We are five days away from the end of the season, Duff and Phelps have spent 10 weeks trying to solicit an offer for the assets of the company and the only one they were in a position to consider has now been withdrawn.
The stadium remains in Craig Whyte’s hands.
The SPL has not offered a place in the league.
The players can choose to become free agents on Sunday.
Duff and Phelps have no money to pay anyone or anything after 31 May.
Are you getting the picture?
Whatever ‘good news’ Duff and Phelps come out with later, or ‘Rangers to benefit from Miller withdrawal’ you read about tomorrow, not one piece of positive news has gone Rangers way in weeks.
This is a dead football club. If there was an accountancy term beyond liquidation, perhaps uber-liquidation, they would be uber-liquidated (there’s not, but if this gets any worse the English language will need some re-work).
Yesterday’s delay was the most complete confirmation possible, for anyone still harbouring doubt, today’s message from Miller should be no surprise to Celtic Quick News readers.
Miller’s parting shot:
“After hearing the message from Rangers supporters and fans loud and clear (“Yank go home!”), I notified the administrators today that I have withdrawn my bid for Rangers”.
…has the makings of a topic for a business doctorate, if anyone is looking for one. I’d elaborate but reckon we’re all a little carried away at the moment for serious debate.
The histrionics since yesterday and, if you don’t mind me saying, lack of appreciation of these historic times, would dishonour teenage girls (no offense teenage girls).
Please stop with all the silliness, indignation and faux trauma. Some football supporters have real issues to worry about.
You can buy a hard copy of the new issue of CQN Magazine via Magcloud here.
The graphic below is just for a flick through, to read the magazine go here to it’s dedicated site.
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ASonofDan:
Not only that, but they’re 90% of the way there.
Does that mean they’ve written 9 out of the 10 contracs required to buy the club?
They’ve agreed to stump up £121.5m of the £135m required to save the club?
That they’ve travelled from London to Carlisle?
Bill Miller was 100% of the way there according to, probably, the same insider.
Ernie – if, as we’re so often told, the boards of other clubs are filled with lovers of the dark forces I suspect they’d look at the minor commercial differences between having one or other of us and let us resign.
Let me get this right.
Last night the blog was on a high.
Will it be the same tonight?
What can/will be announced today to set depression in once again.
Bi-polar CQN.
MWD still watching our PLC closely.
PS. No offence meant to people who live daily with effects of being bi-polar.
ernie lynch ……..
To my knowledge the board have indicted nothing other than contempt for the need for Rangers to survive and just last night Neil Lennon restated that Celtic have a strategy for life without Rangers and I’ll take that at face value for the time being.
I respect your posts and I have some sympathy for your loathing of the Neanderthal element of the Rangers support but we mustn’t let that cloud our judgement.
Has any creditor been consulted on a CVA? Personally I doubt it, mainly because…..they’re going down faster than a dug on hot chips!
˙sʇɹɐʍ ǝɥʇ ǝɹoubı ˙suoıdɯɐɥɔ ǝɥʇ ǝɹɐ ǝʍ ˙ɔɟ ɔıʇןǝɔ ןıǝu /o\ ouɐʞ ˙pʍ sɯɐǝquooɯ on 9 May, 2012 at 07:54:
It could be sooner than tonight if some believe the ridiculous story in today’s Sun that Whyte is 90% of the way to completing a deal with a British Consortium.
For the record I’m still laughing having read it online. Sorry no link as I’m in the Office.
Got to go, time to start.
Have a good day Tim Land.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Ernie “I want my cake and eat it” Lynch –
If Celtic threaten to resign from the SPL BEFORE a decision is made on Newco and BEFORE a vote is even taken, they will alienate the rest of the Scottish game. People will just say – I won’t be blackmailed by Celtic and I won’t be dictated to. It could even turn a potential NO vote into a YES vote.
The time for Celtic to act would be AFTER a decision is made to admit newco to the SPL. We must give people the chance to do the right thing.
