Big Rangers Administration/Liquidation Thread - All chat here!

[Macshimmy]

i see whyte's history for taking over failing businesses and stripping/selling the assets and hiding any profit has been quickly forgotten.

not that that happened of course

not yet:

Craig Whyte stands to make £8.5m if he wins lawsuit in battle for Rangers' assets

By Ewing Grahame

7:00AM BST 23 Apr 2013

Last week Worthington Group plc purchased 26 per cent of Law Financial Ltd, one of Whyte’s

companies and one which, crucially, claims to have Sevco 5088 as one of its subsidiaries. Included

among Law Financial’s assets is the legal action instigated by Whyte against Charles Green for the

claim on Rangers’ assets.

Whyte claims that Green, who resigned as Rangers chief executive on Friday, had acted as a front

man for him – through the vehicle of Sevco 5088 – so that he could retain control of Rangers.

The club’s administrators, Duff & Phelps, who were appointed by Whyte in February of last year,

revealed in the CVA proposal lodged with the Court of Session in Edinburgh three months later that

they had signed an exclusive agreement with Sevco 5088, which would see that firm own the club’s

assets – including Ibrox and the Murray Park training complex – should the CVA fail, as it was

bound to do.

Whyte recently released documents bearing Green’s signature, confirming Whyte and his associate,

Adrian Earley, as directors of Sevco 5088.

Green insisted, in a television interview, that neither man was connected with Sevco 5088. A

statement on the Rangers website on April 12 stated that Green was the sole director of Sevco 5088

and that he had resigned to become the founder director of Sevco Scotland Ltd, the company to

which he transferred Rangers’ assets once the CVA had failed.

Yet he was still registered as a director of Sevco 5088 on Monday, according to Companies House,

in spite of instructing his lawyers, Field Fisher Waterhouse, to have the company struck off.

Indeed, in a statement to the AIM Stock Exchange on Monday, Rangers admitted that they had

omitted to include a total of 21 directorships held by Green and the club’s finance director Brian

Stockbridge in the admission document they produced prior to the share issue late last year.

They also claimed that Sevco 5088 was a subsidiary of Rangers International Football Club, the

holding company which owns the assets.

This brings us back to Worthington Group plc, which has the option of purchasing a 100 per cent

stake in Law Financial Limited, which also owns Whyte’s recently founded companies Law Capital

Ltd, Litigation Capital Ltd and Media Litigation Ltd, by Oct 31.

Should they choose to trigger that option, they are contractually obliged to pay Whyte £1 million in

unsecured convertible loan notes.Whyte would also be due one third of the proceeds of any assets,

claims or rights owned by his companies, including the legal action against Green.

Worthington Group Ltd is a professional litigation company and, if its court action is successful, it

will either end up owning Rangers or the consortium will be forced to pay £22 million.

The original investors – Green, Ahmad, Stockbridge and the rest – exchanged their ownership of the

Rangers subsidiary for shares in the plc worth £22 million.

That is what Worthington Group value the club at and, should they acquire the assets, then Whyte

will collect another £7.33 million. Further, if Rangers lose to Worthington, then everyone who invested in

the share issue will end up with nothing.

As well as the document signed by Green, Whyte has also leaked tape recorded conversations

between himself, Earley and Green in which the latter told Whyte:

“You are Sevco, that’s what we’re saying.”

Green later claimed that he had told Whyte what he wanted to hear in order to gain control of his

shareholding and boasted of having “shafted” the Scot.

Whyte’s argument is that he and Earley never consented to the subsequent transfer of Rangers’

assets to Sevco Scotland Ltd and that Green had no right to assume ownership of them.

Ironically, Green, although he is no longer chief executive, remains a director of RIFC. While he is

also technically a director of Sevco 5088 (which Rangers on Monday told the Stock Exchange they

owned), he would inadvertently appear to have a foot in both camps.

In yet another twist, in the most recent set of audited accounts published by Worthington Group plc

(for the year ending March 31, 2012) lists the company’s solicitors as Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Edit - Field Fisher Waterhouse!

I didn't understand that bit, so I googled it - They are the stockbroker who valued RIFC at 22m for the IPO,

it's that figure which determines what Worthington/Whyte get in the event of them winning the case.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Macshimmy

[aofjays]

i'll go as far back as McLeish and the duds he signed and had on daft wages and then during plg's time and finally when walter came back and had no money to spend on quality and had to make do in europe with negative tactics and a limited squad of semi decent journeymen.

still it was enough to beat celtic to the title 3 times out of 5 and a half seasons under walter.

Are you actually boasting about titles won by cheating?

[Henrik's tongue]

As things stand at the moment I am not going back. I am certainly not going back to Ibrox on a regular basis or anything like it. I am absolutely disgusted with those who have renewed and tbh i don't want to share the same stadium as them. They are welcome to the club. I know one supporter who renewed and keeps saying it doesn't matter if Green and Whyte make money or get the stadium because if it wasn't for them there would be no Rangers.

