In the event of Rangers facing financial Armageddon after the resumption of their HMRC tax hearing a quick – very quick – recovery scenario is available to them. At any point during next month’s hearing they may consider their position is no longer tenable and, unable to meet the tax bill, a new company could be formed which attempts a prepack administration.
A prepack offer from a new company, for example, Rangers Newco FC Ltd, would offer an administrator a deal for all assets of the club, including stadium and offer to meet outstanding player wages. Deals like this seldom offer unsecured creditors much but even a small percentage might realise more cash than the administrator would gamble on raising in an unstructured sale.
In such circumstances, the administrator could accept as little as £4m for the unsecured creditors.
In normal business Rangers Newco FC Ltd would begin trading and this would be the end of the story but football is not normal business. Rangers Newco FC would own a stadium and would employ some footballers but they would not be part of any league structure. They would need to apply for membership to the Scottish Football League or Scottish Premier League.
In this scenario, the death of Rangers Football Club would leave a vacancy in the SPL, presenting several financial, logistical and sporting challenges. Without Rangers, the league would have to invalidate all this season’s results involving the club, one team would be without a game each weekend for the rest of the season, current TV contracts and sponsorship deals could be jeopardised, while future contracts would be worth a fraction of their current values.
Every team in the league would have to downsize and some would have to win fresh support from their bankers, which may or may not be forthcoming.
There is, of course, a resolution to this problem.
Rangers Newco FC Ltd could present an offer to the SPL. The new company, with its stadium and thousands of potential supporters, could take the obligatory 10 point punishment for going into administration and adopt the place of Rangers FC, complete their fixtures and allow every other team in the league to fulfil commercial obligations.
If these events took place before Christmas, Rangers Newco FC could be debt-free and signing players in January to enhance their league challenge.
To force the deal through, Rangers Newco FC would require 10 of the remaining 11 SPL clubs to vote in their favour. If any two clubs stand against them, they would have to apply for membership of the Scottish Football League, but, having researched this story for several days, I expect Rangers Newco FC Ltd would get enough support to pick-up the place of the defunct Rangers FC.
Any natural sympathies towards Rangers aside (which will not exist in all places), money talks and, apart from Celtic, this league is neck-deep in debt. Celtic might be in a position to survive Rangers failing but it would cost our club tens of millions.
Crucially, if the other SPL clubs back Rangers Newco FC, they create a template for a snap recovery from their own troubles. Instead of repaying your debts, simply get yourself into a safe league position, ditch the company, prepack and start again with a clean sheet.
This would create a clear incentive to stiff creditors. While the banks will get wise and not offer unsecured facilities in future, HMRC and small traders are likely to become perennial fall guys. Why would any mid-table team pay millions in tax, rates and policing bills, when they have a sporting incentive to ditch creditors without punitive penalty, freeing income streams to buy football bling in the next transfer window?
This would make a mockery of the Uefa predident Michele Platini’s Financial Fair Play initiative and make our league the poster-boy for Financial Doping.
Scottish football will be mortally wounded if it were to parachute a club straight into the upper echelons of the game while establishing a blueprint for the abandonment of creditors.
It is incumbent on all who care about the game, in Scotland and throughout the world, that we insist Scottish Premier League clubs do not allow a prepack company to phoenix into the shoes of a dead football club.
Celtic fans, as well as those from Aberdeen, Hibernian, Dundee United and St Johnstone, together with fans from Motherwell, who could become genuine championship contenders, and from those clubs who would avoid relegation if Rangers failed, must insist their club votes against any prepack company parachuting into the league.
The SFA executive must use whatever influence it can to prevent the name of Scottish football being brought into disrepute. Politicians, who either have, or aspire to have, tax raising responsibilities, must register their abhorrence that a self-serving oligopoly should attempt to vote themselves an escape from paying tax.
Fifa and Uefa must explain to the Scottish FA that the days of shady financial deals in football are gone.
Watch the media coverage of these events carefully. If and when the decision time comes, the case to acquiesce to Rangers Newco’s demands will be overwhelming. Sincere ‘impartial’ observers will do their upmost to convince us all we must do whatever necessary to save Rangers for the good of the Scottish game. Some voices will even tell you Celtic need Rangers Newco. Whatever part of my club is dependent on Rangers I am willing to lose.
Rangers-HMRC tax hearing resumes next month, when there is also a two week international break. The most important element of making a prepack offer succeed is to offer a fait accompli: ‘Here is a solution, you have no time and you have no alternative’.
