David E. Murray

Sir David Edward Murray (born October 14, 1951 in Ayr , Ayrshire ) is a Scottish entrepreneur and sports official . Around the company he founded Murray International Metals Limited ( abbreviated : MIM Ltd.) Murray built a group of companies, the value of which was estimated in 2007 at 750 million pounds sterling . On New Year 2007, Murray was "beaten" for his merits as a businessman to a Knight Bachelor ( German  knight ) and raised to personal nobility . As a result of the financial crisis from 2007 onwards , his group of companies lost dramatically in value and in 2010 was only rated at around 20% of the previously estimated value. Better known than his work as a businessman was his work as chairman and patron of the football club Glasgow Rangers from 1987 to 2009. In 2011 he sold his shares in the Rangers, which went bankrupt a year later under the new owner Craig Whyte.

Career

Murray received, among other things, an education at the boarding school Fettes College in Edinburgh . At the age of 23 he founded Murray International Metal Ltd., which initially specialized in the production and trading of structural steel . In 1976 he lost both legs after a car accident, which later resulted in his social activities to support amputees and in 1996 he set up a social foundation for their interests. In the reign of Margaret Thatcher and her libertarian economic policy , Murray was named "Young Scottish Businessman of the Year" in 1984. Two years later, Murray received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University . In 1992 Murray lost his wife Louise, the mother of his two sons Keith and David Jr., to their death from complications from cancer . In the 1997 Scottish referendum , Murray publicly supported the “unionists” who opposed further decentralization and the establishment of a Scottish Parliament, and ten years later he remained true to this conviction as a supporter of a newspaper ad. In 2000, Formula 1 driver David Coulthard crashed in a Learjet from Murray's group of companies during an emergency landing at Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport in France . While Coulthard and his companions survived, Murray's personal pilot and co-pilot died. After being raised to the nobility in 2007, Murray received another honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in December 2008 . After the sale of the Glasgow Rangers, he announced in 2011 that he would marry Kae Tinto, a lawyer with whom he had been connected for eight years. The mother of twin daughters, who was 21 years her junior, also married for the second time.

Business activities

After the success with his first company MIM Ltd. Murray expanded his business activities and founded other companies in the field of opencast mining , property development , venture capital and call centers , among others , which were bundled in the Murray International Holding (MIH) group. In 1991 he tried his hand at the editor of the tabloid Sunday Scot , which was discontinued after 14 weeks. In 2005 total group sales were calculated to be £ 550 million. That year, however, he sold his first company, Murray International Metals Ltd. for £ 112 million. At the height of his business, as the owner of his group of companies, he was valued as the fifth richest Scot with a personal fortune of £ 750 million. The financial crisis from 2007 onwards, however, dramatically reduced the value of his group of companies, which was heavily in debt. As a result, Murray had to raise enormous financial resources from banks and parted ways with his stake in the Glasgow Rangers football club. In 2012 Murray sold further investments in his original core business and his son David Douglas stepped down from the management of the holding company.

Activities as a patron of sports

Despite his personal blow of fate after losing both legs in an accident on the way back from a rugby game, Murray was subsequently enthusiastic about sports and was able to increase his personal reputation in public through the support of sports clubs. His first company was MIM Ltd. Initially sponsor and namesake of a basketball team that became the leading team in Scotland in the 1980s and ultimately also in Great Britain, he joined the Glasgow Rangers football club in 1987, which he chaired for over 20 years until 2009, when his group of companies collapsed.

MIM Livingston

His company Murray International Metals Ltd. occurred in the 1980s as the name sponsor of a club that "housed" one of the best Scottish basketball and volleyball teams after the construction of a new sports hall in Livingston (West Lothian) . While the volleyball team, which was originally based at Telford College in Edinburgh , was sponsored until 1988, the basketball team was previously one of the best teams in Great Britain after the signing of Alton Byrd , whom Murray had recruited from the then English champions Crystal Palace , as player-coach in 1982 rose, which could also exist against the leading English teams. As the leading Scottish team, they also took part in European club competitions.

The popularity of basketball also grew in the British Isles through the success and global marketing strategy of the leading professional NBA from the United States . In the mid-1980s, owners of English football clubs also acquired shares in basketball teams in the English National Basketball League (NBL) and had them compete under the name of the established football clubs. So in 1986 Manchester United and a year later Portsmouth FC were champions of the NBL of England. In 1987 the British Basketball League (BBL) was founded as a closed professional league without promotion and relegation , which Murray BC joined as the only non-English team. In the premiere season 1987/88 the Portsmouth FC could again occupy the first place among 15 teams after the regular season, but in the additionally played play-offs Livingston won in the final over the main round first.

