Good Morning,
In the last week, we have seen a number of strange occurrences in Scottish Football, which if taken together might just point to a very different land than the one we were lead to believe we live in just two short years ago.
First of all there was the report from a firm of well known accountants which pronounced that a significant number of Scottish Football Clubs had, in fact, sold more season tickets for this coming season than they had in the course of the last several years.
Then we had the spectacle of the National team travelling to Wembley and playing very well AND being cheered on by a very large travelling support who appear to have been full of fun and who acquitted themselves well in the big smoke.
This morning I read that today’s match at Pittodrie is a sell out — with the old stadium being packed to the rafters for the visit of Celtic. This is the first time that Aberdeen have been able to sell out the fixture for some 6 years!
Not only that, various Celtic supporting websites have lead with articles saying that the return of a strong Aberdeen and Dundee United are to be welcomed– in fact not only welcomed but positively wished for.
In contrast, stories abound about the in fighting on the Ibrox Board. There are surreptitious share dealings and all sorts of company jockeying being deployed by the rival factions who are trying to gain control of The Rangers. Further, there is the suggestion from some well informed parties that not only will Ibrox and the Albion be sold and leased back to the club to generate much needed immediate cash, but that Murray Park has been sold off completely and will no longer be available to The Rangers for any purpose whatsoever!
Clearly, there are big troubles at the club which will not assist in the stated intention of rising to the very top in Scottish Football.
In between all of this, the debate goes on about Campbell Ogilvie, Press manipulation, the correspondence between Media House and the SFA, and between The SFA and Ibrox re the relationship between Charlie Green and Craig Whyte and so on.
Standing with my business hat on, I looked at all of this and wondered what it all meant, and pretty quickly reached the conclusion that we are now in a time of supreme opportunity for some of the clubs in Scottish Football—- particularly Aberdeen FC.
There is a view abroad, that in the absence of the “Strong Rangers” that Celtic Football Club will win the SPFL title for almost evermore — or at least until they are toppled from the top spot by the rise of a strong Rangers club somewhere towards the end of this decade or early in the next– because we are assured that they will be back– in one form or another– in a rather Arnold Schwarzenegger like fashion.
That return or initial rise if you like– its timing and its manner— is dependent on a number of things– not least the exit strategy of Charlie Green and his cohorts.
If it is true that The Rangers are going to part company with Ibrox and the Albion, that they have taken on a loan of funds which attract a rate of interest that amounts to 15% per annum, and that there are set figures for buying the old ( and decaying ) stadium back any time soon, and that they have yet again hawked the season ticket money, then the already flawed Ibrox business plan is burdened even more by interest and rent payments of an additional £3M per annum and rising!
It should also be noted that the accounts for old co from the mid naughties onwards boasted that season ticket sales, merchandising, corporate hospitality and so on had reached unprecedented levels—- but—- the club still did not make an operating profit without strange internals transactions such as the repurchase of media rights which added £15M on to the P&L’s AND the sale of Jean Alain Boomsong!
Accordingly, the current position will not make for good financial reading.
So– let’s presume that in the current climate Celtic are out of sight and will always be champions for ever and a day. What do the rest of the clubs say in the absence of the Ibrox club without whom they have been told they will perish?
Well, If I were in charge of Aberdeen FC I would look out across a city with an inherent population of some 220,000 souls sitting in a county which takes the population up by another 40,000 or so. I would note that the compact city also houses two universities and a number of colleges — all of which attract visitors to the city— and that its position as the oil capital of Europe also draws in a substantial number of itinerant workers.
Further, personal knowledge shows that many who studied at Aberdeen University or Robert Gordon’s in the 80’s left the city as Aberdeen FC fans and no matter where they have ended up in life they still make the journey back to Pittodrie when they can– especially in good times!
Alas, however, Aberdeen has not enjoyed ” Good Times” of late— in fact not really since ……….. the arrival of David Murray at Ibrox!
If you cast your mind back to the pre Murray era, Aberdeen were a force not only in Scotland but Europe as the recent nostalgia re Gothenburg has reminded us.
The city has an economic micro climate which suggests that it can ride economic hardship better than most and so all things considered this current period provides a great opportunity for the Dons.
Unlike Dundee United, Hearts, and Hibs, Aberdeen FC sits in a large one team conurbation and should be on the doorstep of a populace which can fill Pittodrie every single week …… IF that fan base can be motivated.
And there lies the rub– how do you get a notoriously fickle fan base out of the armchair and into the stadium?
The late Bob Crampsey once described Pittodrie by saying ” And there are the masses of Aberdeen fans, masquerading as rows and rows of Empty seats!” yet in their heydey an Aberdeen crowd on a visit to Glasgow were among the noisiest– and to this football fans eyes — the scariest ( in a good sense ) supports to be seen.
Well, at this juncture, Derek McInnes and team need only look at every other football club in the land ( bar Celtic ) and determine that come next May those others will be below them in the league. If Aberdeen maintain a strong league run keeping everyone behind them then there is the possibility of a huge revenue swing in favour of the Dons– such a swing that would put them in an even stronger position for the following year.
Further, Aberdeen are a European name. Perhaps a European name from yesteryear and not the recent past, but the pedigree is there and as such there will be those who remember the heady European Nights both home and away. Reviving those memories and that reputation– at least to an extent– is not beyond the club, and with no disrespect to Motherwell and St Johnstone both of whom are liable to lose key players or even a manager between seasons, Aberdeen may just be of a size to consolidate each year rather than scramble to maintain the momentum of one good season which comes along every now and then.
Financial management and football rewards can go hand in hand when combined properly, and of all the clubs in Scotland who can benefit from a level playing field in terms of proper football governance, Aberdeen FC are uniquely placed in my opinion.
That is not so say that The Arabs, or the Hibees or anyone else cannot benefit– on the contrary— but the Dons are the most obvious candidates in terms of potential structure to really motor forward and regain a by gone status.
Such a situation, and the recognition of that potential, should be borne in mind by all at Celtic Football Club, as last year they struggled for a period in the league while they concentrated on their European exploits. If Celtic want to go further and further in Europe ( and why shouldn’t they ) they will have to be wary of any club which is capable of reigniting its fortunes from a lowly position or a position of having to look back at glory and potential glory rather than looking forward.
Further, with the way things are being organised at Ibrox, there is absolutely no guarantee ( some would say likelihood ) that an eventual challenge to a perceived dominance by Celtic will come from that quarter, and life in the top flight for any returning Rangers could prove very difficult if the likes of Aberdeen get their act together and start to produce the type of home grown team of old.
For now, I sense a degree of optimism about the Dons– not just on the playing front either. They have a fan base, they have a business model and a good young manager, and any comparative business exercise must conclude that they have every chance of rising above most of their rivals in the league, in terms of revenue, in terms of brand development and business expansion.
If I were an Aberdeen fan I would like to think positive and be ambitious in this climate, whilst at the same time casting an eye back to the days when they were top of the tree.
