Rangers appoints ACCA-qualified Somers as chairman

AN ACCA FELLOW has been named independent non-executive director of Glasgow Rangers FC, as the Ibrox club continues its search for a new chief executive.

David Somers will serve as acting chairman and lead the process of sourcing a new club CEO to replace previous incumbent Craig Mather, who left on 16 October. Somers will also look to add further “high calibre” non-executive directors to the board.

He has spent all his career in fund management, notably as chairman of the Shepherd Network and later the Shepherd Friendly Society.

It has been a turbulent time for the 54-time Scottish champions, now playing in Scottish League One – the third tier – following an insolvency process in 2012 which resulted in the liquidation of the club’s holding company and the creation of a newco housing the club. Rangers was penalised with relegation to the basement division – then known as the Scottish Third Division, now Scottish League Two – which it won last season by a huge margin.

The club still faces an upper-tier tribunal hearing next year as HM Revenue & Customs challenges an employee benefit trust (EBT) it used to pay players tax-free.

Last year the taxman was defeated at a first-tier tribunal, which ruled in favour of Rangers’ use of the EBT. The ruling said the club had legitimately used the scheme between 2001 and 2010 to pay £47.65m to players and staff in tax-free loans.

Somers is currently a non-executive of ACE Europe Life, part of the ACE Group of insurance and reinsurance companies; non-executive director and chairman of audit and risk committee of Europe Arab Bank; independent trustee and chairman of the investment sub-committee at Fujitsu Technologies International Pension Plan and chairman of the investment committee at TCF Investment Managers.