Warning from Blue Knights comes home to roost

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o Newco Rangers have £1.2m in the bank and the courts have just arrested £620k, leaving circa £600k available.  In early September.  Football clubs have their cash high water mark in June, after season ticket money arrives, with the low-point coming the month before, so is liquidation just around the corner?  Not necessarily.

The club has a couple of significant problems: it’s short of money and has significant monthly outgoings, but it also has assets, and may have buyers for those assets.

Murray Park is an outrageous folly and should be sold immediately.  Protests to secure it have been acts of self-harm; swallow your pride and sell.  This is a football club in acute danger, pretentions of grandeur, and Murray Park is exactly that, should be shed immediately.  Albion car park and the Edmiston House office building are superfluous property assets and could be sold without stopping football operations.

Mike Ashley has an asset Newco want back – stadium naming rights.  He could repatriate these rights as a sweetener in a deal to buy Murray Park, Albion and Edmiston.  Newco could leaseback the training ground, Sports Direct would be able to build a stonking big tracksuit shop on the Albion site and the club could boast to fans that they negotiated back Ibrox naming rights.

This might sound like a bitter pill but it will keep the lights on a little longer, makes irrefutable sense and is relatively painless.  The original Rangers existed for over a century without Murray Park, one of Scotland’s best run topflight football clubs’ Motherwell, train on a school sports field, Newco Rangers could do the same.  A little humility right now would be good for them.

There remains a problem: cumulatively, these assets are unlikely to be worth more than the £4m the club hope to raise in their proposed (not underwritten) share issue.  This is still not enough to see them through the season.  Expenditure for the last season accounts are available, 2012-13, averaged close to £3m per month.  The club will need close to £20m between now and season ticket renewal time.

Creditors must be paid or the club will go into administration.  To pay creditors, without sufficient income or credit, more assets must be sold, specifically Ibrox.

If they go into administration before selling Ibrox, don’t expect events to follow a similar path to the one Duff & Phelps took when administering Oldco Rangers.  Duff & Phelps were appointed by a liquidation specialist with a specific remit.  They even tried to sign a player.  Newco in administration would follow a more conventional route: redundancies would take place and assets would be sold to pay creditors.

Ibrox is the only significant asset administrators would have to sell.  It could generate enough to pay creditors in full and get the club through to the end of the season.  Finding a buyer would be the main challenge, but as we all now know, the club can stand or fall, but whoever controls Ibrox can continue to get a rental return from successor club.

An administrator could dismiss the manager and some other highly paid staff, reducing costs to a more manageable level, and pay ordinary creditors in full.

Newco Rangers need to finish in the top four to be in with a chance of promotion, which would be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one with the right manager in place.  They could be a top flight club next season.

This is not how fans wanted the Newco to progress but after they were unable to raise more than the £5.5m Charles Green’s consortium put on the table to buy Rangers assets, the future was mapped out.

Costs for police, insurance, electricity, IT, office staff, security and the million other items needed by a football club who occasionally host 50,000 people will be no less than circa £17m p.a – before you employ a footballer.

Newco’s income could rise from the £19m they earned in season 2012-13 (though possibly not this season), but there’s just not enough money to run a football team.  Scottish Premiership football would be a chastening experience, the levels of austerity required going forward would be draconian.

Fans can protest that they are watching the same old club all they like, but it’s not going to look anything like the Rangers you or I have ever known – and I knew them under John Greig.  And here’s the nub, the most optimistic financial projections are based on Newco selling the same number of tickets Oldco sold.  Would a Newco competing alongside St Mirren and Kilmarnock sell any more than the 23,000 season tickets they’ve sold this year?

The long-term financial fundamentals remain unchanged.  In 2012 the Blue Knights concluded there was no viable future for football at Ibrox if Rangers were liquidated.  Two years later all the evidence reaffirms that position.  This is a dead multi-club franchise.

Looking forward to the Maestro Match tomorrow.  See you there.

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  1. TBJ says Wee Oscar Knox is in heaven with the angels on

    BRTH & DD

     

     

    Tonight’s match is against Leinster so should be a cracker . Watched it on tv but never been to a live game

     

     

    Queens park cafe is on right side of Vic rd if your facing the park .

  2. hamiltontim

     

     

    13:17 on 6 September, 2014

     

    Bourne

     

     

    I completely agree but I think that it’s the police rather than Celtic who have the issue with cash turnstiles at competitive games.

