Could we have been more canny with our old debt?

[Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0]

Our current predicament has got me thinking about our old situation and the previous debt that we carried. By all accounts our debt stood at around 18 million bucks before CW set foot in Ibrox therefore would it have not been better to take a hit on our playing squad for 2/3 seasons and flog our assets for the best prices possible? Surely McGregor, Jelavic, Davis, Naisy and to a lesser degree Edu, Lafferty could all have been sold for a decent amount in the summer and that could have a great strides into our old debt and thus encouraging the bank to a revise their pay back schedule? (It could have also went a long way to paying off most of other smaller debts) Surely the first 4 players on that list would have brought in about £15 million between them?

 

Granted, this would have left our squad depleted for a fair while but IMO we could have still mounted a decent challenge in the SPL with a young team made up from guys like Wylde, Ness, McCabe, McMillan, Perry, Little etc. Some people would no doubt be mad at such a squad cull but surely given the circumstances of what is now lying ahead, it would have been a better option?

 

Maybe I'm just looking at this from a very naive point of view but it would have led the club closer to a debt free scenerio before the tax situation was finalised? Even if we are hit with a the £49 million surely we could have then structured a 3/4 year pay back scheme based on the fact that our main overhead (wage bill) would have been slashed dramitically. I suppose what I'm getting at is that we could have run our "huge" club on a "provincial club" sized wage level until our debts were paid? We only play in the SPL after all.

 

I also think if the club/management was up front with the policy of using young players for a while, the fans would have bought it. Maybe it's just hindsight but I feel they would have definately have bought it considering what has happened after Whyte got his hand on us.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose

[Zappa 0]

It would certainly have been a more sensible approach Max. As far as I'm concerned, if the club was being run properly the only thing that should have been able to put it into administration is losing the big tax case and not being allowed to pay the bill back in installments. Our debt was being reduced to a managable level for a club of our size, so what's happened to the club is criminal.

[rbr 1,247]

The debt has never been the problem, the problem was Murray wanted out , LLoyds wanted rid and anyone would do , what has killed us is the BTC

[Zappa 0]

what has killed us is the BTC

 

We don't even know the outcome of it yet. If we had lost it and couldn't pay then I could understand us needing to go into administration, but we could still win it.

[rbr 1,247]

We don't even know the outcome of it yet. If we had lost it and couldn't pay then I could understand us needing to go into administration, but we could still win it.

 

I agree but everyone for the last few years including AJ and Lloyds have ACTED like we have lost , the £18 million debt was nothing on out turnover , in fact we had a well reported 20 odd year mortage on it , so why the desperation to get their money back and unload the club to any dell boy , one day we will find out

[Juancornetto 1]

We don't even know the outcome of it yet. If we had lost it and couldn't pay then I could understand us needing to go into administration, but we could still win it.

 

We've already lost it, this is technically an appeal (the FTT) so it was always going to be their hanging over us like a storm cloud. Murray only decided to sell when this came over the horizon, he's left us high and dry.

[Zappa 0]

We've already lost it, this is technically an appeal (the FTT) so it was always going to be their hanging over us like a storm cloud. Murray only decided to sell when this came over the horizon, he's left us high and dry.

 

There was an Aberdeen company called Aberdeen Asset Management (I think) who were hammered for using EBTs, but they won their case on appeal. There's no reason that I'm aware of to say we can't do the same and win our case on appeal.

[der Berliner 3,328]

Didn't we already appeal and hence the tribunal is at work ... or not? It looks like the "big case" being one of the major factors in the recent "decline", since no-one in their right minds was willing to give us any sort of long-term credit. The longer this dragged on, the harder it got ... no matter what sort of relation HMRC and Whyte had. And the longer this drags on - and I cannot fathom why it takes that long - the problem will essentially be in place.

 

IMHO, the admins should put out all the stops to have the bidders at the ready - who pushes either of them? - all essentially signed but not dusted, until the HMRC verdict comes out. So the CVA (if possible) is a quick formality.

[Darthter 542]

According to AJ....the £18m bank debt was well in hand, and the repayment was actually ahead of schedule. As a result, the bank were happy with the financial performance. All other bills were being paid in a timely manner.

 

The BTC was always/has always been a threat, and there weren't any positive noises coming out of Ibrox about it. That has now kinda changed....there appears to be a growing (all be it tentative) voice saying that the BTC may not amount to as much as originally feared.

[der Berliner 3,328]

That said ... and despite buying Jelavic ... we were constantly weaking the team for three seasons on the trott - mostly (granted) strength- and not qualitywise. You do wonder how anyone of the old brigade would have handled last summer (transfers in and out), what would have been required to unearth the "small" HMRC bill, and what sort of pressure Lloyds would have placed upon us once the "big case" was going into the final round. It is all "cheap" talk by AJ and Co. now, i.e. saying "the bank was happy", for we can't prove them wrong. At the end of the day, we can't do anything about it now and if people can't help themselves going after Whyte with all guns blazing, so be it. I seem to remember that the flak the old board and Lloyds was getting back then was not exactly kind either.