Latest news with #Whyte

The National
5 days ago
- Business
- The National
Time has not restored Murray's battered Rangers legacy
The former Ibrox chairman has been busy promoting his new book, entitled 'Mettle', a play on the industry where he made his fortune and the quality he undoubtedly showed in abundance to overcome personal tragedies and live the life that he has. The one challenge though that it seems impossible for him to overcome is to rebuild his shattered reputation in the eyes of the Rangers support, to the vast majority of whom he will always be the man who sold the club to Craig Whyte. And for a sum 22 times less than the RRP of his book, no less. The subheading to the book's title – 'Tragedy, courage and titles' – is telling, because that only gives the story up to a point. Anything that came after that is deemed unworthy of inclusion in this short summation of Murray's life, while anything that came before his fateful exit from Rangers now, sadly for him, seems irrelevant to the Ibrox fanbase. (Image: SNS Group Steve Welsh) The book itself does include Murray's telling of his thinking leading up to that fateful sale to Whyte, and the context was that he, undoubtedly, was in a difficult situation. Lloyds were seemingly turning the screw on the Rangers chairman (though he downplays this) and urging him to offload the club, which owed the bank around £18m. There was the tax liability on top of that stemming from Murray's ill-judged use of the EBT scheme, which at that time was thought to be as high as £70m, though it was later reduced to around £20m or thereabouts after HMRC admitted to errors in their calculations and a subsequent settlement agreement. The bottom line is this, though. Without Murray embarking upon the use of EBTs, no matter how much he may still stress the legality of the scheme, HMRC would never have had cause to darken the Ibrox doorstep. Furthermore, Rangers would never have been in a position where they could be sold for a quid to a character such as Whyte. Most damning of all - and this is the part that doesn't pass the smell test - is that Murray argues he had no notion of the ruinous path he had set Rangers on when he handed the keys to Whyte. In his book, he says that he took that decision 'in good faith', and that he 'went on the facts in front of me'. 'A journalist asked me at the time if our due diligence should have been more thorough,' Murray writes. 'It's easy to look back and say: 'Yes, of course it should' but anyone typing Whyte's name into Google back in 2011 would have found one article from years before. Nothing else.' The fans are expected to believe that this feted businessman, who had spent years cultivating an image as a meticulously shrewd, savvy and abundantly connected operator, simply didn't know who he was dealing with when it came to passing on the club he had spent 23 years leading. That his background checks on the man went as far as a simple Google search. In short, they don't. Instead, the narrative that has gained most traction is that Murray knew exactly where Rangers were heading, and he didn't want to be the captain at the helm when the ship went down. That Whyte was a convenient fall-guy. If this is true, and I should stress there is no evidence to prove it, then as an exercise in saving face and safeguarding his legacy, it was entirely redundant. Instead of protecting his name, he has instead been christened with a new soubriquet – Sir 'Duped'. The inverted commas are, of course, always included to denote sarcasm. Whether he did know who he was dealing with in Whyte or not, neither position reflects well on him. If he didn't, he should have. Many Rangers supporters will never forgive him either way. (Image: SNS Group Bill Murray) In some ways, it is a great pity that it has all ended like this for Murray. The good times he brought to Ibrox were among some of the most memorable ever seen at the club. He broke down barriers, signing Mo Johnston. He was at the helm as the team brought home nine-in-a-row. Away from football, his fortitude is commendable and impossible not to admire. The proceeds of his book, incidentally, will go to Erskine, the veteran's charity. Ultimately though, the hubris that spawned his famous quote of spending a tenner for every fiver that Celtic put on the table was the same that led to his – and ultimately, to Rangers' – downfall. Not only do the supporters place the blame for what happened back in 2012 firmly at Sir David's door, but for the sorry state they have found themselves in for most of the time since. For the single league title in the 14 years since he left the club. For Celtic's subsequent domestic domination. And now, just as an exciting new era is dawning at Rangers at long, long last, even the timing of his re-emergence to shift the narrative away from the positive changes taking place at Ibrox this summer has hardly helped to restore his battered image. After 14 years, it appears nothing, not even the passage of time, will.