     

     

    ——

     

     

    Why? The bassas seem to take everyone’s photie on the way in anyway!?!

     

     

    BRTH

     

     

    Another great read – thanks.

     

     

    On a train end route to a conference in Munich. Missed stan’s match last year for the equivalent meeting.

     

    How I would long to take the wee Mhan to CP tomorrow to see a humble work of genius.

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  3. TBJ says Wee Oscar Knox is in heaven with the angels on

    The Celtic way

     

     

    The cafe is called the Queens cafe on Vic rd

  4. To whoever is having the night out in Shawlands,

     

     

    the Glad Cafe sells beers and just along the road across from the park is Sweeneys.

     

     

    End London rule!

  5. Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma on

    Jamesgang

     

     

    Enjoy Munich.

     

     

    Consolation is that you can go for a meal and a drink in the Ratzkeller!

  6. FAVOURITE UNCLE on

    Newco Rangers need to finish in the top four to be in with a chance of promotion, which would be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one with the right manager in place. They could be a top flight club next season.

     

     

    donation sent.good luck.great cause.

  7. eddieinkirkmichael

     

     

    13:55 on 6 September, 2014

     

    In govanhill baths for the festival of ideas this afternoon then off to The Glad Cafe tonight to listen to Fintan O’Toole. Any CQNers care to suggest a venue for a pint later tonight for a pint in the south side.

     

    __________________________________________________________________________

     

    You could always try Sweeney’s on the Park. Just a few doors down from Glad Cafe. Good wee pub, usually has a band on the smallest “stage” you’ll ever see.

     

     

    HH

     

     

    End London rule.YES

  8. TBJ says Wee Oscar Knox is in heaven with the angels on

    Mibbees Celtic could give the newest club in Glasgow a wee bit of support .. We were founded to help after all

     

     

    We could offer them the use of Celtic park when we are away from home .. Perhaps we could also allow them the use of our training facilities at lennoxtown with greens against blues as training games

     

    Another idea could be to arrange a few charity matches against them with all the proceeds going towards helping their financial plight

     

    Anyone got any other ideas ;)

  9. They cannot sell the Albion Car Park as it’s a vital part if the operational licence required to operate a stadium in that area.

     

    Yes they(Someone) owns it but it has to be available as a car park to facilitate the stadium.

     

    Unless they find another local car park that can hold 500 cars, that site cannot be developed!

     

    Might be good for drive in movies though eh?

     

    Pmsl

  10. BRTH,

     

    Thanks for insight.

     

    I did try …..

     

    I first saw the student ticket on Celtic’s web, I clicked on link, which led to a lot of general ST info.

     

    So I then phoned the club and was advised that it was only for a specific section.

     

    I then asked if I bought one for my son, could I relocate to that section ‘ no because you are not a student’

     

     

    Believe me, I did try, but, next year I will try and buy current sea as a student seat …of course in between, I will spend lots of time moaning & saying that’s it , I’m not renewing …..as I am currently doing with EL tickets !

  11. BRTH,

     

     

    I spoke to young Thomas during the week and asked how George was… Jeeso, he’s fair enjoying retirement.

     

     

    Just as an add on, your cousin was a one of the best mechanical engineers I’ve worked with, kept me right on a few occasions in the subcontract game.

     

     

    A loss to the trade now he’s retired.

     

     

    Grumpy bassa though…HH

  12. TBJ says Wee Oscar Knox is in heaven with the angels

     

    14:55 on

     

    6 September, 2014

     

    Mibbees Celtic could give the newest club in Glasgow a wee bit of support .. We were founded to help after all

     

     

    We could offer them the use of Celtic park when we are away from home .. Perhaps we could also allow them the use of our training facilities at lennoxtown with greens against blues as training games

     

    Another idea could be to arrange a few charity matches against them with all the proceeds going towards helping their financial plight

     

    Anyone got any other ideas ;)

     

    ——————————————————-

     

    Aye, don`t do ANY of the above.

  13. Tbj,

     

     

    We could buy the naming rights of their stadium! off Ashley and advertise our Celtic merchandise all over it…give them a penny in the pound of the profit.

  14. Not sure they’d make the top 4 with a 25 point deduction.

     

     

    They’ve insisted on being the same club but if they’d told the truth it would have been 15.

     

     

    Oh the irony.

  15. Good afternoon all.

     

     

    Just washed the 2 dugs, don’t know who is wetter, them or me. :-)

     

     

    Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.

