Sir David Murray has broken his self-imposed three month silence to categorically deny that anyone has approached to buy Rangers Football Club. The Scotsmans’ exclusive interview with Murray, dismissed any talk of an approach from not only South African businessman Dave King and a Florida-based millionaire, which have surfaced in recent weeks.

While the full article discussed the state of his company Murray International Holdings, he also revealed the crisis faced earlier in the year, but said that there were signs of recovery.

Rangers, were deep in the red last year and were knocked out of Europe this week, with debts of around £31 million. And before the accounts were published Murray stepped down, with rumours flying around that he was forced out by the Lloyds Banking Group.

Murray was asked if there was any news of prospective buyers, he stated firmly, “No – none”, and that there was “no substance” to recent speculation.

Murray also denied that Lloyds Bank were running the club, and that this year “we are hoping to go into break-even and make a small profit. It’s not going to be a lot, but there will be no further losses.”

He also stated that Donald Muir, the man who was the administrator of Northern Rock and is a company turnaround specialist, was not installed on the Rangers board by Lloyds Bank, but by Murray himself and that Murray is paying his wages also.

“I approached Donald in June. I thought he had skills we didn’t have. Donald was a pal of Alex McLeish, so we knew him through football. He’s helping me with change. He’ll help to teach an old dog new tricks.”

So is Murray now effectively coming out and calling Walter Smith a liar, given his comments a couple of months back when the Rangers manager told the media hordes that the Ibrox club were now being run by the bank.

“I’ve made it quite clear”, said Murray, “that with the banking facility the club would have to work within its financial means. When the speculation got mischievous was when people started talking about mysterious Florida millionaires. It was unbelievable.”

“For the record”, said Murray, “I will repeat that I am totally prepared to sell the club. Price is important but it is not the most important factor, as long as you hand it over in the best interests of the football club. Before I stepped down I made it clear we will not sell any of our prime assets while we are fighting for the league. Rangers is no different from any other business. Lloyds has given us a facility and we are no different from a household or a business. The club must work within that. We collectively must run our football clubs within their financial means. If people don’t like that, well, they are not living in the real world. I think you will find that every other football club has gone the same way.”

Murray expressed frustration at the way the club’s affairs has attracted ferocious speculation, most of it, he insists, well wide of the mark.

“I find it amazing that a football club like Ipswich can have a greater debt than Rangers and it doesn’t appear on the radar. Preston lost £10 million,” he added. “In the past I’ve been able to fund Rangers in behind the scenes ways. But it is different now.”

Source: The Scotsman

Tagged with: buyer, finance, Rangers

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