Sticking point: Land surrounding Rangers' Ibrox Stadium is thought to be a deal breaker in Andrew Ellis' takeover offer. Pic: ©SNS Group
Andrew Ellis is ready to abandon his £33 million bid to buy Rangers. According to reports the property developer, who emerged as a front runner to buy Sir David Murray’s shares in the club two weeks ago, will withdraw his offer because land surrounding Ibrox is of limited use.
It is believed that Ellis had plans to transform the area surrounding the stadium, previously earmarked for an ambitious casino and leisure development, into a site for retail.
According to reports in The Herald, those plans have been scuppered because Rangers do not have the necessary planning permission in place for the Hinshelwood area, located to the south of the stadium.
"Hinshelwood was central to Ellis’s takeover bid,” an unnamed source close to the deal told The Herald. “He did not have the money to buy Rangers outright, but the backers lined up for the property development had the funding for a purchase of the club - and the redevelopment - and were behind his plan.
“But when he started poring over the books this week it became clear what he had been told about the options for the site, possibly a major supermarket, indoor arena or luxury flats, did not marry up.
“Rangers do not own the land, and when it became clear the council would not grant permission for what he wanted to do he started to back away."
Two other consortiums are believed to be interested in a deal to buy the club but it remains to be seen whether they will show their hands in the immediate future, or whether their offers were also linked to the land adjacent to Ibrox.
Ellis also tried to take over at Queens Park Rangers in 2001, before meeting resistance to his plans to move the club out of the centre of London to a new stadium at a site near Heathrow Airport. After being given three weeks to prove he held the necessary funds to buy over the club, at which his father, Peter, was formerly chairman, he withdrew his bid.
A year later, he paid £500,000 to assume control of Northampton Town but, despite initially wooing the fans with his promises of Championship football, he quickly became unpopular.
His tenure was last week described as “shambolic” by the sports editor of the Northampton Chronicle, Jeremy Casey, who said fans of the Cobblers would be “amazed” at the news he was in line to take over at Rangers.
