The desperate final days of the David Murray regime were laid bare at the Craig Whyte fraud trial today.
Pressure from Lloyds Bank and HMRC pushing for payment of the £2.8m owed on the Wee Tax Case led to panic in the Blue Room with only an unlikely billionaire from Motherwell willing to take on the troubled company.
Ian Shanks from Lloyds was in the witness box today and admitted that the bank feared the impact in Scotland of being associated with the club going into administration.
A fierce debt reduction programme was enforced but against that measure former Chief Executive Martin Bain was looking for a £1m pay off to quit the club.
Bain is credited with pleading with Murray not to take Whyte’s pound coin but amid his concerns for the debt ridden company he was looking for a lucrative golden good-bye.
Findlay “You didn’t want the bad publicity”
Shanks “There was bad publicity around this all the time”#WhyteTrial— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Findlay compares Rangers board as “Turkeys voting for Christmas”
“Yes, Shanks replies’— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Email “Martin Bain has sent letter to board asking for £1m to go” adds “we believe contract is invalid as never ratified by board”
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Email continues on Martin Bain;
“I’m sure the Rangers fans would be interested in what he’d been up to when club in financial difficulties “— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Email continues “Been in contact with a few selected journalists yesterday.. attention turned away from BMG board”
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Findlay “The bank was going to the media to protect its image”?
Shanks “We didn’t trust the Rangers board”
1/2— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Findlay “This was the mess Mr Whyte was going into
2/2— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Email “If Craig does not put in the cash he will be hounded by the fans, not Murray”
Findlay “what does that have to do with the bank?”— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
Findlay “All the wotsit would fall on his [Whyte’s] head not the banks. Murray knew there were no guarantees”
Shanks “Correct”— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 2, 2017
The trial continues and is expected to run for another nine weeks.
