Tannochsidebear

Dear Secretary I don't need to tell you about the drastic situation our Club is in at the moment, we have heard all the stories of who is to blame and these stories will go on and on until the Administrators publish their report, and I suspect even after this there will still be accusations of blame flying around. We are, where we are right now, and we need to move forward to protect Rangers Football Club, which I'm sure we will all agree, is not in a good place at the moment, both the Club and you the Fans are suffering through this time. Now is the time to stand up and be counted, myself and many, others have been inundated with request from Fans from accross the World all wanting to donate money to help the Club in its hour of need. Fans are getting really frustrated and this is understandable, I am a fan, and I feel exactly the same way, we are all desperate to help by our Club by donating cash, myself and my work colleagues included, however, the last thing we want is for splinter groups breaking off raising money only to find out there is no where for it to go. This is why Manager Ally McCoist, has ask me to invite you as Supporters Clubs Secretary to come along to the Ibrox Suite, tomorrow Saturday 10th March, at 12 noon to allow us to put our plan forward to you. We will take and (hopefully) answer any questions you may have about what we have planned, and we will be looking for your Loyal support with this fighting fund, which is backed 100% by our Manager Ally McCoist and several other ex players and Walter Smith as well. Rangers legends Ally McCoist, Walter Smith and Sandy Jardine are to launch the â??Rangers Fans Fighting Fundâ?? which urges supporters worldwide to back the Club they love by making donations to a secure account that will generate essential revenue throughout the administration process. The â??Rangers Fans Fighting Fundâ?? will allow supporters to make cash donations that will directly affect the Club now and will go a long way towards helping secure its future. Supporters will be able to donate to a secured bank account and through Paypal, full details on exactly how to donate will be found on the Rangers Supporters Assembly Facebook page tomorrow. Ally McCoist, Sandy Jardine, Walter Smith, Jim Hannah and Rangers Supporters Assembly President Andy Kerr will control the bank account and pass on donations to administrators Duff and Phelps when the money is required on a weekly basis. Rangers Manager Ally McCoist said: â??I encourage all fans to back the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund and help the Club in any way they can, as they have done in recent weeks. â??Our fans have been fantastic. They are showing their true colours and have not walked away during these times of need. On behalf of everyone at the Club I would like to thank our supporters for all for their efforts and I ask them to keep backing us, keep filling Ibrox for matches and make a direct donation to the campaign as their support will make a difference.â? Regards Jim Hannah Supporters Liaison Manager Rangers FC

I have some knowledge of the Blue Knights proposal, and the number involved is much larger than 4. Should it be successful, fans representation will be assured, and membership/share options will be available in tiered levels. A new Rangers board will be the biggest and most varied the club has ever seen. Cant say any more at this time, and while I have my doubts regarding Paul Murray given he has had all that time on the board and never put in any work like this despite us being up for sale and in major financial problems, it would appear he is doing this very professionally and with a lot of new ideas which are quite exciting.

This is an absolute non-story. There were two arrests at the match. There is absolutely no indication that they were arrested for an offence under the new law. It was more likely a BotP charge on both cases, especially the one outside the ground which more than likely involved drink given by past statistics. Didnt stop the Sun making up a sectarian story without any facts whatsoever. Really poor journalism as usual.

All this talk of draconian action is just unactionable. Cast your mind back to when the talk was all about a bigger top league. The SPL chairmen would not vote for it as they need the Rangers support to attend their grounds twice a season to survive. There is not a chance in hell that the other SPL chairmen will vote for any draconian measures that would see the Rangers relegated to another league. What we must also remember is that our administration has been caused by non-payment of PAYE and VAT that has been accrued THIS SEASON. Until the "big tax case" finds against us and hits us with an unpayable bill, we are in no worse position than any other club in the league, ie in big debt. It was Whyte's choice to take us into administration rather than raise the cash to pay for this seasons loss, or do a deal with creditors to pay them over time. Yes, he inherited a mess from the bastard Murray, but we must not let our enemies tell us that this is all about the NIAR era, or the last 3IAR titles etc, because quite simply it is not.