As one Aberdeen supporting ( but now Edinburgh based ) friend put it to me:
” Ah, those were the days my friend, those were the days……………”
Clyde Blowers boss Jim McColl, who led a group of shareholders demanding an EGM be held to force the removal of chief executive Craig Mather, finance boss Brian Stockbridge and non-executive director Bryan Smart, has confirmed that the group remains committed to forcing changes at Ibrox.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/shareholders-reaffirm-bid-to-oust-ibrox-directors-1-3057866
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:48 am
Have been saying the same for ages.
All the boardroom shenanignas are a side show.
It is all down to the balance sheet at the end of the day reagrdless of who is on charge.
However due to the number of unknowns I still believe it could be nip and tuck as to whether or not they pull through and manage to hold on until they can charge top dollar for the premiership tickets.
All we have is rumours of money leaking out of the club, highly paid key staff, a load of new signings and the possibility that all existing players are on Sandaza type deals with increasing wages the longer they stay put. There is no obvious major cost cutting other than a rumour of some office staff maybe getting their P45.
If they are lucky and get a move on someone might just be able to slowly turn the ship around. If not Charlie and his pals have holed the vessel well below the waterline and its going down for a second time.
From The Scotsman, link above, with the in-bracket comments from me…
“The club (underline ‘club’) have given the green light for Blin to join the board in an attempt to stave off the risk of an EGM, but have refused to allow former director Murray to rejoin the club (underline ‘club’).”
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:03 am
“and have attended Protestant and Catholics schools”
*************************
Just on a point of information, and as it is an obsession of mine: unless you were a pupil at schools outside Scotland (and as far as I recall south of the border too), you never attended ‘Protestant and Catholics schools’. There are no such establishments in Scotland.
In any case, I don’t think there is any relevance in which school anyone posting on this site attended.
Only my opinion, but this shouldn’t be part of any football debate.
Back to the topic of BROGANROGANTREVINOANDHOGAN‘s original blog.
Having considered his points, I think it is fanciful to imagine any club challenging Celtic’s dominance in the near to middle future. Many clubs have got themselves into relatively significant financial trouble trying to participate on a more competitive footing over the past decade or so….. but it turns out it wasn’t a ‘fair fight’.
An anecdote on assumptions of cultural superiority or ‘no one likes us we don’t care’. 2 months ago we were checking into a hotel in central Glasgow for a family party. In the lift to our rooms an Australian chap was complaining to the rest of the occupants that while he was the organiser of a ‘bucks’ party, presumably stag, his and his companion’s luggage had gone to Manchester. He had spent 2 hours on the ‘phone trying to resolve the problem but when he said he was in Glasgow ‘the shutters came down, for some reason Manchester people don’t like Glasgow’. I had 30 seconds to give him some background. The law of unintended consequences in action. How economically damaging to Glasgow or Scotland in general has the behaviour of our cultural and racial superiors in Manchester a few years ago been? How many unconsided holidays, weekends away, parties, cultural visits at how much cost? I was also in Seville some years ago, no ticket, just had to be there. Contrary to mythology not everyone were angelic in their behaviour, I saw some public drunkenness and some minor public micturation but the vast, vast majority behaved as ambassadors for their club and countries and were welcomed as an unexpected bonanza by bar,cafe, restaurant and shop owners. Millions went into the Sevillian economy that week, I amongst others donated my scarf to Real Betis supporters, the working class team. To those that consider that it’s just part of a football team’s identity to swagger around with an air of cultural and moral superiority I posit an idea for a reality TV programme, let,s take 500 actors in Rangers garb and sent them to central Manchester, and 500 in Celtic garb and send them to Seville, film the consequences and see which approach to other people who don’t necessarily support you team or worldview is the more successful in building bridges between people, or more successful in long term economic growth to club.
Right,
I’m a bit late to the ‘Save Sevco’ party, but here’s my tuppence worth:
– The fans simply stop going to games and cancel their ST dd’s, thereby forcing admin/liquidation (as we’ve seen, the difference doesn’t really matter – the SFA will still bend over backwards to treat them both as the same thing anyway……)
– The fans then buy the club/assets/company/whatever. It’s been pointed out before, but the money that the fans punted up to own shares in the company that owns the company that owns the club would actually have bought them the assets on their own 3 months earlier.
– Sign players suited to the division. Simply follow the Gretna model – you sign the best players from the division above. Chances are that not only have they played at that level, but that they flourished there.
– Drop the baggage. I know there’s the arguement that the place would be empty without it, but there’s the other side of the coin – thanks to that baggage, ‘Rangers’ as a brand are toxic. David Murray recognised that and at least paid lipservice to it (if we don’t count stunts like the ‘tangerine’ cup final jersey as a tribute to their Dutch players…..). He understood that big paying sponsors ran a mile at the prospect of sponsoring a team who were constantly being pulled up on a regular basis by the European authorities (although not the Scottish ones, funnily enough). Manchester certainly didn’t help encourage those sponsors either.
– Employ someone who actually knows what they are doing as a coach! I keep banging on about Ian McColl, simply because he’s been there, done that so many times at that level. But you sign them on the understanding that there is a good chance that they will be jettisoned from the top job when the top division is reached, but that at the very least they will be kept on as a coach.
From my reckoning, the above scenario would leave a fan owned club, free from spivs, chancers and opportunists, living within it’s means, and with the sort of ethos that would not only see it welcomed to the top division, but would actually attract substantial sponsorship for both themselves and the division as a whole.
The main is that there is no guarantee that the fans would get the assets/club in competition with assorted spivs etc, but the only reason that the spivs end up attracted to the club is because they know that all they have to do is go ‘Aye….er… It’s all Peter Lawell’s fault. We are the Pupil…..er…. Papal… Christ, not that, definitely not that, ….er…..peepil? Yeah, that’s it, I mean Peepil! ‘ and the fans are falling over themselves to throw money at them, convinced that they’re ‘Wan o’us’ . If the supporters groups just came out and said ‘You buy the assets, and we’re not going to turn up’, then the said assets are useless. The fans have more power than they seem to realise, but just seem incapable of doing anything but sitting there, waiting for a supposed sugardaddy to turn up.
Also, the ‘baggage’ – I’m far from convinced that this will ever be gone for good, and yet for a large group of them, they can’t see beyond their ‘traditions’, regardless of whether it’s costing them money or not.
Finally, it would rely on a degree of patience. Signing the best of the tier above would probably result in promotion that season, but not definitely. It would be slow, steady progress and there’d be no chance of a cup win. Currently the spending is geared towards a cup win, simply as a two fingers to the rest of Scottish football, as well as trying to convince the fans that they are still ‘a somebody’, so again it’s completely unnecessary spending.
Perhaps if Dingwall and Graham could tear themselves away from consistently backing the wrong horse for five minutes, and spent less time identifying enemies and actually embraced their positions to show leadership, then they would be able to formulate a plan like the one above. No, far easier to flap about like a flag in the breeze, and await that mythical sugardaddy to pour money into the club because they’re a ‘good Rangers man’.
