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Charles Green: Prospective Rangers owner
Prospective new owner Charles Green believes administration-hit Rangers can win the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title next season - if they can keep hold of their players.
Green has already indicated his consortium's £8.5million bid is unaffected by sanctions imposed by the Scottish Football Association's judicial panel after Rangers lost an appeal against a 12-month transfer embargo on Wednesday.
The former Sheffield United chief executive, who on Friday named two members of his Sevco consortium, plans to hold talks with manager Ally McCoist as they aim to retain as much of the current squad as possible.
Several players negotiated clauses in their contracts allowing them to leave for cut-price fees when they accepted significant temporary wage cuts in March, but Green hopes their loyalty to McCoist and the club can keep them at Ibrox.
Green told RangersTV: "My understanding - and I'm going to sit down with Alistair next week when he comes back - is that a number of players reached agreements with the administrators to take reductions in salaries and vary their contracts.
"The payment, shall we say, in agreeing those variations is that they would be allowed to leave at a lower price.
"What I would expect, notwithstanding those agreements are in place, is that these players will have the opportunity to sit down with myself and the manager so that we can explain what the plans are for the club, what we plan to do over the next two or three years.
"Alistair has done a fantastic job this season with a 10-point deduction. To my mind, if we can't sign anyone but we can keep the existing players, why wouldn't we win the league?
"So we need the chance to speak with the players.
"Of course the big problem in all of this is the agents. I think the players respect Ally, they love the club and they have enjoyed playing here.
"I had the fortune - or misfortune as the case may be - of floating the biggest soccer agency in the world a few years ago so I understand the market and I understand the pressure that is put on players by their agents and it is difficult.
"However it is a challenge we will have to face.
"We are going to do whatever Ally wants to do. We are backing Ally and he knows that.
"I have had a number of meetings with him now and he understands where we are coming from and he is very happy, in my view, with what he has seen and heard.
"It's about building up trust. Whether it is the fan on the street or the manager of the club, everyone is suspicious of anyone who comes through these big front doors at Ibrox and I would be exactly the same."
On the SFA sanctions, Green added: "As an outsider looking in, as I have been, I felt that the original ruling was wrong but I felt it would have been difficult for them to over-turn it.
"We have got to now see the written report from the judge and sit down with our legal advisors and see what the best step is for this football club.
"If that remains in force, we understood that there was a likelihood when we made the purchase, then we will deal with it and we will work with Ally and his team to come out of it the best we can."
Green claims to have assembled 20 potential investors and on Friday named two of those as Indonesian businessman Jude Allen and Middle Eastern lawyer Mazen Houssami, with a Singapore family trust also included.
He added: "We have got an extensive list of interested parties and that list is growing daily.
"Since the announcement was made, we have had a number of people who were not in my original contact list and some of those are local people that we are speaking to.
"We have visitors today at the club and we had visitors yesterday - all of whom are interested in becoming investors.
"That's great news for me because, first of all, it shows there is a belief that this club can be rescued.
"I can assure fans that it is very easy to raise money, even in this financial market we are in, for an institution like Rangers."
Green earlier revealed he would freeze season ticket prices following talks with fans and that administrators Duff and Phelps had written to Ticketus to terminate their contract, which gave the investment firm the rights to sell £26.7million worth of the tickets over three years.
Ticketus described the move as a formality after already being informed they would be treated as unsecured creditors in Green's attempts to secure a Company Voluntary Arrangement.
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