ian1964 10,761 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Rangers stepped back from the abyss after a series of developments cleared the path for any new prospective owner to dramatically take control of the club. Just 24 hours after director Dave King said he believed liquidation was 'inevitable', the club's administrators claimed they were putting the final touches to a playersâ?? wage-reduction package which will ensure the £4million of cuts required for the club to fulfil its remaining fixtures this season. With the medium-term future of the club all but secured, discredited owner Craig Whyteâ??s hold over Rangers also appears to be loosening. Hope at last: There is renewed optimism at Rangers with liquidation set to be staved off after administrator moved to seize key shares Whyte, who was yesterday judged not to be a â??Fit and Proper Personâ?? to hold a position at a football club by the SFA, spent the day at the office of administrator Duff & Phelpsâ?? London-based lawyer Taylor Wessing. The Motherwell-born businessman was grilled on his financial transactions since buying the club from Sir David Murray last May and was left in no doubt that there are now major question marks over the validity of his majority shareholding. Sportsmail understands that an investigation has revealed that, far from being a creditor of the club, Whyteâ??s takeover company Wavetower, which has since been renamed the Rangers Football Club Group Limited, actually owes money to the football club. Not fit and proper: Craig Whyte As a result, it is understood that although Whyteâ??s shares cannot be forcibly taken from him, there are legal mechanisms by which the administrator would effectively control them. It is likely those measures will be stepped up in the coming days. Similarly, Whyteâ??s claim to being a secured creditor of the club to the tune of £18m also appeared to be unravelling on Thursday night. Whyte bought the club for just £1 from Murray but part of the condition of sale was that he paid off the £18m owed to Lloydâ??s Bank. Despite initially denying it, Whyte paid Lloydâ??s off with £24.4m he received by selling three years of future season tickets to London-based Ticketus. Although the bank was effectively paid off with fansâ?? money, Whyte immediately laid claim to £18m in the event of an insolvency action. It is understood he has now been left in no doubt that he has no claim to this sum. Ticketusâ?? claim on the majority of seats at Rangersâ?? games for the next three years is also set to go before the courts in the next week. Lawyers for Duff & Phelps believe they can demonstrate that the ownership of the tickets should be declared null and void, thus freeing up huge income streams for prospective new owners, like Paul Murray. If such obstacles are removed from the path as anticipated, the likelihood of Murray concluding a takeover deal will increase dramatically. Any new owner will still have to deal with the £15m owed to HMRC in unpaid PAYE and the possibility of a further £49m from the so-called â??big tax caseâ??. However, sources close to the negotiations say that HMRC are prepared to talk about the possibility of a CVA - the creditorsâ?? arrangement required for the club to exit administration - as long is there is â??regime changeâ??. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz1oZhol9TO 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Some good news here especially on the shares and Whyte's "status" or lack of it as a secured creditor. Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting at Taylor Wessing. Let's hope the smarmy git gets his full comeuppance. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,114 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Interesting article, John McGarry has been pretty accurate with what he's posted regarding our current difficulties, he was the first to state the Ticketus monies never entered RFC plc's bank and went straight from Collyer Bristow's to LBG. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2112398/Rangers-Administrator-seize-Craig-Whytes-shares.html Added link because the one at the bottom of the OP was working. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Published on Friday 9 March 2012 00:00 WHYTE ‘not a secured creditor - in fact he could owe club money’ If, on Thursday, the battle for the control of Rangers looked to be positively one-sided in the shape of Paul Murray and his so-called Blue Knights, a different picture emerged yesterday with administrators Duff and Phelps revealing that there is more than one show in town in terms of potential bidders, or as they put it: “More than a handful but less than 10.” The administrators are now talking about Craig Whyte almost in the past tense, as if his involvement with the club is over bar the shouting (in a court of law, perhaps). Paul Clark, the co-administrator, possibly stung by a serious criticism of the way he, and his colleague David Whitehouse, were doing their business, spoke yesterday and said that, in his considered view, Whyte is not a secured creditor on any of the Rangers assets and is not entitled to any money. Clark went even further when claiming that it is likely that Whyte actually owes Rangers money rather than the other way around. “I see little or no prospect of Craig Whyte being a creditor,” he said. “He’s never paid in any money so I don’t see how he can be. “There’s financial wizardry and financial wizardry but this would be beyond the beyond. I don’t see how it is possible. It’s unfathomable.” If Clark has got it right then there will be euphoria in Rangersland this morning. Above all else, the Rangers fans want rid of his toxic presence. It’s probably the case that these supporters would stomach any penalty that the SFA or the SPL would care to throw at them for the gross financial mismanagement at the club as long as they are not liquidated, thereby losing their history. Demotion to the Third Division, a prolonged absence from Europe, a succession of domestic points deductions. The feeling is that the fans would sooner suffer that kind of fate rather than go out of business and be reborn as a new company shorn of its dignity. The potential bidders, it seems, are many. “They’re really now just starting to motor,” said Clark. “There are individuals and there are consortiums and also what you’d call Corporates or Funds as well. “There’s a broad mixture of interested parties, some Scottish, some wider British and some international. There is enough of them to make us confident that we will have