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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Anybody else impressed by the solo (successful) attempt to start “Glasgow’s Green and White” chant ? And in the Main Stand too……..
S P
Ta for that. Im not up to speed with internationals.
BCW,
I’ve only met him a couple of times, years ago, and canny remember what he looks like.
DD
That is a game made for the wee mhan
It should be some game at Celtic Park
Strange mix of emotions for me and the other Irish Celtic fans
As an irish man I am supporting Scotland, I think they will get a result tonight
sipsini
19:32 on 7 September, 2014
What a day, seeing double as I type….sat in the best seats in the main stand, went out for a cig as you are allowed to do that in the posh seats…?
Had two wee lassies asking me for an autograph as I went for said cig .. God knows who they thought I was!
————————————
did you still have the Hoopy costume on?
Apologies for re-posting
After several years of working away from Scotland, it is now time for me to return home.
I have been searching for work with no joy for a few weeks, therefore if any of the guys on here have any contacts in the hospitality trade that may be looking for an experienced Hotel manager, Restaurant manager or Area manager please pass on my email address. Would also consider other positions.
Davb1974@hotmail.com
Thanks in advance
Prayers Please,
evening bhoys,
I don’t normally get bothered about Scotland games but tonight I will roar them on,
in Germany tonight is the son of a work colleague and friend, he is 24,
less than 2 weeks ago he was told by specialists that there is nothing more they can do
to halt the spread of the cancer he has,he was given some time to digest the news and was asked if there were any questions he wanted to ask,
his only question was could he go to Germany,
the specialist said why not,
if Scotland quailfy for the next Euros this lad wont be here to see them,
so for him and his family please lets roar them on
cheers bhoys
Dallas
Have sky plussed tonight at 9 sky arts. Manics, Libertines and Paolo. My 3 highlights fae Benicassim. We are returning next year. God willing.
Just back in again.
Ernie. Admit it. Your shoiting yourself over the possibility of Independence now.
:-))))
Monteblanco it’s a hard one buddy. I’ve listened. I’ve learned. I’ve watched. I’ve seen. Everything my past 44 years of British sovereignty has been a blast. I’m with you. Facetious sarcasm and Rule Britania.
TBJ – Seems that a lot about our club is being forgotten by a lot at our club.
MurdochAuldandHay. Wee prayer heading your way tonight for your recent loss buddy. As you said today. Just got to keep on keeping on.
Hail! Hail!
MWD says AYE
Why didn’t Peter Grant come on today ?
Surely Crocker won’t mention thems tonight .
Gordybhoy that’s terrible news, the things we moan about on here, just shows you none of it is really important
gordybhoy
Sad story.
I’ll add my thoughts to those praying for the young bhoy’s treatment
Look!!! There’s the Republic of Scotland’s fleg!
Really looking forward to this game but first I’ve gotta pop next door to my wee neighbour Billy MacBillyson , and help him on to his white horse for an Acid bucket challenge.
G64
So sad. We prayer said.
Off to watch the game
Have to say the German anthem sounds a bit subdued after the Floor.
gordybhoy64
19:37 on 7 September, 2014
Very sad – prayer said for the poor lad
1690 grrrr
Gordon64,
Wee prayer to StJude, god bless him and family
Oh oh…Norwegian officials. Ronny’s influence is long indeed.
There has been a suggestion that all Yes voters on here are not SNP supporters. I presume that’s true but it is certainly true that some are. How anyone can defend the likes of Salmond, MacKaskill and Cunningham, who, since they have been the Scottish Government, have demonstrably shown themselves to be anti-Catholic and anti-Celtic, is way beyond me.
Even more so, if you are from Glasgow and the West of Scotland, seeing how they have squandered money on Edinburgh and it’s infrastructure, building up Edinburgh airport to the detriment of Glasgow and Prestwick, while simultaneously cancelling the train connection from the City Centre to Glasgow Airport.
sftb got post number 1690……hahaha the huns are going bust…again
hoopy-do,
Nope, you wouldn’t let me try it on :((
Imagine. McCann ( 26 ). Got more caps than wee jinky ( 23. ) wonder how that happened ,
gordybhoy,
Hope the lad sees a victory. God bless him and his family at this time.
How does this fitba work? Are we allowed a kick?
ernie lynch
19:15 on 7 September, 2014
Street cred to you for knowing what stone island is. But not on the elbows unless they are fakes.
ernie lynch
18:15 on 7 September, 2014
There are around 25,000 registered SNP members (Nats in your parlance). To label the 2,000,000 or so who may vote for independence as “nats”, is ignorance and arrogance. One does not have to be a nationalist to vote for independence. So do us all a favour and give your blinkered bigotry a rest. Puleeeese.
Scotland goalie in green jersey shock and he played for the Hoops tae. Gawn yersel, Davie Bhoy.
Sipsini
You have the look of a young Brad Pitt.
sipsini
Lassies asking for yer autograph?!
It’s well seen you were in Italy on holiday recently!
HH!!
Balooter….
Gerrybhoy…
It’s all semantics really.
Vote Yes……you are a Separatist
Vote No…..you are a Unionist
Nothing to do with religion or party politics.
Straight Yes or No from what I understand.
Doh a deer…….oh dear….
Barry Bannan jumped about 2 inches there….