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Richard Wilson Article In The Herald


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http://t.co/ZfnAZatF

 

 

C harles Green struck a bullish tone yesterday when he claimed that season ticket revenue from Rangers fans "will not be abused the way it was before".

 

However, his motives and means continue to be strongly questioned by influential supporters of the Ibrox side, including Paul Murray, leader of the Blue Knights consortium that tried to buy the club.

 

Green was reacting to criticism from Dave King, the Rangers director, who told creditors not to vote for the Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal funded by the £8.5m loan, at 8% interest, that Green's SEVCO consortium are using to buy the club. King also urged fans not to renew their season tickets, or at least only if the money is held in an escrow account and protected until the new season.

 

"It's not difficult to put together a deal to acquire the club under existing circumstances," King said. "The question is how can you fund it going forward? I [said] Craig Whyte wouldn't see the season out and I predict Charles Green wouldn't see a season out, either. Charles Green doesn't have the money to run the club and he's relying on the season ticket money to fund the acquisition."

 

Green denies these claims and he insisted that his consortium will purchase the club on Thursday, either after a positive CVA vote, or as a newco, since he believes that he has a binding agreement with Duff & Phelps, the administrators, to buy the assets for £5.5m. Green maintains that he has deposited a significant amount of the £8.5m, and also that future funding is in place, which raises questions about the motives for launching the season ticket renewal campaign yesterday, while the club is still in administration.

 

"On the basis the receiver is already holding cash, I struggle to see how I can use season ticket money to buy the club," Green said. "We have documented the fact we are going to raise another £20-30m. There is a 28-day cooling period, should the CVA go ahead. Until that ends, any monies that come into the club are held in a secure account and I have no access.

 

"The season ticket money is crucial. Only creditors have [control over the CVA] and if it is rejected, we will immediately default into a newco route. There is nothing anyone can say to change the fact my consortium will acquire the business next Thursday."

 

Many Ibrox fans remain wary and that anxiety was given a voice by Murray, whose consortium thought they had bought the club only for Duff & Phelps, who are under investigation by the Insolvency Practitioners Association, to suddenly opt for Green.

 

"Why are we allowing [to take control of the club] a guy with no Rangers affinity and who is not prepared to disclose any details of his bid?" Murray said. "The fact that he has been brought to the table by Duff & Phelps, who have a lot to answer for, should concern every Rangers fan. The whole process, including the recent ludicrous comments by Craig Whyte, needs a thorough investigation. He is deluded and the fans will never forget his shameful role in the problems the club face.

 

"The supporters should not buy season tickets until they know what they are being asked to buy in to. The club is now at a crossroads and we should not allow Duff & Phelps to determine our future. We need to have the club's destiny determined by 'Bluenoses' who will look after the club and not more investors who are focused on global branding rather than the reality of Scottish football."

 

Green says that if the CVA vote is successful, he will name his investors on Thursday. He would then be appointed chief executive, although he added that he does not intend to work at the club for long.

 

"My job is to remove the debts, get Rangers on a sound footing and put £20-30m in the bank. Once that is done, I'm of no use to the club at all. It is important to be transparent because you get found out."

 

However, King believes the deal with the administrators should not go ahead. "If there isn't any demonstrated capability [of future funding], it should fail, and fail quickly," he said. "Then at least Duff & Phelps are in a position to negotiate with the only real answer at this point, which is the Blue Knights.

 

"From discussions I've had, there are a number of people who would get involved, but only if the club can be acquired by like-minded people and will be properly funded. My understanding is that he [Green] doesn't have funding and all we're into is the same situation we had with Craig Whyte, where the funding will come out of the season ticket sales, and that will run dry around August or September."

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However, King believes the deal with the administrators should not go ahead. "If there isn't any demonstrated capability [of future funding], it should fail, and fail quickly," he said. "Then at least Duff & Phelps are in a position to negotiate with the only real answer at this point, which is the Blue Knights.

