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Rangers chairman Dave King claims "oldco" might not be dead

DAVE KING has revealed plans to stop the liquidation of Rangers "oldco" and preserve the honour of the Ibrox club.

By IAIN MACFARLANE

PUBLISHED: 22:30, Thu, Sep 10, 2015

1

Dave King

GETTY

Dave King (centre) was voted on to the Rangers board in March

Under Craig Whyte, the club started a process of liquidation in 2012 after the so-called oldco was declared bust.

Within a few weeks, Charles Green stepped in to buy the facilities, history, titles and staff.

But current chairman King believes he can halt the ongoing process to kill off the old company before settling outstanding debts.

King said: We have a vision going forward where I would like to see us taking Oldco out of liquidation and putting assets back into it putting the old Rangers back into the old company.

He hopes to pay off old debts and transfer the current assets back into the old business once current criminal investigations into Green and Whyte are concluded.

We cant do it while all this stuff is being sorted out, said King. The timing will depend on the litigation. I just think it would be a good thing to do. It would be back to the traditional Rangers and I think the supporters would like it.

You can never rewind what has happened but you can try and look back in 100 years time and say there was a blip of four or five years in Rangers history when this all happened and it was resolved to the norm again.

It is practically feasible and legally feasible. We just have to get in the position where the liquidators have done everything they can. The club can then be rehabilitated.

Its an emotional thing as well with the supporters. They hear all this, Youre not Rangers any more. And You are a new club.

We just want to put all that behind us and say we had this unwanted period and now we are back to where we were.

King also hit out at claims the current Ibrox regime is short of cash and that hes failed to spend money on transfers

After agreeing a deal to pay off former boss Ally McCoists contract with three months still to run, King said: Clearly, I put money in the club, I did what I said I would do, which is fund the shortfall and the shortfall has been funded.

We have gone out and got players and we are winning the league.

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Who cares? The oldco was a company, The Club was an asset of that company, why is there any need to bring it back?

And how would this be treated in business terms? Is it the same as a company merger?

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Frankly, the sevco, zombie thing doesn't bother me at all. The whole liquidation concept that we are dead etc is Timmy tittle tattle. On a day where they surrounded a statue of their former manager and the 'slogan' football is nothing without the fans. Well that sums it up for me. The biggest asset any football club has is its fans. They're the cash cow. We were never liquidated, tuped or transferred etc. we've been there the whole time in the last few years filling the coffers of every lower division club in this country

Put it this way, I would rather face up to that abuse than put my head in the sand and deny all the child abuse allegations of my club and church. That really is shameful.

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Not something that I see any benefit in, I suspect there could be a more personal motive for King in this.

Absolutely. Who really cares if other fans call us names. Seems he thinks we are a new club.

I can see DK turning up old ghosts and bad press that we don't need.

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Q&A from The Evening Times (Apologies for copy and pasting job, not formatting too great)

DAVE KING was joined by members of the Armed Forces as he made his return to Ibrox on Thursday afternoon. He sparked a war of words with Hibernian, set his sights on Celtic, hailed a Light Blue legend and revealed an unexpected goal of his. Here is what the Rangers chairman had to say.

THERE ARE RUMOURS THAT THE CLUB DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH WORKING CAPITAL TO GET TO THE END OF THE YEAR. IF EXISTING SHAREHOLDERS ARE HAPPY TO FUND THE CLUB, HAVE THERE BEEN ADDITIONAL LOANS PUT IN TO SERVICE RUNNING COSTS?

DK: “There are already the loans of over £4m put in by myself and the Three Bears, which were for working capital and financing that took the club through the period from the end of last season to the beginning of this season.

“Funds would no longer be required now because of season ticket sales, which are of levels above what we were budgeting on.

“Additional funding would only be required depending on transfer activity into probably the end of the first quarter of next season, so we are very comfortably funded for the next six months.

“Myself and the Three Bears have indicated to the board and to Mark (Warburton) that we will continue to fund on the basis we are doing.

“The season ticket cash is not enough to get us through to the end of this season. We know that.

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“The deficit we had looked at the previous board meeting five weeks ago is now less, because the season ticket position is better than we expected and we’ve had a lot of walk-ups and full attendances.”

