thelegendthatis

Talking about Ashley "He likes to park his tanks on peoples' lawns", said one banker. His tanks are well and truly parked all around Ibrox. Just so the Rangers loyal (and the board, and the manager) know what they are dealing with here is a short summary about Ashley. http://www.cityam.com/1415295409/sports-direct-debenhams-tesco-and-house-fraser-what-does-mike-ashley-own-and-how-much-he Personal wealth of £3.75 billion. And still never described as 'off the radar' wealth. Or is that just because Jimbo Traynor (remember him) isn't doing his joined up writing any longer at the Daily Record.

1. Is Ashley fit and proper? Already proven. 2. Ashley does won 'another club'. 9% in Rangers doesn't mean ownership. 3. Loaning players between clubs (in different countries)? See Frank Lampard on loan from New York City FC and Man City. Issue? What issue?

Think the FA (or the English Premier League for that matter) will have as much interest in Ashley/Newcastle/Rangers as they have in Manchester City's involvement with New York City FC. A shareholder of a club in one country having an interest in a club in another country. THE SFA need to make sure they don't overstep their area of responsibility or competence, otherwise we could move quickly to a merger of all 4 home nations to create a single UK wide administration and national team. The charge from the SFA is along the lines of 'you have not given us the respect we think we deserve' and 'you have put our noses out of joint and also the noses of many of our friends'.

Tedi, you have become very choosy all of a sudden. Your club has already been royally shafted by Sir David, Uncle Walter, Fat Ally, John Greig (asleep on the job), Sandy Jardine (sucking up to anyone he thought had money), Whyte, Green and all his hangers on, plus anyone who has been on the board over the last 20 years. The reality is Tedi, you don't have any choice . If MA goes (which he won't) he will make sure his money goes with him. Just try to work out the consequences, slowly and logically. As someone once said 'Be careful what you wish for'.

No doubt Ashley will hold all the cards. The SFA can't complain about his <10% shareholding. They can't complain about him making loans to the club. They can't complain that the directors of Rangers are clueless,useless and toothless. And after all if you make loans of millions to Rangers you want your own policeman on the board to make sure your money isn't syphoned. Nor can the SFA complain because Ally needs a big payoff to go (quietly). The SFA and Campbell Ogilvie decide they want to be tough and drive Ashley out. What does Ashley do? Asks for his loans back immediately from the directors of Rangers. (Would be amazed if the loan agreement he made didn't include this) He as near as dammit owns the ground, the shirts, the name. He might then be able to agree a settlement with the Rangers directors, on the condition they sod off. A clear run then for Ashley to setup Rangers whatever way he wants. If he says he will bring in a new competent football manager and give him a war chest of £50mill or so over the next 5 years, the fans will back him and kiss his feet (and anything else he has available). It is amazing what you can do when you have the cash. Something significantly missing from the other "heroes" from David Murray, White, Green, the bus boys, King, Murray II. Ashley enjoys his poker. This game will be an easy one for him. He already holds all the aces.

See 100,000 Rangers shares were sold at 4.30pm today. Ally starting to dump his shares bit by bit? Sell to many and price will drop. Another 100,000 on Tuesday same time? I thought WH Ireland were appointed a couple of weeks ago . The previous lot were not financially sound and were told to close up shop. Rangers just canny pick decent managers, advisers, players or directors.

This statement was obviously made after a wee chat with Campbell Ogilvie, (office just along the corridor). Campbell's original comment was along the lines of "I want to see that wee clipe locked up and the key thrown away. No way I am going to hand back my £90k nor pay tax on it to Her Majesty's government". "If he spills the beans it could mean the polis chappin on the SFA door"

Lots of money going to players and agents. I see Ashley has halved the amount Newcastle has spent on agent fees. Given the background of Smith and McCoist I would guess that agents fees at Rangers have been 'excessive' over the last few years. Despite buying dross and has beens. Just a matter of time for the polis to wend their way through everyone who has been involved with Rangers. It is just a matter of who squeals the most in the hope they will save their own skin. The polis wll want to flush out the mister Bigs who made the most dosh. But who are the really big Mister Bigs?

Come on Benny, give us the SP. What's the chances of Ally surviving to Christmas? Is the Alloa result a 'Berwick Rangers' moment in the great and illustrious history?

No way. Machiavelli's The Prince is my first choice in such matters. The fat sod isn't going to just walk, or at least not without a big payoff. So isolate him, take his pals away from him, and dump more onto him. If anyone can do it, Ashley can. If he can get him to walk that's a million quid more or less he will have saved. So well worth a bit of effort.

