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Michael Stewart calls out serial loser Murdo Fraser

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Image for Michael Stewart calls out serial loser Murdo Fraser

With the timing of a serial List MSP Murdo Fraser managed to put a fresh focus on the relationship between the 9-year-old club at Ibrox and the SNP Government.

According to Fraser there is open hostility to the club that postponed VAT payments last year after posting losses of £15.9m despite an increase in turnover to £59m.

Those two figures ought to alarm any fan or shareholder but not the List MSP who has put his name to an opinion piece straight out of the Follow Follow Big Book of Paranoia.

Any responsible lender would body-swerve those sort of figures, high risk lenders would apply a very high rate of interest plus bricks and mortar security to any loan facility.

Incredibly the SNP Government has provided a 20 year interest free loan, one that has allowed the club to add John Lundstram and Fashion Sakala to their wage bill.

Fraser’s Fantasy appeared in Wednesday’s Scotsman, today the BBC website revealed the terms and conditions attached to the interest free Scottish Government loans.

Quarterly financial reports are also being issued to ministers by the clubs.

The first repayments are due in September next year but the loan agreements, released to BBC Scotland under freedom of information laws, show the Scottish government can delay this if requested by the clubs.

Any “threatened change in the financial position” is expected to be reported to Scottish ministers immediately and in the event of any club with a loan going into administration, the unpaid money is expected to be paid back with interest.

The conditions affect senior management and directors of the football clubs but not coaching staff. Rangers have borrowed the most from the Scottish government’s Premiership Division Support Fund.

Quarterly financial statements are required in order that the Government can monitor cash flow. Crucially no director loans can be repaid with Dave King scheduled to have a £5m loan repaid by the end of October 2021. If King is repaid then the £3.2m loan is also due to be repaid.

Fraser has returned the focus onto the Ibrox finances, discovering £8.2m by the end of October will be a tough exercise for the company that hasn’t received a seven figure transfer fee since Josh Windass left for the bright lights of Wigan.

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