I may go to the odd away game but right now i just feel empty and completely fed up with the whole sorry fiasco. Was talking about it earlier to a well known Rangers supporter who like me hasn't missed a game at Ibrox in years..Once i have missed that first one and broken the run it will be much easier to find other things to fill my time.

When this has all played out i cant see it really changing the way i feel. It will never be the same again...I always felt part of the support and part of the 'Rangers Family' but no more. I ll miss it of course to start with but i am sure i ll carry on with my life regardless. My missus is about to graduate as a Midwife and i had said i ll move anywhere as long as it is no further than two hours drive from Ibrox..I think it is safe to say we can move anywhere in the country now..I believe North Yorkshire is nice this time of year.

No knee jerk reaction...Wont be changing my mind...Just a life long Rangers supporter who has been completely worn down by the whole sorry saga.

You can come along to Celtic Park with me, my friend.

Your Grandchildren will be Celtic fans any way

[bennett]

Still never sure if you're being facetious or trying to make up for your own error of judgement on Whyte, but the vitriol you reserve for him alone is misguided and laughable.

He was handed the controls of a runway train and the options he had were extremely limited, liquidation was already inevitable at that point, imo.

You have to be at the wind up here lol

[bennett]

Any hope of surviving and making a profit was kicked to death by Ally when he ensured there was no CL group stages ... simply the best.

Densboy conveniently forgets about Whyte and his Ticketus deal.

[Bloomogganners]

Any hope of surviving and making a profit was kicked to death by Ally when he ensured there was no CL group stages ... simply the best.

Yup http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14321323 when it became inevitable.

http://www.isdx.com/infostore/Company-Accounts/RangersFootball/rangers2010.pdf

[AberdeenBud]

Huh?

A runaway train that made a profit in the year before he took over?

He could have slashed costs, he had the opportunity but gambled on Europe, this was his gamble, he was driving the train, not saying the alternative would have been popular but to suggest he had no control is wrong.

You have to be at the wind up here lol

Afraid not.

I think the reaction to the kind of cuts necessary would have been so vitriolic it was basically not an option on the table.

Your fans can't even accept a sensible, sustainable approach to spending now despite being liquidated, what the hell makes you think they would have 3 years ago.

Lloyds and Minty may have been the main drivers of the train, but Whyte was brought in to do a job, a job which he did. Minty's ego wouldn't accept him being the man who took Rangers into admin so someone else who didn't care was brought in for the final few stops before the train ground to a halt.

If Rangers were on the road to recovery why did they sell for a pound? Because they were already completely fucked at that stage.

[AberdeenBud]

Densboy conveniently forgets about Whyte and his Ticketus deal.

That was one the best things he did for Rangers . 20 odd million which the club have never, nor had no intention to, paid back.

[BossHogg]

Whats the latest? (For people who cant be arsed wading through the endless repetitive crap on this thread) thanks.

[AberdeenBud]

again, when did the fans have any say on how the club is run?

is there any evidence that the fans pushed the club to the brink through expectation and demands while david murray was in charge?

surely if the club had shown clarity and transparency when the problems first became apparent during dm's time the majority although reluctant would have accepted it had cuts been had to be made to ensure the club came through a difficult time.

all you are doing is pressuming what rangers fans think and making out what the fans thought had any influence on how the club was run.

We deserve better.

[nsr]

If it had meant losing the ability to compete with Celtic, there's no way the vast majority of the Rangers support would have accepted the cuts necessary.

[aDONisSheep]

Still believes in the Murray accountancy methods ... says it all really.

In fairness, I don't think there was anything wrong with Murray's accountancy.

There was something wrong with his business plan.

As Tedi pointed out, DeadRangers had indeed made a profit in the year to 2010.

However I think it is more informative if you consider that the impact that had, was to reduce the cumulative loss to £135.8m. (yep, that's a cumulative LOSS of £135.8m, despite DeadRangers domestic duopoly and Champions League monies).

Yours

aDONis

[AberdeenBud]

There are 3 separate stages to this train wreck with 3 separate drivers;

(1) Murray, Initially bold but successful followed by arrogant and reckless and eventually forced to jump off.

(2) The Bank, sensible and prudent with zero interest in running a club once they had a route to get their money.

(3) Whyte, criminally reckless, threw the brakes away and drove the train into a wall.

Aye, would agree with that actually, my initial post was probably too simplistic in apportioning blame. Although you could still argue the degree to which each of these stages were to blame for the final crash.

Edited May 19, 2014 by AberdeenBud

[Ken Fitlike]

again, when did the fans have any say on how the club (company?) is run?

is there any evidence that the fans pushed the club (company?) to the brink through expectation and demands while david murray was in charge?

surely if the club had shown clarity and transparency when the problems first became apparent during dm's time the majority although reluctant would have accepted it had cuts been had to be made to ensure the club came through a difficult time(. )

all you are doing is pressuming what rangers fans think (intoand making out what the fans thought had any influence on how the club was run (into the ground)

[aDONisSheep]

The EBT liability was in simple terms a disputed tax bill, in the end it was disputed successfully, the remaining debt would have been manageable if restructured correctly.