The professional league BBL did not develop as hoped, however, and after the first season Manchester United sold its team and the Portsmouth FC team was completely discontinued after owner John Deacon sold his shares in the football club. Murray, who had gone the other way and became the owner of the Glasgow Rangers football club in 1988, now bought the team from the main round, Kingston Kings , and moved them to Scotland as Glasgow Rangers BC , which is now the only one with a football club alongside Crystal Palace associated BBL franchise remained. In the second season of the BBL, which had shrunk to eleven teams, the two Scottish teams left all other teams behind and also played the final of the play-offs, which Rangers BC won as the main round first against the defending champions Livingston with 89:86. Subsequently, the league lost other teams and now Murray gave up his involvement in basketball. While the Murray BC was deregistered from the league, the team of Rangers BC returned as Kings to Kingston upon Thames .

Glasgow Rangers

Period of dominance (1988 to 1997)

Murray had already tried in the 1980s to acquire shares in the football team Ayr United from his hometown. After he had not succeeded in taking over the club, the opportunity arose to join the renowned Glasgow Rangers club. Murray paid the previous owner of the Rangers in November 1988 £ 6 million for the acquisition of the shares and took over as "Chairman" the chairmanship of the association. The two Glasgow clubs Rangers and Celtic dominated the Scottish football championship , even if in the decade before, Aberdeen FC under coach Alex Ferguson , who then achieved world fame as long-time coach of Manchester United, won three and Dundee United won one championship from the two clubs. With the coach Graeme Souness , who was signed up in 1986, a series of successes of nine championships in a row began in 1989 until 1997, in which Celtic could initially be left behind.

In addition to the expansion of Ibrox Park , Murray, in collaboration with Souness, was responsible for some sensational engagements for the Rangers. Controversy sparked the commitment of Mo Johnston in 1989, the first Catholic player in the Rangers since the Second World War of the otherwise sharp demarcation to the Catholic Celtic Protestant club. After the spirited Souness returned to England for Liverpool in 1991 , his successor Walter Smith was able to keep Ally McCoist's team on the road to success. Murray supported this with obligations of well-known players like Paul Gascoigne or Brian Laudrup .

In international competitions, however, the Rangers did not achieve any resounding success. The closest they got was the 1992/93 UEFA Champions League , where they went undefeated. In the knockout games they had won twice against the Danish champions and the English champions Leeds United . In the group stage of the best eight teams, they had four draws with two wins. This was one victory too little compared to the group winners and eventual title winners Olympique Marseille . This success was followed by disappointing first round defeats against Levski Sofia and AEK Athens in the two following events of this competition.

Changing success (1997 to 2009)

After the Scottish championship was lost to Celtic for the first time in nine years in 1998, Murray took the opportunity and dismissed coach Smith to advance the ongoing internationalization of the club and to sign the Dutchman Dick Advocaat, the first foreign coach in the club's history. In this way, permanent success in international competitions should now also be enforced. There were more and more " legionnaires " in the squad , including two Germans , Jörg Albertz , who has played for the Rangers since 1996, and Stefan Klos . Advocaat initially won two national championships with the club and was initially able to oust Celtic again. In view of the unique rivalry between the " antipodes " Rangers and Celtic, which went beyond football and whose direct duels have found their own name with " Old Firm ", Murray, who had the Rangers invest considerable financial resources, went with the later much-quoted sentence carried away:

"For every five pounds Celtic spend, we will spend ten"

"For every five pounds that Celtic spends, we'll spend ten pounds"

- David Murray

However, given the financial resources that Murray provided, the success was rather moderate. They were eliminated three times in a row in the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup and finally lost the championship to Celtic again in 2001.

Murray had to admit he was wrong and not only fired coach Advocaat, but cut the budget to keep the club's £ 50million debt from increasing. It was almost too late for that, however, as a tax-saving trick used was not recognized by the tax authorities and caused liabilities to explode to over £ 80 million. In 2002, Murray therefore gave up the chairmanship of the association, and two years later he took the helm again as owner. Nevertheless, the Rangers got two championships in 2003 and 2005. After the arrival of new sponsors, Murray dismissed coach Alex McLeish because the Rangers were hopelessly behind in the championship and although they had survived the group stage of the Champions League for a long time, and announced new big plans and a rejuvenation with the new French coach Paul Le Guen the Team. In the round of 16 of the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League , they were initially eliminated only because of the away goals rule against Villarreal . Le Guen, however, struggled in Scotland and was released after almost a year at the turn of 2007. The former successful coach Walter Smith as a returnee should now calm the minds of the fans again.

