Preferred bidder for Rangers could be named today

Tuesday 1 May 2012

The Blue Knights last night remained in talks with Rangers' administrators as they try to finalise a deal to buy the Ibrox club.

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Richard Wilson and Hugh MacDonald

Brian Kennedy held discussions with Duff & Phelps in England and a preferred bidder could be named as early as today.

The consortium, led by former Rangers director Paul Murray, submitted an improved offer yesterday. It is thought to include an initial cash payment and staged future instalments totalling around £10m, but their bid will also include removing the Rangers bond holders from the creditors' pot and paying all the club's football debts.

This would reduce Rangers' debt figure to £44m, and the Knights hope to agree a Company Voluntary Arrangement with creditors to bring the club out of administration. The Knights' bid is also dependent upon receiving Craig Whyte's majority shareholding.Bill Miller, the US towing tycoon, has offered £11.2m and his plan is effectively a form of liquidation, moving the assets to a newco while leaving Rangers Football Club plc to try to achieve a CVA. Miller's bid is contingent upon receiving guarantees from the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football Association about future sanctions, with the former organisation unlikely to be able to offer any assurances following the adjournment of yesterday's vote on financial fair play resolutions.The SPL clubs stepped away from increasing pressure on Rangers when representatives of the 12 clubs met at Hampden but decided not to vote on a series of rules that would result in tougher sanctions on clubs who go into administration or liquidation. They unanimously agreed to resume their discussion on Monday as talks continue to find a buyer for Rangers.The move to postpone the vote was welcomed by the Ibrox administrators, said Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPL. He added: ''Everyone believes this was the right course of action. There is a need to approach these really quite important issues with a full understanding of the picture and, at the moment, the picture is still emerging at Ibrox.'' Doncaster also confirmed that the SPL was ''not in a position to offer any assurances'' to Miller.SPL clubs also agreed to adjourn a discussion on reforms to the current voting structure until Monday, and Doncaster dismissed suggestions that boycott threats from disaffected Rangers fans had a bearing on yesterday's decisions. "People are concerned to do the right thing for Scottish football and to put in place a set of rules which work for all 12 members and aren't merely applicable to one club. Ultimately, these rules will apply to everyone going forward and that's our over-riding concern," he said.If passed, the proposed resolutions would have clubs docked the greater of 15 points or a third of their SPL points in the preceding season for going into administration. The current punishment is a 10-point deduction, which was suffered by Rangers when they called in the administrators on February 14. Clubs who go into liquidation and re-enter the SPL as a newco would be docked 10 points for two seasons and have their league payments cut by 75% for three seasons. The proposals also state that clubs must pay their players on time and clubs must report to the SPL any failure to make payments to HMRC in respect of PAYE and national insurance contributions.Asked if a vote will take place at Monday's meeting, Doncaster replied: "Who can say?" He added of yesterday's meeting: "Clubs felt that this was a sensitive time within Scottish football and that it was important to allow a little bit of time to elapse to allow more clarity to come forward and to do nothing at the moment that may prejudice any decisions that are going on in the background."

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Preferred bidder for Rangers could be named today

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