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Scotsman
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Sir David Murray: I know the truth as he addresses Rangers critics, raw reaction and revisiting Ibrox
Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Ahead of a vital Champions League qualifier, such as the one awaiting Rangers next week against Panathinaikos, it once seemed almost mandatory to beat a path to David Murray's door. Once inside his well-appointed Charlotte Square office in Edinburgh, just along from Bute House, the sportswriter in question would busily jot down inevitably entertaining rattle about the Ibrox club's ambitions on the European stage. There would perhaps be some further toffee in the form of a signing target to chew over. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In 1997, it was Ronaldo, or so it was widely reported. Rangers were apparently ready to rewrite the record books with a financial package worth almost £40 million for the then world footballer of the year, who was at Barcelona at the time. David Murray looks pensive as he speaks to The Scotsman's chief football writer Alan Pattullo. Pic: Lisa Ferguson. | Lisa Ferguson / The Scotsman Although there's plenty on the likes of Paul Gascoigne, bought 30 years ago this summer, and Tore Andre Flo, a £12 million signing 25 years ago, the Ronaldo tale does not make Murray's new book, probably because, he claims, it wasn't true. 'That's folklore,' he says. 'We tried to get and did get some pretty big names, that's not one.' It did appear plausible at the time, though, which perhaps says everything. Things are of course very different now; for Rangers, for Scottish football and for Murray. For a start, his office has shifted a few hundred yards to a still salubrious street in the city's west end, next to a building with a plaque dedicated to a 'John Brown'. While it might amuse visitors with serviceable knowledge of Scottish football, the sign is not paying tribute to the Rangers nine-in-a-row legend. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It is instead denoting where the Edinburgh writer Dr John Brown, author of Rab and His Friends, a sentimental tale about a dog, lived in the late 1800s. 'There are people who make a living from being critics' Legacy is, of course, a very pertinent issue when it comes to Murray, whose name was once attached to the Rangers training academy until it very quietly wasn't. There were also calls to strip him of the knighthood he was awarded in 2007 for the way, critics claimed, he ran Rangers into the ground, with Craig Whyte, the convenient idiot who controversially bought the club for £1, applying the coup de grace. As you'll be aware by now, Murray's newly released autobiography has stoked the embers somewhat. It's been over two weeks since official publication day and he says he enjoyed the cut and thrust of re-engaging with the football media. 'I couldn't do it every day though,' he notes. And it's probably best that he steers clear from various Rangers fans' forums, where it's fair to say the majority have rejected out of hand Murray's apology, issued through the book, for selling the club to Whyte and for failing to steer Rangers, already laden with debt and being pursued by HMRC for tax avoidance schemes relating to player and staff payments, through the global economic crisis. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'These are the same fans who were criticising when we were winning doubles and trebles,' he says. 'I have gone to Rangers agms and been questioned after winning a treble. There are people who make a living from being critics. That's what they do. I know the truth." David Murray has faced fierce criticism over his tenure at Ibrox. | Lisa Ferguson / The Scotsman He knows not everyone has been convinced or even moved by his mea culpa but then concerns might have been put into perspective by the recent shocking news from Spain, where Digo Jota, the 28-year-old Liverpool footballer, and his younger brother Andre Silva were killed in a car crash following what police suspect was a tyre blow out. It's easy to imagine these details bringing it all back home in chilling fashion for Murray. His new book's prologue deals with the violent car crash following a tyre blow out that left him a bi-lateral amputee when he was just 24. It was a miracle he survived. 'If it had been a steel car, I'd have been stuck in it,' he explains with reference to the purple Lotus Elite that he was driving after playing stand-off for Dalkeith at North Berwick. 'Because it was fibreglass, I got out.' He was also lucky he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'But then again, I was unlucky,' he continues. "Because on that stretch, there's a mile of open field and then half a mile of oat fields and a clump of trees about 25 yards along, and I go into those. So I was lucky to come out of it but unlucky to hit it.' 'I never used it as an excuse' It's a tribute to Murray that his disability seems one of the least remarkable things about him these days. So much else has happened to make the extraordinary appear somehow ordinary. However, it still stops you in your tracks to watch the elaborate, physically punishing process involved when he wants to simply hoist himself up from his chair. 'I never used it as an excuse,' he says, and he hasn't. The same applies to the life-threatening aortic aneurysm diagnosis that is among the revelations in his autobiography and which he says accounts for him looking 'terrible' in the photograph of him signing over Rangers to Whyte in 2011. 