RANGERS was a “snake pit of rumour, innuendo, lies, intimidation, fraud, corruption and these are just the good points”.

That was the brutal and private view of former club public relations guru Jack Irvine about the business side of the club, 19 days after Craig Whyte bought it from Sir David Murray on May 6, 2011.

The former newspaper editor’s apparent emailed pitch for the business of the Whyte-owned club was revealed at the High Court in Glasgow at the end of the first full week of one of the most talked-about Scottish trials ever.

Whyte subsequently did hire Irvine and his firm Media House to spearhead what they called at the time a “more aggressive response to Rangers’ critics within and outwith the political world”.

Glasgow Times:

Whyte, 46, denies the two charges against him, one of acquiring the club fraudulently in May 2011, and another under the Companies Act – which centres on a £18m payment between Whyte’s Wavetower company and Rangers to clear the club’s bank debt with Lloyds.

Part of the allegations against Whyte is that he pretended to Murray and others that “funds were available” from him to make all agreed-to payments, whereas the bulk of the money actually came in a £24 million loan deal from the company Ticketus against three years of future season ticket sales.

The sale deal was said to include clearing the bank debt, £2.8m for a “small tax case” liability, a £1.7m health-and-safety liability, and £5m for the playing squad.

The “for your eyes only” email from Irvine, whose company acted for the club on public relations matters for several years, emerged as Murray, 65, who was at the helm of the club for 23 years before the sale to Whyte, completed two days of testimony.

The message dated May 25, 2011, which came after boardroom hostility to his takeover, and sent to Whyte's solicitor Gary Withey said: "The events of the last couple of days will by now have convinced you that the business side of [the] Glasgow-based football club is a snake pit of rumour, innuendo, lies, intimidation, fraud, corruption and these are just the good points."

Murray said he did not agree with the evaluation and remarked: “He’s an editor.” Irvine is the former editor of the Scottish Sun.

Glasgow Times:

The email, which was read to the jury went on: “[If I] have learned one thing from all this football involvement, [it is] that the normal rules of business do not apply. Sir David Murray was one of the worst examples of this... he spoke to the press every day of his chairmanship, often 20 calls a day, he would brief behind his manager’s and chief executive’s back.

“When life was good in the first decade of his chairmanship, this was sustainable, but when money got tight and success on the pitch diminished, it all fell apart with a vengeance.”

Asked by Whyte’s QC Donald Findlay if there was any truth in that, Murray denied the accusations saying: “I had a good working relationship with all my managers. As for the chief executive, he was big enough to do his own PR, I wouldn’t do it for him.”

The week began with a revelation that Ally McCoist, appointed by Whyte as manager, had a gold-plated contract which would have cost Rangers an “enormous sum” if he was not appointed to the top job. Findlay put it to Walter Smith, the previous manager: “Somebody has put the club in a position that if they don’t follow the line of succession it is going to cost the club a small fortune.”

Glasgow Times: A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS: Walter Smith and Ally McCoist. Picture: Stewart Attwood

Smith said: “I had no idea that was the case.”

Findlay said: “Extraordinary isn’t it?”

Smith replied: “Mr McCoist obviously negotiates his own contracts, so he’s possibly a bit brighter than I am.”

The court was told that the sale to Whyte was precipitated by the club’s bank, Lloyds, threatening to pull the cash plug on Rangers if they blocked the takeover bid – which Murray had told his board was “the only game in town”.

At the time the club owed the bank £18 million and faced a tax bill of up to £80m if they lost a dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs over the use of Employee Benefit Trusts to pay staff and players – which became known as ‘The Big Tax Case’.

The court was told that Whyte had struck a secret deal with Ticketus to bring in cash to help fund his takeover by selling off season tickets.

Glasgow Times:

The club's long serving finance director Donald McIntyre, 58, suggested the involvement with the firm while Mr McIntyre was at Rangers had been kept “hush hush”.

But, Mr McIntyre, who spent five months at the club after Mr Whyte took over replied: “There was no need to disclose it. We did not divulge to the supporters we used Ticketus...it was merely a cash flow smoothing exercise during that final year.”