I think if this is true about manager number 13, then it sets things up nicely for Ashley. He will not be in the least concerned about the past indiscretions and dodgy dealings. So Ally can shout all he wants. The board (meaning the chairman, the bus boys etc) are losing credibility by doing nothing about the state of Rangers football. They just seem clueless both in financial planning and control and making tough decisions. They will want to save their faces and Ashley can help them. With cost cutting in mind he should tell Ally to get shot of say a dozen players from the squad. You know the ones we never see, plus some of the highest paid. Then dump McDowall and Durrant. This would isolate Ally nicely. Leave him on his own for a few weeks then bring in a decent coach that is not of Ally's choosing. Ideally someone with a strong personality and thinks Ally is a dick and won't pay any attention to his legend status. Plenty to choose from but is this the ideal gig for Roy Keane? The more Ally keeps serving up a rubbish team, and the board are paralysed and incapable of making any decision, the greater the opportunities for Ashley to sweep the lot out the door. At a time of his choosing. So come on Mike, take your time, but just get it right.

The more I hear about the charges against Whyte, the more I think that it is David Murray the police have in their sights. They need to build the evidence and there is nothing better than people who want to save their owns skins to spill the beans. If they went for Murray now directly they would have to build their evidence the hard way, meanwhile all hell would be let loose from the Rangers loyal. The charge about deceiving Murray is a nonsense as Bain etc presented their due diligence report on Whyte. How Murray and the board dealt with was up to them. Business is all about taking risks, but with your eyes open. Murray and Bain's eyes were wide open. Secondly, did Murray make the introduction of Whyte to Ticketus? Or 'actively encouraged' the deal between Tickets and Whyte as referred to above. The answer to that could be game changing. In other words was he part of Whyte's 'conspiracy' ? There is logic in this question, as after all there was significant time pressure on Murray to do something about the Rangers debt to Lloyds combined with the risk of the tax cases becoming crystallised. Lloyds also knew sensible people were staying well away. After all Murray's sole objectives were to get Lloyds off his back (a wee bit) and a way for him to do a runner without losing too much public face. He had bigger financial eggs to fry, namely the debt from Murray Holdings to Lloyds. Essential he kept them on side. Regarding McColl. He is too savvy to shore up (or throw money at) corruption and dishonesty. For the same reason Ashley is gradually putting his own men in charge so he can control the behaviour and legality of the company. It is just he is prepared to get involved and take the risk at the iffy stage, which McColl would not do. He would make sure he was involved in a clean business. (hence Frank Blin) from the start of any involvement. We could be entering a fascinating 2015 as far as Rangers/Sevco is involved, and especially the examination of those who had ANY role in the club/company. Is this the moment poor David was conned?

Interviewed as a witness or for fraudulently passing himself off as a football manager?

Why is what Ashley has done is a 'power grab', and the wage bill of over £14million is not a 'greed grab'? Will be delighted to watch the squealing and whimpering as Ashley starts to get hi teeth sunk into some the the Rangers leeches.

Just checking out my profile where I have a wee fat guy with a black and red scarf being blown up. This was from the day of some Rangers fans deciding to raise money for the "Rangers Fighting Fund" by creating the black and red scarves. I see their website still exists. (I was surprised) banner at the top says they have less than 1,000 scarves (sorry, scarfs) left. And will not be ordering any more.Their link to the Fighting Fund doesn't work. How much did they raise? How many did they sell. Could I buy one?

There seems to a group on here trying to pile everything on poor Mr Whyte Whyte appeared from Motherwell via Monaco with wealth off the radar. His deal to get his hands on Rangers involved putting his pound coin on the table plus getting Murray off the Lloyds hook - to some extent, by lobbing some £18million over the wall at them. The bank borrowing was cleared and left as a debt to one of Whyte's companies. Probably seen as 'tax planning' at the time. OK he had to scam that amount off Ticketus. So without knowing all the machinations of the deal but it is clear Whyte had to hand over a hell of a lot more than £1. Let's have a look at Murray the 'Rangers man' as some say. Murray bought Rangers for £6 million. He was a beneficiary of an EBT which netted him £6.3 million. Add to that his salary, pension and expenses paid by Rangers while the Ibrox big cheese. I can guarantee he wasn't on the minimum wage during his time there. So in summary Murray got the club for nothing and drew tens of millions out of the club during his time. Whyte spent £18million to get the club (OK it was money he didn't have). We know which one is the smarter. But do we know which one was the biggest chancer? Which one exploited the Rangers fans most effectively and profitably? I am sure Tedi the renowned C.A. and hopefully C.T.A. will be able to fill in my blanks (when the tutorial finishes) and let us know how much Murray took out of Rangers quite legally during his reign?

