The takeover of Rangers by 49ers Enterprises is said to be in the works.
The Rangers takeover by the San Francisco 49ers Enterprise wing is imminent, according to new reporting.
Rangers are currently in the midst of change with a new manager needed and an overhaul of the playing squad in the works. It’s now been reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post that the deal that would see 49ers Enterprises, who also own Leeds United, take charge at Ibrox is nearing completion. US health insurance tycoon Andrew Kavenagh is also involved in the consortium.
Leeds United chairman and key 49ers man Paraag Marathe visited Ibrox in April to get a tour of the stadium. Now it appears as if the Americans arrival will be sooner rather than later.
Read More
When 49ers could arrive at Rangers
Reporting states: “Leeds United owners 49ers Enterprises are believed to be on the cusp of completing their takeover of Scottish Premiership side Rangers. Discussions between 49ers' Global Football Group, including Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe, fellow negotiation lead Andrew Cavenagh and Ibrox executives have been ongoing since late last year with a view to signing over control to the wealthy consortium.
“49ers are expected to be unveiled as Rangers' new owners imminently with significant minority shareholders at the Scottish club agreeing to sell shares, handing stewardship over to the American group. It is now understood Rangers will change hands shortly, in line with soon-to-be outgoing executive Dave King's initial timeline for the deal's conclusion. This will mean Leeds have a new sister club contained within the 49ers' sporting sphere of influence. However, the running of the two clubs will remain largely separate, aside from standard industry information sharing and promoting strategy best practice.”
What Rangers shareholder has said about takeover
Speaking this week, ex-chairman and current shareholder King said: “My top criteria based on previous discussions with parties who were interested in investing was proof of funds. And when I asked them for proof of funds, my basis for the calculation, which I went through with Andrew at the time, was the amount of funds required for a number of transfer windows.
"It wasn't about getting it done in the first window because I really think we're so short that we're back to almost the discussion I had with Steven in 2018. At that point the chat was ‘OK, you're coming in. We've got a team that's grossly inadequate in terms of competing for the title.’ His question was ‘do we know that we've got an amount of funds?’
"So the discussion with Andrew and the 49ers back in November was around me knowing that they had the funds available, not that they had to be spent immediately, because I think it would be unwise to spend them immediately. But at least to know that over a period of time and over a number of transfer windows. I wanted to know that once they got a manager, they were going to back him and slowly bridge the gap, because I think we've gone backwards over the last couple of seasons. The whole transfer policy has been so wrong. I look at the quality of the players, the amount of money was spent on them. And I can even get some of the guys maybe getting a bit overawed with Ibrox. But sometimes just the lack of effort and the lack of character and temperament was something I wouldn’t expect of a Rangers player performing in front of that crowd. “I do think the build will be an awful lot slower and longer than I think we would like. But I think it's going to be necessary to do it in a phased basis."
Continue Reading