HAMPDEN faces a significant hike in its rates and the MSM are reporting today that the SFA may have to walk away from the National Stadium rather than pay the additional £175,000 which is reported to be “unaffordable.”
Independent evaluations were carried out in early 2015 and will come into effect from April 1 this year across all grounds in Scottish football.
So Hampden is not the only football stadium which will see changes to its rates. Buried in the MSM report is this line:
“Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United and St Mirren have all seen the rateable value of their grounds fall while Rangers, Ross County, Inverness Caley Thistle, Dundee and Hamilton face significant rises.”
While a reduction in rates paid by Celtic will be a welcome bonus of the Scottish Champions who last week posted record breaking financial results and over £20m in profits for a six months period, others aren’t likely to be as pleased with this news.
Ross County, Inverness, Dundee and Hamilton are all facing modest increases in their rates bills, but all are well run clubs where the pennies are watched carefully.
Rangers, on the other hand, are perhaps in an even more vulnerable position that the SFA. If the game’s governing body is looking at the rates hike and suggesting that Hampden is becoming unaffordable, what is the situation at Ibrox?
This week Mark Warburton and his management team issued the club with legal correspondence claiming breach of contract. They will NOT pursue an Employment Tribunal route for their claim, as there are statutory limits to the amount a tribunal can award.
So they will head to the Courts with their legal advisors looking at the earliest opportunity for an arrestment to ring fence funds that they claim their client are contractually owed.
The Ibrox club also have court dates with Mike Ashley scheduled for next month and these days in court are an expensive business.
Meanwhile Rangers have no retail income and are apparently reliant on short term loans from Directors. Dave King in his statement on Saturday revealed that £18million of the proposed £30million investment promised has already been spent. No-one in the MSM bothered to ask what that money has been spent on.
An increase in the rates due for Ibrox – reportedly “significantly” higher than before, is surely the last thing they needed to hear today.
