der Berliner

When speaking about March 31st, we were speaking about applications for Europe. At the time, it was not clear how long the process would last, how tricky the work of the admins. I think I carefully pointed that out back then, i.e. we don't have any clues, so I will not hazard a guess how long or short, for that matter, it would take and whether it might be over before the European deadline. Now we are speaking about a wholly different situation, going by what our first hand informers (sic!, not some press hacks) - i.e. the administrators - have said. For a) they told us that meeting the deadline for Europe is virtually impossible, b) that we have a number of interested parties in talks, and c) our club is - for the time being - save from any financial meltdown due to the players accepting wage cuts. As in: the situation has moved the goalposts, not I. They made it clear that March 31st is out of reach and thus put this date out of the equation. What is kind of annoying is that despite the essentially positive feedback from the administrators about the finances, their constant reminder that liquidation is not on their agenda, their hope that we may be out of administration before the end of the season, and a number (not just one unknown quantity like January 2011) of parties firmly interested ... the press and some boarders can't stop talking about liquidation and the road to the abyss like this is a cast-into-stone-certainty. THIS is what I referred to when writing the word scaremongering. In general, I've always been slightly optimistic since the administrators took over, for ... they know what they are doing and no party involved want to see the club liquidated. People may view this differently, but that is for them to decide.

Depends, right now I'm laughing, for I read the following post on FF about an upcoming article by Tom English that "may see some Celtic supporters spontaneously combust" (his wordds on twitter): Honestly? I just wait and see. There is hardly anything we can do, so I keep my own counsel and stay mildly optimistic. We'll see out the season thanks to players who IMHO are legends. And hopefully, despite ongoing scaremongering, we'll be out of administration before the end of the season too. If Whyte has any dignity left, he hands over his shares to the admins and spares us any more legal trouble.

Can someone explain a bit about the history and the name Rangers Swifts, please?

Anyone "in here" to make money raises the alarm levels. There is hardly a way to make money from a "big" European football club, especially if it is stuck in Scotland. For you'd have to run it at a low key fees- and wages-wise (e.g. like Rosenborg Trondheim, Kopenhagen), with a lot of young, homebred potential involved, as much involvement in European competitions as possible, and a good transfer-out quota. Methinks we would "do well" if we can reach a break-even while being succesfull in the SPL, the rest is more or less wishful thinking. That should be made clear to any foreign bidder, and this is also one of the things pretty clear to any British-based investor.

While the one-man ownership clearly has its disadvantages (you do wonder how many British club have that in place and running smoothly, while the failures are the only ones who get highlighted), I am not sure how such a "consortium" will run a club. Some people need to reign their egos and stay in the background, while sensible folk need to keep all things on course. Hm ...

I quite like the black jerseys with red trims and would actually love - given the occasion - if we'd wear them till the end of administration (apart from the HHs games). Any gesture that generates money directly for the club is welcomed though.

That caused a wry smile. For by the time that happens, Rangers will have clocked up titles 55 to 60. Much of what will happen still depends on the "big case" result, which should be due anytime soon, as the time is rapidly running out since they closed their case in January. You would hope that the people concerned see the need to get their act together, one way or another. As for Ticketus, as Leggat says, the BKs may use them for the time being to have a "floating charge" facility as long as there is no bank willing to establish this for us (because of the "big case").

The O2 Worlds over here (Berlin & Hamburg) are making money because they have the local icehockey and basketball teams* playing 3 to 6 matches a month in front of 10k to 15k from early August to early May. Inbetween lots of concerts. But honestly, that would be AEG's concerns, not ours. ;-) *Partly or wholly owned by AEG.

Mabye we should be drumming up at Pacific Quay about this new law on strange behaviour within football grounds ... like singing pro-terrorist songs. They can enforce tougher stuff now, like deducting points for continuous chanting throughout the season. A point for every game in which that occured ... so they might actually make the top 6.

Actually, when the O2 World (Berlin) opened, we had an in-house caterer company for a couple of years. Once their contract ended, the owners of this hall (Anschütz EG) hired a "new one", the same that was already in place at the O2 World in Hamburg. And guess what, it is owned to 30% by Anschütz too. Keeping the profit in the house, so to speak. Hence I assumed you were referring to that caterer branch of AEG, not a company that goes with the same name. Coming to think of it, maybe AEG buys the land besides Ibrox and builds another, there, 15.000 all seater or 17.000 seats & standing arena? Costs roughly 170m, lots of jobs, ideal place for the Masters, and the curling championships, boxing, darts, concerts, and ...

AEG does not solely do catering. They own concert halls, sports arenas, football, baseball, icehoecky, and basketball teams.

Methinks they "back" the idea of fan involvment in general. So far, no-one has shown a bid openly and thus I think it is a bit hasty to think that either of the supporters organisations are actually "supporting" a particular bid more than others.

