CRAIG Whyte has revealed the truth over his decision to flog off historic Rangers shares in Arsenal.
It was revealed in 2012 that the former Gers owner punted the 16 shares – that were gifted to Rangers in the 1930s – for a profit of £230,000.
In an exclusive three-part interview with the Glasgow Times which will run tomorrow and Monday, he has now admitted he had "no idea" that the club owned Arsenal shares – and claimed he would have made a different decision had he known.
He said: "I had no idea Rangers owned Arsenal shares. And I had no idea it was such a big deal.
READ MORE: Craig Whyte: I edited Rangers stories before they were printed
"I probably should have known that.
"One of my people got a call from this guy who was trying to buy Arsenal. He said: ‘Do you want to sell these Arsenal shares?’ I said: ‘Why not?’
"But because it happened so late in the day the money went into the stockbroker’s account and went straight to the administrators because it was so close to administration day.
"The money probably went towards Duff and Phelps' fees unfortunately."
Whyte said that although he regrets the decision he made to cast away the historical ties between the two clubs, the shares would have eventually been sold off nonetheless.
He added: "They would have been sold by the administrators.
"If I had known the significance of them historically to Rangers I would have made a different decision because it wasn’t a meaningful amount of money that was going to change hands anyway.
"If I remember rightly it was £300,000, something of that order. It wasn’t a meaningful amount.
"If I had known the historical significance, if somebody had mentioned it, I wouldn’t have taken that decision.
"There was no point. But it doesn’t change the fact the administrators would have done it anyway. The outcome would have been the same unfortunately."
Read our full exclusive interview with Craig Whyte in tomorrow's Glasgow Times
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