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?
HP your point is well made. However. In recent years the establishment’s practice, when faced with far more egregious behaviour, has been to appoint the individuals as Govermnent ministers, advisors, members of things like the BBC Trust. So you will forgive me when I say that my confidence is low when it comes to the prospect of any voluntary action being taken.
That said, given the number of talented letter writers around, I am sure someone will make a complaint to Police Scotland along the lines you have highlighted, should these events come to pass!
Bill1903 says:
March 1, 2015 at 9:10 pm
I must say I was surprised how quiet the Celtic support were(GB apart)
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Ahh, come on now Bill, you’re ‘At it.’ The Celtic fans sounded fine from where we were (Not too far from you.) I know you’re used to the electric atmosphere of Pittodrie wae aw thae sweetie papers being rustled, but come on!
On the Dons fans though – I noticed that their chants and songs took a dark turn as soon as they went behind. From a big party, it turned a bit ugly with references to paedophilia and glasgow’s poverty/social issues, etc.
Aberdeen is probably a much richer area than Glasgow, but you didn’t hear us singing “Does your butler know you’re here?” Did you? lol.
Joking aside, it was great to see a good Dons support down at CP, I wish there was more tickets available for them to swell the support for their team further. By the way – great effort first half!
When the 4th goal went in, a Dons fan was so disgusted he threw away his blow up sheep, ( At least I think it was blow up!) it landed in the TV gantry at the side of the South Stand – magic! You can keep your daft crossbar challenge, this was entertainment of a far higher standard! We were all pissin ourselves laughing. Just sad it’s no on the BBC highlights.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/johnston-sfa-shouldnt-block-king-and-murray-rangers-board-coup-198914n.119619396
From the Evening Times- “FORMER Rangers chairman Alistair Johnston insists there is no reason for the SFA to block Dave King and Paul Murray assuming control at Ibrox as they get set to topple the under-fire Light Blues board.”
We can expect a week of the SMSM dragging out any Tom, Dick or Harry who is prepared to provide King with a reference. Watching our press corps in full “Rangersitis” mode is quite a spectacle.
neepheid says:
March 2, 2015 at 8:39 am
Didn’t bother reading the link, don’t need to, I can guess what it says!
“Real Rangers Men are great, so great they can ignore the laws and rules of the land; and to prove it we spoke to a Real Rangers Man. Again! We spoke to him because he knows everything there is to know about everything and is the go-to member of wearebluenosequotes.com.”
I’m sure, though, that the intrepid writer of the peice, who never forgets to check out his ‘facts’, balanced it all up with a quote from… Ally McCoist?
upthehoops says:
March 2, 2015 at 7:57 am
The way I read it is the Ashley loan facility is all opened ended so that it allows Mike to play it the way he wants.
The only way to get rid of it is for King and the 3Bears to pay up either the £5m or perhaps now £10m and that then removes the security over the assets, the condition for the right to appoint directors and hands back the 26% of Rangers Retail.
I would suspect that if Llambias and Leach go and Ashley can be bothered, he will invoke his right to appoint two directors to the board which then forces Kings hand to do something about the loan facility and the potential for Ashley interference, being that the next placements will seek access to all the goings on at the new board with the knowledge that the reputations of King and Murray can be easily attacked if they indulge in a Craig Whyte ‘mushroom’ type approach to corporate governance.
Given it has already gotten dirty with regard to calling out King then it is possible that we could see various legal and regulatory challenges being made.
However while that suits the agenda of some folks on here I wouldn’t be surprised if Ashley just can’t be arsed any more and take what he can from the retail deal.
CoS Minister promoting Dave King…
Does anyone know the twitter address for the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland?
I see the Mail is reporting Llambais and Leach have recently been given large contracts with long notice periods.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2974870/Derek-Llambias-Barry-Leach-set-sacked-Rangers-Dave-King.html
Entirely possible but could be more snouts in the trough nonsense to stir up the Bears
http://m.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/mobile/news/detail/12265417.html
Sommers gets a dig in in his departure announcement to AIM.
We do make a lot of assumptions based on common sense on here, but Sommers is clearly hinting at something we have been saying throughout King’s various tilts at power – ‘I look forward to alternative solutions from whoever is running the club in the future.’
He either knows that the finance is not available, or suspects it’s not available from the lack of any indication of anything more than future share issues. I’d suspect that Sommers, along with Ashley’s men and resources, would have a pretty good idea of the extent of funds available to any rivals, in all their business battles!
At the moment things are pointing towards an Ashley surrender; aye, that’s so very likely!
Allyjambo says:
March 2, 2015 at 10:19 am
Yes I noticed that little dig.
