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.
[calameo code=000390171586f6fbaa2ba lang=en page=122 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
2,690 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- ...
- 71
- »
bsr
Sarah & Billy singing We Seem Like Passing Rangers Now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk9NVZMNyiM
Jamesgang
Minx advised against posting anything in response. Her calming influence is a God sent blessing. Sadly, I don’t always heed it :-)
Tontine Tim
This week, the weans would concur!!! :-)
Sipsini
Maybe some walks are acceptable and some aren’t. eh!
Ye either ur the peepul
or
Ye urnae the peepul.
lDiegoBhoy
19:03 on
6 September, 2014
Memo to myself. Don’t get on Hamiltontim’s bad side:o)
I know I know ….he is like a wee intelligent man stuck in a Bank teachers body
Republican march OK Orange March not????
HT is the real deal
A HUN With A Celtic Scarf
Chris do yersel a favour and stick to slagging off Neil Lennon and Tommy Gemmel
Ht
Certainly wasn’t disagreeing with you mate. Glad you replied as you did.
Enjoy your evening.
EDB
You too mate. Still not sure about Friday but I’ll get a message to you somehow if I can make it.
Dallas
But you do look like a proud Tim. Bet he thought Tommy Burns when he saw you. ;))
Evening Timland from a very warm hun free mountain valley.
Dearie me, typical troll like stuff, twisting stuff to suit.
Ht
No worries mate. A taxi is picking older daughter and myself up in one minute and she’s not arrived yet from Glasgow! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Thanks for the answer Lhads.
What time and channel please?
Lamb curry on the hob and hot Rod in the background, glass of Rhone in my hand….. Doesn’t get much better….
Just to change the subject
quonno
18:50 on 6 September, 2014
Murray Park is an outrageous folly and should be sold immediately.
Paul,
Given Celtic’s increasing reliance on loans and foreign imports, could the above not equally be applied to Lennoxtown.
_____________
I read a post earlier that when the training was moved from barrowfield, the common touch between the players and the support got lost.
I totally agree with that, the fans, especially the young ones, have been distanced from their heroes.
Is it to late to realise a mistake has been made, expense wise it would be a major spend, but with the redevelopment of the area still on going the GCC could help us out….last bit was for lurking huns…;))))
Must admit I’m all for republicans marching, there is no correlation between republicans marching and OO marches, and only narrow minded Neanderthal sectarians could possibly try to make such an argument.
TBJ
Brill game at Scotstoun there. Glasgow lookin good. Hope you enjoyed yer day.
Sips… I have often wondered how Dundee Utd do it so well and we dinna
So you could have a point
BRTH – the Mitre Bar – behind Goldberg’s?
Had my first legal pint in there – summer 1977.
quonno
18:50 on 6 September, 2014
Oh, no, Quonno…..
I don’t even think it was a Republican march, I heard it was a march in favor of the Yes vote, they just happened to be Republicans, could be wrong mind you, whatever, you are spot on canman.
HH
Delaney’s, I’ve been frequently told I have the map of Ireland on my coupon.
Dingwall is around our age but the last picture of him I could bring myself to gawp at on the BBC site, he looked as auld as a character in Still Game and dressed like one of them.
We were in the Pot Still before the late and wonderful Bobby Womack’s gig at the Concert Hall last January. Very good boozer with a fantastic range of swallay.
Bobby was magic but two things added to our enjoyment of seeing one of music’s greatest.
Behind him the lighted sign only showed Celtic, the bulbs in the connection sign weren’t working. Bobby then introduced his band and one of them was called Charles Green with some ironic cheers from teh audience.
jinkynewton,
How many on here, when they were younger, dogged school and went to barrowfield to watch their heroes train?
Then again, education comes first… Can’t see HT punishing any of his kids for doing it though…;)
Sorry to get on to the Indy vote.
I’ve just found out that if anyone from Britain emigrated to another country.
They are allowed a vote.
So how come us expats living in englandshire don’t get a vote on our homeland?
Note there is nothing on BBC Scotland about it, news blackout a wee game of hide the shame, Scotland are good at that
Sipsini
The big plan is to lay shed loads of 4g astro in the Sir Chris Hoy CFC Training Academy.
We only put a temporary scalextrix track doon to qualify for the state aid!
HH jamesgang
TET,
I heard the helicopters and police cars, must have been an accident thought me…my daughter sent me a message from Phoenix, that’s how I found out.;)
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
Must admit I’m all for republicans marching, there is no correlation between republicans marching and OO marches, and only narrow minded Neanderthal sectarians could possibly try to make such an argument.
—————–
To be honest neither marches bother me one bit, but just for the boys and girls watching can you explain the difference between the two marches?
Sispini
No, rest assured, there’d be no punnies issued for that :-)
newradbhoy
Just relax and enjoy the match mhate….
;-)
HH jamesgang
PS imagine you started your game beers now!!!!!
Dallas
Hahaha magic. Looking forward to welcoming our new bhoys into the family on Saturday.