Should Rangers go into administration, I believe this is a very, likely scenario. If you are a supporter of Celtic or any other club, make your views known.
Read issue 3 of CQN Magazine free online here or buy a print version at Magcloud.
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oldtim67 says:
28 October, 2011 at 00:05
*********************
oldtim67 are ye at the game on Sat? got a meet up with a few CQN’ers before the game in Sharkeys? it’ll be a taxi ride if ye fancy it yir man BT is going if his backs ok.
Anyway yir caricatures, theres a Derry bhoy who had a really bad football injury playing for the Jersey Scots last weekend, I think hes had 15 doofries put in his leg and ankles, I want to send something over to the Jersey Celts . who are starting a wee fundraiser for him…. I’ll take one of youre caricatures if theres any going?
Paddy Gallagher is the ref point for the Jersey Tims bye the bye.
Kano Foundation people …. not raining on yir parade just see another need in a KANO type of way, hope you all understand?
HH
V
MWD, I’ve also pm’d the site owner
Playing catch up, but had to dash forward.
philvisreturns 23:25 well said old Bhoy :o).
Right, where was I…
Hi Paul
Long time no post, hope you are well.
I felt compelled to point out one major flaw for Whyte in the ‘pre pack’ route.
The administrator who would have to agree to the pre pack sale, although not requiring the consent of the unsecured creditors (HMRC), still requires to realise the most he can for the assets. In simple terms that means the key test is – would the administrator be able to get a better deal elsewhere in the circumstances? If he cannot answer this with a ‘yes’ he will not sanction the pre pack at that price.
Yes it is true pre packs can leave unsecured creditors angry and dismayed but that tends to eminate from the fact they are not consulted before the sale. It is a myth to say that pre packs offer the opportunity to rebuy the assets at a ‘song’ and leave the creditors behind. You can leave the creditors behind all right, but only at value (in the circumstances).
The BIG difference in any potential RFC pre pack case is the potential value and potential marketability of the assets (squad, stadium, property). Pre packaged sale to the same directors are most commonly used where the assets are not substantial and not much use to anyone else (be objective lol); in service companies for instance that hold unmarketable assets (cigarette machines for example – in a famous case before the rules were tightened), where the administrator could not get a better deal elsewhere in the circumstances and is unlikely to be able to realise more.
If RFC is pre packed and the unsecured creditors get £4m (which I assume incoporates the £18m Whtye will receive first – meaning the pheniox pays £22m) the administrator would be utterly negligent in the circumstances, it cannot happen in my view.
Also, it is a ‘pre’ pack, i.e. cash has to be put up first by Whyte to buy the pre packed assets (has he got it?) before he recoups his £18million from the money he has just pumped in. I’m not sure he could use his £18 million to buy the pre packed assets as he will not have it until after the old company receives the cash.
Following any pre pack there must be full disclsoure of the rational why that course of action was undertaken by the administrator, there must be good reasons. No insolvency practitioner would be able to justify such a small return on an entire company who value their assets at over £100m. There would need to be an independent valuation and Wyhte and the new pheniox would have to pay value for the assets (back to square one for him).
The administrator will only agree to the pre pack if he thinks (reasonably) that he could not realise more than what the pheniox was offering.
Alternatives – Ibrox as a venture capitalist project to rent back to them? marketable. (That course would incidently leave Wyhte without the £18m he would recoup on the prepack due to his secured debt, as he could not use that asset as further security he would have to repay it – see ya!!!). Players in January – Jelavic, Naismith, Davies – we are sailing over the pheniox offer.
The scenario for Wyhte of £18m into RFC – pre pack administration and £18 million out – then use that £18 with another £4m to buy all the assets for a newco is just not going to happen.
In any event there is no indication has the xtra £4m, or the extra £18 million he may need upfront.
In my opinion it will be administration with players sold, stadium sold – or even liquidation (less likely).
Good times ahead……..
Vmhan.
I’ll put one aside for you.I haven’t bought them yet,I bought about 60-80 about 3-4yrs ago and gave them all away,they went like hot cakes.
Dirtymac, Congratulations on ur new job hh, c u the Morra at work.
Vmhan.
I don’t know about Saturday.Much like BT,if I’m fit enough.
ernie lynch says:
28 October, 2011 at 00:20
Keevins story in tomorrow’s DR saying the huns facing 25 point deduction if they go into administration.
That sounds like a deal has been done to allow newco straight back in.
