Craig Whyte speaks to the Sun and sets record straight

[Bluedell 5,345]

I simply look at this page.

 

and what does that prove?

[Zappa 0]

Tend to agree mate trying to claim he's spent that when the contract runs over three years is stretching it a bit.

 

Not only that, but he's obviously talking about the full wage value of the player contracts over their full contract length which is simply a way to try and fool people into thinking that he's actually spent serious money, when he clearly HAS NOT.

 

He cleverly mentions the £1.5 m spent on Wallace because it's been our biggest purchase under his ownwership, but I'd be willing to bet my life that he didn't pay the full fee for Wallace up front in one go. He sold Boogie to Lekhwiya for £1.7m a few weeks after buying Wallace and I'd be willing to bet that the mega-rich club in Qatar paid the full fee in one go because that's pocket change to them. So, to my mind the real story is probably more something along the lines of £1.7m was recieved in full for Madjid and only £500k (or thereabouts) was spent on an initial fee for Wallace, leaving (just for talking sake) about £1.2m which would actually have been enough to pay the transfer fees for Gioan & Bocanegra. Even if CW paid £1m up front for Wallace there would still be enough left over from the Bougherra money to buy Bocanegra or Ortiz. So what did he really spend in the summer?

 

Let's take his word for it on the subject of agent fees of £1m and go on to talk about the contract extensions of Davis, McGregor and Whittaker who all got wage increases. Now, on planet Whyte he apparently wants to talk about their full contract values, but back on planet earth let's talk about just their wage increases which I estimate can't possibly have been more than £30-35k per week total wage increase for all three players. Now, that's quite a significant amount over a season, but last month I estimate, ALL in & out transfers considered, that the wage bill was reduced by over 40 grand a week, so not only have the wage increases for Davis, McGregor and Whittaker now been wiped, they've more than been wiped.....

 

So that pretty much leaves just a few small transfer fees for McKay, Bedoya etc and some agent fees to be deducted from the sale of Jelavic. Where's the Craig Whyte investment in the squad then? Is it hiding somewhere? Do we need a private investigator to find the missing squad investment?

 

CW - "Few understand that those deals were the equivalent of going out and spending £15m."

 

Maybe on your planet Mr. Whyte, but not on this one!

Edited February 2, 2012 by Zappa

[craig 5,199]

What has Whyte promised and not done? And please do not come up with this 25m over 5 years stuff, for he's done that this season! As he has stated before (and above).

 

NO, he hasnt. Unless of course you are going to agree with his play on words.

 

His commitment was 5 million a year. Please, explain to me how he has INVESTED 5 million in the playing squad this year ?

 

Cash Inflow :

 

Jelavic : 5 million (assumed)

Bougherra : 1.7 million

TOTAL : 6.7 million

 

Cash Outflow :

 

Agents fees : 1 million

Goian : 800k

Bocanegra : 400k

Wallace : 1.5 million

Bedoya : 400k ?

McKay : 500k ?

Ortiz : 500k ?

Bartley : 250k loan fee (a guess, wouldnt be much more if at all)

Celik : 300k (assumed training compensation)

Total : 5.65 million

 

Total Inflow : 1.05 million

 

Now, lets take those increased contracts into account :

 

Whittaker : 10k per week increase

McGregor : 10k per week increase

Davis : 10k per week inrcease

 

Total per annum increased wages : 1.56 million

 

Total Cash OUTflow : 0.51 million

 

Now, I am sure that we would all agree that the 10k per week increase above is highly unlikely when looked at across all 3 contracts. It is very, very unlikely that our wage bill increased by 30k per week between all 3 players. So I am being very conservative with that number.

 

Now, we should look at the increased wage bill.

