Rangers fans’ grave concerns as Wallace is pressed to reveal season-ticket sales
THE Union of Fans pressure group has demanded Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace ‘come clean’ on the precise scale of the club’s season-ticket sales and the resultant impact on the health of Ibrox finances.
There has been no announcement from Rangers on the number of season books snapped up — two weeks after the closure of the renewal deadline for existing holders to purchase for the Championship campaign.
Chris Graham, spokesman for the Union of Fans, insists the absence of clarity on the matter should be an issue ‘of grave concern for shareholders and supporters alike’.
For as per the terms on loan arrangements the club agreed in February with director Sandy Easdale and supporter George Letham, those debts, which total £1.5million, must be paid as soon as the club has sufficient cleared funds to do so.
So far, there have only been suggestions surfacing from within the club that 15,000 season books have been sold amid an orchestrated boycott by supporters in favour of former director Dave King’s efforts to oust the board.
But there has been no confirmation of the repayment settlements to Easdale or wealthy businessman Letham.
Graham said: ‘It has now been over six weeks since season tickets for the 2014-15 season went on sale and more than two weeks since the renewal deadline.
‘We urge chief executive Graham Wallace and the board to come clean about how many season tickets they have sold and how much cleared income in the bank the sales have provided.
‘If and when the cash figure reaches £1.5m, the board, as they announced to the Stock Exchange when the loans were negotiated, must immediately pay Sandy Easdale £500,000 and George Letham £1m.
‘For the avoidance of doubt, if these loans have not yet been repaid, it means he board have not yet secured £1.5m of season-ticket money — or they have broken the repayment terms of these loans.’
Since credit firm First Data withdrew their facility from the club, Rangers have given fans the opportunity to pay season tickets in four instalments. That has caused a further blockage in revenue streams.
Yet, as soon as the cash flow tops the £1.5m mark, the money must be returned to the two lenders — landing Rangers back with another liquidity issue to solve. The potentially alarming shortfall in income comes at a time when manager Ally McCoist will be eager to augment his squad, highlighted as Wallace’s prime aim when he spoke in the wake of publishing his business review.
McCoist is hoping to add new signings such as Kenny Miller, Shaun Hutchinson and Craig Gordon to his first-team squad as Rangers prepare to tackle the final step back to the top flight.
Graham added: ‘How do the board plan to strengthen the playing squad ahead of what will be an extremely competitive Championship next season?
‘Have the board made any tangible progress on the plans they outlined in their business review? Has a new head scout been appointed?
‘It is time for Graham Wallace to spell out the facts. If this has to be done in opposition to other board members, or indeed any other shareholder with disproportionate influence in the boardroom, who is not a member of the plc board, then so be it.
‘Instead of the normal announcement on season-ticket sales following the renewal deadline, there has been silence — aside from briefings to journalists from PR men that the board claim to have sacked.
‘Instead of these briefings, we would ask the board to make a clear statement of the number of fans who have renewed to the AIM market in order that supporters and shareholders can rely on the accuracy of the figure given.
‘We also believe it must be something which is being monitored by auditors, Deloitte. When we met Graham Wallace on May 14, he again reiterated that there was “no possibility of administration”.
‘We would therefore ask him to make it clear how the club plans to operate at what we believe is a greatly reduced level of season-ticket sales.
‘Will the board now access the £5m of equity finance, which they claimed was available at ‘the push of a button’?
‘Will they be moving forward the rights issue, which they claimed all but one of the major investors had promised they would support fully?’