As usual there are so many unknowns who knows what the score is.
What has to be remembered is that from the email revelations Sommers seemed to be having his chain pulled by SD, so who knows how much of a trusted lieutenant he was.
The parting shot may just be bluster in the same fashion as his terrible performance at the AGM.
Allyjambo says:
March 2, 2015 at 10:19 am
http://m.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/mobile/news/detail/12265417.html
Sommers gets a dig in in his departure announcement to AIM.
………………………………………………………..
Aye.
And the cynic in me wonders if his final words “return to their former glories”. ..
… is an allusion to yet another new club restarting from the bottom of the heap to trail triumphantly up the divisions…
neepheid says:
March 2, 2015 at 8:39 am
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/johnston-sfa-shouldnt-block-king-and-murray-rangers-board-coup-198914n.119619396
From the Evening Times- “FORMER Rangers chairman Alistair Johnston insists there is no reason for the SFA to block Dave King and Paul Murray assuming control at Ibrox as they get set to topple the under-fire Light Blues board.”
We can expect a week of the SMSM dragging out any Tom, Dick or Harry who is prepared to provide King with a reference. Watching our press corps in full “Rangersitis” mode is quite a spectacle.
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Neepheid…I am sure that the FORMER vice-chairman Mr Johnston, is merely ensuring that a fellow CA is on the newly elected board to ensure financial probity and good corporate governance in the future… 😀
However, it does strike me as strange that Mr Johnston has not offered his services, mainly due to being barred from serving as a director (as I recall, correctly I hope 😳 ), but is instrumental in ensuring Paul Murray( who is also debarred as I also remember, again correctly I hope 😳 ) is voted on to the board.
Any chance of a well paid sinecure for an Essex based CA…?
neepheid says:
March 2, 2015 at 8:39 am
=================================
It’s an amazing knack the media have that they pick someone who they class as a respectable Rangers man of the highest order. An edict is issued that there is no impediment to King and that is that.
Perhaps some of our resident lawyers or accountants can help with these questions. On the basis that King was a director of the previous company, would he be breaking the law if he simply becomes a director after the EGM without formal approval? If that is the case, what may happen to him?
I agree with the recent Herald piece that “an accommodation” between Ashley and King is most likely since both then extract maximum value. (I am taking the long shot here that an accommodation between the SFA and King is a foregone conclusion).
But, we’re back to the old chestnut that the damn thing needs between £5m and £15m pa to operate under the current model. King in particular can do nothing to tread on that expectation (quite the opposite in fact, he has to fuel it). Ashley can literally ‘fuel’ it, but at the same time he has to see an end result and unlike King, the team holding the helicoptered trophy aloft doesn’t count.
Like HP (because I always like to have the big hitters behind me!) there’s a piece missing and has been for some time. Whether that piece is pro or anti the fortunes of RFC* remains unclear.
coineanachantaighe says:
March 1, 2015 at 9:43 pm
wottpi says:
March 1, 2015 at 9:29 pm
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Agree with your other points but the joke is older than you make out: It was Jesus saves … but St. John nets the rebound. (This being an earlier Liverpool team).
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You brought back memories there of the great humour there used to be at Anfield, maybe still is I don’t know. You have to hand it to the L’pool fans for the way they’d disparage visiting teams and management, match officials, and even their own people, to the ee, aye, addio chant: never anything very nasty, and no cuss words. Very witty.
The best football song I’ve heard in a while is the Fulham fans’ rendition to the tune of Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore”, about their own striker at the time, Bobby Zamora. “When yer sat in row Z, and the ball hits yer head, it’s Zamora”.
What happened to humour among Scottish fans? It’s there at international level. Time to bring it back. Maybe we need terracing.
So, are we arriving at the denouement? Easdale and Somers gone, Llambias and Leach to follow?
DK and the 3Bs installed (legal and SFA issues somehow stalled or sidestepped) and MA vanquished?
I suspect not quite but we may be getting close.
I believe MA will do a deal with DK & Co and sell his shares to them putting RRM in almost complete control. (No clash then likely…)
MA will walk away with continued security for his ongoing loans and all of the juicy revenue streams he has already nailed down. A likely upturn in shirt sales to boot.
The RRM will then seek high and low for other RRM and fans willing to put their hands in their pockets. Having officially looked under the bonnet woe and bad tidings will fill the SMSM and a five year plan (ref Paul Murray) will be put in place.
Unavoidable austerity will be the cry with kind support from MA and his Newcastle loanees to tide things over.
And they all lived happily ever after……until the next time.
Scottish Football needs a much stronger Arbroath but we’re getting there.
Redlichtie.
