Are the administrators being straight about interest in the club from the far east and north America? Not quite one assumes; rather, I suspect a nibble from those directions became a valuable media tool in firming up bids from serious parties — ie: Paul Murray and the ‘Knights’.
Also — is Kennedy really prepared to put in several tens of millions if the big HMRC case is lost — as an act of what he sees as duty to Rangers? This from a man who says he plays the game of business to win. If push came to shove, he may not feel so willing to part with his own cash, not at least standing alone.
There is another matter too — one which has to be cleared up before anything can move forward. Are Duff and Phelps legally the administrators? A hearing is to be held at the Court of Session in Edinburgh next week to settle the issue after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) claimed it had not been notified that the firm had been appointed, meaning administration was not legally binding.
Yet none of these issues truly gets to the heart of the matter which as far as I can see is this — is Craig Whyte prepared to sell? Is he willing to move aside and let those who would now run Rangers do so?
The short answer has to be yes — but with the delicious caveat — only if the price is right. If the terms are not, if the deal to walk does not profit him personally, then surely the battle for Rangers will slowly grid its way through the courts for months to come. That is something the club can ill afford — it will stymie every aspect of an already fractured business, meaning the current mess just sits there, stinking on the front steps of ‘the big house’.
In order to retain even some of the more able players at Ibrox, and so preserve a semblance of normality, Paul Murray, Brian Kennedy or whomsoever emerges will have to take the plunge and pay off the current owner/major creditor, no matter the wishful thinking that he may sink beneath the waves and out of sight forever.
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