Rangers director Andrew Ellis claims he was 'duped' by owner Craig Whyte

Rangers director Andrew Ellis says he was "duped" by owner Craig Whyte and has issued an apology to supporters for introducing the businessman to the club.

Mr Ellis failed in his own takeover bid for Murray International Holdings’ 85% stake in the club in November 2010, before linking up with Mr Whyte in his successful purchase.

On Friday non-executive director Mr Ellis claimed that he had been brought in by Mr Whyte to run the club, but the promises were not followed through.

He publicly criticised the Rangers owner, who has not returned to Ibrox since the club was plunged into administration last week, after administrators Duff and Phelps confirmed director of football Gordon Smith and Ali Russell, chief operating officer, were being made redundant.

Mr Ellis said in an interview with Press Association Sport: "I can only say I'm sorry to the Rangers fans. Bringing Craig to the table was done in good faith and like a lot of other people I feel let down by him.

"I took Craig to meet Sir David Murray in the south of France and that's when talks began and I'm distraught that it has ended up like this. My interest in buying the club had ended due to the potential cost of the impending tax case but I had met Craig via the Cadbury family and was told by people that he was a very successful and wealthy businessman who was interested in buying Rangers.

"He appeared to have the money, he showed me proof of funds and told me about the numerous companies he owned. I was absolutely devastated last week to see the club go into administration with jobs at risk."

Disappointed

Mr Ellis, a former director at Queens Park Rangers, said he was "very disappointed" with the first cuts to staff at Rangers since they went into administration.

He added that had a "sensible deal" with HM Revenue and Customs been done over a tax case that Mr Whyte claimed could leave the club with a £75m bill, then there was "no need" for insolvency experts to be called in.

Mr Ellis also denied any knowledge of the Ticketus deal, which saw Mr Whyte bring in £24.4m in exchange for future season ticket sales at Rangers. £18m of it was used to pay back the debt owed to Lloyds Banking Group that needed to be wiped to complete the takeover, meaning the only money Mr Whyte used to buy the club was the nominal £1 given to Sir David Murray.

"I was totally unaware of the Ticketus situation and when I asked Craig about it he denied it," Mr Ellis said. "Like all the Rangers fans I feel duped but not only about that. Craig and I shook hands on a deal that would see me getting 24.9% of the shares after his takeover.

"I was to have a contract to come up to Scotland and run the club and my team were going to be Ali Russell and Gordon Smith. I knew Ali from his time at QPR and had met Gordon through Jim White of Sky Sports. Both Ali and Gordon joined the club before me. After Craig took over he didn't want to honour our agreement and I had to chase him around for months.

"He has been trying agree a new deal with my shareholding much less but that still has not been completed and I have now handed my files over to my solicitor. But it wasn't the shareholding that I was interested in, nor was it the property angle. I joined the board because I was interested in the challenge and opportunity of getting such a huge club back on track. Rangers is one of the biggest clubs in the world but I think the marketing of the club over the last 10 years has been appalling."

Mr Ellis claimed he wanted to head up a football academy at Rangers and work on establishing an overseas market for the 140-year-old club.

He added: "It was a massive opportunity to turn Rangers round and I still think that. I am not stepping down until I find out the full situation with the administrators. I am taking legal instruction as what to do next."

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