Menu Close

Dave King – Go Figure

The Rangers are back and hogging the headlines despite Celtic claiming 7 in a row and on course for a Double Treble.

Well done Dave King and everyone involved at the Rangers PR Machine. You played a blinder.

Stevie G has arrived, shouted “Bring it On”, shook a grimacing Jimmy Bells hand and duly departed, at least until June 1st when he will take up his place within the mythical brown brogues of Ibrox management.

Only thing left now is the small matter of money.

You see, while every headline and commentator keeps telling us that Stevie G is a millionaire and isn’t coming for the money there are a few financial issues that Dave King ( Will cover his proposed Monday Press Conference later in Part 2..a Press Conference called when The City of London and The Takeover Panel are all on holiday btw!)

Lets start with a quick off the top of the head list

Wages and Payoffs

  • Graeme Murty has asked for his complete salary paid up in full. Cue another lengthy round of discussions ala Caixinha and Warbuton. Speaking of Caixihna, did he actually bring any backroom team with him when he arrived bar appointing JJ?.
  • Speaking of which, Whats gonna happen to Jonathon Johanson?..whatever it is he does at Ibrox. If he is going, he will need paid off too!
  • Theres talk of Stevie G bringing a whole host of folk up from Liverpool to cover coaching and the weans, will they supplement current personnel and therefore double the wage bill or will the current incumbents then need paid off too.
  • You know for all this talk about Stevie G not coming for the money, that’s fine if not a little far fetched but what about his team. What incentive is there to up root yourself from a lucrative and stable job at Liverpool to come join a precarious position 200 miles away in Glasgow. You can guarantee wage and bonus increases all round for anyone agreeing to travel north with the new manager..cue more cash needed to fund their expensive arrival.

Squad

Lets be generous at this point and say Rangers have a squad that can openly compete for 2nd place in the SPFL. We all know their limitations and we all know the squad is nowhere near competing with Celtic on a bad day ( losing to 10 men at home!) let alone compete on  level terms.

Thus we have major questions for Dave King that clearly Gerrard has had assurances over:

  • How many of the current squad will still be around come June 1st?  The ones, including loanees, leaving for sure are:
  • Some loannees may want to return of course but clubs like Brighton wont be like Hamilton Accies and will actually ask for payments rather than promises.
  • How many of remaining players will actually be wanted? Those with more than 1 year on current deals include some players that I doubt Stephen Gerrard will even have heard off let alone rate..although he will know Jordan Rossiter from the Liverpool FC Clinic no doubt:
  • And that brings us to the players with 1 year left on their contracts
  • How much will it cost to pay players like Bruno Alves up to leave? Ask yourself, would you walk away from an excellent salary knowing you were low on confidence and form therefore its likely you would struggle to impress any other club?
  • Lee Wallace, stick or twist? Will the fans be happy seeing a stalwart hounded out the door or could forgiving him be taking too big a risk for a player renowned for a bad attitude in respecting his managers.
  • How much is any sales of players actually likely to generate. Often managers are forced to sell before they can buy..judging by current squads estimations on Transfermarkt, its not looking too good for reaping any profit to re-invest and that includes Chinese teams with 11 million to spare!

 

And of course, that isn’t even touching on bringing players INTO the club. We have already had the talk of bringing in 33 year old ( ie no sell on value) Martin Skrtels of this world, a guy earning a fortune and beloved in Turkey remember, clearly utter nonsense based on current finances and any monies generated from players exiting from current squad.

So…the question is…where will the money required to enhance the Rangers squad come from?

  • Season Books – The club are likely to sell 45-48’000 season books which should generate around £25 million. Not too shabby at all
  • Hospitality – The Stevie G factor will help boost corporate sales as folk will want to grab a selfie with someone who has actually held the European Cup.
  • Shirt – Hummell will be laughing now that Gerrard is on board. That £3m a year deal will look like a bargain if all goes well.
  • Advertising – The boards around the ground should also be popular to advertisers knowing the coverage for Stevie G will be worldwide if not only UK wide.

So the above is good for say up to £40m which is a good income for the club.

