Let me start by outlining my position on the trust before explaining why. I am not in favour of brinkmanship, especially with the Club’s health and future at stake. I don’t believe the season ticket trust will work, because I believe the premise is flawed. It has been promoted as fans using their leverage/influence; the reality is, as I will hopefully demonstrate, that the board and owners have the leverage. They control the assets and not one of them look upon the Club with the affection fans do – in a stand-off such as this, that affection is a weakness.
The first question I have, which has to be answered before all else is this; what happens in the event the Club refuses the terms? Or, to put it another way, is it a boycott?
No matter which answer it is, there’s an issue.
Answer 1 – boycott.
This, as confirmed by the accounts, will lead to secured borrowing over Ibrox and/or Auchenhowie, thus defeating the entire point of the trust. The rebuttal to this point I’ve seen so far is “why wouldn’t they agree to security for fans if they’re willing to give security to a lender?”.
It’s a fair question, but surely the people interested in the trust are doing so because they don’t trust the board in the first instance? They want security for the fans so that the stadium can’t be sold or money borrowed against it, so if that is your stance, why would you trust the current board to act in the interests of anyone other than the controlling shareholders? Aren’t you giving a board, who you already don’t trust, an excuse to do the thing that you’re trying to prevent from happening? Isn’t that self-defeating?
Answer 2 – no boycott.
This is an admission that in any case the board will receive the money, thus there is no leverage at all to cede to the trust’s demands.
Let’s go back to answer one again.
If it is a boycott, and the season ticket trust gets, for example, 3,000 fans to take part. Let’s assume the Club ignore it. Don’t interact with it and certainly don’t concede to it. Do those 3,000 fans have a mechanism to get their money back? If they do, how do the proposers of the trust plan to;
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Cover the insurance costs, and;
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Cover the legal/professional fees associated with carrying out an activity regulated by the Financial Services and Markets Act
If they don’t have that mechanism, then fans are obviously putting their money at risk.
On the security itself, which organisation will actually be assigned the security? The Association? The Assembly? The Rangers Supporters Trust? The season ticket trust itself, and if so, how? Or will the Union of Fans formalise their structure?
The premise of the Trust, it seems, is that they hope to make sure that Ibrox & Auchenhowie can’t be sold or used as security for other loans. In the very recent accounts, our fixed assets were worth over £43m. In theory, that means you can secure loans against the value of those assets. Gate receipts in 12/13 totalled £13.224m – and that figure also includes matchday tickets. Actual season ticket income would probably account for around £8m of that figure, but for the purpose of this demonstration, it’s not important.
Let’s assume that £13m is only season ticket income. If that £13m is secured against assets, in theory you can still borrow another £30m against the Club’s assets – so how does the security prevent the board from securing other loans against Ibrox?
In wrapping up, here are a list of other issues facing the trust;
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Who will pay the cost of the trust?
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Legal fees will be significant, with a trust covering both commercial and trust law in-depth
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Escrow fees
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I have been informed it would cost in the region of £150k
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How will it deal with VAT?
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How will it deal with FCA rules on becoming a bank?
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How will it deal with credit card payments?
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Consumer credit act?
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Corporation tax?
Less legal questions;
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How do I keep my seat?
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Who is actually leading it?
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Who are the trustees? Who am I trusting with my money?
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Why is Dave King no longer involved?
There are other questions too, I’m sure, but I think I’ve listed enough to make my point. It might well be that a revolutionary structure is unveiled that answers all of my questions, but so far I haven’t seen a convincing answer to the first question I listed let alone the ones which you have to scratch below the surface to see.
We Are Rangers 