Lloyds Banking Group has been warned that Rangers Football Club fans will boycott it unless it continues to support the troubled club.
Recent accounts showed the club had a £31m debt with the bank, and this has been blamed for a lack of activity in the transfer market.
At the bank’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh, shareholder John Macpherson warned a Lloyds Bank boycott could lead to more than £2 billion of business being withdrawn.
Bank chiefs said they understood the importance of the club to fans.
Mr Macpherson, who has shares in both the bank and Rangers, warned Lloyds chairman Sir Win Bischoff the global community of fans and the club shareholders intended to withdraw all deposits and savings from Lloyds Banking Group and its subsidiaries unless the bank becomes more supportive to the club.
Lloyds Bank boycott – bank insists it’s ‘committed’
He said this could lead to Lloyds “losing anything between £1.2bn to £2.6bn between investments, shares and the closure of all accounts”.
Mr Macpherson earlier claimed the club had been “refused support by the bank” and asked the board: “Can this bank finally agree to give the club some money to operate properly within Europe, and is it true or false that one member of this board approached five companies to see if they could put Rangers Football Club into administration?”
In response to the threat of a Lloyds Bank boycottArchie Kane, the bank’s director for Scotland, replied: “The bank fully understands the level of concern of supporters, shareholders and the football community at large.
“We understand Rangers’ importance. I can tell you we are supportive towards the management of Rangers in their endeavours to try to resolve the future of the club and, along those lines, we will be meeting on Monday morning with the chairman and chief executive of Rangers Football Club.
“I hope that gives you some reassurance that the bank is committed and is supportive of the board and the management of Rangers FC in their endeavours to establish the financial stability of the club and to resolve the future of the club and for the club to be a success.”
This article was published on the BBC News website on 6 May 2010. Read article on BBC News website