No doubting credentials
Chief Sports Writer
THE pause was made all the more intriguing because Neil Lennon is a master of the quickfire answer.
Hugh McDonald, The Herald.
When the press pack bays, the Celtic manager, a stranger to silence, has only a passing acquaintance with doubt. Yet in a side room of a Glasgow hotel last night, he took some moments to ponder just what had been the best decision of his season.
The hubbub of the preparations in an adjoining room for the Clydesdale Bank Premier League awards suddenly seemed extraordinarily intrusive before Lennon broke the silence with four words.
‘Possibly sticking with Samaras.”
Georgios of that ilk had been described by Lennon once as the type of player who gets managers the sack. He is also now one of those players who gets his boss the Clydesdale Bank manager of the year award.
”He was so inconsistent,” said Lennon, remembering a pivotal moment in March last year when he offered the striker a new deal.
”I had to make a decision: do we stick with him, give him a new contract? Can we get the consistency out of him, and he had not shown that in previous years?’
”We had a long chat one night and he felt he needed to play games and I said: ‘That is fine as long as you play well, that would help’. He understood that. There were times he did not want to play centrally. He felt his best position was on the left, whether 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, so we had to try to find a balance where we could fit him in the team. We got that and, to be fair to him, he was fantastic for us for three or four months.”
He added: ”There is no disputing his talent – there is no disputing the majority of the players’ talents here – it is getting them to do it on a consistent level and we found that eventually.”
Lennon was similarly thoughtful when tracing the arc of a season that ended with his first title as a manager. His side stuttered and almost stalled as winter approached and a 15-point chasm opened up between Rangers and the Parkhead side.
‘I did not think we would close the gap on Rangers as quickly as we did. I was hoping we would close the gap, to do it so quickly was a huge bonus,” he said.
Celtic took the lead in the league when they defeated Rangers 1-0 at Parkhead on December 28. A tight title race became a procession after that win.
”Psychologically, it was a huge lift and gave the fans a taste of success again,” said Lennon of that match. But he added: ”I always felt we would come on strong in the second half of the season.”
The Celtic manager can be a master of the understatement and his verdict that his side’s form early in the season was ”indifferent” was a fine example of the art.
Home defeat to St Johnstone in August was followed in October by a defeat at Tynecastle and the draw against Kilmarnock that was seen by many as the rock bottom was followed by an uninspiring goalless tie with Hibernian at Parkhead.
Lennon has admitted he was on the brink as Kilmarnock took a three-goal half-time lead before his side scored three times in the second half to rescue a point. A ”pivotal” win against Motherwell at Fir Park, through a late Gary Hooper goal, was followed by Fraser Forster saving a last-minute penalty against Hearts in December.
”After that, we never looked back,” said the Celtic manager succinctly.
”To win the title meant everything to me all the awards are an extra bonus,” said Lennon who believed the quality of managers in Scotland is strong and many could go on to achieve success in England.
He was particularly complimentary about Peter Houston, of Dundee United, who received Lennon’s vote as manager of the year.
”He got my vote because he sold all his best players – [David] Goodwillie, [Prince] Buaben, [Morgaro] Gomis – and had to start again on a limited budget.”
Lennon praised Houston for ”revamping” the style of play and for improving the careers of such as midfielder John Rankin.
However, he reserved his most gracious words for his players who had missed out on two trebles ”by a couple of games”.
”It is a high standard,” he said.
There were many who maintained that level in crucial matches throughout the season. Joe Ledley scored the winner in the crucial Old Firm derby that took Celtic to the top of league, Victor Wanyama scored in that tight game against Hearts in December and was confidently muscular in subsequent performances and James Forrest was brilliant before fatigue and injury took its toll. Hooper and Anthony Stokes chipped in regularly with goals.
However, Charlie Mulgrew was the defender who garnered all the player of the year awards and rose from a spot on the bench at the start of the season to a place in the limelight at its conclusion.
Mulgrew has a year left on his contract and Lennon is in no mood to lose a player who performed at left-back, left midfield and in central defence.