Would it work? Not sure. From what others have been saying, any plan involving the retention of Ibrox is a non-starter, but I’m sure it’s a lot more viable than what passes for a plan at the moment!
broganrogantrevinoandhogan says:
August 20, 2013 at 10:22 am
There you are! The Daily Record KNOWS— doesn’t even think—- actually KNOWS—- that everyone and everything else in Scottish Football is a waste of time until we see a “fixed” Rangers!
What complete and utter rubbish, arrogance and an apology for so called sports journalism.
By the way– the only thing that will ever put Scottish Sports Journalism in a fit state is when crap like this never gets by the editors desk!
ecobhoy says:
August 20, 2013 at 8:35 am
Absolute shocker of an error in Richard Wilson’s Herald piece this morning
Bawsman says:
August 20, 2013 at 9:12 am
Can he REALLY have made such a glaring error?
Does he think we are all stupid?
This is very strange behaviour, even for a Scottish sports hack.
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No, not very strange behaviour for a Scottish football hack at all, in fact quite the norm.
And he doesn’t think we’re all stupid, he just thinks – pretty accurately – that nearly all Rangers fans are stupid and/or gullible with the memories of a goldfish with dementia.
I regularly see comments on this site expressing surprise, shock and bemusement at the lengths Scottish journalists will go to to distort stories linked to Rangers. Frankly, I’m surprised, shocked and bemused that anyone familiar with the Scottish media is surprised, shocked or bemused!
If you are surprised by this you are making the – understandable – error of assuming the journalist is concerned with the thoughts and opinions of Scottish football fans and how they might react to his/her output and whether this will be held up to scrutiny.
Once you understand that the Scottish press have one solitary single concern, which is ingratiating themselves with Rangers fans, then the stories that illicit shock and bemusement suddenly make perfect sense. Tell your market what it wants to hear. Fans of other clubs – including Celtic -are an utter irrelevance . And since all newspapers are chasing the same market with the same strategy it’s not as if they have to worry about losing market share to other more balanced publications.
It’s like in the movie Batman Begins (the future) commissioner Gordon says to his corrupt colleague “I’m no rat! In a town this bent, who is there to rat to anyway?”
In a press this biased, who is there to turn to for objectivity and truth?
Nobody, so don’t buy them. I don’t.
I see Phil’s got a new blog up:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-meaning-of-words/
1 Martin Williams
Senior News Reporter Herald Scotland.
Fans continue to support the removal of the directors because of further financial issues at the club. A fans’ meeting earlier this month learned there was only £10 million in the club’s account, despite raising £22 million from a share offering and more than 70,000 season ticket sales over two seasons.
• Robbie Gullan, Dunbar
• 3 hours ago •
£10 quid, interesting, read somewhere else it was a tad more.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/shareholders-stand-firm-in-bid-to-oust-directors-from-rangers-board.21937899
2 By RHIANNON EDWARD The Scotsman
Rangers supporters are backing the removal of the directors due to further financial worries at the club. Earlier this month, fans discovered there was just £10 in the club’s account despite £22 million being raised from a share offering, and over 70,000 season tickets sold over the last two seasons
Look at these extracts from articles above, from two different Scottish “newspapers”.
In The Herald report there is a comment from Robbie where he points out the figure was £10 when he read it.
Look at the second extract from the Scotsman the £10 is still there, oops not yet changed but look at the articles overall. The are almost identical.
That is what Nick Davies meant when he coined “Churnalism” copied and pasted from the wire. No journalism here.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/shareholders-reaffirm-bid-to-oust-ibrox-directors-1-3057866
Oh, and for the original blog theme, there is an opportunity presenting itself for other clubs. Hearts proved back in ’98 that you don’t have to beat Celtic and Rangers regularly to actually contest the league. They just made sure that they beat the rest of the teams consistently, and that was enough to keep them in contention. Admittedly, they ran out of steam in the final straight, but they were very close.
Now that Rangers no longer exists, it means that those 12 points that might otherwise have gone a-begging in season’s past could now have a greater probability of being banked. That leaves 12 points against Celtic. Celtic will lose and draw games, especially if they have an extended European run. So there you have it, you don’t have to be better than Celtic, just consistently better than the rest.
I believe all the talk of Celtic dominating uncontested for the next few years is actually a little wide of the mark. Look at last season – Celtic were supposed to have the league won by November, and yet in the end it was only won after the split (yet it was won consistently by them before the split when Rangers were their challengers), and yet we’re told that the reason it took so long was because of lack of competition meant that their standards slipped (i.e. lack of competition lead to competition – George Orwell would have been proud of that one!).
Aberdeen are the obvious team to challenge. The fact that they have lost one game to Celtic doesn’t matter in the grand scheme, and I still believe that come the start of April, Aberdeen (and possibly Inverness and St Johnstone) will be up there on Celtic’s coat tails. I still expect Celtic to win, but it will be a lot closer than many commentators seem to be predicting.
Giovanni says:
August 22, 2013 at 8:54 am
Danish Pastry says:
August 22, 2013 at 7:25 am
Was looking at the company register and saw this. On the 20/08 there was a ‘creditsafe rating refinement’. I take it this is related to the phrase below on the first line. Probably not significant, but thought I’d ask
Company Register
Status Rating Suspended – Negative Press Event
Registered date 29/05/2012
Company number SC425159
Type Private limited with Share Capital
Country of registration GB
Previous Names
Previous name SEVCO SCOTLAND LIMITED
Date changed 31/07/2012
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Creditsafe provide the main business credit ratings in the UK. The suspension may be related to the recent Times article but the extract above misses the line:
“The company has not yet filed accounts. The Rangers Football Club Limited’s risk score was amended on 20/08/2013. ”
Is the City becoming concerned?
==========================================
Can anyone shed further light on the above, it interests me strangely.
JLeeHooker says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:15 pm
0 0 Rate This
I see Phil’s got a new blog up:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-meaning-of-words/
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Wiki (I know) gives McColl’s net worth as £800m (or US$1.25 billion) or more.
The 2012 Sunday Times Rich list (The Richest People In Scotland 2012) gives it as £1000m.
http://www.therichest.com/nation/sunday-times-rich-list/
Night Terror
I go along with your underlying point that if a culture works for any group that is up to that group to decide but ( there is always a but) as long as no harm is being done to those not part of that culture).
However if we accept that no harm is being done to others by that culture ( and that is arguable) but if we do accept that the culture is harmless to others ,you would imagine that the harm that culture is doing to itself is pretty self evident when you see the state that culture has reduced its followers to. ( much of the pain is self chosen).
Right minded folk in that self harming culture might start to think about where their tradtions and culture have taken them.
That is where Glen comes in and I pointed him to a fellow Rangers supporter who in his chapter in Bigotry, Football and Scotland was questionning his own club’s tradition.
So the point about culture change is not one on here at least that came from outside that culture but from within it.
