It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Craig Whyte would not have expected Champions League football when he worked on the deal to buy Rangers last spring, but, by his own admission, income from the Europa League group stage was in the budget.
Winning the league came as a surprise late in the process and may have fuelled some summer transfer bids but income was about to fall well below expectations. Ally McCoist won only one game in four cup competitions, against Arbroath, season ticket sales didn’t bounce and with no serious income streams open, Rangers were set for a seriously low income season.
In addition, the injury to Steven Naismith robbed Rangers of what I understand would have been a £5m sale in January.
People have tried to assert that Whyte’s plan for Rangers was to liquidate the company all along, this is clearly not the case. Rangers were moribund while the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) was yet to report but Whyte planned to run the company, without reverting to administration until and perhaps beyond then.
As well as having to deal with the income shocks resulting from multiple on-field failures, Rangers were hit with an expenditure shock. The FTT was delayed from November to January. If it had proceeded as planned in November it would have reported in January. The delay was crucial, Rangers were going to spend a lot more money before the verdict was announced.
If the verdict arrived as expected in January, and Rangers won, it was game on. They would have been in a position to borrow like any other club and could have raised fresh share capital. There would have been no administration. This was the preferred outcome, Whyte would have emerged with his reputation intact and with a valuable football franchise for the outlay of exactly £1.
If they lost, Whyte could have presented a fait-accompli to the world.
He could have explained to the Rangers support that the total tax liability was “likely to be around £75m” and that there was no point putting fresh investment into a black hole, which was inevitably going to lead to liquidation – all for misdemeanours that occurred before his time. The support would have been distressed at the death of their history, but, crucially, they would not have blamed Whyte, whose reputation would still be intact.
He would immediately have applied for the 10 day grace period to consider appointing an administrator and used that time to tell the SPL and SFA that he could re-emerge with Newco FC within days and allow the league programme to complete as normal. He had security over the stadium, would be in a position to re-employ the players and would be able to honour financial commitments to other clubs, while securing the television and sponsorship contracts.
Public sympathy would have been behind him, Sir David Murray would have carried the blame (perhaps correctly) and I believe only Celtic would have voted against him. Newco would have been back in the SPL and, if the Daily Record’s reporting of Whyte’s thoughts on penalties are anything to go by, he expected to be docked a comfortable 25 points.
HMRC forcing Rangers into administration this month created enormous problems. Administrators Duff and Phelps are now in control and opened the club’s finances up to scrutiny.
As soon as it became evident that he securitised season ticket money from future years, three days after buying the club, placing the money into his own bank account, not that of the football club, Craig Whyte’s methods were subject to derision and outright disgust from many angles, most importantly from the Rangers support.
As things stand, Whyte cannot slip away. He has to stand with Ticketus, who will hold a security on Ibrox through one of Whyte’s companies, and he stands to gain an enormous amount of money for a year’s hard work. Ticketus are also in for the long haul, they have coughed up over £20m and will need a sizeable commercial return.
Many observers have noted that this has not progressed as a normal administration. It’s not a normal administration. The secured creditors (Craig Whyte and Ticketus) need to sell a lot of tickets beyond administration, either as Rangers, if they are successful in the FTT, or as Newco, if they lose the FTT. Selling a lot of tickets is a really tough challenge right now and will be made considerably more difficult if there are swingeing cuts made to the club staff and infrastructure now. Their interests are considerably best served by keeping Rangers as buoyant as possible.
Even if they manage to feed enough cash to the administrators to keep Rangers playing football until the verdict is delivered, the opportunity to present the league with a fait-accompli has gone. Everyone expects Rangers to fold and will have been busy working on a contingency plan.
Any goodwill that Whyte hoped to harvest has also gone, he is seen as a pariah, without friends within the game, in the political world, the media or the Rangers support. When he looks to build a consensus, there will be no advocates for his position. Quite the opposite, people want rid of him.
