The Rangers soap opera goes on and on.

[...a bit disco]

The cutbacks that are mentioned is an interesting one. What is available to cut at this present moment?

 

As I see it they have the playing staff of which nothing can be cut until the end of the season, or sell in January but I can't see them raising any sort of cash from player sales.

 

Same with sally and the management team, can't get rid of them without a payoff, then you have to replace them resulting in adding more cost to the current year.

 

On the non playing side they have onerous contracts which the spivs certainly won't be cutting as they stand to benefit from them.

 

So, back to the original question, where do they make cuts to the current cost base?

Scrap their under-20s.

 

McCoist doesn't seem to have much use for them anyway.

[Glamorgan Jambo]

The honest answer is that I haven't worked out what Ashley's long term plan is as yet. What you describe is certainly a possibility, but at the moment no more of a possibility of Ashley taking and slash and burn approach to get the cost side of Rangers under control, then underwriting a share issue.

 

Looking at the numbers, Ashley appears to have spent ?1M on his initial share purchase in TRFC. He then bought shares from Hargreave Hale for ?850K. Now he is providing a further ?2M in loans, for a total of ?3.85M.

 

Rangers Retail reported income in the first half of 2013/14 of ?4.8M together with costs of ?3M, for a profit of ?1.8M (note that the accounts also showed a Retail cash figure of ?1.669M not available as working capital ? Ashley?s cut perhaps).

 

Even allowing for a much reduced income figure in the second half of the financial year, the profit should be at least ?2M. That is ?2M per annum as an absolute minimum, which would see Ashley get his money back within two years.

 

Looking at what might be achievable in a best case scenario, it is probably appropriate to look at Celtic?s merchandising, which in 2013/14 showed full year income of ?13.52M and costs of ?8.667M for a profit of ?4.853M.

 

I wouldn?t expect Rangers to match Celtic but I would have thought that Ashley could easily net ?3M annually in clear profit if he gets the Retail side fully under his control. That I think will be his first priority.

 

When I had too much time on my hands I had a look at the books of Rangers Retail a couple of months ago. In addition to the profit generated from the sales they buy pretty much all their merchandise from Sports Direct. So Ashley gets to double dip on the retail side.

 

Also it's unclear whether Ashley spent anything at all on his pre IPO shares (he may have been granted these in exchange for setting up the Retail JV).

 

And finally the way Rangers Retail has been set up means Sports Direct have the vast majority of the votes on any 'financial matters' - including release of funds to parent companies as dividends.

 

He has the profitable part totally stitched up from all sides now. I personally doubt he has any interest in the media spin of 'champions league exposure' or anything else. He loves money and he's not bothered who he upsets getting his hands on it (take a look at the number of times his proposed bonus package was rejected and later re presented to the shareholders of Sports Direct as an example).

[Poseidon]

The cutbacks that are mentioned is an interesting one. What is available to cut at this present moment?

 

As I see it they have the playing staff of which nothing can be cut until the end of the season, or sell in January but I can't see them raising any sort of cash from player sales.

 

Same with sally and the management team, can't get rid of them without a payoff, then you have to replace them resulting in adding more cost to the current year.

 

On the non playing side they have onerous contracts which the spivs certainly won't be cutting as they stand to benefit from them.

 

So, back to the original question, where do they make cuts to the current cost base?

Close or sell Murray Park?

[Strachsuit]

I am pretty sure that a business man of Mike Ashleys acumen will have already had the dialogue with the SFA that you mention and will have already got the answers he wants. Before commencing this little venture I reckon he will have had all his ducks lined up.

 

I'm not so sure, judging by what a senior journo put on Twitter yesterday about the SFA carefully "looking into" the goings-on at ?1brox. Also, MA is a hard businessman that does it his way or no way. He'll see the SFA as an annoyance not a blockade. His demands over the weekend and talk of suing the RFC board if he didn't get his way is all you need to know about him. He's ruthless.

 

I suspect that he will force the SFA into a corner by saying "if you don't let me invest in the share issue then the club will go bust.... your choice" and the SFA will have to back down. Ashley has now seen off the challenge from King and Kennedy. The bare facts suggest that for less than 9% of the club he's now in total control and is their only source of additional funding. He's out-manoevered everyone and is in pole position. Only time will tell as to what he's going to do with this position.

[Strachsuit]

The cutbacks that are mentioned is an interesting one. What is available to cut at this present moment?

 

As I see it they have the playing staff of which nothing can be cut until the end of the season, or sell in January but I can't see them raising any sort of cash from player sales.

 

Same with sally and the management team, can't get rid of them without a payoff, then you have to replace them resulting in adding more cost to the current year.