On Tuesday Mr McIntyre agreed the possibility of Rangers going into administration was discussed by Ibrox directors several months before Whyte’s deal to buy the club was completed.

McIntyre said that it would have been “remiss” of the board not to have talks on the issue “given the potential tax burden” and put the date at about October 2010 – seven months before Whyte’s takeover.

Mr Findlay said The Big Tax Case was a “nuclear missile heading towards the club” – an “Exocet” – and that “nothing could be done to stop it”, a “potential terminal event” for the club. Rangers eventually went into administration in February 2012.

Mr Murray, on his first appearance before the jury on Wednesday, insisted that he would not have sold his shares to Whyte for £1 “with stipulations” had he known about the Ticketus deal. He insisted the first he was aware of any Ticketus agreement was more than a year after he sold to Whyte.

He also denied he ever had a relationship with Whyte despite 10 friendly text messages being exchanged between them and a lunch meeting in Monaco after the takeover where, it is claimed, despite him then knowing about the Ticketus deal, it was not mentioned.

On Friday it was revealed that one of Murray’s closest advisors, his lawyer David Horne, knew of the plan to buy Rangers with the loan some six months before the deal was done. A note in his handwriting – which Murray claimed never to have seen – referred to a discussion with “CW” over a possible £15m facility.

It also emerged that Dave King – then a director, now majority-owner and chairman of the club after buying a 15 per cent stake in 2015 – had shown an interest in buying Rangers, six months before Whyte took the helm.

Glasgow Times: Dave King wants Rangers' CVA rejected and has urged fans not to renew their season tickets at the present time

Murray, in his evidence, said he was aware of a meeting in London where it was expected King would make an offer, but it “never materialised”. He said that King “had every opportunity to match, equal or buy shares in the club prior to Mr Whyte.”

Just weeks before the takeover, King wrote to the Takeover Panel expressing concerns about the source of Whyte’s funds “which may lead to a formal investigation by the police authority responsible for such matters”.

Then in October 2011, five months after the sale, King wrote to Whyte telling him he intended to claim £20m “damages” against the club, because his previous investment had been lost.

In the letter he said “it has become clear over the last year” that the “company officers” were “allowing” Rangers to be “managed in a manner that was against the interests of the company and me in particular”.

At times the relationship between Findlay and Murray in court was testy. Findlay was appointed vice-chairman of Rangers by Murray, but resigned in 1999 after a video emerged of him singing “anti-Celtic anthems” at a private function celebrating the club’s successful season.

At one point he reminded Murray of the rules of cross-examination. “I know this is very unfamiliar to you as it will be to many people, but I’m afraid the rules of this are that [when I put] my question to you, if it’s not objected to, you are are obliged to answer the question. Changing the subject in these courts is what we call not answering the question.”

Findlay told Murray: “You entrusted the club to a board that you believed were capable of following the plan that you had left in place but they bring in no investment, their playing squad ends up as a shambles and this is two months before the deal with Mr Whyte.

“You were being let down by people who didn’t have a clue what they were doing when running Rangers.”

Murray said he had “minimal” involvement at Rangers from 2009, when he stepped down as chairman. “I don’t agree about the squad being a shambles but the facts are there.” Rangers, when Whyte took over, had just won the league for the third consecutive year. After liquidation the reconstituted club was admitted into the bottom tier of Scottish football.

In a concluding question to Murray, Findlay said: “From you stepping down as chairman and Craig Whyte taking over, what had these men done to your football club, Sir David? What had they done to our club?”

Murray replied: “The football side was reasonable. They had not generated new funds and I don’t think there was an alternative plan to raise new money. I think the club was stalling.”

The case is being heard in the High Court in Glasgow in front of Lady Stacey, who twice complained to Findlay about the mountains of paperwork on her desk, saying that she understood they would be on computer. On the second occasion Findlay responded, “I don’t do electronics”.

The trial resumes on Tuesday and is expected to run for a further 11 weeks.