Rangers AGM: Club unveil £6m plan to upgrade Ibrox disabled facilities as John Bennett provides loan repayment update

Rangers have laid out a £6million project to upgrade the disabled facilities at Ibrox Stadium - 12 months after the club pledged to improve amenities for fans in wheelchairs who had complained about poor vantage points inside the ground.

A video presentation was viewed by around 2,000 shareholders during the Ibrox side’s Annual General Meeting at the SEC Armadillo on Tuesday. The plan would see 162 new wheelchair accessible positions plus new toilets and lowered concession counters fitted around the Sandy Jardine, Broomloan and Copland Road stands.

The project, which would cost the club £500,00 a year in revenue, requires the removal of just over 1,000 seats currently held by season-ticket holders but boardroom members are hopeful they will be able to raise the funds required to make up for that financial loss, with plans to add an additional 900 seats at the front of the top tiers on both stands behind the goals.

As a result, that would increase the overall capacity of Ibrox (50,800) by a further 700 seats to 51,500 and upgrades could begin as early as the summer. It comes after club officials fended off a combined bid by former chairman Dave King and supporters group Club 1872 to remove key figures from the board and bring in fresh investment.

An official club statement last night confirmed all eight resolutions has been passed. It read: “The board of Rangers International Football Club PLS is pleased to confirm that all resolutions presented were approved by shareholder vote. This successful outcome will assist the club with its ambitious investment plans, on and off the field of play.”

Meanwhile, Rangers vice-chairman John Bennett has provided another £10million cash injection into the football club as he provided details of his extended overdraft facility.

Bennett, who now has a £23m commitement to the club, issued shareholders with an update on loan repayments to himself and fellow board member Julian Wolhardt, stating the interest remains at six per cent.

He said: “The outstanding loan on the seven-year facility - which now has six years to run - is £8m. It’s the same rate as last year, which is six per cent. Can I put that in a wee bit of context just on my own personal commitment to the club?

“Some of my loan has been converted to equity, £500,000. I’ve since bought shares, so I’ve gone to 5.1 per cent of the equity. I’lve also in recent weeks given the club a £10m overdraft facility at five per cent. So my commitment is now £23m. The repayment of loans has to be seen in the context of this increased commitment to the equity.”

Questioned further by a Club 1872 member on the repayments he has made, Bennett continued: “Yes they’ve been partly repaid over the terms of the seven-year facility on the agreed terms. My outstanding commitment is down to £8m. This time last year I think we were at £13-and-a-bit million total, so that is now £8m but Kenny referenced the fallow period that the club will run into like any business we have seasonality in cash flow.

“Our fallow period begins in February, the club will have to draw down on my £10m facility at 5 per cent - that is a new working capital facility that I have provided to the club. The repayment of loans has to be seen in the context of this, I think, increased commitement to the equity by myself but also the new facility. That’s valid context.”