'If anyone criticises the book, they are being unfair,' he continues. 'It is open and it is honest. It lets people know what I have gone through in my life, what I have done. I like to think I have integrity. People might say different. I have done my best. I don't go around to shaft people, or do them down.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's true. There's little score settling often found in such books. Donald Findlay, who Murray considered a friend and who was once his vice-chair at Ibrox, gave his old compadre a torrid time in court when acting for Whyte at the latter's fraud trial in Glasgow. He barely rates a mention other than a paragraph in which Murray wonders why he was permitted to act as a defence counsel, given his status as a former prominent season ticket holder, shareholder and club director (jurors with similar credentials were barred). Rangers chairman David Murray (right) tells a packed press conference back in 1990 that Graeme Souness is to leave the club for Liverpool. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 'I was disappointed. He thought he was doing his job,' Murray reflects now, with reference to Findlay's aggressive tone in court. 'I think it was not hard to win his case when you consider the jury was pre-selected. And Lady Stacey said, 'Anyone with a Rangers connection, a season ticket, please leave'. Er, hello. As good as Donald thinks he is, it was only ever going to go one way.' Have they spoken since the court case in 2017, which ended in success for Findlay when Whyte was acquitted of all charges? 'No,' he says. As for former chairman David Holmes, whose own recent book depicts Murray in an unflattering light, there's again scant mention. 'David was kept on (as chairman) and was treated properly,' he says. 'I wouldn't use the word bitterness but he seemed annoyed he wasn't invited back. He could have come back anytime!' Although he thinks Holmes was a bit unfair to him, he has resisted any urge to respond in print and, indeed, chooses 'invaluable' to describe his initial support. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'In the book, I have not criticised anyone,' points out Murray. There are, though, some deliciously gossipy anecdotes, including the story about Murray taking Sean Connery in to meet the Rangers players before a Champions League qualifying clash in Copenhagen. Having clocked Connery, Ronald de Boer makes the baffling decision to inform him that his last film, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 'was shit'. Murray enters the dugout Murray was mortified. 'It was nerves,' he says, generously providing some mitigation on De Boer's behalf. 'It was a big game. We needed to win that game. We needed money.' Before the same match, Barry Ferguson, he notes, was more interested in collaring him to discuss bonuses, which he felt would be better left for afterwards. The midfielder was sold shortly afterwards to Blackburn Rovers in any case. 'He was gone the next day. And he was arguing about a bonus!' But then everyone is a critic, Murray included, judging by an amusing story he tells against himself that isn't included in the book. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rangers were in Edinburgh for a game against Hibs although when Walter Smith, the manager, phoned to find out if his chairman was coming to the game, Murray said he wasn't. 'I went to Mather's Bar after work, met a pal and had two pints,' he recalls. 'Then I thought, 'Ach why not?' I jumped in the taxi, got to Easter Road and I couldn't be bothered climbing up the steps. I got in the dugout, didn't I?' Rangers chairman David Murray confirms the appointment of Walter Smith as the club's new manager in 1991. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 Emboldened by a couple of pints, he suddenly finds himself shouting 'Get Spackman off!', much to the displeasure of the referee and one imagines Smith. 'The next week a memo was circulated: 'no directors will be allowed in the dugout',' he notes. It's all good knockabout stuff until it becomes something a bit more sinister, which is what some of the comments online come across as being with regards to Murray and Rangers, although anger is understandable. Whoever was principally to blame, Rangers went bust. They ended up in a league with the likes of Peterhead and Montrose. Time doesn't heal anything, as one of the taglines for the recent film 28 Years Later has it. 'I was in France when the book promotion stuff all opened up, someone on one of these websites was saying 'I saw him driving around the west end, number plate MUR 1, who does he think he is?' I was out of the country for a month! People write what they want. Why is there no policing of that?' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He worries about the extent to which AI will affect daily life. "Two people have 'written' books on the Amazon site and are selling them about me. Up beside mine there's two other books written artificially. It is scary.' 'There was more effort, more spirit...' Actually, having checked, there's now at least four bearing Murray's name. Although quick to embrace change in business life, he's a man of his time although there's little in his office to identify him as the owner of Rangers for nearly 23 years. He does still use a leather desk blotter gifted to him by Bernard Tapie, the controversial former Marseille president who was welcomed to Ibrox for an epic Champions League tie in 1992. Those were the days. 