A reliable source had been saying to me for a couple of weeks to keep an eye on a Friday night as the likely time for the release of the RIFC accounts.
As usual, he is never far off the mark.
I immediately sent them to Rugger Guy and he has promised me that I will have something from him by Monday.
Apparently there is some rugby thingy going on at the moment.
However, I don’t think we need to wait on his forensic number crunching to arrive at the conclusion that these accounts are in car crash territory.
Of course, this will not have escaped the notice of the world-class administrators on the 6th floor of Hampden.
They will very concerned about the possibility of an insolve…
Oh never mind!
Quite clearly this is financial doping on a grand scale.
This type of operation happened under David Murray in the final decades of the original Rangers.
While Celtic under Fergus McCann had put in place a sustainable financial model the Knight of the Realm chased moonbeams with the bank’s money.
It was never going to end well.
This week I am at the scene of the crime that set in train a series of events that would finally kill Rangers.
Celtic’s victory on May 25th 1967 at Stadio Nacional inflicted a psychic wound on the Ibrox klan and it has haunted them ever since.
When 10IAR slipped from his grasp Murray realised that only success in Europe could sooth his customers.
Consequently, from 1998-2002 Dick Advocaat was effectively allowed to bankrupt Rangers.
It would finally end in tears in June 2012.
It is worth remembering that the HMRC investigation into the use of EBTs by Rangers started in 2004.
That would not be concluded until the UK Supreme Court ruled in Hector’s favour in July 2017.
I realise that this is not pleasing to football fans who run to a toddler’s timescale.
However, the stark fact is that Sevco’s current financial model is, as RIFC Director John Bennet stated last year, “unsustainable”.
That problem hasn’t gone away you know.
Since the Off License Putsch of March 2015, Sevco has been run on OPM.
Eventually, you run out of that stuff.
The irony is that between October 2014 and the King takeover the Ibrox outfit was being well run.
They were within six months of breaking even.
I said at the time that if you preferred your schadenfreude in Ibrox flavour then pray that King stays in the Blue Room for a long time.
The basic arithmetic points to the inescapable conclusion that Sevco cannot match the levels of spending that Celtic can generate from within their business.
That means that the champions of Scotland can sustain a football budget that his bigger than any other club in Scotland.
Moreover, the Parkhead outfit can do that without any recourse to borrowing.
This is an inconvenient fact for the followers of the Espanyol of Glasgow.
The events of the summer of 2012 were epochal.
However, the local media have allowed the Govan Herrenvolk to pretend that Rangers didn’t die.
The initial reception of these accounts by the Ibrox klanbase on social media appeared to be positive.
Oh dear…
I suppose if they want to continue in the mistaken belief that there are not financial problems then they should keep taking the tabloids.
Sadly, they remain an evidence resistant subculture.
Moreover, they are badly served by the local media who tell them what they want to hear.
I am in Lisboa for the Web Summit.
This gathering has been named “Davos for geeks”.
Every year it gets bigger.
I have watched this event grow from humble beginnings in Dublin, the brainchild of a few bright young Irish kids.
This year Edward Snowden is joining us remotely from Moscow.
He is also a product of the cyber revolution.
On Tuesday my dance card is full with jogo bonito.
The sports stage has some serious folk, including major figures from Benfica.
They will be discussing how they use digital analysis in the transfer market.
Perhaps they will offer some help to the Sevco High Command on Operation Sell Alfredo.
What is not in doubt is that Ross Wilson will have to seriously downsize Mr Gerrard’s squad.
Oh, and there’s also some guy here called Ronaldinho.
Like almost everything else in life, the digital revolution has disrupted the traditional media and, to an extent, the craft of journalism.
You are probably reading this on a smartphone.
When this blog started in 2008 my readers would probably have used a PC or a laptop to read the content.
Eleven years on, the accidental success of this site has surprised me more than anyone.
I continue with it because there appears to be a need for a named journalist to provide a Samizdat for Planet Fitba.
Wherever you are reading this you’re doing so for free.
That was my promise when I started this, that no one would be priced out by a paywall or anything like that.
Have a great day.
Say a prayer for the face painters.
And the newsagents, of course!! Let’s hope none of their players get injured, otherwise A&E waiting times will be dramatically increased!! 😉
Ralston at the Daily Ranger doing some serious arse licking at sevco about their accounts telling people everything is glowing over there . He has even done well with even more FAKE NEWS by following that up with Morelos to be sold in January wait for it £20 million + . Now don’t be surprised if he follows that up in the next couple of days by putting it out there that Liverpool will be looking at him . After all this is the rumour doing the rounds on one of their forums . So watch out for FATMAN at level 5 getting that out there as a nice wee squirrel story .
Stevie, You did not specify what Morelos was to be sold for…20 million what? Pesos, Hong Kong Dollars, packets of Cornflakes?? I think we should be told. Hail Hail
I am no accountant ( I did get my ‘O’ grade Arithmetic) yet a cursory glance at Sevco’s figures tells me that , as a ”going concern”, they are F*cked !
