19/03/2012 Newsnight Scotland

tonight. We are waiting for the Tonight on Newsnight Scotland, one

of the Rangers bidders say they will withdraw, unless a season

ticket deal is written off. How serious are the offers for the

club? And we will have an exclusive

report on Scotland's first satellite, being built in Maryhill.

Good evening. The rollercoaster for Rangers fans continues.

At the weekend, it became clear that four potential bidders had

expressed interest in buying the stricken football club.

But this evening, it emerged that at least one of the four will only

make a formal offer if a season ticket deal is scrapped.

The Court of Session is now considering whether that �20

million loan against future season ticket sales should be written off.

This evening, in the shadow of Ibrox Stadium, fans and pundits

attended a live radio debate on the future of the 140-year-old

institution. Our reporter David It tonight, Rangers fans took part

in a Radio 5 it debate about the extraordinary situation the club

finds itself in. It received a blunt and and it warning from

administrators last month that it may not even be able to fill felt

this at season for's fixtures. you mentioned Rangers and

administration in the 1990s, you would have laughed at them. Last

week, a number of potential bidders expressed interest and buying the

club and offered hope for the manager Ally McCoist. It has been a

very tough month, but there has been a bit of light at the end of

the tunnel with some positive noises coming out. Despite this

call at Dundee United buoyant Saturday, Rangers are still

struggling on the pitch and could see Celtic winning the league at

Ibrox cent next Sunday's Old Firm game. There are still significant

questions to be answered of the field - most notably, who actually

owns the club? Great White says he is the major creditor and remains

the order. -- Craig Whyte. And what about all this ticket money?

Administrators are trying to get the �20 million Ticketus deal

annulled. But it is getting more complicated than that, because

Ticketus are now part of a consortium to buy the club. So

where is the cash going to come from? With season ticket money

locked up and that deal, what are the options for the club? European

football would help, but if the club is still an administration,

that will not happen. One argument is that if the tax case is resolved,

that would allow more clarity and bidders to come forward to do real

of force on the table. Some of the bidders have said, Paul Murray been

one, says that the tax case as the red herring. He says that with the

club in administration, F the debts when from 50 million to �100

million, it would some went mean a difference and the amount people

would receive back. But some are still optimistic. Even with the tax

situation hanging over the club, there are still people interested

in taking over the club, saw will find something good will come out

of it. I do not think the club could be any lower now and the only

way is up. I will like to think this is a wake-up call to have

sound finances. It is going to be tough, but we have to do it. A but

the lessons will be learned and acted upon remains to be seen,.

am joined by sports journalist Graham Spears to anti-business

analyst. What are they the options for the administrators as they look

to the future? A a understand the have gone into administration for

the survival of the club as the growing concern. The only exit that

would achieve that would be a voluntary arrangement. The this is

cutting a deal with the taxman? yes, otherwise, the only way for

them to come out is liquidation. What is the more likely? It is very

difficult to say. For people come out of the look at, the information

coming to us is very sketchy. It seems very unlikely that the tax

people could give any indication whether they would accept a deal

when they do not even know what is on the table and a not entirely

clear about how much money they are owed. We are also have the question

of the bidders and what they are buying. We are not privy to all the

ins and outs like the bidders, but we know there are some unknowns and

it is not entirely clear what anyone is buying if they were to

purchase Rangers football club. if they were looking to buy the

club as it is, but if they are looking to buy the business and

assets, that is quite different. If they are going to buy the company

there are clear advantages to them. I am no great football expert --

neither am I!. Buying the club would seem to be particularly

advantageous, but that is not going to be possible unless the deal can

be struck with Revenue and Customs. The intriguing thing is that the

Revenue and Customs position on this. If Rangers lose the tax case,

if they are due 40 or �50 million, the school of thought is that they

cut a deal with Rangers or secondly, they play hard ball and send a

message to the rest of British football, no more tax avoidance.

But the scenery is very interesting. It has shifted in the last few days.

The administrators Duff and Phelps and giving a clear signals that as

see his possible. It appears the solution could be negotiated. It is

clear to me that the administrators and I also think Paul Murray and

his consortium have probably spoken to the Customs and Excise as well.

He seems to be in a rush and why would he do that prior to the big

tax case been declared? It seems to me he also has information about

each are in Sea. Favourably. Would it be prudent to have that sort of

negotiation with the Revenue as you tried to secure the business

question mark is that proper? fire was looking to put forward

that then yes I would want to do that. You would want to speak to

the creditors at an early stage. But also, it would be also prudent

to offer to sail exactly what you wear selling. It seems to me that

at this point, Duff and Phelps cannot do that. The problem seems

to be it is not just this big tax bill. The Court of Session is

sitting for three days. The ticket is money, this deal whereby Craig

Whyte sold off three years' worth of season ticket sales, in exchange

for �20 million plus VAT. That is another big unknown? You scum and

there are three major factors here. K quite so says he is negligible.

