Limited Funds Available for Players

[chilledbear 16]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/8654665.stm

 

 

Sir David Murray insists "limited funds" are available for Rangers boss Walter Smith to purchase new players.

 

The former chairman, who controls 90% of Ibrox club, told BBC Scotland that directors are planning to help the club through its wait for a buyer.

 

He said the sale of his stake is the remit of chairman Alistair Johnston.

 

Murray insisted it was "obvious" that Smith will require investment after reducing the squad to ease the club's finances with a reduced wage bill.

 

The delay in Murray selling his stake in Rangers continues, while London-based Andrew Ellis carries out background research and mulls over a bid reported to be worth �£33m.

 

Murray was commenting as he filed the accounts of his company, Murray International Holdings, which control of more than 90% of Rangers as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

 

Murray's company reported a �£175m loss, mainly through write-downs in its property portfolio, and also through the price of metal falling sharply during the 17-month accounting period to the middle of last year.

 

Rangers suffered a �£12.7m loss and saw its debt rise to �£31m during the year to June 2009.

 

There's no truth to the bank wanting to ring fence the season ticket money

 

Sir David Murray

However, Murray is confident it will turn a profit in the current year and next, having just re-qualified for European competition next season and Smith will be in a position to add players to the Ibrox roster.

 

"There are limited funds available to strengthen the team, which is necessary, and Alistair Johnston and the board are drawing up a business plan for that," said Murray.

 

Murray has denied there was any cross-guarantee of funding between Rangers and other parts of his business empire. However, he has had to disentangle the cross-guarantees used between other divisions.

 

Rangers debt levels are being reduced under pressure from Lloyds Banking Group and are expected to be closer to about �£20m by June.

 

The former Ibrox chairman firmly denied reports that the bank is insisting on using ticket sales revenue to pay down any of the club's debt.

 

"There's no truth to the bank wanting to ring fence the season ticket money," he said.

 

Responding to reports that Rangers are under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, the former chairman said the club would respond robustly.

 

He added: "Lots of football clubs and other businesses are in a similar situation."

[Guest Flying Hippo]

I'd bet good money that our list of targets is simply a list of SPL players who 'might do a job'

[calscot 0]

I could be totally wrong, but it always seems to me that whenever AJ or SDM speak out, they seem to make the most sense which correlates best with the situation combined with common sense.

 

I get the impression that SDM has been biting his tongue and can speak now that his accounts have been published. From the little I gather his companies are starting to pull out at the same rate as the recession and as his problems mostly seemed to be cash flow, his business could be pretty healthy in a few years.

 

Despite all his smoke and mirrors as well as pretty poor financial management, Murray could have done far worse by Rangers. His company have absorbed a lot of the debts he created and he seems to have insulated the club from that. He could even leave a decent legacy by writing off a lot of his investment and allowing Rangers to proceed debt free after the change of ownership.

 

Had he been more ruthless, he could have done a Leeds on us and we could have been back to the bad old days of the early 80's or Celtic's darkest hours before the dawn of McCann, and instead of celebrating two in a row, we could have been wallowing say in fifth place with not much light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I'm not saying he has been all that good for the club, but he's taken a big personal hit to cover up his gross mistakes to leave us relatively unscathed compared to the worst case scenario.

[ascender 352]

That's the impression I get too Calscot, but the one thing which doesn't add up for me is why Smith has been speaking out on the side of "doom and gloom"? The consensus is that he's speaking out to try and influence things in favour of a takeover, but his messages are at odds with what SDM has said today. Which is strange given his close relationship with SDM.

 

I've love to give SDM the benefit of the doubt, but his track record at this sort of stuff stinks in recent years unfortunately, so I'm still cynical about today's articles.

 

We just need to wait and see what happens in the summer. The SPL is our bread and butter and top priority for the foreseeable future, so to do that on a budget, I can see us continuing to target some of the best of the rest from the SPL. Besides, if Bougherra goes, you could probably use his fee to pay off some of the debt and bring in two players on lower wages, so would that be best for all concerned at the moment?

[pete 2,499]

I could be totally wrong, but it always seems to me that whenever AJ or SDM speak out, they seem to make the most sense which correlates best with the situation combined with common sense.

 

I get the impression that SDM has been biting his tongue and can speak now that his accounts have been published. From the little I gather his companies are starting to pull out at the same rate as the recession and as his problems mostly seemed to be cash flow, his business could be pretty healthy in a few years.

 

Despite all his smoke and mirrors as well as pretty poor financial management, Murray could have done far worse by Rangers. His company have absorbed a lot of the debts he created and he seems to have insulated the club from that. He could even leave a decent legacy by writing off a lot of his investment and allowing Rangers to proceed debt free after the change of ownership.

 

Had he been more ruthless, he could have done a Leeds on us and we could have been back to the bad old days of the early 80's or Celtic's darkest hours before the dawn of McCann, and instead of celebrating two in a row, we could have been wallowing say in fifth place with not much light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I'm not saying he has been all that good for the club, but he's taken a big personal hit to cover up his gross mistakes to leave us relatively unscathed compared to the worst case scenario.

 

Rangers debt is now said to be down to 27 mill after qualification for the CL. That would make the 33mill Ellis bid as debt cleared and Murray taking his 6 mill buy out money back. I doubt he will walk away with nothing.

[chilledbear 16]

Murray says it will be down to �£20m, why not wait till then and get even more????

[Gazza_8 233]

I'd bet good money that our list of targets is simply a list of SPL players who 'might do a job'

 

I agree. Goodwillie being one of them.

[Guest Flying Hippo]

I agree. Goodwillie being one of them.

 

The reality being, however, that SPL players represent probably the least value for money in the world

 

�£2 million for Stevie Naismith being a very obvious example

[metlika 0]

I'd bet good money that our list of targets is simply a list of SPL players who 'might do a job'

 

I agree with this, SPL clubs are now overcharging as well as the EPL. We should look about a bit during the summer and even the world cup to get a good list of targets and see if they are in our price range.

 

I know the foreigners won't have the passion as the SPL based players have. However its getting ridiculous the prices that are being quoted from not hugely wealthy clubs in the SPL.

 

Dundee Utd's chairman thinking that Lafferty and Goodwillie are the same value, but Championship and EPL prices are very inflated but still I don't think Goodwillie is worth more than �£1.5m, which seems ridiculous in its self.

[maineflyer 0]

Are you sure it's not ... Funds Available for Limited Players?