Rangers: Mather best men win!

The newco Rangers appear to have been afflicted by some sort of curse - either things will be rosy on the field, or they will be rosy off the field, but never both at the same time.

After all, the first few months of last season saw millions of pounds of cash come into the club under the supervision of Charles Green, while the team dropped far more points than they were entitled today against squads of part-timers who often earned less in a year than Gers players made in a week.

This season has seen a complete reversal.  Aside from an embarrassing League Cup exit at Forfar, Rangers have been imperious.  Only Stenhousemuir and Raith Rovers stand in the way of the Ramsdens Challenge Cup.  In the Scottish League One, they have played eight matches, and won eight matches, with a goal difference of +32.  Whatever Ally McCoist is doing differently this season - mostly it involves using Lee McCulloch in defence and the signing of players who have attributes (and attitudes - see Francisco Sandaza) more suited to the lower tiers of Scottish league football - it is working a treat.  Not unreasonably, fans are eyeing up the Scottish Cup with interest and hunger; whilst last year's Rangers were feeble when they were knocked out by Dundee United, this term's vintage are far more robust.  They will fancy themselves against Premiership opposition, particularly if they are drawn at Ibrox.

And so they should, since the club's wage bill is the second highest in Scotland, after Celtic.

Which brings me to my main point...

In the boardroom, Rangers lurch from one fiasco to another, with no apparent light at the end of the tunnel.

On October 1st, having left it as late as was possible under Companies House rules, the club finally submitted audited accounts for the year up to the end of June 2013.  Chief executive Craig Mather's take on them?  "We enjoy financial stability and have a solid platform from where we can focus all our efforts on achieving success."

The accounts included the following snippets of info:

- Operating losses of £14 million

- Total income of £19 million

- A wage bill for players of £7.8 million

- Total staff costs of £17.9 million - so non-playing staff costs were £10.1 million (I believe it is unheard off for the cost of non-playing staff to be higher than that of players)

- £11.2 million left in cash

- Ally McCoist's salary was £800,000

- Charles Green earned £933,000 (of which £360,000 was 'a bonus')

- Brian Stockbridge, the finance director, earned £409,000 (of which £200,000 was 'a bonus')

So Rangers are losing more than £1 million a month.

More than half the money raised by the IPO in December has been spunked already.  Stockbridge admitted a couple of months ago that the amount of cash left was actually now down to £10 million.  So, if current losses continue, the money will run out sometime next Spring.

Could income will increase?  The accounts laud several sponsorship deals that have been signed, but the refusal of the club to give actual figures for these deals suggests that they are not worth very much at all.  Meanwhile, season ticket prices were frozen, so income from them will stay roughly the same.

Will costs come down?  Doubtful.  Rangers still have an enormous squad and brought in several new players on decent money at the start of September.  At best, given the departure of a few high earners such as Sandaza and Neil Alexander, the wage bill will stay about the same.  In comparison, Inverness CT got by last season on a wage budget of £800,000 for their players.  As for those astronomical staff costs, well, that depends on who the staff are, doesn't it?

And that in turn depends on what happens at the AGM, where every board member is up for re-election.  That AGM was originally scheduled for Thursday 24 October at 1030am...which is odd, because those many minor shareholders with jobs and lives would really struggle to attend it.  If you were a cynic, you'd almost think that this was a deliberate move by the current incumbents.  Of course, the board have been subject to big protests at recent home matches, and their positions are precarious indeed.  There would have been another large protest at the home game with Dunfermline on Saturday, but the club called it off on the pretext that 5 players were away on international duty.  This despite the fact that the match was due to be televised, which would in turn have provided further income for the club, and despite the fact that the absence of 5 players is hardly a handicap for this bloated first team squad.  Draw your own conclusions.

But there was yet another twist to the tale this week.  On Monday the courts ordered postponement of the AGM at the behest of some of the more prominent opponents of the board, which include former director Paul Murray, and Clyde Blowers billionaire Jim McColl.  Murray, plus three others, had asked to be put up for election to the board at the AGM; however Mather and co claimed there wasn't enough prior warning to put that motion on the agenda.  The judgement seemed to insinuate that the current board were doing their best to obstruct shareholders from exercising their democratic rights.

Given that Companies House rules required the AGM to take place by the end of October, I daresay we'll hear about the rearranged date very soon.  A fat lot of good it will do Mather, who resigned as Chief Executive this morning.  His statement failed to mention Monday's events, but it's clearly as a consequence of the court judgement and the goings-on that preceded it.  Rangers fans spent much of last season trumpeting about various 'world records' the club had set in the fourth tier of Scottish footbal.  Here's another one for them to celebrate - the largest number of different directors in an eighteen month period.

