Rangers takeover: club would have folded without me, claims bullish Green

CHARLES Green’s straight-talking might not stretch to revealing the names of every player in his consortium to buy Rangers.

However, the Yorkshireman was in fighting form again yesterday when stating that the club would have folded if it wasn’t for his involvement, while also stating that he has not ruled out accepting the now overturned transfer embargo placed on the club by the SFA’s Judicial Panel. Charles Green’s straight-talking might not stretch to revealing the names of every player in his consortium to buy Rangers but the Yorkshireman was in fighting form again yesterday when stating that the club would have folded if it wasn’t for his involvement, while also stating that he has not ruled out accepting the now overturned transfer embargo placed on the club by the SFA’s Judicial Panel.

And going on to say that, should Rangers exit administration by the newco route, there is no guarantee that the club will be in the SPL, or even in the SFL, next season.

“That club without us would have closed,” said Green. “When I get these comments about the Blue Knights were going to do this… Get your cheques out and buy it! I have said to everyone every day, I am here to do a job and I want to raise as much money for Rangers as I can. I don’t care where that money comes from as long as it is legally obtained.

“If fans don’t want us there, buy the shares and kick us out. I will have a contract. If you don’t like me, sack me. Before, that could never happen but that’s why I have done it this way so that’s exactly what can happen. The club will be listed on the stock market and if the fans want to take over that club, take it over.

“If the CVA doesn’t go through, then newco kicks in and we have to go through all the application processes and there would be no guarantee of being admitted back into the SPL or even the lower leagues. There is no certainty.”

Green has claimed that Rangers will have £30 million in the bank come the end of July, the proceeds of a share issue. “No one will be able to say that Charles Green didn’t allow us to buy shares and brought all these people in because anybody can buy shares. By the end of July, we will have £30m-plus in the bank from the share issue. Rangers have never had that much cash in the bank. Never. Because it was either siphoned off to Ticketus or siphoned to deal with other financial inter-group companies.”

There remains heavy suspicion about Green and it will remain until such time as the money is invested and the names of his backers are revealed. It’s a level of cynicism that he understands. Indeed, he says he would be suspicious himself if he was a Rangers supporter.

“If I was a Rangers fan, I would be suspicious. If someone said ‘That’s Ibrox’, I would want to touch it because they can’t believe anything anyone has told them in the past. I understand why people are nervous and I think that’s healthy.”

Green also rails against the criticism of his mechanism to buy the club through a high-interest loan of £8.3m. “The reason it is a loan is because I never wanted the 26,000 existing shareholders diluted and destroyed. If I put all those monies in as equity on the first day, they would have been down to nothing. This is a classic example of where I have spent hours with my advisers and paid them big fees to protect the minority and I am now the bad guy, this crooked guy who is putting a loan in to take 4000 per cent interest on it.”

In the business of Rangers and the potential Armageddon that awaits them now that Lord Carloway has to reconsider the verdict of the SFA’s Judicial Panel, Green states that all options are open, including a possible acceptance of the original verdict despite the club having overturned it in the Court of Session.

“We have not dismissed any option. What we want is to get a successful outcome for Rangers and its fans and for Scottish football as well. I have said, crimes were committed and someone has to pay.”