Rangers FC lodge papers to go into administration

Jelle1880 wrote: »

A traitor ?
If only.

The guy's a liar, claims he's had a season ticket years ago but when quizzed on it he gets the basic facts wrong, like who played for Rangers in those seasons, or where he stood at Ibrox,...

Also, he's obviously lying about FF, everybody knows he has a login there so he should know that FF is extremely anti-Whyte these days (apart from timmy infiltrators trying to stir **** up ).

Jelle1880 wrote: »

lubo_moravcik wrote: »

Glad you think so. Do you remember bears.net?

Not a clue, but it's no Operation Tango.

Irresponsible Scots financier Fred Goodwin has lodged a bid with the club's administrators to buy Rangers.

Fred, formerly Sir Fred, said in his shed that he had the funds to rescue the popular Unionist outfit from their current malaise. "I have - before tax - almost a hundred pounds," said (Sir) Fred, "And I'm prepared to put most of that at the disposal of this vital Glaswegian institution."

On behalf of the club's administrators Crookid and Bentt a spokesman said, "We appreciate all approaches from fiscally opportunistic parties and we'll consider them in due course. Unfortunately, just at the moment, we're concentrating on stripping the lead from the Ibrox roof."

Fred expressed discontent at the delay. "I'm a busy man," said Fred. "I have fingers in many scotch pies and my hundred pounds can only stretch so far. I'd like the administrators to come down from the roof and address my concerns."

Celtic owner Sir Desmond Desmond expressed nothing but glee but Prime Minister David Cameron, on a recent visit to Scotland, said he should be careful what he (Sir Desmond) wishes for.

The Oxford Dictionary of Over-Familiar Phrases said that being careful for what one wishes for had recently become glib and nonsensical.

Jelle1880 wrote: »

It's not like Spiers saw through Whyte right away, he too waited until all was clear to come out against him.

Rangers owner Craig Whyte used future income from the club's match-day catering to pay for new kitchen equipment at Ibrox.

The club received new cookers and other catering equipment in a deal with finance house Close Leasing in October 2011.

This equipment from the Surrey company made up part of the £1.7m investment to upgrade the kitchens and big screens at Ibrox, promised by Mr Whyte in his purchase agreement when he took over the club last May.

According to documents lodged with Companies House, the agreement with Close Leasing sees it receive a proportion of the income Rangers make from their contract with catering firm Azure. It is understood this revenue stream is being used to pay back the debt for the kitchen equipment.

The amount Rangers owe Close and the length of the deal is not publicly available. Close Leasing refused to comment, stating that it was a "confidential client matter".

Last year, Azure renewed its contract with Rangers for nine years, and also took over cleaning duties at Ibrox, in a deal worth £35m.

The use of the finance tactic by Mr Whyte to pay for part of his pledged investment in Rangers comes after he finally confirmed he had sold future season ticket sales to London firm Ticketus to £24.4m to help fund his takeover.

Administrators Duff and Phelps revealed £18m had been taken from the Ticketus deal to pay off the club’s debt to Lloyds Banking Group, while the insolvency firm is currently trying to account for the remaining £6m or so from the season tickets payment.

Dempsey wrote: »

£1.7m of season ticket money on TV's, cookers, pots and pans. LOL

Rangers are unlikely to be out of administration in time to be eligible to play in European football next season, BBC Scotland understands.

The club need to lodge audited accounts and other financial statements by 31 March to compete.

But administrators appointed by the club hold out little hope its finances can be sorted out by that deadline.

It is also understood the club owes HMRC much more than chairman Craig Whyte has suggested.

European competitions have provided a vital income stream to Rangers in recent years in terms of prize money, TV money and gate money.

The club's potential absence from the Champions League or Europa Cup next season would be extremely damaging as it looks to emerge from administration.

Rangers went into administration last week after HMRC took action over an unpaid tax bill of just over £9m.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Mr Whyte claimed that some £4.4m of that total could be attributed to the so-called 'wee tax case' which the club has been disputing.

But BBC Scotland has now seen evidence which suggests that statement is not true.
Full amount

BBC Scotland has seen HMRC documents indicating the £4.1m it froze from Rangers accounts last year to cover the 'wee tax bill' has been used for another purpose.

Instead that £4.1m was used to pay VAT due on the £24m Rangers received as an advance on season ticket sales from the London-based finance firm Ticketus.

That means the entire small tax bill, totalling about £4.4m, remains unsettled. BBC Scotland understands the administrators are withdrawing the appeal against it.

And - contrary to Mr Whyte's claims - the small tax bill is unrelated to the £9m unpaid tax bill. Both have yet to be settled.

With the tax bill rising by more than £1m a month, by the end of February the full amount owed will be close to £15m.

That does not take into account the potential £49m "big bill" faced by the club if it loses a separate tax case.

A spokesman for Craig Whyte said he stood by the statement he made on Tuesday.

Despite this, administrators are confident they can get creditors to agree to a Company Voluntary Agreement, meaning HMRC would get a portion of what they are owed without the club going into liquidation.

However, BBC Scotland understands this is contingent on Craig Whyte no longer being involved at Ibrox.

Meanwhile, Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, has described recent revelations about Rangers' finances as "very concerning".

At Holyrood question time, Mr Salmond said administrators faced a very difficult task trying to meet the club's obligations to taxpayers, keep Rangers in business and save jobs.

The first minister also said his government would support Ibrox workers if and when redundancies were announced.

PauloMN wrote: »

Estimated tax due since Whyte/White took over now closer to £15m:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/rangers/2012/02/24/rangers-in-crisis-unpaid-ibrox-tax-bill-since-craig-whyte-s-takeover-jumps-to-15m-86908-23762918/

This is just astonishing. The more I read about this club, the more I think it's getting closer to being liquidated. A few weeks ago, I'd never have thought liquidation was a possibility. It's really beginning to look like a possibility now, unless someone will step up to the plate and throw a hell of a lot of money in.

If these claims against Whyte/White are true, he needs locking up.