There will be no official boycott, as the issue divides fans almost in half between sending out a message to those who work against us, and supporting our team anywhere and everywhere. I would suggest more and more fans are starting to make individual choices not to go to places like Tannadice and the piggery, but I cant ever see a day where all the fans groups call for a boycott of any game.

The above Company was incorporated on 11 October 1994, with a registered office at 24 Great King Street, Edinburgh. This Company subsequently changed its name on became "The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Limited" and currently trades as Celtic Football Club. So let us start the campaign that as the old Company folded in 1994 and was replaced by this Company, that all trophies, including the big jug, won before 1994 be stripped from their official records. The Company that Liewell runs has a very very proud history going back all of 18 years and has won 7 titles, 6 scottish cups and 5 league cups. Pass this info around every bear you know, get on the phone-ins and let us ensure the gloating fans of Pacific Shelf 595 Limited that we are not the first to think about a change of name, and that it doesnt necessarily mean that previous history is lost.

FFS, there should have been a warning that the link was to a daily record story, feel ashamed I have given they scumbags a hit. Wil need to thoroughly cleanse my computer now. Cut and paste stories from the Rhebel please, do not support this anti-Rangers muckraking shower of scum.

That was Churchillian stuff from Super. Real rousing chest-thumping proud and true blue positivity. I really hope that tomorrow is for the team and the management, and not diverted towards off the field stuff and posturing that our enemies are creaming themselves at the thought of.

Nacho's comment is a belter

I am quite certain that he is the latter, but am growing more of the opinion that history may judge him as the former also. The next 6 weeks I am sure will prove the latter to be accurate, but it may also prove the former to be correct.

Likewise we cant be too precious about picking and choosing who we want to take over, as there is not exactly a clamour for the role. Anyone coming in will get a honeymoon period and our best wishes that they can move us forward, but the lessons must be learned and any new owner must be open enough to agree to letting the fans be part of the future direction of the club, and not just some token gestures.

The best guess is that any players with either no resale value or in the final year of their contract will be released. This would be normal for an admin to do to cut the wage bill. This is why Papac Bartley, healy and Aluko have been mentioned. I would add McCulloch and Alexander to that list as well. It is obviously then up to Ally to fight for the players he genuinely cannot do without. This would probably mean Aluko getting a reprieve. With the title race over and second place assured, getting rid of all the players above might cost us a few points but probably not 2nd place, and will allow Ally to fill his squad with more of his own players over the summer when we are out of admin. I would also guess there will be cuts in the coaching, fitness and sports science departments.

My mis-trust of Murray is probably more to do with a lot of the info I have got about him and his "partners" over the last 3 or 4 years, and their part in the PR campaign against Whyte (and therefore blackening the name of the club). For clarification I dont want Whyte either as he doesnt have the funds necessary to fulfil the role to the standard required, but at least I can now see the plan he has had from day 1 and he is close to getting it through, at which time we will be in a much better place to go forward, albeit with a stigma that will outlive us all.

I agree there is a great opportunity to make lasting changes to the club which should ensure nothing like this need happen again. After the Ibrox disaster of '71 we promised to change the stadium to make it a safer place for us, and the all-seater stadium followed some years later. This current situation has cost no lives thankfully, and lets not forget that, but that also gives us the focus and spirit to find our own all-seater solution. A fan on the board does not do it for me as this is too easily swayed with position and power. True accountability to the fans means more than a token seat, where the inhabitant is sworn to secrecy on the important issues and is therefore unable to do his job properly. A monthly meeting, with management accounts presented, between the club board and a fans board should be a must, as well as open communications with all club departments and the fans. A fans membership scheme is also preferable, with discount vouchers for club shops (and online) and restaurants, tours etc for local bears and appropriate incenties for overseas bears to make all bears worldwide want to join up. A one-member one-vote decides the annual make-up of the board, with all board members standing for re-election every year, and compulsory resignation after 3 years, with a further 3 year wait before you can rejoin the board. This will stop anyone forgetting their role as fans rep, not a personal badge of honour, and will also stop complacency.

