Career
Holmes was appointed a director of Rangers in November 1985 by the club's then majority shareholder, the Nevada-based businessman Lawrence Marlborough, head of the Lawrence Group of construction companies. This followed several years of internecine squabbling amongst major Rangers shareholders, including Jack Gillespie, John Paton and Tom Dawson. Marlborough had inherited much of his shareholding from John Lawrence, a former Rangers chairman of many years standing. His reputed objective in the mid-1980s was to reinvigorate Rangers after years of under-performance, prior to eventual sale. To meet this objective, Holmes embarked upon a bold strategy of returning Rangers to the primacy the club had enjoyed throughout most of its history. Holmes's involvement in football came part-way through an established business career, principally in construction. Before his time at Rangers, Holmes was chairman and chief executive of John Lawrence, the largest independent house builder in Scotland. In 2003, Holmes founded Timber Kit and Treatment Warehouse Ltd (subsequently renamed European Timber Systems Ltd), a manufacturer of timber frame housing. In 2005, the company became a member of the Gladedale Holdings Plc group of housebuilding companies, of which Holmes is also a director. ==References==