 

On the non playing side they have onerous contracts which the spivs certainly won't be cutting as they stand to benefit from them.

 

So, back to the original question, where do they make cuts to the current cost base?

 

That's the thing for me too. I discussed this yesterday with a mate and the only way I can see them cutting costs in the playing squad is by offering players for peanuts but even still as most of them are on contracts worth more than they should be, why would they leave?

 

Lee Wallace aside, who could they get cash for? If they offered Blackie to a lower-table championship club for ?50k then they may take a punt on him but could any of those clubs match the wages they are on? Highly doubtful.

[Footballfirst]

 

Also it's unclear whether Ashley spent anything at all on his pre IPO shares (he may have been granted these in exchange for setting up the Retail JV).

 

I've rechecked some old documents and it wasn't ?1M that Ashley paid for the pre IPO shares, it was ?1.5M, for which he received 1,500,000 shares at ?1 and a similar number of free shares, thus he obtained his shares at an average price 50p. The source of this information was the Charlotte Fakes leaks.

 

So he has invested approx ?4.35M thus far, ?500k more than I had indicated earlier.

[Glamorgan Jambo]

I've rechecked some old documents and it wasn't ?1M that Ashley paid for the pre IPO shares, it was ?1.5M, for which he received 1,500,000 shares at ?1 and a similar number of free shares, thus he obtained his shares at an average price 50p. The source of this information was the Charlotte Fakes leaks.

 

So he has invested approx ?4.35M thus far, ?500k more than I had indicated earlier.

 

Thanks

[Alva-Jambo]

So in comes guy who was at Newcastle, etc etc.. there is so much circumstantial evidence of a takeover by Ashley, that when something looks like a duck and it quacks, its a duck.

Time for Legal Action surely.

[Alva-Jambo]

So in comes guy who was at Newcastle, etc etc.. there is so much circumstantial evidence of a takeover by Ashley, that when something looks like a duck and it quacks, its a duck.

Come on footballing authorities, get moving on this.

[Rods]

There will be no pre pack admin Ashley will keep rangers afloat just enough to make him look like a saviour and therefore the Rangers fans will continue to buy the merchandise. The crunch will now come when it dawns on the Rangers fans that Ashley is not willing or cant stump up for Rangers to compete with Celtic. There is more twist in this saga just unfortunately not for a while yet.

[blairdin]

A ?2m investment is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic given how much TTFKAR are burning every month.

 

What they need to do is reduce their costs significantly. It'll be interestingoto see how MA goes about that.

[Ribble]

Chris McLaughlin ?@BBCchrismclaug 2m2 minutes ago

Sandy Easdale says no plans to change manager also says Mike Ashley should bring stability to #Rangers. Doesn't know about long term plans.

 

Grant Russell ?@STVGrant 2m2 minutes ago

Easdale: Ally McCoist is the manager and we have no ideas of changing the manager.

 

Easdale won't have a say on who makes the tea far less who the manager is once MA has his puppet Llambias in place as Chief Exec.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Ribble

[Paolo]

 

 

Easdale won't have a say on who makes the tea far less who the manager is once MA has his puppet Llambias in place as Chief Exec.

 

He might be making the tea himself.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Claudia

[jamboinglasgow]

And Ally McCoist is backing Ashley to be great for Rangers, just like he did with the Easdales, Green, Whyte....

[Paolo]

And Ally McCoist is backing Ashley to be great for Rangers, just like he did with the Easdales, Green, Whyte....

 

He would suck Ashley's bobby, to keep his job.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Claudia

[Jamboelite]

MA will not invest heavily in Rangers as he wont get any of that back, at the moment why should he as everything that is profitable for RFC is already under his control.

 

I think he wants to make sure his contracts are maximised and so sees the ?2m as a way of getting people on the board he trusts and making sure his contracts dont go up in smoke due to the financial meltdown as almost happened on Friday.

 

RFC is a tiny tiny drop in the ocean in terms of money and potential in comparison to his already massive empire, I wouldn't imagine he has looked at it any closer than a standard takeover of a small business.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Jamboelite

[jamboinglasgow]

Even with a share issue, Rangers are a huge loss making operation. Ashley's time at Newcastle is all about making them profitable. So there will be large cuts.

[Feeno]

So for arguments sake, how does Ashley go about making them profitable?

 

Does this mean he will secure all the contracts he wants that makes him cash, and then plunge them into Admin to ditch the ones presumably making dosh for other people?

[The Gasman]

The SPFL and the SFA will do everything they can to get The Rangers, or even 3angers, into the top division as soon as they can possibly manage to - even if it means breaking rules, or ignoring guidelines, on dual ownership / influence, of that I've no doubt....

