Ibrox payoffs make up a lot of the Rangers cash black hole

It was astonishing to hear Rangers need to raise £8-million to get through the next year.

The figure equates to massive problems because clearly it is a huge amount of money.

What I would like to stress is that, in my opinion, the people who are inside the club just now are doing their very best to sort things out. But that hasn’t always been the case.

The most common question is; ‘Where has the money gone?’

There were massive costs involved with administration. That is on record.

What particularly concerns a lot of supporters is the amount of money taken out of the club by those departing from positions of power.

The former Financial Director Brian Stockbridge and the ex-Chief Executive Craig Mather are reported to have paid over £500,000 in settlements between them.

Graham Wallace, the most recent Chief Executive, has likewise been reported to have got £100,000.

Those are significant sums, especially when you consider the parlous state the club is in just now.

I would like to put on record when I left my position as Director of Football in February, 2012, I didn’t ask for a penny.

I walked away without concerning myself about compensation because I knew the club was in a bad financial position.

Now, I know the amount that the recent departees have left with does not add up to the full £8-million which needs to be raised for the club to carry through next year. But they are still big sums.

During my time working with the club, I was not party to everything that was going on. Far from it.

What I can testify is that the club was existing on the money it received through achieving automatic qualification to the Champions League.

For the two previous years, that was £30-million.

The expectation was that in 2011-12 that would happen again. When the team lost to Malmo and missed out, it resulted in a financial catastrophe.

Two years on, the effects of that bad management are still being felt and will continue to be felt.

The size of the club, and the support it has behind it, should ensure that this latest crisis will, like those before it, eventually be overcome.

There are some positive signs, with Mike Ashley’s involvement leading to a rise in retail marketing of nearly 400%.

But talk of another share issue leaves me worrying how much investor money can actually be attracted.