49ers takeover of Rangers 'imminent' as BBC man sends exciting update with next manager possibly identified

The San Francisco 49ers Enterprises takeover of Rangers is approaching its end point, new claims suggest.

A delegation from the US consortium were at Ibrox this week to thrash out talks over a controlling stake in the club. 49ers man and Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe was one of the figures at the tour of the stadium as was US health insurance tycoon Andrew Cavenagh, who are looking to restore Rangers to former glories. Already under the control of the consortium is English club Leeds United, who have been guided back to the Premier League this season under their ownership.

They played out a 1-1 draw with Celtic on Sunday but the Premiership title race is already over. Speaking on BBC Sportsound after the game, BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer Tom English revealed that the takeover is nearing its end game in an exciting update for supporters to digest.

When Rangers takeover by 49ers could be completed

English said: “I spoke to someone with very good understanding of the deal last week and they said it's going on, progressing nicely. They said that there's no way that the new owners would have had that walkabout at Ibrox if it hadn't been going according to plan. The announcement is imminent, you know, so that's a new future for Rangers. These are serious people coming into the club.

“They want at least 51% of the club. They'll get that through Dave King's shares, through John Bennett's shares, through shares from other significant shareholders. They'll get that comfortably. What it means in terms of, are you talking transfers? Are you talking transfer budgets? Well, financial fair play, the rules will determine that.

“It is not like they're going to come in and spend tens of millions of pounds immediately because they can’t do it under the rules, you know. But you would imagine they would come in and spend a decent amount of money. We don't know what that is. We have got no visibility on that. It is probably... it'll become obvious in due course because I think they need to get their skates on now because we're in May now.”

Next Rangers manager update

There was then a question of whether the new owners, right now, know who they are appointing as the next Rangers manager with Barry Ferguson currently in a caretaker role. English responded: “I would imagine so. They have done it before at Leeds, they know what they are about. These are very professional people and they will know there is a Champions League qualifier for Rangers in July. In a blink of an eye, we’ll be in July.

“They've a lot of work to do with this club. They've got a lot of work to do in the team and putting together the management, putting together the management infrastructure around them, around the management group. They've got work to do in the stadium. They've got all sorts of work to do. They don't have much time to waste.”