SO RANGERS were never liquidated, Mr Traynor? Here’s a reminder of what you and your friends in the MSM were saying in 2012. We won’t buy your lies…
“The current worst-case scenario has Rangers being liquidated and a new club rising from the ashes but being made to start anew from the fourth tier of Scottish football.”
Kevin McKenna, The Observer, 9th February 2012
“Rangers will exit either through an agreement with their creditors – a Company Voluntary Arrangement – or by liquidation. The latter represents a break with 140 years of history.”
Richard Wilson, Evening Times, 21st February 2012
“It’s more than two weeks since owner Craig Whyte plunged Rangers into administration — putting 140 years of history and tradition at risk”
Andy Devlin, The Sun, 2nd March 2012
“Last night Group 9 Sports released a statement on their website indicating that, if successful, they’d aim to emerge from administration by setting up Rangers as a new company. Kennedy will not stand back and allow the club’s 140 years of history to be wiped out. And he insisted any such move could put Rangers out of existence completely.” Keith Jackson, Daily Record, 4th March 2012
“Administrators Duff and Phelps raised the possibility over the weekend of the current club being liquidated, meaning a new club could be formed to inherit Rangers’ assets”
STV, 5th March 2012
“Administrators Duff and Phelps raised the possibility at the weekend of the current club being liquidated, meaning a new club could be formed to inherit Rangers’ assets.”
Ian Black, Evening Times, 6th March 2012
“The shell that it used to operate from – and I understand the history of it – would be the thing that disappears.”
Paul Clark, Joint Administrator, Duff and Phelps, Daily Telegraph, 31st March 2012
“Ally McCoist will accept the end of 140 years of unbroken existence for Rangers, providing a new version of one of the world’s most famous clubs emerges in strength.”
Roddy Forsyth, Daily Telegraph, 31st March 2012
“Liquidation is no good for Rangers. It will end 140 years of history.”
Craig Whyte, Sky Sports, 3rd April 2012
“The Blue Knights hope to avoid liquidation, which would leave any new club arising from the current club’s carcass facing a three-year ban from European football and open to further domestic sanctions even if they retain Scottish Premier League status.”
Sky Sports, 3rd April 2012
“Some Rangers fans believe the club’s history, which would end with liquidation, must be protected but there is a shameful part of that history which they should want to forget and any newco should make it clear a new beginning means exactly that. A new club open to all from the very beginning.”
Jim Traynor, Daily Record, 13th April 2012
“A new club would be banned from Europe for three years and the Scottish Premier League clubs are meeting today to discuss points and financial penalties for such a club.”
Daily Record, 30th April 2012
“Brian Kennedy and his Blue Knights have gone on the offensive and claimed their crusade to save Rangers is the only one on the table that will guarantee to safeguard 140 years of history and avoid liquidation.”
Scott Burns, Daily Express, 2nd May 2012
“On an ongoing basis the [old]company that continues to be in administration will be cleansed of all its former problems and will at a later date be reunited, after a CVA, with the new club Mr Miller is going to create.”
Paul Clark, Joint Administrator, Duff and Phelps, 3rd May 2012
“Without Rangers the league would be knackered. I know a lot of supporters are saying they should be liquidated and come back as a new club in division three.”
Stuart McCall, The Sun, 29th May 2012
“Charles Green attended the SPL meeting and has a £5.5m deal in place to form a new club should the CVA fail.”
David Friel, The Sun, 31st May 2012
“The liquidator overseeing the current club’s extinction”…“Whether Rangers, as a new club formed by Green, are accepted into the SPL, and on what terms, is to be determined by the clubs.”
David Conn, The Guardian, 12th June 2012
“Rangers in crisis: the final whistle sounds on Rangers’ 140 years of history”
Daily Telegraph, 12th June 2012
“The formation of Rangers in March 1872 was a walk in the park – its death in June 2012 a shambolic slide into the abyss…However, as a result of appalling mismanagement they no longer boast an unbroken line to the past. The emotional ties will remain forever but historical strings are severed. In time, they may weave a new history that might start with the Third Division title in 2013.”
