Battle to control Rangers attracting 'global interest' â?? administrator

[ian1964 10,720]

The joint administrator Paul Clark said there was global interest in Rangers by parties who have yet to declare their hand openly and warned the Blue Knights consortium that it must back up public statements of interest with action. He also praised the Rangers players for accepting pay cuts and said that without their taking a hit to their pay packets the administrators were considering "complete decimation" of the playing staff.

 

The Blue Knights, headed by the former Rangers director Paul Murray and backed by supporters' groups, has confirmed it will launch a takeover bid and administrators Duff & Phelps have set 16 March as the deadline for any formal notes of interest to be placed.

 

However, Clark challenged Murray to back up his claims and indicated there could be a wider battle to take control of Rangers. "We're talking about Scotland, wider United Kingdom and some overseas parties," Clark said. "I don't want to be specific about bidders but there is at least one party from the far east. We've had some interest as well from the American continent.

 

"There's been a number of meetings over the last few days, more planned for next week and I've got two calls to two different parties over the weekend. We have an online data room for those parties so they can go in and take information over and above what we've told them in our meetings."

 

Clark said that only "serious bidders" would be considered by the end the week. "So anybody who has just been talking â?? and there are a few out there who have done a lot of talking â?? we want to seek them out and, as it were, put their money where their mouth is. If somebody wants to involve the media, that's fine. And if they become the owner then they can sit on the front page of all the papers saying: 'I did it.' But don't be surprised if that owner isn't one of the people that is media friendly.

 

"By the way, I am not ruling anybody out in this process, absolutely not. I'm just saying that nobody should assume that the only serious bidders are the ones who are in the public domain."

 

The administrators also believe that they can somehow unravel a key deal between Rangers and Ticketus, the football finance company that bought 100,000 Rangers season tickets for £24.4m. That arrangement was agreed with the club's owner, Craig Whyte, before he formally bought Rangers. The administrator has also sought to placate supporters over any input Whyte will have on Rangers in the future.

 

"I don't see him [Whyte] as a secured creditor, I don't see him as on-going owner of Rangers," Clark added. "I don't see him as that important going forward. We're in control of the process. In terms of his influence on the outcome to all of this, I think he has little or no relevance. In terms of Rangers' future [in the] medium to long term, he is irrelevant.

 

"He has no rights, in my view, to Ibrox or [the training ground] Murray Park. The only rights he could possibly have over them is if his secured creditor status was proven and he had any value to it. He doesn't have any value. So if he's not a secured creditor he has no rights to Ibrox or Murray Park.

 

"Look at the bigger picture and the Scottish FA have announced that he is not a fit and proper person in accordance with the SFA rules, and therefore he couldn't come back. We never thought he could come back to Rangers. The value of Craig Whyte's floating charge security is zero. And if it's zero it has no impact. There is no money due to him. He paid no money so there is nothing to assign to him."

 

Clark paid his latest tribute to the Rangers squad, who have agreed to pay cuts until the end of the season. Such a move has guaranteed the club can continue until then. "Let's talk about what the alternative would have looked like," Clark said. "There was mention over the last week of between eight and 11 players being made redundant. Those numbers were quite right, but even after we had made those redundancies we would have still needed a 50% pay cut from the players who remained. If those cuts had not been made, and I couldn't do the sums up until now, if we had got no pay cuts from players we would have been looking at cuts of up to 20 players in total. We were looking at complete decimation of the squad."

[Ergatrude 0]

I didn't even think we had 20 players these days :fish:

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Too many average players is part of the problem.

[ian1964 10,720]

RANGERS' administrators have told the Blue Knights: Put your money where your mouth is.

 

Ibrox director Paul Murray's consortium has been the most public of all the groups set to come forward.

 

But joint administrator Paul Clark insists that DOESN'T mean they are the most likely to take over the club.

 

Others from Scotland, the rest of the UK, the States and the Far East also want talks in the coming days.

 

Clark said: "I don't want to be specific about bidders, but there is at least one party from the Far East.

 

"We've had some interest as well from the American continent.

 

"There's been a number of meetings over the last few days and more are planned for next week.

 

"I've got two calls to two different parties over the weekend. We want only serious bidders left by the end of next week.

 

"We want to seek out anybody who has just been talking — and there are a few out there who have done a lot of talking.

 

"We want them, as it were, to put their money where their mouth is.

 

"Let's get them round a table so we know how many parties we've got.

 

"We have one or two parties prepared to talk to the media.

 

"Then you have other parties who have been quietly, slowly and diligently getting on with their business behind closed doors.

 

"We're taking them just as seriously as anybody who is on the front page of the newspapers saying 'I'm going to buy Rangers, you just watch'.

 

"If somebody wants to involve the media that's fine. If they become the owner they can sit on the front page of all the papers saying 'I did it'.

 

"But don't be surprised if the owner isn't one of the people who is media friendly.

 

"I am not ruling anybody out in this process, absolutely not.

 

"I'm just saying nobody should assume the only serious bidders are the ones who are in the public domain.

 

"I don't care how many bidders we end up with, but I want to know who they are, what they are and what their worth is.