The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Time has not restored Murray's battered Rangers legacy
The one challenge though that it seems impossible for him to overcome is to rebuild his shattered reputation in the eyes of the Rangers support, to the vast majority of whom he will always be the man who sold the club to Craig Whyte. And for a sum 22 times less than the RRP of his book, no less. The subheading to the book's title – 'Tragedy, courage and titles' – is telling, because that only gives the story up to a point. Anything that came after that is deemed unworthy of inclusion in this short summation of Murray's life, while anything that came before his fateful exit from Rangers now, sadly for him, seems irrelevant to the Ibrox fanbase. (Image: SNS Group Steve Welsh) The book itself does include Murray's telling of his thinking leading up to that fateful sale to Whyte, and the context was that he, undoubtedly, was in a difficult situation. Lloyds were seemingly turning the screw on the Rangers chairman (though he downplays this) and urging him to offload the club, which owed the bank around £18m. There was the tax liability on top of that stemming from Murray's ill-judged use of the EBT scheme, which at that time was thought to be as high as £70m, though it was later reduced to around £20m or thereabouts after HMRC admitted to errors in their calculations and a subsequent settlement agreement. The bottom line is this, though. Without Murray embarking upon the use of EBTs, no matter how much he may still stress the legality of the scheme, HMRC would never have had cause to darken the Ibrox doorstep. Furthermore, Rangers would never have been in a position where they could be sold for a quid to a character such as Whyte. Most damning of all - and this is the part that doesn't pass the smell test - is that Murray argues he had no notion of the ruinous path he had set Rangers on when he handed the keys to Whyte. In his book, he says that he took that decision 'in good faith', and that he 'went on the facts in front of me'. 'A journalist asked me at the time if our due diligence should have been more thorough,' Murray writes. 'It's easy to look back and say: 'Yes, of course it should' but anyone typing Whyte's name into Google back in 2011 would have found one article from years before. Nothing else.' The fans are expected to believe that this feted businessman, who had spent years cultivating an image as a meticulously shrewd, savvy and abundantly connected operator, simply didn't know who he was dealing with when it came to passing on the club he had spent 23 years leading. That his background checks on the man went as far as a simple Google search. In short, they don't. Instead, the narrative that has gained most traction is that Murray knew exactly where Rangers were heading, and he didn't want to be the captain at the helm when the ship went down. That Whyte was a convenient fall-guy. If this is true, and I should stress there is no evidence to prove it, then as an exercise in saving face and safeguarding his legacy, it was entirely redundant. Instead of protecting his name, he has instead been christened with a new soubriquet – Sir 'Duped'. The inverted commas are, of course, always included to denote sarcasm. Whether he did know who he was dealing with in Whyte or not, neither position reflects well on him. If he didn't, he should have. Many Rangers supporters will never forgive him either way. (Image: SNS Group Bill Murray) In some ways, it is a great pity that it has all ended like this for Murray. The good times he brought to Ibrox were among some of the most memorable ever seen at the club. He broke down barriers, signing Mo Johnston. He was at the helm as the team brought home nine-in-a-row. Away from football, his fortitude is commendable and impossible not to admire. The proceeds of his book, incidentally, will go to Erskine, the veteran's charity. Ultimately though, the hubris that spawned his famous quote of spending a tenner for every fiver that Celtic put on the table was the same that led to his – and ultimately, to Rangers' – downfall. Not only do the supporters place the blame for what happened back in 2012 firmly at Sir David's door, but for the sorry state they have found themselves in for most of the time since. For the single league title in the 14 years since he left the club. For Celtic's subsequent domestic domination. And now, just as an exciting new era is dawning at Rangers at long, long last, even the timing of his re-emergence to shift the narrative away from the positive changes taking place at Ibrox this summer has hardly helped to restore his battered image. After 14 years, it appears nothing, not even the passage of time, will.


