Changing room chat: Bayern helped rivals out with loan

IF RANGERS’ financial plight continues to worsen, maybe under-fire owner Craig Whyte will go cap in hand to Parkhead and ask Celtic for some cash.

Dermot Desmond could perhaps put his hand in his pocket and lend the blue half of Glasgow a few million quid.

No? Does all that sound a bit far-fetched? Probably.

But not so in Germany.

Yesterday, Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness revealed that the Bundesliga club loaned bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund e2 million euros during their financial crisis.

Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke confirmed the loan, which was made in 2003 to help them stave off bankruptcy.

“When they could no longer afford to pay wages, we gave them two million [euros, approximately £1,650,000] without securities for a few months,” Hoeness was quoted as saying by the Bild newspaper.

Watzke added to regional publication Ruhr Nachrichten: “Yes, I can confirm the loan.”

Borussia Dortmund recovered from those problems to win the Bundesliga last season and lead the table by two points this term.