Administration and liquidation of The Rangers Football Club Plc

Rangers, a football club in Scotland, entered financial difficulties during the late 2000s. The club, trading as The Rangers Football Club plc, entered administration in February 2012. It owed substantial amounts to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs ("HMRC"), who subsequently refused to allow Rangers to exit administration via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). The Rangers Football Club plc entered liquidation on 31 October 2012.

The refusal of the CVA forced the administrators to sell the business and assets of Rangers to a new creation,"Sevco Scotland" set up and operated by Charles Green. As a new football club,"Sevco Scotland" (which changed its name to 'The Rangers Football Club Ltd") had to apply for membership of a professional Scottish Football League in order to be able to apply for membership of the Scottish Football Association. The then Scottish Premier League refused their application, as did Leagues 1 and 2 of the then Scottish Football league.The 3rd division of the Scottish Football League did, however, admit them. The SFA then allowed the new club to purchase a share in the SFA.Interestingly, for the first game of the 2012-13 season, the new club had to seek the permission of the Administrators of the old Rangers FC, to use players that had 'belonged' to that club, there still being two quite different legal entities claiming to be 'Rangers', namely, "The Rangers Football Club Ltd (founded 2012) and Rangers Football Club (In Liquidation) ( founded 1872). On what precise legal basis The Rangers Football Club Ltd is deemed to be identical with Rangers FC(IL) is something of a mystery, since if it truly were legally so,it would , on the face of it, be liable for the uncleared debts that caused that club to suffer the insolvency event. To date, no one is quite sure who is the Chairman of "The Rangers Football Club Ltd". Mr Dave King is the chairman only of 'Rangers International Football Club", a quite different entity.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Rangers regularly posted financial losses. By 2009, Rangers owed between £25 million and £30 million to the Lloyds Banking Group. First-team manager Walter Smith claimed in October 2009 that Lloyds were effectively running the club. Although the amount due to Lloyds had reduced to £18 million by April 2011, Rangers were in dispute with HMRC regarding the use of an fund ("EBT") between 2001 and 2010. A bill potentially running to £49 million, including interest and penalties, was assessed in 2010. Rangers argued that their EBT scheme was a legal method of tax avoidance. The scale of the potential liability led then chairman Alistair Johnston to admit in 2011 that the club could go out of business.

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