Be very careful what we wish for in Paul Murray here. He, and his pals, have been waiting for administration to happen since Murray put the club up for sale. They have been running about in the background telling folk they have the money but wont put it in until after admin as they didnt want to be the ones with the stigma attached to put the club into admin. They will be going all out on a charm offensive from now on similar to Fergus in the 90's across the city to galvanise support for them. But please everyone should remember that Murray was a board member for a long time and chose not to put one penny into the club. I trust him not one single per cent more than Whyte as I think they are both cut from the same cloth and neither worthy (or rich enough) to be in charge of our great club. However Whyte is slightly ahead as the man who at least had the balls to take on the sinking ship, take the personal abuse and the muck-raking, and hopefully pull us through this quickly.

My take on the events of the last year, leading up to where we are today, and a preferred possible outcome. Whyte has seen an opportunity to come in, get Rangers to self-fund a takeover from Murray, who was only too happy to get rid of us, bin the debt and emerge with a fantastic business opportunity. He negotiated with ticketus to self-fund the purchase of Rangers. This is similar to what happened at Man Utd when the Glazers borrowed the money to buy the club, and arranged for the club to pay the loans back, with them only guaranteeing the repayments if the club could not afford to. Whyte borrows £20M+ via his other Company from ticketus, to pay off the bank and give some working capital as he has no money to put in of his own. His company will have given Ticketus guarantees ont he repayments, but the repayments will come from Rangers, not from his other Company. This is the same as getting a bank overdraft, but more expensive. Effectively the club has replaced one debt with another. Instead of LBG, we now owe Ticketus via CW's company. CW has also arranged other loans and finance agreements to fund his other spending. He done a deal with Azure to split the costs of upgrading the food outlets and concourses. Azure paid us in cash for thier half of the cost, and we financed the whole deal through a finance house. This gave some more short-term cashflow to the club. CW has had administration in mind from the start. The fact he has been happy to accrue PAYE/VAT debts makes me certain that this was the plan all along as this is a well known scam for small businesses to pull. He has been happy to accrue Creditors, take out finance agreements instead of using cashflow, and miss normal business liability payments as he has had no intention to pay these items all along. Of course, he will never admit it or it would be illegal, as he can argue that the lack of European money this year, coupled with the lack of domestic cup runs and falling attendances has meant that his projected income is much lower than forecast, and costs have been much higher than expected due to the inherited liabilities, and blame all this on the events of today. What Whyte did not bargain on was the media campaign to dig out the dirt on him, and the dirty tactics used by the old board, which has pushed this ahead much quicker than he anticipated. As far as I am concerned Whyte has not put any substantial money of his own into the club, but instead has borrowed the money to take over the club, and if he can manoevere the club through administration and out the other side, dropping the HMRC pursuit in the meantime, he will be in a great position to profit from a sale of the club. Some other points of administration include the fact that the administrators have to come in and look at every contract the club is entered into and see if they are still good value for the club. Therefore if the admin decide that the JJB deal no longer works for us, it can go. The same for Azure, the ticketing, media, and program/magazine contracts, together with anything else that is outsourced. This could be a way for Whyte to get rid of the JJB deal and create our own shops again if that is seen as a profitable venture, however in this economic climate that is arguable. The best possible case scenario for us is that we come out of administration before we are banned from Europe for 2012-13, before another 10 point deduction for season 2012-13 kicks in, and without all the old debt to HMRC and other contracts. This also enables us to get rid of players, coaches, and staff that are on far too much money, and we can ultimately replace them with better value people. This is obviously horrible for any individuals involved, but a necessary evil to allow us, in one action, to cut our wage costs to a manageable level. I am hoping that every single tim employed within Ibrox throughout the ticket office, admin offices, the training centre (renamed surely?), gets the bullet and takes their sniggering gloating faces to the brew. Not quite so funny now for they scumbags should that happen. This will be a short period, probably no more than 6 weeks in administration, but the hurt and stigma will last an awful lot longer. Another point to ponder; Re the change of Company, this has already happened several times over our history, as it has at celtic, as every change of owner has a trading vehicle which ultimately owns the club. Fergus McCann changed the whole company at celtic and we dont hear anyone saying their history pre-1993 (or whenever that was) is obsolete. Nor will it be the case for us.