”We gave Charlie a wage rise last year and I will talk to the board about the same again. He deserves it.”
The manager’s gratitude was not unreserved, however. ”I was thinking something different at that moment,” he said, recalling Mulgrew’s errant back pass that gave Kilmanock a 3-0 lead in that dramatic match in October.
A title and a manager of the year award seems a long way away from that turbulent afternoon at Rugby Park.
”It is funny, yeah, but that is football,” said Lennon. ”I did not have blind faith in the team but I had faith in the team. I knew we were a lot better than we were showing at the time,” he added.
Ernie will surely cheer up today…..?
Anyone else notice that the BBC Scotland homepage hasn’t changed for 48 hours? If you click on the news and sport tabs the content is up to date, but not on the homepage itself even though it has today’s date.
Morning all from gay Paree, pretty overcast with rainy spells (21C allegedly).
It seems pretty obvious that D&P, the most original administrators ever, are not up to the task.
RFC(ia) are a dead duck, and surely HMRC must make their move soon to replace them with their own administrators/liquidators in order to organize the fire sale in the best interests of the creditors.
I don’t expect anything to happen before the last SPL games on Sunday, but surely the coup de grâce will come shortly afterwards.
Gardez La Foi
It looks like the penny really is beginning to drop.
From this morning’s HERALD . . .
by Michael Grant
The default illustration has been a photograph of the blue, wrought iron Ibrox gates. Those pictures can look dramatic, but Rangers are inching inexorably towards a far more alarming image: a padlock on the front door. Ibrox closed.
What happens to a club when it’s in administration, it can’t find a buyer, and the money will run out in just 22 days’ time? It staggers on until it closes down. Rangers’ worst-case scenario has been redrawn time and time again over the past few weeks but another line in the sand was crossed last night. Right now, and notwithstanding this story’s endless capacity for twists and turns (most of them bad from Rangers’ point of view) who is going to save the club from full liquidation?
The news that Bill Miller was the latest timewaster in Rangers’ prolonged suicide note meant Duff & Phelps are hardly any closer to finding a buyer today than they were on February 14, when they were appointed as administrators. When administrators cannot find a buyer and they run out of time, they call in liquidators. The assets are sold, which in this case means Ibrox, Murray Park and the players. Maybe a property developer would buy the land although none would dare do anything with it for fear of incurring the wrath of the Rangers support. Then what? Fans or anyone else could form a club and rent the stadium and training ground, and start again. But it’s the bleakest scenario of all. Ground zero stuff. It could mean Rangers not playing at all next season.
Duff & Phelps’ claim that “three other bidders” had come forward since last Thursday – and now have now have every opportunity to “complete the purchase of the club prior to the end of the season” – was risible. Didn’t we hear all of this around six weeks ago, when Germans, other Americans and a UK consortium were supposedly checking their wallets before melting away? They must take Rangers supporters for mugs if they are trying to peddle the line that a club that hasn’t been able to find a suitable buyer for weeks and weeks suddenly has a wee queue of them now that it’s closer than ever to death’s door. Oh, and the end of the season is on Sunday.
Miller never set foot in Scotland during all of this – the uncertainty over whether he owns a passport is academic now – but the statement which formally removed him from Rangers was both chilling and comical. Essentially he accused Duff & Phelps of massaging the figures and trying to sell him a pup. The outline information he had on the club had been “limited” to what he saw in the administrators’ internet data room and from the answers he got from Paul Clark, David Whitehouse and other Duff & Phelps staff. But once his own people got a foot in the door and could access the books properly it became clear that the information and analysis he’d been fed was “more optimistic than reality”. The Blue Knights have had similar private complaints about a £5m discrepancy in the projections, believing that Duff & Phelps painted a rosier picture of the next two or three years than could ever be the case.