The problem is the money coming in, immediately goes right back out the door. Rangers continue to drain money like a sieve. The last few years have seen no balancing of the unaudited books and last years £6.8m LOSS had to be backed up with a promise of £7.2m  to cover projected losses from Dave Kings family trust(cough!). That £7.2 million was to cover £4m for this season and £3.2m needed for next season..lets ignore if that £4m even appeared this season and just go straight to asking will that projected  £3.2m still be enough for next season under Stevie G?

The club currently has loans from Close Brothers which are secured and also have Directors loans which Dave King likes to call “quasi-equity”. The intention for the Director loans was to convert into Equity in the form of club shares. This is a vehicle often used as it can have benefits for all parties concerned when covering a cashflow shortage for a company. This problem for Rangers is they are not listed on any market, they have no NOMAD acting on their behalf to generate share interest and most important of all, the bottom line is that there has never been a dividend paid on current RIFC shares as dividends are paid from leftover profit, which has never been achieved. Its all very well having your club at heart but any Rangers director who has majorly dug in to help the clubs cashflow problems recently will be praying for a share issue to reimburse his goodwill and the news for them is rather mixed.

For you see, that asks us to now consider the biggest elephant in the Blue Room..The Takeover Panel.

 

 

The Takeover Panel are regulators to ensure folk do not act unreasonably when dealing in ownership of a company or its shareholdings. Dave King was judged and found guilty of acting in concert with other Directors and duly ordered to make an offer to purchase all available shares in the company. This decree is standard for anyone in control of over 30% of a companies shares. Its standard stuff and yet Dave King has did everything in his power to avoid facing his responsibilities.

The Takeover Panel currently await his depositing £11m in an escrow holding account that will underwrite the share offer he must make to current RIFC share holders. Dave King has missed every deadline demanded by the courts and no one is confident this share offer will ever materialise.

That however throws up quite a spanner in the works.

Dave King cannot hope to hold a share issue ( talk is 25p a share) for millions of new shares in RIFC whilst in contempt of a court order dealing in previous share manipulation for the same company. Its crazy to think he could even dare try.

Which then brings us to the big question…Will Dave King walk away from Rangers?

Walking away can take many forms. Rather than being lumbered with £11m of shares he doesn’t want or need, Dave King could quite easily take a few options

  1. Walk away entirely..sell his shares and step aside as the hero who brought Stevie G to Ibrox. The fans and current directors ( that remain) can just Forget the money problems, legal bills,  and financial basket case he created and just remember him as a true blue hero who will always be welcome on the Marble staircase. Would walking away get King off the hook with the Takeover Panel and allow a new share issue to be made?..its hard to tell how committed they would be to pursuing a man whose lawyer declared penniless, who was no longer a board member of a UK company. This could also remove the threat of the Cold shoulder and therefore satisfy any other potential or current stakeholders in Project Stevie G. Then again, The Takeover Panel  may still want blood and go after the other members of the concert party.
  2. Pass his shares to the side and take an honorary role. This would be sleakit and cunning, something Dave might find appealing given his past. He could sell his shares to a company that he doesn’t appear to have direct links too but in fact has control over, ie another “family trust” style outfit and then control from the sidelines whilst bestowing an Honorary President role on himself. Therefore he would rid himself of legal responsibilities and take all the kudos. Its doubtful Rangers fans or the SFA and SPFL would care as once again a Rangers Director plays fast and loose with the rules. The share offer can then be made without any dark Dave King shadows hanging over it.
  3. Stay as is and stump up the money. Cant see it happening but maybe he’s had a change of heart or developed a conscience. This would then free up any new share issue worries.
  4. Stay but bring in new investment. Talk of Far East investment and even Michelle Mone coming to Ibrox fill the city. All rumours of course but if Dave can find some more folk willing to launder, I mean invest cash in the current set up , and of course cover his current Takeover Panel problem, then that could result in quite a colourful show including a new share issue..once the hype dies down the questions will start flying in…what happens to current shareholding standings, will other directors be glad to see investments diluted, will shares to Equity be rejected as per rumours on Phil McG and John James sites..has Douglas Park dug himself into a very deep hole? How much can Club 1872 bail out Rangers holding company before questions get raised

The other big problem is a new share issue itself.

