RANGERS fan Bill Thornton, former chairman and chief executive of Burn Stewart, spent (pounds) 1m of the distiller's money buying shares in the Ibrox club, it has emerged, leaving investors in the debt-laden firm nursing a paper loss of (pounds) 600,000.
However, the East Kilbride firm, which has since been taken over, is unrepentant about its brush with the volatile world of football finance.
Ian Bankier, chief executive of the renamed CL World Brands, said the company may seek a similar arrangement with Celtic to boost the popularity of its Scottish Leader whisky blend among Old Firm fans.
Burn Stewart's investment in Rangers dates from 1995, when the club invited selected corporate figures to become honorary directors in exchange for a five-year ''soft loan'' of (pounds) 1m.
The offer was also taken up by Bathgate haulage tycoon Ian Russell, who was locked in talks with Ibrox officials last week about pumping more cash into Rangers. The associate director positions came with hospitality perks but no boardroom powers, and at the time Rangers owner David Murray was moved to deny that the club was getting ''money for nothing''.
As Burn Stewart's financial position deteriorated in the late 1990s, however, analysts called on Thornton to call in the loan to cut the distiller's spiralling debts. One leading Glasgow stockbroker said: ''If you are having to borrow (pounds) 40m, lending a football club (pounds) 1m would seem to be an extravagance the firm can ill afford.''
Thornton always maintained that the deal made ''good commercial sense'', however, cementing the firm's relationship with Rangers.
He quit Burn Stewart's board on January 6, following the company's takeover by long-term shareholder Angostura - a subsidiary of Trinidadian conglomerate CL Financial.
Burn Stewart converted the loan into shares in August 2000, Bankier said, at the height of the boom in football finance.
Thornton stepped down as a Rangers associate director the previous May.
Since then, the Ofex-quoted club's stock has fallen 60%, landing the distiller with a paper loss of (pounds) 600,000. The shares were bought at about 250p each and are now valued at just 100p, with Rangers' own debt estimated to be at least (pounds) 62m.
Bankier said: ''We bought when football shares were riding high and (Rangers) were talking about listing. It looked very good at the time but later unravelled.''
However, Bankier also insisted the shareholding is worthwhile and has no plans to ditch CL's Rangers stake. ''We did not invest to turn a profit, but for the association with our (Scottish Leader) brand and the following it has among Rangers supporters. Every time the ball hits the net at Ibrox you can see Scottish Leader in the background.''
Scottish Leader is still advertised at Ibrox, a privilege for which the company pays separately. One drinks industry insider commented: ''What the investment does is give CL a sort of ''preferred nation'' status as a favoured supplier.''
Bankier admits that Scottish Leader's association with just one half of the Old Firm is a disadvantage in terms of its market perception.
He added: ''I'm absolutely ecumenical about this. We've not approached Celtic yet, but the brand is doing exception-ally well across Scotland. There will come a day when we become involved with them.''
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