The _huddle,
The simple difference is there are no religious connection with the republican marches
DD
Was I not on the telly … ;)))
Great game … Thought had thrown it away at the end .. Last minute pens are magic
HT
Ignore them … You ARE the better bhoy
TBJ
Naw bud. Great game, thought we had thown it away. I leapt oot ma chair at the penalty. Magic the Warriors! :)
Delaney’s, so am I. I hope our expectation levels for Stefan and John are not too high.
However, some of the support might not give them time to settle. I hope that’s not the case.
The Aberdeen fans will no doubt glory in our champions league qualifications and be at their worst.
Their behaviour and treatment of Neil last season was shocking.
Delaney’s, sorry meant to say.
My Lisbon Calling t shirt from Boca 10 got it’s first airing today.
My favourite of the Celtic t shirts they sell.
Sips well we’re getting something wrong…. We have the best facilities, best scouts, more mulla so should be producing the best in the country, and taking the best from Ireland as well
Hey ho maybe it takes time. I am hoping we see a batch now coming through for Scotland that’s been missing for a long time. And why can scots not really make that next step.
And where is our Gareth Bale? Seriously what is it about the Scottish mentality that stops us making a Bale
Hmmmmmm……
Very,very interesting article……..
Scottish independence, UK dependency
Photo credit: Kyoshi Masamune
SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 // BY: JAMES MEADWAY
Something has rattled the City of London this week. With opinion polls showing support for Scottish independence closing in fast on the opposition, the pound “tumbled”, relative to the dollar, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph today runs with a front-page story that “Yes vote could cause sterling crash”, writing up “ominous warnings” from Goldman Sachs’ chief UK economist. The Financial Times has flagged up the comments of Lloyd’s of London chair John Nelson, that “it is in the interests of the entire Scottish population, and the wider British population… that this union stays together.”
NEF doesn’t take a position on the Scottish referendum. It’s for the people of Scotland to decide their future. And while the City now appears to have woken up to the possibility of a Yes victory, it’s not uncertainty over Scotland’s future that’s troubling them.
Tucked away in the Financial Times’ report earlier in the week was the giveaway. “Currency investors” would apparently be “particularly concerned by the UK’s persistent current account deficit if this were no longer offset by North Sea oil revenues.”
This is something of an understatement. The UK has run a deficit on its trade in goods every single year since 1983. We have imported more goods than we have exported every year for three decades. Including services and overseas earnings (the “current account”), the UK has run a deficit since the mid-1990s. Today, that deficit is close to record levels, at 4.4% of GDP.
A country running a large current account deficit with a freely-traded currency should see the value of its currency fall. Fewer people abroad will be buying that country’s products, and so demand for that country’s currency will drop, bringing its exchange rate down. That fall in the exchange rate should, in turn, lead to rising exports (since they become cheaper for the rest of the world) and falling imports (since they have become more expensive), so closing the trade gap.
That’s the theory; it hasn’t happened in the UK because we have an economy that has been extremely effective at covering for its deficit by borrowing from the rest of the world. Today, the UK holds the world’s second-largest external debt, behind only the US. The UK, collectively, owes 406% of its GDP to its overseas creditors.
This deficit has been sustained, so far, because we have an extraordinarily large financial sector, a key part of the global financial system. The City depends on a high value pound for its own operations. Financial assets (and property) denominated in pound sterling are much more appealing when the value of the pound is high, and stable. (Never mind, of course, the consequences for those seeking to export.) One result of this is that the UK has the largest financial sector liabilities of any developed economy, relative to its size, at an extraordinary 1,634% of GDP.
The status quo has worked very well for the financiers. In the good times, they have a vast domestic market for credit in the UK’s debt-driven economy. In the bad, they can rely on Westminster to bail them out, at extraordinary social cost. The chronic trade deficit is merely another source of demand for credit.
Yet this chronic imbalance in the UK’s international trade is there even with North Sea oil revenues. These are, for now, substantial. In 2013, the UK sold £39.3bn worth of oil to the rest of the world.
There are, obviously, questions about the sustainability of North Sea oil. It would be advisable for an independent Scotland to move rapidly away from a reliance on North Sea earnings, aside from its environmental costs; but in this respect, Scotland would be no different to any other developed economy in needing to end its carbon dependency.
Should an independent Scotland claim, under international law, its fair share of North Sea oil, these export revenues will no longer appear on the UK’s balance of trade. Over the last year, the loss of North Sea oil would have bumped our current account deficit from 4.4% of GDP, to just under 7%. The graph below shows the shift over the last 11 years.
The _huddle
For many years Irish Republican parades have taken place for a particular purpose, usually to highlight various subjects.
Collusion between the British state and Loyalist murder squads.
The Ballymurphy Massacre.
Commemoration of the hunger strikers.
Commemoration of those murdered on Bloody Sunday.
Irish Unity.
The OO march in memory of a Durch paedophile and his victory over Irish Catholics.