I'd tend to agree. I think Lloyds were already keen to get the club off the books.
I believe a "source close to a prospective buyer" from the time was quoted a few weeks back saying that the main problem for their client was the undefined bill. It wasn't even the size of it that was the problem, it was not knowing how big or small it was. Even a fairly hefty bill might not have put some parties off if they'd at least had it quantified so they could have a management plan for it.
All ifs, buts, maybes and guesswork now though unfortunately.
100% correct
No sane investor in the world would touch us at that time.
We were running at a loss and still had a hefty debt to the bank (who were very nervous about the tax bill and wanted their money out before the shit hit the fan and they went into the queue with all the other creditors.
So, even if you bought the club for £1 and paid off the bank their £20m (as was the deal they put their man onto the board to make sure happened) all of a sudden your credit gets whipped away from you as well as no bank would touch us.
So, you outlay £20m and then have to find £1m of your own money per month to keep the club going for say 2 years until the BTC gets resolved (possibly longer)
All of a sudden you find yourself £50m out of pocket and then bang, the tax man wants say £20m (as a conservative estimate) to settle.
Now you are £70m out of pocket, for what? To have something that is still losing money?
If you had £70m to invest, there are lots of less risky, more profitable ventures than buying Rangers at that time.
Only realistic option was buy club, bounce into admin, clear debts and bounce back out, but where do you find someone with the experience to do that effectively?
Step forward Craig Whyte...........