Letham gives Rangers extra time to repay £1million loan

[BrahimHemdani 1]

No matter how many times you say that, it will still be wrong.

 

If the board of Marks & Spencer are seen by their customers to be untrustworthy and failing in their business objectives, those customers will go elsewhere. Nobody from the company would then come out and blame them for the downturn in sales. That would be seen as ludicrous and would lead to a Ratner-esque meltdown.

 

With respect I would suggest that there are at least a couple of big differences between Rangers and M&S or between any football club and any retailer.

 

One difference is that you don't generally pay for a year's supply of shirts or underwear up front; whereas most football club's financial models are based their customers paying upfront for a season ticket.

 

The current problem is that about a third of the ST holders have lost confidence in the Board and the product. But that doesn't mean that they have taken their business elsewhere, at least I doubt they have in any significant numbers.

 

The anecdotal evidence on here is that a fair chunk are now buying their Rangers underwear on a game by game basis and reasonable as that might sound it has had a severe impact on cashflow. The others are just not turning up at all. Perhaps they are sitting at home or in the pub, I don't know.

 

The trick is to encourage as many as possible of those fans and more to attend matches and also to get as many of them as possible to buy ST's.

 

I agree that the Board are failing miserably in that task but I did suggest in the summer that the single biggest thing that was needed this season is a marketing campaign and of course that would need a marketing manager or Director not another spin doctor.

 

Simply sitting back and hoping that the stands will be filled for Rangers v QoS, Livingston, Cowdenbeath etc just isn't good enough.

 

M&S have drastically altered the layout of their menswear departments to focus on their different brands and introduced new colour coordinated ranges (actually typed rangers!) perhaps we should think along the same lines in football terms.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

The point being that they were not in a position to re-pay the loan on the due date. Had George Letham played hardball, what then?

 

Quite so but as others have said that was highly unlikely.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

It doesn't need to be listed, it's as simple as just selling it to whoever as it's merely a subsidiary.

 

There appears to be some confidence that they will raise the £3M at least but that seems to be the fall back position.

[Zappa 0]

The immediate problem as you suggest is one of cashflow or rather the lack of cashflow particularly with only one home league game this month (and there really isn't an attractive home fixture this year) and the crisis, for that is what it is, has been caused by the "success" of the SoS/UoF/DK campaign.

 

As I said in the sentence you quoted, the lost revenue from those who haven't renewed would only have pushed back the inevitable cash shortfall that was always going to be a massive issue at some point this season.

 

Let's say the full 36k ST holders had renewed and an extra £2.5m to £3m had been brought in, then after the £1.5m in loans had been repaid how long would that extra million or million and a half quid have kept the lights on for? The answer is 'not very long!'.

 

Therefore, it stands to reason that the absolutely inevitable cash shortfall has actually been caused by continued overspending on unnecessary bonuses, pay-offs, expensive financial consultants, extortionate PR agencies and a board which has continued to run the Club outwith it's means without securing the necessary investment that they knew was needed as far back as last November when so-called financial gurus and geniuses like Wallace, Somers, Crighton & co were hired and appointed.

[Rangersitis 0]

With respect I would suggest that there are at least a couple of big differences between Rangers and M&S or between any football club and any retailer.

 

One difference is that you don't generally pay for a year's supply of shirts or underwear up front; whereas most football club's financial models are based their customers paying upfront for a season ticket.

 

The current problem is that about a third of the ST holders have lost confidence in the Board and the product. But that doesn't mean that they have taken their business elsewhere, at least I doubt they have in any significant numbers.

 

The anecdotal evidence on here is that a fair chunk are now buying their Rangers underwear on a game by game basis and reasonable as that might sound it has had a severe impact on cashflow. The others are just not turning up at all. Perhaps they are sitting at home or in the pub, I don't know.

 

The trick is to encourage as many as possible of those fans and more to attend matches and also to get as many of them as possible to buy ST's.

 

I agree that the Board are failing miserably in that task but I did suggest in the summer that the single biggest thing that was needed this season is a marketing campaign and of course that would need a marketing manager or Director not another spin doctor.

 

Simply sitting back and hoping that the stands will be filled for Rangers v QoS, Livingston, Cowdenbeath etc just isn't good enough.

 

M&S have drastically altered the layout of their menswear departments to focus on their different brands and introduced new colour coordinated ranges (actually typed rangers!) perhaps we should think along the same lines in football terms.

 

Ok, they won't have taken their business elsewhere as in to another football club, but their money will likely be going to another 'leisure pursuit', one that values it's customers and isn't out to short change them at every turn.

 

I am sorry, but I really don't see how anyone can be blamed for deciding that their hard-earned shouldn't be squandered year after year and that they are going to hold it back in the hope of bringing about change for the better. The root cause of the current predicament are those up the marble staircase and their masters in the shadows.

[calscot 0]

I can't see how paying on a game by game basis affects cashflow unless too many things are paid for too much in advance, or we're too much in arrears... So to me it only affects cashflow if the company is already badly run or in trouble.

 

However, what is definitely affecting income is that we seem to be getting the same type of attendances this season as last but we no longer have about 10k not turning up even though they have already paid. The actual number of paying punters is well down and turnover is abysmal compared to pre-Whyte levels.

[Rangersitis 0]

Quite so but as others have said that was highly unlikely.

 

Agreed, but he shouldn't have been taken for granted and put in that awful position.

[Rangersitis 0]

I can't see how paying on a game by game basis affects cashflow unless too many things are paid for too much in advance, or we're too much in arrears... So to me it only affects cashflow if the company is already badly run or in trouble.

 

However, what is definitely affecting income is that we seem to be getting the same type of attendances this season as last but we no longer have about 10k not turning up even though they have already paid. The actual number of paying punters is well down and turnover is abysmal compared to pre-Whyte levels.

 

Just wait until the bad weather arrives. That will see attendances plummet further still even though the official figure will hold up. That is assuming that events haven't overtook things by that time.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Agreed, but he shouldn't have been taken for granted and put in that awful position.

 

Also agreed but it was a risk he took and he's a big boy. He must have known that if Rangers couldn't repay on the date then he would be in an impossible position.

[Rangersitis 0]

Also agreed but it was a risk he took and he's a big boy. He must have known that if Rangers couldn't repay on the date then he would be in an impossible position.

 

Perhaps he's just old school Rangers.