Lengthy signing targets list at hand ... a few obstacle aside

[der Berliner 3,267]

Sayest Green to Lamont over at the BBC ... (and some other interesting things)

 

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Rangers could sign new players before exiting administration

 

By Alasdair Lamont BBC Scotland

 

Rangers could attempt to sign new players before the club is officially out of administration.

 

Charles Green is aiming to have a Company Voluntary Arrangement approved on Thursday, after which there is a 28-day cooling-off period.

 

But SPL rules state that, with board approval, clubs in administration may replace players whose contracts expire.

 

"If you are correct, that is an avenue open to the club," Green told BBC Scotland on Sunday.

 

Asked about the wisdom of discussing buying players in the days leading up to a vote by creditors being offered just a few pence in pound Green told BBC Scotland: "No money is required for players. Most are free because of the financial crisis across Europe."

 

Asked about money for wages, he added: "That's why I've added £1.5m to the budget."

 

Further funds will be freed up as current players leave.

 

Rule 6.20 of the Scottish Premier League's regulations makes provision for signings being made in special circumstances by clubs who have suffered an insolvency event.

 

While there is no guarantee the SPL board would approve any signings, with several players' contracts expiring, that could allow Rangers to use the rule to bring replacements in.

 

If the CVA is approved, which is still the subject of dubiety, the cooling-off period would take Rangers to mid-July.

 

The club had been banned from signing players for 12 months by a Scottish Football Association-appointed Judicial Panel, a decision upheld by an Appellate Tribunal but subsequently set aside by the Court of Session.

 

The Appellate Tribunal must now decide what punishment to administer.

 

In the meantime, Green has confirmed he had told a supporters' meeting on Wednesday that he has a list of 19 target players drawn up, five of whom are involved at Euro 2012.

And he says he has added £1.5m to the budget Ally McCoist and the administrators Duff & Phelps had been working to for next season.

 

Green had also been examining the possibility, if Thursday's creditors' vote goes in favour of a CVA, of setting aside the 28-day cooling-off period, to allow a swifter exit from administration.

 

But lawyers have advised that even if the two main creditors - HMRC and Ticketus - had been willing to agree to that, it would not be possible because other creditors had to be allowed the right to raise objections in that period and only a judge can bring the period of administration to an end.

Of the money raised so far (£5.5m is lodged with the lawyers Taylor Wessing, as confirmed by Simon Shipperley of Duff and Phelps at the fans' meeting), £2m has come from Singaporean investors, £2m from another major investor, with the remainder split.

 

Having closed the initial round of funding with £10m raised, Green says he will entertain a second round of investment with a maximum of £4m per investor.

 

Green also referred to a £10m stadium-naming deal with "an airline investor or alternative".

 

"I've been speaking to a number of people, some of whom are connected to our investors, some not," he added.

 

"I've said all along, stadium-naming is an emotive issue, but whatever we do it would always be Ibrox Stadium."

 

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[Zappa 0]

Of the money raised so far (£5.5m is lodged with the lawyers Taylor Wessing, as confirmed by Simon Shipperley of Duff and Phelps at the fans' meeting)

 

Does anyone know why only £5.5m is reported to be lodged with the lawyers?

 

Is that just a case of ring-fencing the administration & legal fees?

Edited June 10, 2012 by Zappa

[pete 2,499]

Personally I think it is stupid to say we are going to spend money when we are asking people to accept 8 pence in the pound. I would say why are we rubbing salt in any wounds.

[Zappa 0]

Personally I think it is stupid to say we are going to spend money when we are asking people to accept 8 pence in the pound. I would say why are we rubbing salt in any wounds.

 

Do you mean saying there's £1.5m being added to the budget for next season Pete?

[pete 2,499]

Do you mean saying there's £1.5m being added to the budget for next season Pete?

 

That as well but I just think we should not be talking about buying players until the CVA has been decided.

[der Berliner 3,267]

Well, from what we know we have already send a few people away (youngsters), Ortiz won't come back either (it seems), some may not stay on. So looking after fresh faces is the order of the day, whether they come, or whether we are indeed allowed to take them on is another matter. And the creditors will know that the club has to move on and will, no matter what is on offer for them right now.

 

As it looks, these 1.5m are added to the budget Ally and D&P have in mind for next season. (Who knows for certain whether we are out of the admins hands by then ...)

 

On a sidenote, methinks the RFFF is working on paying out creditors to a certain extend, if they've not already done so.

[Zappa 0]

On a sidenote, methinks the RFFF is working on paying out creditors to a certain extend, if they've not already done so.

 

Ouch!

 

They already paid Dunfermline what was owed from the RFFF and Dunfermline have been trying to shaft us ever since with their chairman Yorkston saying to the press and media that we should get hammered, relegated and all sorts of ungrateful, downright nasty stuff.

[Zappa 0]

That as well but I just think we should not be talking about buying players until the CVA has been decided.

 

Absolutely. The likes of Aluko's contract extension should have been dealt with before the contract expired. Being in administration shouldn't have prevented that from being done and nobody would have had a real issue with it. Talking about increasing budgets for next season and signing players is a different matter altogether.

[der Berliner 3,267]

Know all about the Pars chairman, of course, but was referring to non-football creditors, of which, it looks there are quite a few listed in the CVA proposal.

 

The Pars have, obviously, very own reason to see e.g. a newco Rangers being chopped from the SPL.

 

EDIT: I do assume we have already talked to all players, not least those whose contracts will or have expired. Yet, as long as we have no owner, who knows whether the admins are actually in a legal position to renew contracts.

Edited June 10, 2012 by der Berliner

[Guest Xander1873]

Personally I think it is stupid to say we are going to spend money when we are asking people to accept 8 pence in the pound. I would say why are we rubbing salt in any wounds.

 

It would be like a supermarket chain coming out of administration via a CVA and new owners but saying they won't be buying in new stock. Of course we are going to buy players and spend money, we have new owners who are looking to build a strong and competitive business, as we are a football club this includes buying players within our budget.

 

Motherwell have posted profits of £500k should they be ashamed of that since they gave their creditors a pence in the pound deal. If it was Craig Whyte or David Murray who were still in control of the club, then I could agree with the sentiment that we shouldn't be quite so open about our spending plans.

 

However our new owners weren't the ones who got us into this mess and they weren't the ones who left our creditors in the situation they find themselves in. They are buying an insolvent business and offering the creditors more money than they would otherwise get. Of course the CVA doesn't include all the money the consortium can raise. You don't buy a house that needs repaired and spend your whole budget on acquiring the property.

 

The money being held back for running the club and enhancing the transfer budget for next season is the same as the money that would be kept to do repairs on a property after you buy it.