Alastair Johnson has more on his plate than just the impending £30M takeover from Craig Whyte, what with the threat of being fined an obscene amount by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs hanging over his head, but the Glasgow Rangers chairman is still obviously fairly involved in the supposed change of the club’s ownership. And, frankly, he doesn’t see particularly trusting of the potential new owner:
Glasgow Rangers Chairman Wants ‘Forcing Mechanism’ For Whyte Takeover
[The takeover] is a two-way street. [Whyte] is still enthusiastically addressing the issue and we are looking at his credentials.
I want a forcing mechanism to force him to do what he says he is going to do in terms of future investment in the club. His agreement with the bank and with David Murray has nothing to do with Rangers. I want assurances of his ability to fund what he says he is going to do.
Craig has to understand the club’s position and the expectation level of the fans. It is very easy to talk about £25m investment, but there must be a forcing mechanism. We must get it into any purchase agreement.
Essentially, the ‘forcing mechanism’ in the takeover would require Whyte to commit to certain promises (presumably to do with funding, cash flown, etc.) upon taking ownership of Rangers. Obviously, the less Whyte has to promise to get the team, the better for him, but if the club was sold without such a mechanism they’d leave themselves badly exposed in case something were to go wrong.
With Rangers already in some financial trouble, they’re well within their rights to force any potential new owner into making certain concessions, and they’ve apparently already briefed Whyte on cash flow requirements for the immediate future. It’s unclear whether the potential monster fine from HMRC has entered into the picture as of yet.
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