Agree completely. But under the bonnet lurketh a £5m annual hole (conservative estimate). If all of their efforts go into filling the hole with OPM and their only solution to the fact the hole exists is to the soundtrack of Zadok’s priest then there can only be one outcome.
It all goes bang. (assuming the Douglas Parks, Jim McColls etc of this world haven’t completely taken leave of their senses).
Is today not one of the dates that SFA charges against MA or club are to be addressed?
I personally think that the EGM was originally arranged in London with in the knowledge that the ensuing furore would eventually mean a rescheduled EGM to circumvent/delay anything the SFA were thinking of doing – I Know, I Know 🙄 – regarding the undue influence.
Interesting sell just now, 61186 ? the exact number Sommers held……….No flies on Mr. Somers, does he possibly think the value will drop? Or simply getting out of dodge?
What do we know of any ‘accommodations’ with King made by the SFA?
Was Somers told that King was the blue-eyed boy and that Ashley would be told he could go whistle?
Or were the SFA particularly helpful in suggesting to Ashley that under King, TRFC would bd guaranteed top division football this coming season no matter what , whereas they would not be under Ashley , and that it would be to Ashley’s commercial advantage to have the big crowds coming to worship at the feet of a convicted fraudster?
would that we had some honest-to-themselves let alone honezt-to-God journalists who would speir away at these kinds of queztions.
For, as I and most of the rest of us know, the deceit ful trashing of Any kind of Integrity by SDM and the club that his cheating killed is as NOTHING compared to the rigging of our sport by those suposedly there to protect and foster its integrity.
3 years on and more and I still cannot believe that the 5way agreement was even contemplated for a second, let alone signed, sealed and delivered.
By men who are now so steeped in iniquity that anything that smacks of deceit and treachery comes naturally to them.
In my opinion.
( and btw, any hint of when the HMRC appeal against the UTTT decision is tobe held?)
Bawsman says:
March 2, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Interesting sell just now, 61186 ? the exact number Sommers held……….No flies on Mr. Somers, does he possibly think the value will drop? Or simply getting out of dodge?
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The sale price was 35.2p.
He bought 35,000 at 24p, 12,000 at 27p and 14,186 at 20p, so made a profit of just over £7k.
I simply love the capacity of this blog and the guys and gals who seem able to keep us right up to the minute with the news of any sharedealings at RIFC.
EJ and Bawsman know more than Mrs Somers about how much might be going into her hubby’s beer money fund.
Great stuff.
Smugas says:
March 2, 2015 at 11:48 am
Agree completely. But under the bonnet lurketh a £5m annual hole (conservative estimate). If all of their efforts go into filling the hole with OPM and their only solution to the fact the hole exists is to the soundtrack of Zadok’s priest then there can only be one outcome.
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The one consistent thing from Green, and all the various other CEO’s and Chairmen, and now King has been to promote the idea that Rangers in the top league somehow means access to the Champions League millions on a regular basis. They failed to qualify several times when they were sponsored by the old Bank of Scotland so why do they think it will just follow on year after year when no bank will be willing to do so again?
HirsutePursute says,
March 2. 2015 @ 01.17 am.
A couple of weeks ago when the Fit and proper person debate was at its height, I was puzzled, as to why so much emphasis was being placed on the SFA`s
decision, and no regard paid to the Insolvency service.
So, I googled away, and found section 216 posted this morning by HP
I could see no way round the restrictions contained therein vis a vis Mr King`s aspiration to be a
director of The Rangers Football club.
Then I thought, he hasn’t said much about this hurdle, maybe, surely, his lawyers were working at it in the background.
The similarity in the names of the liquidated entity and the current entity are too great to be ignored.
I wondered why, if this situation had been discussed with the authorities and resolved to Mr King`s satisfaction, he was not shouting it from the rooftops
Such a proclamation would virtually render any decision by the SFA, superfluous.
So, why the silence?
Is the situation one where Mr King has put forward an argument that the business assets were purchased from the Administrators by an entirely different
company named Sevco, which subsequently applied for permission to use the name “Rangers”?
If this is so, it would explain Mr King`s reticence. Should he go public with such a scenario, he would risk losing much of the supporters goodwill, because, I believe, the” same club” argument would be over .
Oddjob following that through Mr Doncaster’s same club claim would tend to stymie Mr King as would the marketing of TRFC. Did the bold Neil do that deliberately as a wee bomb on his way out?
@redlichtie
But if Llambias and Leach go that would mean that all those named in King’s EGM resolution have gone. MA appoints 2 new Directors, as he is entitled to do under the terms of his loan(s). Does that not mean the EGM is a busted flush?
