How Rangers Landing in SFL3 “Costs” Glasgow over 400k per annum

You’ll notice I have not ended the headline above with an exclamation. That’s because it is entirely legitimate and indeed prudent what the company has done. We are talking about non-domestic rates.

Come back! It’s not that dull!

First thing is first. Glasgow City Council believes that Ibrox is owned by Rangers Football Club Ltd (the former Sevco Scotland Ltd).

Why do they say that?

Because Rangers Football Club Ltd DOES own those assets!

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SFA v Craig Whyte Calls At Glasgow Sheriff Court This Week (On Conference Call)

Glasgow Sheriff Court has a very 21^st century (or at least 20^th Century) method of dealing with court actions under the Commercial Procedure. For disputes of a commercial nature, and if the pursuer in the action chooses to do so, there is a streamlined process designed to focus quickly on the issues in dispute and to reach a determination as quickly as possible.

This is achieved by having cases allocated to a particular Sheriff to take the dispute through all of its stages, and by having a procedural hearing (or Case Management Conference (CMC)) take place by conference call, rather than dragging lawyers from across the city or the country to the court to sit awaiting a slot in the diary.

Instead the nominated Sheriff assesses at an early stage what is in dispute in any case, and what each party is going to have to do to achieve victory. This can include the Sheriff pinning down solicitors as to the nature of a defence, or regarding witnesses to be called to court and the nature of the evidence they will give. The Sheriff can order production of expert reports and tell parties to have experts meet to clarify issues in dispute.

Rangers Show “Title Deeds” to Sunday Mail. But That Doesn’t Answer Mr Whyte’s Claims

Today’s Sunday Mail (though not yet online as far as I can see) solves the mystery over the “title deeds” to Ibrox and Murray Park. Brian Stockbridge, effectively the only Director of Rangers Football Club Ltd and, at least according to Companies House, the only executive Director of RIFC PLC, is pictured with the relevant Land Certificates. Land Certificates are what replaced “title deeds” in Scotland after 1979 – one neat document, including a plan, giving all of the relevant details about a property, including who owns it.

The “title deeds” prove that Ibrox and Murray Park are not owned by Craig Whyte, or Sevco 5088 Ltd or Worthington plc, or Mr Earley, or Mr Green, or even Mr Custard.

They will show either that the title is in the name of Sevco Scotland Ltd or Rangers Football Club Ltd. Those are in fact the same company, the name having changed on 31^st July 2012.

The Land Certificate will not, I think, be in the name of RIFC PLC simply because it owns 100% of Rangers Football Club Ltd, and does not need directly to own the land and buildings.

So all is well – Mr John Brown can see the deeds and this proves that Mr Whyte has no claim!

…

Except it does not.

Mr Ahmad Leaves the Rangers Stage – Does This Leave Only One Director of the Rangers Football Club Ltd?

According to the BBC, Rangers have confirmed that Imran Ahmad, the Commercial Director and close ally of Charles Green, has left the club.

Of course, as a listed company, and as Mr Ahmad is a “key employee” (as described in the Prospectus, RIFC PLC needs to be careful about how it publicises the information, lest it be accused of releasing market-sensitive information inappropriately.

Mr Ahmad was of course not on the PLC Board, but he was on the Board of the Rangers Football Club Ltd.

I’ve Annoyed Some People By Writing About What Mr McCoist Said, So Here I Explain Why I Do

I see that, once again, one of my pieces has attracted some comment upon a Rangers fan website. It appears that it is seen as somehow inappropriate to question anything said by Mr McCoist (or at least for me to do so).

Some commenters here have also wondered why, every so often, I will point out the apparent errors in what the Rangers manager has to say. Partly this comes about because some of the comments seem so blatantly designed to help sell tickets rather than, for example, to actually explain what is happening, that I think it does no harm to point that out. In an echo too of “succulent lamb-ism” there rarely appears to be anyone in the media who points out the issues.

So, for example, in the SFL, unlike the SPL, “roster construction” is important. For most SFL teams (and probably for every one of them) the 22 player limit (for those 22 or over) is irrelevant. Even for teams relegated from the SPL the economic cutbacks needed mean that their player numbers would fall below that level.

In fact Rangers might be the only team where it has been an issue in recent years.