chilledbear 16 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 SIR David Murray allowed his ego to run riot at Rangers, then made a â??panickedâ? decision to sell the club as it teetered on the brink of ruin. Thatâ??s the explosive verdict of former Ibrox chairman Alastair Johnston on Murrayâ??s Ibrox â??dictatorshipâ?. In an unprecedented and extraordinarily detailed attack on Murrayâ??s stewardship of the club, Johnston claims the tycoon was warned extensively about the dangers of selling to Craig Whyte. He says Murray carried on with the deal because of â??significant pressureâ? from the clubâ??s bankers. And he says a senior boss at the bank told him that Lloyds, who were owed £700million by the rest of Murrayâ??s empire, had â??incentivisedâ? Murray to hand Rangers to Whyte. Johnston, 63, once a close ally of Murray, now no longer speaks to him. In our exclusive interview, he said: â??Chairmen and chief executives are often the subject of fansâ?? ire for selling players, or allowing guys to leave because of unaffordable wage demands and so on. On the the other hand, you take Sir David Murray. â??He got too immersed in the fansâ?? perception of himself â?? as well as his own ego and invincibility, probably. â??In the last few years he lost his business discipline, then panicked when he saw Armageddon coming.â? Murray, who famously boasted in 2000 that Rangers would spend £10 for every £5 spent by Celtic, sold Rangers to Whyte a year ago for £1. The Record has told how, before the sale, a private investigatorâ??s report on Whyteâ??s business record was passed to the Ibrox board. And Johnston, who was ousted by Whyte soon after his takeover, spoke at length about how closely Murray and his Murray Group of businesses were made aware of what the detective had discovered. His allegations are highly significant, given Murrayâ??s later insistence that he had been â??dupedâ? by Whyte. The SFA disciplinary panel who slapped a transfer embargo on Rangers criticised Johnston, and other men on the Ibrox board, for not doing enough to stop the sale. But Johnston said he and his colleagues expressed their concerns about Whyte â??very vocallyâ?. And he insisted there was only one man with the power to keep him out â?? Murray. Johnston said of the detectiveâ??s report: â??It was made available to us and I did see it, like I saw a lot of other information and data that was presented to us or leaked. â??But all that information was shared with the Murray Group, because there wasnâ??t much we could do about it other than jump up and down and scream and shout, which is what we did. â??In terms of something to do about it â?? that is, not consummate the transaction for these reasons â?? then David Murray really looks like the only person who could actually have done something.â? Johnston added: â??There were a lot of inconsistencies in Whyteâ??s personal profile â?? where he lived, who he was registered with, anonymous addresses and so on. â??Liberty Capital, the ultimate guarantor of his so-called arrangement with Rangers, was formed out of a warehouse in industrial Miami where nobody had ever heard of him or the company. â??So we had a lot of due diligence and checked up on him, but that information was fed to the Murray group.â? Johnston, a Glasgow-born expert in sports accountancy, joined the Ibrox board in 2004 and became chairman in 2009. By then, the credit crunch had hit and the fallout was still having a massive effect. And he says Murray was under â??significant pressureâ? from the bank, who wanted a more independent board, to get out of his day-to-day running of the club. He said: â??The bank, rightly or wrongly, thought Davidâ??s presence was so omnipotent. They thought there was really just one man, and the ruling by dictatorship had not worked.â? By this time, Rangersâ?? bankers were Lloyds, who took over the clubâ??s previous bank, Bank of Scotland, at the height of the financial crisis. Johnston said Murray had enjoyed a â??very good relationshipâ? with Bank of Scotland. But he added that it was â??probably too goodâ?, and the bank had loaned miillions to Rangers â??too easilyâ? without proper checks and balances. He went on: â??When Lloyds came, I think they knew to some extent there was a lot of toxic debt. But I donâ??t think they quite realised the extent of it. â??They realised the governance and operations needed tidying up.â? When Johnston became chairman, he was â??shockedâ? to find all discussions involving the bank were dealt with personally by Murray and the Edinburgh team who helped run the rest of his empire, which spans call centres, metal firms and commercial property. He said: â??Nobody at Rangers Football Club knew the bank. The bank didnâ??t deal with Rangers. â??It was totally incongruous in my experience that a bank that loaned a company £40million had no history in dealing with the chief executive or finance director of that company.â? In 2009, two new men were appointed to the Rangers board. One was Murrayâ??s right-hand man, Mike McGill. The other, financial strategist Donald Muir, was the eyes and ears of Lloyds. Muirâ??s arrival was seen as a sign that Murrayâ??s hold over the club was weakening. Johnston said it was a condition of the bankâ??s renewal of the clubâ??s credit facility. He added: â??Within two years of my chairmanship with an independent board, we reduced the debt from about £35million to £18million. â??The bank, believe it or not, at that time were very happy with us. Our arguments with them were more about reducing the debt by another £2million to £16million, in order for them to be totally satisfied it was a sustainable working debt.â? Then, early last year, the bankâ??s position appeared to change â?? for reasons yet to become clear. Johnston said: â??They originally didnâ??t believe in Craig Whyte. Thatâ??s the irony. They were as wary as we were about the fact he was one of the â??here today, gone tomorrowâ?? types that didnâ??t have the money. â??The first time they were invited to meet with Whyte in London, he didnâ??t show up. It wasnâ??t until a couple of months before the transaction concluded that the bank started to believe the deal might be for real. â??David Murray and Craig Whyte got involved around October 2010. It wasnâ??t until around March 2011 when the bank turned on us very badly. â??They started talking much more seriously about Whyte. This was within four or five weeks of the transaction being concluded. â??They basically saw a chance to get all £18million back in one fell swoop.