bill mcmurdo speaks to whyte

[the gunslinger 3,366]

http://www.thecoplandroad.org/2012/10/craig-whyte-speaks-to-fans.html

by Bill McMurdo | CRO Contributor

 

We decided to give Craig Whyte a chance to speak directly to the Rangers fans so here it is:

 

It is clear that Craig Whyte considers himself to be the saviour of Rangers FC and at least partly responsible for the present healthy state of the club.

 

No doubt this will incite howls of angry derision from Rangers fans but Whyte has some powerful arguments to buttress his claim.

 

I recently caught up with him on his busy schedule and put some blunt questions to the man who is arguably the biggest panto villain Scotland has seen in years.

 

I asked Craig Whyte directly if he had any business dealings with David Murray prior to the takeover of Rangers. The relationship between the two has been the subject of persistent internet rumours.

 

Whyte was forthright in his response.

 

"I met him for the first time at his house in Antibes in 2010," was his reply.

 

I then put it to Whyte that there can really only be one of two possibilities. He either bought Rangers to run the club or he bought Rangers to make a quick buck and turnaround. "Which is it?" I asked.

 

His answer was again straightforward.

 

"My objective was to deal with the tax issue, stabilise the club and get it on a solid footing. The club was not saleable or investable until that happened. After that I was open to either keeping it or selling it if the right offer came along."

 

To be fair, you can't get a more honest answer. Was Craig Whyte open to making a fast buck by offloading Rangers? He admits that but was keen to stress that the right offer was not a purely financial consideration. Whether Rangers fans believe him or not, Whyte was very conscious he was the custodian of a very sacred trust in Rangers Football Club.

 

I asked Whyte if his plans came a cropper simply by his running out of money due to Rangers' exits from three major cup competitions.

 

He was very reluctant to go down that route because he doesn't want it to seem he is blaming the managerial and playing side of the club for what amounted to a gamble on behalf of the commercial side but eventually he admitted:

 

"Yes, we budgeted for £5m Europa League income and £1m Scottish Cup income. We were deprived of both which would have got us through to the end of the season."

 

This ties in with statements made at the time that financial budgets were not reliant upon Champions League progress.

 

It also confirms what many people have thought, that Whyte was banking on money from Europe and the cup competitions in order to keep the club afloat.

 

Clearly the club was seriously underfunded at this stage, something Whyte does not deny.

 

I asked Whyte directly what went wrong with the process of administration. If he intended to put Rangers through a quick CVA and have the club handed back cleansed of toxic debt, what happened to waylay this plan? Was it unprecedented media interest, reaction of fans or any other factor? Was he betrayed by anyone?

 

Again, he was forthright in his response:

 

"It was a combination of those factors but mainly because Duff & Phelps didn't stick to what they agreed which was a quick administration process at a fixed fee which would have delivered it back to me minus the tax liability."

 

Whyte clearly feels aggrieved at how Duff & Phelps treated him and handled the whole process of administration and subsequent liquidation.

 

When asked why he pressed for Duff and Phelps appointment as administrators in the first place, he replied:

 

"Because they agreed to deliver it back to me for a fixed price in a short time."

 

Yet again, this answer was frank. Whyte has clearly learned the lesson that bull*******g the Rangers fans got him nowhere. In fact, he has been so outspokenly honest lately it has caused a few jitters with some people!

 

I asked Whyte one for the conspiratorially minded among the Rangers support.

 

"What is your involvement/relationship with Zeus Capital or the people behind it?"

 

Once more he didn't flinch in his reply.

 

"I have known Imran Ahmad for several years but other than that, none."

 

It is my understanding that Imran plays a far bigger role in the consortium than many think, something borne out by the fact he was actually Managing Director at Zeus Capital.

 

Whye's answer proves that there was definite historical connections and continuity between his regime and the present one. In fact, Whyte confirmed this unequivocally when asked if he had introduced Charles Green to Duff and Phelps and if he had prior business dealings with Green.

 

"What I actually said is that I went out and found a buyer as D & P had failed to do that. My colleague in London contacted Imran who then introduced me to Charles at the beginning of May. I introduced Charles to Paul Clark in Hakkasan in London."

 

In reply to my question did he think he had been made the fall guy or scapegoat in the whole affair and, if so, who was really to blame for all of Rangers’ woes, Whyte said this:

 

“What caused Rangers woes was the catastrophic EBT scheme. If it hadn't been for that the club wouldn't have been sold for £1 and it would have been able to attract funding to pay the outstanding tax liabilities. The club also had running cost of £10m per year more than income so it was never run as a sustainable business.”

 

Whyte is adamant that there was an inevitability over the matter of Rangers going down the CVA/liquidation route.

 

He bluntly says, “It was absolutely unavoidable. Any other commentary is just spin.”

 

I have to say that businessmen of my acquaintance who are no slouches in business themselves all say the same thing. What Whyte did was what any rational businessman would have done – take the company into a process where it could be cleared of tax liability and free to trade without the awful burden of the EBT mess hanging over it.

 

What people need to remember is that Craig Whyte didn’t cause the EBT problem. His decision to put Rangers into administration was arguably the right one in the long term.

 

Sadly for him, he did it when it was too late and he himself had run out of money trying to trade his way out of a bad streak of fortune.

