SIR Sean Connery secretly invested £1million in Rangers but never saw a return, Sir David Murray has sensationally revealed.
The James Bond icon, who died in 2020, put the cash into the Ibrox side while close friend Sir David was raising funds in the early 2000s.
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Rangers fan Sir Sean was a popular face at Ibrox but his cash injection was never made public until now.
Sir David said: “For years, Sean and I would share a catch-up call every weekend to chat through the football and we would inevitably kick off with Rangers.
“After all, he had put £1million into the club which no one knew about at the time or even since.
“I was raising £50million in 2004 and Sean asked if he could invest. I told him that it was football, that there were no guarantees and he should get professional advice but he was adamant. He wanted in.
“Needless to say he never did get the money back but he understood completely.”
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Sir Sean and Sir David enjoyed a long friendship, with both men regularly visiting each other’s luxury homes in France and Switzerland.
But Murray reveals a lasting regret is being unable to get over to the Bahamas to see Connery in his later years.
Sir David added: “One of my regrets in later life is that I never got the chance to visit him at his home in the Bahamas.
“When he died, on October 31 2020, I sat silently for so long before poring over photos, books and trying to etch every memory into my brain.
“Nearly five years later I still miss him and our weekend chats. I speak to a lot of people and most of them would tell you that they’ve lived a bit. None of us even came close to what Sean Connery experienced.”
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Elsewhere in his new book, Sir David revealed how he still has shards in his leg from the wreckage of the sports car that nearly killed him in a horror crash almost half a century ago.
The ex-Rangers owner was just 24 when he had both legs amputated after the flash motor careered into a tree following a tyre blow-out in 1976.
Despite the horrific accident, he refused to let the ordeal define him and went on to become a towering figure in Scottish society through his metals business and Ibrox tenure.
But everything could have been very different had medics not been able to save his life after he crashed near Longniddry, East Lothian, while driving home in his purple Lotus Elite after playing rugby.
He said: “A number of rugby supporters who had actually been at the game stopped their cars and raced to my side.
“There was lots of blood and they applied tourniquets with their ties to try to halt the flow.
“They somehow kept me alive and even though I can remember nothing about it, an ambulance was called and arrived quickly to take me 18 miles to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.”
Incredibly, he lost 13 pints of blood on the first evening and medics immediately amputated parts of his ‘mangled’ legs through the knees.
After he was stabilised, Sir David – who was once estimated to have a £500m fortune – was transferred to the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh for ten weeks of intensive care.
The budding entrepreneur was left pondering his future over and over again – but his inner steel drove him towards recovery and, ultimately, huge success.
SIR DAVID MURRAY: A TIMELINE
1951 – Born in Ayr
1974 – Founds Murray International Metals aged 23
1976 – Loses both legs in a car crash
1984 – Awarded Young Scottish Businessman of the Year
1988 – Buys Rangers FC for £6million
1989 – Rangers win the first of a record-equalling nine successive league titles and buy first high profile Catholic, Maurice Johnston, for £1.5m from under the noses of Celtic.
1991: Walter Smith succeeds Graeme Souness as manager.
1992 – Wife Louise – mum of their two sons – dies after a cancer battle.
1993: Rangers sign Duncan Ferguson for a record transfer fee between British clubs of £4million.
1995: Paul Gascoigne signs for a club record £4.3m.
1998: Dick Advocaat is appointed manager and club break their transfer record three times that summer by signing Arthur Numan (£4.5m), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (£5m) and Andrei Kanchelskis (£5.5m). Murray declares that for ‘every £5 Celtic spend, we will spend £10.’
2000: Rangers smash transfer record by signing Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea for £12m.
2001: Murray Park is opened at a cost of £14m.
2007 – Knighted for services to business
2009 – Sir David steps down as Rangers chairman and as a member of the board, with the club having won 15 titles and 21 cups during his tenure
May 2011 – He sells his controlling interest in Rangers for £1 to Wavetower Limited, owned by businessman Craig Whyte.
Sir David, 73, became a millionaire with company Murray International Metals and purchased Rangers for £6million in 1988.
Under his stewardship, the club embarked on a period of unparalleled success with iconic managers Graeme Souness and Walter Smith – and fan favourites Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup.
He was also instrumental in the club smashing their sectarian signing policy by buying their first high profile Catholic player Mo Johnston from under Celtic’s noses in 1989.
Sir David faced further tragedy in his personal life when beloved first wife Louise – mum to their sons David and Keith – died from cancer in 1992.
Dad Ian was also locked up for a spell before dying at 50.
He split from second wife Kae Tinto in 2018 after seven years of marriage and is now understood to split his time between Perthshire and France, where he owns vineyards.
He remains the chairman of Murray Capital Group and his sons play key roles in the running of the business.
– Mettle: Tragedy, Courage & Titles by Sir David Murray, is on sale Thursday July 3 from Amazon and all good bookshops.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Preorder on Amazon here.
Sir David is donating his royalties to Erskine Hospital.
