Walter Smith: Rangers were debt free when Craig Whyte took over

Walter Smith, the former Rangers manager, has defended the regime that existed before Craig Whyte took control of the majority shareholding.

Rangers went into administration in February, nine months after Whyte replaced Sir David Murray as owner. During the intervening period Whyte was regularly scathing about the actions of Rangers' board members who opposed his takeover and subsequently departed Ibrox. One of them, Martin Bain, dropped a legal case against Rangers on Thursday relating to his departure.

"You can make your judgments on what happened previously but the fact is that none of that mattered," said Smith.

"In May of last year all of that had disappeared. There was no debt; the club had managed to cut £16m off the overall debt, Craig Whyte gave the other £18m to the bank. The bank had received £34m in three and a bit years.

"Rangers weren't a business going into administration or anything like that, they were actually a business which was fairly well run over that period of time. How many businesses can take £16m off their debt during a period of recession 

"Martin Bain, as chief executive, seems to have come out of this worse than anybody. He could be quite proud of what he did, handling a situation with the bank and having me moaning at him for not spending any money. He seems to be getting vilified only I think because he stood against Craig Whyte's buying of the club."

Paul Clark, Rangers' joint administrator, said of the Bain lawsuit: "He [Bain] has made plain the litigation was a response to the actions of Craig Whyte and not Rangers FC and, given developments, he now wishes to end the litigation action and do what he can to support the club in these difficult times."

Rangers will not, as scheduled, return to the high court on Friday to pursue a £3.6m claim against funds held by Collyer Bristow, the former lawyers to Whyte and the club. It is understood Rangers are now seeking up to £9m from the firm. Clark added: "We have substantially larger claims against Collyer Bristow, which we wish to bring as soon as possible. The original trial dates of 30 March – 4 April are now not being utilised as the wider claims are still being formulated."

Brian Kennedy, the owner of Sale Sharks, has said he is "surprised and disappointed" after his first formal offer to take over Rangers was rejected by the administrators.

On the prospect of Whyte having influence on who buys his shares, Smith added: "It is quite amazing to see it in front of you, that you can put a club into administration and then you have a say as to where it is going to go in the future."

A Scottish Football Association disciplinary case against Rangers and Whyte has been adjourned until next month. Between them Rangers and Whyte are alleged to have made seven breaches of the association's regulations. It will now be heard on 17, 18 and 20 April.

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