chilledbear

The ruling yesterday seems to be getting some positive coverage in places. http://t.co/Bw31XfM8 Court ruling raises stakes in Rangers takeover fightMartin Williams Senior News Reporter.A BIDDING war is expected for control of Rangers after a court ruling left the door open for administrators to tear up the four-year season ticket deal. inShare.0 Custom byline text: MARTIN WILLIAMS Lord Hodge's opinion in the Court of Session leaves the way clear for Duff & Phelps to renege on the deal with Ticketus â?? which raised more than £20 million to finance Craig Whyte's takeover of Rangers â?? if it is in the interest of the creditors of the club. Lord Hodge said courts "would be slow to disrupt" the administration process by considering any legal move to force the Ticketus deal to be honoured. The administrators, who told Lord Hodge they believe the deal struck with Ticketus and Whyte is illegal, could get more money from the sale of Rangers, providing greater value for creditors such as the taxman, if there was no deal. Buyers are believed to have either stayed away from bidding, or devalued the Ibrox club because of the Ticketus deal, which gives the agency 60% of all ticket sales from Ibrox over the next four years, worth more than £30m. Lord Hodge's rulings will not just speed up the sale of the club, but could also bring in new bidders, the administrators believe. Former Rangers director Paul Murray's Blue Knights, Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy, Chicago-based Prometheus Capital Partners and an unidentified British consortium, have made conditional offers. A Middle East consortium, a Singapore group fronted by Glasgow-based businessman Shazad Bakhsh and New York-based financiers Fortress are understood to be keeping a watching brief. Paul Clark, joint administrator, said: "We welcome the decisions announced by Lord Hodge and view them as a significant step towards clarifying the future for Rangers Football Club. "Lord Hodge has made it clear the Ticketus arrangements do not mean Ticketus has property or real rights over seats at the stadium or, indeed, the proceeds from the sale of future season tickets." Duff & Phelps is now planning to create a shortlist of bids and said it expected the decision to have a "significant bearing on the proposals put forward by bidders to date". However, London-based Ticketus believes its bid for Rangers with the Blue Knights, which keeps the ticket deal intact, is in the "best interests of the club". It said: "With every week that passes, further value is destroyed in the club. To conclude the administration process as soon as possible so that the club can secure its future in the hands of a new owner is in everyone's interest. We feel confident that we can conclude this process more swiftly than other bidders. "Ticketus has a duty to its investors to protect the investment that it currently has in the club." If the administrators breach the deal, it is understood that the agency, while an unsecured creditor, would have to chase majority shareholder Craig Whyte for any losses. And, while Whyte believes he has preferred creditor status with first claim on assets such as Ibrox and Murray Park, the court-appointed administrators believe this is invalid because there is no evidence he put any of his money into the club. Court papers show the first confirmation that the administrators' legal advisers believe the Ticketus deal with Whyte is illegal on the grounds that it was indirectly providing financial assistance for the acquisition of Rangers shares, contrary to the Companies Act 2006. Lord Hodge was unable to give guidance on the immediate termination of the Ticketus contract because details of competing bids could not be divulged. However, his full opinion accepted the general principle that the deal could be breached in administration, and if the club is wound up. He also rejected a move by Ticketus to place a trust over the proceeds of the sale of the tickets, to try to make the deal unassailable, ruling that it had "purely personal contractual rights".

Administrators seem happy, whether we should be??

Chris McLaughlin ‏ @BBCchrismclaug Reply RetweetedRetweet Delete FavoritedFavorite · Close Open Details #Rangers administrators statement due soon. They appear pleased by today's judgement

In his decision, Lord Hodge noted: "I am informed that the expected income flow from the sale of the season tickets is likely to represent about 60% of the cash flow of Rangers in those seasons. "Accordingly, the sale of that income flow is likely to have a significant effect on what interested parties may bid for the majority shareholding in Rangers or for that company's business and assets." The judge noted on Friday that "An administrator would not be acting in breach of his duty to the company if he refused to perform a contract having acted reasonably to satisfy himself that the continued performance of the contract (i) would impede his achievement of the objectives of the administration and (ii) was not in the interests of the company's creditors as a body." However, Lord Hodge felt that if the administrators could establish reasonable grounds for ripping up the Ticketus contract, they would most likely need "legal justification" to do so. The judge also found: "I am satisfied that I cannot give the original direction which the administrators have sought without further information about the relevant circumstances of the administration and the administrators' proposals in the light of their discussions with interested parties." Lord Hodge also addressed the status of the Ticketus deal should Rangers go into liquidation. He stated "as a general rule" if a company sought a court order to enforce a contract with a firm in liquidation, "it should refuse to do so because the company could not perform or because such an order would conflict with the statutory duties of the liquidator."

It is, but as Lindsay says 'an informed opinion'.

This has just been tweeted by Evening Times journalist. Matthew Lindsay ‏ @MattLindsayET Reply RetweetedRetweet Delete FavoritedFavorite · Close Open Details Just spoke to one of Scotland's top insolvency practitioners. A Rangers fan, he feels it is "inconceivable" the club will avoid liquidation.

Judge also declined to give ticketus preferential treatment as #rangers creditors. They will have to join the queue like everybody else.

It would be nice to be asked, but we all know it will not matter a jot what we think.

