IT’S Friday morning in Glasgow on 15th June 2012. The Rangers creditors drifted in through Exit 50 at Ibrox Stadium just before 10am and by 10.09am they were on their way out. In those few minutes 140 years of history had been rubbed out.
Of the few owed money by the club who attended the meeting in the Ibrox Suite most didn’t want to talk, and the few that did struggled.
“We’re in shock,” admitted debenture holder Stewart Boal. “The club’s gone. We’ve got to move on and start again.”
In truth, everyone knew the meeting was a mere formality after HMRC announced earlier in the week that it would reject Charles Green’s terms for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
Few of the 276 creditors, who are owed somewhere in the region of £134 million and range from a face painter and magician to the local newsagent, turned up for the meeting.
Those that did were clearly shocked by the speed of the club’s end. Asked to sum up his feelings, as he left Ibrox, Mr Boal said he found the whole thing “unreal, very, very sad.”
The bed sheet protest outside Ibrox had failed. The club had died.
And there was never any mention of the holding company on that bed sheet, was there?