Bfbpuzzled,
Good point, but I think Mr King, in his determination to achieve his goal, would pay no mind to Mr Doncaster.
My view is that the end justifies the means, so far as DK is concerned.
John Clark says:
March 2, 2015 at 12:52 pm
I simply love the capacity of this blog and the guys and gals who seem able to keep us right up to the minute with the news of any sharedealings at RIFC.
EJ and Bawsman know more than Mrs Somers about how much might be going into her hubby’s beer money fund.
Great stuff.
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JC……..EJ advises Mr. Somers trousered £7000 from his share dealing.
Not bad you would think until you consider that Chick Young reckons that Campbell Ogilvy’s £95,000 EBT would just about cover a good night out in Glasgow………&7,000 is definite Div 3 Spivery. 😉
oddjob says:
March 2, 2015 at 1:04 pm
I think you are right that King would be shouting it from the rooftops if he’d received any kind of clearance from the UK authorities, he was keen to let us know that SA equivalent have. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if he hasn’t contacted them, at all, as he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself and hopes that, in their no doubt overworked and under-funded situation, the authorities will overlook just one more phoenixing case. It might well require a creditor of RFC(IL) (BDO?) to raise the matter before any action would be taken and King might very likely assume that, because it’s ‘Rangers’, and they are the people, that he will be allowed to just get on with it.
The only other scenario I can think of is that he has been told on the quiet that it’ll just be ‘overlooked’, for there can surely be nothing about the man that would encourage any investigating authority to see him as worthy of any special dispensation should the matter ever be given serious consideration.
Top Cat 1874 says:
March 2, 2015 at 1:36 pm
@redlichtie
But if Llambias and Leach go that would mean that all those named in King’s EGM resolution have gone. MA appoints 2 new Directors, as he is entitled to do under the terms of his loan(s). Does that not mean the EGM is a busted flush?
==================================
Hi TopCat,
I think the EGM is now moot anyway…
Scottish Football needs to be ready for efforts to somehow ensure TRFC gets into the SPL next season.
Re King’s fit & proper “test”. I expect Rangers to send the required email stating that king & Murray are fit n proper, the SFA will note it and sans a court saying otherwise there the matter will end, officially anyway.
Ps my iPad insists on translating SFA as sofa, make of that what you will!
Scapaflow,
My kindle corrects SFA to SAD ! I am always reluctant to re-correct !
@redlichtie
Moot in what sense? Do you mean because the proxy votes are due beforehand? If so, surely those votes would be irrelevant if all 4 named Board members are gone by then? Does any EGM not then become a waste of time?
Just to be clear. The only way Mr King can be legitimately involved in the business of “Rangers” is with the permission of the court.
Without that permission, he would be committing a criminal offence under s.216 of the Insolvency Act 1985.
There is, of course, no reason to believe that Mr King would disrespect the law. I therefore assume that he has (or has plans to) seek the court’s approval before becoming involved, as I am certain he would not knowingly break the law and risk a fine and/or imprisonment.
Moreover, he would not want to bear the personal liability of “Rangers” debts during his tenure.
With that assumption in place, I still don’t know what his plan B would be for the very real possibility that the judge will refuse his application.
The Nomad, AIM and SFA are irrelevant wrt F&PP until this matter is sorted out. Indeed, should Mr King register himself as a director of RIFC without the court’s approval, one would think that this (being a criminal act) would in itself automatically bar him under any F&PP rules.
scapaflow says:
oddjob says:
—————————–
My nexus corrects SFA to [.]
Top Cat 1874 says:
March 2, 2015 at 2:08 pm
@redlichtie
Moot in what sense? Do you mean because the proxy votes are due beforehand? If so, surely those votes would be irrelevant if all 4 named Board members are gone by then? Does any EGM not then become a waste of time?
==========================================================
Absolutely Top Cat. “Moot” as in having “little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic” for the very reasons you note.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moot
Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath.
@redlichtie
OK, I thought you were suggesting that the proxy votes counted beforehand would render the actual EGM moot in the sense that the outcome of it would be a fait accompli in King’s favour. If I now understand you correctly, you are agreeing with me that, should MA now replace both Llambias and Leach before Friday, both the proxy votes and the EGM would be moot! Phew!!!!!
HP, the SFA’s f&p rules consist of the company certifying x & the SFA saying ta very much! I don’t doubt your interpretation of the statute.
It does lead to an interesting what if, right now RIFC has only 2 directors, could that state of affairs be tenable for how ever long it takes Murray & King to get permission?
What happens if the court denies one, other or both?
Is this just a ruse “We wanted to save you, but the court says No”
I am surprised at Murray not clearing this up publicly, King not so much
upthehoops says:
March 2, 2015 at 12:56 pm
Smugas says:
March 2, 2015 at 11:48 am
Agree completely. But under the bonnet lurketh a £5m annual hole (conservative estimate). If all of their efforts go into filling the hole with OPM and their only solution to the fact the hole exists is to the soundtrack of Zadok’s priest then there can only be one outcome.
=======================================
The one consistent thing from Green, and all the various other CEO’s and Chairmen, and now King has been to promote the idea that Rangers in the top league somehow means access to the Champions League millions on a regular basis. They failed to qualify several times when they were sponsored by the old Bank of Scotland so why do they think it will just follow on year after year when no bank will be willing to do so again?
==========================================
Didn’t Kenny Miller state without a hint of irony after the League Cup presented by QTS semi-final that the gap between TRFC and Celtic is not that great?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31094114
Perhaps the delusion is so all-encompassing that they do genuinely believe that to be the case.
CL money is a total irrelevance at this stage of the development of the RIFC/TRFC franchise, so any mention of it by a RRM is surely just another squirrel waking up from its winter hibernation.
Bawsman says:
March 2, 2015 at 1:40 pm
John Clark says:
March 2, 2015 at 12:52 pm
I simply love the capacity of this blog and the guys and gals who seem able to keep us right up to the minute with the news of any sharedealings at RIFC.
EJ and Bawsman know more than Mrs Somers about how much might be going into her hubby’s beer money fund.
Great stuff.
==========================================================
JC……..EJ advises Mr. Somers trousered £7000 from his share dealing.
Not bad you would think until you consider that Chick Young reckons that Campbell Ogilvy’s £95,000 EBT would just about cover a good night out in Glasgow………&7,000 is definite Div 3 Spivery. 😉
==============================
However, Mr Somers appears to have no friends in Glasgow, so he would require a far smaller budget per head for his (lone) extravaganza than would RCO for entertaining his (King-sized) coterie.
Well OT but had look at Who’s bought Celtic shares in the last year.
Lindsell Train Limited and Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC. I came across this link,
http://www.trustnet.com/Investments/Article.aspx?id=20140721151206PA0F4
It seems the Train company is connected to the latter. I haven’t clue what it means but 13% all together of Celtic is a big chunk.
Maybe those in the know, can enlighten my darkness!
HirsutePursuit says:
March 2, 2015 at 2:21 pm
Just to be clear. The only way Mr King can be legitimately involved in the business of “Rangers” is with the permission of the court.
Without that permission, he would be committing a criminal offence under s.216 of the Insolvency Act 1985.
………………..
Tell me, H.P., in the event of such a criminal offence, who would be responsible for initiating proceedings? Would it be Police Scotland, the Crown Office or …?
I’ve been watching with interest how fast the story of an EPL player being arrested for having sex with an underage girl has exploded over social media.
I think it took barely 5 minutes before Adam Johnson’s name was revealed. (has now been named on Sky news).
More power to t’internet bamposts.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d6e1143a-c0cf-11e4-9949-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3TFR0voVO
Rangers shows that LSE must raise its regulatory game
Kate Burgess
Poking fun at the governance of Rangers is becoming less fun. It is going beyond a joke.
When the teachers and the governors of a school keep quitting and its head says it is ungovernable, it is time for the authorities to step in.
David Somers, the City veteran brought in by Rangers’ financial advisers to chair the group in late 2013 and restore harmony, says he was warned that the world of football has different codes of behaviour from the City. He concludes that “is a gross understatement” after a year of personal attacks and recent efforts to unseat him for calling on Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley to help pay the bills. His description of Gers’ fans as “passionate and vociferous” sounds like an understatement, too.
Time for the London Stock Exchange to change its laissez-faire regulation of the junior market. It has handed the responsibility for keeping companies in order to brokers retained by companies as nominated advisers.
WH Ireland — the fourth broker to act as Rangers’ nomad — was encouraged by the exchange to take on Rangers in December by being given extra time to do the due diligence. Better that, says the LSE, than that a company’s shares should be suspended because it lacked a nomad. The broker has since threatened to resign if Dave King succeeds in his attempt at a boardroom coup on Friday.
For a broker earning corporate fees of £3.2m a year, giving up a client is no small gesture.
Criticisms over Aim’s governance have been mounting since the London-based directors of Naibu Global revealed they had suspended shares in the Aim-quoted Chinese sportswear maker because executives in China had refused to update them on trading.
