Paul Murray launched a scathing attack on Rangers owner Craig Whyte as he prepared his own 'Blue Knights' rescue package to save the club.
Rangers 'need a proper board'
Paul Murray launched a scathing attack on Rangers owner Craig Whyte as he prepared his own "Blue Knights" rescue package to save the club.
The former Rangers director was booted off the club board last year, soon after Whyte gained control, but now feels his concerns about the new owner have been vindicated.
And Murray wants to put a consortium together that can help rid the club of the man who has taken Rangers into administration.
"First of all, we have to give the supporters another option," Murray told the
Daily Record. "Something that does not include Craig Whyte regaining control of the club from the administrators.
"A credible option is for a consortium of like-minded Rangers stakeholders to come together and try to rescue the club.
"The first stage of that process is to meet with the administrator to understand what the level of the club's debts now are.
"Maybe we can even meet with Craig Whyte to understand what he wants out of all this.
"And then, on that basis, we can structure a plan to take the club forward. I'm calling on all Rangers fans out there who are interested to now step forward and show their hand in the club's hour of need.
The Blue Knights
"I have never spoken publicly before but I would call this The Blue Knights.
"It would be similar to the model proposed by The Red Knights when they tried to take over Manchester United."
Murray is determined that Whyte should never be allowed to control Rangers again.
He added: "If he wants to come out of administration in control of the club then the fans have to ask themselves one question: Is this guy a fit and proper person to be a custodian of Glasgow Rangers?
"Remember this is a guy who was disqualified as a director for seven years and who did not disclose this fact at the time of the takeover.
"This is a guy who denied selling season tickets but who then was forced to admit he had done so after he had been found out.
"Just the other week he was described as 'wholly unreliable' by a judge.
Admission
"And now it is public knowledge - after an admission from the administrators who he selected and brought in through the front doors of Ibrox - he has run up £9million in unpaid taxes since taking over in May.
"So I say to the Rangers supporters do they want this man to be afforded a place in the club's history up there beside Bill Struth, John Greig and Walter Smith? In my opinion the answer must be 'no'."
Murray warned at the time of Whyte's takeover that the move could be disastrous for Rangers after his own plan to pass the tax liability back to the Murray Group and Lloyds Bank was, in his words, "blown out of the water".
But Murray is adamant that he did not want to be proved right and is desperate for the Rangers fans to get the answers they deserve.
He added: "We are now seeing the full impact of the deal they entered into with Craig Whyte. That's why we said at the time it was such a dangerous thing to do.
"I take no satisfaction from being proved correct because we're now seeing just how dangerous the deal was for the club.
"We need to know where the money has gone from the deal he did to sell the season tickets. We need to know how much we owe the tax man in PAYE. We need to know where the money has gone from the sale of Nikica Jelavic.
"This is a public company, a 140-year-old institution with over 26,000 shareholders who deserve to know what happened."
