Rangers haven't attracted a single prospective buyer, reveals David Murray

Published on Friday 27 November 2009 22:51

BELEAGUERED Rangers Football Club have yet to attract a single expression of interest from a prospective buyer, Sir David Murray, the club's majority shareholder reveals today.

• Sir David Murray, at work in his Charlotte Square office, has dismissed rumours of overseas investors buying Rangers. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Murray, speaking exclusively to The Scotsman, dismissed talk of an approach from a mystery Florida millionaire, or other rumours that have surfaced around one of Scotland's most iconic sporting symbols in recent weeks.

In a frank and wide ranging interview over the state of his company Murray International Holdings to be carried in Scotland on Sunday, Murray revealed the scale of the crisis faced earlier this year but says there are now signs of recovery.

The Ibrox club is a small part of the group in revenue terms but accounts for by far the greatest share of press publicity – and in recent months speculation about the club's financial health and future has been intense.

Rangers, who went deep into loss last year and who this week have been knocked out of lucrative European tournaments, have debts reckoned at 30 million.

Murray stepped down from the chairmanship earlier this year.

Asked if there had been any expressions of interest from prospective buyers, Murray said firmly, "No – none", and that there was "no substance" to recent speculation.

He also slapped down reports that Lloyds Bank was effectively running the club. This year "we are hoping to go into break-even and make a small profit. It's not going to be a lot, but there will be no further losses."

Parent group Murray International Holdings' new man on the Rangers board is company turnaround specialist Donald Muir. The 50-year-old accountant who has previously worked with companies ranging from Alcatel, BT and Cable & Wireless, is paid by Murray, not Lloyds Bank.

"I've made it quite clear", said Murray, "that with the banking facility the club would have to work within its financial means.

"When the speculation got mischievous was when people started talking about mysterious Florida millionaires. It was unbelievable."

Rangers are 60 per cent owned by MIH and Murray insists that Lloyds Bank has been fully supportive of MIH both with the club and with other group operations. And for all their problems off and on the field and the deeply disappointing performance against Stuttgart earlier this week when they lost 2-0, the club are still top of the Scottish Premier League.

"For the record", said Murray, "I will repeat that I am totally prepared to sell the club.

"Price is important but it is not the most important factor, as long as you hand it over in the best interests of the football club.

"Before I stepped down I made it clear we will not sell any of our prime assets while we are fighting for the league.

"Rangers is no different from any other business. Lloyds has given us a facility and we are no different from a household or a business. The club must work within that.

"We collectively must run our football clubs within their financial means. If people don't like that, well, they are not living in the real world. I think you will find that every other football club has gone the same way."

Murray expressed frustration at the way the club's affairs has attracted ferocious speculation, most of it, he insists, well wide of the mark.

"I find it amazing that a football club like Ipswich can have a greater debt than Rangers and it doesn't appear on the radar. Preston lost 10 million," he added.

Reports that Lloyds has moved in to run the club have particularly irked him. "I approached Donald in June. I thought he had skills we didn't have. Donald was a pal of Alex McLeish, so we knew him through football. He's helping me with change. He'll help to teach an old dog new tricks."

Murray, who two years ago backed Scottish rugby to the tune of 2.7 million, added: "In the past I've been able to fund Rangers in behind the scenes ways. But it is different now."

And, despite this week's European exits, he offered some consolation for aspiring young Rangers players. "Danny Wilson got a start that he wouldn't have got if we were still going out and buying big star players," said Murray. "He was the star against Stuttgart."