Rangers have never had a share issue that could be viewed as a success for the Ibrox outfit. It is true that Charles Green made so much money off the share issue but how much went near Ibrox? Its bad enough not being listed or having a NOMAD to cover share dealings but in the cold light of day, share issues need willing buyers and given no dividends ever being paid, its doubtful any reputable corporate investors would be willing to step forward with a big bag of cash. This then requires smaller groups of investors and Joe Public.

And therein lies the rub..

David Murray famously had to get the ill-fated MIM company to underwrite £50m of a £51m share issue in Rangers because there was no uptake. The Rangers fans may have unending love for their club\company\holding company but when it comes to stumping up cash, the debenture wary rangers fans ensure their arms don’t quite reach their pockets. Club 1872 might spend all they can but it wont be enough to bankroll Stevie G.

So that’s where we are…we await Dave Kings Press Conference and cue the media hype…lets hope its a good one with plenty to review afterwards!

*******BREAKING NEWS*******

Raman from STV reporting now that the Press Conference has came and went, not so much as a fanfare but more a fart in a wind tunnel.

Davie King has told the press that a share issue will be announced in the hope of raising £6m, and no current external investment on horizon

That’s SIX million, not sixteen, not sixty, but SIX million ( as Celtic Collectibles @CollectCelticFC noted on Twitter, we got that for Virgil sell on to Liverpool!)

Given the losses at Rangers year on year, the £7.2m notes needed to get books through an audit, the current loans, including secured and Directors, its pretty much a ridiculous announcement to make and im raising quite a cynical eyebrow here thinking a major game is being played out in the background..this is just another squirrel from our Dave I reckon.

There is no chance Stevie G will see hide nor hair of this money as it must be needed for something else entirely. Something with a rather immediate timeline or deadline by the sounds of it and pretty ominous if not completed asap.

Lest we forget, any share issue generates money for THE Company not for the Club. There is no legal need for any monies to be spent on the club itself, worth keeping that in mind folks.

Raman at STV also noted that the Press asked Dave King on Takeover Panel and why he hadn’t yet made an offer to buy shares from current shareholder AS PER LEGAL REQUIREMENT and King says that he has asked for an extension ( another one! but remember there is no-one in The City to check that with today as its a Bank Holiday and doubtful many Scottish Media folk will remember to  call them to follow up tomorrow!) and stated its all to do with getting an Escrow account in UK set up and that “proof of funds” are there. Which sounds like hes making promises yet again. Im sure the SFA and SPFL are taking this all in and ready to call him to task!

The 6m is a curious figure though…I keep thinking that’s exactly what Club1872 have to spend.

Given that’s controlled by Dave Kings right hand man it should be straightforward to get the cash into Daves hands…the problem is any share issue has to be offered to ALL existing share holders first so Im wondering is this why Paul Murray jumped ship in disagreement.

If the Board issue new shares, holdings get diluted but £6m at shares at say 25p a pop ( once again Club1872 paying way over the odds like they did to buy Ashleys shares!) that’s only 24 million shares which doesn’t seem a great deal normally in business but is in fact 1/4 of all current Rangers shares..see holdings below:

Shareholder No of Ordinary Shares held % of issued share capital
New Oasis Asset Limited 11,869,505 14.57%
Club 1872 Shares CIC 8,732,254 10.71%
George Alexander Taylor 7,575,000 9.30%
Alexander Easdale 5,256,110 6.45%
Douglas Park 5,000,000 6.14%
Julian Wolhardt 3,632,500 4.45%
River and Mercantile Asset Management LLP 3,523,059 4.32%
George Letham 3,299,515 4.05%

The questions Im now thinking are

“Does selling 24m shares to Club 1872 seemingly hand them the controlling interest over Kings perceived holdings ( even though his guy effectively controls Club 1872!)”. Does this then mean that after all the delaying tactics,  King can once again challenge the Takeover Panel as he is no longer holding over 30% in concert!

How does Douglas Park and the other Directors who put money in for cashflow problems feel seeing a share issue that will not reimburse them and in fact cost them in respect to shareholding percentage? I could of course be wrong but I doubt Douglas is going to involved in buying any more shares given his current undertaking and debt position and he isn’t being offered a debt to equity option here as that wouldn’t actually generate any monies for the Company.