Smith succeeded in doing this with assistant Ally McCoist in the 2007/08 season. Although Celtic was able to win their third title in a row at the end of the season , the Rangers reached the final of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup , which was then lost to Zenit Saint Petersburg . The following season 2008/09 started catastrophically. As a qualifier of the UEFA Champions League 2008/09 , they lost in the second qualifying round against a Lithuanian club, so that they not only eliminated in the Champions League, but also had no qualification for the UEFA Europa League . The lack of income from the international competition was a bitter loss for the poor coffers of the Rangers, who, however, had free rein in the national championship without being burdened by international games and were able to dethrone Celtic. In August 2009, Murray announced his resignation as chairman after an interrupted 20-year “reign” in order to save his group of companies in addition to more time for private matters, especially since the displeasure of Rangers fans now also intensifies the boss Murray met.

"Aftermath" (since 2009)

The Rangers had to cope with further cuts in the budget after 2009, but won a Scottish championship again under Smith in 2011 before Ally McCoist became head coach. In May 2011, Murray got rid of the burden of owning the Rangers when a consortium led by Craig Whyte took over the shares for £ 1. Despite the symbolic purchase price, the new investors could no longer save the club, which had to leave the Scottish Premier League in 2012 and start over in the Scottish fourth division. Most of the criminal tax matters that caused this were blamed on the old owner, Murray.

Web links

• Murray International Holdings: Public Web Site - Murray International Holdings Ltd. ( english )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sir Tom is first Scots billionaire. The Scotsman , April 29, 2007, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
2. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 58196, HMSO, London, December 29, 2006, p. 1 ( PDF , accessed June 10, 2013, English).
3. ^ Allan Laing: Rich List: Murray out of the premier league - but Rowling's magic is still working. CaledonianMercury.com, April 26, 2010, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Cara Page: My feet still hurt 22 years after I lost both my legs; IN PAIN: BUT MURRAY AIMS TO HELP OTHERS. In: Daily Record (Scotland) . TheFreeLibrary.com, June 17, 1999, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Profile: Sir David Murray. Daily Record (Scotland) , August 26, 2009; accessed June 10, 2013 . 
6. ^ List of pro-Union business people. BBC , April 25, 2007, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
7. ^ Coulthard survives plane crash. BBC , May 3, 2000, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Cameron Robinson: Rangers owner honored with degree. (No longer available online.) Edinburgh Journal: journal-online.co.uk, December 9, 2008, archived from the original June 7, 2011 ; accessed on June 10, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Lynn Davidson: Former Rangers owner David Murray to open 'new chapter' in his life by marrying fiancee Kae Tinto. Daily Record (Scotland) , May 10, 2011; accessed June 10, 2013 . 
10. ^ Murray's property goal. The Scotsman , July 30, 2006, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
11. ^ Murray sells metals business for £ 112m. The Scotsman , December 2, 2005, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
12. ↑ Good news: His team's just won the Scottish title Bad news: David Murray lost £ 44,520 an hour last year. The Scotsman , April 25, 2010, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
13. ↑ Bullish David Murray not ready to take a back seat, despite £ 759m of debts. The Scotsman , November 28, 2009, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
14. ↑ Lloyds pumps £ 150m into Murray's firm. The Scotsman , April 30, 2010, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
15. ↑ David Murray eyes Rangers sale before next season starts. The Scotsman , April 29, 2010, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
16. ↑ Erikka Askeland: Sir David Murray to sell core business as debts take toll. The Scotsman , April 7, 2012, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
17. ↑ Peter Ranscombe: David Murray sells part of metals arm in £ 34.5 management buy-out. The Scotsman , December 3, 2012, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
18. ^ Douglas Fraser: Sir David Murray's son leaves MIH board. BBC , July 6, 2012, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
19. ↑ Mike Aitken: Why Murray went back to his rugby roots. The Scotsman , September 4, 2007, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
20. ↑ ^{a b} Murray ends 21-year Rangers reign and says mind was made up last year. The Scotsman , August 26, 2009, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
21. ↑ Ken Johnston: History of Scottish basketball: Facilities. March 1, 2010, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
22. ^ Duncan West: Club loses in sponsor row. In: Glasgow Herald . Google , June 7, 1988, accessed June 11, 2013 (English, repro). 
23. ↑ Top man on the ball. In: Glasgow Herald . Google , August 18, 1986, accessed June 10, 2013 (English, repro). 
24. ^ England Basketball: Senior Men-League. (No longer available online.) England Basketball . Archived from the original on April 2, 2013 ; accessed on June 10, 2013 (English, season overview). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
25. ↑ 1987-88 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed June 10, 2013 (English, season overview). 
26. ↑ 1988–89 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed June 10, 2013 (English, season overview). 
27. ^ ^{A b c} Brian Ponsonby: Sir David Murray and the fall of Rangers Football Club. BBC , February 15, 2012, accessed June 10, 2013 . 
28. ^ Alan Pattullo: Rangers chief is fully aware he has made errors, but he defends his running of club. The Scotsman , January 15, 2009, accessed June 10, 2013 .