Wallace continues fire fighting as Ahmad reappears
The former commercial guru was sacked by the club in April but will have a two hour hearing with Lord Tyre in Edinburgh today over unpaid bonuses from his stint at Ibrox.
Ahmad is expected to call on Charles Green as a witness with the big ‘anded Yorkshireman responsible for bringing Laxey Partners and Sandy Easdale, who served a prison term for VAT fraud, to Ibrox.
Wallace, who once worked for Manchester City, is halfway through his 120 review of the clubs finances and is starting to show the strain of defending the clubs’ position as rumours circulate about the precarious state of finances.
Yesterday’s statement, which the club was delighted to announce, even set off some alarm bells and concern among supporters and shareholders who are normally happy to accept whatever they are told as good news.
The announcement stated that the loans, from Easdale and Laxey, was for working capital with Wallace denying that it was needed to meet Thursday’s February payroll.
In one of many media interviews he told the Daily Mail: “It’s important to say the need for that facility had been identified for some time. This is not a panic move or a crisis move.
“What we have done over the past couple of months is look at the timing and the quantum of the short-term facility.
“Football clubs are a very cyclical business. Most of the income is generated between May and August and is used over the course of the year.
“What we are really doing here is just giving ourselves a little bit of financial headroom as we move through the next few months. It’s really no different than you would probably expect to find in most businesses.”
Since holding a conceptual discussion with Lee McCulloch about the players taking a pay cut Wallace has been at pains to stress that there is no danger of the new club going into administration.
While the old club was forced into administration for non-payment of income tax and National Insurance to HMRC the new club is in difficulty meeting it’s monthly commitments to staff and other overheads.
Responding to claims that administration is days away Waldo added: “We are constantly seeing reports about a financial crisis here. I don’t believe there is any crisis.
“I’ve said personally many times that there is no prospect of this business going into administration. As I work with the information on a daily basis, I’m probably more informed than anyone to make that judgement.
“You do wonder how many times you have to come out and give that reassurance before segments of the wider community will actually accept the statement at face value.”
Having burnt their way through £22m from the December 2012 with nothing tangible to show for the cash Dave King is viewed as the next saviour by concerned supporters.
The man described by a South African judge as a glib and shameless liar has issued lots of soundbites in recent months without offering any solutions to the cash crisis.
Speaking to The Sun Wallace explained that King had walked away from investing in the club.
“The board have been in contact with Dave recently and he has been in touch with us,” the former Manchester City supremo explained. “He has intimated to Rangers he would be willing to participate as an investor, if and when we decide to do further equity raising.
“Dave has made no offers or suggestions to us other than that. It is important to state that in any future equity raising, we would expect existing shareholders to be strongly interested in standing behind that.”
Meanwhile Sevco chairman David Somers is believed to be enjoying an extended holiday.
THIS WEEK’S COURT HEARINGS (Ahmad v Rangers one third of the way down)