The comedy, albeit joyless black humour, was Miller claiming to have scarpered because the Rangers supporters had been nasty to him. He had pulled out “after hearing the message from Rangers supporters and fans loud and clear (‘Yank go home!’)”. That was a pathetic smokescreen from a hardened businessman and, as we’ve been told, Vietnam veteran. Miller was a code-breaker in the military yet appeared to have missed the swift and dramatic thawing of the Rangers support towards him last week when it was stressed to them that it could be him or no-one. When Sandy Jardine appealed for both Miller and The Blue Knights’ bids to be respected and welcomed, because either might prove to be Rangers’ salvation, there was applause from the Ibrox crowd. That was a far more profound statement from the fans than a few allegedly abusive emails or a couple of “yank go home” banners at last week’s Dundee United game. Those banners were tiny but Miller hid behind them to make his escape.
His bid had been “substantially” better than anything else on the table, Duff & Phelps told us last week. The administrators have a major credibility problem now but that’s the least of it all. Brian Kennedy has said all along that he would rescue Rangers if no-one else could but last night it was being suggested that even he felt they may have reached the point of no return. The Blue Knights are all heart but the administrators claim they’ve fallen well short of coming up with the readies to deliver a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). There’s no shame in that: it would cost £10m for a realistic CVA offer and the projections are then for £10m, £5m and £5m losses in the three years without European football (once reduced costs but also reduced season-ticket income is factored in). That’s £30m for three years of precious little beyond survival. More to the point The Knights cannot deliver Craig Whyte’s shares, which is a prerequisite of a CVA.
The story moves at the pace of a fast-flowing, dangerous river and it’s hurtling Rangers towards the brink. In a matter of minutes yesterday the furore about the SPL tearing itself apart over what to do with a newco was entirely replaced by the prospect of having no application to consider. But potentially the economic devastation of no Rangers either, which would mean Sky and ESPN seeking renegotiation on their television deal, millions being wiped off the other clubs’ collective income, and potentially others falling into administration too.
But Rangers are leading the way to the abysss. After having their fingers burned by Miller they might wish to hang a “no timewasters please” sign on the front door of Ibrox, but then would it even apply to anyone? This crisis is running away with Rangers. They are rapidly running out of money, options-and time.
The Link
For some, I think it will only sink in when Newco are playing Auchtermuchty Academicals week in week out.
Lovely morning here in North Ayrshire.
That dead club being liquidated would make it even better.
Stolen from the Daliy Record comments:
Rangers 2013 Team:
Naismith, Naifuture, Naiclass, Naimoney, Naistadium, Naihope, Naitrophies, Naiprospects, Naifans, Naimanager, Naiplayers.
And on the subs bench: Naisubs
Just noticed the Update on the top of the CQN homepage there. Bill Millers advisors found more contracts similar to the Ticketus one…….
With a surpsrisngly robust spring in my step I’m away to do sme work!!!!
Whither the cash strapped scrofulous Hillbilies the day?
Well…despair not , ye Mark Dingwallites:
A home has been found for a Staffordshire bull terrier dubbed Scotland’s saddest dog.
Two-year-old Scooby has spent 15 months in kennels, longer than any other animal looked after by the Scottish SPCA.
Staff at the Aberdeenshire Rehoming and Rescue Centre feared he was so lonely his health was suffering.
More than 200 people got in touch, and David Prokipczyn, from West Lothian, was chosen to be Scooby’s new owner.
A nationwide search for a home had been launched in April.
Centre manager Graeme Innes said: “We were completely overwhelmed by the response to our appeal.
“Scooby has spent half of his life in kennels, which is no way for a young, playful dog to live.”
Scooby’s new owner said: “My wife and I have been married 40 years and we’ve always owned dogs.
“It’s only very recently that we’ve been without one and the house has felt so empty.
“When we read Scooby’s story my wife was in tears.
“So we both agreed that we would love to offer him the good home he deserves.”
The Herald`s Grant says:
” a few allegedly abusive emails ”
Miller`s spokesman referred to many more than a few.
Which were also sent to family members,girlfriend.
Good move,Dusty.
The new Kevin Mccarra book ‘Celtic, a history in 9 lives’ gets a positive review in this month’s WSC.