The on-going police enquiry and his interesting relationships with the Insolvency Service and HMRC will only cloud matters further. For all the bluster on these subjects, no one has been able to explain to me any illegal activities, in fact, most of the illegal activity he has been accused of are either perfectly legal or simply did not take place as described, but there is enough potential in this mix for many years of civil legal challenge, if not more serious issues.
Whyte and Ticketus now have decisions to make on how much extra skin to invest. Ticketus are in the game for a lot of money already and will be keen to protect their cash. It remains to be seen how much cash Whyte has in the client account at Collyer Bristow, but it’s clear that between them, Ticketus and Whyte were prepared to guarantee the administrators full wages and costs for the club for February.
The fact that the tap has been turned on 100% for the last two weeks suggests they have enough cash to run at a lower percentage for a while yet. Duff and Phelps will know how much money is available and will have an expected date for the verdict. It would be enormously bad judgement if they exhausted cash reserves before the verdict arrived.
As long as Ticketus investors hold their nerve, and the police don’t spike the process, Rangers will survive until the verdict. If they lose the verdict, and all expectations are that they will, what are we looking at?
As I said above, Whyte’s chance of presenting a fait-accompli has gone. He would need to go for a prepack liquidation but there are likely to be legal challenges to him making off with the assets of Rangers. At best, this would delay him for anything between weeks and years. Any police involvement would make matters even more difficult. If a negative verdict is delivered anytime soon, Rangers will cease.
Even if this happens, Whyte will still owe Ticketus a lot of money and will try to phoenix as a Newco. He will have the stadium and will be in pole position to apply for membership to the SPL or Scottish Football League.
A route back into the SPL in these circumstances would be difficult to achieve. The SPL board have the authority to accept a club into the league but I hear it is likely that, due to the importance of the matter, they would refer the decision to a vote of the entire league. Back in October I thought the fait-accompli was certain to be voted into the SPL, now I can’t see a Newco being voted in.
You would expect an application into the Scottish Football League to be accepted but there may be a rival bid. The ‘Blue Knights’ bid would not include Ibrox but have a number of options. They could ask to rent Hampden or Firhill, or could adopt a struggling lower league club, like Clyde. These notions are likely to be progressed but establishing a new club, without players or a stadium, would be an enormous challenge.
All of this would play out against a great deal of uncertainty. Whyte’s ability to sell tickets to Rangers fans must be in doubt. If a rival club wanted back into Ibrox in the future they would need to give the ultimate floating charge holder – Ticketus – the same kind of return Whyte has committed to. There is also the possibility of a lot more to come out about the old regime at Rangers, some of whom are behind the Blue Knights bid.
Even if someone gets a phoenix off the ground at Ibrox, keeping it alive will be difficult. The cost of running football games there every second week is considerable. Doing so, while repaying Ticketus, and competing against lower league (or SPL) opposition, will cut any football budget to levels not known in 30 years.
For now, everyone connected with Rangers needs to make confident noises but even if they die, their ghost is already in enormous peril.
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Paul67
We have been told by excellent sources – yourself, RTC and Phil for a while that we should expect the FTT verdict in late March / early April. Is that still the case is ther eany further indication of when results will be published?
partizan and gorbalstam just for yous 2
WERE THE BHOYS WHO SHOOK UP LISBON WE SHOWD INTER SOME O’ OUR TRICKS,IN THE YEAR O’67 SHOOR OUR TROPHIES NUMBERED 6,AND WHEN WERE AWAY WE WILL ALWAYS PLAY A GAME THAT’S NEAT N CLEAN,AND GIVE THREE CHEERS FOR CELTIC AND THEIR GOOD OL MANAGER STEIN!!!
HAW HAW SO’S YIR CHANCES!!!!!
My dear,dear,dear,friend… Ex Ludo
Pal.. Ah Commend yer Perspicacity.. which is only
exceeded by ye Doonright.. RECKLESS… Bravery!!
