Simon Jordan puts big Rangers question to 49ers as he has Leeds United transfer suspicions over Ibrox takeover
The talkSPORT pundit has some suspicions over the Rangers takeover crew who also own Leeds United
talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan has some Leeds United suspicion creeping into his thoughts on the takeover at Rangers.
49ers Enterprises are already in control of the side recently promoted to the Premier League and now have taken charge at Ibrox, alongside US health insurance tycoon Andrew Cavenagh. Paraag Marathe, Leeds United chairman and key 49ers figure, will be the vice chair to chairman Cavenagh on the Ibrox board.
Jordan has been talking over the takeover with finance expert Kieran Maguire and broadcaster Jim White. The former Crystal Palace chief wonders whether or not the 49ers are going to use Rangers as a vehicle to take some top talent from Scotland to England’s Premier League with Leeds United.
Simon Jordan verdict on Rangers takeover by 49ers
He said: “Ultimately, you've got a club that's quite significantly behind Celtic, albeit they've landed some gloves on Celtic in the last season, which they hadn't done previously. I mean, I wouldn't be too excited by the statement that £20 million is being made available. But notwithstanding that, you've got... I mean, my big question was, what is the motivation for the ownership?
“What does it achieve? How important is Scottish football? What does it give to this new owners in terms of their percentage interest in this football club? And does it become something that's slightly disadvantageous to Rangers and preferential to Leeds in terms of Rangers players finding their way in the Leeds team rather than potentially finding their way in allowing Rangers to dominate Scottish football? Of course, they'll push back against that.”
Finance expert rails against Leeds United theory on Rangers takeover
Maguire was then put on the spot over whether or not that was a possibility. He responded: “,My understanding is it's not going to be an multi club ownership. There is going to be quite a lot of independence between the two clubs ad you need that in order to get the deal past the SFA, the Scottish Football Association. And also, whilst this is looking ahead a wee bit, to make sure that there's any issues in terms of UEFA as well, because we've seen MCOs create issues.
“Aston Villa had to make a divestment. Brighton had to do the same. We've seen Jim Ratcliffe have to set up a blind trust and Marinakis at Forest and Olympiacos and so on. So all of these things have been, I think, forethought by the new owners at Rangers. I mean, Andrew Cavanagh is going to be the chairman. He's going to be the main decision maker. I think the 49ers certainly add a little bit of sparkle to the deal and I think that will get some of the fans excited.”
White added: “Fans want success yesterday, because they feel they've been starved of it. Steven Gerrard won it once, but they haven't had a look in since then and I think they have it all to do. But we're going to know more when these individuals introduce themselves, Marathe and Cavanagh, and hopefully we'll get an opportunity to speak to them in the fullness of time. It also depends who takes over in terms of the team.”