Also Celtic minded is the info that hoopslegend Mikail Lustig is the only Norrlander [northern Swede] in the Euro2012 squad. For many years Swedish football has been segregated on geographic lines, in parts of the North there is snow lying 150 days of the year.
Great pic in Scotsman. That couldn’t be a vulture in the top left hand corner. Could it?
vulture over ibrox
Shortbread at 8.50 for some more hurtin’ huns
Kay will no doubt be offering her full support to the institution.
RobertTressell on 9 May, 2012 at 08:33 said:
————————————————————
Bill Miller’s rep also mentioned ‘remortgaging’ as a stumbling block. The Grant Herald article is typical of the LL. Miller didn’t hide behind the threats, he simply pointed out that he had been left in no doubt where those who had contacted him were in their view of him.
Dingwall went unchallenged on this point last night, he was allowed to get away with the ‘he didn’t engage with us’ Once again representatives are allowed to get by with threats and intimidation.
Spiers called Miller ‘an ass’ because in Spiers’ view, Miller should have known about remortgaging, players’ true contracts, income streams,actual/potential liabilities and a genuine list of creditors, before he started due diligence! That’s exactly what due diligence is for ya buffoon!
As a taxpayer, and therefore creditor of ranjurz, Duff & Phelps are doing a highly satisfactory job in my view.
may67
you would think that the Aberdeen Manager has more pressing concerns than to pen an article for the Scotsman about hun demise
Hail Hail
The little nugget of information that I found interesting from the Bill Miller statement was that ‘But after doing due diligence, Mr Miller found contracts similar to the Ticketus deal, in which future season tickets were sold off to provide immediate income, “robbing the future” and leaving “little cash to operate with”.
They can’t possibly avoid liquidation now as it is clear they would get almost no revenue from future season ticket sales for a number of years which makes any fantasy CVA route (which would leave these contracts binding) as futile. I wonder what other skeletons will come out before they go BOOM!
Am I hearing the rumours correctly that the hun players only took a wage deferral and are now collectively the single biggest football creditors at Mordor ?
Hail Hail
Once again a representative of the Rangers fans fails to criticise their thuggish behavious. This time the head of the Rangers Supporters Assembly. In response to a question about emails to Bill Miller he could simply say “Whoever and wherever these emails came from it’s totally unacceptable to threaten somebody like that”. Instead he suggests that he doesn’t really believe it’s true and suggests that seeing one or two examples of the emails would be helpful.
Is he hoping that on review he would discover that they were from Chelsea fans? (you can tell because they have CFC in their email address)
Nobody has made more of an ASS of himself in this whole process than Britney. I expect him to shave his head go awol and start sleeping around soon .
HAil HAil
PaulMcStaysShorts on 9 May, 2012 at 08:49 said:
We we knew future catering revenues had been mortgaged, but it’s kind of been forgotten about. It would be interesting if another big one was on the table eg future tv or sponsorship income.
may67- it might be an ole buzzard, another connoiseur of carrion.
It is definitely NOT Sir DM in his ole private jet.
Vmhan and Pantaloon Duck
Thank you
If Bill Miller was getting abuse, what is CW going to get if he is involved with the latest fantasy offers?
ANNOAN -I think that’s correct, they deferred the wages of sin in the expectation that they would have a new owner before Scotland’s loneliest wee dog.
They’ll want paying before they walk away.
Just a quick post and run
I see ernie lynch getting an ill-deserved kicking on here for taking a principled stand in judging the Celtic Board’s response. And while ernie is big enough to defend himself, I feel there is a surprising amount of mis-reading of intent from his critics. So a quick sumary.
The grouping of fans who are concerned about the Celtic Board’s silence throughout this matter are not a cohesive group of left-wing anti-Board malcontents. You must have missed posts from the likes of thom the thim and myself who take up broadly the same position as ernie and Neg Anon without feeling the need to share any pre-judging that the Celtic Board will do wrong.
