Kieran Maguire: Rangers stadium expansion on the cards after £75m commitment
Rangers could use promised funds from takeover hopeful Kyle Fox to boost capacity at Ibrox.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the American investor’s bid to buy a significant stake in the Glasgow giants.
Fox saw an offer to buy 75 per cent of the club’s shares rejected earlier this year before returning with an alternative proposal to buy 25 per cent and commit £75million in capital.
But Rangers did not take well to the offer and sued Fox for her alleged unauthorised use of the club’s logo on a letter to potential co-investors.
But, as relayed by the Daily Record on Wednesday (19 October), the case has been dropped and Fox has reaffirmed her intent to use her KRF Capital company to purchase a substantial slice of the club.
That would give her part-ownership of Ibrox, which holds just shy of 51,000 spectators and generated £36m in matchday income during the last season not impacted by lockdowns.
Maguire believes that there is scope for Fox to use her capital commitment to deliver even greater revenue through the turnstiles.
“If Fox does acquire Rangers, the capital commitment could be used to pay some of the existing debt to directors,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams,
“However, a lot of that debt has already been converted into shares.
“I think the other area some at Rangers think is worthy of some attention is the overall infrastructure.
“Rangers could certainly play to a much bigger crowd.
“At the minute, they are at a negative difference on a matchday income basis compared to Celtic given the relative difference in the capacities of both stadiums.“
In other news, Rangers set aside “significant” cash for January signing.