'I was talking to Graeme Souness about it yesterday,' he says. 'The 1980s and the 90s were great years to be alive and be young. There was more effort, more spirit...' Not that Murray has lost much of his vim, despite everything. The variety of poses The Scotsman's photographer Lisa would like him to strike are restricted not only because of Murray's need for crutches, but also by a back crick sustained on the quad bike he has just acquired to ride around his Perthshire estate. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Then there's the relationship with Sarah, his girlfriend from the late 1990s, which has been resuscitated in recent years (the account of the death of his first wife Louise, mother of his two boys, from cancer, aged just 39, is one of the most affecting parts of the book). Rangers chairman David Murray is all smiles on the evening that he announced Alex McLeish was to stay as Rangers manager in 2005. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 He's recently sold his house in Juan-Les-Pins but a vineyard north of Marseille, Chateau Routas, is still going strong under the watchful eye of Keith, Murray's youngest son. Murray is also just back from seeing ELO in Manchester with his other son David, now managing director of Murray Group, which was timely, since it's probably turned out to be frontman Jeff Lynne's last ever performance. Given the way he's built back his businesses - he says he has just completed one of his biggest ever property deals - it's not difficult to reach the conclusion that life is currently good for Murray, now 73, hence the book. He isn't going away even if it felt like he had post-Rangers following what seemed like his total disappearance from public life. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Be under no illusion,' he says. 'I have made a lot of sacrifices in my life. For Rangers, my business and my family, which is a pleasure in the latter case. People need to understand if you want to climb the greasy pole, there's a price to pay. Less and less people want to make the effort.' His book is climbing the charts He laments the current state of the Scottish economy, the lack of incentive for entrepreneurs coming through and the tax pressures on family businesses. The gospel according to David Murray is never less than interesting, though it won't be everyone's cup of tea – and not everyone will go out of their way to hear it. ---------------- Enough people have, however, purchased his book for it to enter the Sunday Times top ten list last week. For Scottish football fans of a certain age consulting this chart, it felt completely surreal. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Among books such as The Greatest Story Ever Told, a retelling of the life of Jesus Christ using eyewitness accounts of the era, and The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, can be found, at number 5, Big Dunc, an autobiography of the 'larger than life' former Rangers footballer Duncan Ferguson. Meanwhile Murray's book Mettle: Tragedy, Courage and Titles, written with former tabloid editor Bruce Waddell with all proceeds going to the Erskine veterans' charity, was sitting at 10. Celtic's Tony Mowbray (2nd left) climbs above Duncan Ferguson to meet a high ball in 1994. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 Perhaps not appreciated by the wider literary crowd, there's a crossover between the two titles – Murray, of course, sanctioned signing Ferguson for a biggest ever British fee 32 years ago this month. There's a further connection between the two books: Barlinnie. Ferguson was sent there, famously, in 1995 after being convicted of an on-field assault on Raith Rovers player Jock McStay. Less well known is that Murray's own father, Ian, spent time in the notorious prison before being transferred to an open prison near Newton Stewart after being convicted of a 'minor fraud'. Somehow these details have remained out of the public domain. An inveterate gambler and latterly prodigious drinker, he passed away at the age of just 50. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Murray writes that his father never recovered from his prison experience but pays tribute to him for instilling in him a lifelong love of sport, including taking him to watch Scotland for the first time when they beat England in 1964 courtesy of an Alan Gilzean header. Still keeping tabs on Scottish football His mother, Roma, whose maiden name was McMahon, kept the family going. 'She was Roman Catholic!' he points out, which might be an odd thing to say but then this is Scotland, and Murray is happy not having to cope with the seemingly never-ending sectarian problem afflicting Rangers. He has offered counsel to current chief executive Patrick Stewart on a variety of matters, this issue surely among them. It reared its head most recently when fans unveiled an eye-catching tifo before a game against Celtic. Murray is vaguely aware of the details. 'The Souness with the gun thing?' he checks. He does keep up to speed with Scottish football to the extent that he recently acted as a talent scout for St Johnstone. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I had a young German boy over,' he says. 