We have discussed the Craig Whyte narrative here in some detail since October last year when we first suggested he was preparing to liquidate Rangers and attempt a prepack recovery. I expect this to be put into motion today.
You can ignore any meetings Duff and Phelps hold with prospective buyers of the club, this is window dressing. Craig Whyte and his partner company, Ticketus, are the only people in position to make a viable offer for the business. They hold security on the stadium and Murray Park with Ticketus owning the first 26,000 season tickets (approx.) sold for the next three years. It would cost approximately £40m to release Ticketus security plus whatever is owned to Whyte. No one will offer to cover these costs.
Expect Duff and Phelps to conclude their meetings and report that they are in possession of a genuine offer from Whyte/Ticketus, or their proxy, to buy the assets of the company. The proxy may be required as pretty much everyone who has touched this club in recent years would not be considered a Fit and Proper person and would fail the requirement not to be involved with an insolvency within the last five years.
The offer for all assets will be for a nominal amount and will be conditional on all legal action against Whyte or his companies being dropped. Duff and Phelps will accept the offer.
Whyte cannot afford to allow large scale redundancies as he needs to be able to sell these players in the summer or play those he is unable to sell. With the players not agreeing to a short-term cut in pay, he has to make his move now, despite the enormous risks involved in going early.
Duff and Phelps could have made redundancies 24 days ago and ensured the club would be able to finish the season, or at least survive until the tax verdict, but retaining the football squad was an important part of Whyte’s forward plan – and Whyte’s notional offer will have been known to them from the beginning.
HM Revenue and Customs will take a bath for their £75m, Whyte will emerge with all property assets and the football club, although the club will carry the significant burden of selling tickets for Ticketus.
The SPL board will have to vote within the next week on whether or not to allow Rangers Newco to continue with the same league membership as Rangers FC. Whyte will have to take an enormous chance that his proxy will be presentable enough to allow them to turn a blind eye to the enormously inappropriate behaviour.
The vote could go either way but I expect Celtic will be the only club to object.
The issue is complicated by legacy issues. Neither the SPL nor the SFA have acted on the improper registration of players matter yet. If any of the current Rangers team had their current season contracts registered with the alleged improper procedures, games involving those players will have to be awarded a 3-0 defeat to Rangers.
The SPL will have to come up with a verdict on this matter within days or else revisit the matter in a few weeks, after deciding on what to do with Rangers Newco.
The SPL must also consider the issue of precedent, the consequences of enabling a club to disenfranchise a £75m creditor cannot be underestimated.
HMRC may also have an input here. They stand to lose most from this deal and may seek court intervention, arguing that liquidating the company prior to the FTT verdict is unnecessary and prejudicial to their interests.
Issue six of CQN Magazine, the Fit and Proper edition, is set to become a landmark collectors item. You can browse the magazine online here but you can buy your own hard copy by clicking on the link below. Read with 20-20 vision…..
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StevieS
Newco cannot take on the old position of Oldco
If they did then Newco will get Oldcos tax bill ..so why bother ?
Hail Hail
ibleedgreenandwhite1
Thought it might bring a bit of light relief to an otherwise tough going blog.
Awe_naw’s yer man for pingbacks.
Mort
ulysses mcghee
No money being spent on buying time
Players have been paid for February
It´s Match the 8th.
Hail Hail
Awe Naw
Now Now. The contents of a chap’s tobacco tin are sacred.
Match=March
Mort on 8 March, 2012 at 14:15 said:
ibleedgreenandwhite1
Thought it might bring a bit of light relief to an otherwise tough going blog.
Awe_naw’s yer man for pingbacks.
Mort
I appreciate you trying to cheer us and the rest of the Blog up,,,,,very confused about Pingbacks though!
:D
Hail hail
TBB, thanks.
row z \o/ (O) whatever part of my club is dependent on rangers I am willing to lose! on 8 March, 2012 at 14:13 said:
“1. McMoist is with Murray not Whyte. Don’t be surprised if the players now deliver an acceptable cut wage proposition to get them through to the end of the season. This will give Murray more time.”
Give Murray more time for what?
awe naw
what match is being played on the 8th
C_F
I’m looking forward to reading your denouement.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17300277
Awe Naw,
Yeah I get that, but it would appear that clever guys than me think they WILL get in to SPL. So I’m just basing my thoughtts on that possibility.
i.e. IF they DO get voted into the SPL (in “their” place) they have 0 points, no time to catch up (therefore relegated) and possibly NO PLAYERS to catch up with :-))
That’s what’s puzzling me. Even if they take the no players bit out, they get voted in but would almost deffinately be relagated. So WHY bother applying and getting the vote in the first place??
The leaded window opened
to move the dancing candle flame
And the first Moths of summer
suicidal came, suicidal came.