And remember that these are the accounts up to 30 June – they take no account of the expenditure since then , nor the mounting court costs , nor the damages likely to be awarded to SDI , nor the transfer costs of Kent ( £7 m) and Helander ( £.3.5 m ), the Memorial Wall case still to hit a courtroom near you ( damages of £1 m being sought ), nor the costs to settling with The Close Bros.
Have I missed anything ? Probably – but you get the picture ! Jelly and ice-cream at the ready !
They still have to pay Liverpool for “Pele “ Kent !!
Wee Coco the clown over at IN was telling the klan only a couple of weeks ago that sevco had taken in £17 million in revenue since the start of this season . And also the further sevco go in Europe this year it will even more again . Oh dear a think someone should be having serious word with wee Coco for spreading his fake news stories about sevco financial state .
As they’ve lost more than £30 million over three years do they lose their license to play in Europe?
That is without taking into account all the soft loans and club 1690 input
As expected, and despite the Europa cash, the numbers are a disaster.
The auditors obviously have taken a different approach to reporting the numbers from the guy who put together the fag packet 6 monthly numbers hailed by King as proof that the club was on the road to profitability.
Really Dave, really?
I’m amazed that no provision has been made for the incoming bombshell from SDI.
Is that included in the £10m forecast cash required to see out the season?
If not it should be as the board must be aware of the likely number.
Chris Sutton was spot on when he said that Rangers would implode if they failed to win this season”s SPFL.
Of course the need for other investors could be negated in a moment if Gerrard dipped into his own very deep pockets and back himself at the same time.
Perhaps they could get more of those dodgy shareholders sqinty Dave mentioned before to invest.
Italian investors, of course. Maybe Parmalat would be interested in putting money in, like they did with Parma several years ago?
Stop using my birthlace Govan as thier base ,It’s called Ibrox you get a big hint from the stadium name they play in.
If you want a really interesting thing to look at, might I suggest Note 16 in the accounts.
12 months ago, outstanding creditors was just shy of £5m
It’s now a whisker away from £10m
For anyone who doesn’t understand company accounts law and terminology, ‘outstanding creditors’ are people you owe money to, who have supplied goods or services but not yet been paid.
People like face painters, catering suppliers, you know the sort of things …
Would that be the £10 million the auditors said they would need to see our the season or is that an extra, £10 million? If the latter then, would that make there losses £21 million if they had payed those creditors??
I’ve been monitoring FF since last night “The gift that keeps on giving”
Hilarious to see them turn on anything sensible.
Long may it last, well till Jan’2020 anyway.
Imagine….no….more….hun…..sweet
Today, I would be embarrassed if i was in the employ of the Auditor, Campbell Dallas.
How desperate are they for the RIFC business?
Despite including a multitude of caveats, disclaimers, stated [optimistic] assumptions, etc. – it won’t absolve the Auditor from its ‘imprudent’ Opinion when RIFC eventually bites the dust, IMO.
Last year when they published their accounts I think it was 4/5 million extra they needed to see out the rest of the season. This year they need an extra 10 million. And that doesn’t even factor in the cost of the SD (Sports Direct) bill, as stated in the notes. The most worrying thing for the Klan is since King an co arrived every year they signed off the accounts with the promise that the directions would underwrite any shortfall. This year they talk about the need for new investors! After the stunt they pulled with SD and with a director on board that has been cold shouldered outside investment will be very unlikely….Unless close brothers think it’s time to make their move and cover around 4/5 million of that in a secured loan and wait for the right time to pounce!
It was in last year’s accounts that RIFC estimated a funding shortfall of £3M for this year.
That has now increased to £10M.
Don’t know how RIFC managed to avoid including a ‘quantum’ for the SDI liability.
Going by the Note, it ‘seems’ that the Current Liabilities / Accruals total includes the RIFC’s estimate.
As Accruals has increased by £2.5M that ‘might’ be the ball park figure for SDI.
…which seems rather on the low side.
But, the point is: for a Court approved and significant contingent liability – there is no transparency in the Notes.
“Many millions” wss what Lionel Persey said. That implies to me much more than £2.5m.
David Murray famously bragged that for every £5 celtic spent he would spend £10.
What he should have said is that he would spend £10 of other people’s money.
Rangers in liquidation currently owe in the region of £170m to other people. the UK taxpayer funded rangers success to the tune of £100.
Maybe even £100m!!!
Gerry – it looks like you’ve “outed” yourself as a member of the sevco accountancy team. £100 indeed!! LOL
Dave King called these accounts “positive” so they must be.I understand the bears desire for positivity.After everything they’ve been through who can blame them however……..its a false positivity that erupts into bile the moment its challenged.One or two dissenting voices on the zombie forums today elicited the usual “shut the fuck up” response allied with “taig/beadrattler” etc etc.Such fragility is very telling IE they know its shite.Happy days.