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Richard Wilson and Graeme Macpherson
The Sale Sharks owner also announced that the formal £5.6m written bid, which had been made to one of the controlling investors, was submitted again, with proof of funding, to the offices of Zeus Capital, who have two directors on the Ibrox board.
Kennedy's offer was for a 51% controlling stake, leaving Sevco, the current owners, with 49%. The £5.6m would be injected into the business as working capital, but the Sevco investors would also receive their money back – with 10% interest – in two years. Kennedy's bid had been made on June 25, but was not accepted.
"My lawyers submitted a copy of the offer document, along with proof of funding, that was considered and rejected by the controlling investors in Sevco around June 27, 2012," Kennedy said. "However, this offer will remain on the table for an open-ended period of time. I fully respect it is the legal prerogative of the controlling investors to accept or reject any offers for the shares, but I remain ready willing and able to support the long-term interests of Rangers."
Kennedy had initially released a statement yesterday afternoon confirming the details of a story in the Daily Record about his £5.6m bid. Charles Green, the chief executive of Rangers newco and the front man for the Sevco consortium, responded by saying that he and "all the official representative of shareholders" had not received a "written offer". However, Herald Sport understands that senior figures at Ibrox were well aware of Kennedy's bid.
Green also claimed that, despite Zeus Capital having previously offered 50% of the club to Jim McColl's group for £8m, they had no wish to sell a controlling stake.
"For the avoidance of doubt, the owners and board of the club are not interested in selling a majority stake to anyone," Green said. "I have said many times we are happy to talk to potential investors who wish to join the consortium on the basis that no single investor will have a majority shareholding and they support our commitment to a share issue for fans.
"Talk of yet more bids is a distraction from the very real task of securing SFA membership and rebuilding the club. That is our sole focus and should be the priority for everyone with Rangers' best interests at heart."
Another outstanding issue being debated is who should hold the broadcast rights during Rangers newco's stay in the third division. The Scottish Football League will convene today to review offers. The deadline for bids passed last night and David Longmuir, the SFL chief executive, is expected to meet today with IMG, the SFL's media agents, to discuss and assess the various offers received.
The Scottish Premier League are thought to have been among those to have made a bid, believing that Sky and ESPN may look to substantially renegotiate their new £80m five-year deal to broadcast top-flight games if Rangers matches are not part of that package.
If the SPL are unsuccessful in their offer, that in turn would likely influence the size of the annual settlement fee paid by the governing body to the SFL. Currently in the region of £2m, that sum could be substantially reduced if SPL revenues are to drop as a result of their main commercial partners renegotiating or with drawing from existing contracts.
The sale of the SFL broadcasting rights could also impinge on Rangers' bid for membership of the Scottish Football Association, with any agreement needing to be signed off by the SFA, the SPL, the SFL, Rangers oldco and Rangers newco. Rangers also want the SPL to drop their investigation into the alleged use of dual contracts as part of any agreement, with manager Ally McCoist saiyng he would never accept the club being stripped of titles. An independent commission is to rule on whether Rangers breached regulations by making alleged undisclosed payments to players between 2001 and 2010.
Rangers yesterday sold out their allocation of tickets for Sunday's scheduled Ramsdens Cup first round match away to Brechin City but will only be able to start the season upon receipt of their SFA membership. A planned friendly tomorrow night against Kelty Hearts, the Fife Junior side, has already had to be postponed as Rangers still do not have a license to play official fixtures.
A statement from the East Super League club read: "The Stefan Winiarski testimonial match between Kelty Hearts and Rangers on Wednesday has been postponed to a later date due to the SFA not granting Rangers a licence to play any matches, friendlies or competitive. Rangers have instructed us that an alternative date will be arranged very soon so all tickets and hospitality tickets are still valid for the match.
"We are all gutted with all the work done sending tickets out etc, money spent and time put in by volunteers to make the night a great one, as you can imagine Stefan is also sick at this outcome. Programmes have been printed, food ordered, marquee for hospitality etc. So a thanks must go to the SFA for having a negative impact on not only the top end of Scottish football but the lower end also."
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