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I still think the prospect of us breaking away and forming a new club ala FC United of Manchester is a very distant possibility, but to be honest, the more I think about it, the likelyhood of this kind of thing occuring is, by the day, becoming ever so slightly more realistic.
Let's be honest here, we are still saddled with the £50million of debt David Murray moved into his own companies. We will have to address that at some point. Murray will not let it lie, despite it being the debt he is single-handedly responsible for creating.
The only viable option for buying David Murray out or removing him is a fan or fans taking over. Let's face this harsh reality: No-one else will buy us under any other circumstances, it was impossible before in my opinion under a fairly healthy economical climate given how badly our assets have been stripped. Now, in the middle of a credit crunch in a footballing back-water, we can kiss goodbye to any new prospective owner who would need to make a return in a brutal financial climate, in a league which is dangerously close to insolvency with a club who despite the healthy fanbase and turnover, have literally no additional areas to profit from either as a business or to an investor.
Taking all of this into consideration, Rangers need to survive as a club. Our current situation is - to anyone who isn't using their heart to rule their head - totally unsustainable. If there was a solution which would bring in a better chairman with the will to spend and make us a force, it would've happened a long, long time ago.
We can hold as much optimism regarding fan ownership as we like as I know it's the trust's ultimate aim. Even if, let's say, the Trust or the fans in general DO somehow unite and gain the type of cash necessary to overthrow David Murray, quite honestly, even the most positive of us with the limited knowledge we have about how this will work would have to admit that there will be hee-haw left to play with. Fan ownership would also leave us in a huge transitional period and despite the bad Murray has done, it has been slightly beneficial at times for us to have an owner who has numerous companies he can switch debts between.
That being said, with the limited knowledge I have of the Trusts intentions of fan ownership and how viable it would actually be, I still think it is a bit too distant....and if I'm right, I also feel David Murray will in time decide he's had enough, and potentially pull the plug on us.
It is not unreasonable from a moral point of view to expect David Murray to do the honourable thing when it comes to us and forgoe some or all of the £50 million debt he switched to his companies - He created it, he is responsible for it, you can blame ANY manager or ANY player you want - It's irrelevant. He's the one that has always said "Judge me on my success" as given how big a majority he owns, the buck always stops with him when it comes to signing the big cheques. He didn't wake up one morning and receive a final demand for £75 million after lending Dick Advocaat his VISA card - He knew full well the financial peril he was risking, yet another example of the man's gross lack of foresight. But such a gift in terms of writing this debt off will never happen - The "credit crunch" effectively destroying that slim possibility. When you consider how good Rangers has been for Murray, the business deals he's concluded through connections gained with owners of foreign clubs we've played in Europe over the past 20 years, the fact he is substantially richer and now an MBE - A huge amount of kudos for his position comes squarely down to Rangers Football Club and his association with it.
This is absolutely the most pivotal crossroads Rangers have ever reached, and given whats involved in removing David Murray from the helm, when you list all of the negatives - No assets, poor league, effectively £75 million in the red, poorest squad in many a year - it genuinely looks as it it'd be a helluva lot easier just to leave Murray to rot with the debt he created and start again from scratch.
The possibility of losing Murray Park and Ibrox, however, does not bare thinking about.
The step of restarting this club from scratch is a daunting one, but as the days go on and the agony gets worse, it's not anywhere near as unrealistic as people may think....
Let's be honest here, we are still saddled with the £50million of debt David Murray moved into his own companies. We will have to address that at some point. Murray will not let it lie, despite it being the debt he is single-handedly responsible for creating.
The only viable option for buying David Murray out or removing him is a fan or fans taking over. Let's face this harsh reality: No-one else will buy us under any other circumstances, it was impossible before in my opinion under a fairly healthy economical climate given how badly our assets have been stripped. Now, in the middle of a credit crunch in a footballing back-water, we can kiss goodbye to any new prospective owner who would need to make a return in a brutal financial climate, in a league which is dangerously close to insolvency with a club who despite the healthy fanbase and turnover, have literally no additional areas to profit from either as a business or to an investor.
Taking all of this into consideration, Rangers need to survive as a club. Our current situation is - to anyone who isn't using their heart to rule their head - totally unsustainable. If there was a solution which would bring in a better chairman with the will to spend and make us a force, it would've happened a long, long time ago.
We can hold as much optimism regarding fan ownership as we like as I know it's the trust's ultimate aim. Even if, let's say, the Trust or the fans in general DO somehow unite and gain the type of cash necessary to overthrow David Murray, quite honestly, even the most positive of us with the limited knowledge we have about how this will work would have to admit that there will be hee-haw left to play with. Fan ownership would also leave us in a huge transitional period and despite the bad Murray has done, it has been slightly beneficial at times for us to have an owner who has numerous companies he can switch debts between.
