On 19 February the Daily Record broke the news that a bid by the San Francisco 49ers to take over the group known as Rangers International Football Club (RIFC) was “at an advanced stage”, the online reaction from Ibrox fans was of unrestrained joy, similar to the introduction of someone with off the radar wealth from Lanarkshire in November 2010.
Almost four weeks later there has been little evidence to support the Records eye-catching headline. Instead, we have had conjecture and occasional frenzied speculation, apparently fuelled by leaks from non-attributable sources.
The only on-the-record (no pun intended) comment has come from Dave King and that seemed intended to manage expectations in a downward direction.
Cutting through the waffle it now appears that the would-be bid comes not from the San Francisco 49ers but from individuals with some sort of connection to them. The name of Leeds United is frequently mentioned but no one has quite been able to pin down the role of the Yorkshire club and what its relationship might be with its potential stable mate.
None of this has deterred the frenzied speculation amongst the denizens of Ibrox. Particular concerns have been around which world class manager will be chosen to lead the newly minted club, the size of the supposed “war chest” for the next transfer window and even the prospects for an Everton-style new stadium. Images of the new look 70,000 seater Ibrox Stadium have been all over social media with Apple the natural sponsor since they are short on publicity according to several Ibrox insiders.
As in 2011, when a Motherwell-born billionaire was cheered to the echo as he walked the length of Edmiston Drive, there appears to be an extreme lack of risk awareness as to potential downsides. For supporters who have historically prized the idea of owners who “get it” there’s a curious lack of concern about the precise identity of the supposed new owner or owners. And, more importantly, what their intentions might be for Scotland’s newest senior football club.
And there is a conundrum at the heart of this story. What is the attraction of a business which has never made a profit for a worldwide sports group? Or anyone else for that matter? This is a matter that would undoubtedly have engaged the attention of any intelligent well-motivated sports or financial journalist or broadcaster. So, naturally in Scotland in 2025, no one in the media has paid it any attention whatsoever.
There are many ways in which a loss-making business can be of value to a potential bidder.
Bizarre as it may seem losses themselves can be valuable. The latest set of accounts from Rangers International Football Club contains this nugget of information on Page 52:
At the Balance Sheet date, the Group has unrecognised tax losses of £108.4 million creating an unrecognised deferred tax asset of £27.1 million (2023 – £95.8 million creating an unrecognised deferred tax asset of £23.9 million).
Put simply this means that anyone who could run RIFC profitably could generate a surplus of £108.4m over the next few years without having to pay any tax. Or, to put it more starkly, Celtic will pay £27.1m on its next £108.4m profit. RIFC will pay no taxes whatsoever. (Editor’s Note: so what’s new?).
And, where there is more than one company in a group, a tax loss in one company can be offset against taxable profits in other group companies. That is the principal attraction of football clubs for many conglomerates and was almost certainly a major factor in Lawrence Marlborough and then David Murray taking over the Ibrox franchise in the 1980s.
Despite the blanket coverage in the Record almost nothing is known of the intentions of the prospective bidders for Rangers. Douglas Park, a successful Lanarkshire based businessman hasn’t even been contacted for his thoughts on the hysteria sweeping through the Record Sports Desk and their colleagues across the river at BBC Scotland.
So, it is pointless to speculate on what might happen. But it is possible to figure out a theoretical business model which might make a loss-making football club seem like a prime attraction for a bidder or perhaps even a predator.
To be continued
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1 Comment
by Tom
Why is there no contact with private shareholder I.e fans. To sell their shares or at least inform them of impending sales of large share holdings.
If there had been they would have hit social media by now