Glasgow Rangers enter Administration

[Chazza]

Grant Russell @STVGrant
Rangers banned from signing players for 12 months by the Scottish FA. Lifetime ban for Craig Whyte. More to follow http://sport.stv.tv

Grant Russell @STVGrant
Rangers also fined £160,000 having breached five SFA rules. Club and Whyte have right of appeal. http://sport.stv.tv

[ChesterDave]

Rangers of course are flush with cash to pay that fine

[Kenneth]

It seems like the football equivalent of a £50 unauthorised overdraft charge being applied to an overdrawn account.

[Liverpel]

Oh dear.

http://www.balls.ie/2012/04/27/so-about-this-tax-dodging-ally-mccoist-computer-game/

[Exiled_red]

[spud_gun]

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/sport/football/glenn-gibbons-mccoist-and-smith-fail-to-see-true-ibrox-saboteurs-1-2261890

Finally some Scottish based journalists are apportioning blame to the correct quarters. It's taken some brave editorial decisions for the above piece to see the light of day.

The media in Scotland, especially those based in the West of the country, have been complicit in spinning the lies fed to them by the Murray PR machine. Make no mistake it was the Murray regime that oversaw the irreparable damage that was wrought upon Rangers during the last decade. Whyte, though a shyster, is merely a sideshow in this whole debacle.

[Buzzo]

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman...eurs-1-2261890

Finally some Scottish based journalists are apportioning blame to the correct quarters. It's taken some brave editorial decisions for the above piece to see the light of day.

The media in Scotland, especially those based in the West of the country, have been complicit in spinning the lies fed to them by the Murray PR machine. Make no mistake it was the Murray regime that oversaw the irreparable damage that was wrought upon Rangers during the last decade. Whyte, though a shyster, is merely a sideshow in this whole debacle.

Brave article for sure. And accurate. Walter Smiths comments in particular are staggering no way is he that naive, his retirement was timed perfectly (though I don't see him as being culpable for the current troubles). What is currently happening to Rangers is the worst kept secret in Scottish Football and has been discussed for at least 12-18 months, way before Whyte became involved. Look at the money Murray allowed Dick Advocat to spend and begin investigations into the demise from then.

The big hoose is burning.

[Shaggy]

What the hell has been going on there then?

[Buzzo]

So far as I was aware Rangers have been in financial trouble for years and only their continued involvement in the group stages of the Champs League has been keeping the Wolf away from the door. It was widely recognised that if this involvement were to stop the house of cards that has been built would begin to collapse. Tell tale signs that the end was nigh were the timing of David Murray selling up to Craig Whyte and Walter Smiths succession by McCoist. That's before we get into the size of their HMRC debt, and irregular tax payments to players, allied to an unsustainable spending spree over the early years of the new millenium (£13m for Tore Andre Flo (back when that was a lot of money ). It is a complete mess, however Rangers are a powerful institution capable of finding a way forward in this situation when others would struggle.

[Rich]

What's this about 10 years of illegal contracts?!

[spud_gun]

What the hell has been going on there then?

If you've got a few days this makes fascinating reading

http://rangerstaxcase.wordpress.com/

If not here's a very quick summary

Under Craig Whyte

Failure to pay NI or PAYE since May last year. Resulting in liabilities of around 14m to HMRC. Known colloquially as 'The wee tax case'

Under Murray

Payment of players via EBT's since early 2000's. Known as 'The big tax case'
liabilities if the very worst is realised and we're still waiting on a final ruling would be around £75m.

When you factor in the various other miscellaneous and 'footballing' debts it's estimated that they're upwards of £130m in the ****e.

[Daniel 7]

Rangers fans are saying there's no way the SPL will survive without them - they're completely deluded. Sure there'll be a financial hit, but most of the clubs in that league have been relegated from and promoted back to the Premier league and managed to cope without the cash windfall of a n Old Firm game. It'll be tough, but the clubs have survived worse - the On digital collapse for one. Rangers were living way beyond their means for years and are paying the price now.

[dom9]

So are Celtic well run by comparison? I'd imagine.their income and expenditure would be similar to Rangers.

[Chazza]

Sky Sports @SkySports

Bill Miller has been granted preferred bidder status by Rangers' administrators. #Rangers More on site soon...

EVEN as a teenager Bill Miller’s appetite for making money was already ravenous.

Now, he’ll have to show the same type of hunger to win over Rangers fans if he’s successful in his takeover of the club.

The administrators hope to name him as preferred bidder today and Miller will now be asked to step up to the plate by supporters.

Having grown up in Detroit, Miller’s father convinced him to ditch his plan to work at Ford and go to college instead.

He enrolled at the University of Michigan and emerged with a degree and MBA in engineering.

He worked for a variety of large American companies before earning his first major role, as President of Flow Measurement.

But while in the job, Miller was putting plans in place to start ‘Miller Industries’.

His ‘big idea’ was tow-trucks. And his aim was to bring ailing giants like Century, Challenger and Holmes back to life and conquer the market.

He re-invigorated the dying companies who became part of his ‘Miller Group’.

Initially, Miller lost $4.7million but by 1994, he’d made a profit of $4.3 million.

Just three years later, Miller had sales of £225million.

Now, Miller is in pole position to acquire Rangers.

But the 65-year-old HAS failed in a previous sporting venture, TRAC (Team Racing Auto Circuit). Miller tried to make a go of the idea which was supposed to rival NASCAR.

However, the project crashed and burned.

[Vermilion]

So then, i wonder what headline the Papers will go with, [cough]It's Miller Time![cough] some thing apt and witty no doubt.