—————–
It does but a new co would surely start on 0 points having not won any games and all other points lost to old co would presumably be reinstated so is it minus 25 points to them and plus three to us?
Keevins has never been one to get into the rules so it might just be a noise up – he is good at that.
If he means old co continuing with a 25 points deduction for being naughty boys that still leaves old co in the hands of the FTT and a possible tax bill and a high player wage bill.
saw the DR back page, I’d take talk of a 25 point penalty with a ton of salt considering who the source is, mr hugh ‘artur jorge’ keevins
though if anything is going to happen today is meant to be the day is it not
hope to wake up to hearing “millions of(hun) voices screaming out in terror before being suddenly silenced……I fear something terrible has happened”
obiwankenobiCSC
dirty mac
Cheers.
The more people who take part the better as far as I’m concerned. I really want a more balanced view of all supporters from all clubs.
It’s too easy to predict the Celtic and Rangers opinion ( although the more Tims and Huns give their vies the better ). But it’s the broad spectrum I’m after. If I could at least get a couple of hundred views from each club it would be more of a reliable opinion than 20 or 10 or 1 as is the case.
MWD
OldTim67.
I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Late afternoon. Long time no speak.
MWD
Gotta Go
Good Night Scotland
Good Night Ireland
Good Night Wales
Good Night England
Good Night Canada
Good Night New Zealand
Good Night Australia
and
Good Night .. Henry McMahon, wherever you are.
Kojo.
sannabhoy says:
27 October, 2011 at 23:52
***********************
Good, you?
Two of the 3 blokes I work with are into Jags (cars) big time….. lucky bassa’s
Out with MWD, Steph Black and TTTT on Sat night. Before the game BT Lennybhoy and I are meeting Estadio in Sharkeys, somebodys taking they’re guitar and theres gonnae be singing and revelling….. you widnae like it :¬)
V
HH
oldtim thats cool, either way …. stay well my friend and Hail Hail to ye!
Vinny
MWD
How are you going about getting the views of the Huns?
greekster67
I like the cut of your jib. You need to post more often.
That is probably the most informed post I’ve read between here, RTC etc. and I’ve read lots.
But then again. Maybe I just like the cut of your job.
MWD
Hamiltontim
If you know any. Ask them to take survey. I refuse to register with any of their sites.
MWD
greekster67 says:
28 October, 2011 at 00:30
That cheered me up :)
The other major party in all this is HMRC and because it is HMRC it is probably difficult to get an insight into their strategy, but I find the idea that they will simply stand by and watch Rangers walk away relatively unscathed, difficult to accept.
Emdy else want tae post.
Just thought I’d ask like.
MWD
MWD
I know one, a great guy, I’ll text him in the morning.
dirtymac
I posted as SPLTIM.
I thought Moonbeams wet dream might go against the grain on such an eclectic site. Maybe even get me sin died. Hey ho!!! ;o)
MWD
Auld Heid….. you along with Paulo et al are doing a stormer, I wish our team showed the same effort etc.
Are you going to the Demo on Saturday?
V
HH to ye Auld Heid
Is Ricky ross around?
Been killing time before the baseball world series starts.
I think you’ll find everything in order for the new version, Ricky.
I want a credit, i.e:
‘Deacon Green featuring the Sandman’
Dignity 2011
——————–
There’s a club that lies
Down Edmiston Drive
Been cheatin’ the taxman
Have been 20 years
And they paid no dues to nobody
And now they’re in the gutter
Kick them in a bin bag
They’re just a crowd o’ nutters
And don’t let them back in the SPL
Tell them their game’s a bogie
I won’t let on
But I know ’cause the bold Phil told me
He let me know a secret
About the money in their kitty
They owe a fortune to Lizzie
And they’ve got no Dignity
And all around the west coast
In Hun villages and towns
They’ll be beatin’ up the wimmin
And putting their dugs down
They’ll call us ‘Dirty fenians’, we’ll say
We saved our money
They’ll say, ‘It isnae fair!’
Cos they’ve got no Dignity
And I’m telling this story
In a faraway scene
Laughin’ at ‘Ra Peepil’
And the forgotten Rangers dream
And I’m thinking about the Huns
And all that means
And no future any more
For FC Dignity
And all around the west coast
In Hun villages and towns
They’ll be beatin’ up the wimmin
And putting their dugs down
They’ll call us ‘Dirty fenians’, we’ll say
We saved our money
They’ll say, ‘It isnae fair!’
