Fitbafan

It all seems pretty complex and I think there's a lot to come out yet but when we came out of liquidation the administrators, Duff and Phelps, chose to accept an offer from Charles Green's consortium over a better offer by the Blue Kinights who were Rangers men. Since then the 2 administrators involved have been charged by Police Scotland for their role in the club and they are currently on bail. There are various unknown investors in Green's consortium and recently evidence has come out showing possible Ashley involvement before he even bought a stake in the club. There seems to be a connection between those involved going back to Green and possibly even back to Craig Whyte with some of them. You've gotta wonder how someone with a 9% shareholding was give so much control of the club and what others gained by allowing this to happen. For example, why would someone sell Ashley the stadium naiming rights for £1? As for King failing on the fit and proper rules, he was a minority shareholder of the board under Whyte when it went into liquidation and had called on Whyte to step down prior to that. He basically had no control at all. Indications are that he is unlikely to fail the fit and proper test.

Well King previously put £20 million into the club. As for who got us into trouble well Murray was basically forced to sell the club by Lloyds as his business empire crumbled around him. This sale was partially driven by a huge debt to HMRC that has since been found to be non existent. HMRC appealed this decision and lost and are now appealing the decision again. Murray then sold to the charlatan Whyte who may have claimed to be a Rangers man but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of this. Remember also, King and the 3Bears consortium have both tried to invest millions in the past few months into the club but were only blocked because Ashley had control of the board and therefore was able to get them to accept his loan offers at the cost of much of our retail revenue etc. So to say that they are all potless is blatantly untrue

The loan money is only £5 million. Although I believe Lambias is currently trying to draw down a further £5 million loan before the EGM.

Do you have any evidence they are penniless chancers? My understanding is that they will raise capital with a further share issue with King at least matching what the fans put in. They will release a statement in the next few days outlining their plans. And don't forget that as well as King et al there is also the 3Bears consortium.

I wouldn't be surprised at that.

SFA will probably fine the club more than they've fined Ashley. Great day for us though as Lambias has basically confirmed they have lost control of the Rangers boardroom, prior to Friday's EGM to vote them out. Will still have to battle it out with Lambias and Leach to try to get rid of them from their positions of employment within the club without paying them off and there will be a long way to go dealing with the legacy left by this corrupt board but this is a start. I'm delighted.

Or pinnochio

The cretin Lambias caught out making false statements to the London Stock Exchange (not for the first time either). It mostly concerns his claims about his achievements at NUFC. As far as I'm aware he only clarified this after a fan reported his lies. 27 February 2015 Rangers International Football Club plc ("Rangers" the "Club" or the "Company") Clarification of previous announcements James Easdale The announcement issued at 7am on 25 February 2015, in relation to the resignation of James Easdale, states that "He leaves Rangers having never received any remuneration, bonus or compromise payment during his time at the Club." In the Circular to Shareholders dated 6 February 2015 it states "James Easdale has never taken any remuneration from the Company for his role". The Company wishes to clarify that James Easdale was paid director's fees between August 2013 and December 2013, in accordance with his contractual entitlements. However, the amounts received by James Easdale pursuant to these payments were repaid in full to the Club in January 2014. Mr Easdale did not receive any further director's fees at any point, despite being contractually entitled to do so. Derek Llambias The Circular to Shareholders dated 6 February 2015 contains the following text: "The current management team is led by Derek Llambias. Derek Llambias was formerly the Managing Director of Newcastle United Football Club ("NUFC"). Derek joined NUFC in 2007 and in his five year stewardship reformed and improved stadium facilities; increased turnover from £85 million to £123 million and, from making significant losses, NUFC became one of the top 20 most profitable clubs in Europe. Derek brought in the largest ever sponsorship deals in NUFC's history and negotiated shrewdly and resolutely in the fiercely competitive arena of player transfers. One of Derek's most successful and talked about transfers was that of Andy Carroll, originally a NUFC academy player, to Liverpool for £35 million. Another such move was buying Yohan Cabaye for £5 million, a player who NUFC later sold for £19 million." The Company wishes to clarify the following matters: · Derek Llambias joined NUFC in 2008. He initially joined as Deputy Chairman and was appointed as Managing Director in June of that year. · In the financial year ended 30 June 2009 (the first full accounting period after Mr Llambias' appointment), the turnover of Newcastle United Football Company Limited ("NUFCL"), as recorded in their audited accounts for that period, was £85,681,000. · Derek Llambias resigned from his post as Managing Director of NUFC in June 2013. The turnover of NUFCL for the financial year 30 June 2013, as recorded in their audited accounts for that period, was £95,879,000. The figure of £123 million referred to in the Circular was the projected turnover, as at the time of Derek Llambias' departure, in the financial year to 30 June 2014. · In the Deloitte "Football Money League" report for 2011/2012, published in January 2013, Newcastle United were ranked at number 20 in Europe. Newcastle United were also ranked at number 20 in the Forbes list of the richest football clubs in the world, published in April 2013. These were the last rankings published during Mr Llambias' tenure at NUFC. (Although the Club dropped out of the top 20 in both equivalent lists published in 2014, the Deloitte "Football Money League" report for 2013/2014, published in 2015, ranks NUFC at number 19.) Newcastle United did appear in the top 20 of both lists at the start of Mr Llambias' tenure, although dropped out during the intervening period. The Directors believe that is predominantly due to NUFC's relegation in 2009. · Neither of the aforementioned reports ranks clubs solely on the basis of profitability. It should be noted that in the year to 30 June 2008, NUFCL made a loss attributable to members of £20,048,000, and a loss of £14,554,000 for the year to 30 June 2009. In the year to 30 June 2013 however, NUFCL made a profit attributable to members of £8,814,000.

