Scottish Championship side Rangers "hope to escape another financial collapse by inviting a Malaysian moneyman -- who already owns a football club -- to pump money into Ibrox," according to Keith Jackson of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. Malaysian Super League side Felda United Chair Datuk Faizoull Bin Ahmad "is the potential sugar daddy who has been given the full VIP treatment over a 48-hour visit to Glasgow as the crisis-hit club scrambles to stave off a second financial collapse in two-and-a-half years." Bin Ahmad and two associates had lunch with Rangers Dir Sandy Easdale "and Rafat Rizvi, the Interpol-wanted fraudster, with links to the disgraced Charles Green regime." Bin Ahmad and his group "were given a guided tour of Ibrox on Monday before staying overnight at the plush Mar Hall Hotel in Renfrewshire." The club is in "desperate need of a cash injection" and is urgently attempting to cobble together £4M ($6.4M) from an emergency share issue which will close Thursday at 11am. If the sale fails to raise enough cash, "then the club faces the prospect of insolvency and being unable to meet the next wage bill, which is due on the last Thursday of this month" (
DAILY RECORD, 9/10). In a separate article, Jackson wrote Easdale and Rizvi "might rescue the club." It is understood Rizvi "is acting as a middle man in the proposed deal." Rizvi "was an original backer" of Green’s disastrous takeover. And he has business links with Imran Ahmad, "the sacked commercial director engaged in a legal battle" to have £620,000 ($1M) taken from the club’s account (
DAILY RECORD, 9/10). The BBC's Richard Wilson reported Rangers "denied
a media report" that Bin Ahmad is considering investing in the club. The club insisted that "Bin Ahmad's trip was not connected with putting money into the club" (
BBC, 9/10).
