There is "an old adage that you don’t make money from investing in football but this ongoing omnishambles at Ibrox bucks that trend quite spectacularly," according to Keith Jackson of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. Lately, Scottish League 1 Rangers "have been a sure thing." When former Rangers Owner Craig Whyte handed over his £1 ($1.60) coin to then-Rangers Owner David Murray on May 6, 2011, he was in fact, "unlocking a jackpot." He was also "opening up a financial scandal." Ever since, the "level of sheer greed around this bloated cash cow of a club has been truly shameful and staggering." Also, it "appears to be unrelenting." Just last week the club "announced annual losses" in excess of £14M ($22.5M). Between then and now, "enormous sums have come and gone." There is "no precise way" of knowing how much former director Donald Muir profited. Given that "his paymasters at Lloyds wiped out" an £18M ($29M) debt overnight and "also freed itself from the spectre" of a £50M ($80.4M) tax bill, it "seems safe to assume Muir's reward would have been suitably juicy." This "was only just the beginning." One of "Whyte's closest allies during the takeover was David Grier of Merchant Corporate Recovery." In '11, "shortly after Whyte was in place, MCR was bought over" by administrators Duff & Phelps. The "final bill for their services" came to more than £5.5M ($8.8M). This, "of course, was after Whyte had raised" £27M ($43.4M) from a season-ticket deal with Ticketus. So "how far has Whyte's pound stretched by this stage?" Conservatively -- and even without that phantom £50M EBT bill -- more than £70M ($112.6M) worth of "solid trading has now been accounted for on the back of his initial transaction." We "know the rest inside out." Two "lumps of season ticket cash, fetching a combined total" of around £16M ($25.7M). An "initial cash injection into the Newco" of £12M ($19.3M). In Dec. '12, an IPO worth a further £22M ($35.4M). Is the Ibrox "totaliser" now at £125M ($201M)? All "divvied up on the back of a one pound deal." It is a "disgusting tale of sickening greed, dragged out over a sustained two-and-a-half year period of obscene scavenging" (DAILY RECORD, 10/7).