Why oh why must the old Board continue to keep on with the mudslinging against Whyte. My educated guess is that it is Paul Murray who is giving Traynob sight of "management accounts to April", and info re ticketus etc in his continued effort to undermine Whyte and regain control of Rangers post-admin for a cheap price. The very man who claimed to have a £25M plan to buy the club after 4 years on the board and just days before the Whyte deal, which remember had dragged on for months, had been completed. Can he really be any more believable or genuine than the current or previous custodian?

I understand where you are coming from Frankie regarding an EGM, but I dont think it will make much difference to what we are getting just now. Going on the format of previous AGM's, if they didnt want to answer a question openly, they gave a politician's answer and moved on. Putting answers on the record didnt help us hold Murray to account all these years, as their shareholding makes them untouchable. Very uncomfortable to hear confirmation that we have a facility with Ticketus for 3 years season ticket money up front. I dont like that one bit and this will certainly lead to cashflow problems going forward, unless we continue with a 3 year rolling agreement to keep it pushing along. I did love the dig at the former board members where he said he hasnt taken a penny out and pays for his own travel, unlike those sniping. This is a direct hit at AJ who hit the club with enormous travel cost bills, allegedly for far more travel than just club business. I am very uncomfortable with ex-board members going public in the Daily Rhebel and having continued pot-shots at our new owner, when they oversaw the whole goddam mess under Murray with not a comment. It seems it was ok as long as they were getting paid, but now the golden egg has moved on they have become very bitter. Not half as bitter as we, the fans, should be about their involvement in our club.

This story could just as easily be written as "skint Celts plead for cash bail-out from Gers". The facts remain the same as in the story above, it just comes from the opposite angle. Also, given that Celtic report bank debt as at 31 December in their half-year accounts, surely another £336K in the coffers will make their figures look better than it would otherwise.

All questions he has been asked and answered before, so nothing at all new coming out of this, but good that Whyte again gave his time to communicate with fans groups, something that was sadly missing over the last 20+ years.

Can we get to see this please?

I have heard that the documentary focuses on Whyte's past before coming to Rangers and asks where he got his money from, and it is alarming to say the least. The bbc lawyers have been all over it for over a week. Daly has been in USA and Monace in the last 10 days interviewing/digging. I also understand copies were sent to all other Rangers board members and that is the real reason why McClelland and Greig have chosen now to resign. I was under the impression Whyte has seen it and was asked for a comment on Tuesday and declined, but perhaps he has only been asked certain questions regarding their findings and hasnt seen it yet.

As far as I see it, we have withdrawn all co-operation with the BBC, not banned them. My guess is this would mean they would get their usual place in media conferences, but their reporters would be ignored when they put their hand up, and we would always be "too busy" to grant a one to one interview. Compulsory post-match interviews would be delayed until the bbc was off air, as happens quite often on tv and on radio at the moment. We could always just drop a wee sweary word into each sentence so they could not take the risk of broadcasting interviews live. I would hope this will be as petty as refusing the bbc men free tea and pies whilst at Ibrox. Let us make it as uncomfortable as possible for them while still giving them their contractual rights. There are plenty of ways we can ensure the bbc do not get any assistance from us that still fall within the SPL contract.

G4S's contract is up for renewal at the end of this season, and the rumour is it will NOT be getting renewed.

Bain's new contract just months before the takeover, giving him a great pay rise and a fixed term contract (to give him a bigger pay-off post-takeover) was corrupt at best, and as finance director he must have authorised it, or at worst didnt do anything to say wait a minute, everyone should be on the same terms until the new owners come in. The 2 of them were at it for their own good when they knew they were going to be surplus to requirements under the new regime, and deserve nothing but our contempt for their actions. As CEO and FD under the old regime they hardly ran the club positively did they? Unless you call running it into the ground positive!