  16. I have read some great stories on hear it’s great being a celtic fan. I can remember it was. cheerio ten in a row what a great feeling. My friends and I decided to head to Glasgow for the week end Charlie and the boys arey o’g at the barrow lands. I had never bean to any thing like this before. although the songs I recognise I did not know the lyrics. So I made them up. And got it oh so wrong. When ary o’g left the stage everyone sang cheerio 10 in a row. Oh no no not me I sang cheerio ary o’g cheerio ary o’g. Oh how my friends pissed them self laughing at me. But the worst one of all was when everyone was singing. “And the leader was an Irish man” oh no no no no not me. I was singing the larder was an English man. What a fool I made of my self. The next day my friends were still pissing them self’s. a 10 hour journey back home mocking me about my lyrics. Oh how they laugh. That day I decided to educate my self on all things Irish. I’ve now read hundreds of books on Irish history,SAS,IRA. You name it i have read it. Some of those books were truly amazing. What a troubled past. But at the end of the day I’m a Scotsman. My passion is for Scotland. God bless you Ireland Tiocfidh at l’a. Just like Scotland your day will come. H.H.

  17. Clashcitybhoy

     

    14:56 on

     

    6 September, 2014

     

    BRTH,

     

    Thanks for insight.

     

    I did try …..

     

    I first saw the student ticket on Celtic’s web, I clicked on link, which led to a lot of general ST info.

     

    So I then phoned the club and was advised that it was only for a specific section.

     

    I then asked if I bought one for my son, could I relocate to that section ‘ no because you are not a student’

     

     

    Believe me, I did try, but, next year I will try and buy current sea as a student seat …of course in between, I will spend lots of time moaning & saying that’s it , I’m not renewing …..as I am currently doing with EL tickets !

     

    ——————————————————————————————

     

    Tony Donnelly has a student season card, but he never uses it because he`s in with the Green Brigade, in their section. He was once offered a seat in the directors box, but he declined as he hates them all. He is always going on about how they are out their depth at running a football club. He started the latter day `sack the board` movement. He also invented lateral movement. His gob is constantly having a bowel movement. Hope this clears it up for you.

  18. BRTH

     

    Wee donation made sir.

     

    minded me of my auld uncle saying he had to walk fae Mossend tae Uddingston then get the tram, then in later days waiting on the bus and a player coming out of The steel works on a SAt lunchtime being let on 1st to make it into the game, cant remember the name began with an S and moved on to play for Aberdeen (allegedly)

  19. DD

     

     

    Done one in the shower cubicle and the auld yin outside using buckets. His back end is gubbed (14) yrs old and he can’t stand on the slippy surface.

     

     

    Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.

  20. Tommy Burns……The Calton’s favourite ever son…

     

     

    Miss you son…..

     

     

    Gone but never forgotten.

     

     

     

    ► 5:28► 5:28

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MX7so7Ir74

     

    10 Jun 2008 – Uploaded by charlieandthebhoys

     

    Tommy Burns Tribute by Charlie and the Bhoys – Track available on iTunes here …

  21. Last year’s Championship saw the winners end up with 69 points from 36 games. The play off places were 67,66 and 55 points. In previous seasons 4th place wasn’t relevant for the play off picture and was usually secured with around 50 points.

     

     

    So it’s probably reasonable to assume that around 60 points from 36 games will safely secure a play off place this season.

  22. Weefra

     

     

    That explains! :)) Hope you and your family are well. See you Saturday. Canny wait. :))

  23. TBJ says Wee Oscar Knox is in heaven with the angels

     

    14:55 on

     

    6 September, 2014

     

    Mibbees Celtic could give the newest club in Glasgow a wee bit of support .. We were founded to help after all

     

     

    We could offer them the use of Celtic park when we are away from home .. Perhaps we could also allow them the use of our training facilities at lennoxtown with greens against blues as training games

     

    Another idea could be to arrange a few charity matches against them with all the proceeds going towards helping their financial plight

     

    Anyone got any other ideas ;)

     

     

     

     

    We could give them our old strips… since they are in a different league they could wear them every week….

  24. Weefra,

     

     

    Are you going tomorrow?

     

     

    I need square up CRC for the Cqn donation to the expert team pickers on here and the good work they do.

     

     

    Hat doffed to the good ghuys.

     

     

    I can’t hang about though, as the prawn sandwiches can turn quickly in the Walfrid ;))

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