Letham gives Rangers extra time to repay £1million loan

[the gunslinger 3,366]

An hr person once told me all told it cost 50 percent more than the wage of a person to employ them.

[calscot 0]

I've always said that the transition seasons of getting to the top would need to be done at a loss and that loss recovered by share issues that then return their value when we're back at the top. There was no way we could cut our cloth to the leagues and both keep the fans onside as well as guaranteeing instant promotions.

 

You can already see how Hibs are struggling badly to compete given a similar, if nowhere near as severe, situation.

 

The challenge was to limit the losses by keeping the costs moderate and value for money, while increasing income as much as possible. This could have been achieved to some extent had it been the pure goals of those who took over the club. However, their goals seem to have been to syphon off as much money as possible while deflecting this fact by unnecessary spending. It's a double whammy that has put the club in a grave position.

 

When you look at our pre-admin turnover of over £40m without European money, the fact that our income fell to about 19m, the majority of which was ticket sales, you really have to wonder what makes up the difference. Then with spending at 36m with only about 9m on the first team and management, you have to wonder where it goes.

 

The board having a dissonant agenda to the needs of the club has eroded both sides of the equation.

 

A load of money was raised in the IPO and at excessive cost, but very little of it seems to have benefited the club and indeed is still bleeding us via onerous contracts to reward the original investors. The merry-go-round of board members who fail the club but are given excessive wages, bonuses and payoffs as well as legal costs for them suing us, has been incredibly damaging with little in return.

 

On the income side, we don't seem to be able to negotiate a decent deal for the likes of sponsorship or merchandising, which combined used to bring in about as much as our current turnover. Indeed, for a club with a support originally buying into a revival, there seems to be very little of a potential £5m a year profit paid to the club. The latest contract seems to effectively be £0 and 0% in favour of the club. It seems we need to pay back loans and are desperately trying to attract a £3m share issue to do so, while we have a major shareholder who owes us something like £2.7m for merchandising but which somehow he doesn't have to and doesn't want to pay.

 

The whole financial side is just a mess, but when looked at from the point of view of greed for those at the trough, it's been very successful for them. And that's the crux of it - a lot of the real goals have been achieved. I think they believed they could pull the wool over our eyes and milk it for a lot longer in the top tier, but it seems like many fans have shown they won't be duped and put the brakes on the gravy train.

 

Something has to come to a head soon and you have to hope that some of the investors have seen the end of line and want to pull out while they are still well in profit. That could also force other hedge funds to pull out and limit their losses. Unfortunately, there only seems to be one man who can make this happen if the situation arises, so we are dependent on how he wants to play the game, and if he wants to miss a turn, there is nothing we can do.

[Hildy 0]

Rangers needed a short term loan of a million pounds which an RST member was able to provide. Now it needs time to pay it back. It seeks to raise £4m now which won't even keep the lights on until the end of the season, and before then, even more money will be required.

 

Meanwhile, outrageous sums are being wasted on high earners who are sailing the ship straight for the rocks - again. Assistance is available but as that would require new faces on the bridge, no deviation is planned.

 

If this was any other business, we would all agree on the state of play. We would sum it up quite succinctly - it's f****d.

 

With it being Rangers, though, we pray for divine intervention rather than calling it as we see it. As God has more important things to deal with right now, though, we are left to wait, wonder, analyse, comment and hope - and none of it will do any good.

 

Rangers' fate, which we continually take no responsibility for, will be what it will be, and we are the people who will have looked on and groaned, moaned and wailed while the dismantling of the club occurred before our very eyes.

[der Berliner 3,263]

The great problem with the "we" is that there are many "few", but not one great all-encompassing "we". And the even greater problem for those who want to be a "we" is that they lack the finances (or will to spend the latter) to change things. Alas, that is not a problem that only Rangers supporters have though.

[barca72 440]

Rangers needed a short term loan of a million pounds which an RST member was able to provide. Now it needs time to pay it back. It seeks to raise £4m now which won't even keep the lights on until the end of the season, and before then, even more money will be required.

 

Meanwhile, outrageous sums are being wasted on high earners who are sailing the ship straight for the rocks - again. Assistance is available but as that would require new faces on the bridge, no deviation is planned.

 

If this was any other business, we would all agree on the state of play. We would sum it up quite succinctly - it's f****d.

 

With it being Rangers, though, we pray for divine intervention rather than calling it as we see it. As God has more important things to deal with right now, though, we are left to wait, wonder, analyse, comment and hope - and none of it will do any good.

 

Rangers' fate, which we continually take no responsibility for, will be what it will be, and we are the people who will have looked on and groaned, moaned and wailed while the dismantling of the club occurred before our very eyes.

 

Of whom do you speak when you use the term 'we'? Do you mean SoS, UoF, or the whole fanbase in general. Irrespective, it is not the fans' responsibility to right the ship, whether it be by fan ownership or fan representative schemes, that responsibility is entirely the board's.

Surely if the board had income streams available to them other than ST income they would have been able to buffer the effect of this downturn in one income stream? Is it not a function of the board to be fiscally responsible while offering an attractive product?

The responsibility of a fan is to enjoy what he pays for, and hopefully come back for more ( and that includes an emotional stake in his team ).

[Hildy 0]

Of whom do you speak when you use the term 'we'? Do you mean SoS, UoF, or the whole fanbase in general. Irrespective, it is not the fans' responsibility to right the ship, whether it be by fan ownership or fan representative schemes, that responsibility is entirely the board's.

Surely if the board had income streams available to them other than ST income they would have been able to buffer the effect of this downturn in one income stream? Is it not a function of the board to be fiscally responsible while offering an attractive product?

The responsibility of a fan is to enjoy what he pays for, and hopefully come back for more ( and that includes an emotional stake in his team ).

