Malcolm Murray, the Rangers chairman, has denied speculation that the club is financially unstable.
He was reacting to claims made about how much of the money raised in last year's Initial Public Offering of shares remains in the club's accounts, and suggestions that Rangers could run into trouble.
His comments came after Craig Mather, the director of sports development, was confirmed as the club's permanent new chief operating officer and the interim chief executive, taking over the duties of Charles Green, who has tendered his resignation. The club also made a statement to the Stock Exchange yesterday morning to clarify the situation over Sevco 5088, the company originally set up to buy Rangers last summer but which Craig Whyte, the former owner, claims ownership of.
"The speculation that we're not in great financial health . . . we raised £22.5m in December and I can assure you it has not all been spent," Murray said. "We are in pretty good financial shape. Cash is king and there are very few football clubs that have cash on the balance sheet."
Murray prides himself on his observance of good corporate governance, so his statement is significant in the context of recent boardroom disagreements at the club. Some of these disputes led to press stories about directors not having seen the club's accounts. The chairman did, though, believe that Green was not the right person to lead the club as chief executive, and welcomed the movement of Mather into a position of greater influence. Although he is interim chief executive, Mather's appointment as chief operating officer suggests he will hold greater power. "Rangers are in fantastic shape financially," he said. "There is no grey area with regards to the finances. The club is stable. We don't want to end up where we were a few years ago. It's my intention to get the team working together. We do not have a problem financially. We need to put the building blocks in place to get us back to the top."
The club continues to be stalked by Whyte, though. The former owner's claims on ownership of Rangers' assets, through Sevco 5088, were dismissed by the club as "spurious", although the Worthington Group, which is linked to Whyte but is funding his litigation costs, also claim he will launch a legal challenge for the shares of Green and Imran Ahmad, the commercial director. The group also claims it sent a file on last summer's takeover to the Serious Fraud Office.
"[Rangers] continue to receive legal advice to protect the business, assets and reputation of the company and its directors from such spurious claims," a statement said. "In view of recent media speculation, the company wishes to clarify that Sevco 5088 is not an active subsidiary of the Rangers International Football Club plc. It is and has been a defunct non-trading company over which termination proceedings began last year and which would have been struck off by the Registrar of Companies had false claims of directorships not been filed recently at Companies House."
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