 

Whyte is very open about his own mistakes in the entire matter, as can be seen in his recent BBC interview.

 

He was not so forthcoming when asked if he had any relationship in an investment capacity with the present Rangers regime, either through a front or investment vehicle. He was also equally tight-lipped about persistent rumours he had helped procure a loan to fund Charles Green consortium’s takeover at Ibrox.

 

But you can’t grudge Whyte’s decision to keep some cards close to his chest; he has had months of savage abuse heaped on him for what he feels was a necessary act, akin to like-saving surgery – the excising from Rangers of the cancerous fiscal mess of the Murray years.

 

Will history record Craig Whyte as a Rangers hero to some who will look less passionately at what has transpired in recent times from a longer perspective say, twenty years from now?

 

Or will he go down in history as the bampot who almost destroyed Rangers?

 

I don’t know but I will say this: Craig Whyte promised two things: 1) A period of great pain which would result in: 2) A much stronger and fitter Rangers.

 

He certainly delivered the first.

 

And, if you like the present Charles Green regime at Ibrox and you believe Craig Whyte brought them to the club, then you have to concede he delivered the second.

 

His own tenure was marred by bad business decisions like running out of money and also by miscalculating the backlash over placing the club in administration.

 

But maybe his biggest downfall was putting his faith in Duff and Phelps, who he clearly feels have betrayed him.

 

Craig Whyte – Rangers’ saviour?

 

You decide.

Edited October 22, 2012 by the gunslinger

[Thinker 875]

But you can’t grudge Whyte’s decision to keep some cards close to his chest; he has had months of savage abuse heaped on him for what he feels was a necessary act, akin to like-saving surgery – the excising from Rangers of the cancerous fiscal mess of the Murray years.

 

What he did was more akin to botched surgery.

 

Maybe, initially, he did see himself coming through the whole affair as saviour - I don't know. But if what BM describes above was really his plan it was a terrible risk to take, and he screwed it up.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

if you believe he screwed it up. I don't.

[gisabeer 409]

cant believe anyone is stupid enough to be taken in by anything this guy says. his business is asset stripping and thats exactly what he did to us.

[kuznetsov 0]

i thought hmrc forced us into admin not whyte? was it not them who threatened us with it before whyte chose to do it?

 

i dont belive the ebt thing caused admin, i think it was more to do with whyte not paying bills due, tax bills.

 

whyte the billionaire ran out of money but still managed to keep his castle, fancy sports cars and house in monte carlo? interesting.

 

admitting to running the club on a reliance of european money and monies not guaranteed annually is something he said himself when taking over he would not do.

 

had criag whyte paid our tax bills on time which we had money for with a record 37200 season tickets sold and all the spl sponsorship monies which came with it including 2 european qualifiers, we would not have had pressure on us from hmrc to enter admin. the 10m annual loss he spoke of was made worse and a direct result of him adding to our wage bill after european exits. doh

 

duff and phelps may well have renaged on any deal with whyte, tbk and kennedy also stated d and p had also renaged on a deal with them too.

 

not a fan of whyte, not even a fan of green, was never a fan of murray and really dont know what our future will bring.

Edited October 22, 2012 by kuznetsov

[simplythebest 0]

if you believe he screwed it up. I don't.

 

How about he screwed up and didn't care about the consequences?

[simplythebest 0]

i thought hmrc forced us into admin not whyte? was it not them who threatened us with it before whyte chose to do it?

 

i dont belive the ebt thing caused admin, i think it was more to do with whyte not paying bills due, tax bills.

 

whyte the billionaire ran out of money but still managed to keep his castle, fancy sports cars and house in monte carlo? interesting.

 

admitting to running the club on a reliance of european money and monies not guaranteed annually is something he said himself when taking over he would not do.

 

had criag whyte paid our tax bills on time which we had money for with a record 37200 season tickets sold and all the spl sponsorship monies which came with it including 2 european qualifiers, we would not have had pressure on us from hmrc to enter admin. the 10m annual loss he spoke of was made worse and a direct result of him adding to our wage bill after european exits. doh

 

duff and phelps may well have renaged on any dela with whyte, tbk and kennedy also stated d and p had also renaged on a deal with them too.

 

not a fan of whyte, not even a fan of green, was never a fan of murray and really dont know what our future will bring.

Whyte is shit stirring and stupid media are giving him a platform, don't let them get you down. The damage was done and the debt was left behind. We're moving forward now.

[Bluedell 5,342]

If whyte was planning to put us into administration then why did he continue to fund us through not paying the PAYE and NI over to HMRC? Why sell Jelavic? Why try and buy a player in the January window?

 

He is a pathological liar and his comments are worthless.

[simplythebest 0]

If whyte was planning to put us into administration then why did he continue to fund us through not paying the PAYE and NI over to HMRC? Why sell Jelavic? Why try and buy a player in the January window?

 

He is a pathological liar and his comments are worthless.

 

One explanation might be him thinking could convince HMRC to settle, why he'd think that was possisible I do not know.

[Jim1955 12]

I'm pretty certain that he has resurfaced ahead of the share flotation because he expects to be paid to go away. I've no evidence it's just a gut feeling.