'I was in the south of France, at a big wedding a couple of years ago and met this young boy, David, who wants to be a footballer. I said, 'Come over to Scotland'. This was the summer before last. So I brought him up to St Johnstone with Steven MacLean. He was pretty average (as a player) but was sitting down at dinner one night with the family and he said, 'Do you think there's an anti-German feeling from the British because of the war?' I said, 'Not at all'. But in Northern Ireland they are still going on about 1690. Britain and Germany have moved on. Unfortunately that stuff has not really moved on, has it?' 'I'd rather go to ELO with David' Life has moved on in other ways, though. It's a different landscape now, with Celtic way out in front and Rangers struggling to make up ground. Russell Martin's side face a huge game in the context of their European ambitions on Tuesday night. Murray will be watching at home. He hasn't been back at a Rangers game either at Ibrox or elsewhere since he sold the club. It's not realistic to imagine that situation changing now. 'I would go back if I wanted to go back,' he says bullishly but one wonders if that is truly possible given the enduring bitterness. 'That part of my life has moved on now. I would rather have my grandchildren to stay. I'd rather go to ELO with David or go to a cricket match or go to the vineyard.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad When he asks what reason is there to go back, I venture: 'Watch a game?' He suggests that he's seen enough, over 1200. New signing Lorenzo Amoruso (right) with chairman David Murray in 1997. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 This number would be significantly lower had he sold the club in 2005 when given the chance to do so, another recent revelation. Jack Petchey, the former Watford owner who died last year, was Murray's signature away from taking control of the club in a £40m deal. With his Mont Blanc pen hovering over the paperwork, Murray writes that he 'endeavoured to renegotiate an additional sum' before realising he just couldn't sign it and left the room, amid 'despairing groans'. There were some concerns about Petchey's plans to reconstruct the Copland Road stand to include flats. Murray contends that he had done 'the best thing for the club but not for me, personally' which jarred slightly when reading the book, since it seemed that a big part of the struggle to let go was an unwillingness to lose something that had become him. There was a selfish element there. 'It was probably a bit of both,' he accepts. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Walter Smith's message Whatever it might have meant for Rangers in the long run, he can't bring himself to regret staying, because the subsequent years included the return of Walter Smith and another eight trophies in five years as well as a European final, an arguably better achievement than their first spell together given the severe financial squeeze. Reuniting with the legendary manager meant everything, both professionally and personally. He has kept his final message, sent shortly after Smith missed Murray's 70th birthday celebration due to illness. 'He sent me a message, he was about to die, 'sorry I missed your party'. Typical Walter.' And on this subject, even his harshest critic amongst the Rangers fans cannot doubt his sincerity. 'All the people that mattered at Rangers are still friends with me,' he continues, with Graeme Souness having contributed one of two forewords in the book.
Belfast Telegraph
13-07-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
Former Rangers owner reveals police spoke to him in aftermath of Brighton Bomb
Former Rangers owner Sir David Murray has told how the police spoke to him in the aftermath of the Brighton Bomb.
Sunday World
10-07-2025
- Business
- Sunday World
Terror group rakes in £1m as members pay mega-bonfire builder's pals £5k to get out
According to sources, South East Antrim UDA are believed to have trousered up £1 million in the last 12 months thanks to the scheme. South East Antrim UDA loan shark David Murray(blue jacket)at work on the Craigyhill bonfire last night. UDA boss David Murray the man behind the 'world's biggest bonfire' has recieved a cool £1million from former members wishing to leave the organisation. The Sunday World understands that Murray charged 200 men £5,000 each to walk away from the terror group. South East Antrim UDA loan shark David Murray(blue jacket)at work on the Craigyhill bonfire last night. UDA boss David Murray the man behind the 'world's biggest bonfire' has recieved a cool £1million from former members wishing to leave the organisation. The Sunday World understands that Murray charged 200 men £5,000 each to walk away from the terror group. South East Antrim UDA loan shark David Murray(blue jacket)at work on the Craigyhill bonfire last night. UDA boss David Murray the man behind the 'world's biggest bonfire' has recieved a cool £1million from former members wishing to leave the organisation. The Sunday World understands that Murray charged 200 men £5,000 each to walk away from the terror group. Associates of a loyalist leader are charging UDA men £5,000 a time to leave the organisation, the Sunday World has learned. David 'Shark' Murray – who was previously the focus of a major police probe into loyalist money laundering – is said to have helped arrange the paramilitary buy-out scheme for UDA members in Larne, Co. Antrim. According to sources, South East Antrim UDA are believed to have trousered up £1 million in the last 12 months thanks to the scheme. During a Sunday World investigation in the ferry-port town this week, we were told that more than 200 UDA members had already taken advantage of the exit strategy. And although master bonfire builder Murray doesn't want Sunday World readers to know it, we can also reveal that the UDA in Larne has been reduced to around 40 fully paid-up members. 