RobertSarver increased his initial offer of £18million to £20million for theownership of troubled Rangers Football Club. As part of the deal he isalso offering an immediate sum of £6.5 million which could be injected torelieve the club’s short-term shortage of funds and repay the loans given tothe club by shareholders.
TheIbrox-based outfit rejected the American’s initial proposal of £18 million asinadequate. The board are now reconsidering the increased offer by Sarver. However, as the American businessman is anon-shareholder, there will need to be an approval of 75% shareholders that sucha large number of shares are given to a non-shareholder, which will bedifficult to obtain.
Theboard are also looking at other possibilities to save the club from going intoadministration and repeat the pandemonium of February 2012 when Rangers went intoliquidation and were deduced 10 points and forced to play in the fourth tier ofScottish football.
Morethan 50% of Rangers' shares are currently held by the club’s fans; the othershares are held by the major and significant shareholders.
MikeAshely, who is also the Newcastle United owner, is the major shareholder of Rangers, virtually controls the club through his allies on the board. One possibleoption to save the club would be for Ashley to increase the portion of hisshares above 10%, but this will not be permitted by the Scottish Football Association.
Ashley’s aim is to go for 30% of shares.
Anotheroption would be for other significant shareholders to provide more funds; Sandy Easdale,a significant shareholder and the club’s current chairman, provided £500,000 tothe club in December, as an emergency interest-free loan. However, it hasbeen reported that this short term loan has recently been repaid from a sale ofa player.
Theboard faces a difficult decision and time is running out; they know that ifthe club goes into administration yet again and gets demoted, most of the key firstteam players will refuse to stay at Ibrox and are likely to move elsewhere. This will not go down well with the Gers fans,which might see the current club’s saga just as a battle for the boardroom influence.
Rangers have won more league titles than anyother club in the world!
