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…..
You can support the online edition by making a discretionary donation here.
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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 we’ve been living next door to Dallas
Dallas Where the F*** Is Dallas?
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 Dallas
Dallas Where the F*** Is Dallas?
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
It’s Dallas
It’s Dallas
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
It’s Dallas
It’s Dallas
Where the F*** Is Dallas? (Dallas)
Where the F*** Is Dallas? (Dallas)
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
It’s Dallas
It’s Dallas
Where the F*** Is Dallas? (Dallas)
Where the F*** Is Dallas? (Dallas)
Where the F*** Is Dallas?
It’s Dallas
It’s Dallas
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 we’ve been living next door to
Dallas Where the F*** Is Dallas?
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 Dallas
Dallas Where the F*** Is Dallas?
All_Going_Up_In_Smokie-CSC
if club chairman think they can vote newco into the spl and carry on regardless, they are wrong. fans go to watch football teams because they are loyal and believe in their clubs, good or bad, win or lose. i don’t think celtic fans are unique in that if our club voted a newco into the SLP then, very many fans would never return to parkhead, including me, what would be the point, the league would have no merit or integrity.
to my mind large aberdeen fc, hibs fans, dundee united and hearts fans etc… would feel the same, a vote for rangers newco is a vote against your own fans, after all the nature of fans is rivalry.
all club fans should come up with a symbolic gesture to let their chairman knew, a vote for newco is a vote less season ticket money, gate money etc…, maybe a walkout with 10 minutes to go or a walk in 10 minutes into a games
i would not recommend resigning from the spl, i would however commence the process of petitioning fifa/uefa about our plight and letting them know we, as a club want support to leave scottish football alongside any other club wronged by the tax dodgers
St Martin’s Bhoy on 8 March, 2012 at 14:04said:
Since EPL started how many teams have won it?
Three, Utd, Chelsea,.Arsenal…..it is usually a two horse race.
Utd and one of the other two. City this year and for a few more.
Bit like La Liga.
I’m looking forward to the game on Sunday,think it will be a corker.Then can’t wait until the following Sunday when my Da,my bhoy and I will watch Celtic lift the first leg of a treble.
Don’t think there’s a game the next weekend though.
On a different note,that Sally Gunnell’s a swarthy looking bloke. ;-)))
UEFA dont allow clubs to be bought over.
Hail Hail
Repost from yesterday as today seems more relevant …
FOOTBALL CLUB FOR SALE, SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Buyers wanted for successful Glasgow football club. Holds the world record for trophies won (1). Has a loyal and vocal fanbase (2). Has an expensively assembled playing squad (3).
Has a much loved manager with a high profile (4). Has good relationships with the media (5). A true Scottish institution with a reputation that goes before them (6).
Has a large season ticket base (7), a world class training ground and youth academy (8) and a large and impressive stadium (9). Previous owners have been pillars of the business community (10), one of whom won a knighthood (11).
Previous directors include well known players, members of the legal establishment (12) and international businessmen (13). The previous owner was a high-profile public figure (14).
This represents a world class business opportunity, a chance to own something that has been a part of Scottish history. Offers over £10,000,000 (15) will be considered.
DISCLOSURE NOTES
(1) Some of their trophies are suspect, and subject to review. There is a chance they will be declared void.
(2) The loyal and vocal fan-base includes a large number of sectarian bigots, who’s behaviour has seen the club fined and warned by UEFA. They are profoundly anti-Catholic, anti-Irish and have a sick fascination with child abuse.
(3) The expensively assembled playing squad have all secured free transfers in the summer, due to a deal which kept the running costs down.
(4) His profile is high because he used to be on the telly. He’s not up to much as a manager. He does, however, have a lot of mates in the media.
(5) The relationship with the media is brilliant. But the media in question are lazy, incompetent and now largely irrelevant.
(6) Like a number of other Scottish institutions (Carstairs, Barlinnie) it has floodlights and high walls. It’s reputation has suffered in recent years as a result of tax fraud, dumping debt, sectarian supporters and a number of other scandals.
(7) The season tickets have been mortgaged to a finance company for the next three years.
(8) The training ground is owned by a crook and the youth players belong to a private company.
(9) The stadium is likely to be placed in escrow pending a number of legal battles.
(10) With many failed businesses behind them.
