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All this has hurt two Gers fans more than me... my mum and dad.


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FORMER Rangers owner Craig Whyte last night told of his family’s torment over his doomed Ibrox reign — as he threw open the doors to his Highland hideaway.

The under-fire tycoon invited The Scottish Sun into his plush castle — dubbed the Whyte House — as he gave an insight into his life as one of the country’s most controversial figures.

He revealed bad press over his doomed Ibrox reign had hit his family harder than him.

And he told how he’d only ever been confronted ONCE by an angry fan over the club’s downfall — and that was in Monaco.

Whyte revealed his parents Tom and Edna, from Motherwell, had borne the brunt of the brutal fallout from his time at Ibrox.

The venture capitalist said: “My parents are Rangers fans and are disappointed how it turned out. They live in Scotland and the publicity affects them more than me.”

Whyte, who this week announced plans to sue administrators Duff and Phelps, said he’d accepted that half of Glasgow hate him — and the other half love him.

He said: “I know I did my best for the club. I do get a lot of banter but I have never spent a lot of time in Glasgow.

“Only once have I had an angry fan pull me up — and it was in Monaco. I was sitting in the Cafe De Paris before the Grand Prix when a stranger sat down next to me.

“He started grilling me about my time at Rangers but I said to him history will judge me differently.

“At the moment it’s the Celtic fans who love me and the Rangers supporters who hate me.

“I want to go back to Ibrox but I don’t think it will be shortly. I would like to think I can go back.”

Whyte’s luxury 14th century Castle Grant home — a massive 70-room pile, near Grantown-on-Spey, Moray, — is where he seeks refuge from the saga which will follow him for life.

He has also been accused of not having two pennies to rub together.

But, judging by his sprawling pad, there’s no doubt he MUST have some wealth. It costs £50,000 a year alone to heat the former fortress.

He bought the property for around £750,000 in 2006 and is rumoured to have spent £5million restoring it.

Many Light Blues fans will wonder why he couldn’t have found that sort of cash for the club which he took into administration in February.

Whyte took us into one of his sitting rooms — which has two suits of armour standing guard — for our interview where he wanted to set the record straight.

He was a charming host — unlike his bungling performances on TV.

Dressed casually in designer jeans, shirt and blazer, he admitted: “I’m the least photogenic man in the world and I hate appearing on the television.”

Relaxed Whyte slumps in his period chair and doesn’t look like a bloke that Ibrox diehards would love to lynch and is locked in constant legal battles.

He’s set to sue Duff and Phelps over claims they pulled out of a deal to give the club back to him. The businessman insists they agreed a £500,000 fee to get the Govan giant out of administration quickly — but delayed the process to rack up a £3million bill.

Whyte, who says he’s never had a death threat, has also given The Scottish Sun evidence which he says shows the cash experts knew about his controversial Ticketus deal to buy the club with £25million of fans’ cash.

He also reckons that, if he had LOST his race with the taxman to appoint Duff and Phelps as administrators, the club could still be in the SPL rather than battling in Division Three. He explained: “HMRC were trying to appoint their own men and we beat them by ten minutes. I thought it was a great result at the time.

“If HMRC had won the race and appointed their own administrators it would have been more advantageous for me and Rangers. I think I could have sat down with them and explained there were no other serious buyers and we could have got a company voluntary arrangement through.” The dad-of-two — who is getting divorced from wife Kim — has been dating sexy Swedish girlfriend Izabella Andersson.

The gorgeous 32-year-old student — who can speak four languages — was even spotted in the Ibrox directors’ box in a plunging dress at an Old Firm clash.

Whyte added: “We are still together and we are very happy.

“We have no wedding plans but it would be difficult as I’m still married.”

Whyte has been battered and bruised by his experience but he doesn’t show it. He said: “If I could go back in time I would still buy Rangers but with the benefit of hindsight I would do it differently and be completely open on how I was going about it.

“The club has a huge potential but it is a long project.

“If the share scheme doesn’t work I think someone will put money in to keep the club going.

“It’s only worth a lot of money if it’s run as a football club.”

And with that we went for a pint and, yes, he did buy a round.

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not a single question on , why was the PAYE + NI not paid but taken at source ? where is the Jelavic money? , why sell the Arsenal shares and where is the dough? why give much needed monies to a non-entity Semi-pro English club?......not one fecker asks him this in his umpteen interviews the last week...FFS

Whyte is indeed a Grand Prix !

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not a single question on , why was the PAYE + NI not paid but taken at source ? where is the Jelavic money? , why sell the Arsenal shares and where is the dough? why give much needed monies to a non-entity Semi-pro English club?......not one fecker asks him this in his umpteen interviews the last week...FFS

Whyte is indeed a Grand Prix !

thats because it was a sun reporter - not a journalist

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The man is a fantasist. Why would HMRC let him keep the club after robbing them of millions in tax and PAYE at source?

Total lunatic!

He gives interviews on a daily basis, but never answers any real questions. Same old lying, deceiving untrustworthy Craig. He will never change.

He will no doubt be charging the press huge amounts for these one sided interviews and in doing so continue to make money from the name of our great club. Anyone who gives their sites hits or buys their newspapers is encouraging the sleezeball.

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For what it's worth, his old man is a fkn conman too.

He'll have learned his tricks from his dad.

Now it's funny that you should say this because I have a cousin who has had experience dealing with his old man and he said the exact thing you did...and my cousin is not a Rangers (or football) supporter,so he has no reason to lie to me.

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