one or more bids. “I won’t name names but some of those parties have come with what I would call heavyweight advisors, big professional advisors. None of their identities have got out in the public domain and some have been so private about it that they don’t want at this stage to appear anywhere near Ibrox or Murray Park. They want to go through the process off site and when the time comes – if it comes - they will send people in to have a look. Some parties want to remain entirely anonymous.” All of this, of course, is predicated on at least three things. Craig Whyte must be taken off the scene – and the administrators are confident that that can, and will happen. Secondly, there needs to be clarity on the Ticketus deal for any potential buyer – and our information is the deal will come apart in the coming weeks. And thirdly, the big tax bill about which there is still no news of when a verdict may come and how much it may be. From their first involvement, Duff and Phelps have downplayed the significance of the big tax bill, more than once calling it a red herring. Their belief is that it will be taken care of in administration and that even if the bill comes in at a whopping £40m-£50m, HMRC will do a deal to take a percentage of the creditors pot so long as Whyte is off the scene and a more palatable owner is in place. Whyte’s removal is paramount. Otherwise, HMRC could get hostile in the recovering of whatever it is decided they are owed. The administrators believe that all of these things will be taken care of and that a new owner will be in place towards the end of April, or possibly early May. “Once it starts to move it will move incredibly quickly,” said Clark last night. Clark didn’t divulge the identities of any interested parties but he gave certain clues as to what he thought about one group in particular. “Right now, we’re teasing them out, we’re having more intense discussions and can root out the parties who just want to be on the front page of the newspaper and therefore talking to the media more than they are talking to us.” He was, unquestionably, referring to the Blue Knights, the only group, with the exception of the decidedly low-key Brian Kennedy, who have declared their interest publicly. Clark was engaging in gently mocking humour when speaking in broad terms about those men who have such visibility in the newspapers. In no way was he ruling the Knights out of contention. “I’d say there are more than a handful and less than 10 of what I would say are credible bidders that could take things forward. I’m reasonably comfortable that at least one will deliver. I hope we have two, three or four parties who can deliver because if we get competitive tension into the equation then you drive a better deal that’s good for the supporters and easier to get past the creditors.” The drama and intrigue continues. There seems to be no end of it in this story. •Celtic will not be holding their normal Friday pre-match media conference today ahead of Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final against Dundee United at Tannadice. The Parkhead club took the unusual step amid the crisis enveloping Old Firm rivals Rangers. No reason was given for the decision. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
capstans 0 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 While all of the above is heartwarming it doesn't change the original facts. LBG assinged debt and floating charge to Wavetower/RFG/Whyte, it follows that Whyte is the secured creditor, how he financed this morally or ethically is moot, if criminally that is a different matter however even after all this time there is not a criminal mark against Whyte's name. Like it or not he bought the club for £1 quite legally, we may find Whyte is still holding the aces and could be with us for some time yet. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,815 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 ...Celtic will not be holding their normal Friday pre-match media conference today ahead of Sunday's William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final against Dundee United at Tannadice. The Parkhead club took the unusual step amid the crisis enveloping Old Firm rivals Rangers. No reason was given for the decision. Ahem, "amid the crisis" they took the unusal step of cancelling the PC, but gave "no reason" why they did it? Does that line make sense? Not that I care what ahppens over at the Scumhut, but sometimes you wonder about the logic involved here. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,815 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 While all of the above is heartwarming it doesn't change the original facts. LBG assinged debt and floating charge to Wavetower/RFG/Whyte, it follows that Whyte is the secured creditor, how he financed this morally or ethically is moot, if criminally that is a different matter however even after all this time there is not a criminal mark against Whyte's name. Like it or not he bought the club for £1 quite legally, we may find Whyte is still holding the aces and could be with us for some time yet. Well ... ain't he the secured creditor because he bought the club (and thus the shares and Ibrox and MP) from SDM ... for 1 pound? He cleared the debt with Lloyds fair enough, but that does not make him the secured creditor, does it? And if so, why? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
capstans 0 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Why what ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMazza 0 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Ahem, "amid the crisis" they took the unusal step of cancelling the PC, but gave "no reason" why they did it? Does that line make sense? Not that I care what ahppens over at the Scumhut, but sometimes you wonder about the logic involved here. Maybe because they cannot trust themselves to not be whankers when asked - which they will be inevitably - about Rangers. Or maybe because they will soon release a statement yet again stating they don't care about Rangers, they don't need Rangers and don't want their tie with United undermined. You know, the poor us, statement. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,679 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 LBG assinged debt and floating charge to Wavetower/RFG/Whyte, it follows that Whyte is the secured creditor He can't be a secured creditor if he isn't a creditor. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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