And a new breeze chattered
in its May-bud tenderness,
Sending water-lillies sailing
as she turned to get undressed.
And the long night awakened
and we soared on powdered wings,
Circling our tomorrows
in the wary month of Spring.
Chasing shadows slipping
in a magic lantern slide,
Creatures of the candle
on a night-light-ride.
Dipping and weaving
Flutter through the golden needle’s eye
in our haystack madness.
Butterfly-stroking on a Spring-tide high.
Life’s too long (as the Lemming said)
as the candle burned and the Moths were wed.
And we’ll all burn together as the wick grows higher
but before the candle’s dead.
The leaded window opened
to move the dancing candle flame.
And the first moths of summer
suicidal came, oh, suicidal came.
To join in the worship
of the light that never dies
in a moment’s reflection
of two moths spinning in her eyes.
Snake Plissken on 8 March, 2012 at 14:14 said:
BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Administrators of #Rangers FC urge players to accept offers of a wage cut in next 24 hours or face redundancies bbc.in/wDvGTW
————-
So they are basically resorting to blackmail – take a huge paycut or we will sack your team mates. Little chance Mythgregor & Davis will be released as they are the only 2 worth anything.
clever = “cleverer” (as if to prove the point! lol)
Awe Naw,
Who the feck is Alice?
all the other spelling mistooks I put down to another excuse that i will think of asap
StevieS
Why would Craig Whyte Pre pack himself RIGHT back into the situation where he would still have to pay the BIG tax bill. ITS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN
but indulging your smart buddies maybe a newco relegated for only one year is better than working up through 3
HAil Hail
Rieperman on 8 March, 2012 at 14:22 said:
She lives next door…
The continued stalling makes the dismissal of G Smith & A Russell look quite strange now. It wasn’t about money after all, was it? Who wanted them out?
The administrators were chosen by Craig Whyte why ? the only conclusion you can come to is that they suited his needs.It has been said on CQN many times that it is a very strange administration with no redundancies to date.Now it looks like the reason for that is they want to keep as many of the playing staff as they can now only yesterday the administrator could not get a salary deduction accepted by the players and yet still no redundancies why not ? well it looks like they are trying to preserve as many of the assets of the club as they can to make the club more attractive to a new owner.Now remember right from the begining Craig Whyte has had a plan he has consistanly sayed Rangers will survive but he has never said in what form. We appear to adminstrators who are close to Craig Whyte and are looking for Liquidation in order to set up new co Rangers 2012 and they hope to have as many of the current Rangers players in the new team.Meanwhile we watch from the outside expecting some one to step in and say stop you cant do this but other than on blogs no one is saying that why not? there is a smell about this it feels and looks like sharp practice.I cant help feeling that pulling the strings some where in the back ground is Sir Skinty Murray we could be sitting on the side lines watching the wool being pulled over our eyes.I hope im wrong.H.H.
Rieperman on 8 March, 2012 at 14:22 said:
Bobs mate
Hail Hail
Starry Plough,
:)
Rieperman
twenty-four years, just waiting for a chance,
tell her how i feel, maybe get a second glance;
now i’ve got to get used to NOT living next door to alice
pretty appropriate methinks
All going up in smokie
Hail Hail
i don’t know why she’s leaving or where she’s gonna go
i guess she’s got her reasons, but i just don’t wanna know
‘cuz for twenty-four years i’ve been living next door to alice
Hail Hail
Re the strange announcement from St Mirren yesterday, which follows on from their owners trying to find a buyer for years, & speculation going back several months now about the possibility of Rangers/Whyte buying St Mirren, can anyone reassure me that there is some reason why the following scenario won’t play out?
Whyte will try & do a pre-pack liquidation, buy Saints, transfer their registration & name to Rangers 2012 or such like, & the Orcs, debt free, rise again.
That would be extremely worrying, mainly for any Saints fans clearly, (well, Chic Young might not mind so much, & Bill Leckie certainly wouldn’t) but also for anyone else who
A/ places any value on the integrity of Scottish football
B/ Doesn’t want cheats to prosper- how many trophies would other clubs have won (especially ours) if the hun had been only buying players it could afford? How many millions in lost Champions league revenue have Celtic been cheated out of?
C/ doesn’t want to see shysters like Murray, Whyte etc get away with diddling everyone else (well, those of us who pay taxes) out of £75 million, all the while bleating on about their club being loyal subjects of the Crown; having 140 years of acting with “unsurpassed dignity”: & most nauseatingly of all, engaging in stunts like Armed Forces day whilst all the while, deliberately refusing to pay taxes which support them, not to mention schools & hospitals- the hypocrisy of the club, those who have run it, & the support who all seem to think that as long as they survive, & are allowed into the SPL, that anyone else who gets/has been shafted matter not a jot- is breathtaking, but entirely in keeping with their “We are the peepul” mindset.