I find that hopeful but it is going to take a lot of courage to grab that particular tiger by the tale and I think Glen and other rightminded folk should be encouraged to do so. ( a general point not one aimed at you)
Speaking as a now armchair supporter, in my day, I found going to live mathes exciting, however along came the casuals who weren’t discouraged enough either by the clubs or the SFA. It seemed to be that their money would be missed. I certainly wouldn’t take my kids in amongst that environment. If football spectating is not a family affair, then it will probably graduate towards the low lifes who see troublemaking as fun. This will restrict the potential live audience, which it seems to have done with ‘Rangers’ and to some extent Celtic. Regarding the new sectarian laws, I dont see it as a place for specific laws relating to football. The clubs and their assocciation should be forced to deal with the bad elements. Scottish football should be about football. Anyone bringing baggage along should be made unwelcome, to make the atmosphere decent again for the real football supporters who can appreciate the sport. Sorry to sound like I.M.Jolly, but I like football.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:48 am
All this chat of “saving Sevco”
Noble indeed – but I don’t think it is actually a viable business. Certainly not whilst they are in the lower leagues……..
So, they need to find £4M for this season, £4M for next season and then they will be in the SPL…
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Let’s just say they do survive…
I believe that TRFC may not find it an easy footballing road to the Premiership. On the basis that they do reach the Championship, some rude shocks and nail-biting may await them – to be ‘saved’ by the play offs perhaps or some other tinkering with the rules?
But what if their progress stalls? Can they still continue financially?
Whether Mr McCoist will still be with them at that point is also unclear. It is nice that they have to date bowed to accepting a handicapping system – maybe his continuing presence was an undisclosed condition of the undisclosed 5-way agreement! 👿
Scottish football needs a strong Arbroath.
Lord Wobbly says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:37 pm
JLeeHooker says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:15 pm
0 0 Rate This
I see Phil’s got a new blog up:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-meaning-of-words/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wiki (I know) gives McColl’s net worth as £800m (or US$1.25 billion) or more.
The 2012 Sunday Times Rich list (The Richest People In Scotland 2012) gives it as £1000m.
http://www.therichest.com/nation/sunday-times-rich-list/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hmm- I remain unconvinced. If you could let me know where he was born I will reconsider my position.
These rich lists are all guesswork really and in the case of McColl involve the valuation of shareholdings in private companies which isn’t an exact science. Phil is right that he won’t be pouring his money down the drain by investing in Rangers and the only way forward for them is to cut their costs to match income.
Perhaps the club going into admin isn’t such a bad thing as it will mean the administrators (and Bryan Jackson has to be the preffered option) would be seen to be the Costcutters. Last time the assets and “club” incl. history cost less than £5.5M. This time around I sense problems in obtaining the assets for that amount. If only there could be a Rangers without Ibrox. From reports and rumours on here and elsewhere the Stadium may be well past it’s sell by date anyway and it may well be an idea to find some spare land in Govan and build a state of the art stadium with a 65K plus capacity accessing Council, State, Sports Council, EU funding etc. That would learn the Spivs.
Aberdeen (and possibly Inverness and St Johnstone) will be up there on Celtic’s coat tails.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You know, i never thought all those years ago while standing on the terracing at Boghead that I’d ever hear St.Johnstone’s name being mentioned in possible title contenders…
Sam says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:59 am
———————————————————-
😆
Your post
Sam says:August 22, 2013 at 10:56 am
Trying to deceiver, is this WRT Malcolm Murray?
Drew Peacock says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:56 pm
1 0 Rate This
Lord Wobbly says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:37 pm
JLeeHooker says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:15 pm
0 0 Rate This
I see Phil’s got a new blog up:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-meaning-of-words/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wiki (I know) gives McColl’s net worth as £800m (or US$1.25
billion) or more.
The 2012 Sunday Times Rich list (The Richest People In
Scotland 2012) gives it as £1000m.
http://www.therichest.com/nation/sunday-times-rich-list/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hmm- I remain unconvinced. If you could let me know where
he was born I will reconsider my position.
These rich lists are all guesswork really and in the case of
McColl involve the valuation of shareholdings in private
companies which isn’t an exact science. Phil is right that he
won’t be pouring his money down the drain by investing in
Rangers and the only way forward for them is to cut their
costs to match income
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t disagree. I was merely pointing out references to McColl’s billionaire status. He may or may not be, but it doesn’t really matter.
What matters is that he won’t be squandering cash. He’s said as much himself.
Auldheid says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:40 pm
Absolutely, Auldheid. Change of any organisation happens from within. There are areas around the borders of an organisation’s responsibility where it may have an effect on others, and there it should be expected that whatever regulation and rules exist are used, or perhaps created, to prevent harm to others.
I would like to see the Ibrox club become a much better citizen of Scottish football. However, given the evidence of prolonged success, combined with modest penalty and negligible reflection upon any “cultural” causes for recent problems, I don’t expect those who may want to recreate the club in a form more palatable to the rest of Scottish football to gain much traction.
The one hope, as perhaps hinted at by Phil MacGB’s latest, is that the favoured model of getting an apparently wealthy man in to lead the club may happen to result in said man also insisting on making such changes. D Murray did go some way to address certain elements of the “culture” at the club, in his public pronouncements at least (I have heard contrasting accounts of his private behaviour), and maybe a new man like McColl would be able to grasp the nettle on the financial side. How many fans of the Ibrox club would happily go along with that approach remains to be seen.
I don’t see much chance of a grass roots movement to make any such change however, but would be delighted to be proved wrong.
wottpi says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:40 am
So is the licence still TBC? Anyone know?
paulsatim says:
August 22, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Licence DMC (Doesn’t Meet Criteria – No Award). All licence details removed from year book to protect the embarrassed
The SFA – “An occasional disgrace and a permanent embarrassment” to coin a phrase
SFA Statement on Rangers FC entering administration Tuesday, 14 February 2012 :
“At a time when there is an appetite and momentum for radical change in Scottish football, it is important that we learn lessons from this dire situation and work together to provide a platform for clubs to thrive and prosper within their means.”
So with all the evidence in the media and the financial data provided to you by TRFC what the heck are you doing to achieve that objective?
When are you going to publish the figures – as promised – so that fans, clubs, suppliers, etc can see what the true picture is?
Your allegiance is not to one Club it is to Scottish Football. You are the Scottish Football Association for goodness sake!
Scottish football needs balls.
Great image from Top Bhoy on CM, http://i.imgur.com/YeH9qxx.jpg
stevensanph says:
August 22, 2013 at 2:05 pm
You know, i never thought all those years ago while standing on the terracing at Boghead that I’d ever hear St.Johnstone’s name being mentioned in possible title contenders…
==========================================================================
I’d like to see St Johhnstone get some tangible football reward for being properly run Steven but I’m afraid Captain MacKay’s club won’t be contenders for any league title soon. Best Husbandry title might be a shoo-in and there’s plenty that would love to get that one.
ianjs says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:17 pm
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/shareholders-stand-firm-in-bid-to-oust-directors-from-rangers-board.21937899
That is what Nick Davies meant when he coined “Churnalism” copied and pasted from the wire. No journalism here.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/shareholders-reaffirm-bid-to-oust-ibrox-directors-1-3057866
—————————————————–
Good spot. It wouldn’t be too difficult by putting the two together to make a pretty accurate stab at the wording of the original press release that was sent to them.
