Spinning the Rangers 'takeover'

While Celtic's current position causes concern on a number of fronts I'm glad that we are spared the spin of the latest Rangers 'takeover'.

Today's deflection story claims that giving Walter Smith a new contract is a priority for Andrew Ellis and even goes on to claim that the secret Rangers fan is planning new contracts for fringe players Nacho Novo and Kirk Broadfoot before coming to the punchline.

Due diligence on the bid will begin next week!

That nugget of information puts everything else into context.

Basically a property developer that has attempted to get into football at QPR and lasted a couple of months at Northampton Town has indicated an interest in Rangers.

Who wouldn't?

The prospect of owning a club with a 50% chance of success domestically and annual access to European football would appeal to most shrewd individuals.

Before any contracts are put on the table, remember Kris Boyd, Novo and Broadfoot have so far resisted the contracts publically offered to them in January, the Ellis consortium require to complete the complex issue of due diligence.

What that will uncover is anyone's guess. Will the Rangers accounts uncover a £50m IOU from the 2002 share issue to Murray Sports?

Rangers recently revealed that £9m of debt owed to football clubs had been repaid in the first half of the 2009/2010 financial year, debt which may or may not have been included in the headline debt figure of £31m.

Finding out that retail and catering have both been out-sourced on long term contracts denies any new business plan some obvious revenue streams.

Remembering the long debate and battle to take-over Celtic in the early nineties there wasn't much discussion going on about player contracts or the management of the club.

Uncovering the level of debt, stabilising the club and putting in place a business plan of investment to take the club forward were the main issues, issues that the then directors had failed miserably on.

Finding out the identity of those behind the Ellis consortium and the level of Ellis's own investment is probably of much greater meaning than the eye catching 'New deal for Walter' headline.

Trailing by 13 points in a two horse race is very concerning but can largely be addressed on the football pitch and dressing room.

No prizes are handed out for balance sheets but from a distance it looks like Rangers have much bigger matters to address before securing Boyd, Novo and Broadfoot onto new contracts.

Wealthy Rangers fans £18m bid to buy the club is ko'd

A group of wealthy Rangers fans are reported to have offered £18m to buy the club from Lloyds/TSB.

The report comes in today's Daily Record and has clearly been leaked by those with a vested interest in the matter.

The price to buy Rangers, where David Murray is the main shareholder, has been something of a mystery but the £18m valuation is surprising and is similar to the value of a decent but hardly spectacular Premiership player like Gareth Barry.

In the recent past Dave King and Joe Lewis have invested a total of £30m simply to gain a seat on the Rangers board alongside Murray. With deals like that in mind it is no surprise that an offer of £18m has been rejected.

Over the last month or so the vibes coming out of Rangers have been surprisingly warm and positive- almost totally at odds with Walter Smith's revelations in October which set a litter of cats loose amongst the pigeons.

There was no need to sell any player Rangers fans were reassured, talks would begin to offer Kris Boyd a lucrative new deal, more lucrative new deals would be offered to Nacho Novo and Kirk Broadfoot with even more lucrative offers made to John Fleck and Danny Wilson.

Putting all this together you could easily think that a well run financially secure club was being discussed, not one whose management team have agreed to work on without contracts.

The truth is out there somewhere.

Valuing a club that has assets of over £100m in Ibrox and Murray Park at £18m seems almost comical although any new owners would also be buying up £31m of debt.

Most interestingly from the Record story the bid seems to have been rejected by Lloyds/TSB despite claims from all that the bank aren't making the decisions at Ibrox.

The report also nods heavily towards new Rangers director Donald Muir for behind the scenes manouvres at Ibrox.

Having came out with a statement denying their role at Ibrox after Smith's October outburst the bank may again have to repeat that statement in the light of growing speculation that Muir and the bank are the real decision makers.

The remaining days of this month will show the true financial picture at Rangers.

Despite the speculation on new deals for players it would fly in the face of banking logic if further spending was sanctioned.

Selling players who can leave for free in five months time makes more logic, bringing in nominal transfer fees and saving wages is a safer bet than hoping that players stay free of injury and contribute towards on-field success.

Meanwhile the turnover that has been long hoped for at Celtic is well underway with an unprecedented four players being sold yesterday.

Jos Hooived has already replaced Gary Caldwell in the numbers game but there is no need to go into the market for squad players- only players to go straight into the first team are required.

Other than the wide positions where Aiden McGeady, Shaun Maloney, Niall McGinn and Paddy McCourt are available, every outfield place could be strengthened.

Rangers issues clearly impact on Celtic however Celtic need to have a focussed plan to get back to being a force of sorts in the Champions League- capable of beating the best at home and competing for a place in the knock out stages of the competition.

Two or three well sourced signings similar to Hooived would give the whole club a lift as financial mismanagement begins to bite deeply at Ibrox.