Sevco Circles The Drain

The scale of the challenges facing Dave King or whoever next sits in the Ibrox hot-seat, came sharply into focus today with the publication of new Sevco accounts, which show that they continue to lose money hand over fist, despite slashing costs to the bare minimum.

The losses for the 2014 year, of £7.7 million pre-tax, come at the end of a turbulent period where they cut where they could, making savings of over £10 million.

Despite this, their turnover is still millions below their outgoings.

At the moment, the stadium is not being regularly repaired. There are no ball boys during games. The club has paid off scores of people from tea room staff to cleaners. They have no scouting system. They have cut the number of coaches and they’ve made smaller changes everywhere, from taking away players club phones to making them pay for their own meals.

Nothing has stemmed the flow of money out of the club.

Furthermore, there are warnings in the accounts that further cuts – or a large sum of money – will be necessary if the club finds itself stuck in the Championship next season.

King and his people must be having nightmares about that, knowing, as they do, how likely it looks.

It seems clear that whomever wins the battle for control at Sevco is facing the near certainty of having to find huge sums almost immediately.

Further large sums will be required as the club goes forward, with the auditors, Deloittes, issuing yet another “material uncertainty” warning over the future of the Newco.

In spite of all this, the SFA remains mute and indifferent, despite their role as licensees.

No-one from the club has been sat down in front of an official meeting and asked for a proper business plan.

Sevco, coming more and more to resemble Trotters Independent Traders, is instead allowed to live what is basically a hand-to-mouth existence, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

One unusual term made it into the statement, and whether deliberate or not it made me smile all the same.

TRIFC was referred to as the “boiler room” of the company. I am sure the auditors know what the connotation of that phrase is as well as I do.

Think The Wolf of Wall Street without the expensive suits.

Think, in fact, of rows of old desks with notepads and telephones, and scruffy salesman cold-calling clients to pitch them penny shares.

Despite this, Sevco fans continue to believe that deliverance is just around the corner, as the EGM moves ever closer.

The Sevco board today announced a brand new venue … within sight of the Tower of London, which seems oddly symbolic.

Last night, the Rangers Fans Board published details of their latest meeting with the club, where a director branded the scenes at the recent AGM “disgraceful” and confirmed that these were taken into account when the venue for this meeting was set.

He went on to remind fans thinking of travelling to it that an EGM is not the same thing as an annual meeting, that no questions will be allowed, that it will not consider any other business than that which is in front of it, namely a series of motions on the removal of board members and the election of others.

Sevco fans thinking of going to London should, he said, be aware that the whole thing will be done and dusted in the space of ten or twenty minutes, and that no result will be known until it is announced to the Stock Exchange, perhaps as much as a day later.

The board members present also tackled the RFB’s decision to declare a vote of No Confidence in the current directors … with Llambias warning them that the board considered accepting that vote as “the resignations of the fans board” itself.

These minutes appeared on a number of Sevco fan sites last night, and a statement this morning, from the club, slammed their early publication, driving a further wedge between the support and the club.

Overall, with the team now third in the league, off-field matters continuing to boil over and the need for money now acute, things could not be more difficult for the fledgling new football club.

I continue to wonder if they’ll see out the season.

Indeed, I begin to wonder whether or not the EGM will ever take place, with administration still a possibility before then.