Even apologists and Aim fans are murmuring about the gap in regulation. The LSE makes much of the need to ensure a continuous market in shares to protect shareholder interests. But when a company descends into disorder and chaos, the regulatory priority must be to contain the damage and prevent it spreading.
kate.burgess@ft.com
sickofitall says:
March 2, 2015 at 5:57 pm
—————————————————————————
the AIM is littered with spiv companies, all being assisted by their spiv NOMADs. A main market listing is no barrier to similar tactics as Worthington are pair busy proving with banned directors Whyte and Earley busy pulling the strings in the background.
My view of the Lambias and Leach situation is this;
The terms of the recent loan restructuring agreement included SD having two nominees on the board. Seems to me if they both resign this week and are replaced by two others, Ashley has probably reached an agreement with King & Co.
If they are both voted off at the EGM though, surely that will be a breach of the terms of the loan contract, leading to blood on the boardroom walls unless Mike’s £10m is coughed up immediately?
Or am I missing something?
Early caller on SSB ‘so happy’ to see the back of Mr Somers and everything’s going to be fine!!!!! £50million should sort this problem and as soon as the sfa give mr king the nod there will be a board meeting ………… Give me a pint of his tipple 😆
sickofitall says:
March 2, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Quite interesting, and good that the farce is being highlighted in the FT, but would have been better if the writer, Kate Burgess, had highlighted just why WH Ireland feel compelled to resign as NOMAD should Dave King be successful. Surely the impact of the article would have been so much greater if it had included a critique of King that would show that the chances are that the standard of the club/company’s governance would drop to ‘below the radar’ levels if he ‘climbs the marble staircase’, giving further cause for concern over AIM’s own governance.
Welcome though this article is when compared to the guff we are used to, I do wonder if there are any journalists left who will dish all the dirt on the most unscrupulous of the rich and powerful!
People like King really deserve to have their washing, shown to be so dirty by another country’s legal system, hung out, unlaundered, for all to see.
Ms Burgess might be quite grateful if a subscriber to the FT online service dropped her a wee email with such a suggestion 😉
Big Pink says:
March 2, 2015 at 6:18 pm
We have to remember that Llambias and Leach severed links with Ashley and SD before taking up their posts on 3 Nov 2104 and 5 Jan 2015 respectively.
The £10m loan facility announcement on 27 January 2015 stated
Sports Direct will also have the right to nominate two directors to the board of Rangers for the duration of the Facility.
My reading is that SD has not taken up that option being Llambias and Leach have no SD connection and were already in post.
Therefore if they are voted off and the loan facility is still ongoing Ashley can invoke his right the nominate two new directors.
wottpi says: March 2, 2015 at 6:35 pm
=====================
If this evening’s SFA hearing finds Ashley guilty and insists that L&L were his placemen, then L&L could be forced to step down by a certain date.
If that was the case and they resigned before the EGM, then where would that leave the club and King’s EGM motions, with no directors and a Nomad who has already announced they will resign should King be appointed.
wottpi says:
March 2, 2015 at 6:35 pm
That’s my reading of it too. Given Ashley’s thrawn nature, I would not be the least surprised to see him re-appoint both Llambias & Leach, 5 minutes after King sacks them assuming King does, of course.
At some point the farce has to end, and rational management begin, though, there is no sign of Carry on Up The Broomloan ending its run any time soon.
Question for HP
Hypothetically, what would be the status of any decisions taken, or contracts entered into, by Directors, who had not sought and received permission to serve in the circumstances you outlined? I am sensing the possibility of messy and protracted legal cases arising 🙄
easyJambo says:
March 2, 2015 at 6:44 pm
I said a few days we should keep our eyes open for something coming out of left field.
Nothing will surprise me in this sorry saga.
SSB
Great stuff already.
Billy Davies and £50m will sort us out says one Bear. No mention of where the £50m is coming from. A decent point made that there will be an uplift in income if the bears flood back through the doors till the end of the season but no mention of how much and how quickly that will go back out the door.
Before you know it Davies isn’t up to the job, he is not Rangers class and he is a failed manager (40.71 win record on 5 stints at management with smaller clubs).
That’s why Stuart McCall(38.51 win record on 2 stints of management with smaller clubs) is the man some want??
wottpi says:
March 2, 2015 at 6:52 pm
So often RFC/TRFC have got out of jail free when we all thought they would be facing justice; maybe this time, when the bears are thinking it’s jelly and ice cream time for them, justice will prevail and see Ashley leave, with his onerous contracts glued in place, and King barred from the board, left with an excuse to ‘jet out’ with his RRM ‘honour’ intact!
