THE American truck tycoon at the centre of a front-running bid for Rangers believes he can extinguish the club's debt and restore its place as "one of the great clubs of the world".
Speaking for the first time about his bid, Bill Miller, chairman of Miller Industries, the largest manufacturer of towing and recovery equipment in the world, said his priority would be making Rangers profitable and minimising the length of the club's enforced absence from European football. Rangers are certain to be denied a licence for UEFA competition next season, but if they exit administration under a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) as opposed to as a newco, they could return to Europe in 2013. A newco Rangers would be denied entry for three seasons.
"My view is to save the club, put it on a stable footing and ensure it can have a strong future to match its history," said the 65-year-old, who had been part of the international consortium fronted by Chicago-based Club 9 Sports, which pulled out of the bidding shortly before last Wednesday's deadline.
A close associate added: "We know about valuations and brand value; take away the debt at Rangers and it is one of the great clubs of the world with a fantastic inter-national fan base.
"The goal would be to try to do something that is along the lines of a CVA, for sure. Something that protects the right to play and obviously the fans' view of history and a continuing operation.
"At some point, the toxic stuff has to be dealt with. If you can clear the deck, and operate the thing correctly, long term, it's a fantastic opportunity and it will be worth a whole lot more. If it's fixed, which is not an easy job, then it is a unique, global club."
Miller is competing against the Blue Knights group, headed by former Rangers director Paul Murray, and a Singapore consortium led by Bill Ng, after the break-up of the Club 9 collective.
"Club 9 Sports contacted me to see if I wanted to be an investor in the consortium they were organising," said Miller. "Because the group did not feel it could quickly agree to terms of investment and other issues, they decided not to go forward and the group was disbanded. I decided to pursue Rangers on my own."
Miller tried to buy an ice hockey team in the US and move it back to San Diego, where it had "a long and great history," but faced arena- leasing problems. He was also chief executive of Team Sports Entertainment, which was behind an ill-fated attempt to start a NASCAR rival, Team Racing Auto Circuit, in 2003 that resulted in a settled legal case invol-ving four shareholders.
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