Company Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
TIDM RFC
Headline Further to Requisition of General Meeting
Released 15:25 22-Aug-2013
Number 3216M15
RNS Number : 3216M
Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
22 August 2013
22 August 2013
Rangers International Football Club plc
(“Rangers”, the “Company” or “Club”)
Further to requisition of general meeting
Further to the announcement on 21 August 2013, the Board has been in continual discussions with representatives of the group who requisitioned (together the “Requisitioners”) a general meeting to consider the proposed resolutions as detailed in the announcement on 2 August 2013 (“General Meeting”). One of the aims of these discussions has been to avoid the need for a General Meeting, at this time, and the associated unnecessary cost and disruption to the Company of convening two meetings, a General Meeting and then the Company’s Annual General Meeting, which is expected to be held in October 2013, in short succession.
The Board has secured the written commitment from the Requisitioners that they accept the validity and logic of this view and the Company and the Requisitioners are now exploring the mechanics of rolling the business of the General Meeting into the business of the Annual General Meeting, on the understanding that an agreement will be reached on the terms upon which this will be done, by the close of business on 27 August 2013. Failing such agreement being reached by this time, the Board will be required to send notice to shareholders to convene the General Meeting by no later than 30 August 2013.
Further announcements will be made as appropriate.
For further information please contact:
Rangers International Football Club plc
Tel: 0141 580 8647
Craig Mather, CEO
Brian Stockbridge, FD
Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Tel: 020 7409 3494
Stuart Faulkner / Rory Murphy / Richard Tulloch
Daniel Stewart & Company plc (Broker)
Tel: 020 7776 6550
Paul Shackleton
Newgate Threadneedle (Financial PR)
Tel: 020 7148 6143
Graham Herring / John Coles / Fiona Conroy
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
redlichtie says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:48 am
All this chat of “saving Sevco”
Noble indeed – but I don’t think it is actually a viable business. Certainly not whilst they are in the lower leagues……..
So, they need to find £4M for this season, £4M for next season and then they will be in the SPL…
————————————————————–
Let’s just say they do survive…
I believe that TRFC may not find it an easy footballing road to the Premiership. On the basis that they do reach the Championship, some rude shocks and nail-biting may await them – to be ‘saved’ by the play offs perhaps or some other tinkering with the rules?
But what if their progress stalls? Can they still continue financially?
==================================================
IIRC the IPO put ST income at £8m but after VAT this was £6.3m with the average price of a ticket at £213.With walk ups of say 8k per match with an average price of £10 nett of VAT then income from 25 home matches would be £2m.Allow a wee bit of leeway and Ticket Receipts are no more than £9m.Add hospitality,merchandising,etc of I’m guessing of around £3-4m and total income would be in the £12-13m bracket,Nett of VAT of course.
Expenditure was over £16m for 7months therefore averaging out for the year(and there will be VAT reclaimable) would be circa £28m.
I’d put losses at somewhere between £14-15m for the full year just finished.
If RIFC have advanced that sort of figure to TRFC then it’s easy to see why there’s very little left going into the new season.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11781/8882935/rangers-boss-ally-mccoist-says-everyone-must-be-more-aware-of-betting-rules
Ally claims to have a list of 100 names of players and officials who enjoy a bet. Who are these people we demand to know Ally!!
JLeeHooker says:
August 22, 2013 at 1:15 pm
I see Phil’s got a new blog up:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-meaning-of-words/
============================================
I have to give myself a slap !
I had believed that McColl was worth a billion – or around that ballpark figure – mostly because it was quoted on various Rich Lists. Agreed it’s not an exact science, and I should know by now to take everything in the MSM with a pinch of salt. So thanks to Phil for clarification.
[& so does McColl have a PR agency on retention ? The same one as Michelle Mone ?… 🙄 ]
But I am getting confused again…
Assuming McColl does get involved, as Phil’s piece would suggest – the expectation is that he won’t – and perhaps can’t – throw huge amounts of money at the Govan club.
So he sticks to what he probably knows best: managing costs tightly and turning a business around.
[I am assuming he won’t be ‘hands on’ himself though.]
But if he does that – i.e. TRFC starts living within its means – then shirley it’s just a matter of time before the bears turn on him – and he could even become a target for intimidation / threats by certain sections of their own fanbase ?
Why give yourself all that personal risk / hassle ?
Just don’t get it.
Graham Spiers @GrahamSpiers 3m
No imminent Rangers EGM…?
Further to Requisition of General Meeting
Thu, 22nd Aug 2013 15:25
RNS Number : 3216M
Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
22 August 2013
?
22 August 2013
Rangers International Football Club plc
(“Rangers”, the “Company” or “Club”)
Further to requisition of general meeting
Further to the announcement on 21 August 2013, the Board has been in continual discussions with representatives of the group who requisitioned (together the “Requisitioners”) a general meeting to consider the proposed resolutions as detailed in the announcement on 2 August 2013 (“General Meeting”). One of the aims of these discussions has been to avoid the need for a General Meeting, at this time, and the associated unnecessary cost and disruption to the Company of convening two meetings, a General Meeting and then the Company’s Annual General Meeting, which is expected to be held in October 2013, in short succession.
The Board has secured the written commitment from the Requisitioners that they accept the validity and logic of this view and the Company and the Requisitioners are now exploring the mechanics of rolling the business of the General Meeting into the business of the Annual General Meeting, on the understanding that an agreement will be reached on the terms upon which this will be done, by the close of business on 27 August 2013. Failing such agreement being reached by this time, the Board will be required to send notice to shareholders to convene the General Meeting by no later than 30 August 2013.
Further announcements will be made as appropriate.
Ally has a list of 100 players who like an EBT…..no, a BET….no, i was right, an EBT…..oh and a BET.
Does ally have a list of 100 companies shafted by his “club”
Now, interesting quandry for the Sevco board.
Ian Black, doesn’t know the rules and breaks them – they oculd sack him and be free of his contract
Does Ally McCoist have a bookies account? has be placed a bet? is this their chance to offlad the useless haddy of a manager? he has outlived his use of brining in ST sales now…they can’t afford him anymore – or should I say, they could pocket his salary instead of letting him keep Greggs afloat
can they use his latest outburst to bin him? hmmmm
an agreement will be reached on the terms upon which this will be done, by the close of business on 27 August 2013. Failing such agreement being reached by this time, the Board will be required to send notice to shareholders to convene the General Meeting by no later than 30 August 2013.
Hang on, the RULES are that 3 weeks notice of the EGM are given to allow ALL shareholders to attend
are they just railroading things here in the hope that 3 days notice will prevent some folk attending?
Expenditure was over £16m for 7months therefore averaging out for the year(and there will be VAT reclaimable) would be circa £28m.
I’d put losses at somewhere between £14-15m for the full year just finished.
If RIFC have advanced that sort of figure to TRFC then it’s easy to see why there’s very little left going into the new season.
==============
I agree with those figures, which I think are inescapable. What also seems certain is that the losses of TRFC have been covered by loans from RIFC- how else could the wages be paid. The trouble for TRFC is that RIFC must be running out of money fast.
I still believe that TRFC will be bust by Christmas, unless a genuine sugar daddy turns up before then, who is willing to buy off Green & Co (that won’t be cheap!) and then pump a hefty amount (£50m?) of working capital into TRFC.