â? It was at this time, Johnston claims, that a senior bank executive told him Murray had been â??incentivisedâ? to seal the Whyte deal. He said: â??I pointed out to the banker that I felt David Murray may not want to sell. â??The reply, and this is a very key statement, was, â??Alastair, David Murray is heavily incentivised to get rid of Rangers Football Club. Let me leave it at that.â?? â??I understood that to mean that certain things would then be triggered in his £700million relationship between Murray Group and the bank.â? Johnston said Murray first mentioned Whyteâ??s name to him in November 2010. He recalled: â??David Murray rang me on my mobile and said, â??I think weâ??ve got someone and this is a really good one. Unlike any others before, heâ??s spent a lot up front. â??â??Heâ??s hired some high-powered lawyers and spent some money on them, and heâ??s hired a high-powered PR team. Heâ??s spent a lot of money on it so he must be serious.â??â? But the sale turned out to be, as Murray now calls it, a â??huge mistakeâ?. Johnston said: â??One of the big giveaways about Craig Whyte was the fact he wasnâ??t worried about working capital. He didnâ??t care about it. â??He was much more concerned about the contracts. â??His modus operandi was, â??How many of them can we get out of, how many of them can we deny paying until at least some of them will drop by the wayside.â??â? In another withering criticism of Murray, Johnston added: â??Whyte didnâ??t put a cent into the club, as we all know. â??Thatâ??s why I was jumping up and down and telling anyone who would listen. But there were only some people who would listen.â? Murray last night declined to respond to Johnstonâ??s attacks. He said: â??I will keep my counsel on this for a future date.â? Lloyds refused to explain why they were so keen to see Rangers sold, or to respond to the allegation that Murray was â??incentivisedâ? to do the deal. They said: â??The deal was a matter between Craig Whyte and Sir David Murray. â??The bankâ??s involvement was in relation to the debt owed by Rangers FC, which was repaid in full, in accordance with all required regulatory checks.â? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bears 0 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 It’s about time a ex board member got fucked into DM 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 He added: â??Within two years of my chairmanship with an independent board, we reduced the debt from about £35million to £18million. â??The bank, believe it or not, at that time were very happy with us. Our arguments with them were more about reducing the debt by another £2million to £16million, in order for them to be totally satisfied it was a sustainable working debt.â? Then, early last year, the bankâ??s position appeared to change â?? for reasons yet to become clear. Will we ever find out the reasons? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
foggy dewhurst 0 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 some day the truth just might come out , but i dont think i will live that long . 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebear54 0 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 The change of strategy might be something to do with the Ticketus money. There's a possibility that DM and Lloyds were both aware of the deal - at the very least - were complicit at the worst, and didn't care how it went through. Reading between the lines, I would read "balls in a vice" for "incentivised." BTW, given that there is an ongoing SPL and SFA investigation into the Club, why has nobody complained about how this is being played out in the media, especially with the BBC actively developing evidence and opinion which is then used by those organisations? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 A lot of people getting squeaky bum by the sound of all that, you have to ask why oh why didn't AJ go public with all the info he had instead of just saying he's not right for Rangers he's no money. Everyone of them involved in this whole mess has blood on their hands and that includes the ones who had the info to stop it but didn't. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,366 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Then, early last year, the bank’s position appeared to change – for reasons yet to become clear. Will we ever find out the reasons? The big tax case? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 The big tax case? Makes sense. Debt coming down yet they panicked. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aweebluesoandso 290 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 (edited) AJ saying to little to late imo, the fear of SDM was overpowering whilst they were all in the boardroom. Now they are on the outside they have found the courage to speak out, SDM the great dictator indeed. Edited May 23, 2012 by aweebluesoandso 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 A lot of people getting squeaky bum by the sound of all that, you have to ask why oh why didn't AJ go public with all the info he had instead of just saying he's not right for Rangers he's no money. Everyone of them involved in this whole mess has blood on their hands and that includes the ones who had the info to stop it but didn't. He stated many times Whyte was not the right man for the job, but the fans were more angry with him for saying it than they were doubtful of Whyte. Most thought the Knight in shining armour had ridden into town but rather a pile of shite and penniless charmer had ridden into town. now we are all willing to listen to hear what he is saying. Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted springs to mind. I was as gullible as everyone else for the record. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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