You seem to be trying to say that it was unfair that Rangers were branded as guilty. I think you are totally wrong. They were guilty and still are. But moving in the right direction. Looking at those who sat in the boardroom since Murray came on board, who amongst them all was actually innocent? Some were genuine crooks, some dodgy and lined their pockets big time, and then others who were so stupid they gave their public approval to the shysters therefore endorsing them in the eyes of the fans. You can put John Greig, Sandy Jardine, Gordon Smith in that bracket, but they would have been well rewarded at the time.Walter also but his pockets led his loyalty. You can't beat a good lump sum when you retire. Out of the lot, it embarrasses me to suggest that John Brown was one of the very few to display any real honesty and commitment to the club. Shame he comes across as totally mad.

Now that the Ashley wheels are in motion, we are seeing the results with 10 people being sacked. Many on here seem preoccupied about who said what to whom on P&B in the past. Who cares? The most important stage for Rangers is the future and what will happen over the next year. Ashley will bail out Rangers to ensure the wages are paid. He will do it a few times during this season. Every time he puts in, he will get more control by return. First stage is to trim the bloated staffing levels. He has started with 'backroom' staff. Some on here suggested other staff should give up part of their wages to ensure these 10 did not lose their jobs. No way. This is more than Ashley getting those 10 out the door. It is making sure every other employee knows they are at risk. Trying the argument "but I am a legend at Ibrox" won't cut any ice, especially if you aren't delivering value. So month by month we will see Ashley tighten his grip on the club. At last some hard nosed business decisions, just showing what a bunch of wasters have sat in the boardroom until now. Just in case anyone has a soft spot for David Murray and sees him as a victim in all this either from Lloyds or Craig Whyte, I would suggest they read this. http://tinyurl.com/pzfownh Unfortunately Murray's business methods were not well respected by the business community before he ever came near Rangers. This article merely confirms one experience.

Worth a read http://www.scribd.com/doc/93212354/SFA-Rangers-Note-of-Reasons Some relevant parts showing the decision to sell to Whyte was Murray's, despite advice and concerns from Martin Bain. The IBC was not established as a response to the potential sale of themajority shareholding to Mr Craig Whyte. It was formed in responseto the potential sale of the major shareholding to any purchaser. The proposed purchase of the majority shareholding by Mr Craig Whytefell clearly within the remit of the IBC. The IBC comprised AlastairJohnston (Chairman of the Board of Directors), Martin Bain (Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director), Donald McIntyre (ExecutiveFinance Director) John McClelland (Non-Executive Director), and John Greig (Non- Executive Director).25. That in the course of a number of meetings in 2010 and 2011 with MrCraig Whyte both as a committee and as individual directors, anddespite close questioning of Mr Craig Whyte and his adviser Mr GaryWithey, Solicitor, of Collyer Bristow, London, the IBC remainedentirely uninformed and uncertain of the financial and personalstanding matters with which they were concerned. Mr Craig Whytedisclosed little or no information. Financial models for working capitalrequirements prepared by the finance officers and accountants of Rangers FC were repeatedly disputed and rejected by Mr Craig Whyteand Mr Withey. Mr Craig Whyte produced his own working capitalprojections which were wholly at variance with those of Rangers FC.The IBC was very concerned that despite their making all relevant confidential financial data available under secure conditions for the examination and scrutiny of Mr Craig Whyte and his advisers in a process of due diligence in their purchase consideration, almost no advantage was taken of this facility and hardly any enquiry or scrutiny of the detailed and confidential financial information about Rangers FC was carried out by or on behalf of Mr Craig Whyte or any of his companies. This failure to carry out ordinary “due diligence” enquiries served to increase the substantial concern felt by the IBC for themotives, the genuineness, the financial viability and the propriety of the proposed purchase by Mr Craig Whyte.26. That the concerns of some members of the IBC were exacerbated inevery respect upon the commissioning, by an external third party, of aprivate investigation into the business, financial and personalbackground of Mr Craig Whyte. In March 2010 a substantial anddetailed report was prepared by investigators for the purposes of thatthird party but a copy was provided to the Chief Operating Officer Mr Martin Bain. He was very concerned at the information it contained. 22 The report provided no explanation for the acquisition through any of his companies of any personal wealth by Mr Craig Whyte. The reportcontained no reference to Mr Craig Whyte having on 13 June 2000been disqualified for a period of seven years from being a director of any company, pursuant to the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986.27. That Mr Bain was extremely concerned about the standing andsuitability of Mr Craig Whyte and his motives in purchasing themajority shareholding in Rangers FC. Mr Bain enjoyed a close workingrelationship with Sir David Murray. He had been appointed by Sir David Murray to his present role. Knowing Sir David Murray’s personal and individual approach to business matters he was apprehensive about raising his concerns with him and considered that there might be personal repercussions. He took the view that once he “crossedthe line” there would be no way back. Nevertheless he considered that it was appropriate to meet with Sir David Murray privately to express and if necessary emphasise his concerns at the proposed saleof the MIHL shares to Mr Craig Whyte. He met with Sir David Murrayin March 2011. He set out at length the matters which had been explored in the IBC and directors personal meetings with Mr Whyte and the lack of information which had been obtained. He expressedconcern at the lack of transparency and the lack of due diligencebeing carried out both by and towards Mr Craig Whyte by Sir David Murray and the Murray Group. Mr Bain disclosed the contents of theinvestigation report into Mr Craig Whyte and provided Sir DavidMurray with a copy of the report.28. That Sir David Murray explained to Mr Bain that he was underpressure from Lloyds to dispose of and realise his MIHL shareholdingin Rangers FC to Mr Craig Whyte, and that in view of his overall financial position he was left with almost no option but to sell his shares to Mr Craig Whyte.

