Rangers: Split Personalities
Rangers: Split Personalities
By Mark on May 17, 2025 in History, Latest | 0 comments
For an awkward few days in July 2025 there appeared to be two "Rangers" football clubs on the go. One was what is now called "emerging from administration" – by going into liquidation. And the other was seeking permission to play at Brechin City in the Scottish League Challenge Cup – permission granted by the Scottish Football Association creating an entirely new membership category, specially, and so far solely, for them. There appeared to be two Rangers on the go again last week. One was in court, claiming that their finances were secure and that fans' threats to withhold season-ticket monies were not a "major concern." The other was lambasting fans – in a club statement published during the court case – for "creating financial difficulty for Rangers" which could "only damage the club."
Rangers are currently the subject of a covert takeover bid – albeit one hidden in relatively plain sight – by South African-based businessman and lifelong fan, Dave King. King, however, does not want to pay market rate for Rangers, or any rate at all if possible. So he is using fans' current discontent to deprive Rangers of much-needed season-ticket renewals income, unless or until "fans" receive security over Rangers' Ibrox Stadium (initial demands for security over Rangers' Murray Park training complex have been dropped, for reasons as yet unclear). The vehicle for this was to be a "season-ticket trust" on which fan organisation the "Union of Fans" (UOF) said they had been working. This "trust" became a limited company, "Ibrox 2025" (1972 being the year of Rangers' European Cup Winners Cup…er…win), with King and ex-Rangers captain Richard Gough as directors. And its launch inspired the highly-accusative club statement.
Rangers want to counter this campaign and maximise season-ticket sales because of attempts by ex-commercial director Imran Ahmad to "arrest" £620,000 of Rangers' money until February 2025, when his claim that they owe him £500,000 (5% commission on commercial contracts he negotiated) comes before the courts. He had to demonstrate that Rangers' finances were too precarious to guarantee payment to him if he won, unless they ring-fenced enough of their finances to cover such an eventuality. A previous attempt in late-February failed when Judge Lord Tyre ruled that there was no "substantial risk" of a Rangers insolvency." Since then, however, a possible slump in season-ticket sales has taken tangible shape in Ibrox 2025. And auditors' reports in recently-published accounts cited the potential slump as a "material uncertainty" casting doubt on Rangers' future "as a going concern."
Thus emboldened, Ahmad returned to court last week. However, he failed again. Presiding judge Lord Armstrong believed Rangers claims that their finances