 

....but what about the EPL or the FA, do the have any equivalent rules or guidelines that Ashley could fall foul of..?

[Rods]

So for arguments sake, how does Ashley go about making them profitable?

 

Does this mean he will secure all the contracts he wants that makes him cash, and then plunge them into Admin to ditch the ones presumably making dosh for other people?

 

No he will keep Rangers ticking over and just above the water line. He will only care as long as he is making money and not how everyone else is making money from Rangers. He will need these onerous contracts onboard so he has a scapegoat but he will also keep them to a minimum so as not to sink him and Rangers. He will make money from the sales on jerseys etc from his retail outlets.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Rents

[Allowayjambo1874]

I think people need to realise that from a football player perspective the wages rangers are paying may seem crazy however as a % of turnover they are actually fairly low (seem to recall 46% was mentioned previously) so MA will be getting in about the off field activities and the costs involved with murray park & ?1brox. If he sorts all that out and manages to increase the player budget even slightly then they will still have a vast advantage over everyone else in scotland bar celtic. They should then be able to limp along winning the odd cup and pushing for second.

 

Fixing the off field financial issues, ousting some of the spivs and winning the odd cup in next couple of years will ensure that the fans will be onside, meanwhile the merchandise arm will start raking it in especially if he can get the 10k missing fans back through the turnstyles.

 

All this for about ?5m? Seems to have played this beautifully.

[Hagar the Horrible]

This ?2m interest free loan secured against the Hoose and the car park (yet again!) only gets them to the end of the calendar year, they need at least another 6 to the end of the season, with gates being reduced every game, They keep kicking the can further down the road. Still no actual business model? Who will underwrite this share issue, who will buy up the shares, who will end up with control afterwards, how is this loan going to be paid back? will it be debt forgiveness? This continuous serial drama will out live Corrie and Easties. Still with no NOMAD, and no accounts yet, no AGM announced, yet more shares to get though another season. And the big question is Who IS actually now in charge? MA with 9% or Institutional with over 40%? votes now do not matter? as they are now officially ?2m in debt, with still no banking facilities, no prospects, just a giant cash cow for a selected few!!!!!

[Hagar the Horrible]

 

The SPFL and the SFA will do everything they can to get The Rangers, or even 3angers, into the top division as soon as they can possibly manage to - even if it means breaking rules, or ignoring guidelines, on dual ownership / influence, of that I've no doubt....

 

....but what about the EPL or the FA, do the have any equivalent rules or guidelines that Ashley could fall foul of..?

But but but Scotland needs a strong OF, even if they have the debt of Africa to fund it? THE FA wont be as weak as the SFA/SPFL, because Newcastle are not a headline act!

[Strachsuit]

In other news, just how bad is the Scum's Andy Devlin?

 

First he puts out a tweet last night that suggests Scot Gardiner is being "heavily touted" to be the next Rangers CEO - rubbish as it's going to be Llambias. Then he tweets that McCoist could be sacked "within hours" - more rubbish as confirmed by Sandy Easdale.

 

Is Devlin the new KJ? Whoever is giving him "info" is obviously at the wind-up!

[Feeno]

No he will keep Rangers ticking over and just above the water line. He will only care as long as he is making money and not how everyone else is making money from Rangers. He will need these onerous contracts onboard so he has a scapegoat but he will also keep them to a minimum so as not to sink him and Rangers. He will make money from the sales on jerseys etc from his retail outlets.

 

Surely ditching the onerous contracts would allow Ashley to make more money for himself though?

[Footballfirst]

I think people need to realise that from a football player perspective the wages rangers are paying may seem crazy however as a % of turnover they are actually fairly low (seem to recall 46% was mentioned previously) so MA will be getting in about the off field activities and the costs involved with murray park & ?1brox. If he sorts all that out and manages to increase the player budget even slightly then they will still have a vast advantage over everyone else in scotland bar celtic. They should then be able to limp along winning the odd cup and pushing for second.

 

Fixing the off field financial issues, ousting some of the spivs and winning the odd cup in next couple of years will ensure that the fans will be onside, meanwhile the merchandise arm will start raking it in especially if he can get the 10k missing fans back through the turnstyles.

 

All this for about ?5m? Seems to have played this beautifully.

 

Rangers last published Wages to Turnover ratio was 94% for season 2012/13 (?17.9M to ?19.1M). The 46%, or whatever, only related to the first team squad, when the accepted means of calculation includes all wage costs within the business including management, coaching and office staff.

[Rods]

Surely ditching the onerous contracts would allow Ashley to make more money for himself though?