The other two are Customs and Excise and Ticketus. I think what

he did that with a ticket is was very questionable. He basically

sold off the family silver. But of course, anyone coming and wants to

have the sympathetic relationship. Of course, Ticketus have handed

over a huge amount of money to Rangers and that will have to be

Was about the wider issue? Henry McLeish said this is a wake-up call

to all clubs. To be fair to Rangers they are not the only offenders.

No but they have been particularly reckless. David Murray will be

praying this mess is cleared up. He bequeathed the club to Craig White.

He will be praying that it can be sorted out. Henry McLeish is saying,

live within your means. What is painful for Rangers is that across

the city Celtic have done that. Been very prudent about the way

they have gone about their business. They in fact where offered employee

benefit trust themselves. The point is they are not illegal. There are

perfectly legal if you use them in a kosher way. But if you use them

as a bogus salary that is when HMI see will get involved.

What are your thoughts on the employee benefit trust?

They are central to the case. I cannot understand anybody saying

that they are a red herring. It is absolutely key. Graham's. About

getting finances in order is also central to any C V A been

successful. Creditors will not vote on one and take a massive cut on

what they are caught unless you can assure them you will manage

finances prudently gone forward. The chances of it happening before

Sunday? No chance.

I await with interest. Whether Celtic win the League on

Sunday or not, there will be no trouble at all!

Now, this is not science fiction, it is an attempt to reach the

latest milestone for a space sector which seems to be the country's

best kept secret. One us space exploration was the

preserve of Russia and America. These days more and more countries

are joining an. Some projects cost back money. Others are making their

impact with ingenuity. So what is the bad idea? This as. It is the

basic structure of a cute Sat. It is not a scale model. -- cube sat.

You can launch a surprising amount of science into this and launch it

into low Earth orbit. And hundreds have been launched already. The

original idea came from America. But for keepers cent of the

mechanisms have had their components bolted in Glasgow. --

40%. Previously a student would build a

satellite that would perhaps not cost a lot of money and could be an

interesting experiment. But now it it is mostly servicing particular

needs. For example, communications, images from space, or even some of

the Nasa missions have been to see how it E. Coli reacts to the space

environment, which is useful for all sorts of things. So if you can

name an application or a reason to put something in space, we can fit

it in the queue. It opens the mind to our facilities.

The company sell systems worldwide. After seven years there moving to

the next stage. This might not look like much yet but potentially it is

a piece of history. The basic structure of a new satellite. If

all goes well then in a little over one year this will be the first

Scottish built satellite to enter a earth orbit. I am the project man

Ager. I manage the internal inputs. -- I

am the project manager. I manage the project teams, for different

payloads from different universities and organisations.

We're managing that on behalf of the UK space agency.

It will demonstrate a new range of technology. It is what we're all

about. Law cost. It does not cost the same amount of fuel as it would

to send a spaceship up there. So we are demonstrating the can build a

full satellite and anybody can put their own payload on to it and then

test it. But we will have the pedigree of being able to say we

have sent a satellite to space. It will be a small satellite but it

will have to be tough to work beyond the shelter of earth's

atmosphere. It is not as hard as some people

consider. We essentially changed the maths we are doing. We have the

thermal vacuum environment. Going from very hot to very cold as the

satellite passes through sunlight to eclipse.

Control to the mission is central. You need to know where your camera

is pointing and know what is pointing in the right direction.

You have got direction will antennas. They are for a lot of

information. You want the antenna to be pointing towards the ground.

You want to be able to continually point towards the one. So you need

to control it and we do that by magnetic fields.

This is only one of Scottish -- many Scottish companies in the same

sector. The country punches above its weight but it seems we are

mostly unaware. When people asked me my job I say

that I built satellite in Merry Hell. Sometimes they don't believe

me or laugh at me! -- Maryhill. People usually don't believe me.

Especially girls! But it is great because it is inherently

interesting. As soon as you do tell them they want to know more, what

is involved, even if they can get involved.

The size may suggest that this is just one small step for Scotland

but who knows where it may lead in time?

Tomorrow's papers - the Scotsman once that older patients are not

safe on hospital wards because of a lack of qualified nurses. The Daily

Mail says it has the truth about your tax bill. Every taxpayer will

get a personal annual statement revealing where your money is spent.

These are the Budget leaks which are continuing to do it. The

Guardian also, saying the public are rejecting a 50p tax cut. They