Good Afternoon.
Announcing outstanding financial successes for Rangers PLC the then Chairman of the club opened his Chairman’s report in the annual financial statements with the following words:
“Last summer I explained that the Club, after many years of significant investment in our playing squad
and more recently in our state of the art facility at Murray Park, had embarked on a three year business
plan to stabilise and improve the Club’s finances. The plan also recognised the need to react to the
challenging economic conditions facing football clubs around the world.
Following a trend over a number of years of increasing year on year losses, I am pleased to report that
in the first year of this plan we have made important progress by reversing this trend. Our trading loss
for last year of £11.2m reflects a £7.9m improvement versus the £19.1m loss for the previous year and
although it will take more time to completely reach our goals, this is a key milestone. We also intend to
make significant further progress by the end of the current financial year. This improvement is the
consequence of having a solid strategy and the commitment and energy to implement the changes it requires”
Later on in the same statement the chairman would add:
“Another key part of our plan is associated with the Rangers brand and our Retail Division goes from strength to strength. Our financial results this year have been significantly enhanced by an outstanding performance in merchandising Rangers products, in particular replica kit, which makes our Retail Division one of the most successful in Europe.”
In the same set of financial reports, the CEO would report:
“To further strengthen Rangers hospitality portfolio, a new dedicated sponsor’s lounge was unveiled this season. The Carling Lounge is a first for the Club and was developed in conjunction with our new sponsor, Carling. ”
and
“Our innovative events programme continues to grow and this year saw a record number of official events including the highly successful annual Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony, Player of the Year and 50 Championships Gala Dinner, all of which catered for up to 1000 guests.
At Rangers, we continually develop our portfolio of products and as a key area of income for the Club, we evaluate the market for new revenue opportunities on an ongoing basis in order to exceed our existing and potential customer expectations and needs.
Demand for season tickets reached an all time high last season with a record 42,508 season ticket holders in comparison with the previous season`s figure of 40,320. Over 36,000 of these season ticket holders renewed for this season – a record number.
For the new season, we are delighted to welcome brewing giant, Carling on board as our Official Club sponsor. Carling is one of the UK’s leading consumer brands with a proven track record in football sponsorship.
The Club also continues to work with a number of multinational blue chip brands such as National Car Rental, Sony Playstation 2, Bank of Scotland and Coca-Cola. This year, we will also experience the evolution of the Honda deal via Hyndland Honda and welcome the mobile communications giant T-Mobile to our ranks.”.
The year was 2003 and in the previous 24 months Rangers Football Club, owned and operated as a private fiefdom by Sir David Murray, had made operational losses of some £30 million.
Yes – 30 MILLION POUNDS.
Of course the chairman’s report for 2003 was written by John F Mclelland CBE and the CEO was one Martin Bain Esq.
As Mr Mclelland clearly stated, by 2003 the club already had a trend of increasing year on year losses covering a number of years and was losing annual sums which stretched into millions, if not tens of millions, of pounds.
However, the acquisition of Rangers Football Club was absolutely vital to David Murray’s personal business growth, and his complete control of the club as his own private business key was more important than any other business decision he had made before buying Rangers or since.
When he persuaded Gavin Masterton to finance 100% of the purchase price of the club, Murray had his finest business moment.
By getting control of Rangers, Murray was able to offer entertainment, hospitality, seeming privilege and bestow favour on others in a way that was hitherto undreamed of, and he bestowed that largesse on any number of “existing and potential clients” and contacts – be they the clients and contacts related to Rangers Football Club or the existing and potential clients of David Murray, his businesses, his banks, or anyone in any field that he chose to court for the purposes of potential business.
His business.
It wasn’t only journalists who benefited from the succulent lamb treatment.
Accountants,lawyers, surveyors, broadcasters, football officials, people in industry and construction, utilities, financiers and other areas of business were all invited inside the sacred House of Murray and given access to the great man of business “and owner of Rangers” while attending the “record number of official (hospitality) events”.
Twelve months on from when John McLelland made those statements in the 2003 accounts, David Murray was back in the chair at Ibrox and he presented the 2004 financials.
In the intervening 12 months Rangers had gained an additional £10 million from Champions League income and had received £8.6 million in transfer fees from the sale of Messrs Ferguson, Amoruso and McCann. Not only that, the Rangers board had managed to reduce the club’s wage bill by £5 million. Taking all three figures together comes to some £23.6 million in extra income or savings.
Yet, the accounts for 2004 showed that the club made an operational loss of almost £6 million and overall debt had risen by an additional £7 million to £97.4 million.
However, the 2004 accounts were also interesting for another reason.
Rangers PLC had introduced payments “to employees trusts” into their accounts for the first time in 2001 and in that year they had paid £1million into those trusts. Just three years later, the trust payments recorded in the accounts had risen to £7.3 million per annum — or to put it another way to 25% of the annual wage bill though no one in Scottish Football asked any questions about that!
By the following year, the chairman announced that the 2004 operational loss had in fact been £10.4million but that the good news was that the 2005 operational loss was only £7.8 million. However Rangers were able to post a profit before taxation if they included the money obtained from transfers (£8.4 million) and the inclusion of an extraordinary profit of £14,999,999 made on buying back the shares of a subsidiary company for £1 which they had previously sold for £15 million.
All of which added up to a whopping great profit of ……… £12.4 million!
I will leave you to do the maths on 2005.