 

I think Ashley basically has all that sewn up or soon will have anyway. Its the retail side he is clearly interested in and that is where the money is made.

[Footballfirst]

Anyone prepared to own up to having a subscription to the Sun so we can get the full story.

 

http://www.thescotti...rs-secrets.html

 

A MAN faces a charge of extortion after police began probing the release of Rangers secrets on the internet.

 

The 45-year-old male also faces allegations involving breaches of the Computer Misuse Act and the Communications Act.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Footballfirst

[Strachsuit]

I think Ashley basically has all that sewn up or soon will have anyway. Its the retail side he is clearly interested in and that is where the money is made.

 

Yes but if he can secure the retail, image rights etc so that they are admin-proof (something I am sure he will be doing in the coming weeks), then why would he care if RFC went into admin? Someone else would simply pick up the pieces post-admin with him still having the onerous contracts in place.

 

This is why I think Ashley only gave them ?2m as a loan. If he really wanted to stabilize them, then he would know that they require closer to ?12m to see out the season. Why not just loan them the full whack? I reckon he knows that he might end up with a car park and the wee hoose but so long as over the next few weeks he can get his contracts beefed up and secured then he's not bothered long-term. Win-win. This nonsense about Ashley wanting or needing a "strong Rangers" is exactly that... Nonsense.

[Strachsuit]

Anyone prepared to own up to having a subscription to the Sun so we can get the full story.

 

http://www.thescotti...rs-secrets.html

 

A MAN faces a charge of extortion after police began probing the release of Rangers secrets on the internet.

 

The 45-year-old male also faces allegations involving breaches of the Computer Misuse Act and the Communications Act.

 

Just how old is PMGB?!

[Rods]

Just how old is PMGB?!

 

Is that about him or charlotte fakes?

 

On your other point a strongish Rangers means more merchandise I would imagine therefore I can see him keeping Rangers afloat.

[Footballfirst]

STV appear to have picked up the story

 

http://news.stv.tv/west-central/297348-man-reported-alleged-extortion-in-probe-into-rangers-online-leaks/

[Gorgie_Rules]

For anybody that doesnt know much about Mike Ashleys business dealings, I studied retail at university and looked into his retail operations in many case studies. He is a very shrewd guy, happy to outlay large sums in order for long term (often small) gains.

 

One example being his Sports Direct empire acquiring the fashion chain Republic (main rival to Sports Directs' USC fashion chain). Republic went into administration, USC scooped up the Republic stock for ?5million, Ashley converted the profitable Republic stores into USC, incorporated the strong elements of the Republic brand into USC, and shut down the remaining Republic stores making 100s of staff redundant in the process. Effectively bought out the competitor to shut them down, with massive long term gain for USC/Sports Direct.

 

No doubt about it Ashley has some sort of motivation to benefit him long term financially which doesnt involve having Rangers' interests at heart. The way this is being portrayed in the media is that he is coming in as some sort of savior, but can almost guarantee its a business decision which will no doubt prove to be wise and well calculated.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Gorgie_Rules

[Strachsuit]

For anybody that doesnt know much about Mike Ashleys business dealings, I studied retail at university and looked into his retail operations in many case studies. He is a very shrewd guy, happy to outlay large sums in order for long term (often small) gains.

 

One example being his Sports Direct empire acquiring the fashion chain Republic (main rival to Sports Directs' USC fashion chain). Republic went into administration, Ashley scooped up the Republic stock for ?5million, converted the profitable Republic stores into USC, incorporated the strong elements of the Republic brand into USC, and shut down the remaining Republic stores making 100s of staff redundant in the process. Effectively bought out the competitor to shut them down, with massive long term gain.

 

No doubt about it Ashley has some sort of motivation to benefit him financially long term which doesnt involve having Rangers' interests at heart. The way this is being portrayed in the media is that he is coming in as some sort of savior, but can almost guarantee its a business which will no doubt prove to be wise and well calculated.

 

Bingo! Which is why I think he's simply getting his onerous contracts and the image rights secured against admin or liquidation so that any future re-incarnation of Der Hun still needs to pay him. Once he's got what he wants in place, he'll not give a flying about what happens to them. Pleasing.

[Cairneyhill Jambo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29793747

The Scottish Football Association has written to Rangers and Mike Ashley seeking clarification about his intentions for the Championship club.

Ashley, who owns Newcastle United, has provided Rangers with a ?2m loan in return for him having two representatives on the Ibrox board.

He already owns about 9% of Rangers.

However, he has signed an undertaking with the SFA that he will not acquire more than 10% of the shares or have influence at boardroom level.

