All the latest media releases involving the ShareSave Scheme will appear here!
AN innovative share-save scheme which will allow Rangers fans to
invest at least £5.6 million in the club is expected to be taken up as
a model for other leading football clubs throughout the UK.
There
have already been talks with Arsenal executives who are interested in
following the model of the Gers Save Scheme which is to be officially
launched this week.
The scheme which is the brainchild of Malcolm
McNiven, chairman of the Rangers Supporters Trust and financial
director of brokers Direct Sharedeal is the first of its kind in the UK.
It
will allow Rangers fans to put £10 to £30 a week into the savings
scheme, which will then be used to buy shares in the club, which are
being made available by David Murray.
The scheme will be open to
all fans providing they first become members of the Rangers Supporters
Trust. Organising it this way means that it is not technically a public
offering of shares and it thus avoids large amounts of red tape and
cost that would be associated with that.
Given that the purchase
of shares will be done as one trade, once a month by Direct Sharedeal
it will also cut down the costs to the bare minimum meaning that the
vast bulk of the money can go directly to the club.
What the fans
get for their money is an “entitlement” to ordinary shares in Rangers
FC. For example if a fan saves £10 a month over a five-year period they
would have acquired £600 of Rangers shares, less minimal costs.
The
way it is organised means that nobody will be locked in. While the
shares are bought and maintained in the name of the trust, the
supporter can get their money back out at any time.
The scheme
will be launched with a formal announcement on Friday and leaflets
about it will be handed out to fans attending the Rangers versus Hearts
game next Sunday.
David Joliffe, finance director of Rangers FC
said: “The club is supportive of the scheme and of the aim to widen the
share ownership of the club. What the club can and will do is
facilitate the purchase of the shares by the trust via the issue of new
ordinary shares in Rangers Football Club. This will obviously be
dependent on the Rangers Supporters Trust Sharesave being successful in
raising funds directly from its members.”
McNiven said: “The top
London solicitors firm Linklaters have been talking with the Financial
Services Authority for about 18 months to work out the finer points of
the scheme and get it agreed.”
The idea also has political
backing. Supporters Direct, a government initiative funded by public
money which aims to help community involvement with football clubs is
giving its support.
Ian Davidson, MP for Govan where Rangers
Ibrox stadium is based said: “I welcome this scheme by the Rangers
Supporters Trust to encourage fans to invest in the club, pool their
shares and seek a say in how the club is run.
“Enthusiastic and
committed fans are the life blood of any team and this method of
constructively involving them has my full support.”
McNiven is
hopeful that if the scheme is rolled out across the country, Supporters
Direct will back it with grants, which will help to cover the £50,000
set-up costs.
McNiven said that despite the Sharesave not yet
being launched, there was already a buzz about it and they had received
some applications to join.
McNiven was in London on Thursday
meeting with Arsenal Supporters Trust and club officials about their
take-up of the model. An Arsenal trust spokesman said: “We applaud them
for their hard work and diligence in establishing this tremendous
scheme and we will be seeking to launch one for Arsenal supporters as
soon as possible.”
Discussion is still to take place between the
trust and the club over the use of the cash raised but it is expected
to go to youth development.
Ken Symon - Business Editor