Ye ur a Man tae Ride the River wi’.
Kojo
yer pal.. who likes ye ..Already.
Gordon J 15.39
Don’t expect ANYTHING worthwhile back from Mr. Salmond. I wrote an impassioned and detailed letter to him regarding his Justice (sic) Secretary’s remarks re. TFOD’s singing at the League Cup Final last year. IF he had read it (and I doubt it got anywhere near him) what I put in that should have caused him to reflect on at least making sure I got a personal answer. Instead I got a standard, trite, generalised reply about how the SNP Government/sectarianism … blah.. blah. I now know that I don’t matter, we don’t matter.
Best of luck – let me know how you get on.
Bhoys in cooking pasta for wee man and I’m singing we’re having a party when the rangers die and the wee man sings it loud and proud lol, 3 years of age.
I say to him what do we say, he says the big house needs to stay open lol, brilliant.
Love this bit of Celtic statement:
we received our allocation of tickets for the match from the Administrators of Rangers Football Club.
• We will sell these in the normal manner and will abide by the rules of the Scottish Premier League.
Receiving tickets from ‘Administrators’ of one club, while we abide by the rules of the SPL.
Bang – head shot. Shut it Keevins.
I hope Shred-It got their money up front
Me thinks that there may be a DR editor laying under his desk nursing a sore pair
My dear,dear,dear,friend..HenryClarkson
Ye know the score,pal. Ye know the way tae the Cross!
You are wan o’ the Lucky Fellahs..
whom
Ah dinnae Need tae Explain tae You..
How the Coo Ate the Cabbages!!!
Thanks fur the Nod…awe the same.
Kojo
yer pal..who likes ye, already
Love this:
“we received our allocation of tickets for the match from the Administrators of Rangers Football Club.” LOL
Hail! Hail!
The interesting bit will be when we demand payment in advance for our home game.
THE First Minister has offered to meet representatives of Dunfermline Athletic to discuss a cashflow problem caused by Rangers going into administration.
The Fife club has been left with a £84,000 shortfall in ticket revenue.
That comes after the Scottish Premier League teams played at Dunfermline’s East End Park on 11 February, just before Rangers went into adminstration.
It meant Dunfermline players and staff were paid only part of their wages for February, but bosses say they hope to pay the balance within ten days.
Mid Scotland and Fife Labour MSP John Park raised the club’s plight during First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood today.
He asked what steps the Scottish Government can take to assist the Pars and other clubs in similar situations.
Mr Salmond said: “Many of us realised that the position developing at Rangers will have ramifications throughout Scottish football. Dunfermline Athletic is one of the earlier incidents of it.
“I’d be delighted to meet Dunfermline Athletic to offer any help the Scottish Government can do.”
He added: “All the clubs in Scottish football are vital and valuable and we should be trying to assist and help them all where we can. There will shortly be an increase in revenue directly related to the new Offensive Behaviour football legislation which came into force today. We will look at ways of channelling finances raised by fans being offensive back into struggling clubs.”
In a statement posted on the club website, Dunfermline chief executive Bill Hodgins said: “By Monday all staff will have received 80 per cent of their salary and we will be in a position to pay the remaining balance within 10 days.
“Our staff are aware that this situation is outwith the club’s control and they have been extremely understanding and supportive.
“In the meantime the Scottish Premier League are in constant dialogue with the administrator at Rangers in order to try and secure payment of our ticket income of £84,000 that was due on 21st February 2012.”
Yesterday, Dunfermline revealed an annual loss of more than £430,000 for last year after paying £185,000 in bonuses following their promotion to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.
The club is currently bottom of the league.
IS WISHING DEATH ON AN ORGANISATION THAT IS “AT THE VERY FABRIC OF OUR SOCIETY” OFFENSIVE ?