IMHO, Grandmaster has become very involved in these matters, but on the whole, has not exactly been over-the-top as being claimed above. We are all very agitated about what is happening and looking or causing for strife within the support won't help anyone. I for one keep my own counsel and he, as one of the prime figures of the Trust (but still very much a man of his own), will receive much more spotlight. Will not weigh his words any greater than others though.

Where from? I actually suggested (sic!) that we may strike a deal with them, as they are heavy hitters in that business and are closely tied to O2, who might be interested in becoming shirt sponsors (Arsenal?). They own quite a few sports teams themselves. Not knowing how good they are dealing with them though.

David Leggat has a long article about Paul Murray and Ticketus today. It makes sense to me, not that Iam diggesting it all without the proverbial pinch of salt. In any case, we should not look at each and every bidder that happens by with the doom-and-gloom glasses either. We sure suffered these last few months, but not all out there are solely trying to get us done or something in their favour.

Obviously, it also showed to any potential bidder that there is a will to invest into the club from within the fan-base. So if he/they is/are smart enough, they will take over and try to utilze this fanbase too, maybe not instantly, but in months and years to come. There is not exactly a need to do all the good stuff within a fortnight or so, even though for most of the supporters this is a burning issue. IMHO, the club would be best served if a new owner / owners take/s us out of administration now, has enough cash/financial power to sustain us on his/their own, but also initiate a club driven club membership scheme which gives the members a certain say about club matters too, German style, via a trusted spokesperson (i.e. "president") a la Walter Smith. The more members we have, the stronger is the clubs financial basis and the word this spokesperson (voted for annually, perhaps) is. Utopian for a British club, not so in Europe.

Which is probably Whyte's problem, as he only paid 1 pound for Rangers to SDM (all shares, Ibrox, and MP et al). Does that make him a preferred creditor? "If the fans paid" for the debt accumulated over the years, they hand to the new owners a debt-free club (at least from this angle of debt), so they would a) are able to invest their money straight away, based on what they get from the rest on ticket-income and anything they can chuck in by themselves or sponsorship deals. And b) have "only" to cover any outstanding debts of the Whyte era (if any) and what comes of the HMRC bills (if any). Methinks we have money frozen in the accounts because of the small HMRC bill, so a decent quantity of that is already "covered". Obviously, if the Ticketus deal done by Whyte can be declaired legally none & void by the admins, the club would be in an even better position, with Ticketus being as p*ssed off as you can get and haring after those who duped them. And whether they will be willing to deal with us again is also open for debate. And, btw, a rumour (sic!) on FF with regard to overseas interest:

... or try the old ways and place an advert in the local papers. Will initially cost a few pounds, but might be worthwhile in the long run.

For the supporters' convenience I collected all the relevant statements from the Rangers homepage, so you do not need the click through a dozen pages of the club's site. Which is not to say that you shall not visit it regularly! Collected statements on administration over at the German board, updated reguarly.

IMHO, creating a membership scheme that is lead/fronted by some diehard and trusted Rangers men (e.g. Walter Smith) is the way to get the club forward. Membership can be structured along the lines of the Motherwell scheme, a certain annual income would be more or less secured and members will have a say - via their president et al - amongst the directors or next to the chairman. That is how (AFAIK) in Germany. IMHO, a share issue is a short time investment and while people may sign up for a 1,000 share or the like, their position towards a chairman or other directors would still remain "minimal". And we all know how much influence AGMs or people speaking on behalf of a bulk of shareholders have, not just at Rangers, but all over Britain.

BBC report: Ibrox Black & Blue ... tries to look at the Ticketus deal, Blue Knights and the "big tax case"

From what we know, they probably will not, Their problem might be though, that it was never Rangers', but now is Lloyds and inbetween it was Whyte's. He backed it up against one of his companies ... and thus smugly claimed that Rangers will be out of the equation. In a wry sense of humour, this appears to be the case, with Ticketus left to reclaim their money from someone else, not Rangers though. If I got that Scottish law thing correctly.

Speaking of shirt sponsorship and the way we have gained some "breathing space", we should look for pastures new here and get the "blue" O2 on board here. My working place over here is also called the "Blue Hall" and while there already is one in London (i.e. another "O2 World"), maybe any future owner might look for a deal with O2 and/or the owners of the O2 Worlds and lot of other sports arenas (and teams), the Anschutz Entertainment Group.

Maybe (!) they have convinced Murray that they will not sue Rangers over the deal, but Whyte & Co., and will be willing to "invest" the money again (assuming that they will take Whyte to the courts for this) into the club? Just as food for thought?

Fair enough. You would think that Murray & Co. are clever enough to see through this and have talked to Ticketus about their "precarious" situation though, wouldn't you?