Oh and of course these accounts included the detail that 3000 Rangers fans had joined David Murray in participating in the November ’94 share issue where the club managed to raise £51,430,995 in fresh capital most of which was provided by Mr Murray… sorry I mean MIH ….. sorry that should read Bank of Scotland …… or their shareholders……. or should that be the public purse?
The notable items in the 2006 accounts included the announcement of a ten year deal with JJB Sports to take over the merchandising operation of the club and increased revenue from an extended run in the Champion’s League. However, the profit before tax was declared at only£0.1 million in comparison to the £12.4 million of the year before but then again that £12.4 million had included player sales of £8.4 million and the £15 million sweety bonus from the repurchase of ones own former subsidiary shares for £1.
Jumping to 2008 Rangers saw a record year in terms of turnover which had risen to £64.5 million which enabled the company to record a profit on ordinary activities before taxation of £6.57 million although it should be pointed out that wages and bonuses were up at 77% of turnover and that a big factor in the Rangers income stream was corporate hospitality and the top line of income was shown as “gate receipts and hospitality”.
However, 2009 saw a calamitous set of figures. Whilst Alastair Johnston tried to put a brave chairman’s face on it, the year saw an operating loss of £17.325 million which was softened only by player disposals leading to a loss before taxation of a mere £14.085 million.
Fortunately Sir David did not have to report these figures as he chose to stand down as chairman in August and so Johnston stepped in and announced that he was deeply honoured to do so.
In 2010, the income stream jumped from £39.7 million to over £56 million with the result that the club showed a profit before taxation of £4.209 million.
However, by that time the corporate hospitality ticket that was Rangers Football Club was done for as a result of matters that had nothing to do with events on the football field in the main.
First, the emergence of the Fergus McCann run Celtic had brought a real business and sporting challenge. This was something that Murray had not previously faced in the football business.
Second,the Bank of Scotland had gone bust and Lloyds could not and would not allow Murray to continually borrow vast sums of money on the basis of revalued assets and outrageous hospitality.
Third, the UEFA fair play rules came into being and demanded that clubs at least act on a semblance of proper corporate governance and fiscal propriety.
Lastly,Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs tightened up the law on the use of EBT’s which meant that Rangers could no longer afford to buy in the players that brought almost guaranteed success against domestic opposition.
On average, since 2002 Rangers PLC had lost between £7 million – £8 million per year – or roughly £650,000 per month if you like – yet for the better part of a decade David Murray had been able to persuade the Bank of Scotland that this was a business that was worthy of ever greater financial support or that he himself and his MIH business was of such value that the Banks should support him in supporting the Ibrox club whilst operating in this fashion.
Of course, had Murray’s Rangers paid tax on all player remunerations then the losses would have been far larger.
Meanwhile, all the other clubs in Scottish football who banked with the Bank of Scotland faced funding cuts and demands for repayment with the bank publicly proclaiming that it was overexposed to the football market in Scotland.
But no one asked any questions about why the bank should act one way with Murray’s club but another way with all others. No one in football, no one in the media and no one from the world of business.
Looking back,it is hard to imagine a business which has been run on such a consistent loss making basis being allowed to continue by either its owners or by its bankers. However, a successful and funded Rangers was so important to the Murray group that David Murray was clearly willing to lose millions year after year to keep the Gala dinners and corporate hospitality going.
Rangers were Murray’s big PR vehicle and the club was essentially used by him to open the doors which would allow him to make more money elsewhere on a personal basis and if it meant Rangers cutting every corner and accumulating massive losses, unsustainable losses, then so be it.
Today, the new regime at Ibrox run the current business in a way which clocks up the same colossal annual losses whilst the club competes outwith Scotland’s top division. Each day we hear that the wage bill is unsustainable, that the playing staff are overpaid, that the stadium needs massive investment and that the fans are opposed to the stadium itself being mortgaged and the club being in hawk to lenders.
Yet, in the Murray era the Stadium was revalued time and time again and its revaluation was used as the justification for ever greater borrowing on the Rangers accounts. The playing staff were massively overpaid and financially assisted by the EBT’s and most years the Chairman’s annual statement announced huge losses despite regular claims of record season ticket sales, record hospitality income, European income, shirt sponsorship and the outsourcing of all merchandising to JJB sports instead of Sports Direct.
The comparison between the old business and the current one is clear for all to see.
It should be noted, that since the days of Murray, no major banking institution has agreed to provide the Ibrox business with any banking facilities. Not under Whyte, not under Green, not under anyone.
Yet few ask why that should be.
The destruction of the old Rangers business led those in charge of Scottish football to announce that Armageddon was on the horizon if it had not actually arrived, yet today virtually all Scottish clubs are in a better financial and business state than back in the bad old days of the Bank of Scotland financed SPL. Some have succumbed to insolvency, and others have simply cut their cloth, changed their structure, sought, and in some cases attracted, new owners and moved on in terms of business.
In general, Scottish Football has cleaned house at club level.
Now, David Murray has “cleaned house” in that MIH has bitten the dust and walked down insolvency road.
What is interesting is that the Murray brand still has that capacity to get out a good PR message when it needs to. Despite the MIH pension fund being short of money for some inexplicable reason, last week it was announced that the family controlled Murray Estates had approached those in charge of MIH and had agreed to buy some key MIH assets for something in the region of £13.9 million.
The assets concerned are land banks which at some point will be zoned for planning and which will undoubtedly bring the Murray family considerable profit in the future, with some of those assets already looking as if they will produce a return sooner rather than later.
