Rangers owner opens up about key factor that helped motivate takeover push
Andrew Cavenagh was one of the leading figures in Rangers recent takeover as a new era begins at Ibrox
Andrew Cavenagh has revealed that he was sold on the decision to buy a stake in Rangers back on 23 November last season when he travelled to Ibrox to watch the Light Blues draw 1-1 with newly promoted Dundee United.
The businessman, who made his money in the US health insurance sector, secured a 51% stake in tandem with 49ers Enterprise partner Parrag Marathe in June after a long drawn out negotiation process.
He’s already helped implement changes on the managerial front by trusting former Southampton boss Russell Martin with the reins in Glasgow and has helped back the new boss with signings such as Max Aarons, Thelo Aasgaard and Oscar Cortes among others.
Andrew Cavenagh discusses secret mission which inspired Rangers takeover
Andrew Cavenagh was sold on the deal to buy Rangers when making a secret mission to the Copland Stand on November 23 - buying a normal ticket to sit amongst the fans after battling through a snowstorm.
Former Rangers director Paul Murray, who had met Cavenagh weeks earlier, told the Daily Record: "I think the two things which really struck me about Andrew that day were, first of all he was really engaged and obviously really interested in what I was saying, but also we were playing a game against Hearts at Ibrox a couple of days later on the Sunday.
"He actually said to me, 'I think I'll just fly up and go to the 'I'm game.'
“I asked if he wanted me on his chat to try to speak to someone and he said, 'No, I'll just get a ticket and I'll just go.'
"As it turned out, for various reasons he wasn't able to go as he had some family stuff on, but he then contacted me about a week later and said he wanted to go to the Dundee United game, which was in the middle of November.
"Again, I asked if he wanted me to help and he said, 'No, I'll just go and get a ticket - a normal ticket for any area of the ground.' I think he actually went into the Copland (Road) Stand.But I thought that was quite interesting. A guy with that wealth and he just thought, 'I'm going to buy a ticket.'
"He flew up to Glasgow, bought a ticket on his own. He went with a couple of other guys and you might remember it was a really bizarre game because it was meant to be a three o'clock kick-off on the Saturday and it was really bad weather.
"It was the middle of November, but there were snow drifts and crazy weather to the point that Dundee United couldn't get down the A9. He actually contacted me to say, 'When does the game start?'
"I said, 'I've just looked and apparently it's been delayed until four o'clock!' "So it was a really weird day and Andrew was basically walking about the stadium, looking at the stands and nobody knew who this guy was.
"The other thing that happened that day was there were quite a lot of fan protests as well as having the snow drifts to contend with. But it obviously didn't put him off."
Rangers came from behind to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw with Dundee United on the night with standout loanee Vaclav Cerny scoring the equalising goal to level proceedings after an opener from Sam Dalby.
The new Scottish Premiership season officially gets underway on Saturday 2 August against Motherwell at Fir Park. The first home match of the season then sees the Light Blues play host to Dundee FC.
Rangers won their first competitive match of the season 2-0 against Panathanikos at Glasgow and are preparing for their second game in Athens in just a few days time as they bid to get a step closer to their goal of Champions League qualification.