Will The Takeover Panel escalate proceedings against King asap now hes announced this move..they already feel he acted wrongly against shareholders, would they allow him to go after more of their cash? Does Dave know all this and is playing a double bluff…cue an angry Takeover Panel and poor wee Dave saying “Look guys I tried but they wouldn’t let me work my magic so I have to say cheerio!” and cue much lamenting from Scottish media and financially ignorant fans.

Will we see Dave back again or will he next pop up at Liverpools Champions League final…I doubt he will be back here before June 1st  if at all.

 

Conclusion

Only time will tell how this will play out but something is going on…cause if its looks like a dead duck, smells like a dead duck and lies prostrate like a dead duck, its probably somehow connected to Dave but he will claim he never saw any duck, honest to god, he has proof, but not on him just now, elsewhere of course!

0 0 votes
Article Rating
48 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Honest Hoops
5 years ago

The social media rumours are that “crutches murray” is investing and when Newcastle is sold, mr sports is going to then issue a soft launder of funds.. probably through squinties “family trust” to make it seem he had the money all the time…and that’s where regulators do not investigate every transaction which is very frustrating

Honest Hoops
5 years ago

Great article Desi…

5 years ago

Surely the Lying Kings no Lying,Surely…..Glib n Shameless?Jekyl n Hyde More Like…..Kings got that many heads he forgets who he is at Times.As long as the Hilarity is Never Ending,Lets Go,Bring It On….HfH

Honest Hoops
5 years ago

Unfortunately In my line of work, buzz words are the norm, …for me…stop the bullshit and deliver as you said you would…and I have already put sg in the same category, full of buzz words and no substance to back it up in his new uncharted role….you will bring ferk all… in Brendan we have trust, Hail, Hail

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

Excellent article and I know nothing about this but methinks it’ll be left to the Bearmacht to fund Kings proposal through season tickets. As you all know Billy McBilly just loves being duped and ripped off and Squint Eastward will take full advantage of these gullible emotives.

Auldheid
5 years ago

https://someoldhat.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/steven-gerrard-expect-the-unorthodox/amp/?__twitter_impression=true Amother great article on the financial gap Gerrard has to bridge to add to this one.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  Auldheid

Auldheid, just read this excellent article and we completely dwarf the “Rangers” in terms of capital. If we negotiate the CL qualifiers and if they qualify for the Europa we’ll still be out of sight. I guess that not many of a blue persuasion will have read this article, they really should.

Clarko
5 years ago

They won’t generate anything like £25m from season ticket sales. If you look at previous accounts the season ticket money will be somewhere around £13-£15m as you have to factor in parent & child season tickets and even more so the youth stand alone season tickets at around 1/3 of normal cost. Once you factor in the Close Brothers loan repayment which including the interest for 6 months will be around £3.75m, add in running costs & wages just to stand still of around 7-8m for a season and there ain’t a great deal of change left to spend on recruitment. Not to mention they are committed to £1.25m for Murphy and they still owe the balance of the Docherty deal with Hamilton of around 400K.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

ClydeSSB are reporting that Squinty McGinty will go ahead with the share issue in the hope of raising 6 million, they’re not seeking any other investment.

Jim Kearney
5 years ago

lemmings,lambs to the slaughter comes to mind.Having had friends who literally put their life savings into there club and lost the lot yet they still come back for more, cant get blood out of a stone messers King and co think if you squeeze it tightly enough you can,God help them, thats the suckers who believe them.

Rebus67
5 years ago

Congratulations, Desi, on a great article.
SG and Sevco’s ambitions and objectives should be to consistently finish second to Celtic. This is a very achievable objective, given a variety of factors, not least of which is the capacity to pay better wages than any of their rivals.

Sevco’s wages are greater than the sum of their rivals, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs. In general, wage is a surrogate for quality in soccer players(there are of course exceptions….Alves!). However, generally this is true.

Eventually, even a badly managed company like Sevco will dominate its three rivals and consolidate second position. The only thing that will stop at is if they go bust through the calling in of a loan or supplier debt.