HAil Hail
It would have been much better if Celtic had referred to them as Rangers FC (in administration)
I was at a folk concert in Glasgow when Matt McGinn intoduced the Bhoys from Lisbon as a new song. He said he was delighted when Celtic won it, because it was Catholics and Protestants playing together. Fair brought the house down.
£84,000 due to Dunfermline. How many tickets is that ? Doesn’t seem the Huns sold that many.
Quickly passing through to say well done to Celtic for putting that rag and its attempts to stir up anti-Celtic hatred in its place.
HH
Job Opportunities Available at East End Park
ACCOUNTANCY ASSISTANT
An opportunity has arisen for an experienced Accountancy Assistant based at East End Park in Dunfermline. In this role you will be responsible for both the sales and purchase ledgers and therefore good IT skills, attention to detail and the ability to meet tight deadlines and work as part of a team is extremely important. Sage experience is essential as is an ability to count arithmetically and remain unbowed if questioned upon.
Working hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and there could also be the ad-hoc requirement to work for a limited number of hours on match days.
Had to laugh looking at the DR website. With the PL letter is the comment…”in the spirit of fairness we agreed to publish……”
Is it just me or did PL tell them publish OR else a visit to court could be in the offing.
Whatever, well done Celtic – and Peter Lawwell – for pulling this shower up and telling it exactly as it is. Now Shug, what’s your view next time on Snyde?
The Chief Exucutive at Celtic Football Club Peter Lawell sets the record straight regarding the tickets for the away tie with rangers later this month.Now peter with bite between your teeth ,now is the time to bar the Daily Record ie Keith Jackson,Jim Traynor and Bill Leckie from entering Celtic Park for ever .
Great article Paul ~ covers the waterfront.
Happy Birthday Gordon_J a great time for celebrations all round!
HH Gerry
Kojo, yer welcome.
SomewhereDownTheCrazyRiverCSC
McTALL on 1 March, 2012 at 15:05 said:
I seem to remember at the start of the FTT, that the orcs asked for the matter to be split into 2 on looking at the tax issue and the other the fines imposed, is that still the case? and if so will the upcomming judgement just be the back tax with the fines etc still to come?
yes, that is still the case 1st is tax and interest 2nd tribunal to decide penalties if any are due after first is lost by rangers in administration 2012
the mess that rangers are had its seeds planted 45 years ago,
and has finally come to fruition,jealousy can destroy the soul or as mr paul 67 says ghost.
Thanks DougC was just wondering as it had seemed to go quiet on that front, their legal fees must be through the roof!!
Paul67,
Another great entry for Wikipedia/CQNews library for the history books as the Scittish Media even yesterday cannot bring themselves to this outcome.
Double-standanrds me thinks: Keevins wants to tar this site, phil’s site & RTC with the same brush as the crazy fans that just post nonsense and bile all over the net, but he seems to think that he, his paper and his radio job is not the same as all the other Scottish Media Hacks, again double standards, in one hand they will tell you they cannot print a story until it has been fully reasearched and they have sought legal advise, then a week or two goes by and they are willing to accuse CW of everything from robbing RFC and their fans to being the loan gunman on the grassie nole. Why are they and why havent they gone after Sir Minty in this way, as far as I am concerened CW holds all the cards on their future no matter how they spin/call it.
Anyway on another note, can some of our very talented CQNers that do the youtube pieces please change this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4jAq1tsXoA – TaxBastards commercial, I think there is a lot to work with, its one we see on CNN every 30 minutes here in Canada.
Finnharp
Hail Hail
Must say i prefer the huns being call “Administrators of Rangers FC”. Its a bit like FC United of Manchester.
Already newco?
If some players agree to the 75% cut can others have their contracts cancelled at Ibrokes?
LB
Well done Peter!
Celtic retain the moral high ground Hugh!
There’s yer dinner Keevins.Have you ever heard such sh£$%,pay a company in administration 300k up front,for a game which might not take place.Soup taking toady.
