ian1964 10,620 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 ..as Newcastle owner takes on Rangers and Scottish Football Association Newcastle United owner's motive appears unclear as he applies pressure to Rangers board By Roddy Forsyth 10:48AM BST 14 May 2015 Mike Ashley’s attempt to put the Rangers board under cash pressure is being applied in tandem with a refusal to accept the Scottish Football Association’s judgement that the Newcastle United owner’s interests at Ibrox breached their dual ownership rules. Telegraph Sport originally revealed that Ashley had appealed against the verdict and that he had asked for the process to be kept confidential. Lawyers acting for the Sports Direct retail magnate have now lodged a submission with Scottish football’s governing body but no date for resolution has yet been fixed. Ashley’s motives for contesting the decision are not clear, as is so often the case with his affairs. One possibility – conjectured by certain experienced club men in the Scottish game – is that Ashley has an eye on another SPFL Premiership outfit, with a view to increasing competitiveness by using it to field players on loan from Newcastle. An alternative scenario is that he is trying to add muscle to his cash squeeze on the current Rangers regime – or even that both outcomes are part of the same plan. There are those who believe, too, that Ashley is compelled to fight the judgement because to accept it would be to open the door to nullification of his merchandising contracts with the club. Meanwhile, in the boardroom war games which followed their takeover, Dave King and his allies anticipated a scenario in which Ashley would make financial demands at the stage of the season when Rangers would be at their weakest in that regard. It duly materialised at the end of last month with a demand that the Rangers board hold a general meeting at which – amongst several resolutions – they would be asked to explain why the club’s shares have been delisted and under what terms they had accepted a loan from the Three Bears consortium of wealthy supporters. However, it can be disclosed that Rangers were able recently to access sufficient cash – not from, but via, the Three Bears – to bridge the gap until season ticket renewals, for which a target of 35,000 has been set. If accepted, Ashley’s demand for repayment of a £5 million loan made to Rangers in January means that the board must find that money by the end of the first week in June. The Ashley-backed directors dislodged by King and his supporters had budgeted for a loss of £10-£12 million this season and a profit of only £1 million next season even if Rangers should succeed in gaining promotion to the Scottish Premiership. Chief executive, Derek Llambias, and finance director, Barry Leach, moved to cut the deficit by axing a number of long-standing and higher earning. A significant difficulty for the regime supported and financed by Ashley was that disenchanted fans boycotted home games and greatly reduced income from that source. A return to the level of sales enjoyed in previous years would strengthen the current board’s position. While the commercial territorial dispute between Ashley and the Ibrox board unfolds, the question of King’s fitness to become a Rangers directors proceeds laboriously. Telegraph Sport can reveal that the SFA is now in possession of most of the documentation required and that the delay is not because of obstruction by King or the Rangers board – who are understood to have responded to all requests promptly and fully – but because evidence is still awaited from sources in South Africa, including the country’s Revenue Service (SARS). Elsewhere, the SPFL announced a record sponsorship – believed to be just over £4 million for the next two seasons – in a deal with Ladbrokes. The deal affords the betting company rights across all four SPFL divisions and its 42 member clubs. SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Ladbrokes to the SPFL’s growing family of key sponsors and partners and look forward to working with them from season 2015/16 at this truly exciting time for Scottish football. “Ladbrokes is a perfect partner for the SPFL and we have a shared vision of a positive future for professional league football in Scotland. Ladbrokes’ backing of Scottish football is hugely valued and appreciated and I say that not only on behalf of the SPFL but also for all 42 member clubs.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/11604763/Mike-Ashley-ready-to-fight-on-two-fronts-as-Newcastle-owner-takes-on-Rangers-and-Scottish-Football-Association.html 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublusince1982 243 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 there are onlw two parties in the fapp test not 3. Dave king must supply all back ground info required. The sfa are waiting on him supplying the info from sars. pedantic i know but true. wonder who supplied the money via the 3 bears and how much? would imagine ma is retaliating because he is a bully who has been made to look weak setting a president that could cost him even more in the long run. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
limeburner 0 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Big Mikey isnt happy and hes struggling to hide that fact. Hes just typical of all bullies,they cant cope when people stand up to them. He is not calling the shots anymore so he gets agressive,tough titty. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinstein 294 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 there are onlw two parties in the fapp test not 3. Dave king must supply all back ground info required. The sfa are waiting on him supplying the info from sars. pedantic i know but true. wonder who supplied the money via the 3 bears and how much? would imagine ma is retaliating because he is a bully who has been made to look weak setting a president that could cost him even more in the long run. but the Telegraph article says this : Telegraph Sport can reveal that the SFA is now in possession of most of the documentation required and that the delay is not because of obstruction by King or the Rangers board – who are understood to have responded to all requests promptly and fully – but because evidence is still awaited from sources in South Africa, including the country’s Revenue Service (SARS). 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 but the Telegraph article says this : Telegraph Sport can reveal that the SFA is now in possession of most of the documentation required and that the delay is not because of obstruction by King or the Rangers board – who are understood to have responded to all requests promptly and fully – but because evidence is still awaited from sources in South Africa, including the country’s Revenue Service (SARS). I believe trublu's point is that the article says the SFA are awaiting on info from SARS. The actual position is that the SFA are awaiting on SARS information but that it needs to be provided by King. Point being that it is unlikely that SARS would release this information (it was a personal tax case) to a 3rd party. Info needs to go from SARS to King to SFA Article suggests it goes from SARS to SFA It is no biggie and is, as trublu admits, a bit pedantic. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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