Gary Ralston, The Daily Record, 13th June 2012
“The really sickening thing about all of this is it was avoidable. All it would have taken for that was for someone to be honest. Pay your dues, give the tax man what he is owed. Instead Rangers have died.”
Richard Gough, The Sun, 13th June 2012
“They’ll slip into liquidation within the next couple of weeks with a new company emerging but 140 years of history, triumph and tears, will have ended. No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out Rangers as we know them died. They were closed and a newco must start from scratch.”
Jim Traynor, Daily Record 13th June 2012
“The reality is that in technical terms, the doors are closed on the history of Rangers…There will be plenty of pedants who feel the old Rangers are now gone, and technically they are right.”
Kevin Drinkell, Daily Record, 13th June 2012
“Green is poised to push ahead with a £5.5million deal to buy the club’s assets and form a new club, which would need to apply for membership of the Scottish Premier League and be excluded from Europe for three years.”
Daily Record, 13th June 2012
“I wanted to be able to confirm that, yes, their derbies really were the greatest game on earth, rather than tell the truth that they were bile-flecked re-enactments of centuries-old religious wars. It’s a cause of genuine sadness that this has never come to pass, so maybe that’s one of the things new owner Charles Green could look at as he rebuilds a new club from the rubble of liquidation.”
Bill Leckie, The Sun, 13th June 2012
“Charles Green has completed his purchase of Rangers’ assets in a deal worth £5.5m.”
BBC News, 14th June 2012
“Air of unreality as 140 years of history is formally ended in less than nine minutes…The Rangers creditors drifted in through Exit 50 at Ibrox Stadium just before 10am and by 10.09am they were on their way out. In those few minutes 140 years of history had been rubbed out”.
Teddy Jamieson and Richard Wilson The Herald, 15th June 2012
“PFA Scotland insist Rangers players are not obliged to join Charles Green’s new club under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE), which ensure all employees are given the chance to join the new company under the same terms.”
Greig Thomas, Daily Record, 15th June 2012
“Union reps at PFA Scotland believe the new club has no hold over anyone who doesn’t want their contract to transfer across from the now defunct Rangers.”
Robert Grieve, The Sun, 17th June 2012
“Sevco 5088 would not be able to apply to change its name to ‘The Rangers Football Club Ltd’ until either the original company is fully dissolved, a process which can take about a year to complete, or the receivers give the go-ahead for the name change to take place.”
BBC News, 19th June 2012
“We wish the new Rangers Football Club every good fortune.”
Walter Smith, Ex- Rangers Manager, BBC News, 19th June 2012
“And I believe concern over the new club’s finances has prompted Brian Kennedy to make a £5.6million bid for a controlling interest.”
Jim Traynor, Daily Record, 23rd June 2012
“Publicly, the SFL will be required to do their dirty work in co-opting a new member, a new club – as Charles Green’s Sevco consortium-cum-company that currently can’t even register a football name or football players should eventually become – and placing them in the highest, instead of lowest, tier in their set-up.”
The Scotsman, 24th June 2012
“The uncertainty surrounding the new club, especially in terms of what league they’re going to play in, has been a major factor in my decision (to leave) …I have concerns about who is in charge of the new club…Will I ever come back and support the new club? I haven’t thought about it.”
Stephen Naithsmith, Rangers player until liquidation, Daily Record, 24th June 2012
“With the new club unlikely to gain enough votes to allow them entry into the SPL by fellow clubs at the League’s AGM on July 4 uncertainty over their future is growing amongst players.”
Sky Sports, 26th June 2012
“Of course a new club will rise from the ashes of Rangers FC.”
Kevin McKenna, The Observer, 1st July, 2012
“Rangers will not play in the Scottish Premier League this season. SPL chairmen met at Hampden to vote on the new club’s application to replace the old Rangers in the top flight.”
BBC, 4th July 2012
“It was also revealed the new club had been preparing to apply to the SFL for a couple of weeks and stated the newco Rangers would play in the appropriate division.”