The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Ex-Rangers chief Craig Whyte's floundering YouTube channel
Mr Whyte borrowed £26.7m against future season ticket sales in order to acquire the club. Read More: Soon after the takeover Rangers stopped paying PAYE and VAT, leading to a £9m tax bill from HMRC which put the company into administration. Liquidators were appointed after the revenue rejected a proposed Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) and Rangers were admitted to the fourth division of Scottish football. Whyte was declared bankrupt in 2015. Mr Whyte has since released a book, Into the Bear Pit, about his ownership and begun hosting an investment channel on YouTube. However, all may not be what it seems. On social media the former Rangers owner boasts of having "50k+ subs YouTube". Acequisition, the channel in question, does indeed have 51.4k subscribers. However, Mr Whyte's channel isn't doing too well in the viewership stakes. The most recent video, posted 11 days ago, has just 41 views, while one posted two months entitled 'how to legally pay zero tax' has amassed just 193 in that time. Craig Whyte's YouTube channel (Image: YouTube) The channel was not founded by Mr Whyte and Hector Earley, the other 'creator' listed on the channel but by James Domenic Floreani AKA Jayconomics. In July last year Jay announced that he was leaving YouTube, with 'new creators' taking over the channel. He said: "I will be handing over the channel to people who I think will bring you interesting finance and business content - you'll get to meet them in just a second. For anyone who is wondering, one thing no one can say is that I didn't put my money where my mouth was. I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in companies and the people running them. It has also taught me just how brutal and humbling the small cap market can be - one minute you are on top of the world, the next you've lost it all. "These expensive lessons I've learned throughout these last four years have made me stronger, more focused, a heck of a lot smarter, and given me a much better perspective on how things work. It's been a time of healing, personal growth, tough questions, and rough lessons learned. "Over the past year I've been focused on God, family, healing from within using circadian biology principles, and living in alignment with my purpose. Though I will have to rebuild financially, I am in a much better place mentally, spiritually and physically than I was during my time on YouTube. "All that said, I'd like to thank each and every viewer, supporter and critic of Jayconomics throughout the last four years. I truly wish each and every one of you the best." In April of this year Mr Floreani was found to have breached securities laws in Alberta, Canada between November 2020 and March 2022 by posting recommendations for stocks on social media including YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Patreon, Instagram, Discord, and Facebook without disclosing he and his company Jayconomics Inc had been paid to do so. The court found he was paid $787.50 for a video about a tech firm called Tenet, as well as 20,000 restricted shares in the company Gold Mountain, $84,000 from Levitee Labs, and $6,300 from Sekur. Penalties are yet to be handed down. Mr Whyte was banned from being a company director for 15 years for his part in the collapse of Rangers. In 2017 the former owner was cleared of fraudulently taking over the club. He dropped a case of malicious prosecution against the Lord Advocate in 2023.


Daily Record
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Sir David Murray's biggest Rangers regret is giving keys to Craig Whyte
The former Rangers chairman will release his autobiography on July 3. Regrets? Sir David Murray has a few. Selling up after 23 years as chairman of Rangers isn't one of them - but giving the keys to Craig Whyte most certainly is. Millionaire metals tycoon Murray was the man who bankrolled an era of glitter and gold at Ibrox. Over the course of his two-decade run as Rangers owner and chairman, he estimates that sums close to £80million were invested by himself and his businesses. That hefty wedge of notes brought an array of international stars to Govan and with it a haul of trophies. Fifteen league crowns, 20 domestic cup wins and a European final. These were the best of times to be a Rangers fan. And yet Murray now stands accused of being the person responsible for setting the club on a course to wrack and ruin. The man who famously vowed to spend a tenner for every fiver slapped down by Celtic has been left with the legacy of being remembered chiefly for the EBT gamble that has cost the club so dearly. When he bought Rangers from Lawrence Marlborough for £6m in 1988, the Ibrox outfit had a spending power that allowed it to compete with the richest clubs in England and across Europe. But by the time mysterious Scottish businessman Whyte offered to take the club off his hands for a solitary pound coin, Murray's Rangers were struggling to keep up with city neighbours Celtic, never mind competing with the continent's biggest clubs. Faced with difficulties in his metals empire, a global economic recession and a disastrous early Champions League exit at the hands of Lithuanian minnows FBK Kaunus, Rangers were already operating under close scrutiny from their bankers at Lloyds Banking Group. