Administrators Duff and Phelps have estimated the potential total debts of Rangers at £134m. This includes £93m owed to Revenue & Customs, although that sum would reduce substantially if the tax tribunal ruling on employee benefit schemes found in the club’s favour. The next biggest debt is to Ticketus who are owed £26.7m, although they are part of the Blue Knights consortium. £2.3m is owed to twelve football clubs with Hearts owed the biggest amount (£800,000).
Administrators Duff and Phelps have estimated the potential total debts of Rangers at £134m. This includes £93m owed to Revenue & Customs, although that sum would reduce substantially if the tax tribunal ruling on employee benefit schemes found in the club’s favour. The next biggest debt is to Ticketus who are owed £26.7m, although they are part of the Blue Knights consortium. £2.3m is owed to twelve football clubs with Hearts owed the biggest amount (£800,000).
The total does not include liabilities to employees who will revert to their original contracts on 1 June. Currently they are accepting substantially reduced payments. However, the club should be out of administration well before then.
There are some bizarre aspects to the club’s financial position. Early in the 20th century Rangers bought sixteen shares in Arsenal when the London club was in financial difficulty. This was presumably before Arsenal had moved from Woolwich to North London which transformed their financial position. Later Arsenal gave Rangers another sixteen shares as a thank you.
It now emerges that these shares were sold by the Craig Whyte regime for £223,214 and the money did not go to the club. It’s a relatively small sum given the overall total of debt but the shares were seen by fans as a symbol of good relations between the clubs. The administrators are now trying to recover the money.
The administrators have narrowed the bids down to three with the surprise bid from Germany dropping out of the picture.