However, what is not commented upon in the mainstream press is the fact that Murray Estates had the ability to pay £13.9 Million for anything at all and that having that amount of money to spend the Murray camp has chosen not to buy any football club down Govan way.
Perhaps, it has been realised that a football club which loses millions of pounds each year is not such a shrewd investment and that the Murray family money would be better spent elsewhere?
Perhaps, it has been realised that the culture of wining, dining, partying and entertaining to the most lavish and extravagant extent will not result in the banks opening their vaults any more?
Perhaps, it has been realised that the Rangers brand has been so badly damaged over the years that it is no longer the key to the golden door in terms of business, finance and banking and that running a football club in 2015 involves a discipline and a set of skills that David Murray and his team do not have experience of?
What is clear, is that the Murray years at Ibrox were not good for the average Rangers fan in the long term and that when you have a football club – any football club – being run for the private benefit of one rich individual, or group of individuals, then the feelings and passions of the ordinary fan will as often as not be forgotten when that individual or his group choose to move on once they have decided that they no longer wish to play with their toy football club.
David Murray did not make money directly out of Rangers Football Club. He used it as a key to open other doors for him and to get him a seat at other tables and into a different type of “club” altogether. He did not run the club in a day to day fashion that was designed to bring stability and prolonged financial, or playing, success to the club. its investors and its fans. He did not preside over Ibrox during a period of sustained financial gain.
Mike Ashley will not subsidise 2015 version of Rangers to anything like the same extent that the Bank of Scotland did in the 90’s and naughties.
However, Ashley, like Murray, will use his control of the Rangers brand to open doors for him elsewhere in the sports retail market, and he will use the Rangers contract with Sports Direct to make a handsome profit. He will also control all the advertising revenue just as he does at Newcastle. In short, Mr Ashley is only interested in The Rangers with a view to using it as a stepping stone to achieve other things elsewhere.
However, don’t take my word for any of this, take the opinion of someone who knows.
Mr Dave King is quoted today as saying the following about the current board of Directors who are in charge of the current Ibrox holding company.
“History will judge this board as one of the worst the club has ever had. There is not one individual who puts the club above personal interest.”
That is an interesting observation from a man who became a non executive director of the old Rangers holding company in 2000 and who had a front row pew for every set of accounts and all the financial statements referred to above.
Whether or not Mr King is a glib and shameless liar is a matter of South African judicial opinion. Whether or not he can spot someone who puts their own self interest ahead of the interests of Rangers Football Club and the supporters of the club is a matter that should be discussed over some fine wine, some succulent lamb and whatever postprandial entertainment you care to imagine.
I wonder if he has ever read the accounts of Rangers PLC and compared them to the corresponding accounts of MIH for the same period?
A very fine summation there if I may say so, well done as usual BRT&H………….One slight ommision if I may be so rude, I felt that Mr. Campbell Ogilvie EBT, deserved a mention in dispatches.
Again, well done.
get the popcorn out
Jim White @JimWhite 43m43 minutes ago
Watch #SSNHQ from 5pm for an exclusive interview with former #Rangers chief executive Charles Green
With apologies to all Yorkies in advance.
Ayyooop, I’ve got racehorses me. Reet big uns n’all.
What’s that sonny? Sevco? No idear mate, never eard of em.
Rangers? Thems went bust thou knows!
a fine summary BRTH.
It’s all there in the accounts in black and white.
One thing though, David Murray did manage to make money directly from Rangers. Between his EBT payments and no doubt favourable contracts with other MIH companies (ticketing, security, steel for the club deck come to mind), that must come to a fair sum. Add that to the number of doors it opened for him and it certainly was the pivotal move in his business career.
The MIH pension deficit and the Murray family asset purchases are a scandal. Good on yourself and the likes of Ian Fraser for continuing to highlight them.
Omission 😳
beanos says:
January 20, 2015 at 4:58 pm
Beanos, I agree re the profit made through other Murray Group companies.
The point I was making is that in the main RFC PLC did not make profit and on the basis of the accounts alone could not be considered to be a business which was running on a successful commercial basis over a prolonged period.
I’m still laughing, the interview will be up on youtube shortly, I’m sure, Do seek it out, but oh dear, oh dear,oh dear. I have come through the enemy lines, and, I shall return as MacArthur put it
There is an undeniable benefit though BRTH. That they didn’t benefit financially is self evident. But commercially (in its broadest sense) they kind of did, especially now the risk of liquidation is removed. There is a further generation suckled on the skills of laudrup and gascoignes that yearn for those days back whereas Aberdeen, Utd, hibs and even to an extent celtic lost that class of the 90’s of youth who simply turned to other clubs (usually English) or even other pursuits.
RFC have not yet experienced that pressure. They are now. They don’t seem to be dealing very well with it! Certainly, they seem very frightened of the consequences!
sky sports interview would bring a tear to a glass eye 🙂
@BRTH
You’re not surely suggesting that as the great and the good queued for their hospitality at Murray Towers, the “postprandial” entertainments amounted to more than a fine Cuban cigar?
That would indeed be an explanation as to why he seems so Teflon coated.
Excellent stuff.
BRTH
But no one asked any questions about why the bank should act one way with Murray’s club but another way with all others. No one in football, no one in the media and no one from the world of business.
——————————————————————————
Great article.
Why the above was not raised says it all concerning this fabric of society club and how they are somehow protected in this country.
