Friday verdict in £300,000 wifi claim against Sevco
Coatbridge based 802 Work Ltd took the troubled football company to court for the sum following the breakdown of the contract which was billed as a market leading project when installed in July 2013.
After a two day hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court the outcome of the arrestment claim will be announced on Friday.
News of the case going to court is bound to make other creditors nervous with the company still to announce how they intend covering the £2.5m going concern warning that was contained in their audited accounts for the year to 30 June 2015. The accounts didn’t cover the £5m loan to Sports Direct.
Being forced to pay out £300,000 or having the money ring fenced is bound to be a major blow to Mark Warburton’s transfer warchest as Sevco battle with Falkirk and Hibs at the top of The Championship.
Update: It appears that today’s case was to make permanent an interim interdict awarded on December 31 to arrest (ring fence) £300,000 from Sevco’s Metro Bank account.
The introduction of wi-fi was viewed as a major breakthrough allowing the club to keep fans upto date with matchday news and open up an active market to sponsors.
Announcing the deal in 2013 the club stated: “The market-leading project will ultimately give every fan seated at Ibrox – as well as those in the approaches, concourse, restaurants and corporate areas – full, instant access to content-rich media and allow them to participate in real-time interactions with the club.
“Starting in August on a stand-by-stand basis, the phased development will allow Rangers to engage with fans and create the best possible matchday experience.
“The new set-up will remove connectivity problems in high-density areas and ultimately give 50,000+ supporters access to club competitions, merchandising, media, forthcoming events and enhanced fan/club engagement.
“Stadium WiFi has been under discussion at Rangers for a number of years following fan demand, with supporters wanting to access the full panoply of internet sport while at the ground, but being frustrated by 3G mobile network download speeds.”
At their November AGM Sevco told shareholders that the WiFi was broken, it appears that the off switch was pressed by 802 Work Ltd in an attempt to recover money owed.
FOLLOW James Doleman to keep up with all the running court cases.