FIRMS that were owed money when The Rangers FC PLC was liquidated four years ago face fresh delays for repayment as a £16 million cash pot to reimburse them continues to shrink.

The setback relates to a protracted legal action by investment firm Worthington Group plc which aimed to secure all the cash.

The collapse of the former Rangers company, dubbed 'oldco', left thousands of unsecure creditors including more than 6000 loyal fans who bought £7.7million worth of debenture seats at Ibrox.

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Creditors ranged from giants such as Coca-Cola to a picture framer in Bearsden and a lady called Susan Thomson who runs a face-painting business and was owed £40.

In its December update, liquidators BDO said they are still considering how the Worthingon claim impacts on their ability to pay those who lost money.

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They cited the taxman's claim over a disputed £72 million - the so-called 'Big Tax Case' which due to be heard at the Supreme Court next year - as causing issues for working out how much will be paid out to those owed money.

They had previously signalled it hoped to reimburse creditors by the end of this year.

BDO said a well-established £27 million claim by Ticketus - which had entered into a ticket purchase agreement involving Rangers - had also complicated their task in working out how much will be paid.

The BDO letter to creditors said: "Once this matter is resolved, we intend to consult with the committee to agree a new scheme of division to allow a first dividend to be declared and paid to unsecured creditors with agreed claims."

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It added: "Due to the significant issues to be resolved in the liquidation, the joint liquidators do not expect to be in a position to bring this case to a conclusion for some considerable time."

Speaking after the announcement, one creditor that did not want to be identified, said: "We had thought there was some light at the end of the tunnel after the last update, but it seems there is complication after complication and it is high time that dividends from this sorry state of affairs were paid."

A Ticketus spokesman said: "We are not aware that we have caused any issues in relation to the capabilities of the administrators to pay a dividend."

The Worthington Group's original claim was to secure a £25 million pay out but this was replaced in July by a far smaller demand for £3 million.

The claim made a firm controlled by investment firm Worthington Group plc, was first launched last year and meant that an interim £10 million payout to unsecured creditors planned for the summer of last year had to be postponed.

The claim on the creditors' payout pot, submitted in the name of Rangers FC Group, and originally rejected by oldco liquidators BDO, was for a sum of up to £25 million.

The Herald revealed in July that the claim had been replaced by a new claim of £3 million.

Nevertheless, liquidators indicated in the summer that they intended to be in a position to provide an initial dividend to creditors later this year, once the amended claim was confirmed.

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But in its latest December update, BDO said they are still considering how the claim, which it has rejected, affects their ability to provide the first dividends to those who lost money from the collapse of the oldco in October, 2012.

The liqudators say that under the rules the Worthington-controlled Rangers FC Group, previously known as Wavetower, the company formed to buy Sir David Murray’s 85.3% stake in Rangers for a nominal £1 in 2011, had until October 16 to to appeal against the liquidators' rejection of the claim but failed to respond.

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It said that under normal circumstances, such a creditor would then be excluded from any payout.

But BDO say that as the claim under the name of Rangers FC Group was secured, they have had to take legal advice to understand what further steps are needed before they can declare a first dividend to creditors.

The liquidators say the dividend is currently "uncertain" as provision will need to be made for a number of "potentially significant claims" which have not been agreed by them, including that of the taxman and Ticketus.

The Worthington-controlled claim makes them the only secured creditor and first in line ahead of other unsecured debtors including the taxman and Ticketus in any payout.

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Worthington say it holds a security over the assets of the oldco now known as RFC 2012 plc.

It is claimed the security was reassigned to the company after the £18m Rangers bank debt was paid off.

Worthington also has control of Sevco 5088, the firm fronted by former Rangers executive Charles Green to buy the the liquidated assets of Rangers in 2012. Worthington said in October, last year that it would stake a claim over Rangers business and assets.

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Sevco 5088 was identified by administrators Duff and Phelps as the newco that was "contractually obliged" to purchase the assets and business of operating company RFC 2012 plc out of administration.

The liquidators had spoken of finally paying those stung by the oldco collapse during a summer update to creditors, despite continuing to fight the long-running 'Big Tax Case'.

BDO were successful in an application to the Court of Session in March to be granted leave to make a legal challenge to the highest appeal court in the land.

They are seeking to contest a Court of Session decision in November that Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) from 2001 until 2010 to give millions of pounds of tax-free loans to players and other staff broke tax rules.