The new RANGERS entity have revealed they must pay Newcastle £500,000 if they are promoted from the Championship this year.
The Glasgow club which was formed in 2012, currently sit third in the table behind champions Hearts and Hibs, made the clause public as they unveiled a disappointing set of financial figures for the second half of 2014.
At the start of the year, the Ibrox side accepted five players on loan from the Premier League outfit, which is owned by Ibrox shareholder Mike Ashley, whose Sports Direct company has loaned the club a total of £13m. Without these loans the new Rangers would have followed its predecessor in falling into liquidation.
Of the quintet – Haris Vuckic, Remie Streete, Gael Bigirimana, Kevin Mbabu and Shane Ferguson – only Vuckic has kicked a ball in anger for the club, scoring five goals in seven appearances for the struggling new club.
On their results, published to the Stock Exchange early this morning, the Glasgow team reported pre-tax losses of £2.6m for the six months to 31st December, compared with a loss of £3.53m for the corresponding period in 2013.
Hosting rugby sevens matches at Ibrox during the Commonwealth Games boosted Rangers’ income by £1.3m, although revenue fell overall by £100,000 to £13.1m.
While admitting the figures were ‘disappointing’ acting chairman Paul Murray, part of the Dave King-led consortium which ousted the previous board earlier this month, said plans were in place to build a ‘modern football club’.
“I may be in the chair only in the interim, but the honour is no less great. Sadly, those who have held this post in recent times have failed to recognise the profound significance of being chairman of Rangers, but there is no possibility of the new board ever under-valuing Rangers’ position,” said Murray, a director of oldco Rangers which was consigned to liquidation in the summer of 2012.
“The new directors have been in place only a matter of weeks but have already started to repair the damage caused through recent years of neglect and disrespect for this club, its people and its history. The mismanagement of the club in recent years has been simply staggering.
“The new board is well advanced on funding plans, especially short to medium term which will ensure the club has a firm foundation from which to drive on into the future.
“We have moved quickly to secure the short-term funding position by agreeing a £1.5m unsecured interest-free loan from key shareholders
“We will work closely with our shareholders, supporters and other stakeholders to achieve our vision of building a modern football club founded on our traditional values and standards.
“The recovery process will take time but, if we work closely together, we are confident of success.”
