Rangers: time to rip it up and start again?

Sports Writer

Sunday 1 April 2012

ADMINISTRATORS at Rangers last night went further than ever before to advise the club's fans to brace themselves for liquidation.

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Stewart Fisher

Although Paul Clark and David Whitehouse of Duff and Phelps would prefer to exit administration via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), it is thought each of the three remaining interested parties – The Blue Knights, Club 9 Sports and a Singapore-based group – are all also examining scenarios where they assume control via an asset sale.

Duff and Phelps have set a final deadline for best bids by Wednesday, with a view to selecting a preferred bidder in the days that follow, and new owners having assumed control before the end of the season. US-based group Club 9 Sports, understood to be the biggest bidder at £25m, are thought to have a preference for liquidating the club and starting again as a new company. Although descriptions of how this scenario might unfold have been murky, a few more details emerged last night. Not only would assets such as Ibrox, Murray Park and playing contracts be sold to the new company, the club's name could also be secured. Although an application would be made to the SFA and Uefa in order to waive the three-year ban from playing in Europe, some of the prospective new owners may see a three-year absence as a price worth paying in order to secure a fresh start."The preferred option remains a CVA," said Clark. "We still think it is achievable and we're still recommending that as the preferred course of action to the bidders. We must accept, though, that we have in Rangers a financially stricken institution. "All of the options have to remain open and it may be that some of the bidders decide that they would rather start afresh." He added: "CVA is our option and it remains an option for all of the bidders. However, we cannot rule out the winning bid could prefer a different structure that meant the sale of the business to a new company and in that eventuality it is certainly possible that Rangers would be liquidated, but it would only be done so after the football club was made safe. "You can name-swap so there is no impediment to any newco calling itself Glasgow Rangers. The name can be secured, there's no issue there. What I mean is that RFC is saved, but the shell that it used to operate from – and I understand the history of it – that shell would be the thing that disappears. I'm not saying that it is the most likely outcome, but it probably needs to be put out there." There are plenty of other interested parties in the battle to take control of the assets. Newspapers reported that West Bromwich Albion had made a £2m bid for Steven Naismith, with interest also reported in goalkeeper Allan McGregor. Clark was reluctant to go into specifics, but did concede to approaches "from more than one club for more than one player". "I'm not going to confirm anything about specific players, but I will say that we have had approaches in relation to player transfers," he said. "We've had some approaches and we will have discussions with Ally McCoist before any decisions are made. We're not in a position to make any decisions at the moment in any case. "I should say that it was only a few weeks ago that the players made tremendous sacrifices in terms of accepting huge cuts to their salary and had they not accepted those cuts then the issue of bids for players wouldn't have existed because we would have had to have left them go. They might not have been around to attract offers." What role Craig Whyte, the owner of 85% of the shares, has to play in all of this remains unclear, but administrators still feel he will not be an impediment to a CVA. Brian Kennedy, the owner of Sale Sharks, had his bid for the club rejected by administrators during the week, but is thought still to be monitoring the situation. "Brian Kennedy is welcome to come back in," said Clark. "Until such time as we reach the endgame I will keep that offer open."

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Rangers: time to rip it up and start again?

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