 

"Then we can have more serious conversations about achieving the end goal, which is to get Rangers under new ownership.

 

"Next Friday we want to receive absolute proof of funding so we understand who they are and which camp they're in, because some people have feet in various camps.

 

"We want to know who exactly has their money. More importantly, we want some form of indicative bid where we see the price they'll pay. That will distil down however many parties we have at the moment to the final few."

 

Murray's group includes Ticketus, the firm who current owner Craig Whyte sold four years' worth of season tickets to in order to raise the cash to buy the club.

 

Clark said: "If the Blue Knights and Ticketus become the preferred bidder and prove they have the finance and can fulfil appropriate fit and proper tests, to my mind it's okay.

 

"I'm not going to comment on any individual, but undoubtedly this time around there will be close scrutiny from a number of parties — not just the football authorities — to look at the backgrounds of all people involved in any takeover.

 

"It's a careful balancing act for us because we want to get the best price and the most money. But we don't want a situation whereby the group that has paid the most money ends up with an issue of fitness or other grounds.

 

"The reality is, anybody who doesn't pass the fitness test won't necessarily be discarded there and then, but we have to treat them with extreme caution because the last thing Rangers needs is another Craig Whyte type character.

 

"The fitness of a new owner is going to be very important, but it's one for the football authorities.

 

"I suspect the SFA will be taking a look at their own rules to see if they require any adjustment. I don't know how quickly that could be done."

 

Clark revealed Whyte has been helping the joint administrators' investigations, but confirmed they believe he never put a penny into Rangers and will become IRRELEVANT to the future of the club.

 

He added: "Craig Whyte has, when we've asked him, assisted us. But we've seen no evidence whatsoever of any investment by him into Rangers.

 

"We can't see any monies that he has paid in. We can't see how he can have any secured creditor status, so we think his position is limited.

 

"I'm not going to give away the strategy of how we get to the final point, but Duff and Phelps are in charge of Rangers and we're making the decisions, not him.

 

"The fact that he's had to come in and supply us with information doesn't mean he's part of any decision-making process.

 

"He has no rights, in my view, to Ibrox or Murray Park. The only rights he could possibly have over them is if his secured creditor status was proven and he had any value to it.

 

"He doesn't have any value. So if he's not a secured creditor, he has no rights to Ibrox or Murray Park.

 

"The SFA have announced he's not a fit and proper person in accordance with their rules, so he couldn't come back. We never thought he was coming back to Rangers.

 

"I don't see him as ongoing owner of Rangers. I don't see him as important going forward. We're in control of the process.

 

"In terms of his influence on the outcome to all of this, I think he has little or no relevance. In terms of Rangers' future, medium to long term, he is absolutely irrelevant.

 

"The value of Craig Whyte's floating charge security is zero. If it's zero it has no impact. There is no money due to him.

 

"He paid no money, so there is nothing to assign to him. The money from Ticketus was paid into Collyer Bristow and those monies were from the sale of Rangers season tickets.

 

"Those monies were then paid to the bank so the company, Rangers, paid off the bank, not Craig Whyte. He put no money in."

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scot...#ixzz1olLcIdsy

[Gers4Life 0]

So effectively the season ticket holders paid off lloyds bank then have they not?

[pete 2,499]

So effectively the season ticket holders paid off lloyds bank then have they not?

 

Or Craig Whyte with Ticketus money. If the administrators win the court case then Whyte(doubt it) or Ticketus will take the drop.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

So effectively the season ticket holders paid off lloyds bank then have they not?

 

YES that would be a short and fair summary.

[der Berliner 3,716]

So effectively the season ticket holders paid off lloyds bank then have they not?

 

Which is probably Whyte's problem, as he only paid 1 pound for Rangers to SDM (all shares, Ibrox, and MP et al). Does that make him a preferred creditor?

 

"If the fans paid" for the debt accumulated over the years, they hand to the new owners a debt-free club (at least from this angle of debt), so they would a) are able to invest their money straight away, based on what they get from the rest on ticket-income and anything they can chuck in by themselves or sponsorship deals. And b) have "only" to cover any outstanding debts of the Whyte era (if any) and what comes of the HMRC bills (if any). Methinks we have money frozen in the accounts because of the small HMRC bill, so a decent quantity of that is already "covered".

 

Obviously, if the Ticketus deal done by Whyte can be declaired legally none & void by the admins, the club would be in an even better position, with Ticketus being as p*ssed off as you can get and haring after those who duped them. And whether they will be willing to deal with us again is also open for debate.

 

And, btw, a rumour (sic!) on FF with regard to overseas interest:

I posted on Friday that I was told by a client of mine that the American bidder was James Dolan, owner of New York Knicks basketball and New York Rangers Ice Hockey teams, on behalf of Vanguard Group Incorporated. As I say its a rumour, and its been heard third hand.

Edited March 11, 2012 by der Berliner

[Danny 0]

I heard the most ridiculous rumour that AEG are an interested party.

[Bears 0]

Watching the rumours about "Far east investment" has had me chuckling.

 

it seems the following countries have moved since my last geography lesson

 

Malaysia

Thailand

Singapore

UAE