This is now the medium term reality of Scottish football. The same factors also operate to deny Celtic entry into the truly elite group of clubs in Europe,sadly.

Rebus

Rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebus67

The trouble for Sevco is its fans will not be satisfied with second position. Therein lies the rub.

Rebus

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebus67

Rebus….BANG. Yer absolutely right, they’ll expect far more.

5 years ago

I would not be surprised if David Murray is welcomed back with open arms. After all he stiffed his former employees at MIM, declared bankruptcy and then went about buying up property and businesses that used to be part of MIM having ran that company into the ground and borrowed/stole 1 billion from the BoS. How this is legal I have no idea? This is where the current custodians of Celtic Football Club are going to regret their inaction over the past 6 years. There is no way they are going to allow Celtic to win 10 in a row. The forces of darkness are aligning and a concerted full on attempt is being made to prevent this from happening. Financial skulduggery will be accepted by the media, down south and in Scotland, it may eventually result in the liquidation of New rangers but they will just come back again. Remember, this rancid outfit are dead and still carry on and mno one in Scotland seems to care. they certainly are not going to care where the money is coming from over the next few years. And our board stood by and said nothing. we can shout and scream ‘foul’ until the cows come home but we should have put our boot on their throat by making the SFA play by the rules of the organisation. There should have been no 5 way agreement, no parachuted into Division 3. We have let them off the hook and may have to face another cheating, low-life scummy outfit with millions of dirty pounds from God knows where. And if you are expecting our board to match their spending well you will belive all that you hear and see.

5 years ago

I am very wary of them going into full ‘stop the ten’ mode and scouring the earth taking dodgy money from any dodgy source daft enough to give them it. Colombian drug cartels to people trafficking rings from the Ukraine. I firmly believe it will be the serious fraud office and Interpol that will kill Version 2 not the footballing authorities in Scotland or UEFA. I just want us to remain vigilant and fully prepared to meet any challenge full or half arsed that comes out of the place. We can still have our fun but they are no laughing matter. we need to be fully focused and as strong as we can be . there is no depth that they will not stoop to to stop us and they are getting very angry. A wounded animal is always most dangerous in its death throes. Lets make sure we finish them for once and for all.

Clarko
5 years ago

Hahahahahaha “bit bit Stevie widnae take the job if there wisnae big money promised to him for players”. What a red face that is for a whole £6m. The thing is Park & co were expecting their cash back for the soft loans from the fabled/mythical “big share issue” and now they won’t be getting it any time soon so expect further unrest in the boardroom. All good and long may it continue at the comedy club.

SteveNaive
5 years ago

On the game yesterday, absolutely shocking ‘tackles’ from Naismith on Brown and then Forrest. Not even booked. Levein’s instructions probably. Did BR comment on it ?

richard
5 years ago

I get the feeling Gerrard at some point will simply walk away and sue the shabby outfit for not complying with the arrangements, thereby putting Sevco into even more financial problems, because at some point when funds dont arrive he is going to ask himself ‘walk away now or lose any hope of a future managerial career’.

charlie
5 years ago

great article desi say they stop king fae havin a share issue after 45000 zombies have bought season books and king sais its awe theyr fault collects the book money and fucks off ha ha ha ha

charlie
5 years ago
Reply to  Desi Mond

theyr sneaky cunts desi nothing would surprise me wae thum by the way do you know who many penny shares wer geid oot and whose got them

5 years ago

If they thought they could raise 6 million!, why did they go close brothers the pawnbrokers!!..

A smell shoite.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

The deluded are still buying into King being the saviour. This is something I don’t understand with Wiliiam, surely there must be some among the hordes who are very streetwise and would spot a bullshitter a mile away and can see that he’s a Freddie Laker, yet still fall for this? I get emotional attachment to the thing you love but come on tar, are they that fucking daft?

Monti
5 years ago

£6m?

Mwahahaha mwahahaha

Stupid, stupid Huns!

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

Follow Follow is a fecking hoot we’ve went from gold plated trains bringing in capital, Squint turning up with some Saudi billionaire to fund the new dawning. That’ll be some come down for them today.

