Fans cautious on Rangers takeover

Tue 4th May 2010 | Clubs Ownership

Andrew Ellis' revelation that he is looking to complete the takeover of Rangers later this month will be met with "qualified optimism" by the Ibrox support, according to Rangers Supporters Trust spokesman David Edgar.

Rangers are just under £30million in debt and are under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs over a tax issue but property developer Ellis is pressing on with his plans to buy the Clydesdale Bank Premier League champions.

He claimed that if his reported takeover bid of £33million goes through, he will offer manager Walter Smith a new contract and also offer the role of life president to the club's owner Sir David Murray.

Smith and his assistants Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall have been working without a contract since January.

Ellis said: "The bid includes all the club's debt and I'm optimistic there will be serious developments in the next three to four weeks."

Edgar said that the RST will meet up with Ellis in the forthcoming weeks to seek answers to questions that are being asked by the whole of the Rangers support.

He said: "I suppose you could say the news has been met with qualified optimism.

"We don't know a lot about him and we couldn't find out a lot about him during the due diligence process.

"We had informal discussions with his representatives recently but at this stage we simply do not know enough.

"Now we look forward to hearing answers to some pertinent questions, the first one, of course, being, 'why bid for Rangers?'

"He has no historical connection with the club although that is not necessarily a bad thing.

"We also want to know where he sees the club in a few years' time, so there are concerns.

"But what I will stress is that Andrew Ellis has conducted himself perfectly through the negotiations.

"He has been doing all the right things.

"If the bid goes through it will take the club out of the bank's control which is fantastic.

"But the Rangers support is suspicious; promises have been made in the past and not kept.

"Andrew Ellis will have to deliver what he says he will deliver and if he does he will get the full support of the fans."

Ellis' promise to give Murray the role of life president will not go down well with the Rangers support, according to Edgar.

He said: "It's a joke but I'm sure Andrew Ellis has his own reasons for this."

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