Rangers FC no longer for sale

[maineflyer 0]

Well, nothing for it but to take the medicine. Wabash was pretty much on the money and no amount of twisting and turning will hide that. Fair play to you.

 

I am sure you are not happy at being right in thinking Murray will remain though.

 

The next stage is Ellis has to make an SE announcement stating he does not intend to make a firm offer. Hopefully he is honest with the reasons why, but I cant see it.

 

 

OOA is not in hiding btw, he flew to Barcelona a couple of days ago, Im sure he will come on and hold his hands up when he is back.

Well done for posting that but, now that the situation has become clearer, how come you got it so wrong? You obviously didn't intentionally mislead us so did Ellis deliberately mislead you?

[Guest Northampton_loyalist]

Well done for posting that but, now that the situation has become clearer, how come you got it so wrong? You obviously didn't intentionally mislead us so did Ellis deliberately mislead you?

 

Well done is not needed, but appreciated. If anything I should maybe have gone further but after some thought last night I decided that it was by far the best way to go. I am certainly not the type to log out and forget it all happened, hiding on FF for the rest of my life. I fuck up, I face it and I would have expected the same from anyone else. The club has been at the forefront of nearly everyone's actions in this and I dont think any good can come of people living in the past (again, it is inevitable I would say that I know, but I hope my actions bear me out)

 

There is far more to this than meets the eye, MF. We have had a former chairman say the deal was done, we have had AJ, Bain and Smith saying the deal was done.

 

There have been a few emails and PM's from random folk, none of whom I know or have any 'faith' in, saying that this is simply Murray moving the goal posts.

 

The fact Ellis has not spoken out yet is seriously concerning me. If you look at it coldly and from every angle there is not a single reason for him to keep schtum.

 

1, If he was/is a paid agent of Murray, the Murray game has come full circle now so there is no need for further pretence and certainly no need for silence.

 

2, If he was genuine but did not have backers then there is no reason now to carry on the 'still looking/bidding soon/working towards etc etc' angle

 

3, if he was in it to boost his profile, there is no point in carrying on the saga, he has gained what he wanted and a simple statement would be enough to end it.

 

I cant think of a forth but concede readily that it would be no surprise for me to be wrong

 

 

My musings are that this is far from over. Murray has NOT said the club is no longer for sale, he has said that he is no longer actively seeking a buyer. If a buyer comes forward, the logical extension would dictate, the club will be sold.

 

I personally think (and to be VERY clear, this is MY thoughts and not based on anything at all other than personal opinion) that Ellis was/is genuine, and one of two things has happened. Murray has either looked at the bank agreement, seen out the worst of the MIH shitstorm and decided he can safely step back so has shifted the goal posts for Ellis causing him to back off or Ellis was (as would be self evident) taking too long to sign on the dotted line and Murray has made a play to hurry him the fuck up.

 

 

On your last point, I made it very clear all the way through that Ellis had refused to say anything more than 'we are working towards blah blah blah'. He only at one point said something specifically 'off the record' and that subsequently came out anyway (the day I broke the part about him being upset with AJ for his comments re meetings, he told me that the following tuesday he was in a 'big' meeting in Edinburgh, 2 papers later broke the story that he had a meeting that day. He told me off the record and I didnt mention it, and didnt bring it up afterwards as it would have looked very much like 'I knew that was going to happen but didnt tell anyone, please believe me') so he didnt mislead me and I can say with clear conscience that I was fully and 100% convinced by the information shared by others (that is NOT blaming them, I am more than bright enough to decide for myself what is clear and what is not, I was given info and made my own decisions on the veracity of it). I will admit to being emotionally invested (not in that I wanted ELLIS to succeeed, but that I wanted SOMEONE to succeed) and so maybe didnt look at things with the open mind I should have.

 

that said, I will make one prediction now, again from nothing but personal opinion, this is far from the last we will hear of Ellis and his deal, there will be plenty more to come. Im not suggesting his deal will go forward, I think the Murray press release pretty much sunk that thought, but I have a strong feeling there will be a couple of twists yet to come and as he by law has to release a statement to the SE declaring himself out of the running, I think that statement could be very interesting indeed.

Edited June 16, 2010 by Northampton_loyalist

[rbr 1,247]

I think I might have stopped to question why McLelland was telling me.

 

sorry he did explain that bit as well , it wasn't just to him as a random person persay it was in the company of one of Mclellands friends , what that says about our former chairman is another thing , anyway lets not get side tracked , I would have believed him

[maineflyer 0]

sorry he did explain that bit as well , it wasn't just to him as a random person persay it was in the company of one of Mclellands friends , what that says about our former chairman is another thing , anyway lets not get side tracked , I would have believed him

 

I'm not questioning that McLelland actually said something, only that the fact he did was probably enough reason to wonder about his motives.