BroxburnBhoy
5 years ago

They get away with all this King nonsense because the gutless media somehow have decided to go along with it. They never question it and they certainly avoid investigative journalism around it. Either they are true blue believers, have been ordered to follow a certain editorial line or they are afraid of repercussions for telling it like it is. Bullets in the post etc. we all know Sevco is an empty shell breaking under the strain of its self imposed debt. They are running on empty and King is stringing them along. The journalists all know too. They are just scared to say so in print. Intimidation is the Ibrox way. Their vulgar Level 5 thugs telling journalists that there was no liquidation and hooking the Magic Hat half way through a press conference tells us this new entity is smoke and mirrors. Gerrard will find this out soon enough when he gets told what to say or hooked from a press conference.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  BroxburnBhoy

All so sordid BBhoy.

Devoy45
5 years ago

Desi, good journalism. Reading the truth usually leaves many questions unanswered. My biggest question is how can they be getting away with this?

charlie
5 years ago

its a wee shame so it is there wer rumours all over glasgow all weekend aboot arab sheiks -russian oligarchs and texas oil barons all looking to invest in sevco ah no aboot the rumours cause a started maist ae thum ha ha ha ha aint zombies dumb

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago

Remember it might be a share issue raising up to £6m…..Signed Help, I need somebody !SG……..Sevco,King and supporters are crooks and scum,Nae cash,nae outside investment,nae class,No History…..please stop dragging Scotland down and disappear!

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago

Who thought it would be a good idea to have that prick Sleekit assisting the commentator on Our game yesterday? After I managed to get through,the nice lady admitted there had been a massive amount of complaints about the guy who was one of the worst “managers” ever,ever…
P.S.Hope it’s a nil nil draw between the bottle merchants and the dressing room warriors so We can take it ever so easy in our last game and lose an unfortunate goal in the last minute……

Cartvale88
5 years ago

There is always the drug dealers m8.

Good article Desi.
How the media will try to dress up the latest garbage from the King with no clothes, it canny get any funnier.
Thought Madden and more so his linesman were a disgrace, Naismith and his pal Lafferty think they are bully boys. Levein does not help and should have been charged after his Broonie remarks.
Celtic should write to the SPFL raising concerns about Broonies safety, and Hertz appearing to target him after their manager came out with his drivel. If no action is taken then fans should voice their concerns to the Board,

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

Naismith and that beacon of enlightenment Lafferty showed themselves up for what they truly are…currants who hate us.

FredDDobbs
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

lafferty’s goal showed up our defense.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  FredDDobbs

I agree Fred, hopefully we’ll rectify this at the next transfer window.

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  FredDDobbs

Bellend….& so is Lafferty

Iljas Baker
5 years ago
Reply to  FredDDobbs

Cal Mac is no KT that’s for sure. There’s was not a lot of threat created down that left wing. Can’t understand why that defense is not sorted out and wonder if it ever will be under BR.

henkesdreadlocks
5 years ago
Reply to  FredDDobbs

charlie
5 years ago

ralph do you think after that bullshit today this is when some serious journalists will start to look at sevco like you suggested last week

Honest hoops
5 years ago

Naihair and laffable are from the same bigoted cloth…

Devoy45
5 years ago

Knob(s) the week? A hat trick.Easy
Curly (Naismith)/Lafferty/Moe=Moaning Levein
Cheating, gamesmanship, total lack of class which has always defined Hearts. To think, Levein was once our choice for national coach!

Devoy45
5 years ago

Knob(s) of the Week.

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  Devoy45

Mike?

Devoy45
5 years ago

I think we really need to hang on to Dembele for one more year, for his sake and ours. He needs a whole year of being fit to show what he can really do and to get his sale value back up where it belongs. We need to buy Edouard as well. There is great promise there.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

Looks like that eejit Naismith will be copping a ban for his terrible tackle on Brown. If any comrade on here needs cheering up I suggest that you read Squint Eastward’s Q&A with the liars and fantasists of the MSM. He is a right dodgy, dodgy character. You won’t believe the shite he’s spouting about our club. I’m thinking that we shouldn’t mention anything on the Timternet and just let those who swallow his untruths steam right in.

Follow us on Twitter @ETimsNet