That being said, with the limited knowledge I have of the Trusts intentions of fan ownership and how viable it would actually be, I still think it is a bit too distant....and if I'm right, I also feel David Murray will in time decide he's had enough, and potentially pull the plug on us.
It is not unreasonable from a moral point of view to expect David Murray to do the honourable thing when it comes to us and forgoe some or all of the £50 million debt he switched to his companies - He created it, he is responsible for it, you can blame ANY manager or ANY player you want - It's irrelevant. He's the one that has always said "Judge me on my success" as given how big a majority he owns, the buck always stops with him when it comes to signing the big cheques. He didn't wake up one morning and receive a final demand for £75 million after lending Dick Advocaat his VISA card - He knew full well the financial peril he was risking, yet another example of the man's gross lack of foresight. But such a gift in terms of writing this debt off will never happen - The "credit crunch" effectively destroying that slim possibility. When you consider how good Rangers has been for Murray, the business deals he's concluded through connections gained with owners of foreign clubs we've played in Europe over the past 20 years, the fact he is substantially richer and now an MBE - A huge amount of kudos for his position comes squarely down to Rangers Football Club and his association with it.
This is absolutely the most pivotal crossroads Rangers have ever reached, and given whats involved in removing David Murray from the helm, when you list all of the negatives - No assets, poor league, effectively £75 million in the red, poorest squad in many a year - it genuinely looks as it it'd be a helluva lot easier just to leave Murray to rot with the debt he created and start again from scratch.
The possibility of losing Murray Park and Ibrox, however, does not bare thinking about.
The step of restarting this club from scratch is a daunting one, but as the days go on and the agony gets worse, it's not anywhere near as unrealistic as people may think....
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There's no reason why we can't do this - even if it's just to play initially in the amateur leagues and then possibly into the juniors.
With the costs of watching football these days coupled with how disenfranchised we feel right now about our club then this is surely a decent idea.
I look upon this in a far smaller scale than you do but still see it as being very worthwhile.
With the costs of watching football these days coupled with how disenfranchised we feel right now about our club then this is surely a decent idea.
I look upon this in a far smaller scale than you do but still see it as being very worthwhile.
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It is becoming more likely. What chance the takeover of a diddy club in the 3rd Division and rebranding it?
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I'm against the idea, however if this was to happen I would take over a club from the North of England so we have the Premiership in our horizon.
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Every single one of you on this thread who have disagreed with me seem to have ignored the point.
All I have done here is point out how something as radical as this is becoming more and more realistic as time goes on. It's still distance and unlikely to happen, but I'll put this in bullet points to back up, if you still disagree then I appreciate where your coming from but I'd also appreciate you explaining how or why I am wrong.
* No-one will buy us. It's down to the fans and fan groups.
*At that, The fans will not be able to get together enough cash to instigate a buy-out.
*David Murray will not service our £50 million debt forever, the more the deserved critisism comes, the less likely he is to chuck it.
*Given how much he doesn't care about us, if this gets worse, it is not unrealistic at all to think that if this situation goes on for another 3 or 4 years, he might declare us insolvent and have us placed in administration - Especially during the credit-crunch.
If there was someone out there who could buy us, service the debt, rebuild us and turn us into a profitable club, they've have done it by now. The credit-crunch has killed that possibility dead for at least 5-10 years IMO
If Murray was willing to manouver his asking price for the club and the debt he's under-written us, again, he'd have done it by now.
Like I've said, as time goes on, some of you simply aren't acknowledging just how deep in the shit we could get.
Evidently, some of you don't seemt o realise how deep in the shit we are NOW!
All I have done here is point out how something as radical as this is becoming more and more realistic as time goes on. It's still distance and unlikely to happen, but I'll put this in bullet points to back up, if you still disagree then I appreciate where your coming from but I'd also appreciate you explaining how or why I am wrong.
* No-one will buy us. It's down to the fans and fan groups.
*At that, The fans will not be able to get together enough cash to instigate a buy-out.
*David Murray will not service our £50 million debt forever, the more the deserved critisism comes, the less likely he is to chuck it.
*Given how much he doesn't care about us, if this gets worse, it is not unrealistic at all to think that if this situation goes on for another 3 or 4 years, he might declare us insolvent and have us placed in administration - Especially during the credit-crunch.
If there was someone out there who could buy us, service the debt, rebuild us and turn us into a profitable club, they've have done it by now. The credit-crunch has killed that possibility dead for at least 5-10 years IMO
If Murray was willing to manouver his asking price for the club and the debt he's under-written us, again, he'd have done it by now.
Like I've said, as time goes on, some of you simply aren't acknowledging just how deep in the shit we could get.
Evidently, some of you don't seemt o realise how deep in the shit we are NOW!
