Nacho Novo has hit out at Rangers after revealing that he is facing bankrupcy due to the £1.2m that he received as disguised remuneration which at the time he was told was an EBT.
The Spaniard has suffered a heart-attack and stroke this year as Hector closes in on the bill and claims that he and other former team-mates are suffering from depression with suicidal thoughts.
Novo signed on at Ibrox in 2004 and claims that he just signed the contracts without even understanding English as he denied Her Majesty thousands of pounds to be spend on schools, our brave heroes in the armed services and the National Health Service that saved his life when he was rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke.
His interview is full of contradictions but for the first time a former player blames the club that died in 2012 for putting him on course for bankruptcy
The Spaniard now appears to be in good health and was fit enough to watch his side lose 1-0 to Celtic in the derby fixture last Sunday.
Speaking to the Daily Record about Hector chasing the million pound plus payment he claimed: “It has no impact on me. I don’t care about it because it is not fair on the players – we never asked for EBTs.
“When I went to Rangers, I just wanted to sign the contract and start playing. I would have signed for £10 a week.
“I didn’t care about the money and I didn’t even f****** speak English at the time so I had no idea about these things. I left it all between my agent and the club.
“What I do know is that we also signed a contract which said, if there were any problems in the future, Rangers would deal with them. So I didn’t have anything to worry about. I just wanted to play. Now, years later, the rules have been changed and I find myself in this situation. I can’t go into details but what I can say is it’s just not fair.
“People think football players have millions of pounds in the bank. They don’t realise it’s not like that at all.
What is happening now is affecting the lives of normal guys who used to play football for a living. I’ve seen the pressure they are under and what it has done to them.
“Their lifestyles have changed. They are fighting depression or drinking too much. Marriages are breaking down and some of these guys are feeling suicidal.
“But, after everything I’ve come through, I’m not going to allow it to get to me like that. I’m not bothered about it because I know it’s not fair. It was never about money for me in the first place.”
Novo was ineligible for every match that he played for Rangers (IL) due to one contract not being registered with the SFA, had the side payments been registered they would have formed a contract and been liable for tax.
In July 2017 HMRC won their claim that the payments were disguised remuneration with the players now liable for income tax, national insurance, interest and penalties going back a decade.
It’s believed that Novo’s so-called EBT payments were greater than his contract registered with the authorities.