Rangers administrators 'terminate £25m deal with Ticketus'

Rangers: Mr Green said administrators have informed Ticketus they are terminating the deal.

Rangers administrators have written to Ticketus to terminate a £25m season ticket deal, according to prospective owner Charles Green.

Duff and Phelps informed the London firm of their move to tear up the agreement after a court hearing earlier this year found that Ticketus did not own Ibrox season tickets.

Mr Green said in a statement on the club website on Friday that supporters could now "take heart" from the fact that the Ticketus deal would be terminated.

The London firm said on Friday it believed the tearing up of the contract and it becoming a creditor of Rangers was now "a formality".

Current owner Craig Whyte bought an 85% stake in Rangers for £1 from Sir David Murray last May and used a £25.3m deal with Ticketus for around 100,000 season tickets until 2015 to wipe off the club’s £18m debt with Lloyds Banking Group.

Mr Green, who has entered a "binding agreement" to buy the club that administrators said would be completed on June 6 when a pence in the pound deal is put to creditors in a company voluntary agreement (CVA), also claimed on Friday that he had no intention of raising Ibrox season ticket prices.

He said: "During the last week I have had a number of meetings with supporters' representatives who have raised important issues about the club and the way forward. I have listened to them and a key issue raised with me was the season ticket pricing for next season.

"My initial thoughts prior to these meetings was that season tickets prices should be increased as they had not been raised in the last three years. However, taking on board the fans' concerns, I can confirm that when my consortium completes the purchase of Rangers and takes over the running of the club, season ticket prices will be frozen for next season.

"The club's administrators have informed me they have written to Ticketus to terminate the agreement that is currently in place with the club and supporters can now take heart from the fact that season ticket sales will be as normal.

"Once we are in a position to issue season ticket renewals, and that will be as soon as possible, I would urge all fans to continue showing the tremendous support they have given to the club. The fans are the club's greatest asset and their commitment to season tickets will be an important part of rebuilding Rangers."

Licence

In response to the announcement, Ticketus confirmed it had received a notification of their intention to breach the agreement on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the firm said: "As far as we are concerned it is a formality that the deal will be breached and we become creditors of Rangers in a CVA.

"We can confirm we received notification to breach the agreement from the administrators on Wednesday night and we have a 48 hour period in which to respond to that."

Lord Hodge ruled earlier this year that Ticketus did not own the future season ticket sales, but had a personal right to a licence to sell season tickets for Ibrox, which could be breached by administrators if it was in the interest of the creditors overall.

Mr Green and Ticketus had held discussions over his consortium’s takeover attempt, but no agreement was reached. Now the branch of Octopus Investments will become a creditor in a CVA owed an estimated £27m, having previously been paid £8m of what it was owed.

It has also launched Scottish civil action against Mr Whyte over the £27m in personal guarantees he gave in relation to the deal. Ticketus agreed the deal with Mr Whyte having previously entered into a similar agreement with Rangers while Sir David owned the club in 2009.

The Scottish FA’s judicial panel revealed, in its findings over Rangers and Mr Whyte bringing the game into disrepute, that the club’s financial controller Ken Olverman claimed he had “No knowledge” of the deal until several months after it was struck, when HM Revenue and Customs contacted him regarding VAT offset invoices found with Ticketus from Rangers FC. He told the panel he did not think the papers looked like normal invoices sent out by Rangers but ones that had been done using "Clip Art" in Micorsoft Word. Mr Olverman did not raise his concerns with anyone at the club, including Mr Whyte.

On Friday Mr Green also claimed that he planned to continue keeping Rangers trading on a stock market should his takeover be completed, after the closure of Plus Stock Exchange, which it currently trades on.

Plus suspended Rangers from trading at the end of last year and fined Mr Whyte £50,000 for his failure to disclose his previous seven years directorship ban when he bough the club last year.

Mr Green said: "In view of the public announcement this week that the Plus Market is to close, I can inform all supporters that it is our intention to make arrangements to list Rangers Football Club on an alternative market at the earliest opportunity. This is, of course, subject to meeting any requirements to list and having approval from all relevant authorities."

Duff and Phelps last week accepted the bid from Mr Green’s consortium, which he claims is made up of 20 individuals and families from different parts of the world. His offer consists of £8.5m used to pay administrators’ costs, followed by secured creditors, before the remainder, if any, is offered to unsecured creditors in a CVA.

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