Hopefully, I am barking up the wrong tree…
To all those who think we should resign if they get parachuted back into the spl
We didn’t do anything
Personally I would prefer if we do nothing.
Thats right. DO NOTHING.
And we should make sure everybody knows that
we will do nothing
We will have nothing to do with any newco
No to any joint sponsorships.
No to any tv deals.
No to any tickets home or away.
But most importantly.
No to any games involving newco.
If the club take the simple stance.
No To Newco
then they might galvanise the support rather than
losing thousands by conceding to the spls wishes
Let the spl sfa and sky decide what they want to do then.
Make them choose.
Don’t make the choice for them.
We are big enough and strong enough to take any punishment they can throw at us.
As I said this will strengthen our on fan base and I’m sure gather support outside our own club.
It will also keep the spotlight on the so called gaurdians of our game.
Sometimes there is more than just winning football matches
No To Newco
KTF
could someone come up with a flow chart for this whole situation ?
Celtic and all their supporters around the world should stand back and let Rotten Fromthe Core (in administration) continue to implode.
The RFCIA debacle will continue ad-nauseum with the courtroom being the battlefield. Claim, counter claim, etc… will keep this body from becoming a cadaver for many years.
No newco will be able to arise from the ashes of the former RFC because it will not be dead. Lawyers are very, very good at keeping legal argument from reaching any final conclusion for year upon year. All RFCs assets will be permanently buried under a mountain of paperwork. No-one will be able to use any of them.
If I were a player, I’d bail out quick. There’s every chance that once the lawyers really get going, the living assets of the club will be tied up in perpetual legal argument preventing them from escape.
The SPL and SFA can bend all the rules they like to parachute a newco into RFCs old place. But there won’t be any newco unless of course it is completely new with no link whatsoever with RFC.
Whilst the rangers fans are spitting their venom at the Celtic fans who are justifiably laughing at the sit-com going on all around them, the ones laughing loudest of all will be the lawyers.
So, I suggest, you take out your inner rage on the perpetrators and perpetuators of your grief, your own club and all the brood of vipers acting on the various party’s behalf.
TBB
My reading is that our hero hopes to phoenix their club, avoid paying the debts he and his predecessors have amassed, convince the tax authorities that the new club is not the old club, convince the support that the new club is the old club after all and convince the SPL that, regardless, the new club should be allowed to play with the big boys immediately, that one of those big boys will voluntarily give up its place to accommodate the new club or that the champions of SLF Division 1 will accept the honour but not the prize to make way.
What could possibly go wrong?
oops what happened there
stupid phones
I wonder if the 7 players, who have refused to sign reduced deals, are now thinking about walking straight into English clubs more than helping out RFC(IA). £30-£50k per week plus massive signing on fee. Compare that to £5k for the next 3 months.
Greed is strong temptation even to the most fervent hun.
We obviously can resign from the league but can we sue for lost earnings?
Awe Naw,
Perhaps they will call the NewCo Alice.
Hope you’re right Awe Naw. I REALLY do!
Pauls article and a few other posters have got me concerned though.
These last couple of days have done my head in!!
Never mind the old “new york – new year” thing, I’m in such a mess that I don’t know if I’m a fridge or a haircut!
Can’t*
jock steins celtic on 8 March, 2012 at 14:29 said:
could someone come up with a flow chart for this whole situation ?
….
Great Idea!
Snake Plissken on 8 March, 2012 at 13:34 said:
….
A restructuring might be on the cards – we should say to Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and United – lets break away and make a new top flight and invite some of the division 1 teams in.
….
I would like to see Celtic to be in a position to threaten resignation from a newco entry into the SPL, but there would have to be a business case that could enable them to walk the walk if push comes to shove.
Resignation requires 3 years notice from the SPL I think. (Ironically, if you don’t want to wait, and clear your debt at the same time, you could just liquidate, leave immediately then phoenix )
However I don’t see how breaking away, and taking a ‘rebel alliance’ of clubs would not be possible business-wise. I think it is potentially viable. But in order to play hardball with the SPL over this issue, (board vote or not) then Celtic should be considering it’s business plan post-RFC-oblivion under all scenarios. I would like to think that means working through scenarios and crunching numbers that don’t involve Rangers and/or the SPL, and be able to demonstrate to the doubters in the SPL that resignation is a viable option.
SaintLubo on 8 March, 2012 at 14:30 said:
No newco will be able to arise from the ashes of the former RFC because it will not be dead. Lawyers are very, very good at keeping legal argument from reaching any final conclusion for year upon year.
I like that idea, but who whose lawyers would make that argument? If Whyte, D6P, Murray are all for liquidation, who will contest it? Hector?