football experiences of my life. I’ve been a football fan all my life. I’ve been to five World Cups and five European Championships. 

I’ve been to countless matches. I think I did 14 new stadiums in the last year. 

Q. What were your first impressions of Ibrox?

It’s a physical experience when you walk upstairs at Ibrox. 

You walk up the marble stairs to the Blue Room and in the trophy room in particular you can just feel the history. 

There’s no other way to describe it. You walk in and instantly feel indebted to the people who have come before you. 

But you also have the desire to do everything you possibly can, not just to improve the history, but also improve the trajectory.

Q. How confident are you that you can achieve what you want to, ie win the league this season and do well in other cups?

There is real work to be done, I think everyone is aware of that. Paraag and I are two of the patient people you will meet and we are also incredibly competitive so we share our supporters’ sense of urgency. We are in with both feet today and we will move this forward as fast as we can.

Q. What are the biggest challenges which lie ahead in short-term?

When I think about the short term I don’t focus on challenges I focus on opportunities. We have what I believe are the right plans and we are beginning to have the right team in place, and by that I mean the staff not the squad, that will continue to change over the summer. Instead of thinking of things that keep you awake at night I think of the opportunities in front of us. This club has so much potential and we are eager to take that potential energy and turn it into kinetic energy.

Q. When will you be ready to add new players and make announcements on that?

I go back to the statement, which is this is an area where we will be really opaque. The window isn’t something that just one thing that opens and closes the way it sounds like. There are lots of different concurrent thing happening over the summer. The only thing I would say is that the club is in a different position this year, where we can be patient from a financial perspective. When there is the right opportunity we will jump at it, and where it is right to be slow we will be slow.

Q. Knowing the nature of the Old Firm rivalry, thoughts on that on on Celtic dominance? How tough is the challenge of taking them on?

We relish that challenge. We are impatient, we are competitive, and so we look forward to the challenge. In terms of the rivalry, I think rivalry is one of the things that makes football great. Our rivalry with Celtic…Rangers wouldn’t quite be the same without that rivalry. It’s top five in the world. Boca-River Plate, Lazio-Roma, Celtic-Rangers, those would be the three that come to mind. It’s fantastic to have that rivalry. And we look forward to the challenge.

Q. Why Russell Martin? What specific qalities does he have?

There were four criteria that we looked at for head coach. One, somebody that would coach what we think is the right style of play or game model. Two, someone would build the culture and the way we think it needs to be build. Three, someone who will develop talent. And four, someone who will win matches. Russell was the standout across all of those metrics, unanimously among our team. We are thrilled to have Russell as our head coach.

Q. You've seen Ibrox at its warmest - how will you be during more difficult spells?

I have also seen Ibrox at its coldest – I was here for the Dundee United game back in November. So I will give you a brief story. I was a goalkeeper playing football growing up. We had a play off match in the final year of my senior year and the coach came up to me ahead of the match and said, Andrew everyone on the field today is going to make mistakes today, all eleven including you, they just happen to have a special place to keep track of yours and it is called a scorebox. I think being a goalkeeper, while I would not make myself out as much of a player, it teaches you that you can have big moments, you are going to have to make big decisions, and you have to live with the ones that you get wrong. I am prepared.