Darthter

Would have though David Jason would have been better....with Nick Lyndhurst as Gary Withey Boycie as Phil Betts. Trigger as Gordon Smith

I have a niggling suspicion that the conclusion has been reached by means of media reports/information rather then proper financial reporting. I can just see Lord Nimmo-Whatshisname sitting in front of his PC browsing the DR & sun web sites before coming to his conclusion. I'm not saying his conclusion is wrong....maybe just the means of reaching it (or am I being too sceptical???)

Remember....Just because the Blue Knights are all over the media, Paul Clark said they weren't necessarily the front runners!!! There are others interested - just because Ex-Director Paul Murray is shouting the loudest, doesn't mean he is the best option. I'm still of the opinion that he's had his chance over the past 4 years or so. He did nothing till the 11th hour before Whyte took over.

Would folk want a new owner to be "Rangers Minded", or someone with no emotional link to the club??? I am swinging towards the "non-Rangers minded" side of things. My concern is that if a new owner(s) come in who are passionate about the club and its history they may make decisions based on their heart rather than their brain. This is an advantage that the Administrators have...they have no emotional link to the club & therefore will tear up contracts without a 2nd thought if it was in the best financial interest of the club. I believe that the club needs a sound business head @ the helm & also within the new Board of Directors. What's everyone else's thoughts????

I think Paul Clark's interview last night has shed a lot of light on what's going on, and what the future MAY hold - certainly a lot of potential positives!!!!

While I am not convinced that McCoist is truly the man going forward.....I hope to be proved wrong. He has shown on occasion, that he can put out a team that performs well. I think he needs to get some consistency in the teams results now. There is no doubting that he has been an absolute rock for the club these past few weeks. I would suggest that based on his off field performance, he should be given a chance - possibly with a change of backroom staff with more experience.

a rewording of CumbernauldGers points then: Out of europe to 2 teams with considerably less resources that us & that we should be beating Out of the league cup to a young & inexperienced Falkirk team. Lost a point gap of min 9 possible more to celtic. Out of the Cup at home to Dundee Utd, out played for the 90 mins. Questionable Tactics??? several signings that for various reasons never play(ed)??????? I think the above are more accurate representations of the FACTS - the points are still exactly the same though....

so, the same debts there were being paid on time month on month, and were known to Whyte at the time of the take over!!! Whyte appears to have been paying a lot of the debt....just not the important ones. You claim that SDM was borrowing money to pay the debts, yet the clubs debt was falling, with plans in place to reduce further. Whyte has borrowed money, therefore increasing the debt, but has not improved the clubs position any. Last I heard was that SDM was not inputting any further cash into the club, hence the declining financial position.... However it was done...the club was paying its bills and not being dragged through court cases - which IMHO is very relevant!!! No changing of issue, we're discussing cash flow & the payment of bills/debts....The Arsenal shares raised cash which SHOULD have been used to pay bills. He sold an asset which should have helped the clubs situation, but opted to divert the cash elsewhere and got stung!!! Exactly....the contractual investment doesn't exist. If it did, the club wouldn't be in the mess that its in right now. There is only one person responsible for this - Craig Thomas Whyte!!! If the money HAD been paid into the club, there would have been enough cash to cover monthly runnings of the club, therefore no need to siphon of the PAYE/NI contributions to cover regular bills, and therefore no need for HMRC to force Administration - again all pretty relevant to me!! So far, that threat hasn't been lifted though....the big tax case is still there as is the other monies owed to HMRC and no sign at the moment of a CVA being agreed. In the 9 months that Whyte has been in charge, the financial situation overall has been decimated. For the past 3 years the club has gone about its business with the tax case hanging over it, and still maintained results on the pitch. Whyte comes it and look at where we are now. I REALLY struggle to see how anyone other than Whyte can be held directly responsible for our current situation.

Definitely....if a 5 year plan was agreed, with regular year on year investment, increasing as the club went up through the division, it would make it that bit easier - the question then, would a consortium be interesting in doing that???

So we weren't dumped out of Europe twice by lesser teams??? We weren't dumped out of all cups @ relatively early stages to lesser teams??? We didn't lose a substantial lead at the top of the league??? All seem pretty real to me.

What other debts??? From the outside, the previous owner/board were paying their debts - to who ever & on time. Whyte takes over & suddenly we have no cash to service any debts & have to resort to non-payment of PAYE/NI in order to cover those. How often over the past 5 years has the club publicly been taken to court over unpaid bills??? The sale of the Arsenal shares - £230k....would make a massive impact on the club just now - where is it??? Stuck in one of Whytes other companies!!! Jelavic cash - where is it??? has it been received & spent already??? Whyte's contract obligation to invest £5m (I think it was) for running costs - where is it??? As I've stated before....the club was financially fragile before Whyte took over - it was sailing VERY close to the edge, but very slowly it was edging back. Whyte takes over and suddenly there is no money & apparently no business plan to keep the club running. IMHO, Murray passed on a very fragile but stable entity....Whyte took a sledgehammer too it!!!