There are two main charges being leveled against our group:-
1) that we are harming Celtic by our actions
2) that our Board are right to maintain silence and we are wrong to ask them to make their views clearer.
On point 1, I would state that all of us who would review our supporting arrangements in the light of either newco getting SPL re-admission, or, for in my case, newco being allowed to maintain their historical record of achievement whilst being allowed to ditch their debts (I don’t care what league newco re-appear in), is a deal breaker. This is a principled stance. Our accusation against the Board is not that they did something wrong but that they failed to do something right to defend the principle of prudence that we have been practising. If they meekly allow the events to happen to us, our custodians will have betrayed us and will be complicit in the message that we are merely turnstile fodder.
Which brings us to point 2. I fully understand the view that, if Rangers are going to liquidate from wounds already sustained, there is no need for celtic to be pouring salt or any other accelerant in, which might cause resentment.
Howevah, whilst we have been maintaining our dignified silence, we have seen the rule book being ripped up, we have seen proposals specifically drafted to further the aim of Rangers preserving history and ditching debts, we have been told that this is a common and uncontroversial occurrence, and we have been told that Celtic are in favour of this outcome, without any demur or correction from Celtic to deny any of the above.
And the only hard evidence we have of Celtic’s views on the matter is that we voted in favour of changing the voting structure from 11:1 to become 8:4. That is, we voted to make it harder to achieve our (silent) demands.
Now, I am not a panicking teenage girl, nor did I start by believing that the Board would sell us out. I was of the opposite view to begin with. But, we are playing Silence Brinkmanship. Whilst we are are putting covers on our gunpowder provisions, the Ibrox hordes have planned the blueprint of their revolution and have recruited their allies. I am being asked to take my Board’s silence on trust.
I do not se what harm would be made for our Board to mention once more that they are in favour of Sporting Integrity. At times like this, some signals are important.
I could have said more and said it better but I must dash- meeting starts in 3 minutes
Awe Brittney did that Bad Mr Miller let you down, bad man bad bad man, there there ya wee doll, there there…
I will never forget Spiers whimpering of SSB, shurley shumwun will save ra mighty ranjurs, shurley shumwun, the gov’t anyone..
Sorry Duckie yer team are Donald Ducked, man up for God’s sake..
DBBIA
Interesting stuff as it basically puts footballing debts around the 7.5m mark now if you factor in D&P expected fee circa 2.5m. So 10m before a creditor gets a bean and Miller bid 11.5m
It basically means that they cannot give it away
Whytey has lost a pound
Hail Hail
Snake Plissken
If Legia coach resigns, Victoria Plzen coach Pavel Vrba is candidate.
By DEREK McGREGOR
Published: Today at 00:00
KYLE LAFFERTY last night finally checked in for the operation which will end his troubled Rangers career.
SunSport understands the striker’s surgery at a private hospital in Manchester will require a four-week rehab process, ruling him out of this weekend’s final SPL game of the season against St Johnstone.
We revealed his explosive bust-up with manager Ally McCoist and two-week club suspension for failing to report for the recent game against Hearts at Tynecastle.
Bristol City target Lafferty refused to show because he was adamant his willy was sore enough with McCoist seeking to use him as a sub.
The Gers boss also cancelled two previous ops for the 24-year-old — leaving their relationship beyond repair after making promises that he would pay for the enlargment. Yet, within days McCoist had to confirm Laff WASN’T fit enough to play and did need cosmetic enhancing surgery.
Lafferty — who has a year left of his contract — has an agreement with administrators Duff & Phelps that lets him leave for a cut-price £500,000.
Bristol City boss and ex-Gers hero Derek McInnes is at the front of the queue for his signature with other English and Euro clubs also interested.
Lafferty briefly returned to Murray Park on Monday at the end of his ban but never wants to “see talk or hear his false promises” for McCoist ever again.
With Rangers bad behaviour it’s always just a ‘vocal minority’ or a few rogue fans. Good grief!
They need to take a good look at themselves.
Meanwhile, c’mon Craigy boy, your plan is almost complete.