An Off The Radar crisis

Yesterday veteran lamb watchers were jolted by an unexpected blip on their radar.

It was the unmistakable sound of reverse gear being furtively engaged in the recent Sevco narrative.

Finally, some questions are being asked of Mr David Cunningham King.

I have to confess that I was not among the ranks of the entirely surprised.

As I shared with my Twitter following when I read this offering, I had been informed at the weekend that austerity had forced the New Regime at Ibrox to scale back on their PR spending.

Whatever the truth of that no amount of dissembling in the mainstream media will take away from the financial facts on the ground.

This is a business that has made substantial losses since it was created in 2012.

In 2013, it burned through tens of millions raised in the Stock Market flotation and since February 2014 it has limped along due to a series of crisis measures.

At the inaugural AGM of RIFC in December 2013, the then Chief Executive Graham Wallace spoke of the need for “stability and sustainability”.

Almost two years later the operation has achieved neither.

The people who administer the national game in Scotland must be hoping that all will be well at Ibrox in the long run.

If it is not then the decisions taken on the sixth floor at Hampden in June 2012 will once again be brought under scrutiny.

The season ticket money is gone, and the operation at Ibrox must get by until the season ticket money comes in next year.

They have no credit line from a bank and have, as I understand it, been unable to get one.

A well-placed source told me this morning that without some emergency measure or external finance then wages will not be paid in full this month.

I understand that since the 20th Inst no bills have been paid at Murray Park.

However, I am told that the local Aldi are feeling the daily benefit of these straitened circumstances.

If any intrepid stenographer wished to have some work experience in journalism, they should follow the money.

They would try and ascertain that on the 17th of this month there was only between £170,000- £265,000 left in the club’s account.

Of course, that amount does not include monies set aside to pay taxes.

If the spend on PR at Sevco has been scaled back a Level, then the  preferred conduit now being used by the New Regime might produce some excellent copy.

Indeed, it could turn the dilapidated stadium on Edmiston Drive into something of a Mecca for the faithful.

Our courageous stenographer on work experience could also ask the club about the success of Mr Richard Gough’s recent attempts to raise finance from the global Ibrox family.

Well-placed sources inform me that the past ten days have been frantic for the New Regime as they have attempted to access funds.

I do not think that this is what Mr Graham Wallace envisaged as a stable and sustainable future for Sevco when he was interviewed in December 2013.

Moreover, I would wager that if this were happening at any other club in Scotland then the public would know rather more about it when they picked up their newspapers in the morning.

Just as in 2011, most of what is happening at Ibrox remains Off The Radar.

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