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! 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With an investigation brewing into the controversial £47million EBT tax scheme Murray had deployed in order to continue signing big names, he decided the time had come to escape the suffocating pressures of the Ibrox boardroom too. But by handing the keys to the club to Whyte in May 2011, he had sealed the club's fate. Within nine months the club's operating company would lurch into administration and then liquidation. What's followed has been decade and a half of torture for a Rangers faithful forced to watch as Celtic have lifted 13 of the last 14 league titles. The club continues to battle against the fallout from that astonishing collapse to this very day. Now in his new book Mettle - which is being serialised in today's Daily Record - Sir David apologies for the role he played in the demise of the Ibrox institution. He writes: 'More than a decade after the event, the question I still frequently get asked is: 'Do you regret selling Rangers?' The answer is always: ' time was up.' 'Honestly, 23 years was too long. We had enjoyed the greatest success in the club's entire history but it was time for change. But do I regret the sale to Craig Whyte? Absolutely. I apologise. It was a huge error of judgement in the middle of a financial crisis. Looking back, I had made a huge mistake.' During discussions with Murray, Whyte gave assurances he had the cash to not only wipe out the club's debts but also further funds to upgrade Walter Smith's squad and Ibrox itself. As it turns our, this Walter Mitty character had neither. It was the Daily Record that revealed he had struck a deal to mortgage off future season-ticket sales with finance firm Ticketus just to raise the readies required to complete the transaction - a fact that was kept from Murray, along with the fact Whyte had previously been barred from acting as a company director. The former chairman later claimed he'd been duped by White - a line he sticks to in the book, 'As it happened, Rangers went into administration in 2012 after failing to pay a multimillion pound HMRC tax and VAT bill,' Murray, now 73, explains. On the Rangers tax case he is clear that the factual amounts charged by HMRC assisted in restricting others parties in acquiring the club. They chose to gross up the payments through the trusts, increasing a non grossed up claim of £23.5 million to £37 million. Interest of £10.4million was then applied. A penalty of £23.5 million was then added which is virtually the maximum allowed with HMRC citing the illegal nature of the schemes. In effect, a base claim of £23.5 million became more than £70 million. The penalty was appealed by the liquidators then ultimately withdrawn in full by HMRC, who belatedly agreed the allegation of illegality was unfounded. He added: "Administrators described their 'widespread' concern at the Ticketus arrangement, where the club were paid money upfront for season tickets sold for multiple seasons to help cashflow. 'I deeply regretted and still regret selling the club to Whyte. And I freely admit that if the information had been available to me at the time I would not have gone through with it. My decision was taken in good faith. There is only so much information out there. 'After someone has been disqualified for seven years it is not that easy to carry out checks. But I was in a situation where we had been endeavouring to sell the club for four years. We had received proof of funds. We had a legal document confirming he was going to spend money on players, eventually, once he had paid back the loan. 'He met the criteria that were in his offer document. What we wanted to do was get debt out of the club. 'The phrase 'debt-ridden club' was being used a lot. Whyte made a statement that the club was never in better financial state when he took it over. I thought: 'I hope to God I have done the right thing. I've passed it on. This is a guy saying he is going to spend money on players, on health and safety and do Ibrox up.' 'That was a legal offer document which you were entitled to feel would be honoured. I know others had doubts. Paul Murray was keen to buy the club. I had nothing but respect for him. He's a Rangers fan and wanted what was best for the club. 'But at that time he was not able to make a satisfactory offer. He wanted debt left in and the tax case put to one side. There have always been suggestions that I was under ferocious pressure from the bank to do the deal but that was not the case. 'The bank wanted their money back, of course, and I had made it clear that I wanted out of Rangers. At that time we were going into recession and people were not exactly queueing up to buy football clubs. Lloyds wanted out of the football industry. 'I wanted out but if we had known about the Ticketus issue we would never have done the deal. If I could turn back the clock, I would.' Whyte would later be cleared at a High Court trial of buying the by fraudulent means. But Murray remains unhappy about the way the case was handled. Looking back on his first interactions with the Motherwell -born businessman, he said "Whyte seemed quite affable and plausible. I remember someone asking at the time: 'Does this pass the sniff test?' and yes it did. He was Scottish, supposedly a Rangers supporter, he had the money and of course there was a Stock Exchange document there. 