Hi Tedi. The figures I quoted were the retained (cumulative) P&L for the year ended 30th June 2010. They didn't include any potential liabilities or subsequent losses that would have been associated with the EBTs.

The only reference to anything EBT-esque was in the Finance Directors Report;

"On the basis of expert tax advice, the Club is defending a query raised by HMRC into the operation of the Murray Group Management Limited Remuneration Trust, established to provide incentives to certain employees and other service providers. This is part of an ongoing tax enquiry scheduled to be heard by a tax tribunal before the end of the year. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further on matters pending the outcome of this tribunal."

Nothing was set aside under liabilites to cover potential exposure to losing the case.

Yours

aDONis

Edited May 19, 2014 by aDONisSheep

[professor challenger]

As things stand at the moment I am not going back. I am certainly not going back to Ibrox on a regular basis or anything like it. I am absolutely disgusted with those who have renewed and tbh i don't want to share the same stadium as them. They are welcome to the club. I know one supporter who renewed and keeps saying it doesn't matter if Green and Whyte make money or get the stadium because if it wasn't for them there would be no Rangers.

I may go to the odd away game but right now i just feel empty and completely fed up with the whole sorry fiasco. Was talking about it earlier to a well known Rangers supporter who like me hasn't missed a game at Ibrox in years..Once i have missed that first one and broken the run it will be much easier to find other things to fill my time.

When this has all played out i cant see it really changing the way i feel. It will never be the same again...I always felt part of the support and part of the 'Rangers Family' but no more. I ll miss it of course to start with but i am sure i ll carry on with my life regardless. My missus is about to graduate as a Midwife and i had said i ll move anywhere as long as it is no further than two hours drive from Ibrox..I think it is safe to say we can move anywhere in the country now..I believe North Yorkshire is nice this time of year.

No knee jerk reaction...Wont be changing my mind...Just a life long Rangers supporter who has been completely worn down by the whole sorry saga.

Considered Firhill?

Glasgow' s oldest professional club and we accept all major credit cards.

Edited May 19, 2014 by professor challenger

[ribzanelli]

surely if the club had shown clarity and transparency when the problems first became apparent during dm's time the majority although reluctant would have accepted it had cuts been had to be made to ensure the club came through a difficult time.

If this is true then why are so many backing a man with what 40odd tax convictions whose business plan is basically 'for every fiver Celtic spend I'll spend a tenner of my kids inheritance'?

[bennett]

Afraid not.

I think the reaction to the kind of cuts necessary would have been so vitriolic it was basically not an option on the table.

Your fans can't even accept a sensible, sustainable approach to spending now despite being liquidated, what the hell makes you think they would have 3 years ago.

Lloyds and Minty may have been the main drivers of the train, but Whyte was brought in to do a job, a job which he did. Minty's ego wouldn't accept him being the man who took Rangers into admin so someone else who didn't care was brought in for the final few stops before the train ground to a halt.

If Rangers were on the road to recovery why did they sell for a pound? Because they were already completely fucked at that stage.

It wasn't just a pound (a common misconception) it was a token £1 plus £18m to Lloyds and the small tax case.

Rangers were far from F**ked, the debt was reduced to under £18m and decreasing, at current rates would have been cleared in around 3 years (thats a guess)

The problem wasn't Rangers debt but MIH's debt to Lloyds, that was the problem and Rangers were caught in the crossfire.

As for your other question regarding who is most to blame - Whyte or Murray. Thats a bit like the chicken and the egg syaing but i'd say Murray.

[bennett]

Just figured out he's been replying to me, 'innocent creditors' was the clue in the post you quoted, when I've told him he's on ignore. Not even addressed him, the obsessive neep.

Not sure why Bennett witters on .. Had Ally secured CL football .. Whyte may well have staggered on and turned it around.

Bennett obviously buys into the "Murray" not doing due diligence and was duped. Never mind that he had his pet journos selling Whyte to the hordes.

Murray knew well fine how the buyout was funded, he simply didn't care. He'd been trying to offload the club since 2006.

You couldn't make it up.

Bloody obsessive .....

[bennett]

Even the debt to Lloyds could have restructured without the EBT liability, it was this that made us untouchable to anyone else but the likes of CW.

It was not Murray's choice to sell for a £1 it was the banks who could have pulled the plug on everything Murray had, but I do not blame the Bank, I blame Murray for taking the risks with EBT`s in the 1st place.

If it was just the Rangers debt i really don't think there would have as much pressure from the bank but MIH's debt was around £700 - 800m (if i remember correctly) and they were taking no prisoners.

Did Muray not offer HMRC a settlement regarding the EBT's?