[rbr 1,247]

I'm not questioning that McLelland actually said something, only that the fact he did was probably enough reason to wonder about his motives.

 

I wouldn't question his motives , it really depends on the actual people present and how comfortable he felt in their company . But hey it's just another day at rangers

[way2go 0]

There is far more to this statement than meets the eye. There is a gulf of a difference between not actively seeking a buyer and not for sale. I would not be in the least surprised if Murray listened to Ellis and his proposals for taking the club forward, and obviously making money for himself, and thought "Hmm, I could do that" Who knows?

If I am to take the statement at face value then I am sickened that Murray will still pull the strings.

[ian1964 10,411]

WANTED. A man with Rangers' best interests at heart.

Someone who cares deeply enough about the club to be prepared to pump in millions and see little or NO return.

 

In fact someone just like Sir David Murray.

 

The Gers owner chose to take the Ibrox club, who remain �£27million in debt, off the market on Tuesday evening after losing patience with Andrew Ellis' attempts to buy him out.

 

He will now extend his 22-year spell in charge for at least another season in a bid to give the Glasgow giants some much-needed stability.

 

But Professor Chris Brady, Dean of London's BPP Business School, reckons Murray could end up being around for a lot longer than that.

 

Because as he sees it there is NOTHING to be gained from trying to buy Rangers right now - unless it is done out of a sheer passion for the Glasgow giants.

 

Brady, who specialises in football takeovers, has watched with interest over the past few weeks as the Ellis bid has hit the buffers.

 

And he was not surprised in the slightest at the timing of Murray's announcement to the Stock Exchange.

 

Brady firmly believes the moment Ellis failed to get planning permission to redevelop the ground around Ibrox the deal was doomed.

 

He told SunSport: "Rangers are still in a very difficult position. They can't generate money through television revenue, commercial revenue or gates, which are the only three options open to them.

 

"If they were able to negotiate their own TV deals, like Barcelona and Real Madrid do in Spain, then they could survive.

 

"But SPL rules prohibit that and if they didn't I suppose such a thing would kill off the rest of the clubs so that can't happen. The question you have to ask is who would buy Rangers right now?

 

"It's a fantastic brand but you need more than that. Unless there is a way where planning permission for development around the ground can be obtained or SPL rules are relaxed then there is a problem.

 

"Because the only person who would even think about it just now would be a crazed person with money to spend who loves Rangers."

 

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Brady believes Ellis WOULD have made significant money if he'd been allowed to renovate property around Gers' ground. And he reckons his failure to get permission will have put off anyone else who may have been waiting in the wings with their own offer.

 

He said: "As far as I understand it the planning permission for development around the ground has been held up for whatever reason. So something that WOULD have made Rangers an attractive option's gone out the window.

 

"That would appear to be why Ellis's interest in the whole deal has waned.

 

"People think you can't make money out of football - but that's wrong. You make money when you sell. So what you do is buy a club, develop the area around it and sell it for three times the amount you paid for it. In Rangers' case that option is no longer open to them. The ONLY way they can turn this situation around is by gaining entry into the English Premier League.

 

"I keep hearing people say that won't happen, but I will stick my neck out on this. It WILL. It has to. It might not happen next season or the season after that. It could take 10 or 15 years. But trust me, something will be done.

 

"I saw a statistic the other day which said Rangers' TV money is less than that of the bottom team in the Premier League. That's distressing given the following they have.

 

"It is incredible you can have a situation where a club like Burnley, with a population of 80,000, can be a Premier League club. Yet Rangers, who could FILL a stadium with 80,000 people, can't compete on that level."

 

In the meantime Murray will stay on in charge of Gers until a buyer can be found.

 

And Brady believes last year's championship success has given him some significant room for manoeuvre.

 

He said: "We are in a recession and what winning the league has done is give Rangers some breathing space.

 

"They can now spend the next while working on the stability of the club to make it a more attractive prospect.

 

"They now have �£15m they didn't have a month ago and that will allow them to get on to a more stable footing.

 

"The debt is estimated to be around �£27m. The club itself is valued at �£43m. So you'd need �£70m just to get in the door and then there is the money you would put into the playing squad. All of a sudden you are talking about investing �£80-90m in a good brand, but in my view not an international brand like Celtic has.

 

"But if the management can spend the money wisely this season, bring the debt down AND win the league they'd be in a far better position.

