Some more Ellis information:

[Guest Northampton_loyalist]

rumour is bullshit, from the horses mouth. He also said 'we' rather than 'I' when saying they had not pulled out. 2 birds one stone loyal. (unless he was using the royal 'we' or meant his company/accountants/etc, but I was pretty sure he was backed anyway)

[Super_Ally 0]

Yet sources in the paper were quoted as saying it was just him. Someone's lying.

[wabashcannonball 0]

Appears to be no more than a rehash of Britney's pish on radio snyde. http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/408565674?-11344

[pete 2,499]

Appears to be no more than a rehash of Britney's pish on radio snyde. http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/408565674?-11344

 

To be honest i hope so. I would worry for Ibrox and MP if he took over. His football past is not that great either.

I still haven't given up hope that someone will come in and help finance a move towards fan or partial fan ownership.

[wabashcannonball 0]

To be honest i hope so. I would worry for Ibrox and MP if he took over. His football past is not that great either.

I still haven't given up hope that someone will come in and help finance a move towards fan or partial fan ownership.

 

Well you won't have long to wait, MIH accounts are due soon, it is far from the banks interest to do anything other than ensure MIH remains solvent, cue Sir Minty and his big white cuddy problem solved...again.

[ian1964 10,486]

Land redevelopment, local authority blueprints, planning permission, property dealers, Tesco versus Asda.

 

Anyone remember when Rangers used to be a football club? Walter Smith is entitled to stride around his club like a giant but right now there must be days when even he feels like a pretty small cog in the wheels. Forces are at work around the sale of Rangers which make the manager, coaches, players and supporters – in other words, the essence of what a club should be about – seem as relevant as pawns.

 

There were denials from Rangers last night but it is widely expected that at the start of next week Andrew Ellis will close his briefcase, say his thank-yous and walk out on negotiations to buy the club. Doubtless there will be little or no mourning of his departure from supporters who will conclude that his interest in the club itself – rather than its physical hinterland – was negligible. But Ellis cannot be said to have deceived anyone on this. Right from day one he has been described as a property developer. How can Rangers be of any interest to him without property to develop?

 

Still, Ellis’s time on the dancefloor is revealing about where Rangers stand. The club has been on the open market for months and presumably up until now any potential bidder has been under the impression that Ibrox came with some juicy adjoining land which could be carved up for lucrative retail developments. Even then, potential bidders haven’t exactly been falling over themselves to beat a path to owner Sir David Murray’s door.

 

Now the expected end of the talks with Ellis and the reason for their collapse – that the prime adjoining land isn’t quite so prime after all – will underline that what’s on the market here is a football club and no more. A football club which can deliver glory and celebrity and fame and a degree of status, but not one that is going to make anyone any money. Without any marketable land to seduce would-be buyers, an entire constituency of potential bidders is wiped out. The disappearance of Ellis would confirm that Murray’s only hope of shifting Rangers at any price is to offload the club to a wealthy supporter or a consortium of them. The limited income from broadcasting and sponsorship in Scottish football, and the increasing difficulty in getting to the Champions League’s riches, means it makes absolutely no sense for anyone to buy Rangers unless they actually care about them.

 

Ellis is believed to have had the endorsement of Murray and others. So what does that mean? Famously Murray has always said he would sell only to someone with Rangers’ best interests at heart. If it’s not going to be Ellis, does that mean anyone else would be worse for the club in Murray’s eyes?

 

The only other reported interest was from existing non-executive directors Dave King and Paul Murray, along with two other unidentified businessmen, who sounded out the board about a possible �£18m bid in January.

 

King, Murray and the others are “Rangers men” but so far they haven’t brought enough money to the table and stories persist about much of King’s assets being frozen by the South African tax authorities.

 

Ellis was no supporter but he had the readies, or at least it seems that he did when he thought he was getting more than a football club.

 

Throughout all this the pawns go about their duties. Smith, Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall work without contracts. Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo, Kirk Broadfoot and DaMarcus Beasley see their deals wind down to their final weeks. None of them knows where he’ll be next season. The football department should matter more than anything, but in all this it seems small and vulnerable.

 

They go about their shift in a state of denial, hardly daring to think what it will mean for Rangers if Ellis says what he’s expected to in the next few days.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/rangers/comment-the-for-sale-sign-will-still-be-up-at-ibrox-next-week-but-property-developers-need-not-apply-1.1014429

[andy steel 0]

Weak attempt to create terror off the back of what is, overall, probably good news.

 

Next time the Herald needs to fill space, why don't they just use a photo?