Tom English: 'Sources say that Ellis is a 50-50 candidate. It may happen or not'

Published on Saturday 20 March 2010 20:11

THE TO and fro in the vexed business of Andrew Ellis' proposed takeover of Rangers is enough to fry the brain of any Ibrox devotee. They're long suffering, these people. Their club has had the For Sale signs up for a good three years now and still there's no deal done. Plenty of speculation, but no spondoolicks.

In recent months we've had the comedy of the Graham Duffy proposal, a notion that might have been taken half seriously had he actually declared an intention to invest a few bob of his own money into the club instead of dressing up his bid as a fans' buyout. In this pantomime, Duffy was a hero of the people for a short while. Rangers was going to be the fantasy football club and everybody was going to live happily ever after.

Meanwhile, down here on earth, nobody with a functioning brain could see why Duffy was getting an airing. Dave King is another poster boy in this affair. King's a different animal in that he's got the dough and plenty of it. Trouble is that the South African Revenue Service are chasing after him like a pack of enraged pitbulls. They've got 322 criminal charges pending against him. No doubt the allegations of money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion will disappear just as soon as he coughs up a settlement, if indeed he's minded to do so, which he's probably not.

He's still fighting a battle on that front. SARS would entertain an offer of 50m-plus but King didn't get where he is in life by meekly lying down to anybody. He's taking this one all the way, it seems. His readies are frozen in the meantime. As one source put it: "Mr King couldn't get hire purchase on a car at Arnold Clark's until he gets SARS off his back." It's an exaggeration, but the idea that he's the knight on the white horse is not realistic while he's got the South African government breathing down his neck.

Rangers people have been dragged from pillar to post on this. Most of them are still labouring under the misapprehension that Sir David Murray turned down an 18 million bid for the club. He didn't. There's been no offer. There's been talks, but until the Stock Exchange rings its bell to announce that a formal bid has been made – as they are obliged to do – then you can't say that anybody has put their money on the table.

Ellis stepped into the vacuum a few weeks back. If he didn't know a lot about Rangers and the world in which they live, then he knows it now. The media have been battering his door down. In fact, they've been on the phone to anybody called Andrew Ellis in the London area, just to see if it's him. Half the time, it isn't. Ellis has been keeping a low profile, but you can be sure he's been soaking up the coverage like a sponge. Maybe he's thinking, "Do I really want to walk into the lunatic asylum of Glasgow football?" Maybe. Due diligence doesn't begin and end with the balance sheets. It takes in all sorts. It includes a taking of the temperature and in the past few weeks Ellis will have noted a heavy frost enveloping his proposal and a certain aggression towards him as a businessman.

A portion of the fans – impossible to say what kind of percentages we're talking here – took against him from day one. The fact that he had "property developer" beside his name made them turn away and say, "No thanks" like people who were spoiled for choice. There's not exactly a buffet of billionaires on offer here. Ellis is entitled to observe the hostility towards the Murray regime and wonder what the hell do these supporters want. Sure, times are hard now, but the finances at Ibrox are improving slowly. They're running away with the league against their big-spending rivals from across the city and they have a cup final to come today. As an outsider, looking at how the good times have outweighed the bad times under Murray, Ellis would be forgiven for worrying about the antagonism towards the former chairman while wondering whether he could be bothered putting himself into the exacting environment.

This is a developing drama. Rangers fans would not rate highly on any list of persecuted souls, but it is easy to feel for them right now. If they were any more in limbo they'd be ducking under poles in grass skirts. They've heard rumours and counter-rumours, read stories that were nonsense and some that had elements of truth. Finally, Ellis emerged as the real deal, but now it's being written that he's backing away like a break-dancer on speed. The lack of development potential around Ibrox has spooked him, it's alleged.

"The deal with Ellis is dead," it was reported on Friday.

"Oh no, it's not," a source told this newspaper.

"Ellis will formally withdraw his offer in a matter of days," said one side.

"Ellis' people have categorically denied that this is the case," said the other.

Rangers will say that they have played a straight bat with any interested parties, that they haven't made promises about development opportunities around Ibrox, that they never claimed that planning permission for massive retail outlets existed and that these details are all in black and white in their accounts. So why would Ellis be surprised about something that he must have already known? The best guess from their side is that Ellis is a 50-50 candidate. It may happen and it may not. These things are loaded with dangers, they always knew that.

If it's not Ellis, then whither Rangers? The fans are looking for somebody who probably does not exist; a fan with money who is prepared to involve the supporters more than Murray ever did. Rangers are not and never will be an opportunity to make millions. They are an ego trip, a pastime for somebody who wants some glory in football, who accepts that 50m in England will only buy you a relegation struggler, but the same money in Scotland will get you fame and some trophies.

These people are hard to find, but find one they must.

The financial position is improving but come season's end is it going to be good enough to keep Walter Smith in place for another year, is it strong enough to make Kris Boyd want to stay, is it robust enough to keep the likes of Allan McGregor, Madjid Bougherra and Steven Davis at the club beyond the summer?

Alas, there are no answers to be found just yet. There's just speculation and denial and, from the fans' perspective, total confusion. Alas, this parallel universe the supporters have been living in – success on the field and angst off it – may continue for some time yet.