“Carry on Up The Broomloan…..”
the naming rights could be handy for Sid James’ Park
Brenda says:
Early caller on SSB ‘so happy’ to see the back of Mr Somers and everything’s going to be fine!!!!! £50million should sort this problem and as soon as the sfa give mr king the nod there will be a board meeting ………… Give me a pint of his tipple 😆
========================================
A couple of months back the same caller was on forecasting Ashley would spend £40-50M and the club would go from strength to strength. He is a fantasist. No serious person would go live on Radio and spout such nonsense on a regular basis.
Not spend but invest in the TRFC lexicon .. Not waving but drowning as the poet says
Wottpi
Maybe MA giving long term contracts is a way of securing payouts for L and L for their own spiv night out if DK gets rid of them. Could also be another way of taking more cash out of his own loan?
easyJambo says:
March 2, 2015 at 6:44 pm
I said a few days we should keep our eyes open for something coming out of left field.
,,,,,,,,,,,,
If it does then it may well be a replacement surrogate for Ashley (Sarver) making a bid for the assets using Ashleys money
Think about it
Ashley owns 9% of RIFC, perhaps 29% if he bankrolled the hidden Spivs
Lets say its 9%
To buy 91% of RIFC at 35p would cost £28.51m The buyer would still be saddled with all the onerous contracts
To outbid King for the assets might cost ££10m – 15m The Buyer gets a business free of all onerous contracts except those tied up in the Ashley loans that survive liquidation
So
Liquidation gives Ashley the best deal.It also enables him to transfer all the onerous contracts to himself
The Fan investors, King and the 3 Bears get a massive haircut losing at least 50% of their recent investment
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The first pretend Ashley (Sarver) bid introduced Sarver as a white Knight willing to throw millions down the Ibrox drain
a second Sarver Bid is very likely when Ashley calls up his loans and liquidates RIFC
But
Theres just a chance that King and Johnston have done sufficient homework on Sarver to expose him as an Ashley surrogate
In which case another Ashley surrogate might emerge from left field
Castaway
Middlesborough fans singing Stoichkov and Romario to Manyoo after the 4-1 hammering by Barca.
Arsenal had won the league but went to Liverpool and sang 0-4 to the champions as well as you’ve got all the hubcaps we’ve got Dennis Bergkamp.
3rd Div Top of table clash between Bristol City and Fulham and City fans sang going down going down going down – reference to Hugh Grant who was a Fulham Director after his Divine Brown moment!
Scottish football needs more humour in Arbroath.
Has anyone heard how the investigation into the fraudulent transfer of the assets is going on?
I heard a whisper at the weekend the polis are aware of who signed the famous document but that the investigation also turned up another interesting chapter to The Duke of Normandy’s life.
Neither story can be true however because I’m sure our intrepid media would have discovered these tit bits long ago?
It also explains why Ibrox is ‘unsecurable’.
Why this investigation is bogged down should be investigated itself.
HP,
I trust your knowledge when you say that DK has to seek the approval of ‘the court’ before he can take a director position at anything like Rangers. If they are unlikely to approve it for the rules you provided, how does ‘the court’ work? Do they proactively monitor for such instances and then take action, or could King avoid sanction by not seeking approval from them?
If the latter, can anyone (i.e. non-creditor, non-shareholder, non-whatever) report such a breach, if it comes to pass?
Why do you just get the feeling that this train is about to hit the buffers,big time.
Correct, and without going all koboyashi on you all, the greatest trick he ever pulled was to convince them their massive train on the downhill track to freedom was being derailed when in fact there was no train at all! Just a leased in push-pull cart on HP with a wee guy on the front with a torch shouting woo woo.
Superscoreboard on Clyde. No one here has a good word to say about it; the pundits are mince; the callers are deluded. As a non-listener, that’s the impression I get. So – genuine question – why give it the time of day?
Nawlite -no Brysonian logic here A potential director who has something to report to the Court is under a duty to report his situation to the court or breach a fiduciary duty if he does not first he is proving his unsuitability -the court will not look kindly on that second he is piling criminality on criminality, it’s not as though this is a low profile company where he might not get caught at any naughtiness which may occur
Methilhill Stroller says:March 2, 2015 at 8:04 pm
Castaway
Middlesborough fans singing Stoichkov and Romario to Manyoo after the 4-1 hammering by Barca.
Arsenal had won the league but went to Liverpool and sang 0-4 to the champions as well as you’ve got all the hubcaps we’ve got Dennis Bergkamp.
3rd Div Top of table clash between Bristol City and Fulham and City fans sang going down going down going down – reference to Hugh Grant who was a Fulham Director after his Divine Brown moment!
Scottish football needs more humour in Arbroath.