Tedi don't be so silly. The banks were not controlling Rangers. Otherwise they could be treated as shadow directors which would have been far too dangerous for their own business and the individuals personally. Good old Manus would have played it all very correctly, no doubt with daily support from his legal department. They would however have made clear to Murray that they wanted his debt to them reduced. How he obtained the £18million to throw at Lloyds was his decision and his decision only. Any other interpretation is just made up nonsense. Or wishful thinking.

Trying to understand who all have their snouts in the Ibrox trough as warrants and charges fly around. Usually when chasing the guilty it is useful to follow the money. Does anyone have a league table of who has made what from Rangers over the years? Right from when David Murray walked in the door. Need to count salary, ebts, golden hellos, even more golden farewell packages, pension contributions, bonuses, dividends and other sweetners we know about. Then can work out a per annum figure based on their length of service. Could make fascinating reading, not just for those charged in the last few days but the legends like Ally, Uncle Walt, Sandy Jardine, John Greig, Gordon Smith who always had the 'best interests of the club at heart'. Aye right.

Just because someone has not been arrested or a warrant issued does not mean he is clear. Maybe Murray will not be charged with fraud, but at the very least he should be charged with irresponsible behaviour as a director of a quoted business, where he ignored the formal advice of his fellow directors about Whyte.

But the only people ever wanting to buy into Rangers are dodgy. It just seems to be a prerequisite. It is so bad that at times even Dave Kings looks like a best bet.

With some of the legal mud starting to stick after decades of malpractice it is worrying that the Rangers loyal still batter on with in jokes and totally irrelevant nonsense. Mike Ashley will be the one who cleans up this scandalous mess of a club. Not the idealist way Rangers fans want it to happen but he will clean it. He is well known as a poker player and will use his money to grab control of Rangers, directly or indirectly. Now he has his guy on board he will let him know exactly what has happened and is happening. And he got that control just be bailing out the club a month or so at a time. Next million he puts in will give him more control without inflating the share price. The club will owe him more and more, no doubt well secured, and the share price will keep falling. Anyone who tries to buy enough of the shares to go for ownership knows they will have to try to prise him out. What real influence do the bus boys have in running the club now, despite their shareholding? But who fancies their chances against Ashley? Dave King did I hear you say? The fact that King has no money is a big limitation. And the good thing is that Ashley will cut through the nonsense spoutings of Ally, his 'management' team, and some of the highly paid players. When Ashley decides they should go, they will go and if he ends up being more unpopular it won't worry him one jot. . No amount of rallies, speeches from Bomber, tears from Ally will change his mind. So the clean out and clean up is at last now beginning. The next year will be great to watch as the clear out based reality and sanity take priority over lunatic rantings speaking on behalf of 'ra people'.

It is easy to be wise after the event. However many of the posters on this forum were wise BEFORE it happened. The truth does hurt sometimes. But of course they were accused by the Rangers loyal of being misguided and even part of some evil conspiracy. Some might now argue that the really guilty ones are those who gave the incoming charlatans their credibility. Some did it because they were just stupid and gullible, other did it because their pockets were lined with tarnished silver. And I don't mean just from those arrested so far, or even Whyte, but Charles Green and his regime, even right to some of the current board. We know the names of those 'legends' who sucked up to people they thought had money and power. Those who sat in the directors box so they could be photographed discussing the game with guys who didn't give a toss about the game. They just counted the crowd. Uncle Walter and Fat Ally were the two with the deepest pockets and the least shame. Please Rangers supporters, wake up, face up to what is happening and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!