 

Bartley we can ignore as he was here last year. Goian, Bocanegra, Wallace, Bedoya, McKay, Ortiz, Celik - so 7 players. Reasonable average ? 9k per player (again, quite possibly conservative). So an annual increase in wages of 3.3 million

 

However, we have to take into effect wages that we disposed of : Bougherra, Weiss, Beattie, Diouf to name but 4 and I dont think that an unreasonable estimate of them would be 10k per week : So wages disposed of are 2.1 million

 

Lets not also forget that we have just purged more wages from the wage bill in January : Weir, Jelavic, Fleck - we know Weir was on 10k basic and Jelavic wouldnt be far behind. Fleck reputedly on 4k per week so 24k per week, say, for these 3 players. That amounts to a 6 month wage disposal of 625k - and that doesnt include other players such as McMillan & Hutton that have been loaned out or players like Bendiksen that left - we will assume their wages were negligible and we will assume the transfer fee for McMillan was NIL.

 

So in taking all of the above together we have a CASH OUTFLOW OF 1.085 million - this also does not include the sell-on fee we would have received for the Charlie Adam's transfer from Blackpool to Liverpool.

 

Now, some of the above wont be accurate and probably lacks some wages but I think, personally, that it paints a reasonable reflection of the comings and goings at Rangers since Craig Whyte took over.

 

Now, feel free to point out the error of my maths but the above figure of 1.1 million is absolutely NOWHERE near close to being the 5 million per season that Whyte ORIGINALLY claimed, but which, now, he is using 15 million as a "replacement cost" of those players.

 

He is using the cost to replace those players as some justification.... yet the previous regime bought those players, not Craig Whyte. So, Craig, how about you stick to what you have actually invested ???

 

Sorry, but in this particular instance, it is quite clear to me (although I would happily be proven invorrect) that Craig Whyte is clearly playing with words or hiding behind semantics.

[craig 5,199]

I simply look at this page.

 

That proves absolutely NOTHING.

[calscot 0]

Yes, he can. He can pay the £14m that he promised (which he may have done). The tax case doesn't preclude that.

 

I've no idea what he's actually done or intends to do, but if nothing else I see the tax case as his "excuse" for the moment. If that is favourably resolved then he will have no excuses left.

[craig 5,199]

I didnt see your post before posting mine Zappa, sorry.

 

What Whyte is saying about the 15 million is that had we lost Davis, Whittaker & McGregor then it would have cost 15 million to replace them. Which is a fair point - but he throws it into a conversation about how much he has spent which is a very, very spurious (and devious) connection to make.

[Zappa 0]

Nice one Craig!

 

Couple of minor nit-picks: McKay only cost £300k or just a fraction over £300k and Celik won't cost as much as £300k in compensation, more like round about £200k from all the various reports I've read. Some actually say it could be as little as £150k.

 

Also, as I was saying in my post above, there's no way Whyte paid the full fee up front for Wallace. I don't know what was paid, but it would almost certainly be somewhere between a third and a half of the £1.5m paid initially, so somewhere between £500k and £750k I'd have thought.

[craig 5,199]

Nice one Craig!

 

Couple of minor nit-picks: McKay only cost £300k or just a fraction over £300k and Celik won't cost as much as £300k in compensation, more like round about £200k from all the various reports I've read. Some actually say it could be as little as £150k.

 

Also, as I was saying in my post above, there's no way Whyte paid the full fee up front for Wallace. I don't know what was paid, but it would almost certainly be somewhere between a third and a half of the £1.5m paid initially, so somewhere between £500k and £750k I'd have thought.

 

Nitpicks willingly accepted but I am not going to change the numbers because those nitpicks would actually bring CW's investment DOWN. So leaving them as they are is being favourable to the amount of money CW put into the club.

 

It is disingenious for him to suggest he has invested 5 million into the playing side of the club. My post above would be something for him to refute or clarify. Would it happen ? No. Why ? Because his numbers dont stack up.

[Zappa 0]

He says "we" spent £4m on the Ibrox refurbishment.

 

Maybe he's counting the club spending money on the stadium in his calculations Craig....

[metlika 0]

He says "we" spent £4m on the Ibrox refurbishment.

 

Maybe he's counting the club spending money on the stadium in his calculations Craig....

 

Wasn't that paid by others like Azure?