12.43 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Singapore bidder promises Rangers glory

Published
By AFP

A Singaporean businessman said on Tuesday he was confident he could bring the glory days back to cash-strapped Scottish football club Rangers if his consortium succeeds in buying the Glasgow giants.

"If our bid is successful, we will want to assure fans of Rangers that we are not just doing this for financial reasons," Bill Ng, who is behind the five-man consortium, told AFP.

"If we take over Rangers, Rangers will not be history, Rangers will make history. Heritage of Rangers will stay," he said.

Ng, a director with a private equity firm, confirmed his consortium has placed a 20-million-pound ($31.7 million) bid and said his move was motivated mainly out of love for the 140-year-old club he has supported for many years.

"I have always been a fan of Rangers since my youth days," said Ng, who is the chairman of Singapore football club Hougang United.

"Today, not wanting to see the club with a rich heritage going into history, my consortium and myself put up a bid for Rangers, because we believe we can do a little better than the previous management.

"With due respect to the previous management, we believe the weakness lies in the people who run the club and I feel that we can do something better."

Administrators were called in to Rangers on February 14 after British tax authorities went to court to seek payment of an unpaid bill of 9 million pounds that had built up since owner Craig Whyte took charge at Ibrox in May.

The administrators have said they hope to announce the winning bid for the club this week.

"From our understanding, there were several other bids being submitted for consideration," Ng said.

"We strongly believe the administrators will put Rangers' best interests at heart during the selection process."

The bid by Ng's Singapore-based consortium marks the second time investors from the wealthy city-state have attempted to buy a British football club.

Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim in 2010 attempted unsuccessfully to buy English football club Liverpool for 320 million pounds.