der Berliner

I did not miss that. I would assume that while the BKs can present enough money, but making it available in a timescale given by the admins might prove difficult. As opposed to Whyte, all BKs are probably real businessmen with real companies et al to show for it. So we actually have to wait and see what the BKs can actually put on the table. Ticketus ... well, in this deal (sic!) it looks they have guaranteed access to the ticket sales, for years to come. That is virtually guaranteed income. We won't go away, so they have no reason to either, for the time being. Of course, I do assume that there is some deal in place with them, as they would probably (?) also fall under any CVA, no matter whether they belong to the bidders. What is for sure is that this lot has the money and has it available. We do lack a decent amount of info (and I reckon we will sure not get all info some would like to see) though.

I would suggest that the Ticketus involvement is mainly done because no bank will give us a decent floating facility as long as the HMRC stuff is unresolved.

Maybe there will be more transparency in days to come, Bluedell? So far, they tell us more about what they want to do and with whom than anyone else does or did.

Regarding Lennon, he's assembled a team of 30 first-teamers over three, nay four seasons. Most of them have enough quality to beat nigh anything in the SPL these days. With nigh three full squads to chose from and their greatest rivals down on their knees for long spells on and off the field, this season has been and is becoming a stroll on the park for them. At the same time, the rather alarming (T-)imidation of the referees also shows serious effects. I keep reminding people who think that the SPL is essentially about winning the four OF games - since the rest of the league "is garbage" - that winning titles in Scotland is far from easy (as the opposition usually gives 110% against us (and sometimes them)), the same holds true here. If they rack up a decent winning run, fair enough. But we shall not lose objectivity either. They have a (couple of) vastly superior team(s) to anyone in the league right now (as we all know and lamented about how much the standard has dropped) and thus their temporary dominance is hardly a surprise. All that said, from top to bottom, this Celtic team is rank rotten in the way they treat the rest of the SPL and will receive no respect whatsoever from me. And I would not invite a question about what I would wish them if they happen to be in the same shyte as we were in not so long ago.

First, I am not running about and throw dirt at any Rangers player or manager. No matter how good or bad he is or was. As for objectivity, essentially you can't debate about personal opinions here, but essentially solely facts. If you were to use them, you'd have to look at the years pre-Souness too, and matter of factly, not much farther. I started supporting roundabout 1983, the so-called "dark days". We hardly managed a top-three slot back then, won the odd league cup and had some short runs in Europe. Managers back then were John Greig and Jock Wallace. Going by the spending power Ally has had, you can probably equate them to him more than any other Rangers manager of these last two decades. Add to that the fact that he lost three to four backbone-players of the side early in the season, namely Naismith, Lafferty, Whittaker, and Jelavic. He could have done things tactically better, but the same arguments were levelled at Smith time and again ... but in the end we still managed 3IAR. Along with the injuries there was an alarming drop in form by some of the stalwarts, while those others could not rise to the challenge, a challenge that was marred by off-field troubles. These are no excuses, mind you, just stating facts. IMHO, no other manager would have fared any better under the circumstances and the personell involved. Ally's been here as a manager for less than a year. Given that and the circumstances he had to work with, I think I am quite right do ask some supporters to reign their statements about good or bad management somewhat?

While I can see your point and sure am not overly PC, I would assume that it is not healthy for a supporters board of any kind to write somesuch in this day and age.

Ahem what? As in: what medicine are you on ... or ... when did you join the Rangers support? Get yourself a dose of objectivity and try the above again, please.

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.