THERE HAS BEEN A GENERAL ASSUMPTION THERE WILL BE A SHARE ISSUE BEFORE THE END OF THIS YEAR. IS THAT BEING DELAYED BECAUSE OF LOGISTICAL ISSUES?

DK: “Until we get the audit out of the way, everything else is put on the back burner. For me, that’s just admin. It doesn’t matter as far as funding is concerned.

“Whether we provide that through loans or new shares, I’m quite indifferent to it.

“The club will get the money it needs, whether I buy shares or give it a loan. I’m comfortable with that.”

IS IT DIFFICULT TO CONSIDER GOING TO THE MARKET WHEN THERE ARE POLICE INVESTIGATIONS AND IMPENDING COURT ACTIONS ONGOING?

DK: “I have never regarded the ability of Rangers Football Club, where it is at the moment, to go to the public market in any way or get third party funds. I think it will still depend largely on the fan base and investors such as myself.

“Raising money in a public issue, say £2 to £5m, I would always consider it to be unlikely. I really don’t think Rangers, with the history and the current state of the business, is something you should be putting other people’s money into.

“I would find it very difficult, as a businessman, to say to an institution in London that there is a business case for investing in Rangers.”

IS THAT BECAUSE OF LEGACY ISSUES YOU HAVE INHERITED? DOES THE CLUB REMAIN TOXIC?

DK: “I wouldn’t use the word ‘toxic’ anymore. I would have used that previously, but I think ‘problematic’ is a better word to use at this point in time.

“There are issues still to be resolved. We are grateful that at least the football side seems to be working.

“That’s very important from the fans’ perspective and takes the pressure off us. There is still a lot we have to do. We have got to get through the audit and there are a lot of things behind the scenes which would still be problematic if I was sitting down with a financial institution in London with regard to them investing £5m in Rangers.

“They would ask me questions based on the recent history. Some I could answer, some I could give them my best guess, some I could say: ‘I think we are in control of the outcome and will get there’. There is a lot of other stuff going on behind the scenes we don’t know. That is a reality of the legacy we stepped into.

“The event that we now call the regime change was the beginning of a process of recovery and we are delighted with the progress we have made on and off the field.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED ANYTHING MIGHT COME UP FROM COURT CASES AND LEGAL ACTIONS THAT MIGHT COMPLICATE WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO?

DK: “It is not so much about the ultimate economic impact. That would be my true concern in terms of taking the club forward, the funding and sustainability.

“There are certainly a load of complications, though, with the legal actions as to where things might end up.

“Craig Whyte has now come up with this new Worthington claim. There are a lot of messy things which still have to be dealt with.

“We have a vision going forward where I would like to see us taking oldco back out of liquidation and putting the assets back into oldco, having the old Rangers going back to the old company.

“We can’t do it while all this stuff is being sorted out.

“We are fairly senior commercial, business people behind the scenes and I think we can do that.

“The timing will depend on the litigation. Craig Whyte’s got this claim. Is it a serious claim? Will it be rejected or accepted? Will it result in litigation? We don’t know that.

“I’m just hoping we continue to do what is right on the football field and leave us to deal with the other challenges as best we can when they arise. There is no way of me sitting down and saying: ‘This is the plan and this will all happen in this time.’”

WHY IS PUTTING THE ASSETS BACK INTO OLDCO IMPORTANT?

DK: “I don’t think it is important. I just think it would be a good thing to do.

“I think it goes back to the tradition of Rangers.

“That is the company and it is a valid thing to take a company out of liquidation and put the assets back into it. It would be a good thing to do. I think the supporters would like it.

“It is not economically important, but it is something I would like to do.”

WOULD IT GIVE YOU SOME SORT OF CLOSURE? COULD YOU ALMOST PUT AN ASTERISK AGAINST THOSE YEARS?

DK: “Exactly. You can never rewind what has happened, but you can try and look back in 100 years’ time and say there was a blip of four or five years in Rangers’ history when this all happened and it was resolved to the norm again.”

IS THAT FEASIBLE?

DK: “It is practically feasible and legally feasible. We just have to get into the position where the liquidators have done everything they can. The club can then be rehabilitated.

“If you have all these claims floating around, where we don’t really know who is claiming assets and what they are, it will continue for a longer period.”