There is a vacuum at Ibrox at this moment in time. Someone or group can make a name for themselves by filling the void.

I think he did miss a couple of weeks now you mention it. Could have been when the negotiations about the wage reductions were taking place. Let's hope he's busy behind their goals on Sunday.

Whether we support the RST or not, I thought it worth posting. Supporters demand fair play in Scottish Premier League investigation The Rangers Supporters Trust has urged the SPL to delay investigations into Rangers contractual issues until the club exits administration to ensure it receives a fair hearing. The Trust made the request in a letter to SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster after it emerged the club's administrators, Duff and Phelps, are to provide them with documentation and information concerning the payment and registration of Rangers players from 1998 until the present day. Trust Chairman Gordon Dinnie said: â??Proceeding with this investigation while the club is not adequately equipped to defend itself will turn this whole process into a 'kangaroo court'. Duff and Phelps main role is to ensure the club is managed through administration and comes out the other end a viable trading business, not contesting cases with the SPL. Thatâ??s why the SPL should take the fairest course of action and delay this investigation until the club is in a position to defend itself properly.â? â??These allegations need to be investigated fairly and transparently but how can the club be expected to mount a robust case when it has no proper executive leadership and there is just enough money to see out the season? The football authorities should be giving Rangers the time and space to recover from their current predicament rather than engaging in a short term witch hunt at the whim of any individual.â? â??Also there is a major concern as to the impartiality and potential conflict of interests in the selection of Harper & MacLeod as the solicitors to investigate the spurious claims being made against our club. It would appear that Harper & MacLeod act as solicitors of those who would benefit from any potential punishment meted out to our club. We are sure most impartial people would agree with us that this on the face of it is an unacceptable conflict of interest and for this reason we reiterate our call for the SPL to rethink this decision and delay any investigation.â? â??We are not looking for special treatment, just fair play.â? The Rangers Supporters Trust has requested a meeting with Neil Doncaster to discuss these issues in more detail.

So far Murray and Kennedy have been the frontrunners and clear favourites among the club’s fans. But Record Sport understands that, as of late yesterday afternoon, neither of them were the automatic first choice for the administrators. In fact, the Americans may have muscled their way into position ‘A’ by outbidding the rest in terms of cash they have promised to put into the pot for a potential CVA. Little is known about this group but Record Sport can reveal it is being bankrolled by a team of four individuals and has secured the financial backing of Club 9 Sports parent company Prometheus Capital Partners who describe themselves as “turnaround specialists”. Club 9 Sports have experience in basketball, baseball and ice hockey but have been looking to get a foothold in British football over the last two years. Their business plan is based on tapping into the lucrative US market and also forging links with clubs in the MLS. But they failed in attempted takeovers at Sheffield Wednesday and Tranmere and, after the carnage left behind by the Whyte regime, the prospect of more “turnaround specialists” walking in through the front doors is likely to be a source of major concern. Duff and Phelps face a difficult decision as, while their first duty is to salvage as much money as possible for the club’s creditors, they will also want be certain they do not cause any further damage by backing the wrong horse. Perhaps Kennedy doesn't sound so bad.

I've been reading all the arguements for and against the bidders, the Blue Knights, Kennedy etc. It sometimes reads like politicians trying to sway people into voting for a certain party/bidder. What is laughable is that some who know best now, supported Whyte till the bitter end. But that is one thing that is certain in this whole drama, we the supporters will not be consulted.

Last Fridays training pics were posted.

http://t.co/2Qb1yJ8d Businessman Brian Kennedy has held talks with Rangers manager Ally McCoist and the administrators of the crisis-hit club. The Sale Sharks Rugby Union club owner lodged an indicative bid to take over the Ibrox club last week. On Wednesday he attended the Murray Park training ground and Ibrox stadium for talks with Duff and Phelps and Mr McCoist. The reason for his visit is not known, while previously he has publicly stated he has no interest in buying a football club and said he believed his offer was a "fallback" option should the Blue Knights takeover consortium fail. He is one of four parties to lodge indicative bids for Rangers so far. All of the offers are not binding, while they also have conditions attached to them. The funding arrangements for the initial bids, and details of any investment plans, have not yet been revealed

Can you have old exclusives?

I wonder will they give out what interest rate ticketus are going to charge? If they want fans participation should be something most will be interested in.

The BKs to my mind have to put the facts out to the fans, seeing as so far they are the only bidders wanting fan involvement. I'm not so sure we will know very much about the others.

That sounds like a saving worth making.

Was also hinted at last night on the R5Live programme, not sure who mentioned it tho'.

I realise admins have no control over the money. I just find it surprising if they haven't commented on it. Perhaps my admin radar working overtime.

Does anyone know if any of this money has been spent? One other question. I may be wrong, but I have never heard the Administrators acknowledge the existence of this fund, which I find very strange.

When fans are giving their hard earned for a fighting fund, am I wrong to think savings could be made at Youth level? We must have quite a few well paid Coaches at this level, also youths who are getting wages without much chance of making it at Rangers. I don't like to see anyone in any walk of life being made redundant, but in these times with the fans giving money, every penny spent should be worthwhile.

How much chance do we have with foreign bids? We seem to be putting Murrays bid in a different bracket than the others.

3-3 But Mr Greig is younger.