Craig Whyte poised to take control of Rangers • Glasgow businessman has been in talks with club for weeks • 39-year-old's asset worth has been quoted at £700m http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/18/rangers-craig-whyte-david-murray
Not heard much about him to be honest. What have you heard? I see the RST are being vocal again. I wish these idiots would shut up sometimes.
Well I'll post a link, but not from a Celtic forum obviously. The main consensus seems to be a guy who runs asset stripping firms to make a fair amount of his cash. And with all good businessman these days the shady past has been mentioned as well. http://www.scotzine.com/2010/11/the-end-is-nigh-for-rangers-ongoing-takeover-saga-or-is-it/? I'll cherry pick a couple of passages that make interesting reading from my perspective - The tycoon fled Scotland under the shadow of a massive tax investigation. Amid a flurry of lawsuits and allegations with debts of around £4 million, Whyte moved to the tax haven of Monaco living the life of luxury, while his former employees and debtors tried to pick up the pieces back home. When Whyte fled to Monaco, he left many of his companies close to collapse. In 1993 he bought Vital UK Ltd and built it up, providing services to the construction industry, retail stores and local authorities and it went into voluntary liquidation three years later with debts totalling £600,000. A damning report by liquidators suggested that he had struck a secret deal to transfer the failing company’s assets to the Bahamas. The report also hinted that he had failed to register some of his employees for PAYE tax. Whyte ended up at the High Court where his legal team admitted that he owed £3.5 million to a single creditor. A spokesman for the liquidators said, ‘We have obviously tried to contact Mr Whyte on a number of occasions but we are informed by his lawyer that he is living abroad.’
Hahahaha! The usual kind of stuff. Is their anybody that owns a club that does not have a shady past? Anyway I shall reserve the right to judge until I see something concrete.
Just in. Lafferty has broken a bone in his hand and is out of the game tonight. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/9218239.stm
RANGERS manager Walter Smith is bracing himself for another transfer window battle to fend off interest in his top players. Goalkeeper Allan McGregor, defender Madjid Bougherra and fans’ favourite Steven Naismith were today all linked with interest from other clubs and Smith now faces a familiar wait to discover if clubs try to sign his leading players. The Ibrox manager is determined to try and boost his squad in January as injuries have left him with next to no flexibility when it comes to naming his team. Smith has still led the Light Blues to the top of the SPL as well as Europa League qualification after finishing third in their Champions League group. He admitted, despite expecting no money to be made avail-able for new signings unless the club was the subject of a successful takeover, he hoped he would somehow be allowed to bring in reinforcements. It appears the main transfer activity could centre around McGregor as Aston Villa confirmed he is on their radar. The 28-year-old, who has also been linked with Manchester United and Sevilla, could be sold if an offer upwards of £6m is tabled. Villa boss Houllier sent his assistant Gary McAllister and goalkeeping coach Rafael Gonzalez to watch McGregor against Man U last midweek, while Sir Alex Ferguson – who is also looking at keepers – had his own close-up view at Ibrox. Interest is also thought to be high in Kenny Miller as the final year of his contract ticks away. Everton have been linked with Naismith and Roma are believed to be considering making a bid for Bougherra. Italian sources are linking American central defender Oguchi Onyewu with a move to Rangers.
Craig Whyte and Andrew Ellis will hold talks with senior Rangers officials next week, as they look to step up their joint efforts to buy Sir David Murray's shareholding in the Ibrox club. However STV understands the deal, worth £33 million, may not be concluded as hoped by Christmas and it may take until the new year for the pair to finalise their purchase http://sport.stv.tv/football/scotti...keover-bidders-want-club-bought-by-christmas/
As expected due diligence is taking a while. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/9348516.stm
For a team that are about to be taken over and given a transfer war kitty it seems like a strange decision to sell the leagues top scorer for £700k at the start of the transfer window...
Well, there is, a tad. But surely the question is still a viable one? If Ranger sell Miller to Birmingham at the start of this window for around £700k doesn't that seem strange considering the fact that a takeover, with a cash injection, is supposed to be imminent?
It seems we were just trying to get some cash which we may not get now. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/07/kenny-miller-birmingham-rangers
Fiorentina are set to land Rangers striker Kenny Miller as a replacement for Adrian Mutu, according to reports from Italy. Sport Italia reports that the Serie A side have pinpointed the prolific hit-man, who has netted an impressive 21 goals in 17 league starts for the Glasgow club this season, as a replacement for the rebellious Romanian, who has been suspended to due an alleged breach of contract. La Viola feel that the Scottish international is of sufficient quality to score the goals to lift the side out of the bottom half of the table. The former Celtic, Wolves and Derby County attacker was thought to be close to completing a deal to return to England with Birmingham City, but the move appears to have fallen through, allowing Fiorentina to hijack the negotiations. The 31-year-old is out of contract at Ibrox in the summer, and the SPL club’s financial constraints mean that they must seek a transfer fee in the current window rather than let him leave for free. Ligue 1 side Marseille have also been linked with a move, with a fee in the region of €1.3 million [£1.07m] enough to enter into discussions.
http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Kenny-Miller-seals-his-deal.6697653.jp According to that report it's around the £400k mark. Now I'm not trying to stir up trouble I'm just looking for Rangers supporters thoughts on this as it doesn't add up for me. I realise he is in the last year of his contract and could leave for nothing but does it make financial sense to sell the SPL's top goal scorer at this minute in time (by some distance) whilst at the halfway point of a tight title race? Also, if reports were to be believed, new owners were just around the corner and would be funding Walter Smith with a new transfer kitty of sorts. Surely that would have reduced the pressure to sell one of your better players for such a small sum? Although admittedly things seem to have quietened down on this front. Thoughts?
£400k is clearly a disappointing offer, but he could have left for nowt in the summer and it's clear after being unsettled by all the speculation that his heart wouldn't have been in it. He's looked utterly disinterested in the past couple of games. Letting him run down his contract would be an option but as I said, whether he would be fully motivated is very questionable. All things considered taking the money was the right move imo, especially as Jelavic is just returning, whom I believe will be a more than adequate replacement. People might be sceptical of that, but then there were plenty of doubts over whether Miller could replicate Boyd's goals when he left at the beginning of the season. Miller himself is living proof that no player is irreplaceable.
Strange game on Saturday! I'd go as far to say that is as well as I have seen us play this season without scoring!
I would only partly agree with that. As I said in the Hearts thread, if you'd taken only half your chances you created in the first half you would have been out of sight. However, I thought you lost your way in the second 45 and Hearts came back into it. Other than the outrageous piece of skill by Jelavic you didn't create much at all.
Hey guys, though my Rangers aren't listed in my favorite teams. I do keep an eye on you guys. I will be honest the only reason why I do is because I keep an eye on all of the teams that have an American on the squad like Mo Edu and formerly Beasley. Anyways let me cut to the chase, after victories you guys sing along to the Drifters which someone recently told me what the song was exactly. Can someone explain to me the tradition behind you guys doing that?