SANDY EASDALE OPEN TO RANGERS INVESTMENT OFFER FROM THREE BEARS A glimmer of a Christmas truce could result in a consortium of potential investors having talks with the Rangers board. The club needs £8.3m to survive the season after a proposal to have a wide-ranging share issue was defeated at the recent annual meeting. This development was seen to have left the fate of Rangers in the hands of Mike Ashley, the Newcastle United owner who has loaned the club £3m but whose growing influence at the club has attracted charges from the Scottish Football Association. The SFA board has also blocked a move by the Sports Direct tycoon to increase his shareholding in the club to 29.9 per cent. The Herald revealed last week that George Letham, George Taylor and Douglas Park had offered to underwrite £6.5m of any share issue but this plan was immediately scuppered when that proposal was defeated in the agm vote. Letham, who has loaned Rangers £1m in the past, Young, who owns 3 per cent of the club, and Park, the car and coach magnate, were still keen to invest and signalled this to both the board and WH Ireland, the nominated advisor of the club. Today they received an invitation to talks in the shape of a statement from Jack Irvine, advisor to Sandy Easdale, chairman of the Rangers football board. Irvine said: Sandy would welcome investment from Douglas Park and his friends. As regards board seats that is not his decision. The initial offer from the consortium, known as the Three Bears because of the members support for Rangers, was conditional on receiving two seats on the board. A spokesman for the consortium said last night: Representatives of the company have made contact with our group following our original proposal and we are considering our response. The Herald understands, though, that no deal is imminent with talks still to be arranged. High on the agenda will be how the money can be put into the club and what security can be offered. It has been reported that David Somers, the Rangers chairman, has spent some of the festive period trying to persuade investors to come aboard a club that faces pressing financial problems. It is as yet unclear how Ashley views his link to the club. Derek Llambias, a close associate of the English businessman, was appointed chief executive earlier this month and has warned of hard decisions that have to be made to keep the club as a viable enterprise. A City source said last night that Ashley would primarily be concerned about protecting his merchandise deal with the club. His stance, though, is key to any development in terms of financial investment by others, not least because he is owed £3m and his merchandising deal appears to have more benefit to Sports Direct than to the club in financial terms.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 19:46:23 +0000