LONDON (Alliance News) - Rangers International Football Club PLC on Thursday said it is considering a number of potential options regarding securing its financial future, following speculation that Sports Direct International PLC founder Mike Ashley is set to provide the club with a GBP10 million loan in return for Ibrox Stadium and the Murray Park training ground being used at security.
The BBC said Ashley is understood to have offered a GBP10 million loan to the club, but is seeking the stadium and the training ground as security. Rangers released a statement last year saying it would never use the stadium as security for a financing plan.
The BBC claims the club has paved the way for the acceptance of Ashley's loan by lodging advanced notices of security against Ibrox and Murray Park on behalf of Sports Direct. Those notices mean only Sports Direct can be granted security on the properties for a 35-day period.
The so-called Three Bears consortium, led by Douglas Park, is understood to have offered a counterproposal of around half the amount being offered by Ashley, but the Rangers board is thought to believe this would not be sufficient to secure the club's future.
The Three Bears, comprising Douglas Park, George Taylor and George Letham, have a stake of around 19.5% in the club. They are understood to have offered the club a loan of around GBP5 million, according to the BBC, and are seeking two seats on the Rangers board, along with security over Murray Park. But the notices of security issued for Sports Direct effectively mean the club would be unable to accept the consortium's security proposal within the 35-day period.
The BBC also reports the board is understood to favour a joint funding package which would include cash from Ashley, who has already provided the club with GBP3 million in loans.
Rangers shares were down 2.5% to 23.9 pence on Thursday afternoon.
A move from Ashley, who already owns Newcastle United FC, would come in the wake of Robert Sarver, the American financier and the other potential suitor for Rangers, withdrawing from the bidding on Monday. His decision to exit the race, after the Rangers board said it could not wrangle sufficient investor support for his proposal, left the path clear for Ashley to push on with his bid to take control of the club.
Ashley spent the final few months of 2014 increasing his influence over the club, culminating in the appointments of Derek Llambias, Ashley's long-time right-hand-man and the former managing director of Newcastle United, as Rangers' chief executive and Barry Leach, the head of brands at Sports Direct, as finance director.
Prior to this, Ashley's MASH Holdings Ltd investment vehicle had already successfully removed former Rangers CEO Graham Wallace and Executive Director Philip Nash from their positions and had forced out Norman Crighton, a non-executive director considered among Ashley most vocal critics. Wallace and Nash were removed as part of the conditions for MASH to provide a GBP3 million credit facility to the club, which included giving the vehicle the right to appoint two directors to the board. The loan effectively gave Ashley control of the club.
Ashley has already attempted to to increase his stake in Rangers to 29.9%, from its current level at just under 9%, but this was blocked by the Scottish Football Association on the basis that its rules preclude any existing owner of a football club being involved in the administration of another. Ashley is facing a disciplinary hearing before the SFA on January 27, but press reports prior to the rejection of his bid to up his stake indicated the SFA could give Ashley dispensation to take control of Rangers, leaving a formal takeover of the club on the table.
Rangers has little leverage to refuse any financing deal, having in recent weeks been forced to take a short-term loan from director Sandy Easdale and to sell midfielder Lewis Macleod in order to provide working capital and to pay player wages for January.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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