Cos they’ve got no Dignity
Wind ’em up, Wind ’em up, Wind ’em up, Wind ’em up, Wind ’em up, wind ’em up
Yeah wind ’em up again, wind ’em up again, wind ’em up again, wind ’em up again
Wind ’em up, wind ’em up, wind ’em up, wind ’em up, wind ’em up, wind ’em up
Yeah wind ’em up again, wind ’em up again, wind ’em up again, wind ’em up again
And I’m thinking about those Huns
And I’m thinking about Lenny
And I’m thinking about the Hoops
And I’m thinking
How good it will be
To hear some day
There’s no more Dignity
No more Dignity
Those Huns
—————————-
Top ten methinks. Unlike the future Huns ;))
hamiltontim:
First up mate, Christ, I am sorry to hear about your loss fella. I am glad you’re finding some solace coming on here and chatting and catching up with the posts, but that is a hard thing to be bearing mate.
My thoughts and prayers and with you and the ones you love. You know the song, right? When you walk through a storm ….
Fella … love and respect to you.
——
Now … so Keevins is running a story claiming the deduction will be 25 points. Well, yes, it sounds like a deal has been done alright, a grubby, stinking, shameful deal at that … and if it’s true then SHAME SHAME SHAME on every club which took part in it and if that includes our own well the shame of THAT will never be erased.
Scottish football, and Celtic, face tough times ahead whatever has been decided or concocted or cooked up. Because if Rangers dies and are replaced in the SPL by NewCo Rangers then no Celtic fan who believes in the things our club was founded for should ever set foot inside an away ground again, and consideration should certainly be given to not setting foot inside Celtic Park whilst the present “custodians” are in charge if they voted for this.
The word is “custodians” and the people in charge of our club do not possess the RIGHT to take a decision of that magnitude without our consultation or listening to our voices, and it will leave a stain on the history of this club which will never be erased and they do not have the MORAL RIGHT to do that, leaving us tarnished with the shame of the most abhorrent stitch-up in the history of the game, and in those circumstances I will consider Celtic, as we know it, to have lost something of its soul, something which will never be gotten back. It will forever shame us and cast a dark shadow on everything we represent as a social institution.
On the day that Rangers side won it’s next league title, I would demand the men responsible for that apologise.
On the day their fans are banned from Europe for sectarianism and bigotry, I would demand everyone complicit in their survival to be ashamed.
On the next occasion they besmirch the memory of the Greatest Manager of All Time, in the next event they sing The Famine Song, or revel in our blood, I would DEMAND every right thinking person who thought their survival was a good idea EXPLAIN TO ME WHY.
To say we would lose something without them is a shameful statement, a statement which suggests we would somehow be LESS if they were gone, that Celtic would mean less to us than it does now, that what this club represents depends on what they represent and I abhor the suggestion, I refute it utterly because we are NOT the smiling side of a coin on which the other side is a face contorted in hate. All these years I’ve been a Celtic fan, not an Old Firm supporter, and as I’ve said already if our board’s policies have been constructed to survive an event such as the demise of Rangers then I will consider Peter Lawwell one of the most important men in the history of our club and I will applaud him in the way I presently lacerate him.
IF AND ONLY IF we oppose this madness, this forgery, this scandal, this disgrace.
There is one way we could oppose it and succeed in that opposition. To tell the SPL and the SFA that all bets are off. That we will not ACCEPT Rangers readmission as though none of this took place. We will withdraw from the Scottish and League Cup’s. We will not release players for the national side. We will not accept tickets for away games. We can call this what it is – a fraud – and act accordingly, or we can go down in history with the cheats and the crooks.
The groundwork is being laid for the Big Deal. Our opposition to it should be ringing out across the land.
What was that slogan I used when I left Labour? Oh yes … NOT IN MY NAME.
Not in MY name, Celtic.
Vmhan who Supports Neil Lennon says:
28 October, 2011 at 00:49
Am down in Costa Del Sol just now.
Me and TET are organising our own demo next Wednesday, but I think it involves beer.
hamiltontim says:
28 October, 2011 at 00:40
Sorry to read about your Dad.
I’ve been there and know exactly how you’re feeling. Laughing about memories one minute and greeting the next.
God Bless Him.
Great post JF
Auld Heid …… Demo away you two bhoys lol …… you deserve it, for you’re extensive work in all things CFC, and ET for his swiming pool.
HH to ye both and have a great craic!