 

"All of a sudden you would take as much as �£20m off the price. And that may be enough to tempt someone into making a bid."

 

Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3017644/Only-Murray-would-buy-Gers.html#ixzz0r5qHrAxK

[maineflyer 0]

I've never made much secret of how much I want Murray out of Rangers and I'm hugely disappointed he's still the only power at Ibrox. However, in the absence of any clear plan or consultation with the support, I also find myself greatly relieved that Andrew Ellis has not become the majority shareholder. It's grim but there wasn't the slightest sign that Ellis was going to bring an end to this state of affairs.

[andrew_2010 0]

I don't know much about Chris Brady, but from the way he has been quoted, he does sound like an objective outsider, and seems to make some steady points. One thing he highlighted, which is disappointing to hear but sadly true, is the lack of international recognition. This is somewhere Murray has failed miserably, particularly with the short-sighted JJB deal. We are a non-entity internationally, despite having such a huge fan base. It's not the people who are already fans, it's the potential fans and the publicity/higher profile we are lacking. e.g. walking into a sports store in America and what football tops (if any) do they have? Man U, Arsenal, Barca, Real, Inter... and sadly the green and grey.

[ian1964 10,411]

Rangers fans today called for urgent talks with Sir David Murray after he took the Ibrox club off the market.

 

The majority shareholder last night revealed the Scottish champions are no longer up for sale. A takeover bid by a consortium fronted by London-based property developer Andrew Ellis has fallen through.

 

Despite now being legally able to talk about their proposed buy-out of Sir David’s stake in the club, consortium spokesman David Gilmour declined to comment when contacted by SportTimes this morning. He said: “I have no comment to make. It would not be appropriate to talk about this.”

 

Ellis, too, was unavailable.

 

Rangers Supporters’ Trust chairman Stephen Smith and representatives of his organisation now want to meet with Sir David to discuss outstanding issues regarding the Glasgow club.

 

He said: “I would hope this heralds a period of much-needed stability. That is patently not what we have had over the last 18 months or longer.

 

“We think the management team need clarity about operational matters and the transfer budget available to them.

 

“But I’m not sure it removes all the uncertainty. We still don’t know how long Murray International Holdings intend to remain the majority shareholder – the short, medium or long-term?

 

“Anyway, what we are looking for is for the Rangers support to be involved in securing the club’s future by putting a sustainable 21st century business model in place.

 

“We are interested in discussing this with Sir David Murray and are keen to secure a meeting at the earliest available opportunity. We would much rather talk than snipe on the sidelines.”

 

Smith added: “We have had some interesting meetings with the former chairman in the past. We respect the good things he has done for the club in the past. We have issues with the things which he has done which are not so good.

 

“It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that not signing a player in over two years and the involvement of the Lloyds Banking Group are not good things.

 

“I think the collapse of the Ellis deal shows we have to move on from the model of one man controlling virtually all the shares.

 

“We want to know what role the Lloyds Banking Group is going to be playing, if any? We have concerns about what Walter Smith has said about their involvement.

 

“We also believe the unresolved HMRC investigation into offshore payments to players is a major issue. We would like to know if Mr Muir and Mr McGill are still going to be involved and if Alastair Johnston is the chairman and it is business as usual.”

 

RST spokesman David Edgar now wants everyone associated with the club to focus on the 2010/11 campaign.

 

He said: “What we need to do now is get our heads down and plan for the new season.”

 

Meanwhile, Gers are reported to be set to begin signing talks with former Hearts defender Jose Goncalves.

 

“Hopefully we will still be able to bring in a couple of players – I think the bank has seen the folly of running the club with the bare minimum. If we don’t have the funds to compete, we won’t bring in any money.

 

“In Scottish football you really have to be getting to that Champions League pot of gold – cutting the squad to the bare minimum is never likely to do that.”

 

The RST believe a buy-out failed to materialise because Rangers – and Scottish football in general – is simply not regarded as a lucrative enough business proposition.

 

Murray revealed he has been unable to secure an offer which he believes is in the best interests of the club.

 

With manager Smith and his backroom staff secured on new contracts, he now wants to push ahead with a business plan following “positive talks” with the club’s bankers, Lloyds Banking Group.

 

Sir David made his announcement eight months after Murray International Holdings revealed it was considering options regarding their controlling shareholding in the club.

 

The news has come as a surprise to those who thought a takeover was imminent.

 

The consortium fronted by Ellis last week announced to the Stock Exchange they were in “advanced negotiations” to buy a controlling interest in Rangers.

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/rangers-fans-in-call-for-david-murray-talks-1.1035214