Bizarre link-up involving rangers

[Guest superrcooper7]

The bizarre tie-up was confirmed by one of their sponsors â?? a long-standing business associate of the Ibrox supremo.

 

Aidan Earley claimed Whyte hoped to groom future stars through Banstead, who play in front of crowds of around thirty in the Combined Counties Premier Division.

 

Venture capitalist Earley, who was bankrupted at the age of 22, said: â??The context in which you refer to me is a possible involvement of Rangers with Banstead Athletic Football Club.

 

â??This is a project for developing young talent and has been two years in the making.â?

 

Earley, 44, and his brother Wulstan, 49, are involved with various firms operating under the Regenesis name â?? one of whom act as Bansteadâ??s shirt sponsor.

 

Whyte supported Bansteadâ??s plans for a £3million scheme to buy their ground from the council. The deal, brokered by Aidan Earley, involves raising funds by floating the club on the stock market.

 

Despite being based more than 400 miles away, Whyte personally sent Reigate & Banstead Council a letter backing his friendâ??s development plans, admitting his hope to tap into a future talent pool.

 

Earley referred us to his barrister, David Simpson, who said: â??The fact that Rangers are interested in this project is a source of immense satisfaction.

 

â??Although Rangers are committed to their Scottish youth academy, their interest in the project is derived from their intention of positioning themselves to benefit from the talent developed south of the border.

 

â??This is a positive development for the prospects of home-grown talent and the exposure of Rangers to that.â?

 

Aidan Earley denied Rangers had provided any funds, while the SPL giants refused to discuss whether they were involved with Banstead.

 

But Banstead Councilâ??s Kathy Oâ??Leary said: â??I have no knowledge of Craig Whyteâ??s money being involved with the redevelopment but I can confirm he wrote to us to express his support.â?

 

Banstead chairman and owner Terry Molloy claimed he knew nothing of Whyteâ??s involvement. He added of Aidan Earley: â??We are just a small club and Aidan is a small part of it.â?

 

The Earley brothers are friends of Whyte and have been co-directors in some business ventures. Aidan and Wulstan are brothers of Brendan Earley, who died recently.

 

He was Whyteâ??s right-hand man with Vital Holdings. It was dealings under the Vital Holdings banner that led to Whyte being banned as a director for seven years in 2000.

 

Rangers have been embroiled in a cash crisis and on ongoing case with the taxman could cost them £49million and send them into administration. Last night, an Ibrox source said: â??Nobody here has heard of Banstead Athletic, and that includes Ally McCoist.

 

â??People are scratching their heads about the sense in getting involved with a backwater team. If Rangers want to invest in youth, they have their own academy.

 

â??If they want some kind of exchange set-up, would it not be better to get into a relationship with Real Madrid or AC Milan than Banstead Athletic?â?

 

Unfortunately they list the Record as the source!

[Ergatrude 0]

Venture capitalist Earley, who was bankrupted at the age of 22, said:

 

Would this quote have made it into the article if it didn't involve Rangers?

[Danny 0]

Last I checked, the Record were the only ones carrying this story.

[GovanAllan 0]

Last I checked, the Record were the only ones carrying this story.

 

Just about sums them up.

[Darthter 542]

They way I read the story, it was simply Mr Whyte showing support for his mates project...not cash involved - only a letter of support to the council!!!

 

Complete no-story!!!

 

God help us if Mr Whyte has a son, who plays for his school/cub/scout/pub team - Rangers will be linked with them as well!!!

[forlanssister 3,050]

They way I read the story, it was simply Mr Whyte showing support for his mates project...not cash involved - only a letter of support to the council!!!

 

Complete no-story!!!

 

God help us if Mr Whyte has a son, who plays for his school/cub/scout/pub team - Rangers will be linked with them as well!!!

 

It seems there's a quarter of a million pounds of ours involved, bit naughty methinks.

 

A PROBE into Rangersâ?? finances has revealed a £250,000 payment to an ex-bankruptâ??s company linked to an amateur football club.

The payment was made in August to a firm run by Aidan Earley, one of Craig Whyteâ??s associates, the Record can reveal.

We previously exposed a bizarre tie-up between the Glasgow giants and English side Banstead AFC.

And now the scale of the financial relationship has been uncovered, just days after it was revealed that Rangers had failed to stump up £9million to the taxman in VAT and PAYE.

The £250,000 was paid into an account in the name of Regenesis-Banstead Athletic FC.

Earley, 44, who was bankrupted at the age of 22, and his brother Wulstan, 49, are involved with various firms operating under the Regenesis name.

And Earley claimed when we revealed the Banstead link that Whyte hoped to groom future Rangers stars through the obscure English club.