V
HH
James Forrest is Lennon says:
28 October, 2011 at 00:50
Spot on. We all talk of the Celtic ethos, and ethos by nature is ethical and not to say “No” would be unethical and a betrayal of what Celtic means to me.
This message though has to be sent to Celtic by individuals and supporter associations. Being ahead of the game mine went in last May.
Celtic could lead Scottish football out of the darkness and in doing so pull all our support behind them.
Auld Neil Lennon heid:
Wholeheartedly behind you 100% on that. Told you our differences weren’t as stark as you might believe!
For the record, I believe Peter Lawwell and Co might just be the fair minded men needed to call this the despicable cook-up that it is.
I trust we have already spoken, off the record, to other parties who might feel the same way.
The integrity of the game would not survive a stitch-up like this. How do you penalise other clubs who get into the same trouble in future? It stinks to high Heaven, all of it.
I came across this post on CQN from last May. The message seems as relevant now as then.
Re the latest statement from Paul Murray I think that it is time that more than Rangers supporters should be asking questions.
Apart from paying to watch Celtic play, Celtic supporters and supporters of other clubs (bar one) do so in the expectation that the only factor affecting results is the actual difference between the players on the park on any given day as influenced by good coaching and management. Nothing else should taint the game.
There has always been an advantage towards the club with the highest wage bill but that wage bill depends on the level of support and income earned from that support, not the degree of skullduggery the opposition are able to engage in, not only in finance – loans that cannot be repaid, dodgy tax avoidance arrangements to artificially reduce their wage bill by offloading some to the tax payer- but also the favours called in because of the danger to their existence brought about by the same financial skullduggery. I think we are witnessing more of the same skullduggery today.
So just what level of skullduggery are supporters of all other SPL clubs expected to sign up to next season when they buy their tickets? How will we know that Rangers are for the first time in their lives playing the same game as the rest of the SPL?
What are the licencing arrangements that allow them to compete? If they are the same as the ones that allowed them to get into the mess they are in, how can the rules be strengthened so that what is happening at Rangers financially from now on in is transparent to all other clubs?
What steps are the SFA taking to bring about transparency in that particular area. They are committed to doing so on Discipline although not sure what exactly are they doing to ensure the refereeing service cannot be controlled by one individual as it was under Dallas. The SFA should be having a say on the takeover/fakeover because the integrity of our game depends on someone saying “ENOUGH ! ”
Watching Rangers collapse is a bit like watching a Fred Dibna chimney being brought down, lots of fun until you realise that you are in the collapse footprint.
This whole issue is too big for it to be left solely to Rangers. The SPL and SFA should be meeting to plan for the various contingencies and letting the football supporting public know what their plans are in order to restore some semblance of integrity to our game.
Celtic on their part should be letting our support know what their position is in regard to competring with a club who do not appear able to comprehend what fair play actually means.
James
Thank you sincerely for your kind words, they’re greatly appreciated.
Re the demise of the huns I can only agree with parts of your post. I stated earlier of my loathing for all that is associated with RFC.
Through my job, believe it or not bhoys, I’ve been inside Ibrox many times. I’ve meandered the corridors and ascended the marble stairs. I’ve sat in the manager’s chair and wheeled the bike they received from St Ettiene around the trophy room.
But I’ve sat in the home dressing room and viewed the only 2 pictures on the walls. Above the door, as you enter is a photo of the queen and above where the captain sits is, yes, another photo of Lizzie.
James, they are rotten, stinking and i have the scars to prove it. But I could not advocate a boycott if the only purpose was their demise.
I have supported Celtic since the late 60s, and I would rather we joined the junior league, rather than have any part in helping them.
Please Celtic do the right thing…
James Forrest is Lennon says:
28 October, 2011 at 01:05
On talking to others I’m not in the country but I’d be surprised if THE CSA did not form a response prompted or otherwise, if someone wanted to ask. :)
Good evening from BQN
WE have game 6 of the World Series in St Louis postponed from last night just starting.
Texas Hunmentionables lead the series 3-2 in the best of 7 matches.
So it’s a must win night for the Cardinals in red, of course, and the Texas Sons of Satan in blue.
Texas take an early lead 1-0 with one out.
Go Cards
HT you coping well sir?
Its not happenned to me yet but through the wife I’ve experienced it, youre Celtic friends are with you,
LoveCSC
Fred C. Dobbs says:
28 October, 2011 at 01:10
*********************
are ye a hun?
V
Reilly1926
You’ve just hit the nail right on the head. Thank you for your kind words.