When 49ers Enterprises took Rangers over in June 2025 and completed the handover from the previous era, one thing became very clear very quickly, and this was that it was a majority takeover. They were the owners. Rangers fan engagement was at risk.

They were not merely major shareholders but were majority owners.

Consequently, this meant that they had Rangers as a private limited company rather than a public one. An Ltd.

Rangers, of course, still had shares, as in Rangers fans still had shares and separate groups still had shares. But the obligations of a PLC, a public limited company, were not there in the same way.

Rangers’ New Ownership Structure

Andrew Cavenagh, the chairman, fairly quickly confirmed unofficially that there would be no more AGMs. They are not obligatory under a Ltd company.

AGMs, of course, are specifically a public limited company’s mechanism. It’s for shareholders to influence who the directors are and have a say in how the company is run.

Rangers are no longer such a company.

This meant that some agency from fans was now being lost, and supporters would no longer have the voting rights and opportunities to express their opinions that they once did.

However, we have to say that 49ers Enterprises chairman Andrew Cavenagh and, of course, vice chairman Paraag Marathe, have been very fair and transparent with supporters by nevertheless still engaging with fans in official forums.

While fans do not have voting rights in the same way that we once did, we do still have some voting rights.

Rangers are still a private limited company with shareholders. It is just nowhere near as expansive as a public limited company.

Andrew Cavenagh’s Rangers Fan Engagement

The fact that Cavenagh engaged in a full fan forum recently and engaged around 20 or so fans in total, to offer their views and feedback, is the kind of transparency and accountability we still very much need at this club.

Yes, it is no longer legally bound in the same way.

Andrew Cavenagh is not obligated or accountable to supporters in the way that he once would have been had he only been a major shareholder.

But he is still engaging, and he is keen to hear what fans have to say.

We have lost count of the number of times that Cavenagh has made personal appearances at Ibrox and away stadiums, engaging with supporters and, dare we say it, listening to them.

This has been a big departure from previous regimes, where, quite frankly, none of the heads of the board were interested in what fans had to say at all.

The Rangers Fan Advisory Board

The Fan Advisory Board, of course, is another big part of that.

Former CEO James Bisgrove created it some considerable time ago. He did have a bit of vision by creating that, and it has stuck to this day.

It does have a bit of clout with the board.

But it’s the fact that Cavenagh continues to hold these fan forums, where supporters can influence discussions, express their views and offer their input into what Rangers are doing.

Fans get to express their opinions and have their input into Rangers’ plans.

Of course, there are so many plans going on at Rangers that you can lose track quite easily.

But the fact is that Cavenagh is engaging. And with Rangers fan engagement.

He is engaging and offering his ear to the fans, who are clearly listening to him.

He is clearly listening to them in return, and that is a very important part of the engagement that we are glad to see happening at the club.

The Irony of Rangers’ New Regime

For too long, there just wasn’t a level of transparency and there wasn’t a level of engagement.

And the irony here, which is the whole point of the headline, is that a less accountable ownership and regime at the top is, in actual fact, listening to fans far, far more than any previous one that was more accountable to us.

It is quite a change.

Time will tell just how successful it turns out to be.