Agreed that there would be more than 600 home fans @ Ibrox. The real questions are: How much does it cost to run Ibrox on match day??? Costs could possibly be reduced by only opening certain stands. Some costs are still fixed regardless of volume through the turnstiles. How many fans would show up??? I think initially, turn out would be decent, but even with an average of 10,000 per home game, would that be enough to sustain the daya-to-day costs??? Player wages??? The majority of 3rd div players will be lucky to be on £200 per week, and the majority are part-time. Even with a squad of young players, we would probably be paying averages around £2k per week - that's still a substantial wage bill to maintain. Season tickets??? Would the majority of fans still be willing to shell out £500+ per season for ticket books??? Therefore a reduction of cost would be implemented. Couple this with the ticketus agreement (if still valid at the time), would represent a massive reduction in revenue. Sponsorhsip?? Would Tennents still be wanting to sponsor the shirts @ the current rate??? Would businesses still pay for hospitality??? I think that the costs would simply be too great and the club would die without SERIOUS down sizing. Then you have the issue of when the club gets back to the SPL....how competitive will the squad be??? How much investment would be required to get it back up to the top of the table??? IMHO, Div3 is completely unrealistic!!!

...but unfortunately true!!! Being optimistic, I really hope that he CAN turn the team around, but it doesn't look likely. There are a lot of MAJOR off field stuff events which are obviously going to have an impact, but when the team doesn't appear motivated when playing at home, in front of a capacity crowd full of support for the team, it does get worrying!!!

The point is Where did that debt came from??? Who ran it up??? The answer is Craig Whyte!!! The club was forced into Admin due to debts incurred since Whyte took over. The previous owners were in the process of reducing the overall debt. Since Whyte has taken over, he has increased the clubs debt substantially, while at the same time reducing a very important & substantial revenue stream. The effect the admin process will have on those debts is yet unknown. It MAY turnout that while the pre-admin debts have increased, the post -admin debt may actually reduce overall - but @ what cost to the club & its reputation.

Looking at the points above: A poor show in Europe didn't help anything, but according to reports, Whyte hadn't paid ANY PAYE/NI since he took over in May - several months before the Euro exit. Therefore debts were already being run up before Euro money even entered the equation. The big tax case has no influence on the day to day cash flow of the club. No decision has been made & therefore at present, no money is owed. This was still the case before Whyte took over, yet the club were still reducing their bank debt and paying their bills. Granted the existence of the big case and the uncertainty surrounding it has been a stumbling block for potential investors. As for the tax dodging....Murray always paid the PAYE & NI contributions - Whyte hasn't. Therefore, ultimately is has been Whyte's tax dodging that has put us in this situation. That coupled with the dubious manner in which finances have been handled since Whyte took over - why does there appear to be so many millions unaccounted for. Also Murray always have the accounts produced & audited on time, with the AGM following shortly after. Now, with Whyte in control....there's no accounts or AGM, wich results in no Europe an less income.

From STV website 14th Feb: Source Ultimately the club were FORCED into administration by HMRC due to the outstanding PAYE/NI issue

What new revenue streams???? Once the club got back into the 1st Div, I think the finances would be better, and possibly more sustainable. I just can't see how the club would be able to maintain Ibrox & Murray Park's daily running costs. See below the average attendances etc for Div 3: Team.........................Highest............Average.............Capacity Clyde...........................711...................570...................8029 Elgin City.....................792...................566...................5000 Alloa Athletic................719...................524...................3100 Queens Park.................711..................509...................52500 Peterhead.....................626..................496...................3250 Annan Athletic...............644..................483 Berwick Rangers............455..................386....................4131 Stranraer......................592..................360....................5600 East Stirlingshire............531..................326....................1880 Montrose.......................401..................323....................3292 Source With those attendance figures, an organisation the size of rangers wouldn't never be able to sustain their daily costs.

A club the size of Rangers would not survive in the 3rd division!!! The clubs general running costs are far too high compared to the revenue that would be received. Do folk honestly think that 50,000 fans would turnout @ Ibrox every 2nd week to see a match against Montrose, Berwick or Peterhead??? Will sponsors be willing to pump in the same amount that they do without any TV coverage??? The players in those division are on hundreds ££ per week - IF THEIR VERY LUCKY.....we've got problems the now with players apparently not wanting to drop wages to £5k+ per week!!!! The club would die quicker than Craig Whyte could ever kill it!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong....wasn't it the non-payment of PAYE & NI that essentially forced us into Administration??? There is also the Ticketus issue which hasn't really helped things. My unde3rstanding of the whole situation is that when Whyte took over, things were fragile but relatively stable. In the space of 9 months he has run up further debts & totally destabilised the entire operation to the point where liquidation is an ever likely outcome. Mr Whyte has most certainly created the debt that pushed us over the edge. Before he came along the team was limping along, but surviving.

wana bet...

Your wrong....but then again so am I probably!!!!

My understanding of the statement is that the could cut players to the required level, however the results may mean that the team is no longer viable to a prospective buyer, or possibly no longer even competitive. If they can get a buyer & investment, they can then maintain the fabric of the squad & have something to build on.

apparently Fraser Wishart has left MP as well....sign that some sort of "agreement" has been reached???

Curse of the Agents strikes again!!!

I'm sure Mr Whyte could find a way to fund that!!!! Mortgaging of the program sales for the next 500 years should about cover it...