WOULD BDO (COMPANY DEALING WITH LIQUIDATION) HAVE TO PAY BACK 100p IN THE POUND TO OLDCO CREDITORS TO REVIVE OLDCO?

DK: “You don’t have to pay 100p in the pound to creditors.

“If creditors accept a compromise and waive some of the debt, it could be 50p or 60p. That’s not a legal requirement, but, certainly, the creditors have to be happy with the settlement.”

WOULD IT FEEL GOOD, MORALLY, TO SAY THAT RANGERS HAD CLEARED THOSE DEBTS?

DK: “Yes. At the moment, if you look at the potential for the liquidation, with getting the money from Collyer Bristow plus potential other claims and if HMRC are taken out the picture, there is an opportunity for them to get 100p in the pound.

“Take Craig Whyte out of the picture as well with this new claim and people could conceivably get 100p in the pound. There weren’t many other creditors in the club.

“Because of the situation with the tax case - not through frugality or conservatism or the way the club was being run – the club basically couldn’t get credit because people knew about the big tax case, so the club was fiscally responsible by default.”

YOU HAVE EXPRESSED PAST REGRET ABOUT THESE THINGS HAPPENING? IS THAT PART OF THE REASON WHY YOU WOULD WANT TO BRING BACK OLDCO?

DK: “It’s an emotional thing as well with the supporters. They hear all this ‘You’re not Rangers any more’ and ‘You are a new club.’

“It would be nice to put all that behind us and say we had this unwanted period and now we are back to where we were.

“Is it really, really important in the way forward? I don’t think so.

“It’s more emotionally important than practically important.”

DOES IT HURT YOU TO HEAR THOSE JIBES?

DK “I don’t hear it as much as the fans do. I’m told about it, but I’m not in there all the time.

“It’s also part of being in Glasgow. It’s part of the history of the two clubs.

“Rangers fans, over the years, have been keen to have digs at Celtic sometimes when there has an option to do so.

“To me, that’s not really serious. But if we could do it I think it would be a nice thing to do.”

PEOPLE ASK WHERE DAVE KING’S MONEY IS. DOES THAT DRIVE YOU NUTS?

DK: “Not really. Clearly, I put money into the club. I did what I said I would do, fund the shortfall.

“We have gone out and got players and we are winning the league.

“We have got our season ticket money as well.”

DIDN’T YOU BOX YOU INTO A CORNER WHEN YOU SPOKE OF FIGURES OF £30m OR SUCHLIKE BEING REQUIRED?

DK: “No, because people are not saying that to me.

“Outside of this room, no-one ever says that to me. It only ever comes up when I have chats with you guys (journalists) and I think you have your own reasons for continuing to bring it up.”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SUPPORTERS WHO BELIEVE THAT ALLY McCOIST, DESPITE HAVING NOW SETTLED WITH YOU, HAS TAKEN MONEY OUT OF THE CLUB WHEN HE SHOULDN’T?

DK: “To be a bit picky, you use the word ‘despite’. To me, there is no ‘despite’ about Ally McCoist.

“I think he was treated poorly. I think he was the manager of the club and not given the backing of his board.

“He was imposed upon by the board to take a salary cut against his contractual terms and conditions, which was unfortunate.

“He did all of that, so I think Ally has been treated very poorly by the club, quite frankly.

“I am very grateful that, because he is the Rangers man that he is, that he has been gracious enough to accommodate us by coming to a formal compromise.

“I certainly don’t look on Ally as having done anything even remotely untoward so far as the club is concerned.

“I think he held his end up professionally. He was vociferous in standing up for the club when there were suggestions of league titles being taken away.

“Ally has remained a Rangers man right throughout this in the most difficult of circumstances for him, personally, because of his relationship with the club.

“He wasn’t a manager who had come in from a distance. Ally was part of the fabric of the club.

“I have nothing but respect for the way Ally has dealt with what must have been a very difficult situation professionally and, I think, personally.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A DAY IN WHICH McCOIST CAN WALK OUT INTO THE CENTRE CIRCLE AT IBROX AGAIN AND TAKE THE ACCLAIM OF THE FANS?

DK: “I would love to see that and I don’t see why it shouldn’t be there. I think he deserves it.