The questions are, firstly is there really such a sugar daddy, and secondly, will Ibrox/Murray Park be retained by Green & Co. We should find out pretty soon, because I don’t think they have enough cash to let this saga run much longer.
It will be interesting to see whether accounts are produced before the AGM. I can only think of one reason why they wouldn’t be- sheer embarrassment.
Whether or not Jim McColl is a brazillionaire is an interesting distraction but little more than that. For several reasons, including but not limited to.
1, People do not gift money to PLCs and certainly not to football clubs. They may provide loans on favourable terms but that is as far as it is likely to go.
2, He has already said he would not be “investing” in the club, his current shareholding is apparently minimal.
3, Calculations of wealth are based on shareholdings and other investments, high value assets, cash at bank etc. The bulk of the wealth people have is not liquid, so it’s not like they can just transfer the money into the PLC. He may only have a few million in bank accounts as pocket money.
4, They can of course borrow money based on their own credibility, and secured against their assets however there is nothing to indicate Jim McColl or anyone else has any intention of doing this. Even if they did it would still be a loan to the PLC.
As I have stated before and it’s only my opinion, the main advantage of having very wealthy people as shareholders / directors is that they are less likely to want a large salary or dividends for their work or from their investment. Rangers do not have that just now, the people running the club are getting large salaries and bonuses, the shareholders are looking to make a profit. Both of these are amounts being taken out of the club, amounts it can ill afford.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 3:51 pm
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an agreement will be reached on the terms upon which this will be done, by the close of business on 27 August 2013. Failing such agreement being reached by this time, the Board will be required to send notice to shareholders to convene the General Meeting by no later than 30 August 2013.
Hang on, the RULES are that 3 weeks notice of the EGM are given to allow ALL shareholders to attend
are they just railroading things here in the hope that 3 days notice will prevent some folk attending?
===========================================
I read that the same at first.
On second glance though,It could be stating that in no agreement is reached wrt the ” mechanics of rolling the business of the General Meeting into the business of the Annual General Meeting”. then the board must send notification of the meeting to all shareholders by 30th August.
BBC Sportsound @bbcsportsound 17m
Quarter-finals draw for Ramsdens Cup: Raith Rovers v Falkirk; QoS v Rangers or Berwick Rangers; Dundee v Stenny; Annan Ath v Formartine Utd
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Can lightning strike twice?.
The main attractions of getting McColl on board should be: that he knows what he is doing, has a proven track record of success, as opposed to liquidations, and he hasn’t been entangled with the tax authorities here or anywhere else. Not something any of the recent denizens of the Blue Room, nor indeed the Man Who Would be King, can claim with a straight face.
That being said, the fans would have to sign on for a ten year plan to be competitive in the top flight, it might be less, but I would doubt it.
torrejohnbhoy(@johnbhoy1958) says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:08 pm
0 0 Rate This
BBC Sportsound @bbcsportsound 17m
Quarter-finals draw for Ramsdens Cup: Raith Rovers v Falkirk; QoS v Rangers or Berwick Rangers; Dundee v Stenny; Annan Ath v Formartine Utd
===============================
Can lightning strike twice?.
—————————————
what? Berwick to put them out again – or QotS to put them out again?
i’m easy either way!
Tic 6709 says:
August 22, 2013 at 7:13 am
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I agree with these sentiments. All this trash fed to us that is a minority at games that belt out bigoted songs from the Govan club is a major part of the problem. We know they will do their utmost to keep this club alive with all its traditions (and we all know what that means) in this proud wee country.
They have licence to parade in our streets on many marches singing the same songs and many of those will have allegiance to the Govan club.
It used to be called our hidden shame. Seems to me that there is nothing hidden about it.
We have heard it at Hampden and various grounds against various teams and only EUFA have punished them as they sang the same songs in OTHER countries . Scotland’s approach to addressing the problem is shameful to the point you would tend to think why should we complain it seems to be their right to offend a certain religion in this country.
Look at the people associated with this club:
Donald Findlay (actually caught on video belting out bigot bile)
Alistair Johnson and his no surrender quote
Charles Green bigot comment and orange top….
The biggest crime this Govan club committed and Scotland and it’s football authorities totally ignored was the policy of not signing a certain religion for nearly 100 years. To the point where it became a comedy sketch in “only an excuse”. This is what it is a joke, a joke that nobody wants to confront.
I love my football but I should not be confronted with this bile any more.
IMO most fans of the Govan club do not want to change and worse that that our wee country may not want them to change.
This is what we have to come to terms and deal with. It is not a laughing matter.
valentinesclown says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:16 pm
Small point but the incomparable Rikki Fulton got there first
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUXhW3JC9Zw
Just on the subject of “culture” at Ibrox/Sevco
following has been posted on FF
====================================================================
Information from McCoist himself
Black has bet mostly £1 and £5 bets in football matches
He has never bet on rangers to lose while he has been a rangers player
One bet was for a £100
McCoist will back him
A director of ladbrokes with an Irish name grassed black to the sfa
McCoist is asking directors to break all links with ladbrokes
McCoist is fuming and that’s probably why guidi is out on his ear today
————————————————————————————————————————-
RM reporting that Mark Guidi was kicked out of today’s press conference by Sally 😳
McCoist is part of the problem.
He sees this is acceptable behaviour and his attitude seems to be common within our football community.
i myself am a recovering compulsive gambler. I’ve met footballers from various clubs at all levels of the Scottish game while attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings and even one from an English Premiership club.
All have confirmed that football has a massive gambling culture.
Gambling on football should be out of the question for anyone working within a football club or the SFA /SPFL for that matter.
borussiabeefburg says:
August 22, 2013 at 12:37 pm
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:03 am
“and have attended Protestant and Catholics schools”
*************************
Just on a point of information, and as it is an obsession of mine: unless you were a pupil at schools outside Scotland (and as far as I recall south of the border too), you never attended ‘Protestant and Catholics schools’. There are no such establishments in Scotland.
In any case, I don’t think there is any relevance in which school anyone posting on this site attended.
Only my opinion, but this shouldn’t be part of any football debate.
===========================================================
You seem to have missed the point of my post: I was being told to shut-up and go away and not take part in any debate with a heavy hint that I was a covert deflector from the Blue Camp.
I totally agree with you that religion shouldn’t be part of any football debate. However some of us have to live and deal with the real world and to ignore and not recognise the malevolent influence of religion in and on Scottish Football leads to the paralysis that has gripped the Scottish Government on the issue.
I honestly never thought there was a football fan in Scotland who didn’t fully realise the problems caused to our society by certain fan elements and clubs twisting religion to suit their various purposes. I don’t agree with it but not to recognise the fact means that solutions will never be found although it’s a fact that some people are happier with conflict and the status quo being maintained.
I went to School in Glasgow and whatever the politically correct terminology for the separate systems of education I know that one of my schools only had Catholics in it and the other one only had Protestants in it. I will therefore continue to describe them as Protestant and Catholic schools. Obviously times have changed a bit with a large number of religions – and none – now intermingled in all school systems and the former RI is probably now known as Comparitive Religious Education or some such neutral term to camouflage the elephant.