'UDA men who were associated with the organisation in the town left in droves,' a resident living on the largely loyalist and UDA-controlled Craigyhill estate told us. 'Many families decided the best thing to do in the circumstances was to pay up. It was an opportunity to get their sons away from of the paramilitaries.' 'Some of them even borrowed cash under the guise of buying a second-hand car. But in reality it bought young lads – who have been under the control of the paramilitaries – the freedom to start a new life.' He added: 'But if you do the maths, five thousand times two hundred quid is one million. And that's a nice pay-off for anyone.' Murray – who drives a McLaren supercar – was previously named by police in court as the Larne boss of South East Antrim UDA. However, he has denied all involvement in criminality. David Murray In 2022, Murray took to social media to deny he was involved in a loan-sharking operation under investigation by the police. He claimed had been 'fully investigated by the NCA (National Crime Agency) for four years, and they found no wrongdoing at all. Case closed.' On Thursday evening we called to the Craigyhill bonfire site in the hope of persuading Murray to give us his side of the story and if he knew anything about charging UDA members a £5,000 fee to quit the illegal organisation. But the master bonfire builder was too busy overseeing pallet-laying at the top of the massive bonfire to come down to speak to us. Instead, a Craigyhill resident out walking his dog told us he was happy to speak about the buy-out scheme as long as we didn't use his name. Describing himself as a 'former UDA veteran', the man told us: 'If you think this is only about money then you're making a big mistake. It's about control,' he said. 'Of course, raising a £1 million in such a short period of time is very good business from the SEA UDA's point of view. 'But here's the real story – the UDA doesn't need 250 men to control loyalist estates in Larne. It can be done with less than 50 and that's what the current buy-out programme is about. 'A UDA army of over 200 men is very difficult to control. And of course it makes the organisation much more vulnerable to PSNI infiltration. But 50 men of the right calibre can provide all the muscle you'll ever need,' he said. However, a security source also told us: 'The UDA in South East Antrim has evolved into a criminal and drugs organisation with similarities to the West Indian Yardies and that's not going to change.' Plans are currently under way for Murray's annual 11th night loyalist jamboree to go ahead as usual. It is staged adjacent to where the Craigyhill super-bonfire is currently under construction. And on Thursday afternoon, lorries transporting fairground attractions arrived constantly on the site. However, a well-placed source at Mid and East Antrim Council – which owns the land where the Craigyhill bonfire and show ground is sited – said it still hadn't received a single penny in income from the July festivities in Larne Men at work on the the 'world's biggest bonfire' in Craigyhill late into the night. As these pictures show, McLaren-driving Murray – who runs his own cleaning company – spends most of his downtime directing building operations around the bonfire site. Standing at well over 200ft, Craigyhill bonfire is believed to be the biggest of its kind in the world. It attracts thousands of visitors from right across County Antrim. And many loyalist families from Belfast will also make the 20-mile journey to Larne to witness the spectacle of it being lit at midnight on Friday. But not all residents on the Craigyhill estate are happy with the bonfire. Some of those we spoke to this week said the estate appears to have been abandoned by the PSNI, who have no real input or take-away about what happens. One man who said he was once linked to the UDA leadership said: 'If these people really cared about the legacy of loyalism in Larne then they would let the men go freely, because there is no need for them any more. 'The stark reality is the leadership of most UDA Brigades are motivated by money. Fighting republicanism was well down their list of priorities. 'The reality is the loyalist people are under no threat from republicans. We need to face that head-on. When is the last time a republican came into a loyalist area and shot dead a loyalist or a Protestant? It's so long ago no one can remember. 'The UDA was supposed to develop into a community organisation, but for the past 20 years South East UDA has been one of the biggest drugs dealing organisations in Northern Ireland and that's a fact,' said the Craigyhill resident. Four years ago, John Steele – who was born and reared on the nearby Antiville estate – lost his life when he was struck by a falling pallet on a bonfire he helped build. Locals wanted the bonfire at Antiville cancelled as a mark of respect for John and his family. John was extremely popular on both housing estates where he worked as window cleaner. The entire community was stunned by John's death, but despite offering condolences, the local UDA leadership refused to do away with the Antiville bonfire because it saw it as means of attracting youngsters into the ranks of the UDA. It was only when a relative of Mr Steele spoke to the SEA leadership in Rathcoole that their concerns were addressed.