I only popped in for a bit of discussion regarding our common enemy and don't want to end up filling the thread with Rangers posts but I can't help sharing the image from one of our fan share schemes. The 'spivs' in the picture are our chairman, a director and of course, Lambias

Lambias is an utter cunt of a man. Claimed he was attacked in Glasgow at the weekend but it looks to be a bit of PR spin to justify the attempt to hold the EGM away from Glasgow (i.e. it's too dangerous)

Fingers crossed we can get rid of the board at the upcoming EGM. I still wouldn't be surprised if he had something up his sleeve prior to that though to somehow get his claws deeper into us.

Never read Bears Den but I did search it out. From what I can see reading their Boardroom section it seems to have a few crackpots who seem to rule the roost on the forums (or at least try to). I'm assuming it's pretty marginal in terms of fanbase etc Re the money, the losses will decrease as those who are currently boycotting have vowed to return if King etc win the EGM. As far as I'm aware there's also a £40 million share issue that was agreed to at the AGM, although I realise that it will require more than 75% of shareholders to do any further share issues. There is a thought that the Easdale proxy group may crumble if they lose the EGM but time will tell with that one. I'd be amazed if King went down the Admin route to be honest. He's built up a lot of backing and goodwill from the support and much of this would be lost if he went down this path. I can see the possibility of court room battles ahead re the contracts but ultimately I think that will come down to the appetite of the board to go through such expense and time against someone with big pockets. In saying all the above, I'd put up with almost anything if it meant getting rid of the fat, cockney wanker, Ashley (or football cunt -as per the thread title )

I'm saving my fretting for the upcoming EGM. I have no more fret to give.

Paying a Lambias company £120k for PR work (that no one knows a thing about) when the club has it's own PR department. Just another way of funnelling money out of the club and lining their pockets.

The term huns is rather offensive to us mate. Anyway, re the point you've made my understanding is it would be difficult to put us into admin when there are offers of funding on the table. EGM is due to be held on the 4th March so we're hopeful we can vote the crooks out on that date and then get back to rebuilding. The board seem to be having a difficulty finding a venue in London for the EGM and don't seem to want to hold it at Ibrox, probably scared of a repeat of the abuse they received at the AGM.

Rangers Fans Board have announced on their Facebook page that they are expecting to be disbanded by Lambias for releasing the minutes of the meeting without the approval of the club. Apparently it was rather heated at times.

Rangers First now has 10,729 members and it is growing at an incredible pace. Another fans group has over 5,000 member so as things stand there are over 15,000 fans paying monthly contributions to fan share schemes to purchase shares in the club. The figures have rocketed since the announcement that Ashley wanted security over Ibrox and then the acceptance of his loans by the board (i.e. his men Lambias and Leach)

We're already at that stage. He is utterly despised.

It's not really a £10 loan though. Basically the board, who are MA plants of Lambias and Leach, claimed they needed £5m. MA offered this and an offer of £6.5m was offered by the 3 bears consortium, who also wanted 2 seats on the board Then the board suddenly decided they needed £10m part of which was to strengthen the squad. This is just an excuse to try to force out the 3bears offer as all we've done in the transfer window is sell our best player. MA upped his loan offer and 3bears matched this but then decided to go back to their original offer when an EGM was called by someone who is trying to oust the current board. They didn't feel it was worthwhile giving the board £10m when they may not be there in a few weeks time. It then turns out that the offer from MA involved paying back his original £3m loan and has the option for a further £5m so effectively the club has received only £2m from him. At the same time his company witholds £1.6m of the retail dividend that is due to be paid on the basis that money is required to close unprofitable shops. Basically the situation is he has a hold over our retail and uses this to starve us of income whilst at the same time offering loans with ridiculous terms attached that further tighten his grip over our revenue streams. His men are controlling the board so there is absolutely no chance of any other offers of loans etc from outside sources being accepted. When the 3bears loan offer was made the board wanted an assurance that they wouldn't vote against the board in the upcoming EGM. My only hope in this situation is that the current board loses the EGM and those who come in are able to show that the deals that are being done throughout this time have been done for the benefit of one minority shareholder rather than all shareholders. To be honest, even if the best case scenario does come to pass and the board are removed, I can still see us being tied up in legal battles for years to come. It's pretty heartbreaking what's happening to us to be honest. I know that some of you will be hoping that he keeps going with us in the hope he then leaves Newcastle and I can totally understand that point of view. I just wish the fat controlling prick was chased from football altogether. Ultimately as football fans, no matter what team we support there's more that unites us than divides us.