Celtic FC have informed Celtic season book holders who have not received tickets for LC semi (As all sold out due to a ballot) may have now have another chance of a a ticket as a NUMBER of Season Ticket holders refused to attend the game and have made their tickets available to others. Credit to them, but what does this say about this game?
The interview with Chuckles on SSN was embarrassing, shameful & reflective of the utter pantomime that is the current state of affairs down Ibrox way.
On the back of the demise of MIH right through to the current tax embezzlers & convicted criminals currently fighting for control, it is difficult to articulate the damage that this club is doing to the whole of the game in Scotland now & for years to come.
Meanwhile every other club conducts their affairs with sobriety & pragmatism trying their best to survive & prosper in difficult economic conditions & yet we’re told by the people who run our game, by TV companies, by various strands of the media, by ex players, that the game in Scotland can only survive if this ruin of a club is at the top of the game.
No wonder I drink!!
Here is the Charles Green interview in full
http://goo.gl/YQjCyj
BRTH
If you want to hide something there are three sure fire ways of doing so.
Hide it in plain sight, guised as something it’s not.
Employ watchmen in a position where they can assure that no one can ask “what’s that in those boxes marked ebts?”
Pay the head watchman from the proceeds of what’s in the boxes.
It’s a cracker – a vintage performance from the health tourist, right up there with the Xmas Green’s Speech. But I can’t believe a word of it – because I saw his lips move.
BRTH
Are you able to estimate when Rangers were last a sustainable business – and if you know – how successful were they at football at that time.
mcfc
My immediate thought is that we should always remember that Lawrence Marlborough wanted shot of the Rangers FC business when the overdraft ran up to £6million.
No one wanted it at that stage which is why Murray was able to take it on for nothing – not even a pound. All he had to do was take on the overdraft with the bank and apparently when he put the proposition to Gavin Masterton at BOS, Masterton tossed a coin.
Heads he would fund Murray, Tails he wouldn’t apparently.
question on Clyde one just now
‘how do you fine a man who has 3.5 to 4 billion pounds Jim ?’
In all seriousness, this saga almost seems like an only an excuse sketch
Rangers devastated by Green and White, to contact rangers, contact WH Ireland and we now have a Dalgleish lookey likey.
We also had Regan promising transparency and Doncaster predicting Armageddon. We got the 5 way agreement and no sponsorship.
BRTH
I used to have a badge that said in the event of a national disaster, i was not to be visited by Tharcher, I think, I should get one that covers Jim White
The full story of how HBOS was brought down by a cast characters, every bit as extraordinary, as the cast in the SFA’s production of MacBeth, currently on show at the Ibrox Pavilion, hasn’t yet been told.
a wee taster can be found in these articles here http://www.tomminogue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Gavin-Mastertons-shady-deals-.pdf
http://www.ianfraser.org/examining-hbos/
http://www.ianfraser.org/the-worst-bank-in-the-world-hboss-calamitous-seven-year-life/
Murray was a key player, a golden boy if you will, who benefited from the blank chequebook given to Cummings. Why that is, has never been explained, and, I doubt it has much to do with owning Rangers.
“Our corporate banking business is growing at 25%. This is because we’re shooting with an elephant gun where before we had a .22 rifle. Now we can go after big game.” as Cummings put it in 2001
The story of the destruction of HBOS, is actually worse in some ways, than the downfall of RBS, hard as that may be to believe
broganrogantrevinoandhogan says:
January 20, 2015 at 7:28 pm
====================================================================
thanks, my knowledge of Rangers pre-2011 is pretty thin. From what you say things were at least a bit shaky before Murray’s non-purchase in 2000.
No one expects a football club to be a goldmine, but was the same “spend whatever it takes to crush the rest” ethos around befoe Murray.
I ask because I wonder if the older bears long to return to a better place that once existed or whether that it is all a fairy tale.
James Doleman
After Jim White left, the ear nose and thought surgeon was rushed in to deal with a proboscis expanding so rapidly it took up two beds!
Auldheid says:
January 20, 2015 at 7:42 pm
Thanks for that image, I’m going to have a marvellous piece by the great Riki Fulton running in my head all night now
here lies his body
and in the next grave up but one
lies his ….
Great post and yet the Scottish media tell us we need to get back to these good old days.
When was there last a genuine, honest ‘strong Rangers’?
Chatty Man Green endorses Strong Silent Type Ashley – well I bet Mike welcomes that like a dodgy vindaloo.
And, don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone . . .
Yes Charles really was a class entertainer – never a dull moment – no comment too zany – no claim too outlandish – no buffoonery was beyond his dignity. Those really were the good old days.
@broganrogantrevinoandhogan
Chapeau
‘No you cannot buy my football club Mr Murray you do not have any money’ Reported comments from Ayr United chairman and the rest is as they say is history
mcfc says:
January 20, 2015 at 7:13 pm
18 0 Rate This
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I did spot one morsel of truth in that smörgåsbord of spin:
The McCoist pay cut.
Charlie was (gasp) telling the truth on that one.
cfc says:
January 20, 2015 at 8:01 pm
3
0
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And, don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone . . .
Yes Charles really was a class entertainer – never a dull moment – no comment too zany – no claim too outlandish – no buffoonery was beyond his dignity. Those really were the good old days.