“Ally has been fantastic for the club and I am really looking forward to him returning to the club and being part of what we are doing going forward. He deserves to be there.”

HE HAS BEEN INVITED BACK TO THE DIRECTORS’ BOX. WHEN WILL HE BE BACK?

DK: “We are quite keen to get him back and get his mum back. We know his mum misses it and my mum misses his mum, so we want all the mums together as well.”

CYNICS MIGHT SAY THAT THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE STARTS NEXT WEEK AND THERE MIGHT BE TV WORK FOR McCOIST AS A PANELLIST. IS THAT THE REASON FOR THE TIMING?

“From my perspective, I can say that’s definitely not the case.

“I’m not saying it’s not the case he will work on the Champions League. What I can say is that the discussions with Ally happened some months ago.

“Ally has shown no resistance at any time whatsoever to reaching some form of compromise. We just had to understand carefully just how such an agreement would work.

“There are labour law issues I wasn’t familiar with because they don’t apply in South Africa, but I would say Ally has been steadfast in saying: ‘Let’s make this work’.

“If he does have another job, I say good luck to him. The fact is he has accommodated Rangers and our cashflow is better because of that. I am extremely grateful for his contribution. He didn’t have to do it.”

COULD THIS NOT HAVE BEEN DONE A LONG TIME AGO? HE HAS HARDLY GIVEN UP FORTUNES GIVEN HOW LONG WAS LEFT ON THAT CONTRACT

DK: “It could have been done a long time ago, but my priorities, quite frankly, were not with Ally McCoist.

“I think we had bigger cashflow and structural issues.

“We had regime change and a number of very, very complex issues exercising my mind before I engaged with Ally and I only formally engaged with him in advance of the trip I made in July.

“I reached out to him and said I was coming to Scotland and ask if we could get together?

“He was straight up for that saying ‘any time’ and he has been fantastic.”

MIGHT YOU TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT MARK WARBURTON’S CONTRACT GIVEN THE START HE HAS MADE?

DK: “I think that’s a bit premature, but we are alert to the fact he has come in and hit the ground running and has been everything and more we hoped for.

“I really has worked. I would go as far as saying significantly beyond my expectations.”

HAVE EXPECTATIONS OVER SILVERWARE CHANGED. COULD THIS TEAM WIN ONE OF THE MAJOR CUPS?

DK: “If we could accelerate our entry to Europe by winning the Scottish Cup, that would be fantastic, but that’s hit and miss.

“We’re at an early stage and let’s use the enthusiasm over what is happening on the field to start early and plan for next season.

“My expectations haven’t changed in the sense that I honestly felt we would win this league comfortably.

“With the early level of success, I have a personal comfort about where the team is that allows me to say to Mark: ‘Let’s start bringing in a level of player who we think can help next year and beyond’.

“I wouldn’t have thought we’d be in a position to be as well prepared for next season as we’re going to be. I’m not being arrogant, but I think we can start planning for next year’s campaign now and it gives us a lot of time to think about it and get it right.”

DO YOU GENUINELY BELIEVE THAT RANGERS WILL CHALLENGE FOR THE PREMIERSHIP NEXT SEASON?

DK: “Yes. When we had the last discussion about this, I think I probably said that I felt we should be a solid second to Celtic.

“The way things have gone and the increased confidence that the board have in Mark because of the business he has done makes it easier for us to free up money to him because we trust his judgement.

“My thoughts now sitting here today have gone beyond that and we can start next season intending to win it. We might not win it because Celtic’s resources are very strong and they have more experience, but I think we should start the season with the intention to win the league.”

ARE YOU NOW OVER THE FEAR YOU POSSESSED OF BEING BADLY BEATEN BY CELTIC?

DK: “I think the team we have got at the moment could perform very, very well in the Scottish Premier League, but we are alert to the fact that we’re not at the level we think we will require there yet.

“We will add at least another five players at an equal or higher standard before we go into the Premier League. With the time we have got to prepare and for current players to settle, I don’t see myself sitting here at the start of next season, making excuses to the fans about us not trying to win the league.”

IS THE GAP BETWEEN CELTIC AND RANGERS NOT AS BIG AS YOU HAD ENVISAGED?

DK: “It’s not as big, in my mind, as it was three or four months ago.

