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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

'Door wide open' - Rangers chief exec James Bisgrove invited to key ECA input role

European Club Association chief executive Charlie Marshall has revealed the "door is wide open" for Rangers' James Bisgrove to play an influential role at the footballing body.

The Ibrox chief executive takes over from Stewart Robertson who was a key contributor on financial topics at the ECA.

And Bisgrove has been told there is space round to table to help shape the future of football with Marshall aware of his expertise on media rights and sponsorship.

Marketing expert Biosgrove has previously spoken out against the TV deal in Scotland and vowed to work to improve the financial aspect of the deal in the future.

Marshall - who helped shut down the proposed Super League in his role as ECA chief executive - is aware of Bisgrove through UEFA work and would welcome his input.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Marshall explained: "Scottish football is increasing its influence within European football, quite dramatically over the last few years.

“It’s down to the performance of the teams, which drives the metrics needed to get Scottish clubs to the heart of decision making. The opportunity is there for Rangers, for sure. They sit in the second subdivision and have opportunities to get involved.

“It doesn’t just mean getting elected to the board, we have working groups, task forces and committees across all our divisions on a number of topics. We try to get balance – but also expertise. People who know what they are doing.

"There’s a lot of change going on at Rangers. The outgoing CEO Stewart Robertson has been heavily involved with us on some of the financial topics, such as sustainability and analytics.

"I know James a little bit from UEFA, he’s got a marketing background and is more of a commercial guy. The door is wide open for someone like that to help us around media rights and sponsorship.

“We’ve done a lot with Rangers on the women’s game as well and have been here in the last six months, because Rangers have an excellent women’s set up.”

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