________________________________________________________
I hope Charles’ anaesthetist has got decent preofessional indemnity insurance. From what I have sees he must have cocked up the dosage somewhat. 😆 😆 😆 :irony: 😯 😯 😥 😛 🙂
http://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/punjab-s-gurpreet-singh-sandhu-scales-historic-football-high/article1-1308622.aspx
Was Charles Green lying in a hospital bed with Rangertitis
The beeb appear to have forgotten to correct this page to the now universal “holding company” myth.
“If the administrator cannot reach agreement with creditors then the liquidation of Rangers becomes a real and distinct possibility.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14880473
Surely no’ ?
Edit @8’37 pm
“O’Neill’s team played ELSEWHERE”.
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
January 20, 2015 at 8:20 pm
I did spot one morsel of truth in that smörgåsbord of spin:
The McCoist pay cut.
Charlie was (gasp) telling the truth on that one.
=================
On that topic, this post on KDS by Markiebhoy7 made me spill my cocoa-
“Can’t wait for Ally’s riposte – no doubt bandaged head-to-foot in a warzone field hospital surrounded by rescued orphans and only able to blink once for yes, twice for no…”
RE Hospital interview with Charles Groan.
I couldn’t make my mind up whether he was talking or perhaps his catheter was flowing a bit too freely.
OT – I’m currently in hospital too and find myself wearing the very same gown he had on. I’ve only got one pillow tho’. Free wifi all the same! This has kept me going no end.
Is Jim White right in the head?
Like KJ’s assertion that Scottish Football is in a financial mess tonight on SSB (I know I know) Roger Hannah was saying, in reponse to a caller asking why the authorities just could sort out the FPP issue now, that there is no sense just now in Scottish Football.
Once again I find there is a lot of financial and general common sense with regard to the whole of Scottish Football. It is the Freak Show down Govan way and how it is being dealt with that is not the norm.
I know I shouldn’t expect much but why is it, as other on here keep banging on about, that these guys cannot see past the fiasco and automatically throw in all the other professional clubs, board members and fans into the same melting pot.
Nearly everyone else has a rational view and similar realistic aims and objectives for Scottish football. It is the club from Ibrox that still seems to be playing fantasy football.
I may be unpopular saying this as a Celtic fan
But
As a Scot
I take exception to anybody treating us as peasants. Particularly mega Spivs from over the Border who see us as insects
Enough is enough….even for Celtic Fans
The banter has to stop
Many of these grieving Bears are friends and relations. Behind closed doors, their pain is our pain
This guy Ashley needs to be stopped in his tracks
He is a rampant capitalist making a mockery of Scottish football. When he does that he makes a mockery of my friends and relations……and me
So
As they say in the Gallowgate
He`s not on
This tactic of taking controlling a club through owning its debt is a business model that exposes a flaw in Company Law
Fortunately
The SFA control the license
It can create a rule preventing this sort of behaviour and apply it to Ashley
Meanwhile
To demonstrate who is in charge
The TRFC license should be suspended until Ashley has been repaid his debt and sold his shareholding
Apologies, I posted at 8.37pm, and attempted to edit at 9.02.
I seem to have deleted the original.
My point was that the combination of today`s blog by BRTH and Auldheid`s open letter to Martin O`Neil made me think oh who were the respective owners of the club’s, who played at Ibrox the day that O`Neil`s side played ELSEWHERE, and won five one.
No prizes on offer!
stifflersmom says:
January 20, 2015 at 9:05 pm
I’m currently in hospital too
*******************
Get well soon!
You gotta miss Charles. More mock sincerity than a televangelist, just not as convincing. Get well soon also, Charles.
Mike gets his war-chest ready for TRFC?
(probably just tax planning or something totally unconnected with TRFC)
” Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley is cutting his stake in the sports retailer.
Goldman Sachs said it was placing up to 15.4m ordinary shares in the retailer on behalf of Mr Ashley, which at Tuesday’s closing share price would be worth £117m. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11358358/Mike-Ashley-cuts-stake-in-Sports-Direct.html
Fresh from his success this morning, Jim White next tackles a prospective Chief Executive for T’Rangers :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M
Thought a deid president was apt for a deid club….
Scottish Football needs more incisive journalists like Jim White. Aye, that’ll be right.
Just making sure he’s got enough readies for the inevitable SFA fine.
Cluster One says:
January 20, 2015 at 8:51 pm
============================
Possibly, seemingly he had a sevcolonoscopy. (stolen from twitter)
Tomorrow’s record front page, http://t.co/n5uCPAK9JN
The Green and White interview as published in the DR differs from other versions in that it has edited out Greens reference to McCoist and Bain.
“My salary was £360,000 a year. It was going to be double that but we were in the SPL. When we were thrown out the SPL I halved my salary. Ally McCoist refused to so he kept his £760,000. I though the chief executive previously, Martin Bain, was on more than I was on but I reduced my salary to £360,000.
GoosyGoosy says:
January 20, 2015 at 9:27 pm
‘..This guy Ashley needs to be stopped in his tracks
He is a rampant capitalist making a mockery of Scottish football. When he does that he makes a mockery of my friends and relations……and me’
———
I would say that it is rather the known and convicted criminals who should be stopped in their tracks!
The men who made a real mockery of Scottish Football and Scottish Football Governance were SDM and the best administrator in the world, aided and abetted by a very complacent and negligent SFA board
And top marks to BRTH for his reminder to us all that SDM mockery of us all makes the CGs, CWs, DKs etc etc look like rank amateurs at conmanship.
