Can anyone help me out here?
Official documents produced by Duff & Phelps showed the following football creditors (ie those owed money by the now-defunct Rangers FC):
AS St Etienne £252,212.39
Arsenal £136,560.00
Chelsea £238,345.43
Manchester City £328,248.71
Manea Florin Bucharest £37,500.00
Orebro SK £150,000.00
SK Rapid £1,011,763.44
Palermo £205,513.04
Total £2,360,143.01
Celtic £40,337.00
Dundee United £65,981.49
Dunfermline £83,370.13
Hearts £800,000.00
Inverness Caly £39,805.00
Total £1,029,493.62
Taking the Scottish clubs first, we were told that the SPL retained prize monies which were due to Rangers in May 2012 in order to repay these debts. We also know that the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund actually repaid Dunfermline although the actual sum according to the RFFF’s own “accounts” was £80,000.
Yet, in November 2012, it was widely reported that Hearts had rejected an offer of £500,000 to settle the outstanding debt of £800,000. It gets even murkier when you start looking at press reports because in August 2012 it was reported by STV amongst others (following statements by Charles Green) that all debts to Scottish clubs had been paid apart from £500,000 due to Hearts in July 2013. That would mean that only £449,493.62 had actually been repaid as of November 2012 [£1,029,493.62 – (£500,000 + £83,370.13)].
So, how much did the SPL actually withhold from Rangers FC and why did it not pay Hearts? Given that Rangers should have been due something like £2.6m in prize money from the SPL for “finishing” 2nd, and actually received £500k from the SPL during the administration period, I am completely lost as to who and what was actually repaid by the SPL.
Turning to foreign clubs, at the same time as claiming that all Scottish football debts had been paid, Charles Green also claimed that he had sent payment to the SFA to repay all foreign football debts. He also stated that the SFA had rejected this and told Sevco to repay the clubs directly.
It is curious therefore to find that Sevco only repaid SK Rapid in November 2012 following the threat of court action and an appeal to UEFA by the Viennese club. It is even more curious to find that, according to Charles Green, Sevco only paid £800,000 having negotiated direct with SK Rapid.
At which point, we get to the RIFC prospectus from 7 December 2012. This clearly states in setting out income and expenditure for the 3 months to 31 August 2012 that “Non-recurring expenditure includes £2.8 million of repayments in respect of old football creditors, which RFCL [Sevco] committed to paying”. To my mind that states it has been paid especially as the prospectus goes on to state unequivocally that Sevco has no debt as of 31 October 2013 (let’s ignore the fact that £500k was not due to Hearts until July 2013).
The prospectus also states that £740,000 of RFC’s football debts had been repaid by Sevco and that a further 3 clubs were owed a maximum of £1.7m being SK Rapid, Arsenal and GAIS (Gothenburg).
I know what you are thinking – where the hell have GAIS come from?!! Bizarrely they do not appear on the official creditors list produced by Duff & Phelps yet would appear to have been owed £551,676.56 [£1.7m minus £136,560 (Arsenal) and £1,011,763 (SK Rapid)] or even – if we believe the November press reports and Charles Green’s statements about SK Rapid – £851,676. Furthermore, we now have a figure of £2.44m owed in football debts and how can you state on one page that you have no debts and on another page that you still owe £1.7m?
It is worth noting that the combined debt owed to St Etienne, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manea Florin, Orebro, and Palermo is actually £1.2m so either Sevco renegotiated these debts (to get to a figure of £740k) or some haven’t been repaid. Interestingly, sources at Manchester City stated in May 2013 that no payment had been received. I have been unable to ascertain from any other club if and how much they have been paid.
Looking back to GAIS, this must relate of course to the signing of Mervan Celik although the Daily Record reported on 9 February 2012 that Rangers and GAIS were in dispute with GAIS claiming they were owed £240k compensation. One can only assume therefore that this debt had not been accepted by Duff & Phelps as at July 2012 and has been added subsequently either because Sevco accepted it as due or GAIS successfully took legal action or GAIS successfully appealed to UEFA/FIFA. Either way, it doesn’t quite tally with the prospectus which suggests the debt owed is at least £551k.
One would have thought that Sevco’s audited accounts would provide a clearer picture but, alas, no! Page 9, for example, states that £2.4m was paid to clear football debts “incurred pre-administration”. Page 13 then states “Repayment of RFC 2012 plc football debt” as £2.721m. Perhaps what was meant is that £2.4m has actually been paid the balance of £321k is yet to be paid for page 40 states “Football club creditors of RFC 2012 plc taken on by the Group of £251,000 are included within other creditors”?
So what we have is a whole series of numbers which are contradictory and confusing. But perhaps this is unsurprising as we all know Sevconian language and arithmetic are extremely difficult to comprehend. Still, I’m sure the blazers in Hampden will be on top of all of this; it was a key condition of the 5-way agreement after all.
alzipratu 