(11) David Murray, who’s knighthood is under threat pending possible criminal charges
(12) Donald Findlay, defender of murderers, bigots, terrorists and who was kicked off the board for a sectarian karaoke session.
(13) These include Dave King, a convicted tax fraudster in South Africa, who is currently facing a lengthy prison term for a variety of charges.
(14) Craig Whyte. Need we say more?
(15) At least that amount will be required to settle legal bills. We’re actually looking for closer to five times that much, and the same again will be needed to clear debts and roughly the same again to rebuild infrastructure. Oh and then we’ll need more for new players. And day to day running costs. And potential fines when our fans misbehave.
We have a number of interested parties (although one was recently revealed to be nothing more than a group of rival supporters at the wind up). All offers will be considered, except those who’s names sound Irish, Italian or Catholic. Prospective buyers are asked to consider, and respect, a number of cultural norms, like the sacrificing of goats and the vilification of priests.
This listing will be up until a buyer is found, or until liquidation proceedings commence.
want to write to uefa:
uefa
route de postale
ch-1260
nyon 2
switzerland
scottish football is dead if that lot are allowed to start in the SPL
If the administrators are forcing wage cuts how does that square with the idea Whyte is trying to pre pack and needs the players as part of that plan?
Or is it a smokescreen before Whyte big event?
James
Ha ha ha ha
Hail hail
googybhoy ♥ Celtic and Integrity on 8 March, 2012 at 14:36 said:
Spot on and something I say to non-Celtic fans all the time when aspersions are cast in our direction.
When Poundland were docked 10 points for going into administration someone here said just last week “What kind of league is that when a team can be lose 10 points and still be second? Mickey mouse etc etc..”
1st – Man City 66 points
2nd – Man Utd 64 points
3rd – Tottenham Hotspur 53 points
Needless to say they haven’t come back to me!
stephbhoy,
Why would it only be the ‘large’ Aberdeen & Hibs fans who would stop attending?
;-)
Sorry to rain on the parade, but I don’t believe there’s any scenario where a newco can be liable for an oldco’s debts, including taxes owed to HMRC. They’re simply a new company who has bought up some assets from the old one.
How the SPL and SFA treat or view a new football company is entirely their business, they’re a private members club with their own rules of association.
The actions of a private members club would have no bearing on company law.
C_F
From what we currently know, it’s likely to take years of litigation to establish what is actually available to sell to whoever might want to buy it.
Then there’s the stuff that we don’t know yet. For an example, see @mikefstv on twitter this afternoon.
Someone might very well have done a Bob Maxwell, and that is really very naughty.
I suspect that the whole thing is so utterly screwed up that it might never be fully resolved.
In terms of a Pre-pack phoenix arrangement, I posted earlier that in order for this to happen, the Oldco needs to be Liquidated.
Ignoring the fact thatPlayer Registrations can only be transferred during the window, in the event of a Lquidation, the rights to the Registrations revert to the SFA.
You can phoenix the ground and the coffee machine, but you can’t do it with the players.
Just one fankled strand in the ball.
TBB
Paul67 et al
Meanwhile, the High Court in London has set March 30 as the date for the hearing over the outstanding £3.6m Rangers season ticket money. Interestingly there are five “rival creditors”, for this money, claiming a total of £7m. Not clear who they all are, apart from the administrators, but I have heard a mention of a Pension Fund being one of them, but do not know how accurate that is. Either way that money is not available to Duff and Phelps, nor to anybody else. Meantime the administrators have given the players another 24 hours to agree to what are basically changes to their contracts, or there will be redundancies! As far as a Prepack deal being agreed, I am not convinced that the Administrators can come to any agreement with Whyte while the £3.6m is, in effect, in the High Court. Could be wrong.
Awe Naw
Thanks- i hope thats right, but what could UEFA do about it, & what precedents are there for them stopping such a course of action if its approved by the national FA?
Breaking news: Duff & Phelps reveal that a viable bid has been received from a consortium called Protestants Arra People Alba Limited, and this is receiving due consideration.
So the administrators’ line seems to be:
We can’t make redundancies because we want to sell the club so please accept pay cuts.
They didn’t accept pay cuts so we need to sell quickly to avoid redundancies
We can’t sell quickly so accept pay cuts or we will make redundancies
Is it just me but every time a see one of Timabhouy’ post I get a definate aroma of
Tonto.
ibleedgreenandwhite1 on 8 March, 2012 at 13:59 said:
Rumour’s???