SDM screwed Rangers FC right royally, and the rest of Scottish Football too, like some fifth-columnist of an Eton/Cambridge spy.Those rotten men were caught and shamed eventually.
We live in hope.
We as followers of Scottish football just seem to accept that we cannot have league sponsorship until rangers are in the top league. Surely doncaster has some goal in his job responsibilities to get a contract ?
I will give him £1 to sponsor the league…can he turn that down ?
what is the minimum they will take, and what bonus did they get ?
on Green, is that sky’s top story in the UK ? really ?
GoosyGoosy says:
January 20, 2015 at 9:27 pm
I find myself agreeing with Goosey to a large extent.
The prospect of King & Murray Minor sitting in a football boardroom, as if nothing had happened, is quite nauseating.
Allowing the Ashley Experiment to escape from the laboratory, would be a disservice to football, not just in Scotland, but right across the UK.
Not for the first time, I find myself in a polling booth, faced with choosing between a right shower of bar stewards. The only choice is the right choice,
NONE OF THE ABOVE
What exactly does the president of the SFA do ?
if he took 3 months off, what would stop ?
scapaflow says:
January 20, 2015 at 11:30 pm
A sort of Hobson’s choice.
Snake oil or castor oil.
So swollen hands the health tourist has a swollen kneecap? How strange.
A wonderful piece BRTH and excellent summation. What sticks in my craw is the way Murray can casually off load MIH yet cherry pick many parts of the business in the knowledge that they will be profitable in the future. F his family can find £13 or so million, the creditors should first dibs in an ideal world.
This is not unlike Bill Millars version of the ‘incubator’ scenario. Dump the rotten bits and retain the good but and this is the kicker, leave the rotten bits for some other poor sod to deal with. These businessmen even get honours bestowed upon them for their contribution to business. Surely it should work in reverse that when it is shown to be dodgy, their gongs are returned in the full glare of publicity with which they received them.
Auldheid says:
January 20, 2015 at 11:37 pm
Trouble is Auldheid, neither of the choices is benign.
King is a snake oil salesman.
Ashley is not pushing castor oil. I likened him earlier to one of the quacks who push dangerous designer diets. A mother in Florida was charged with child endangerment a few weeks ago, after she fed her daughter tape worm eggs, so the girl could slim down for a beauty pageant. The Ashley Diet Plan, pushes financial tape worms, to overweight footballing companies. They will appear to get better for a while, but in reality, the tape worms will leach the vitality out of the company, leaving a husk, able to go through the motions, while the tape worms get nice and fat.
Apparently, Murray Estates was not a participant in the MIH pension scheme, so the sweetheart deal to sell it’s valuable land bank back to Sir David Murray wasn’t going to benefit MIH pensioners anyway.
The bank is also writing off nearly £350m of debt still owed by MIH, and they have set him back up like the MIH disaster never happened. Just business, apparently. Taxpayer took the loss so it’s trebles all round, as they say.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/business/business-news/exclusive-sir-david-murray-director-4991621
One thing certainly rung true watching Mr Green being interviewed by Mr White.
Charles was lying in a bed.
MaBaw says:
January 20, 2015 at 11:34 pm
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What exactly does the president of the SFA do ?
if he took 3 months off, what would stop ?
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Ooh me miss, please … I know…
Is it: Football at Ibrox?
borussiabeefburg says:
January 20, 2015 at 11:58 pm
or was he? 😉
News just in….
Charlie’s Proctologist has confirmed the operation to find the deeds has been succesful…MA loan can now proceed….
Anyone notice if Charlies pillows had HMP on them 😆
I believe the next sky sports bedside interview should be conducted by Bomber Brown…. 😯
Tin hat time and two pencils up my nostrils…
John Clark says:
January 20, 2015 at 11:03 am
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I note Mr Sarver’s comment: “…I think Rangers is a gem. It just needs some love and it needs to be polished…….. I hope it gets itself squared away.”
Very interesting language, expressing a somewhat unusual( for a hard-nosed business man) almost brotherly love for a bunch of strangers.
This reminds me of Alastair Johnston. On September 11, 2012 on this site Doon the slope noted what Johnstone had stated when speaking about the SPL charges facing Rangers before the LNS enquiry began
Johnston said: “I would hope that the panel which has been charged with investigating Rangers’ activities will draw a large circle around a universe of relevant reference points that should be considered in assessing the magnitude of the allegations made against the Club.”
Again, very interesting language.
Did these words to the wise have any effect on LNS and his panel? I don’t know.
But they reminded me of what Johnstone said in May 2010 when talking about HMRC’s EBT investigation.
He said: “It’s a standard situation where an assessment is presented, some with faith, hope and charity involved by the Revenue, and we then either accept, or reject, or appeal it.”
Again, very interesting language.
Did this have any effect on HMRC? I would say the evidence is clear that it did not.
Did it have any effect on Mr Roderick Thomson QC at the tax tribunal?
It was certainly charitable of him to make a bit of a mess of what should have been a slam-dunk case?
Or perhaps he really did try his level best!
Chuckles award
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10408588_10155115573650080_3614215393695196932_n.jpg?oh=851cdc80bd2165393670584e63e034c8&oe=5562D265&__gda__=1432584145_278e23534cb20e6cf261945f7e14d109
I forgot to add that the “universe of relevant reference points” referred to by Johnston in early September 2012 before the LNS enquiry started has proved particularly prescient given what Auldheid later uncovered regarding Rangers’ earlier scheme.