The Sun, 4th July 2012
“We do not consider that the newco’s allegation of breach of contract will stand up to scrutiny and in the event of the players’ registrations not being issued to a new club, we’ll look to FIFA and/or the Court of Session for a speedy remedy.”
PFA Scotland lawyer, Daily Record, 4th July 2012
“Rangers chief executive Charles Green says he will not challenge the vote by the Scottish Football League to place his new club in Division Three.” BBC, 13th July 2012
“Another unknown is how the footballing authorities – SFA and UEFA – would react to any new club while the old club still had outstanding debts to footballing creditors (other teams) totalling more than £3m. Mr Green’s ambitions for a new club may also be thwarted if liquidators from BDO decide to challenge the asset sale.”
BBC, 14th July 2012
“Green bought Rangers and their assets yesterday for £5.5million, just hours after Smith revealed he was spearheading a group to buy the new club.”
Jim Traynor, Daily Record, 15th July 2012
“I would like the clubs and UEFA to recognise these are not my debts.”
Charles Green, Evening Times, 17th July 2012
“The fresh dispute comes in the middle of negotiations with the Scottish Football Association for a membership that would allow the new club to start life in Division Three.”
Chris McLaughlin, BBC, 17th July 2012
“Sevco are still waiting to hear if the new club have been granted SFA membership ahead of their entry into the Third Division.”
Paul Hughes, The Sun, 18th July 2012
“And IF they are allowed to enter the top division an independent commission will decide if it’s the old club or the new club that has a case to answer over EBTs.”
Paul Hughes and Robert McAulay, The Sun, 19th July 2012
“Coca-Cola, which signed a two-year deal with its sport drink Powerade to be the 54 times SPL champions official soft drink in December, says it will continue its relationship with “Rangers FC” but declined to comment on its future with the new club.”
Marketing Week, 19th July 2012
“Any deal cannot be finalised until the Scottish FA grants membership to the new club.”
Darrell King, Evening Times, 20th July 2012
“No other completely new club would have been allowed to enter the bottom tier. It is also true that no other new club would have been even considered for membership of the SPL.”
Ewing Grahame, Daily Telegraph, 22nd July 2012
“Hearts chief Vladimir Romanov led the attack by insisting Jambos won’t vote for them. Dundee United followed suit last night while Motherwell revealed that they will let their fans decide the fate of the new club — a move that will almost certainly mean a third ‘NO’ vote.”
Paul Hughes, The Sun, 22nd July 2012
“Further complicated by the fact the SFA have now given Green a strict deadline that must be met if he wants his new club licensed to play football in any league.”
Daily Record, 24th July 2012
“Scottish Premier League clubs voted against accepting the new club into the top flight and the Scottish Football League clubs voted them into Division Three instead of the First Division…Asked to expand on what he meant by bigotry, Green turned to pressure placed on SPL clubs by their own fans not to allow the new club into the top flight.”
BBC, 29th July 2012
“With Rangers, a new club starting a fresh chapter, Nelson is aware the hand of history will be upon every player’s shoulder when kick-off comes.”
The Sun, 29th July 2012
“Rangers newco should apply to the SFA for admission and apply direct to the SFL in the same way that any other new club would do.”
Stewart Milne, Aberdeen FC Chairman, The Sun, 29th July 2012
“Ibrox fans have sung heartily for years about following their team to places such as Dundee and Hamilton. Unsurprisingly, there was never a verse inserted for Brechin. Yet in this small Angus town at the local-parklike venue they were summoned here to see their new club start a new life.”
Daily Record, 30th July 2012
“Stewart Regan has no plans to resign as Scottish FA chief executive despite criticism of his handling of the crisis resulting from Rangers’ demise. Some club chairmen called for his resignation after voting against the new club playing in Division One.”
BBC, 31st July 2012
“And SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and Scottish FA counterpart Stewart Regan had both warned of dire financial consequences should the new club not start life in Division One.”