'If you can't believe that, then what the hell can you believe? A journalist asked me at the time if our due diligence should have been more thorough. It's easy to look back and say: 'Yes, of course it should' but anyone typing Whyte's name into Google back in 2011 would have found one article from years before. Nothing else. 'It seemed strange. There was even a rumour that everything about him had been removed from the internet. I've no idea how true that was. What Whyte had that other potential bids did not was the backing of a reputable legal firm. 'The fact he was clearing money into their clients' account and the fact that they confirmed they had sufficient funds to complete the transaction that was being negotiated goes a long way to being positive confirmation. 'So many aspects of the Whyte trial still rankle with me today. For starters, I believe it should have taken place in Edinburgh or another town. 'I've had it recently confirmed that prior to the trial, it was stated that anyone with knowledge of the case, with shares, bonds or a season ticket at Ibrox at the time of the indictment could not be a juror. 'Now Donald Findlay [Whyte's defence lawyer and former Gers vice-chairman] was a prominent season ticket holder, shareholder and club director. I understand that as a defence counsel, he wasn't subject to the same strict criteria as those on the jury. 'But I wish he had been, and it still doesn't sit well with me to this day.' The bitterness felt by the Rangers faithful shows no sign of relenting either. Murray understands that - but he hopes they will take on board the situation he and the club found themselves in as the world economy suffered its biggest downturn since the Great Depression. Against the financial crisis, the businessman was faced with a life-threatening medial procedure to fix an aortic aneurysm, something he reveals in the book for the first time. 'It has now been 14 years since I relinquished control of the club and there is no doubt that my legacy was tarnished,' he writes. 'The first 15 or 16 years of my tenure were outstanding from both a sporting point of view and a business perspective but the final few years were tricky and took a lot out of me. 'When we were in that tight period I ploughed a lot of money into the club. I worked out that our company had put just short of £80million into Rangers during my time at the club. Others, including Dave King, invested seriously as well. 'But ultimately, when the crash came, I took the fall. No one else. I was captain of the ship. It was undoubtedly a low point in the club's history and even now, more than a decade later, I still feel responsible. 'It's still difficult to believe that it got as far as it did but I will never try to hide. Thankfully for the fans, Rangers have survived and across the past few years have remained competitive, even reaching another European final. 'I hope, in hindsight, Rangers fans will understand that there were a number of key factors going on in business and my life that they were simply not aware of at the time. I was caught in the perfect storm of a bank collapsing, a shocking result in Europe against Kaunas that cost us millions, a club essentially in financial difficulty and a medical condition that I couldn't announce publicly but put my life sharply into focus.' Preorder on Amazon HERE


Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Ex-Rangers owner Sir David Murray APOLOGISES for selling club to Craig Whyte 14 years after deal which led to collapse
He's lifted the lid on the most talked about deal in history SORRY END Ex-Rangers owner Sir David Murray APOLOGISES for selling club to Craig Whyte 14 years after deal which led to collapse Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SIR DAVID MURRAY has apologised for selling Rangers to Craig Whyte — 14 years after the £1 deal which triggered the club's collapse. The former Gers owner admits the sale was a 'huge mistake' in his new autobiography 'Mettle: Tragedy, Courage and Titles'. Sign up for the Rangers newsletter Sign up 4 David Murray (right) signs over the rights of Rangers to Craig Whyte (left) 4 Craig Whyte leaving the high court in Glasgow. Credit: John Gunion - The Sun Glasgow 4 Sir David Murray leaves the High Court in Glasgow after giving evidence against Craig Whyte Credit: PA:Press Association Whyte took control in May 2011, but presided over the financial crash at Ibrox which resulted in administration nine months later and ultimately liquidation. Murray, now 73, claimed at the time he was 'duped' by Whyte. But he has now said sorry for flogging the club at a time he was battling health issues. He said: 'I apologise. 'It was a huge error of judgment in the middle of a financial crisis. 'Looking back, I had made a huge mistake. 'I deeply regretted and still regret selling the club to Whyte. 