Rangers administration: Miller clarifies position and answers critics

BUSINESSMAN Bill Miller has confirmed he is the sole party in the American bid for Rangers. Miller, who was due to speak to manager Ally McCoist last night, said he hoped the club could come out of administration via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

BUSINESSMAN Bill Miller has confirmed he is the sole party in the American bid for Rangers. Miller, who was due to speak to manager Ally McCoist last night, said he hoped the club could come out of administration via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

He also denied a claim yesterday that previous sports ventures of his had failed, and clarified the role of Club 9 Sports, the company that had previously been regarded as the major element of the US bid.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I am the sole bidder,” Miller told The Scotsman. “Club 9 Sports contacted me to see if I wanted to be an investor in the consortium they were organising. Because the group did not feel it could quickly agree to terms of investment and other issues, they decided not to go forward and disbanded. I decided to pursue the Rangers on my own.

“My preference is a CVA exit. I am working with the administrators and lawyers to find a creative solution that protects the history and future of the Rangers, but does not have the club hampered by large amounts of debt going forward.”

McCoist said yesterday he hoped to meet Miller and a representative of the Singapore bid as soon as possible, and Miller responded by saying he was about to speak to McCoist, who was very much a part of his plans for the club.

“My plans certainly include Ally McCoist,” he stated. “The success and long-term viability of the club and the wage bill are linked. The amount of money invested in the squad needs to be directly related to the revenues generated by the club in order to remain solvent and so as to meet the new requirements of Uefa, which prevent teams from operating at a loss,” he continued.

“Any Rangers fan should be alarmed by this [potential debt of £134m]. It totally hampers the club’s ability to be successful in the future. It is my intention to clean this up. Any time you negatively affect the future revenues by mortgaging the future of a team, you are endangering its very survival.

“With regard to the claims by others of sports flops, that is highly inaccurate,” he continued, referring to the report in one newspaper yesterday. “First, we offered to buy a hockey team in the US and move it back to San Diego where it had a long and great history.

“Unfortunately AEG did not want to enter into a lease and they did not want to share in the cost to refurbish the arena for the hockey club, so we did not buy it. That is not a failure.

“With regard to TRAC, that was a great business concept. Unfortunately, we discovered malfeasance from certain insiders and so we resigned. After being sued by this group for untrue allegations, I counter sued and eventually prevailed. If you care to research it, you’ll see that several of those people behind the suit are now in federal prison for securities fraud, which is what we had discovered.”

Related topics: