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BBC documentary reopens Rangers' barely healed wounds - Traynor


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RANGERS' administrators say they will take legal action against the BBC over their documentary into the sale of the Ibrox club a year ago.

 

The men from Duff and Phelps have been to their New York HQ to firm up a response to the programme with sources saying they've taken enough of a kicking.

 

Apparently they have had enough of being "used as a football". Now they know how Rangers' fans feel as their club lies on the floor broken and discredited.

 

There's little supporters can do but refuse to buy season tickets until they are told enough to convince them Charles Green, the latest would-be owner, has the club's best interests ahead of his own.

 

That is about all the masses can do but the administrators believe they can kick back, at the BBC at least. It's understood Paul Clark and David Whitehouse, as well as Duff and Phelps partner, David Grier, who was accused of being less than truthful in the documentary but denies any wrong-doing, were in New York taking instruction - another indication the clamour surrounding this saga resonates far beyond our own little country.

 

And so Duff and Phelps are heading back to court. First it was Ticketus, then Collyer Bristow and now the Beeb.

 

Their programme made a decent attempt to prove Grier knew discredited owner Craig Whyte secured £24million from Ticketus to buy Rangers from Lloyds Bank.

 

The administrators claim they've been defamed but the BBC are standing by their programme insisting they have enough evidence to prove Grier - who while he was with another company, MCR and advised Whyte on his £18m takeover - was central to the Ticketus deal.

 

The BBC have other emails which they say make it clear Grier must have known how Whyte was funding his buyout. The notes do refer to Ticketus and invoices but not for specific amounts or deals.

 

Duff and Phelps will argue the emails don't prove conclusively that Grier knew of Ticketus money being used to buy Rangers but the administrators have been given the go-ahead from their American masters to sue. The BBC have been here before, of course, because Whyte himself threatened court action last year.

 

That was when he was the subject of a first documentary into this saga which continues to throw up more questions than answers. For instance, if Duff and Phelps, who swallowed up MCR after the Ibrox takeover, or Grier knew of Whyte's Ticketus deal why would they have gone to the High Court in London to have that agreement ripped up? Wouldn't Ticketus' lawyers have stated they had evidence proving Grier knew of the deal his new firm were now trying to have shredded?

 

Ticketus haven't done that and neither have Collyer Bristow, the London legal firm used by Whyte during his takeover. Nor Gary Withey, who was with Collyer Bristow at the time and who also became Rangers' company secretary after Whyte had gained control.

 

Withey and his former company are being sued by Duff and Phelps for £25m but the question remains: Why would the administrators put themselves in a vulnerable position and invite the people they're taking to court to slap down documents proving Grier, therefore Duff and Phelps, must have known what Whyte was up to with Ticketus?

 

That doesn't make sense and neither does HMRC's approval of Duff and Phelps as administrators. The tax man could have objected to this appointment but didn't.

 

Surely if HMRC believed Duff and Phelps were compromised they'd have prevented them from becoming involved? But they didn't.

 

Mark Daly, the BBC reporter, did his best to move the story on and will stand firm even if Duff and Phelps do drag this into court but the onus is on them to clear the suspicions which have been swirling around since they were appointed.

 

In fact the Daily Record were the first to raise concerns about Grier having been with MCR, who earned about £350,000 having been brought in by Whyte's company Liberty Capital before reappearing with Duff and Phelps.

 

The BBC's man went to England to try to clear up the issue about a £250,000 payment from Rangers to "Regenesis Ltd - deposit for Banstead Athletic" but again the Record had been there first.

 

It was also the Record who revealed the Ticketus deal which was the beginning of the end for Whyte but with their on- screen graphics the Beeb made it all seem fresh. It was, however, a decent effort to drag this sorry story down a different path.

 

Although we might have expected greater revelations from Daly, who had worked on his telly doc for months, it was interesting viewing. It might even have been more than that if less screen time had been taken up by the Rangers supporter who looked like a caricature fan out of Only and Excuse.

 

Or do the BBC believe all Rangers fans are like Sammy Paterson?

 

And incidentally, surely they could have dredged up a proper newspaperman to appear on the programme rather than one who has no more than a vague idea of what this story is all about. Even Sammy was more plausible.

 

http://blogs.dailyrecord.co.uk/jimtraynor/2012/05/bbc-documentary-reopens-ranger.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyRecord%2FJimTraynor+%28The+Daily+Record+-+Jim+Traynor%29

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Who is the newspaperman that JT is having a dig at at the end of this piece? I have not watched the documentary, but would assume it would be Speirs as he is the go to hate-on-all-things-Rangers and claims to be a journalist despite his only talent being that he memorized a thesaurus. Unfortunately no-one told him how you are meant to use it...

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Spiers really is a laughing stock amongst his fellow journalists, if someone who writes for the Daily Record is having a pop at you it's time to re-evaluate your life.

 

Given that he slagged the Record for their 'billionaire' story, Traynor's dig is hardly unexpected.

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I don't think it's pathetic. I switch over any time I hear his gulpy voice on the wireless, and change channels should he happen across my screen.

 

Why would you pollute your brain with one word of what he has to say? Ignoring Spiers is hardly the same as burying your head in the sand...one can keep up with the story without paying that turd any attention.

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I don't think it's pathetic. I switch over any time I hear his gulpy voice on the wireless, and change channels should he happen across my screen.

 

Why would you pollute your brain with one word of what he has to say? Ignoring Spiers is hardly the same as burying your head in the sand...one can keep up with the story without paying that turd any attention.

 

If you only like hearing things which please you, that's your prerogative.

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