IT’s the news that has every Rangers fan on the edge of their seat.
The Ibrox club are in advanced talks with NFL giants San Francisco 49ers over a stunning takeover which would see supremo Paraag Marathe take control in Govan.
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Paraag Marathe is set to take over at RangersCredit: Getty
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Dave King wil make way for Marathe to come inCredit: PA
A deal could be struck before the end of the season and fans are already beginning to wonder how things will look and what will change within the club with the US-based consortium at the helm.
From Philippe Clement’s future in Glasgow to the massive financial gap between Rangers and Celtic.
SunSport’s Andy Devlin has answered FIVE burning questions which are no doubt at the forefront of Rangers fans’ minds this week.
Here’s everything our man has to say:
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How much money will be available?
“You’re dealing with the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers, a worldwide recognised franchise with serious financial clout and muscle.
“But they won’t be throwing £50million or £100million at it. You can forget that as financial play player rules would prevent that anyway.
“But there is a structure in place at Leeds United. They were obviously relegated and didn’t come straight back up but they now find themselves top of the championship and two points clear.
“I spoke to a couple of ex-Leeds United players who tell me that just now, it’s arguably the best squad that they’ve seen constructed in their lifetime at Elland Road.
“But that hasn’t been done in the space of one summer, one transfer window.
“It’s taken until now for them to do that. But they’re in a very strong position. You would say that they’re getting back in at the Premier League for the start of next season.”
San Francisco 49ers supremo leads on Rangers takeover
Should fans be excited or have any reservations?
“We are 10 years on from regime change, where Dave King and Paul Murray and the Three Bears finally wrestled back control of Rangers. You’re 10 years on from that.
“Before that, everybody knows what happened with Craig Whyte and various other people coming on the scene. Rangers have always been guarded against that kind of thing happening again.
“Rangers fans are excited by this and rightly so. This is the first chink of light, hope for the future, for a brighter future for Rangers fans. So this is something they’re going to cling on to.
“They’ve obviously got European football to look forward to, but at least now beyond that, they can see, right, OK, there is money going to come in the club. There could be the foundation there.
“And you look at what they’ve done at Leeds United, the strategy in place. It’s proper people who know how to structure a football club, know how to operate a football club.”
Can Gers close gap on Celtic?
“The longer Celtic’s dominance went on and the more money they banked from the Champions League, it was going to take something revolutionary to get Rangers back on an even keel with Celtic.
“I think Dave King highlighted it back in September, when John Bennett stood down initially as chairman, that there was significant investor fatigue, and I think that’s how we can call this.
“I think the club Rangers have reached a stage where they need to find somebody who can give them a tranche of money that will see them spend significantly in the summer to try and bridge that gap between themselves and Celtic.
Who owns Rangers?
As the San Francisco 49ers pursue potential investment in Rangers, SunSport looks at who own the biggest blocks of shares at Ibrox
Dave King 12.96%
Borita Investments & Perron Investment (owned by directors Julian Wolhardt and John Halsted) 12.69%
Douglas Park 11.54%
George Taylor 10.22%
Stuart Gibson 9.53%
John Bennett 7.11%
“That wasn’t going to happen under the current regime and under the current model, where you’re just going round and round in a circle of soft loans, paying back interest in soft loans, and never getting out of that, never breaking that cycle.
“It was going to take something seismic like this, and that’s where we are just now.
“The size of the gap between Rangers and Celtic is astronomical.
“So it’s not going to happen overnight for Rangers. But this is the first chink of light and the first good bit of news in that regard that Rangers fans have had.”
What is the future of Philippe Clement?
“Rangers and Celtic managers don’t survive the magnitude of losing to a championship team at home in the Scottish Cup. It just doesn’t happen.
“Philippe Clement is the exception to that rule.
“He’s still in a job. This is why he’s still in a job. I don’t think Patrick Stewart would have gone in there knowing what he clearly has known and sacked Philippe Clement on the Monday morning or the Sunday night after the game, then hired a manager to come in to oversee the remainder of the season to potentially then sack him in the summer for a new man to come in.
“As we all know, these things are always the same.
“When you have a takeover of this size and of this magnitude, when new people come into a club, they want to bring their own people, their own staff, their own coaches, implement their own ideas.
“So what I think this will do, it will probably safeguard Philippe Clement in the job until the end of the season. I don’t think they’re going to sack him now. I think that’s pretty clear.
“I would be amazed if he is the Rangers manager beyond the summer, because you’ll have this consortium coming in with their own ideas. If they don’t see Philippe Clement as the man to take the club forward, so any money they have to spend in the summer, they’re not going to give it to him.
“They’re going to want their own man in to let him shape the club the way he wants to build it. So I think Philippe Clement will get to the end of the season.
“Beyond that, I’d be amazed if he’s still the Rangers manager at the start of next season.”
When will a takeover deal be announced?
“Talks have been ongoing since October time.
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“They’re so far down the road with this that there’s a verbal agreement in place with them. I mean, there’s talk of legal documents being drawn up in many cases.
“I really think over the course of the weekend, the beginning of next week, there will be something concrete from either the American side of things or back here in Glasgow. I think that’s where we are with it.”
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