BBC, 31st July 2012
“A new club, The Rangers Football Club, rose from the depths of despair and competed in its first game July 29 against second-division outfit Brechin City in the Ramsdens Scottish Cup.“
ESPN, 3rd August 2012
“Charles Green, the chief executive of the new club, admitted as much when comparing his club to some of those he claimed had kept Rangers out of the SPL due to bigotry. He said: ‘We’ve not got the debt that any of these clubs have.’”
ESPN, 3rd August 2012
“Charles Green’s company, who changed their name from Sevco Scotland to The Rangers Football Club this week, were granted a conditional licence last Friday after applying to transfer the membership of the soon-to-be-liquidated Rangers.”
Sky Sports, 3rd August 2012
“Doncaster had come in for criticism following his dire predictions for the financial future of the SPL if the re-launched Rangers were not admitted to the top flight. He repeated the same concerns when the new club sought a place in Division One.”
BBC, 3rd August 2012
“New club forced to start in Scottish Football League 3.”
CNN, 13th August 2012
“The Ibrox side waived any claim to £2.55m in prize money from the league for the 2011/12 season.”
STV, 15th August 2012
“SPL clubs voted against accepting the new club into the top flight and the Scottish Football League clubs voted them into Division Three instead of the First Division.”
BBC, 17th August 2012
“It was the first game in the lower league for the new Rangers club”
BBC, 21st August 2012
“McCoist and Green are committed to opposing any move to have history books rewritten even though they accepted they had to begin again as a new concern after Rangers, the club with history, slipped into liquidation and closed. That should mean the titles aren’t really any of their business. But on the other hand, the SPL refused to hand over £2m, which should have gone to Rangers for finishing second last season, pointing out that the club no longer exists.”
Jim Traynor, Daily Record, 3rd September 2012
“After HMRC rejected proposals for a creditors agreement that would have allowed the old club to continue, Duff and Phelps negotiated a sale of assets to a consortium led by Charles Green for £5.5m.”
BBC News, 1st October 2012
“Following the failure of the CVA the club is now following the Premier League and Football Association structure, where the assets of the ‘game’, such as player contracts, are transferred to a new club and the old club liquidated.”
Accountancy Age, 3rd October 2012
“Sevco bought Rangers’ assets out of administration for £5.5m and then unsuccessfully applied to have the new club remain in Scotland’s Premier League.”
Financial Times 11th October 2012
“HM Revenue and Customs blocked a CVA (creditors agreement) that would have allowed the old club to continue. The old club, which remained in administration, has since been known as RFC 2012. The new club, started by Mr Green’s consortium, began life in the Scottish Third Division.”
BBC News, 17th October 2012
“(Whyte) also added: “What other country in the world would deal with one of their biggest clubs in the way they have and demote them to the Third Division.” Wrong again, Craig. Rangers had to go there because they were a new club starting over.
Jim Traynor, Daily Record, 18th October 2012
“Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte is preparing to claim millions of pounds from the remains of the old club that collapsed earlier this year.”
Martin Williams, The Herald, 19th October 2012
“Debt-ridden Rangers Football Club went into administration in February, and Mr Green, leading a consortium of investors (Sevco), bought the trade and assets from the old club’s administrators for £5.5m in June. It means that the new club – The Rangers Football Club Limited – is debt-free.
Investors Chronicle, 20th October 2012
““Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall, Ian Durrant, Jim Stewart — all fantastic people. It is still a brilliant club for me, although technically it is now a new club.”
Terry Butcher, Former Rangers Captain, The Sun 28th October 2012
“At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Hodge approved a Duff and Phelps motion to hand over what remains of the old club to liquidators BDO.”
BBC News, 31st October 2012
“Rangers’ perilous financial position had been an open secret but there was still shock when, after 140 years of history and a world record 54 league titles, the club was consigned to liquidation.”
FIFA.com, 26th December 2012
“Rangers, as a new club, are currently only associate members of the SFL and aren’t allowed to vote at meetings until they’ve belonged to the organisation for four years.”
The Scotsman, 30th January 2013
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