Rangers takeover resolved soon says Alastair Johnston
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Your support makes all the difference.Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston claims Craig Whyte's takeover bid will be resolved "one way or another" in the next 48 hours.
Johnston spoke to the media at Ibrox this morning after the club posted their interim financial figures, which showed a retained profit of £11.9million for the six months to December 31.
Whyte completed his due diligence of the club accounts earlier this week after first announcing in November that he was in discussions with majority shareholder Murray International Holdings.
When asked if he had a good feeling about the deal, Johnston replied: "I won't speculate on that but we will know one way or another in the next couple of days."
Whyte's bid took a major step forward this week when the club's main creditors, Lloyds Banking Group, claimed they had met some of the London-based tycoon's requests over the structure of a deal.
However, Johnston raised fears over the club's medium-term financial viability when he admitted an ongoing tax dispute could leave Rangers with a bill they could not pay.
HM Revenue and Customs are pursuing the club over offshore payments made to staff around the turn of the century and, although Rangers have vowed to defend their claim vigorously, Johnston admitted a great deal of uncertainty remained.
"It's like a gorilla in the room and you don't know what its appetite is," he said.
When asked if Rangers could go bust, he replied: "The reality is there is a possibility that there could be a judgement that the club can't pay."
The issue is believed to have been one of the main stumbling blocks to a deal and Johnston explained it was unclear where the liability rested between the club and MIH should HMRC win the case.
He added: "It's not holding up the sale but it has to be recognised in the sale discussions and Craig Whyte is aware of it."
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