I wonder why the DR website is still carrying the incorrect story?http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/rangers/2012/02/28/rangers-celtic-in-300k-bust-up-over-ibrox-derby-ticket-agreement-86908-23768225/
Also, am I blind? I cannot see the Celtic statement anywhere on their website.
Ok, can’t do links it seems.
Another good statement from CFC,next target Peter is Operation Undo 9IAR.
Happy Birthday today to;
My brother, Kevin
My bestest hun mate Big Stokesy
Gordon_J
Jelly and ice cream, pass the parcel, musical chairs & statues for you all.
hh
bjmac
Ps Happy Birthday tomorrow to ma wee brother Kieran.
Awe_Naw
The notion that fat boy sally has any sway on events within ibunx is predicated on
the very people who have collectively through decades expenses spent on wet nurse words the growth of a brat beyond succour….no teat too big his grasping gob.
The essence of the farce that is His club remains in crystallised pixal redaction.
Fat Sally in his phony reaction the whispered intent to rile the Timmy nation via Neil is now exposed for the the fastest turn around clown of massive surrendered points in Scottish history.
He’s a walk away, any day the week loser with diapers for jumpers just in case
his lacrymose excretions become so torrential as to be unfixed by any them myriad 24/7 Jabba controlled word plumbers.
Let them Die.
HH
Paul
I’ve read your treatise – it’s well reasoned and is no summary. I feel like the judge who said to the QC after a closing speech in a very complex case, “Im afraid I’m not much wiser” to which the QC replied,”but you’re better informed.”
Now I’ve made a cup of coffee and am into my third reading.
What would I do without the wisdom and knowledge gleaned from CQN?
A masterpiece!
Kojo
Missed the “controversial” post from earlier, but I for one read all your posts (indeed everyone’s), and enjoy them completely. CQN wouldn’t be the same without them (everyone agree or disagree at your leisure). I understand the nature of your points though.
In an earlier post I spoke of not being a victim nor being exposed to the kind of bigotry that so many have here (in fact I wasn’t aware of its extent until I joined CQN a few years ago and did more research) living in Canada as I do. The worst I ever get is the odd jibe for being a Montreal Canadiens fan while living in Toronto. That doesn’t even hit the radar screen by comparison.
The thing I like about this group is the diversity and the differing opinions on a number of matters. Though we may not always play from the same songsheet, the band is melodious…
Hail Hail!
My dear,dear,dear,friend.. Jimmici
Yep.. Mr.Lawwell sure..
Explained. tae the Uninformed..
How the Coo Ate the Cabbages!
And naebuddy is mair pleased at Reading, Mr.Lawwell ‘s Revelations.. mair than Kojo..
Fur..
If ye Read whit Ah said .. Last Evening.. in Ma Commentary
Regarding whether.. Mr.Keevins wiz right in whit he wiz Accusing Celtic o’ Being.. which wiz.. acting like a “Piker”
Anyway.. Ah finished Ma Commentary oan Mr.Keevins.. Right tae say this.. by.. and Ah paraphrase, noo..
“Actually,,Neethur Mr. Keevins Nor.. I, Kojo.. Know for a Fact. whether any type of Agreement wiz Reached or made..Between The G.A. and Us.. regarding, the Future Pre Payment of Ticket Receipts Monies.
So,hiving said that..
Ah must Propound that..
Kojo and Mr.Keevins , are in Nae Position tae Pass Judgment oan Whether Celtic Wiz acting like a Bad Guy or No ,in this .
And therefore.. Baith Mr. Keevins and Kojo should keep thur
Darn Mooths Shut.
Nice Chatting ,Pal.
Kojo
yer pal…who likes ye aloater
PAUL READING AWE NAWS POST
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on 1 March, 2012 at 16:29 said:
COULD THIS NOT BE CONSTRUED AS SALMOND MAKING THE POINT ABOUT LIFE WITHOUT RANGERS , SEEMS LIKE IT TO ME .
JIMTIM