——————————————-
Stroller
Quite good examples alright, although again all English. The last good one I remember in Scotland, mind you I don’t get to many games, was at Love Street when Celtic got a free kick that wasn’t (rare occurrence) to which St. Mirin fans responded with an operatic “It’s a conspiracy”. Had to chuckle after a reflex growl.
Your last line’s good. Hope Redlichtie’s oot.
nawlite says:
March 2, 2015 at 8:13 pm
HP,
I trust your knowledge when you say that DK has to seek the approval of ‘the court’ before he can take a director position at anything like Rangers. If they are unlikely to approve it for the rules you provided, how does ‘the court’ work? Do they proactively monitor for such instances and then take action, or could King avoid sanction by not seeking approval from them?
If the latter, can anyone (i.e. non-creditor, non-shareholder, non-whatever) report such a breach, if it comes to pass?
9 0 Rate This
=====================================================================
Details of how to alert the Insolvency Service can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/387143/Investigations-Hotline.pdf
The online form is here:
https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/ExternalOnlineForms/BreachQuestionnaire.aspx
Panic over. The DR has printed the five questions DK MUST answer with the minor caveat that it is only AFTER he ascends the stair case.
Of course, don’t go thinking that money figures in any of the 5.
Suffice it to say the DR have already provided the answers so see if you can guess the questions. Answers are:
1/. Just because I am!
2/. Because they shouldn’t be (onerous)
3/. Stuart McCall
4/. Scouts, who needs em?
5./ can’t even remember number 5 but suffice it to say the answer wasn’t I’ve got £50m right here in a pile.
justshatered says:
March 2, 2015 at 8:07 pm
Has anyone heard how the investigation into the fraudulent transfer of the assets is going on?
I heard a whisper at the weekend the polis are aware of who signed the famous document but that the investigation also turned up another interesting chapter to The Duke of Normandy’s life.
Neither story can be true however because I’m sure our intrepid media would have discovered these tit bits long ago?
It also explains why Ibrox is ‘unsecurable’.
Why this investigation is bogged down should be investigated itself.
_________________________________________________
Oooh Please please please let it be sooo!
Wouldn’t it be simply wonderful if it turned out that the whole thing was botched and real beneficial owners of Ibrox turned out still to be RFC(IL)?
That would be justice.
For the Creditors! The real victims in this pantomime.
And what an opportunity for RRM to acquire it from them at a proper valuation.
(eh …. where did they all disappear to?….)
justshatered says:
March 2, 2015 at 8:07 pm
Neither story can be true however because I’m sure our intrepid media would have discovered these tit bits long ago?
——————————————
The Sun did but it lost them recently. 😆
—————————————–
Smugas says:
March 2, 2015 at 9:10 pm
“Correct, and without going all koboyashi on you all..”
————————————–
Is this going to last until 2285?
Methilhill Stroller says:
March 2, 2015 at 7:57 pm
Maybe MA giving long term contracts is a way of securing payouts for L and L for their own spiv night out if DK gets rid of them. Could also be another way of taking more cash out of his own loan?
=======================================
MS, after some years of watching these spivs in action we seem to have become experts in how to do this kind of thing.
Junior CWs & CGs must be reading this blog as part of their ‘studies’! 🙁
Scottish Football has a lot of humour around the Arbroath area :
https://www.musical1.com/michael-marra/audio/112/i-dont-like-methil-o-m
Eh wiz ther!
upthehoops says:
March 2, 2015 at 7:19 pm
Brenda says:
Early caller on SSB ‘so happy’ to see the back of Mr Somers and everything’s going to be fine!!!!! £50million should sort this problem and as soon as the sfa give mr king the nod there will be a board meeting ………… Give me a pint of his tipple 😆
_________________________________________________
Er… You don’t drink that stuff.
You press a button.
With your nose.
And then a nurse brings it to you.
And normally it is administered while you are lying down.
Face down, in fact.
Rabtdog @ 9.15 pm I listen to SSB as I make the dinner for my family and iron my kids school uniforms 😉 although I am multi tasking and ironing and cooking need a wee bit of thought and concentration 😆 listening to SSB is pretty simple and so comical usually Gerry McCulloch calls a halt to proceedings if TRFC fans are talking ‘fairy stories’ but don’t think he could speak for laughing at the weird and wonderful ‘ideas and beliefs’ of sevco fans looking so forward to Friday’s EGM……….and their opinion that Billy Davies will just not cut it at a club/company the size sevco 😉
Andy Newport @AndyNewportPA 8m8 minutes ago Glasgow, Scotland
SFA say Mike Ashley duel ownership hearing has finished for the night. No decision to report yet
Andy Newport @AndyNewportPA 2m2 minutes ago Glasgow, Scotland
Update to come tomorrow