'And I freely admit that if the information had been available to me at the time I would not have gone through with it.' Whyte bought the club from Murray just days before Gers won the league title with a 5-1 triumph over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. But the financial crisis soon unravelled, with Whyte wrestling with £18m debts he inherited and HMRC battles. New Rangers chiefs Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe's first interview It emerged the new owner had used money projected to come from future season tickets to allow him to complete his purchase. And under Whyte's stewardship, the Gers went into administration and then liquidation in 2012 — and were plunged to the fourth tier of Scottish football. SIR DAVID MURRAY: A TIMELINE 1951 - Born in Ayr 1974 - Founds Murray International Metals aged 23 1976 - Loses both legs in a car crash 1984 - Awarded Young Scottish Businessman of the Year 1988 - Buys Rangers FC for £6million 1989 - Rangers win the first of a record-equalling nine successive league titles and buy first high profile Catholic, Maurice Johnston, for £1.5m from under the noses of Celtic. 1991: Walter Smith succeeds Graeme Souness as manager. 1992 - Wife Louise - mum of their two sons - dies after a cancer battle. 1993: Rangers sign Duncan Ferguson for a record transfer fee between British clubs of £4million. 1995: Paul Gascoigne signs for a club record £4.3m. 1998: Dick Advocaat is appointed manager and club break their transfer record three times that summer by signing Arthur Numan (£4.5m), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (£5m) and Andrei Kanchelskis (£5.5m). Murray declares that for 'every £5 Celtic spend, we will spend £10.' 2000: Rangers smash transfer record by signing Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea for £12m. 2001: Murray Park is opened at a cost of £14m. 2007 - Knighted for services to business 2009 - Sir David steps down as Rangers chairman and as a member of the board, with the club having won 15 titles and 21 cups during his tenure May 2011 - He sells his controlling interest in Rangers for £1 to Wavetower Limited, owned by businessman Craig Whyte. Murray added: 'Do I regret the sale to Craig Whyte? Absolutely. 'I know others had doubts. 'Paul Murray was keen to buy the club and I had nothing but respect for him. 'He is a Rangers fan and wanted what was best for the club. But at that time he was not able to make a satisfactory offer. 4 Front page of the Scottish Sun dated 10 July 1989 Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 'There have always been suggestions that I was under ferocious pressure from the bank to do the deal but that was not the case at all. 'The bank wanted their money, of course, and I had made it clear that I wanted out of Rangers.' Ayr-born steel magnate Murray — who was knighted in 2007 for services to business in Scotland — bought Rangers for £6m from Lawrence Marlborough in 1988. Under his guidance, Gers enjoyed their greatest domestic era, including Nine in a Row championship success from 1989-97. They competed in the first Champions League in 1992/93 and made the 2008 Uefa Cup final in Manchester. Football's scoop of the century By Roger Hannah IT'S The Sun Wot Broke It. But Sir David Murray didn't mind that his historic swoop for Maurice Johnston was first revealed on the front page of this newspaper in 1989. He was just relieved he'd managed to help Graeme Souness pull off a transfer swoop which rocked Scottish football. Even now, 36 years on, landing the Scotland striker from Celtic's grasp — and making him the first high- profile Catholic to play for Gers — is regarded as the most audacious swoop of all time. And Murray recalls: 'All the talk was of Johnston joining Celtic. But Graeme came to me and said, 'Apparently he's not signed, the paperwork's not done, we can get him'. 'I asked for a day to think about it, phoned him and said, 'Yes, I think we should do it for numerous reasons — for football reasons and to remove an area where we can be criticised for not signing Catholic players. And why not make it the best one, who can come in and contribute?' 'Even though at that time Mark Hateley and Ally McCoist were the strikers and had an excellent partnership. 'Finally, just 24 hours before we were due to unveil the player, we took a call from a young journalist at The Sun in Scotland ahead of a story being published. 'On July 10, 1989, The Sun ran half of its front page with the simple headline MO JOINS GERS. 'It certainly didn't spoil the unveiling. If anything, it ramped up the tension!' Johnston, who had played with Celts before a spell at Nantes in France, was pictured with Hoops boss Billy McNeill in 1989 but hadn't signed his contract to return. Gers boss Souness, who had played with Johnston for Scotland, realised the move hadn't been concluded and kickstarted the monumental move. In his autobiography — published this week — he offers a deeply personal insight into his extraordinary life and work. He lifts the lid on his relationship with bosses Graeme Souness — still a close friend — Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish and Paul le Guen. Murray also reveals details of his relationship with superstar players including Paul Gascoigne and record scorer Ally McCoist, who would be appointed manager by Whyte after his buy-out - Mettle: Tragedy, Courage & Titles by Sir David Murray, is on sale Thursday July 3 from Amazon and all good bookshops. Preorder on Amazon here. Sir David is donating his royalties to Erskine Hospital.