Rangers Have gone into Administration

re the season tickets - aiui Rangers can still sell them, but because they're in administration they won't pass the money to Ticketus. Instead it'll go into the administrator's pot to be shared out with all their other revenue. Ticketus (or whoever the money's committed to) joins the queue of creditors.

Aye, I was looking at what would happen if they somehow survived this period of administration and tried to then function as a going concern.

I think seeing the terms of the Ticketus deal is u&k to a lot of speculation.

Mutterings that the police weren't paid last week (bad administrators!), meaning future home games now in jeopardy. Imagine the furore if the next derby game gets cancelled (unless it's a cunning ruse to not have a title decider at Ibrox?)

apparently the police are fine with not being paid as they have a very good relationship with Rangers

Police costs will likely be an expense of the administration which, aiui, come off the top of any monies raised by the administration. If they haven't been paid, they'll have had the assurances that they will be paid (before the creditors).

So... the Sun say they have seen one
of these EBT letters showing
contractual payments dependent on
the player playing and basically
therefore tax-dodging. They claim that this letter was sent to a player, but then say it's a draft? Eh?

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/
scotsol/homepage/news/4154479/
Gers-in-crisis-Player-deals-
uncovered.html

Pro-tip: cutting and pasting on opera mini is a formatting nightmare.

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4154479/Gers-in-crisis-Player-deals-uncovered.html

Charity gives its money to a business full of millionaires who don't pay tax. Classy. I wonder how many of the Rangers Legneds used EBTs.

http://www.rangerscharity.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=434&Itemid=85

wtf?

(also 'legned' is never going to stop making me smile)

no missing millions, every penny accounted for (but with no published accounts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPzkys9GYmU

worth a read - showing a mediocre stab at the Europa league to be significantly more lucrative than a season of Old Firm visits

http://wingsland.podgamer.com/why-scotland-doesnt-need-rangers/

Re. the legneds game:

http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/charity-begins-at-home-but-is-the-rangers-charity-foundation-in-breach-of-the-law/

I think he's barking up the wrong tree there, they're not giving their money to Rangers, they're just not taking their share from the match so nothing illegal imo. Totally fucking immoral all the same.

Some stuff in the comments suggests that it's the charity not the club putting on the match. Issue seems to be either a club in administration raising money and donating *some of it* to charity (the AC Milan Foundation presumably still want their cut) ahead of their creditors, or a charity giving money to a plc. I am no legal beagle, but it looks a bit wrong to me.

Ok lol @ Kyle Bartley on Twitter
"So I was just having a number 2 at training & the lights cut out.. Haha.. So obviously I thought the worse, considering.."

Still no announcement on redundancies. Seems kind of ridiculous to go past the day when everyone's been paid until without shifting some of your earners off the wage bill when, for example, Dunfermline can't pay their staff because you owe them so much money. What the hell money are the administrators running the club with?

worth remembering they were originally planning to go into administration two weeks later than they did and hmrc forced their hand

Lab MP Thomas Docherty gets wired in, calling Whyte a liar and the administrators theives

http://www.scotzine.com/2012/03/labour-mp-thomas-docherty-labels-craig-whyte-a-liar-rangers-and-duff-phelps-thieves/

Under the rules of the Scottish Football Association and the SPL, the total gate receipt for a league game belongs to the home club. It is standard operating practice for the away club to sell tickets for their end of the ground, but under the rules of the league, that money must be paid to the home team within seven days of the fixture taking place, minus any pre-agreed handling fee. The money is not the property of the away team, which is merely the handling agent.

For games in the Scottish cup, however, ticket sales for the whole ground are split equally between the two clubs, minus any operating costs, and the home team get to keep any proceeds from hospitality, refreshments, or programme sales. Under SFA rules, the two teams that have sold tickets do not have any right to count those ticket sales on their balance sheets, as they are merely holding agents and the money is to be put into the pool of gate receipts for the cup tie as a whole. In other words, the two clubs are merely acting as agents; it is not their money.

The passionate parliamentarian then rounded on the club itself and specifically the administrators Duff and Phelps: When Rangers entered administration, the club and its administrators, Duff and Phelps, refused point-blank to hand either amount of money to Dundee United or Dunfermline, arguing that it should go into the pot of credited money. Let me be clear and send a message to Rangers’ administrators: that money does not belong—and has never belonged—to Rangers. Holding on to it is not only morally wrong, it is nothing short of theft.

So, a 0-3 defeat in each of their games since this practice started? Daily Mail link

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2109018/Rangers-accused-misleading-SFA-secret-deals.html?ITO=1490

Ha, if they finish this season on -10 points , there's not enough champagne on the planet. If they finish the season at all.

Dunfermline players lost wages this month due to the loss of ticket money from Rangers. Rangers players were paid in full while the club is in administration. I'm sure it was for the good of Scottish football.

I really REALLY don't understand why there weren't immediate job cuts at Rangers. The administrators don't really appear to be acting in the interest of the creditors at all. Carrying on as a going concern doesn't appear to be raising extra money to release to creditors, unless they are hanging on for a huge firesale at the end of the season when the transfer window opens - Europe looks a no-go as a last throw of the dice for money-raising as they don't appear to be looking like they'll be trading solvently again by the end of the month for the Euro licence deadline. And I'm not sure administrators can go on a gamble like that - dealing with creditors now is their remit (along with trying to deal with the cashflow to reduce outgoings and increase income) rather than "oh, if you let us not pay for a while, we *might* make some money and pay you then".

There also don't appear to be enough questions being asked/points being raised in the mainstream media about WHY we need Rangers so much. Plenty from the internet bampots, but very very little elsewhere.

