10 May 2012

Despair at Ibrox – please buy!

Well – we should all know more than enough to be wary – very wary – of Duff and Phelps the administrators of Rangers FC being optimistic. It’s their pathology. In D&P world the cup’s not so such half full as flowing into a series of overflow-vats.

Some reality here. Check what Mr Whitehouse of D&P is saying in the “small print”.

Even he suggests at least one of the four “bids” is a rank outsider. He admits no credible, detailed rescue package is yet really on the table at all. A lot of guff about hope, credibility – nothing about cash.

He admits all talk thus far from all “bidders” has set the money going into the rescue package at levels nowhere near enough to satisfy the key creditors. They’re saying “don’t be daft” at what’s been suggested thus far.

Alarmingly D&P seem to think that if a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) is put in place  as a way of rescuing Rangers by agreeing a deal with major creditors, then Rangers can play football in Europe somehow. I suggest they call UEFA urgently where I’ve talked in detail. UEFA insists a CVA is a change in legal status and means a three year ban – just like setting up a Newco: “It’s a loophole. We recognise it as a loophole and we wish to close it,” their spokesman told me late last week.

It’s critical to any proposed income flow at Ibrox and this morning the administrators are stressing this. Yes – they need to call UEFA.

And yes – setting up any kind of CVA rescue will take weeks – I’m reliably informed around six weeks.

No amount of talking up the bids in terms of a couple being from people who will be popular among fans is going to untie this – nor will it put more money on the table and a lot more needs to be on it and fast.

Ticketus – the London ticket company now one of the main creditors of Rangers and major shareholder Craig Whyte, have just told me they are not part of any current bid for Rangers.

“We’re out of all that – and happy to sit on the sidelines,” said their spokesman.

They’ve other fish in the fryer. Later today expect them to file a legal claim for £27m against Mr Whyte for season tickets he “bought” from them.

They insist the money was for tickets only, not for buying the club as has been reported elsewhere.

They expect a “long and protracted” legal case. But what if Mr Whyte should lose and does not have money like this?

“Well we know he has a large house in the Highlands of Scotland and another in the south of France. We know he has a web of financial arrangements based in the British Virgin Islands tax haven and we’re very patient about all this,” said the PR company who represent Ticketus.

Mr Whyte himself has indicated what the world and his dog already know well, that he cannot and will not realise anything like the £30m he was aiming to get by selling up his stake, just a few weeks ago.

And football? The club cannot sell season tickets at all in the current complete confusion. The squad have no clear idea what money they’ll get after next month when a lot of player contracts run out. Football’s a very short career, so facing a Euro-ban and wages/contractual confusion, many will hightail it from Ibrox to other clubs leaving potentially a squad of youths, never-will-bes and have-beens. And a manager as yet unable to buy, because of a year ban on buying because the club brought the game into disrepute over financial mismanagement.

What seems astonishing too is another D&P admission – that it’s basically being left to manager Ally McCoist to brief the players on this mess day by day. These guys need to hear from financial rather than football brains one would have thought.

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