The days where fans could leave the running of the club to the board are long gone. Some have come to realise it while others, perhaps like yourself, are clinging to an era that may never return.

 

Our fanbase, and this is the 'we' I'm talking about, has struggled to come to terms with a changing club in a changing world. Rangers has too many enemies for it to function well against overwhelming bigotry, corrupt authorities and a mostly biased media. When we have a board that overpays, under-performs and has about as much affection for Rangers as you do for Celtic, it is naive in the extreme to expect it to perform in line with your expectations for it.

 

It has different priorities from you. You would be happy to serve the club if the possibility arose, but the current ownership of Rangers and its board of directors see the club altogether differently: they are not here to serve - they are here to earn, to speculate and to accumulate.

 

We need to get a grip of a new reality, and until we do, desperation, frustration and even the possibility of annihilation, will never be far away.

[D'Artagnan 173]

So he did not want shares in the company instead. It would also be good, just for the sake of the debate, to tell people that he "only" wanted a third of Laxey's amount in interest - at least according to information back then.

 

DB

 

I dont really understand where you are coming from on this one. The guy has stepped in to offer our club a loan at a better rate than what was originally proposed by others.

 

Having done so, the chaos engine, which is our board have failed to repay it withing the allotted timescale and the guy has generously agreed to allow them more time to do so.

 

If anything Mr Letham should be thanked rather than criticised.

[barca72 440]

The days where fans could leave the running of the club to the board are long gone. Some have come to realise it while others, perhaps like yourself, are clinging to an era that may never return.

 

Our fanbase, and this is the 'we' I'm talking about, has struggled to come to terms with a changing club in a changing world. Rangers has too many enemies for it to function well against overwhelming bigotry, corrupt authorities and a mostly biased media. When we have a board that overpays, under-performs and has about as much affection for Rangers as you do for Celtic, it is naive in the extreme to expect it to perform in line with your expectations for it.

 

It has different priorities from you. You would be happy to serve the club if the possibility arose, but the current ownership of Rangers and its board of directors see the club altogether differently: they are not here to serve - they are here to earn, to speculate and to accumulate.

 

We need to get a grip of a new reality, and until we do, desperation, frustration and even the possibility of annihilation, will never be far away.

 

Actually, I don't think the fans are naive any more. This has been an object lesson in how to be vigilant to threats to the club. The efforts of the various fan groups are, for the most part, to be lauded whether you agree with them or not. At least they are trying to do something.

The fact is, however, that for the moment all the fans can do is to call the board's attention to perceived problems from the outside. It would take years for the fans to buy the club, and then only if the present owners wished to sell it to them.

I don't know where you get the idea that I am clinging to a bygone era, you can't go back. To think that a fanbase like we have could buy the club, and they won't do that anytime soon, and run it without a professional board may be more naive. Look at the RFFF, as an example. It will not be easy to wrest control from this existing ownership, and at a reasonable price. I don't know how it will be done, but we must at least continue to believe that it will be.

[Hildy 0]

Actually, I don't think the fans are naive any more. This has been an object lesson in how to be vigilant to threats to the club. The efforts of the various fan groups are, for the most part, to be lauded whether you agree with them or not. At least they are trying to do something.

The fact is, however, that for the moment all the fans can do is to call the board's attention to perceived problems from the outside. It would take years for the fans to buy the club, and then only if the present owners wished to sell it to them.

I don't know where you get the idea that I am clinging to a bygone era, you can't go back. To think that a fanbase like we have could buy the club, and they won't do that anytime soon, and run it without a professional board may be more naive. Look at the RFFF, as an example. It will not be easy to wrest control from this existing ownership, and at a reasonable price. I don't know how it will be done, but we must at least continue to believe that it will be.

The RST put fan ownership on the table over ten years ago. It recognised - and was the only group that realised it - that things had to change.

 

Since then we have had various groups coming and going but none are offering a proper and permanent solution in the way that the RST did - and is doing.

 

Yes, the RFFF was a farce, but it was never a true democratic group. Even now, it has people in charge of it who were never elected by the main body of the kirk. How long do they stay in charge? No-one seems to know. I thought the RFFF was a waste of time from day one and nothing that I have seen since has changed my mind.

 

Today we have a former director trying to freeze club assets as he chases a substantial sum that he believes he is due. This is the new-style Rangers. The RFFF may be an imperfect group, but at least it doesn't behave in the way that some directors do. Until the fans own the club, our door is wide open to those who may be inclined to put their own financial interests before those of the club.

 

These days, having faith in the Rangers board simply because it is the Rangers board is an exercise in madness.

[barca72 440]

The RST put fan ownership on the table over ten years ago. It recognised - and was the only group that realised it - that things had to change.

 

Since then we have had various groups coming and going but none are offering a proper and permanent solution in the way that the RST did - and is doing.

 

Yes, the RFFF was a farce, but it was never a true democratic group. Even now, it has people in charge of it who were never elected by the main body of the kirk. How long do they stay in charge? No-one seems to know. I thought the RFFF was a waste of time from day one and nothing that I have seen since has changed my mind.

 

Today we have a former director trying to freeze club assets as he chases a substantial sum that he believes he is due. This is the new-style Rangers. The RFFF may be an imperfect group, but at least it doesn't behave in the way that some directors do. Until the fans own the club, our door is wide open to those who may be inclined to put their own financial interests before those of the club.

 

These days, having faith in the Rangers board simply because it is the Rangers board is an exercise in madness.

 

If it was such a good idea 10 years ago, why don't they have a controlling interest in shares by now? Could it be that some fans don't trust their leadership?

 

I don't know of a single fan left standing who has blind faith in this board, or it's recent predecessors.