Some Thoughts About Shares in Rangers – Guest Post by Skinny

One of my readers has sent me the following piece. It was written last week, but I have not had the chance to post it till now and so I have edited it as regards time periods mentioned. I suspect tonight’s well won match (pun intended) would help the planned share issue.

Otherwise I will leave the stage clear for Skinny, with only the necessary health warning – the value of shares can go down as well as up.

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The problem with shares is in the valuation of the company and vice-versa

In order to value a ‘share’ one must have a valuation of what the ‘share’ is a share of. And in terms of a flotation, why the money is needed in the first place.

A company that needs financing for expansion is obviously a better ‘bet’ than one that needs to pay off debts.

For my example I shall use recent announcements by Charles Green regarding his flotation of Rangers.

Charles Green wants to raise £20 million. Why?

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The “Strong Leader” in Football – What Matters Most – The Role or the Achievements?

A new blog has recently emerged onto the field of Scottish football writing – The Rangers Standard.

As it says in its manifesto:-

“The Rangers Standard is a project aimed at promoting positive and innovative thinking about the club and its role in Scottish football and society.

This is an opportunity to examine the club’s history and development, re-claim neglected or forgotten parts of its heritage, and reflect on how the Rangers community develops from here and how that future might be shaped by the concerns, hopes and visions of committed supporters.

We will encourage debate on all aspects of the club and will not shirk from confronting the hard topics such as sectarianism, national identity, and misgovernment by the custodians of the club in the recent and not so recent past.

We welcome well-constructed arguments and spirited polemic: the contributions of non-Rangers fans will be accepted provided they are constructive.”

In its guidelines for those seeking to contribute it states:-

“4. In time we will accept articles from non Rangers fans but these must relate in some way to the club or issues surrounding it and must be constructive.”

The piece below was written for the Rangers Standard, but failed even to achieve the accolade of a rejection.  Whether it was too long, too short, too dull, too negative or insufficiently constructive I do not know. Nonetheless I wish the project well. You can never have too much good writing.

Sadly though I cannot add the Rangers Standard to Labour Hame, Scotzine, the Open Justice Project, the Helensburgh Advertiser (many years ago) and the Scottish Football Monitor amongst the places from where my words of wisdom have been inflicted on an unsuspecting world.

WILL THE HOLY GRAIL OF A RANGERS SHARE FLOTATION TURN INTO A GREEN PRUNE? by Ecojon

With Charlie Green hot to trot on a Rangers share flotation, it’s a good time to look at Friday’s Manchester United flotation and to see whether any parallels can be drawn with the Ibrox situation.

Both have operated under the ‘Prune Juice Economy’ as described by Lord Sugar. He explained that you shovel the money in at one end and it comes sizzling straight-out the other end as never-ending record payments are made to players and their agents to quell the spectre of financial collapse which awaits relegation should on-pitch performance falter.

You might instinctively think it’s an unfair comparison with Manchester United situated near the pinnacle of UK Football with a 660 million global fan base and Rangers sitting as low as it gets in the SFL. But I think there are possibly lessons to be learnt.

Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) opposed the flotation and on Friday called for: “A worldwide boycott of Manchester United sponsors’ products, with support across the UK, Europe, Asia and the US.

Has Green Got The Right AIM For Rangers? Footballing Share Issues – Guest Post by Ecojon

 

As TV money flooded into the EPL in the 1990s football club owners flocked to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) which developed a ‘Midas aka Cash Convertor Touch’ by allowing owners to generate cash from the newly increased value of their club and within a few years 27 teams were listed.

Some owners might have been driven by personal greed but to be fair most of the cash income went on buying players and paying over-inflated wages. But that had the effect of diverting dividends from shareholders and this had a knock-on effect of depressing club share values. This fall in value was heightened by the global stock market plunge which plunged shares lower.

At this stage it is worth giving a FINANCIAL HEALTH WARNING!

Anyone buying shares should always remember that what goes up can come down and sometimes end up with NIL value. Football clubs also had a specific problem in that tens of thousands of shareholders only held one or a handful of shares bought as gifts for soccer mad relatives, friends or workmates. This created quite significant administrative problems and costs on top of the already high expenses to satisfy the regulatory framework of the investment industry.