Alan Pattullo: 'Exposed and £31m in debt, Rangers are sitting ducks'

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 22:19

IT DOES not fit into the category of Aberdeen former chief executive Keith Wyness' famous description of the Old Firm hitching their skirt up for the benefit of every passing suitor, but fans of Rangers know that times have changed when the football background of the club's foremost suitor amounts to brief and unfulfilled dalliances with two of English football's lesser lights.

There is no earthly reason to disbelieve David Murray when he said that his over-riding concern is that he delivers Rangers into the hands of a credible and well-intentioned owner. He has talked of sitting in a London hotel in the past, listening to what a potential buyer had to say and then concluding: 'No thanks, this man isn't for Rangers.'

Murray has invested too much time and emotion in the club – to the serious detriment, he has often confessed, of the others arms of the Murray International Holdings – to be cavalier in the selection of who succeeds him. But while the current owner still has a large say in what happens, being able to sit and choose who he considers fit for purpose for Rangers is a luxury that no longer fits with a club operating on the ever greater say-so of Lloyds Banking Group. There is an uneasy vulnerability about Rangers at present. It leaves them exposed to the advances of those who might not fit the profile of the "right person" desired by Murray, but whose money talks.

The belief voiced by the Rangers Supporters Trust that the fans must have a say in what happens is a sadly laughable contention from a body of fans whose business acumen is meant to be refined. Such synergy might be a nice thought, but since when have supporters been consulted about a business transaction that is as significant – and complex – as the sale of a club, particularly one as ridden in debt as Rangers? There are too many others with a serious interest in the negotiations, including a bank, for supporters to expect to wield an influence.

And it's also surely fanciful to expect that the formation of an independent directors group to be truly independent when they consider bids for Rangers, ostensibly in order to judge whether they fall into line with the club's best interests, rather than those of Murray and Lloyds Banking Group. All those named in this body are current directors of a club owned by Murray, and therefore cannot escape an association – in most cases close – with the former chairman.

Rangers are sitting ducks at present, although whether they are even worth bagging is another, somewhat alarming question. The club has been in uncertain times for as long as a season now. In the time that Portsmouth have had four owners, Rangers have only been nibbled at by "interested parties" of which London-based property developer Andrew Ellis is the latest.

Of course, the club accumulates allure the closer Rangers get to confirming their place as Scottish champions, something which guarantees them the significant financial windfall which is Champions League participation. With 8 million of the club's 31 million debt due to be repaid within the next 12 months, the necessity of realising this ambition goes beyond the desire for players to play at this rarefied level again. Personal glory has to pale in comparison with the fiscal concerns of a club with debts of 31 million.

It is also the last time for the foreseeable future that a Scottish club will gain automatic entry to a competition which almost guarantees that a club will make an operating profit in the year in which their participation falls. It is no coincidence that the first firm news of interest in Rangers comes in the wake of the Ibrox side's recent defeat of Celtic, a result which left them ten points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Against all odds perhaps, the man having the biggest influence of all on making Rangers marketable is a wily customer currently operating without a contract. Step forward Walter Smith, Rangers' principal selling agent.

• Alan Pattullo: Keane can't halt crowd drain