May 6, 2012
Last week has the potential to be a monumental one in the history of Rangers if Miller's deal goes ahead and the club is saved. The coming week represents even more. The SPL vote will arguably be the most momentous week in the history of every member club and Scottish football as a whole.
May 3, 2012
With the news Bill Miller has been announced as the preferred bidder it seems we may be seeing the start of a resolution to Rangers' current troubles. If the deal is concluded then next season there will be a Rangers. You will know they are Rangers because they will play in blue, they will have RFC on their chests and when you look at the (SPL?) league table you will see them listed as Rangers Football Club.
April 23, 2012
Our former owner and Knight of the Realm is sitting in his castle counting other people's money. Our current owner has snuck back into Scotland and is sipping champagne whilst contemplating the potential return on his £1 "investment" in Rangers. The blazers are doing what blazers always do, nothing until it is too late. The hack-erati are busy scribbling with their crayons and our rivals continue praying to the Gods of Jelly and Ice Cream that today will be the day... All the while Rangers fans, the only people who ever truly had the club's interests at heart, are left climbing the walls.
April 14, 2012
A week and a half after Rangers' administrators invited "best and final offers" it appears at first glance that not much is happening in the way of a conclusion. If press reports are to be believed the Blue Knights offer would see creditors receiving £10 million through a CVA. The alternative offers envisage a business and assets sale thought to mean a return of at least double for the creditors. In any other situation this would be a no brainer for the administrators but as ever the issues to be resolved are not purely financial they are also footballing.
For months now this blog has stated two things consistently. Firstly I have maintained that the end game would be a business and assets deal that would save the football club but not the existing company. Secondly I have maintained that any punishment imposed on Rangers should be based on the existing rules and regulations. Clearly this will not come to pass with commercial considerations being prioritised a scenario that will serve only to disappoint and disenfranchise football supporters of all persuasions.
March 24, 2012
Tomorrow could be the last Old Firm game played at Ibrox for quite some time if we are to believe the fantasists/realists/jelly and ice cream brigade (delete as you think appropriate).
March 22, 2012
Weeks of administration look set to drift into months. Friday's false "deadline" regarding bids came and went with notes of intent lodged from knights, sharks and a Chicago turnaround mob. Other interest is also said to exist from as far a field as Singapore and the Middle East. Until the administrators actually establish they have the power to sell Craig Whyte's shares and manage to have the Ticketus contract ruled invalid in court then we will remain, at best, in limbo. This week the events of true significance all centred on the growing cries of "cheat, cheat, cheat".
March 11, 2012
Three weeks into administration and things go from murky to murkier. With no clear view on the club's security, no certainty of fulfilling fixtures until the end of the season, no conclusion on the Ticketus monies and only understandably vague revelations of potential bidders it seems there will be no immediate end to the uncertainties surrounding our club. I have said repeatedly that the end game for me is a sale of the business and assets, i.e. everything that constitutes the club, to a new company (newco). For me the current company is simply the ownership structure of the club and Rangers will survive. The fall out in terms of punishments and demotions though make many uncomfortable with such a resolution.
I thought at this juncture it was worth considering the recent performance and position of the key protagonists in the current drama.
February 20, 2012
A dystopian vision of the footballing future came into view for Rangers fans around the world this week. The appointment of administrators will in time allow the misdemeanours and excesses of the last two regimes to be laid bare. Tax evasion, fraud, a missing £24 million, money laundering… over the last week the more details that have emerged the less clear the nightmare has appeared.
February 14, 2012
... except of course it is true. The grim reality of Rangers lodging the necessary documents to appoint administrators was greeted with dismay and shock by a large section of the Rangers support but it is difficult to understand why. No sooner had I drafted an article for this blog on where the blame lay and the possible implications of that event, the news breaks that HMRC had lodged papers seeking to force administration. On Tuesday afternoon, Rangers appointed an administrator.
• Blog: Do Celtic really need Rangers?
January 31, 2012
Rangers have sold their main striker for around £6 million, well under his true value. For some this represents the point the club lost the league. They are wrong though we lost the league because of Naismith's injury, or more accurately management's inability to cope with his enforced absence. Jelavic? Good player yes, but his heart is not in it and we can always find someone else to take the penalties.