The new owner outlines plans for the club.
"Following the formal decision of the creditors' meeting at Ibrox Stadium today, the consortium I represent has fulfilled its agreement with the administrators and has completed the acquisition of the business and assets of The Rangers Football Club plc.
"The transfer of the business and assets to a new company structure has taken effect immediately and the new company is The Rangers Football Club.
"An application has already been made by the company to register with the Scottish Football Association and to participate in the SPL.
"These applications will be considered over the next few weeks and I will continue to have discussions with the football authorities in relation to the club's position.
"This day is bitter-sweet for the consortium I represent. From our first involvement we made it clear we would have preferred to acquire this great club through a CVA.
"The decision by HMRC to vote against the proposal was, in my view, counter productive and did nothing but visit the sins of the past on the owners of the future and indeed the supporters who care so much for Rangers and deserve better.
"It was however prudent for us to prepare for this outcome and we are proud and honoured to acquire Rangers and begin a new chapter in its illustrious history.
"These are early days and there is a huge amount of hard work to be done to rebuild Rangers.
"It will take time and effort, passion and commitment. Rangers will rise again and that journey began in earnest at Ibrox today.
"First I must address the issue of the Manager's position at the club. Our consortium wants Ally McCoist to remain as Manager and we firmly believe he is the man to take Rangers forward.
"He embodies everything that is great about the club and without question we want him to continue as the Rangers manager.
"I fully understand that other people have courted Ally who do not wish to see my consortium succeed however, I believe time for decision and rancour is over now that the club has been sold and everyone with the interests of Rangers at heart should unite.
"The rebuilding of the club will happen from today.
"As I have stated previously, it is our intention that no single investor or institution will own more than 10-15% of the shareholding.
"One of the saddest aspects of the refusal by HMRC to support a CVA is that small shareholders have lost their shares in The Rangers Football Club plc.
"However, supporters and shareholders will have the opportunity to invest in the new company.
"My consortium has been determined from the outset that from now on Rangers will be run to the highest standards of corporate governance.
"To that end, the club will have two boards in the future - a company or plc board and a football board with appointments announced in due course.
"In terms of investors in the company, to date our investors include Chris Morgan, a UK-based businessman representing family trusts; Glenmuir, the renowned Scottish clothing company; Ian Hart a Glasgow-based businessman; Alessandro Celano of Blue Pitch Holdings and Zeus Capital.
"We are looking to expand that investor base and are in discussions with a number of interested parties.
"I have been greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm investors have shown and their belief that Rangers can have a great future. I believe that too and I, along with everyone at the club, will work tirelessly to make it happen."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article