 

"From discussions I've had, there are a number of people who would get involved, but only if the club can be acquired by like-minded people and will be properly funded. My understanding is that he [Green] doesn't have funding and all we're into is the same situation we had with Craig Whyte, where the funding will come out of the season ticket sales, and that will run dry around August or September."

 

 

So where exactly were all these people when Paul Murray was desperately trying to convince people to invest in TBK so he could buy the club? TBK had a lot of time to get organised, and could in the end only get 5 members, 2 of which were not putting in any significant money at all. He is just bringing out the old emotional blackmail stuff.

 

I'm sorry but we had a board full of Rangers supporters under David Murray, and we were bought by a Rangers supporter in Craig Whyte and none of those ended well, so Im not going to be scared away from supporting an "outsider" purely because he isnt a Bear. TBK deal didnt stack up, Green's appears to stack up so far, so I cautiously move forward with this.

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I remember listening to PM disagree with King on the radio many months ago, over whether Rangers would be liquidated.

 

King has been consistent over this since the start.

 

I guess we have to move forward cautiously with Green, we have no other choice.

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I don't get Paul Murrays argument about not being interested in global branding, surely by increasing our profile abroad would help bring in extra revenue!

 

If it's done properly, then yes.

 

The trouble with increasing our profile abroad isn't necessarily the difficulty of creating awareness in our brand as much as capitalising on it.

 

For instance we could have issues with TV deals that other big clubs don't. Likewise with merchandising. There are other avenues we could explore of course

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However, King believes the deal with the administrators should not go ahead. "If there isn't any demonstrated capability [of future funding], it should fail, and fail quickly," he said. "Then at least Duff & Phelps are in a position to negotiate with the only real answer at this point, which is the Blue Knights.

 

"From discussions I've had, there are a number of people who would get involved, but only if the club can be acquired by like-minded people and will be properly funded. My understanding is that he [Green] doesn't have funding and all we're into is the same situation we had with Craig Whyte, where the funding will come out of the season ticket sales, and that will run dry around August or September."

 

 

So where exactly were all these people when Paul Murray was desperately trying to convince people to invest in TBK so he could buy the club? TBK had a lot of time to get organised, and could in the end only get 5 members, 2 of which were not putting in any significant money at all. He is just bringing out the old emotional blackmail stuff.

 

I'm sorry but we had a board full of Rangers supporters under David Murray, and we were bought by a Rangers supporter in Craig Whyte and none of those ended well, so Im not going to be scared away from supporting an "outsider" purely because he isnt a Bear. TBK deal didnt stack up, Green's appears to stack up so far, so I cautiously move forward with this.

 

Agree with this,just because Green has admitted he is not a Rangers fan doesn't mean he will fail,we have always had Rangers supporters on the board and we are in the shit,some people just talk the talk and others walk the walk.These guys have had plenty opportunity to save the club and all I can see is FAIL.

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I don't get Paul Murrays argument about not being interested in global branding

 

I'm not sticking up for Paul Murray here but he doesn't actually say that he's not interested in global branding.

 

Pedant Loyal. :D

 

PS - TBH, I'm not really sure what point Paul Murray actually is trying to make with the global branding comment though. Is he referring to something in Green's plans for the club which doesn't sound particularly realistic?

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Dave King

 

"From discussions I've had, there are a number of people who would get involved, but only if the club can be acquired by like-minded people and will be properly funded..."

 

I take these 'people who would get involved' wouldn't be capable of providing sufficient funding either or else what's the problem exactly?

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I don't get Paul Murrays argument about not being interested in global branding, surely by increasing our profile abroad would help bring in extra revenue!

 

I imagine he means there's no point chasing rainbows as there's no pot of gold at the end of them.

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I imagine he means there's no point chasing rainbows as there's no pot of gold at the end of them.

 

It's that kind of attitude that's played a big part in negating our ability to reach our potential. Throwing money aimlessly at 'moonbeams' while neglecting key areas of our business to the point that it's profitable to contract them out to 3rd parties because we weren't capable or interested in running them properly ourselves.

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