It was handy that the panel later drew the “universe of relevant reference points” in such a way that it excluded De Boer and Flo.
I may be unpopular saying this as a Celtic fan
But
As a Scot
I take exception to anybody treating us as peasants. Particularly mega Spivs from over the Border who see us as insects
Enough is enough….even for Celtic Fans
The banter has to stop
Many of these grieving Bears are friends and relations. Behind closed doors, their pain is our pain
This guy Ashley needs to be stopped in his tracks
He is a rampant capitalist making a mockery of Scottish football. When he does that he makes a mockery of my friends and relations……and me
So
As they say in the Gallowgate
He`s not on
This tactic of taking controlling a club through owning its debt is a business model that exposes a flaw in Company Law
Fortunately
The SFA control the license
It can create a rule preventing this sort of behaviour and apply it to Ashley
Meanwhile
To demonstrate who is in charge
The TRFC license should be suspended until Ashley has been repaid his debt and sold his shareholding
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You make excellent point here Goosy.
About the grieving bears.
But I think you miss some of the failure and Opportunity.
If MASH is stopped, either King and the bears step up, or TRFC go down.
Lets look at these options:
MASH is an INVESTOR. He puts in money. He expects something back.
He will extract as much from the club as the governance and rules of financial probity of the land will allow.
But he puts money in.
And he stays within the rules. THISIS THE KEY
MASH uses shameful zero hours contracts because the law allows him to. He does what regulators tell him.
Now to the 3 King and bears.
Rules? (40 counts of tax evasion)
Investment? (Bought some shares arguable at a reduced price because of a boycott they orchestrated. Own money invested in clubs activites??? as near ti zippidy doo dah as makes no odds!)
So If what you want is OPM invested and a rulebook rode roughshod with pages torn out and rewritten willy nilly because of cosy deals behind closed door done by dodgy RRM – whatever that means?? Then carry on. Give King and 3B the nod.
Now what TRFC fans – the grieving bears – want – is the opium of OPM investment. In a framework of slack governance that allows them to fail and resurrect willy nilly.
What MASH wants is his INVESTMENT playing out in a framework of slack governance that allows him to extract the maximum of bears milk for the minimum of MASH honey whilst remaining compliant and aligning with his wider business aims.
What the grieving bears NEED, however is MASH investment in a PROPER regulatory environment and framework of robust and equitable governance that creates a level playing field for the rest of Scots football and thereby affords them protection from the otherwise entitely legal ravages of an unfetterd MASH, instead of one which provides them a figleaf for outrageous flouting of the rules that is ultimately self destructive to their cause, as happened under the Murray and Whyte scenario.
MASH can still invest and profit in this scenario.
Some recognition that dticking to the rules – (tax, sporting integrity) ultimately would have been better for them, should have penetrated by now!
In short: The best chance for ‘the grieving bears’ is Mike’s methadone with the tough love of proper governance, affording them some social security.
Fat chance of that from the SFA, however!
The worst case for EVERYONE is bears running riot on King’s class A. The SFA are doubtless lining this up as I type.
Bears on methadone scavaging around the bins? I could live with that TBH , given their history (or lack of) !
Anyways up, the cold turkey starts in a week or so.
I don’t understand – if Mike Ashley has freed up £117 million from Sports Direct, and plans to lend The Rangers £10 million…that only leaves £107 million for the warchest. Surely Messi will cost more than that? Might they have to settle for Bale instead?
January 21, 2015 at 3:05 am
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I forgot to add that the “universe of relevant reference points” referred to by Johnston in early September 2012 before the LNS enquiry started has proved particularly prescient given what Auldheid later uncovered regarding Rangers’ earlier scheme.
It was handy that the panel later drew the “universe of relevant reference points” in such a way that it excluded De Boer and Flo.
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Who is the architect of this universe?
Looks like an interesting few weeks ahead:
Charles Green (get well soon) back on the scene muddying the waters;
David King (look at me I got a favorable settlement) fighting for a seat on the Board;
Mike Ashley and Rangers v SFA;
Rangers rapidly running out of cash;
MIH companies liquidated and HMRC v MIH appeal (procedural hearing) set for early February – will the defendant field counsel?;
No word yet on who the caretaker manager (no. 2) will be – will Rangers performance on the park suffer? Will the fans walk away? Will gate receipts crash?
In all of this madness, I hope that the EBT element of the story gains more momentum. All of the other elements of the farce are providing some form of cover for those who set up that scheme and administered it. In particular the world’s best sporting administrator.
Charles Green interview. No laughing gas needed.
Ray Charlez, you may have noticed similar language on Twitter from media folks in support of a new PR company recently. It seems the company on Blythswood Square has a circle of scribes whose columns may be easily influenced. Well done, James, ma son.
Good article:
Spiers on Sport:
the day is looming for the SFA versus Dave KingSpiers on Sport
Graham Spiers.
Tuesday 20 January 2015 To this day you still hear comments from certain Rangers fans in total denial of Dave King’s law-breaking in South Africa.
To this day you still hear comments from certain Rangers fans in total denial of Dave King’s law-breaking in South Africa.
Such as, there is no court conviction hanging over him.
Or, there was no concession of guilt on Dave King’s part.
Or, he has not been convicted on tax crimes, because the State dropped the charges.
I’ve read it all in recent days.
I’ve even heard it being said that SARS, far from bringing King to court, instead agreed that they had called his tax affairs wrong in South Africa, and had actually apologised to him.