Anyone else getting fed up with rumour’s??
__________________________________
me to mate,never did like that fleetwood mac,the beardy guy
scared the bejesus oota me.
James Forrest is The Emperor of Ice Cream on 8 March, 2012 at 14:43 said:
hahaha
Never try a joke when you’re behind on the blog.
Good news for who? I thought they said yesterday they would be dead in 2 days now their happy about a 4 day court case starting 30th of March!
Rangers administrator emerged from the High Court in London pleased that the judge had ordered a further hearing on the club’s claim on £3.6m.
David Whitehouse argued that the money, frozen in his firm’s lawyer’s account, belongs to Rangers and should be released to ease the club’s plight.
“Today has been a very positive step forward,” he said of the 30 March date.
“The trial reflects the judge’s understanding of the urgency of the case, so it’s very good step forward.”
Steinreignedsupreme on 8 March, 2012 at 14:18 said
An alternative newco to whyte’s
HH
TBB
Very good. Has anyone told Chick Young?
stephboy & ibleedgreenandwhite:
As much as it’s as sort of joke, it should not be forgotten that this is what we’re talking about here. This is no normal organisation for sale. This club is a blight on the landscape, as discredited and disgraced as any this country has ever known. With their record, they should be shut, debts or not … and we are expected to tolerate not only their survival, but their prosperity because of the “things they bring” to Scottish society. Yeah, I am being funny … but not really.
This is like trying to sell someone a toxic waste dump and then asking us collectively to live beside it so that we can demonstrate it’s not dangerous.
voguepunter on 8 March, 2012 at 14:51 said:
Never try a joke when you’re behind on the blog
I wasn’t even going to mention anything ha ha ha ha ha ha
Hail hail
Slightly off topic, you must have all scared me with your talk of ‘be careful out there, a lot of angry orcs about’.
last night i woke out of a bad dream. Don’t know where I was or who I was with but we were hiding from Rangers fans who were coming to get us…….
penang_bhoy on 8 March, 2012 at 14:29 said:
+++++
Leckie is most definitely a St Mirren fan.
No doubt about it, he hates Celtic. He hates the orcs too though.
If you were to ask him which team he ‘really supports’, he’d throw a genuine hissy fit.
James Forrest is The Emperor of Ice Cream on 8 March, 2012 at 14:43 said:
i said aberdeen , hibs, dundee united, hearts etc… (etc… and others)
most all fans would be angry i suspect
SonsOfErin on 8 March, 2012 at 14:45
That´s totally untrue and wildly inaccurate… sorry to rain down on yours. ;-)
If you wonder why I think differently to you. Please read my previous posts on this very thread.
Hail Hail
What is Regan talking about, “liquidation would be a disaster”?
Rangers are a disaster and they have spread the fallout throughout all the clubs in Scotland. They are the Fukushima football style.
When will those in ‘authority’ get it through their heads that RFCIA have been robbing everyone in the game blind for 20+ years. Pulling out all the stops to keep them safe and warm is simply telling every other club to do the same thing, rack up as much debt as you can muster, park the money in a safe place where creditors can’t get at it, dive into administration, then liquidation. Hey presto, debt gone, nice stash of cash to start off again with and your away.
I can’t see any way that the HMRC will let them away with this. CW laid his plans out quite plainly when he put the club into admin. He was/is deliberately using Admin/Liquidation as a debt write-off facility.
I sincerely hope they are all stuck in court, day after day for years…
SonsofErin
It’s pure cognitive dissonance. If HMRC ask, there is no connection whatsoever, perish the thought. If their supporters ask, it’s same old teddy bears.
stephbhoy:
I hope so mate. I hope their clubs are listening, and know there will be a backlash against this decision.
SonsofErin 14.45
yeah I suppose this is the crux the matter. But if the Newco owners were the same as OldCo owners ?
“We can’t make redundancies because we want to sell the club so please accept pay cuts.
They didn’t accept pay cuts so we need to sell quickly to avoid redundancies
We can’t sell quickly so accept pay cuts or we will make redundancies.”
So good when a simple summary is provided, thank you.
C_F
Poor Chick has enough on his plate.
dirtymac
I am sure Leckie would claim that he’s a real Saints fan, as no doubt would Chic young, but wasn’t he outed as a “big Rangers man” on 5Live a few years back?