[The Comedian]

I predict a 'the SFA are satisfied' statement, very soon.

[Jamboelite]

I am amazed there is even a request from the SFA to MA. I expect him to tell then to jog on as there is nothing concrete in the rules as far as i can see and a quick threat to the SFA of sue me then will see them crawl back under their stone.

[Deevers]

The "Boardroom influence" must be obvious even to the dolts that run the game here.

[jambovambo]

@alextomo: So - how much wriggle room for SFA over the Ashley Rangers coup - boardroom influence writ large....

 

 

@alextomo: Mind Ibrox was caught between a convicted criminal and Sports Direct as the hovering vultures - is the place cursed?

[tartofmidlothian]

I was just wondering, which clubs in the UK do we think would be most profitable to control the strip sales of? I'd say there must be a top five who you'd need hundreds of millions to get involved with (City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal) and beyond that I'd say Newcastle, Celtic and Rangers must be next.

 

Very canny on Ashley's behalf. It seems obvious he's going into partnership with the current owners where he's the junior at boardroom level but the gatekeeper of their retail arm and the lender of choice to tide them through. On that basis, though, he probably has no interest in spunking war chests on them, at least not until they're up against Celtic and a bit of investment makes for good PR. Besides, who really thinks they won't be promoted from second place at least this season?

 

[The Gasman]

 

Bingo! Which is why I think he's simply getting his onerous contracts and the image rights secured against admin or liquidation so that any future re-incarnation of Der Hun still needs to pay him. Once he's got what he wants in place, he'll not give a flying about what happens to them. Pleasing.

 

That's what I'd bet on as well.

[Meadows]

Possibly a daft question BUT, how many TRFC shirts are sold annually ? I'd guesstimate at 25k to 30k. The profit i'd guesstimate at around the ?15 mark per polo/ football shirt. My sums make his profit roughly ?450k per season. How long is his contract?

[jambovambo]

Of course. is a Toon fan :

 

 

 

alex thomson

?@alextomo ...there's a vast emotional disconnect between him and the club and Toon culture which he seems to have worked hard to make worse

 

 

[Gorgie_Rules]

Possibly a daft question BUT, how many TRFC shirts are sold annually ? I'd guesstimate at 25k to 30k. The profit i'd guesstimate at around the ?15 mark per polo/ football shirt. My sums make his profit roughly ?450k per season. How long is his contract?

 

From the above link, "The English businessman, who owns Sports Direct, has control of Rangers' shirt sales and retail division for the next five years."

 

However I reckon the recent developments are more about putting himself in a better position when the s**t hits the fan

Edited October 27, 2014 by Gorgie_Rules

[PTBCAL]

 

Possibly a daft question BUT, how many TRFC shirts are sold annually ? I'd guesstimate at 25k to 30k. The profit i'd guesstimate at around the ?15 mark per polo/ football shirt. My sums make his profit roughly ?450k per season. How long is his contract?

 

I'm sure they are in the top 25 Europe wise re shirt sales.... Remember they sell 3 strips. Rangers get roughly ?1 a strip sold.

[upgotheheads]

Possibly a daft question BUT, how many TRFC shirts are sold annually ? I'd guesstimate at 25k to 30k. The profit i'd guesstimate at around the ?15 mark per polo/ football shirt. My sums make his profit roughly ?450k per season. How long is his contract?

 

Worldwide you could probably add a zero (at least) to those numbers.

 

He's not a multi billionaire for nothing.

[Jamboelite]

 

Hugh Keevins says any Sfa decision to stop Mike Ashley taking over The Rangers franchise would be a "bullet to the head of Scottish football" ..

 

Still peddling the myth that we need them & it'll be armageddon if they don't get rules circumvented to facilitate them..

 

Hugh Keevins is a **** i hope that clarifies matters.

 

This myth peddled last time didnt come true and it wont this time.

[132goals1958]

From the above link, "The English businessman, who owns Sports Direct, has control of Rangers' shirt sales and retail division for the next five years."

 

However I reckon the recent developments are more about putting himself in a better position when the s**t hits the fan

 

Under the Companies act definition he must be close to becoming a shadow director.

[Toxteth O'Grady]

 

 

 

Hugh Keevins is a **** i hope that clarifies matters.

 

This myth peddled last time didnt come true and it wont this time.

 

Hugh Keevins is not a journalist. He doesn't investigate anything, he just writes down populist rubbish.

 

Like many other so called Scottish journalists he just panders to his paper buying masses and writes a load wishful thinking tripe.

 

The whole profession of football journalism in Scotland is a joke.

[The Mighty Thor]

Hugh Keevins was an irrelevance in his 'hey-day' 40 years ago.