Former Rangers chairman David Murray insists he could still be at Ibrox if club hadn’t been ‘targeted’ by HMRC during tax case
Former Rangers chairman Sir David Murray has claimed he could still be in control at the club if tax authorities had not ‘targeted’ the Ibrox outfit.
Murray sold his majority share in Rangers to Craig Whyte for £1 in 2011 amid pressure from the Bank of Scotland and an agreement that his successor would pay off about £20million in debts, something Whyte managed in an initially secret finance agreement over future season ticket sales.
However, there was further major uncertainty over a tax claim from HMRC at the time which put off other prospective buyers and Rangers ultimately went into liquidation in 2012 over a separate £10million tax debt which was racked up during Whyte’s brief tenure.
Liquidators BDO later revealed they had received an initial HMRC claim of £73million for Rangers’ use of tax-avoiding Employee Benefit Trusts (EBT) under Murray, about half of which related to interest and penalties, and the final EBT debt for liquidated oldco Rangers was listed as £41.6million in 2024.
Speaking on the Graeme Souness Tackles podcast, Murray said: ‘We won three (titles) in a row when I left and had started building up again. When Rangers got hit with the tax bill from HMRC of £85million, they started loading penalties on to us, and the bill got to about £130million.
‘Obviously we were in trouble but, on top of that, the biggest thing that hit me was that the Bank of Scotland went bust. So we had a charge of £130-140million and your bank has gone bust. It doesn’t matter how clever I thought I was, there was no way out of it.
Sir David Murray has claimed that HMRC ‘targeted’ Rangers unfairly in their lengthy tax case
‘But the ironic and really annoying thing to this day that still sticks in my craw is that they eventually found out that the penalties were illegal.
‘They shouldn’t have charged us. And the final figure was £33million. Rangers did not need to go bust but HMRC identified “this is the target we are going to get”.’
Rangers’ confirmed debts under Murray hit a peak of £74million before he heavily underwrote a £57million share issue in 2004.
The club used EBTs from 2001 to 2010 to reduce their wage bill before HMRC launched an investigation which was finally settled in its favour in the Supreme Court in 2017.
Murray admitted to Souness, his friend and former Rangers manager, that he got caught up in the pressure to please supporters.
‘I didn’t really want to do another £50million rights issue but I found another £50million to keep it going,’ he said.
Rangers endured tough times following Murray’s sale to Whyte and subsequent administration
‘But when you sit there with supporters groups, it’s quite difficult and you do get caught up in it. There are cleverer people than me that got caught up in it.
‘Rangers Football Club is a massive institution, great pressure from the fans. But I do come back to it, Rangers were targeted. We could still be at the club today if those two factors had not hit us. It doesn’t matter how clever I was. When your bank goes bust, you are up a cul-de-sac with nowhere to go.
‘But, yes, I probably made decisions that were vanity and not sanity.’
In 2019, HMRC refuted claims that it had overstated the tax demand, writing on Twitter: ‘HMRC won against Rangers’ tax avoidance in the Supreme Court, and did not miscalculate anything.’
