Rangers step up war with BBC
Under SPL and SFA rules clubs are obliged to deal with partner broadcasters with the BBC having deals for the Scottish Cup and SPL.
Rangers are furious about a programme being shown tomorrow which is expected to look into the business background of Craig Whyte who was popularly claimed to be a Motherwell born billionaire who owns a castle when he was first linked with buying out Sir David Murray’s shareholding in the club.
After five months of due diligence Whyte paid £1 to buy Rangers in May but with a potential tax bill of around £60m on the horizon and three court orders freezing the clubs’ bank accounts it seems that the BBC have finally decided to investigate Whyte and the state of Rangers as a business.
Yesterday Rangers announced a complete ban on the BBC with an Ibrox source explaining the situation in The Sun.
The source said: “Whyte has always refused to discuss his personal or business dealings.
“He did tell the BBC he would co-operate on how Rangers have got into the state they are in. The BBC were not happy with that.
“Some of the questions they wanted to ask had nothing to do with Rangers or the club’s situation. It appeared quite clearly the programme was just going to be a stitch-up.
“The club has been appalled at some of the negative reporting it and its fans has received from the BBC.”
The fall out with the BBC seems remarkable considering that Rangers Director of Football Gordon Smith was in his second stint with the BBC in June before quitting to work with Whyte.
In April presenters Chick Young and James Traynor attracted ridicule as they squabbled on air describing each other as a Rangers cheerleader and a Rangers puppet.
Former Rangers players Billy Dodds and Craig Paterson are amongst the most regular pundits/experts on Radio Scotland with Derek Ferguson, brother of Barry, also climbing the ranks.
Responding to the ban and accusations of an agenda against the club a BBC statement read: “All of our reporting of matters pertinent to the running of Rangers FC reflects the high standard expected of the BBC. The club has also made specific criticisms of a documentary scheduled for transmission.
“We’ve assured them that rigorous editorial standards will be applied and nothing will be broadcast that is not both accurate and in the public interest.”
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