“Celtic have a budget that is a lot higher than Rangers, but do I think the quality of player Celtic has is a multiple of the budget that Rangers have? I don’t think so.

“Do I think the level of business that Mark Warburton has done is at a level that can compete with Celtic. At the moment, I think a number of them (the players) can do. More importantly, Mark believes it.”

YOU HAVE SAID THAT YOU ARE GRATEFUL TO CELTIC FOR BUYING SCOTT ALLAN FROM HIBERNIAN. WHY?

DK: “Yes, it was nice of them, I thought. Given we were not going to get him, it was nice of them to help us out there.

“Next season is a different season. Next season, we will have another five or six Scott Allans.

“Scott Allan is one player. The value to us of Scott being taken away from Hibs is more than the value was for us having him the next couple of years.

“It was a pity as we liked him and Mark liked him, but Celtic took him and that’s that.”

WERE RANGERS USED IN THE SCOTT ALLAN DEAL?

DK: "Perhaps we were, but that’s business.

“I regard it as an honest miscommunication within Hibs.

“We spoke to a senior person who, ostensibly, had the authority to encourage us to make an offer.

“When it went to the highest level of the board, they said they didn’t think they could sell the player to Rangers.

“They had sold their season tickets and Scott Allan would have been their marquee player. I get the decision they made, but what I didn’t want was for Rangers to be seen as doing anything untoward. It’s just business.”

PAUL MURRAY HAD SPOKEN ABOUT A DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL COMING IN? HAS THAT BEEN SHELVED?

DK: “It’s gone for the moment while we are rebuilding the club. Mark’s eye for a player has worked.

“For us to go through the rebuilding stage and impose someone else on the management is very unwise.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR RANGERS TO BE REPRESENTED ON THE BOARDS OF THE SPFL AND SFA?

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DK: “It’s important because we want that level of influence and I think it’s important because it befits who Rangers Football Club are.

“I don’t want to be unkind in terms of the league, but I think we are seeing there is an inevitability that Rangers are on the way back. I think we seeing an acceptance from the authorities that having Rangers back is a good thing and we must have a serious seat at the top table.”

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Rangers chairman Dave King claims "oldco" might not be dead

DAVE KING has revealed plans to stop the liquidation of Rangers "oldco" and preserve the honour of the Ibrox club.

By IAIN MACFARLANE

PUBLISHED: 22:30, Thu, Sep 10, 2015

1

Dave King

GETTY

Dave King (centre) was voted on to the Rangers board in March

Under Craig Whyte, the club started a process of liquidation in 2012 after the so-called oldco was declared bust.

Within a few weeks, Charles Green stepped in to buy the facilities, history, titles and staff.

But current chairman King believes he can halt the ongoing process to kill off the old company before settling outstanding debts.

King said: We have a vision going forward where I would like to see us taking Oldco out of liquidation and putting assets back into it putting the old Rangers back into the old company.

He hopes to pay off old debts and transfer the current assets back into the old business once current criminal investigations into Green and Whyte are concluded.

We cant do it while all this stuff is being sorted out, said King. The timing will depend on the litigation. I just think it would be a good thing to do. It would be back to the traditional Rangers and I think the supporters would like it.

You can never rewind what has happened but you can try and look back in 100 years time and say there was a blip of four or five years in Rangers history when this all happened and it was resolved to the norm again.

It is practically feasible and legally feasible. We just have to get in the position where the liquidators have done everything they can. The club can then be rehabilitated.

Its an emotional thing as well with the supporters. They hear all this, Youre not Rangers any more. And You are a new club.

We just want to put all that behind us and say we had this unwanted period and now we are back to where we were.

King also hit out at claims the current Ibrox regime is short of cash and that hes failed to spend money on transfers

After agreeing a deal to pay off former boss Ally McCoists contract with three months still to run, King said: Clearly, I put money in the club, I did what I said I would do, which is fund the shortfall and the shortfall has been funded.

We have gone out and got players and we are winning the league.

Please God let this happen!

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In the short term yes, but deep down they will be shiting themselves that he makes it happen.

I support King in this and remember he always has an angle.

He could have left the bit out regarding folk saying we're not Rangers anymore.

He could have given valid reasons without bringing that up.

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