Administrators say:

We need to save a million quid a month. But we're still not making anyone redundant.

World says:

You're fucked.

aiui it costs around that to run the club so they can basically save that by not paying for any services and by stealing other clubs' money, not so much administration as "lol fuck you we arra peepel!"

seizing the money from whyte's lawyers allows them to pay player wages for another few months.

they've essentially not paid tax then found a way to continue not paying tax without anything else changing except for getting rid of a director who by his own admission wasn't doing his job. but that's ok because scottish football needs this institution for the good of the game.

This stuff from the administrators is just what's needed to get them trading solvently and come out of administration. Then, *if* (no font big enough for that if) they start next season, they are out of Europe with lots of season ticket revenue off to Ticketus and no players worth paying to see. Good luck with that.

Oh aye, and a big old tax bill to pay.

Coming out of administration would wipe out the old debts though.

The big tax bill isn't an existing debt yet.

aiui it is an existing liability because it exists and is known about now, and so is dealt with by this administration; we just don't yet know how much it will be.

Among other things that would basically make it impossible for them to exit administration any time soon - even if hmrc were inclined to settle for x-in-the-pound, how could they, the administrator and any other creditors possibly agree how many pounds should be involved?

They aren't going to exit administration. I don't have answers for any of this, just pointing out what I understand to be the things keeping them in there and stopping them getting out any way other than liquidation.

Is there any justification at all for the size of their wage bill not being significantly trimmed when other clubs are owed money?

If the administrator thinks that keeping staff on will be to creditors' benefit, he can do it - seems a bit optimistic, but I don't know whether it's so unreasonable that they could challenge it (I presume that's the test, the administrator has a fair bit of discretion to make decisions, but not total carte blanche).

It's kind of the same reason why administrators can obey the football creditors rule in England, despite creditors like St John's Ambulance etc getting shafted as a result - ultimately it's to creditors' benefit for the club to retain its share in the league, as debts would have to be settled out of a basically worthless entity otherwise.

They are pretty much going to finish second, third at worst. They aren't going to qualify for Europe. They don't need much of a squad. Hearts and Dunfermline have had cashflow issues as a result of Rangers' debts to them. Instead of pishing about trying to protect the entire Rangers squad, don't the PFA also have a duty of care towards these employees of other member clubs who are getting stiffed on their wages?

As far as I can see, they need to basically shed their entire first team squad to cover costs to the end of the season. Who is benefiting from keeping them all on?

The PFA can't really abandon some members to protect others though, it can only work case-by-case I'd've thought. Anyway, even if some were laid off at rangers, that'd just mean more for the administrator's pot, it wouldn't go directly and possibly not even eventually to players at other clubs.

I haven't seen them play & don't know where they're likely to end up, but assuming you're right and also that prize money isn't a significant factor, it's hard to see the point of keeping on a big playing staff. Unless they're hoping for a bumper fire sale next window, but even then the dead wood should be carved out you'd think.

Yeah, just getting a bit frustrated with the whole thing really, and getting a bit fucked off with the amount of dicking other people around that's gone and is still going on.

It's more than two weeks since owner Craig Whyte plunged Rangers into administration — putting 140 years of history and tradition at risk.

In the dark days since, McCoist's stock
has risen so far that his managerial
credentials are no longer up for
debate.

In the club's desperate hour of need
the manager has truly stepped up to
the plate.

A figurehead for supporters, a
shoulder for staff, McCoist has
somehow managed to find the right
words at the right time.

lol, really? You are paid handsomely (with other people's money) to make decisions, you know, managerial decisions. Like what staffing requirements you have, who could be deemed surplus to requirements in a financial downturn. You do fuck all except greet to the press about how you can't do it. This somehow makes everyone forget that you have been papped out of every trophy going with barely a whimper, and have chucked a 15 point lead in the league before the administrators even set foot in the club.

Well fucking done. What a hero.

I was all for punting Neil Lennon less than six months ago. He kept working through the threats, assaults and character assassinations. He also couldn't put out a team that could beat Rangers, St Johnstone, Hibs or Kilmarnock. The two weren't connected. Hero of a man, shit manager. The fawning over McCoist, who has done fuck all to deserve it, gives me the boak.

Oops, forgot the link:

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4168947/Nearby-a-Gers-hero-was-spinning-in-his-grave.html#ixzz1o2RiEvAs

The prose in that thing!

Wonderful way of saying "we hung around all morning and fuck all happened except for the commited manager skipping training for personal business"

Hung around did we, yet of things happening saw we naught.

i saw ally mccoist standing at a cashpoint at the very bottom of sauchiehall st yesterday. i resisted obv jokes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paddimir/6950472951/in/photostream

good luck in proving that allegation. He hasn't even provided any evidence which is a pity. Woulda been lols if they were stripped of 9-in-a-row.

Here's a link for you from this very thread.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2109018/Rangers-accused-misleading-SFA-secret-deals.html?ITO=1490

i dont trust the SFA/SPL/SFL etc to do the right thing.

We'll see. I'm not sure you can brush this under the carpet.

indeed, we'll see.

You're on the 'nothing to see here, move along please' camp despite oodles of evidence to the contrary though, right? iirc, you didn't think Sion would be booted out of Europe for fielding ineligible players either. You might want to google Neuchatel Xamax, btw.

oh shut up i didn't say that

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sunday-mail/2012/03/04/spl-rivals-want-to-see-rangers-heavily-punished-if-club-is-liquidated-and-reformed-under-new-name-86908-23773872/

Oh, sorry, when you said good luck proving wrongdoing and expressed doubt that any governing bodies would act, I took that to mean you thought nothing would be found and nothing would be done. Evidently you meant something else. My bad.