Before we get to the Scottish FA and decisions they look like having to make about King and Rangers, let’s just be clear on his history of financial crimes in his adopted homeland.
In August 2013 King was convicted on 41 counts of breaking the South African tax laws. Each count, the court recorded, incurred either a two-year prison sentence or a financial penalty.
King, as part of a plea-and-sentence agreement, not unreasonably decided to stump up rather than do time. As part of his guilty plea he paid back circa 700m South African rand – at the time equivalent to roughly £50m – in illegally avoided taxes.
His High Court conviction that day in Johannesburg stood, and it still stands. King had broken the law on multiple counts. It needn’t actually stalk him for the rest of his life. The point is, it just happened.
King made a pretty remarkable comment this week. He stated that he had achieved a “favourable settlement” with the tax authorities in South Africa in regard to his crimes.
He certainly called that one right. At first SARS were reported to be chasing him for around 3.3 billion SA rand (at the time somewhere above £200m). In the end he had to pay back around 700 million rand. It was actually a fantastic result for King.
And so to the imminent SFA business. Stewart Regan and his organisation face a very awkward – and potentially embarrassing – situation with King, who looks almost certain to win his long quest for power at Rangers
Over the next few weeks there is going to be much ducking and diving in terms of a hoovering-up of Rangers shares. All of that done, though, it is hard to see King being thwarted in his designs on Rangers ownership and power.
So what do the SFA do? In essence, they have to apply their infamous “fit and proper” criteria to King, should he wish to become a club director.
These regulations are in place, frankly, to stop Scottish football being invaded by dodgy geezers – and there are plenty of them afoot just now. Ironically, doesn’t Rangers FC know this better than anyone?
“Fit and proper” at the SFA is not an exact test, and nor is it inflexible. Crucially – and it is hard to overstate this bit – there is wiggle room. The dreaded phrase “at the SFA’s discretion” comes in to play.
In other words, with King, anything could happen.
Article 10 of the SFA’s own guidelines, on the surface, makes it pretty plain. Scottish football clubs have to offer full disclosure on its directors, and these include things the SFA or any other reasonable society would find undesirable.
Helpfully, the SFA sets out its ‘dislikes’ in the context of its approval of any person, such as King, who seeks to become a club director. Such as:
– Bankruptcy
– Previously being disqualified as a director
– Any illegal acts or convictions
– Being previously a director of a club which suffered insolvency
There are plenty more of these – the SFA itself says the list is “not exhaustive”. The criteria are merely set out in order to keep football clean.
It must be perfectly obvious to anyone that, on at least two of these counts, King fails badly. His tax conviction in South Africa is bad enough, let alone that he was a director of Rangers FC in the years immediately leading to the club’s liquidation in 2012.
Here is the thing for the SFA: if King’s crime-sheet does not fail to meet fit and proper, then what sort does?
Indeed, what is the point of listing these criteria if, in effect, they are not applied?
This is going to be a very ugly scene. You can almost feel the heat, the fear, of the SFA from here. Rangers fans want King in. Others around the country are awaiting – maybe expecting – an SFA laughing stock.
Scottish football’s governing body faces a big test of its credibility over King, and I’m not convinced it is going to meet it
GoosyGoosy says:
January 20, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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“Enough is enough….even for Celtic Fans
The banter has to stop
Many of these grieving Bears are friends and relations. Behind closed doors, their pain is our pain.”
Whoah there Goosy! Don’t include me anyway.
If, somehow the powers that be let trfc behave as before – winning trophy after trophy and not caring who picks up the tab – these fans would behave just as mocking to the rest as before. The triumphalism would be multiplied after ‘The Journey.’ Have no doubts.
If, tomorrow the constraints on their odious singing and chanting were lifted, they would be roaring even louder for my blood – a wee bit like the end of the Hearts game last week.
There’s a wee saying in life – ‘He who laughs last, laughs loudest.’ We were all mocked, slaughtered by them for a long time during years of financial doping on an industrial scale, so please forgive me if I don’t join in with any sympathy toward them.
I want a safer Scotland for my children. If
the rallying point for hatred of them was removed, would I be saddened? No chance – bring it on!
If you go through life sowing thorns, don’t expect roses. Hell mend them!
Flocculent Apoidea
Less than subtle clue in the name perhaps? Under the Ancient Scottish Rite Level 5 = ‘Perfect Master’.
Probably just another crafty coincidence…
Great post BRTH. History will eventually, I hope, not look kindly on the Murray era.
As for King. His is the brassiest of necks.“History will judge this board as one of the worst the club has ever had…”
I suspect that the competition for that particular accolade will be so stiff that it’ll be sponsored by viagra.
Surely there could have been many and varied oppertunities in getting an interview with
other than a hospital bed, in a state of undress, and very eager to put himself in the MA camp ? Who blew the dog whistle? A couple of observations : I take it this must have been a private hospital as I don’t think this would have been allowed in an NHS hospital. Why? Because I take it 
has enough money to buy a pair of pyjamas but he wasn’t wearing them so was he literally just out from a procedure? I coudn’t see an NHS Ward Manager allowing a tv crew in so soon post-operatively so it must have been a private hospital ??? So, if he’s not in his own pyjamas, he’s just back from somewhere and immediately into the 
we know and love. Of all the times he could have given an interview, in Le Chateau, at the racecourse, in the bloody SKY News centre but no! In a bed. As a patient. With a gown on WHY?