However that wasn’t the case when I was being raised and going to school in the Gorbals until the very early 1950s when the first Muslim and some Hindu kids arrived on the scene following the partition of India and formation of Pakistan. They went to the Protestant school and not the Catholic one btw.
beanos says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:35 pm
Brave post, hope all goes well with you
The opportunity for real change at Ibrox was last year : it was a wasted opportunity.
Last year there was a wide open goal, with no goalkeeper in sight…
But the club, the administrations, and the other member clubs chose not to act, [other than clubs voting against SPL/SFL1 admission to the new club].
The rules where bent / ignored / dreamt up to simply have another club at Ibrox pretending to be the old club.
Consider this.
Say last year, the SFA came out to state that they where planning to bend / ignore / dream up rules to support the new Govan club – but only if the club was committed to apologising, accepting any punishments in a dignified manner, dropping all the negative nonsense, living within its means – and that their club membership was strictly on a temporary basis until all clubs – and fans – where satisfied that the new club was indeed a new club.
A club which was regarded and accepted as a new club, and a new club with wholesome, positive values – and which vocally and forcefully turned away any fans who tried to bring along the baggage from the old club.
I for one would have supported the SFA if that had been their approach wrt TRFC.
Instead, we have the same Govan club’s nonsense in 2013.
TRFC could be an irrelevance in footballing terms for a long, long time – but in particular, we are stuck with the same, shameful SFA.
thanks scapaflow
i haven’t had a bet in over four years and i’d like to think that in that time i’ve helped others who suffer the same as myself.
i only revealed it as it puts some context to my comment.
beanos says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:48 pm
1 0 Rate This
thanks scapaflow
i haven’t had a bet in over four years and i’d like to think that in that time i’ve helped others who suffer the same as myself.
i only revealed it as it puts some context to my comment.
———-
Bravo beanos. Respect.
SFA Statement:-
“Although the rules of the SFA have been breached, the fact is, the SFA were unaware of the breach at the time the bet was placed and there is nothing in our rules that allows us to retrospectively penalise Ian Black now he plays for a protected club. We believe it is time to draw a line under this unfortunate event and get back to concentrating on getting Rangers back where they belong.”
“Move along now, nothing to see here. Nice squirrel, pretty squirrel… get off, someone get rid of that damn squirrel… Anything bad happening at Hearts? We need a deflection. What about Kilmarnock? Motherwell? Jeez, surely St Mirren are in trouble…”
For the avoidance of doubt the above statement was written by Allyjambo, PR consultant for the SFA (though the last bit was all ad lib by Stewart Regan after he thought the microphone had been switched off) 😳
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:28 pm
You surely are having a laugh that the undernoted was raised as if this was some Timmy conspiracy.
A director of ladbrokes with an Irish name grassed black to the sfa
McCoist is asking directors to break all links with Ladbrokes
I did hear Ally trying to justify his player gambling by coming up with a list of players he knows have gambled on games. I also am producing a list of fellow drivers I know have broken the speed limit but I shall not reveal it to the Police, the majority are Sevco fans.
I have no doubt there is a large percentage of players gamble on games and I think Paul Harley called it correctly yesterday when he intimated that some get to heavily involved to the extent that it can affect their performance.
scapaflow says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:25 pm
Even smaller point, but it actually happened, for real – to a team-mate of mine in, if my memory is correct, 1968. He was in high demand at the time, and the nephew of an ex Scotland player that most would assume was not an RC ( I don’t know if he was or not). The thing is, my team-mate had a very Irish sounding name, so you’d expect alarm bells to have rung, but he actually had the pen in his hand, ready to sign, when somebody got their brain in gear and asked what school he’d gone to. The answer left them in no doubt he wasn’t good enough for them. Fortunately he was a great character, and confident of signing for another professional club, so wasn’t in the least bit fazed by the whole episode which he thought was the funniest thing ever.
Professional footballers gambling?
Has anyone asked what the Chairman of the Scottish Professional Football League thinks about it?
Over to you Mr Topping!!
So looks like a decision delayed until next Tuesday.
Should we buy popcorn or hold off, that is the question?
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:11 pm
torrejohnbhoy(@johnbhoy1958) says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:08 pm
BBC Sportsound @bbcsportsound 17m
Quarter-finals draw for Ramsdens Cup: Raith Rovers v Falkirk; QoS v Rangers or Berwick Rangers; Dundee v Stenny; Annan Ath v Formartine Utd
===============================
Can lightning strike twice?.
—————————————
what? Berwick to put them out again – or QotS to put them out again?
i’m easy either way!
********
And there was me thinking you were writing about the Warriors 🙁
For the record, Stenhousemuir have put Dundee out of this Cup twice in the past, one of the times on the road to winning the trophy. 😀
For as long as I’ve been following football, and long before that I’m sure, professional footballers have gambled, though mostly on horses. I suspect it’s got a lot to do with money easily made (compared to those of us in real jobs) and a lot of time on their hands that led them to bookies shops and, sadly for many, to an addiction. Unlike beano, and great respect to him for his post, I am not a gambler and can’t really understand it, but for many it is an addiction and perhaps Black and the others McCoist alludes to also suffer from this too. I agree with the SFA stance banning gambling on football matches by players, it sort of makes a hell of a lot of sense, and I’ve read today of an SPFA initiative talking to all young professionals on the subject (which makes any suggestion that those in the game don’t know about it nonsense), but, apart from the potential harm to the players themselves, I’d treat it as a misdemeanour if caught, provided they agree to accept help. That is, unless they bet on matches involving their own club, particularly to lose. That is unforgiveable, whether addicted to gambling or not.
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:40 pm
“I went to School in Glasgow and whatever the politically correct terminology for the separate systems of education I know that one of my schools only had Catholics in it and the other one only had Protestants in it. “
*******
Were you some sort of religious chameleon? 😯 😉
There are no “separate systems of education”: both schools you attended are part of the state education system. It’s unhelpful and misleading for you to use the terminology you’ve adopted.
And, as I’ve said, I don’t think there is any relevance in which school anyone posting on this site attended. To go down these avenues takes us on a deflective route. Too many are ‘anti’ another religion rather than supportive of their own supposed beliefs, especially when it comes to football.
We should steer clear on this site.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
August 22, 2013 at 11:48 am
===============================
The last published accounts of Rangers FC in 2010 gave the number of non-playing staff employees as 190. There were also, on average, 45 part-time employees on the payroll throughout the year,
Assume that there are now 200 FTE’s on the average national wage (which was £26,500 in 2012) and you get £5.3m. We know, however that the 1st Team coaching staff receive around £1.5m, so we could think that the true figure could be nearer £7m.
Perhaps the new club have made some savings and there are less non-playing staff than the old club used to employ. Perhaps the club’s average wage is less than the national average.
If there are now only 150 FTE’s earning an average of £20k, this is still £3m + £1.5m (for the 1st team coaches). So the absolute minimum for non playing staff salaries must be around £4.5m.