There is a feeling of that as well to a certain extent. He's used to always getting his own way so he's digging his heels in here. Given the fan boycott, the hatred of the board etc etc the income he could make from us is dropping all the time so it does seem that some of it is stubborness and power games.

One thing we have in our favour is that the SFA won't allow him to increase his shareholding to more than 10% of the club. Despite that though he contols the boardroom and has sewn up deals that will see us strangled financially for years to come. However an EGM has now been called and will have to be held within the next 7 weeks. To succeed this needs to basically get 1 more vote (from shareholders) than the Ashley camp. It seems that those who oppose the board now have enough shares and support to overthrow the board. The big conern is what more damage can be done in this 7 weeks.

There are documents and bits of evidence coming out recently that show he may have been involved with the previous board all along. The club was registered using the same company that MASH uses, the adminstrators (who have been charged by the police for their dealings with the club) are also the same company that Ashley uses (Duff and Phelps) and emails seem to be emerging showing other links. In December when the club required funding Ashley offered a loan of £2 million requesting 2 board members for it. Brian Kennedy, someone who had previously tried to buy into the club, offered the same but requested only 1 board member. A leaked email from the chairman shows him requesting Ashley to increase his offer or he'd be forced to accept's Kennedy's thereby risking his and another member their place on the board. Ashley then increased his offer to £3 million and the club announced they accepted the best offer. Kennedy was stunned and said they had never got back to give him any opportunity to revise his offfer. The board then got rid of the chief exec and another board member who were anti-Ashley and they were replaced with Ashley's men. At this time the club also knocked back a £16 million offer from Dave King which was part loan, part equity in the club as they are afraid of him (he called an EGM yesterday asking for the board to be removed). An American, Sarver offered £20 million for ownership of the club but the board never even spoke to him. The so called '3 Bears' recently offered a £5 million loan as the board said they required this till the end of the season. This offer included additional funding in exchange for equity in the future. They have now announced they are stunned that the board have said they need £10 million and so are looking at Ashley's offer as the £5 million figure was the one given by the board themselves. Basically the board (Ashleys men Lambias and Leach) are trying all they can to avoid others being involved in the club. The 3 Bears have now increased their loan offer to £10 million to stop Ashley getting security over Ibrox and the training ground. Here's a link to the story re the leaked email (note that this is re King's offer, I thought it was about Kennedy's) http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leaked-david-somers-email-shows-4870054

It would take more than £20 million given the ongoing boycott. Also, his man Lambias stated at the AGM that he's there to reduce the wage bill etc not spend money. Basically at the moment Ashley is trying to continually give us loans to strengthen his control while at the same time raping the club financially in a way that will strangle our revenues for years to come. I've already given the retail deal as an example but he's also costing us a ton of money on lost advertising revenue as he has SD all over the stadium and no cost to himself. Incredibly the stadium naming rights were sold to him for £1 (that's not a typo, it was one pound). It was then announced that he had agreed to give this up, however in exchange this was to allow his free advertising and a deal that allows him to take over our entire retail arm on the cheap for ever. I sincerely hope both clubs get rid of him as we are both destined to a future of mediocrity as long as he is involved. Despite the atrocious weather last night there was a large protest at Ibrox with fans trying to storm the front doors of the club to get at the board. It's all over the papers up here.

Hi folks Rangers fan here, hope that's okay . I thought I'd register here to join in the discussion re Ashley. I understand that many of you will be hoping he takes over Rangers and leaves Newcastle and obviously I'm very much of the hope that we can get him hunted but hopefully I can help clarify some things. I've seen it asked why we are chasing him when we are heading for bankruptcy. Basically we believe him, along with other board members, are only there to take what they can from the club. Recent accounts have shown that the retail deal we have with SD giveus us only 75p for every £10 spent which seems to be a good bit below what would be expected from such a deal and is far below any previous deals we had. There is also a clause that says the club has to buy any unsold stock at full retal price. He owns less than 9% of the club but is effectively in charge after somehow managing to have the board filled with his own men. With regards to our financial situation, there is an ongoing boycott with fans refusing to attend or buy any merchandise. Attendances given by the club have been greatly inflated by including season ticket holders who are no longer attending (and aren't giving any additional match day revenue). Also, it's telling that from our recent accounts our first team squads wages accounts for only 26% of our revenue, which is well within recommended levels of 60%. Given that we have no scouts, the marketing department has been paid off and even the manager's secretary has been made redundant then it's clear that we don't have a massive wage bill and the problem lies elsewhere. This is fuelling suspicion that the Board are desperate to avoid anyone seeing the books. This is why they have knocked back various offers of income that are better than Ashley's because they know that someone coming in will carry out the necessary due dilligence and find out the facts they are depserate to hide. All the best in your game today. I'll be down the pub watching it later.