Rangers fans assured tax case will not affect ‘Newco’

A ruling on the use of 
Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) throughout the first decade of the century at Ibrox is believed to be imminent but, according to the ‘newco’ Rangers, any sum due will only be added to the debt left when the original Rangers were consigned to 
liquidation.

A statement on the club’s website read: “There has been growing speculation recently that an announcement from the First Tier Tax tribunal is imminent. The club has no knowledge of when such an announcement will be made.

“However, the club, as it now stands as part of The Rangers Football Club Ltd, has been 
informed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs that any 
decision by the First Tier Tax Tribunal will not affect the operations of The Rangers Football Club Ltd.”

The statement added: “HMRC have recently reaffirmed this position to the club’s tax advisers, Deloitte. The Rangers Football Club Ltd is a company free of 
external debt and all liabilities relating to ‘oldco’ are a matter for the administrators.”

As Rangers prepare to play Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup at Ibrox this evening, manager Ally McCoist said he would warmly welcome Walter Smith back to Ibrox but will not exhort his former mentor to take up Charles Green’s offer of a role at the club.

Green revealed in an interview this week that he has held talks with the two-times former Rangers manager and offered him a position as a director or advisor. The 64-year-old retired in May 2011 but has kept in close contact with McCoist as his 
successor has presided over a turbulent period in which Rangers went into liquidation and the club was relaunched in the Irn-Bru Third Division.

Said McCoist: “It’s a no-brainer if you can get someone of 
Walter’s respect and history and everything that he has brought to our football club and indeed Scottish football.

“But he has not listened to me for a number of years, never 
listened to me, and I don’t suppose he will now.

“I speak to Walter on a very regular basis but I think the one thing Walter has earned is the time and the opportunity to do what he is doing at the moment, whether that’s spend more time with the grandkids and Ethel, and maybe golf or going on holiday. I don’t think anyone can grudge him that.

“But I assume Walter knows the door of this football club is absolutely open to him. It would be a no-brainer for me, the club and certainly for Charles and I think it would be a no-brainer for the support but I don’t think he deserves to be put under any pressure.”