#4 Glasgow Rangers
If you follow football to any reasonable extent, you will have heard of Glasgow Rangers. One-half of the Glasgow rivalry, Rangers are locked in an eternal battle for bragging rights in the city of Glasgow, with their cross-town rivals Glasgow Celtic.
In the late 2000’s, Rangers began overspending whatever meagre earnings they managed to make from the Scottish Premier League. In a bid to make more of a mark on the European stage, Rangers began spending more and more with every passing season, hoping to recruit new talent that would make them a formidable force in Europe. Running up an average of around £13 million of debt every year, they owed the Lloyd’s Banking Group around £30 million by the end of 2009.
The debt was reduced to £18 million in April 2011, but the issues were further compounded by the taxation of the Employee’s Benefit Trust fund to the tune of £49 million by the revenue service of UK. The situation became so bad that David Murray sold his 85% stake to Wavetower Limited in the hope that the owner would pay off the debt and infuse money for new players and stadium upgrades.
That too backfired and Rangers were put into administration and had to work their way up from the Scottish 4th Division.
