MILLER and LLOYDS

TWO stories concerning cash and Rangers, which have emerged in the last few days, just do not seem to add up.

But, then again, very little of the monetary matters involving Rangers, and those bankers at Lloyds, has seemed to me to tally  in the last year.

The first thing to surface was the UEFA annoucement of just how well Rangers had been rewarded for their participation in last season's Champions League. The Ibrox coffers have welcomed almost £14m

And those figures were only what UEFA gave to Rangers, and made no mention of what the club may have made through gate receipts, corporate hospitality and other bits and pieces at the three home matches last season.

The other tale which is being played out at the moment ,concerns Kenny Miller and what Rangers have offered him by way of an extension to keep him at Ibrox beyond the end of his current deal, which expires at the end of this season.

Those with the inside track at Ibrox say  - and I believe them - that Miller is being asked to take a wage cut, which hardly seems  the way to reward a striker who had his highest ever season's goal tally last time out.

Which brings us back to those bankers at Lloyds. And to Walter Smith's assertion it is those bankers who are running Rangers. Which leads many people to suspect they may still be keeping a tight hold of the purse strings and preventing Rangers  making the sort of offer to Miller they would wish to.

Such things will always be shrouded in mystery, as any approach to the bank for information would be met with the stonewall of ''customer confidentiality.''

Rangers though, as the customer, have the right to waive such protection and to come clean about just what degree of  influence Lloyds may or may not have. The club's Annual General Meeting would be the correct place to make such a statement.

There may also be a case for the Rangers Trust to approach the Lloyds Shareholders' Association in order that when the bank, which is 40 per cent owner by the British taxpayer, holds its AGM ,questions may be asked from the floor, and names named.

If, as so many media outlets tell us, Rangers are cash-strapped, then where is all of their income going? And surely it makes sense for Lloyds to reduce the club's debts in stages? After all, that £14m of UEFA money will be followed by even more - perhaps as much as £16m - for participation in this season's Champions League.

Therefore there can surely be no suggestion that, as a business, Rangers face the immediate prospect of their income drying up.

So, just who is calling the shots for Lloyds as far as Rangers are concerned? For, while Donald Muir is seen as the man who sits on the board with a watching brief for them, he appears to remain no more than a functionary.

 It is inconceivable that - in world terms - such a small business as Rangers will have attracted the personal attention of Lloyds 59-year-old Montana born Chief Exectutive, Eric Daniels.

However, the bank's Chief Risk Officer, Carol Sargeant, as her title perhaps indicates, may have taken a look at Rangers to see if the debt they owe is a good risk, while the executive member of the Lloyds board, whose title is Board Representative for Scotland, 58-year-old Archie G Kane, must be a man with an intimate knowledge of Scotland's businesses - Rangers included - and be in a position to give his advice.

There are questions though as to what role another senior man at Lloyds, whose name is not so readily available, David McEwan, has played, or does play. Whether or not he took a hard line at one stage is a matter for debate. Another name which has stayed underneath the radar is Ian Cruickshanks.

Whatever the level of Rangers debt to Lloyds is when revealed in the soon to be published Ibrox accounts, it is certain to be less than it was last year.

The repayment already made, plus the interests payments on the outstanding debt, also made by Rangers to the bankers, has contributed to Lloyds making a profit in the first half of this year of £1.6BILLION, with expert analysts forcecasting an annual profit of £4BILLION, plus the accumulation of a massive cash pile of around £10BILLION by 2012.

All of which puts the piddling £20 million or so owed to Lloyds by Rangers into sharp contrast, and makes me wonder why nobody else has had the wit to link the week's two cash stories concerning Rangers. And to do a little research into the bankers who, according  the Rangers manager, are running the club.