Which, when you add in the £7m in players wages, takes the total salary costs to between £11.5m and £14m.
Add in between £1.5 and £1.9m employers NICs and perhaps £500k in director’s remuneration you’re in the region of £13.5m to £16.5m in total staff costs.
From the 2010 accounts of the old club, we can also see that the “Other Operating Charges” amounted to approx £13.5m. In 2009 the figure was £14.5m. Perhaps the new club have had success in trimming these costs. Perhaps they have cut the operational expenditure to around £11m.
From the available figures, my estimate – on an absolutely best case scenario – is that Sevco’s Rangers have recurring costs of at least £24.5m per year. The true figure – even if substantial cuts have been made – is more likely to be around £27m – £29m.
If they are on schedule to take in £17m then they are losing at least £7.5m per year; but more likely around £10m to £12m.
But, what is important right now, is that they’re spending at least £2m per month – but more likely around £2.4m.
At the end of July there was £10m in the bank which may or may not have included around £1m in VAT due for the recent sale of season tickets. Once the salary payments go through for August it is probably safe to assume that the bank will have less than £8m.
From what I can see, even with match day ticket sales and sponsorship payments coming through, Sevco’s Rangers appear unlikely to see out Christmas without an insolvency event and/or a sale of assets.
StevieBC says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:48 pm
The opportunity for real change at Ibrox was last year : it was a wasted opportunity.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
If, as is widely predicted here, the current incarnation enters liquidation – will there perhaps be another opportunity?
Will the fact that they have been duped and left to rot by yet another bunch of spivs have any impact on the Bears?
Will the absence of another Sugar Daddy and the placing of all of the major assets into pawn finally bring about the mass realisation that their club is a deid parrot?
I do believe there are decent Gers fans who could do an AFC Wimbledon. I would not be too perturbed by this if they did it without the dark cultural baggage. As you say, it would be a complete irrelevance to the professional game in Scotland for a long, long time and it would further isolate the knuckledraggers that bring so much shame on our sport.
For the avoidance of doubt, any form of Rangers that continues with the sectarian filth and bile has no place in Scotland.
The real fear has to be that another liquidation event will be followed by further SFA machinations – the corruptors are still in power at Hampden. On this I think the vast majority of TSFM participants will agree.
An unreformed Rangers is not only not required for Scottish Football, it is to be fought against at any and every opportunity.
An unreformed SFA is the big problem and we need to get the members of the Association, our clubs, taking responsibility for how it is being run.
When I heard of Ally’s list I just couldn’t get this image out of my head.
http://youtu.be/YpMEl7wAQ6k
I think Phil’s maths might be a wee bit out on this one. McColl trousered £700 million when SPX bought Clyde Union Pumps in 2011. Interestingly, the deal involved SPX negotiating with a mob called Appleby Nominees (Jersey) Limited. If some bampot can connect them with the Appleby Trust I think we might have ourselves another squirrel.
http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/single/?p=12092602&t=8781404
fara1968 says:
August 22, 2013 at 5:44 pm
I wonder if there are any crossovers with Sandy Jardine’s famous list?
@TallBoy Poppy
Apart from several puff pieces is there any independent verification of the sale price.
I have City sources that cast doubts on that.
As one said:
“A company with net assets of £15 million is sold for over £700 million?”
Another question to pose is:
‘How much of that company, at point of sale, did Mr McColl actually own?’
So Ally has a list of 100 players who like the odd bet (or even bet frequently)
What is his point here? Is it that many players gamble or is it an implicit threat that if the SFA treat Black anything other than leniently AMcC will reveal this list?
So CF material can’t be used and yet a hacked email is used to expose a story that the YES campaign paid for a ‘friendly’ article, written by an academic, which appeared in The Herald and supported their case.
Am I missing something here?
@Tallboy
Mr McColl’s PR seems very much like that of a certain Knight of the Realm.
Build a business profile that is vastly out of proportion to reality and then milk it for all it is worth.
He aint no billionaire is Mr McColl…. 😉
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Nope, that about covers it.
borussiabeefburg says:
August 22, 2013 at 5:38 pm
3 3 Rate This
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:40 pm
“I went to School …
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If someone wants to put his or her comments in context by describing a little of their background, so what? It was well-intentioned. I don’t see the problem. Some of the comments attacking ecobhoy are out of step with the ethos of this blog. If people feel strongly about some of the personal issues he raises, were they not better discussed via a PM?
borussiabeefburg says:
August 22, 2013 at 5:38 pm
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 4:40 pm
“I went to School in Glasgow and whatever the politically correct terminology for the separate systems of education I know that one of my schools only had Catholics in it and the other one only had Protestants in it. “
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Were you some sort of religious chameleon?
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No just a bewildered, confused and frightened child subject to a bitter custody battle following the messy breakdown of my parents’ marriage. Any other personal details you would like?
You state: ‘There are no “separate systems of education”: both schools you attended are part of the state education system. It’s unhelpful and misleading for you to use the terminology you’ve adopted.’ I have explained the context it was used which IMO is perfectly acceptable and one which most West Central Scotland people of a certain age would recognise.
I am actually beginning to wonder if you live in Scotland or are a helluva lot younger than myself because you appear not to have a scoobie about the realities that existed when I went to school.
ecobhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 6:07 pm
So CF material can’t be used and yet a hacked email is used to expose a story that the YES campaign paid for a ‘friendly’ article, written by an academic, which appeared in The Herald and supported their case.
Am I missing something here?
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So could Phil, Tommo, Tom English or any other journalist looking in explain to us what the difference is in these 2 cases?
What would our thoughts be on gambling on football if Referees and Linesmen were placing bets? Would it be OK if it just wasn’t the game they were officiating at, I mean it’s harmless that players are betting is it not ?
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
August 22, 2013 at 6:02 pm
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Thanks for the feedback, Phil – I appreciate it. If it’s a choice between two seperate verifyable
sources ‘in the know’, versus an amalgamation of contemporary reports derived from (most probably) the same press release, then of course I would pick the former. It’s just that I didn’t have the luxury of that choice – until now.
But you’re also clever enough to know that my doubt about your numbers was a mechanism to lever in my wee contribution. 😉 Perhaps the result will be a little more scrutiny of some of the tax-efficient dealings and ‘offshore’ monies that appear to be passing in and out of Ibrox.
I know there’s a whole big difference between anonomous internet bampottery and putting your name to your work – but I try to work to the same standards.
Keep up the good work
briggsbhoy says:
August 22, 2013 at 6:47 pm
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What would our thoughts be on gambling on football if Referees and Linesmen were placing bets? Would be OK if it just wasn’t the game they were officiating at ?
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You don’t have a list by any chance? Nothing too long, a hundred names will do 😀
I noticed earlier a mention of our Mr Rafat Rizvi having a home in The Bahamas. Even though his name is not an obvious anagram of Miss Fakes, could there be a connection? The island is possibly the common denominator, or not. Interesting all the same.
PS The sunny island is also mentioned here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2396373/Drugs-mule-hope-British-grandmother-Lindsay-Sandiford-saved-swap.html