The latest revelation will astound Ibrox fans who watched their struggling team lose to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

And manager Ally McCoist will be furious, especially when he was denied money for a badly needed striker in the January transfer window.

The Ibrox side were plunged into administration last week after it was revealed Whyte had run up £9million of debt by failing to hand over VAT and PAYE on wages.

Administrators Duff and Phelps have put top men Paul Clark and David Whitehouse in pursuit of the missing millions.

It is believed they will be summoning Rangersâ?? directors to answer â??serious questionsâ?.

Clark has admitted he does not know where the £24.4million Whyte raised by mortgaging off four years of season tickets to London firm Ticketus has gone.

But the money was placed in the client account opened up by London lawyers Collyer Bristow when Whyte started his Rangers takeover.

And the £250,000 which went to Regenesis-Banstead Athletic AFC was taken from that same account.

Gary Withey, who became Rangersâ?? company secretary when Whyte took over last May, is a partner in Collyer Bristow.

He will no doubt be one of the people whom the administrators will want to ask why a chunk of money was paid out to the English league minnows.

Duff and Phelps are also trying to find out how Whyte found £18million to pay off a debt to Lloyds Bank â?? and if any of the cash came from the Ticketus deal.

Whyte insists it came from his own wealth. But the weeks â?? maybe months â?? ahead at Ibrox are likely to be confrontational. And there could also be a bitter struggle for control.

Itâ??s believed Whyte ignored advice on how to settle with the taxman before being tipped over the edge last Tuesday.

One of Earleyâ??s Regenesis companies acts as kit sponsor for Banstead, who play in front of crowds of about 30 in the Combined Counties Premiership in Surrey.

And Earley confirmed a tie-up between Rangers and Banstead, suggesting the English team would act as a feeder club, when we revealed the link earlier this month.

Venture capitalist Earley said: â??The context in which you refer to me is a possible involvement of Rangers with Banstead Athletic Football Club.

â??This is a project for developing young talent and has been two years in the making.â?

Rangers fans, who staged a massive show of defiance at Ibrox on Saturday, will want to know why the £250,000 was paid from the account where the millions raised against their season tickets was deposited.

Earley denied at the time that Rangers had provided any funds to Banstead.

And Banstead chairman and owner Terry Molloy claimed he knew nothing of Whyteâ??s involvement. He added of Earley: â??We are just a small club and Aidan is a small part of it.â?

The Earley brothers are friends of Whyte and have been co-directors in some ventures.

A third Earley brother, Brendan, who died recently, was Whyteâ??s right-hand man with Vital Holdings.

It was dealings under the Vital Holdings banner that led to Whyte being banned as a director for seven years in 2000.

A Rangers source said at the time: â??People are scratching their heads about the sense in getting involved with a backwater team. If they want to invest in youth, they have their own academy.

â??If they want some kind of exchange set-up, would it not be better to get into a relationship with Real Madrid or AC Milan than Banstead Athletic?â?

Rangers declined to comment on the latest revelations last night.

Aidan Earley profile

HE shot to fame as a financial whizkid in the late 80s, shortly after leaving school.

The teenager was initially dubbed *Goldfinger in the City, where investors believed the *high-flier had the Midas touch.

He bought himself a Porsche for his 21st birthday, built a media reputation and claimed to be able to generate bumper 48 per cent returns for his clients.

But in reality, the wheeler-dealer was running up huge debts and his firm went bust with debts of £3million.

In January 1989, he was made personally bankrupt with debts of around £1million.

In 2003, when Earley started up a firm called Globex Investments Ltd â?? which was dissolved three years later â?? his business partner Roger Coyle said he was perfectly happy to work with Earley.

After the Record revealed the links between the Ibrox club and Banstead, the Surrey teamâ??s manager Dave Tidy told a local paper the tie-in was going ahead and claimed Earley was â??part of the consortium who have bought Glasgow Rangersâ?.

[Jim1955 12]

Oh Deary, deary me!

[Frankie 8,153]

Isn't all this to do with some sort of M25 land deal?

[der Berliner 3,255]

Ahem, what exactly is wrong with us being tied to an English team? We have no reserve league running, no real competetion for the youth and low key reserve players. Not that I am in favour of using this non-descript English team as a feeder/loaning target, BTW.

 

When the payment was made, we were not in as dire trouble as we are now, right? Going for rather high profile signings too. (No snipes of the "Whyte rejecters" required here.) So getting a foothold even as low key as this was probably just a probe of how such affairs might run. Or, indeed, just a naughty gift to friend of Whyte's! If so, who actually paid it. Whyte, TRG (i.e. Whyte) or really Rangers from their own accounts?