The Whyte Knight.
There were moments of doubt. When Malmo equalised during the Champions League Qualifier with ten minutes to go, it seemed that Rangers European Adventure was set to come to a close. The Swedes had not countered for a moment of sheer magic from Nikita Jelavic who scored from an overhead kick in injury time, a goal which sent Ally McCoists side through to the Champions League Play-Off round against Dinamo Zagreb, a tie which saw the Govan men edge trhough after two goalless marches with a penalty shoot-out victory.
The delight on the face of the Rangers Chairman, Craig Whyte was plain to see. The £20 Million these results guaranteed was an obvious relief. Amidst the madness of the two Tax Cases, just how important these results were to be became apparent over the next two years.
Things became more joyful for the owner of Rangers as the club were joined by Dortmund, Genk and Zenit in their Champions League Group, a group which saw the club finish second, securing the Govan men another £5 millon, going out to Barcelona 3-0 on aggegate in the last sixteen.
Through these results, the club was to remain solvent for another year. In addition to this, it became clear that debt reduction was the goal of the new board, with Whyte announcing with a smile on his face on Valentines Day 2012 that the small Tax Case had been settled, when in reality the club had paid it in full. The only black mark hanging over the head of the club was the Big Tax Case, a case which was estimated to be to the value of some £56 million.
Domestically, the club was also heading from strength to strength and despite an early exit in both the League and Scottish Cups, the League was secured by two points over Celtic, a result which secured another season in the Champions League, something that was viewed as vital to the future of the club.
Realising that extra finance was required, Whyte declared in April 2012 that a new share issue would be made, something that he made clear the future of the club was dependant on, hinting heavily on the sword of damacles hanging over the head of the club that was the big Tax Case. The issue was a fantastic success, raising a further £23 million, albeit diluting the ownership of the Monte Carlo based business guru to some 55% from the 85% it was previously.
Of this money, Ally McCoist was told privately, little could go to him, but the expectations were clear. The signings of Ikeche Anya and Graham Dorrans for a combined fee of £5 million helped placate the support somewhat though. This was offset by the sale of Steven Naismith to Everton for £7.5 million.
There was some good news for Rangers in October as it was announced the BigTax Case had been won. This was tempered the following day when HMRC said they would appeal the ruling as far as they possibly could.
This time, the route to the Champions League was more straight forward, defeating the champions of Finland and Switzerland to reach the group stages once more, this time facing a much more difficult group consisting of Barcelona, Arsenal and BATE Borisov. There was to be no such luck on this occasion, with the club finishing third bringing Europa League football, going out in the last 32 to Legia Warsaw.
More important was the money which the run generated. More controversially, January 2013 saw Nikita Jelavic sold to Sunderland for the fee of £10 million, a move which saw considerable anger amongst the support.
The funds for the transfer were important though as they secured the funding Whyte needed. In a shock move on the 31st January, a payment of £56 million was made to HMRC(later it was discovered a bank loan of £13 million from RBS had helped), the tax case was over. The club had survived.
The following day, Rangers FC were placed on the market by their chairman.
On the pitch, they did not fare so well, with a collapse in the second half of the season, seeing Celtic, managed by Mick McCarthy romp to the title with Motherwell finishing a point ahead of the blue side of the Old Firm.
This was to cost Ally McCoist his job, and as he packed his bags to leave the role, it was announced in Craig Whytes last move as the Chairman of Rangers, Rino Gattuso was to become the new player-manager.
On the 4th June 2013, Craig Whyte sold the majority shareholding of Rangers for £65 million to the American owner of the Basketball team the Phoenix Suns, Robert Sarver.
All of this after spending £1 of his own money.
Six months later, he was knighted for services to Scottish Football. The position he held at Rangers was to pave his way through the high society of Scotland, leading to the current day where he achieved his noted current role as the Governor of the Scottish Central Bank.
One can only imagine what he will do in this illustrious role to the new Kingdom of Scotland.