Paul Murray has revealed how he turned to the Daily Record in 2012 to save Rangers.
In November 2010 James Traynor and Keith Jackson introduced the former billionaire to the Record’s army of readers, emphasising his wealth they explained that he had a castle in the Highland.
Virtually nothing was known of Whyte before his Daily Record introduction. Within 24 hours of the breaking news Internet Bampots had discovered that the man from Motherwell had a very dubious background with a string of broken business ventures leaving behind a trail of debt.
Still the Record championed the case for Whyte, speculating on the front loading of a transfer war-chest while the asking price for the toxic club crumbled from £30m to a pound coin.
In May 2011 Whyte took control from Dave Murray, cheered down Edmiston Drive by thousands of Record readers sneering at jealous Selik fans as they saluted the billionaire owner of their club.
Paul Murray barely uttered a word in public, instead he briefed a few reporters after Whyte sussed him out, removing his cherished blazer and brogues.
Seven months after Whyte took charge the inevitable happened. Ally McCoist’s failure to beat Malmo or Maribor had proved to be catastrophic with HMRC about to put the club in administration to salvage something for Queen Elizabeth.
Reliving those dark days, the Daily Record today reports on Murray’s recollection of a meeting HMRC towards the end of January 2012 with Dave King joining the conference call from South Africa:
What they were about to learn left both men speechless. The full scale of Whyte’s secret £27m deal with Ticketus was laid out before them. It was the moment they realised a tidal wave crashing towards Ibrox.
Murray says: “For legal reasons they couldn’t give us the documents and we weren’t allowed to make copies. It was my job to study what they showed and relay the information down the line to Dave. Effectively, I was his nominated representative in the room.
“I could not believe what I was being set out. They showed us documents and bank statements which proved that £27m worth of future season tickets had been sold. And I was having to explain it all to Dave, one bit of paper after the next. It was mindblowing.
“Dave immediately understood what we were looking at. It was the end of the line. All over. There could be no way back from this.
“We had obviously had our concerns for some time. But to actually see it in black and white? Knowing what it meant to the club. It felt like being hit by a hammer right between the eyes.
“At the end of the meeting I said to them, ‘What do you want us to do with this?’ They just said, ‘Get it out publicly. We want this story to be told’.
“So, with HMRC’s agreement I came to you guys with the story because the Daily Record had been the only newspaper trying to uncover the truth from the start. You had already written about what he had done in June of that year. But this was worse than anyone had suspected. Much, much worse.”
In June 2012 King and Her Majesty voted against a CVA forcing the club that Murray loved into liquidation.
Spoiler alert the club and company where liquidate on
31 October 2012 by Malcolm Cohen and James Stephen of BDO LLP were appointed Joint Liquidators.*29 May 2012 Incorporation Sevco.
*Name change on 31 Jul 2012https://t.co/fKqztzLSDr pic.twitter.com/jKRgHOkWA5— Celtic SC©®™ (@Celtic67Fins72) February 15, 2022
Oh how we loved that glorious day the pub team Tribute Act kicked the baw intae the hedge at Brechin lol! Fast Forward 10 yrs & we’re on the brink of our 5th TREBLE IN 6 YRS whilst the FILTH celebrate winning.. Erm Fuk Aw WHAHAHAHAHA!! Cannot wait tae see the HUN SCUM dancing about on their 10th Anniversary whilst yet again the ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT HOOPS hold every Domestic Trophy!! They’re still ra Peepul tho aren’t they BAWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
the daily radar got to the truth when they printed in a front page headline that 140 years of history has ended, we will never let them forget that.