Leader Live
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Mold Carnival 2025: Huge crowds attend town's flagship event
Crowds lined the streets as the parade made its way through town, leaving Griffiths Square Car Park at 10.30am and proceeding down the town's high street, Earl Road, and Maes Bodlonfa. Festivities then continued at Kendricks Field and 'The Rec', with performances from dancing troupes and the Cambria Band, who had also lead the parade. Other activities, competitions, and independent craft and food and drink stalls gave eventgoers much to try out and taste. The event, which is organised by Mold Town Council and other volunteers, hosted the 'It's a Knockout' challenge, with businesses, clubs and pubs getting involved. The 'It's a Knockout' event saw teams take on inflatable obstacles, foam, and water - all while wearing silly costumes - to compete for the title of Mold Carnival Knockout Champions 2025. The FA Wales and McDonald's Football Festival also took place, close to a huge funfair with rides for all ages, including a daunting pendulum and the ever-popular Ferris Wheel. READ MORE: The Human League 'thrill' packed crowd at Llangollen Pavilion When 2025 'Off-Flint' Scarecrow competition will take place A 'quiet hour' was held between 10-11am on the day to support children with additional learning needs. There was live music from several performers, including David Murray and The New Kid, Brody Xander, Rock Choir, and Urban Fusion. Mayor of Mold, Councillor Paul Beacher, said there was "something for everyone" in an event which "brings the town together". "Mold Carnival is basically the biggest one in Flintshire, I like to think," Mayor Beacher told Leader Live. "Eight people put in on, they work from January right through. "Two fun-packed fields again - it's a big event and a free event which brings the town together - that's the main thing. "People come and enjoy themselves, bring their children, there's something for everyone. "I'm glad I'm part of it, and that it's part of the town. The day's gone well."
Scotsman
06-07-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Sir David Murray sorry for Rangers sale disaster but defiant over EBTs and untainted trophies
Former Ibrox chief speaks out ahead of autobiography release Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Sir David Murray, the former owner of Rangers, has apologised to supporters for his part in the financial disaster that befell the club in 2012. Murray sold Rangers to businessman Craig Whyte for £1 in 2011 but within a year the Ibrox club was placed into liquidation over unpaid tax bills and forced to restart in the fourth tier of Scottish football. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The financial difficulties were exacerbated by a large debt accumulated under Murray's ownership, where £47million in tax-free loans were paid to players in staff in the form of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs). Rangers chairman Sir David Murray pictured at the Murray Park training ground in 2008. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 Murray has spoken to the BBC to mark the publication of his autobiography, Mettle, and revealed he regretted his decisions and said sorry to fans and club staff. "Of course I'd apologise," he said. "I'm not one of these people who run a company and hide. It was a terrible moment, and I apologise to all the staff, good people, and I know many of them to this day. I'd hope in hindsight, they look at the facts and think I was put in a very difficult position." Murray denied failing to conduct due diligence on Whyte, who had been introduced as a 'high-net-worth individual' but was unable to pay the bills to stave off administration and subsequent liquidation after borrowing £26.7 million against future season ticket sales from the firm, Ticketus. "I went on the facts in front of me," Murray stated. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Craig Whyte bought Rangers from Sir David Murray in 2011 but within a year the club had been liquidation and demoted to the Scottish Third Division. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 Murray also stressed that "they didn't do anything illegal" when challenged on whether it was morally acceptable to deprive the NHS and other public services of funds so wealthy footballers could pay less tax. "Footballers are getting paid too much," he added. "Not just at Rangers, everywhere. It's avoidance. People do that." Murray has accepted that his Ibrox legacy has been tarnished by the events which surrounded his sale of the club, but insists that the trophies won during his period at the helm were not tainted by the use of EBTs, denying that the scheme allowed the club to gain an unfair financial advantage.