So the main characters left in the Ibrox power-struggle are thus: 

- Brian Stockbridge, current finance director, and likely to be be forced out by the same mud that has stuck on Mather.

- James and Sandy Easdale, bus company entrepreneurs from Greenock who have been gradually increasing their stakes in the club over the last several months.  Both are now on the board.  Sandy Easdale was imprisoned for 18 months from 1996 for VAT fraud.  If you put 'Easdale Greenock' into google, 'Gangsters' comes up.  That's all I'm saying.  In the meantime, I won't be travelling on any buses in the near future.
- Paul Murray, former director of the Oldco who failed to save Rangers in 2012 when part of the Blue Knights consortium.  He unquestionably cares a lot about Rangers, but doesn't seem to have the money to back himself up.
- Jim McColl, the richest man in Scotland.  He's also a Rangers man, but seems determined to wield as much influence as possible while investing as little cash as he can.  He's a successful businessman; successful businessmen do not throw away millions on football clubs.
- Dave King, Castlemilk-born businessman who made millions through business in South Africa.  He lost £20million that he invested in the club prior to 2012.  He's keen to have a big role in the club again and had been courted by Mather in recent weeks.  Oh, and by the way, he also recently pleaded guilty to 41 breaches of South Africa's Income Tax Act, which required him to cough up £44 million.  Just saying.

So what happens next?  It seems less and less likely that the current incumbents will hang on.  They now have a reputation amongst the Rangers support as a bunch of shysters who are running the club into the ground, whilst lining their own pockets.  But what about the new crew?  Murray and King would seem like excellent choices to take control...but will they be allowed?

The SFA's rules say this:

The Board must be satisfied that any such person is fit and proper to hold such position within Association football. The Board hereby reserves its discretion as to whether or not such a person is fit and proper, as aforesaid, after due consideration of all relevant facts which the Board has in its possession and knowledge, including the undernoted list which is acknowledged to be illustrative and not exhaustive:-

(a)   he is bankrupt or has made any arrangement or composition with his creditors generally;
(b)   he is of unsound mind and has been or is to be admitted to hospital as suffering from a mental disorder following an application for admission for treatment under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 or Mental Health Act 1983 or a Court having jurisdiction in the United Kingdom or elsewhere has ordered in matters relating to mental disorder his detention or the appointment of a curator bonis or any other person to exercise power with regard to his property or affairs;
(c)     he is under or is pending suspension imposed or confirmed by the Scottish FA;
(d)   he is listed in the Official Return of another club in full membership or associate membership;
(e)   he is currently participating as a player of another member club or referee in Association football;
(f)     he is the subject of an endorsed Disclosure from Disclosure Scotland;
(g)   he has been disqualified as a director pursuant to the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986 within the previous five years;
(h)   he has been convicted within the last 10 years of (i) an offence liable to imprisonment of two years or more, (ii) corruption or (iii) fraud;
(i)     he has been suspended or expelled by a National Association from involvement on the administration of a club;
(j)     he has been a director of a  club in membership of any National Association within the 5-year period preceding such club having undergone an insolvency event;

(k)    he is currently under or is pending suspension imposed by or confirmed by the Scottish FA in accordance with the Anti-Doping Charter.
  

Both King and Murray are hampered by (j) - they were directors at Rangers prior to the 2012 insolvency event.  King's shenanigans in South Africa surely come under the jurisdiction of (h).  Amusingly, Sandy Easdale's fraud conviction doesn't appear to disqualify him.

Of course, the bit at the top of the quotation allows the SFA room for manoeuvre.  Who would bet against Stewart Regan et al bending the rules for The People's benefit?  I wouldn't, especially following the leaks from Charlotte Fakeovers which suggested the SFA had a big hand in secret deals surrounding the formation of the Newco.  Interestingly, Celtic's Chief Executive, Peter Lawwell, is part of the SFA board.  Would his actions be affected by Celtic's best interests?  And are Celtic's best interests to hinder the progress of their old rivals, or to hasten their return to the top flight?  It will be very intriguing to see how this plays out.  

I still think that the business plan all along for Rangers was for Green and his cronies to make a packet, run the club into the ground, and rely on a sugar daddy letting his heart rule his head and coming in to prevent a second insolvency event.  McColl ain't for budging, though.  King may not be allowed to stick his oar in.  And neither may Paul Murray.

This story isn't over yet, folks.  But as time passes, a happy ending looks less and less likely.

L.