Meet the 49ers chief backing the Rangers takeover – Paraag Marathe, the right hand man of a billionaire

He grew up in California, as the son of Indian immigrants, working behind the till of the family pizza restaurant.

But sports-daft Paraag Marathe always harboured ambitions to get his teeth into a very different slice of the action. And now – after 24 years spent climbing his way up through the ranks of his beloved San Francisco 49ers – he stands on the brink of putting together an American takeover of Rangers Football Club.

As Record Sport revealed in an explosive exclusive, Marathe and the 49ers are behind a shock move to bolster up the crisis-ravaged Ibrox outfit. A US-based consortium has been involved in secret discussions stretching beyond the turn of the year and those talks are now understood to have reached an advanced stage.

And that could open the door to a strong and lucrative relationship with the NFL giants. Marathe is regarded as the right hand man and close friend of 49ers chief executive Jed York. The York family own the 49ers and have an estimated net worth of 5.8 billion dollars according to the latest figures released by Forbes Magazine at the end of 2024.

And Marathe wants to use some of that wealth to help transform the fortunes of Rangers after more than a decade of upheaval off the pitch and underachievement on it. It’s unclear what Marathe’s exact role might be if the proposed multi-million deal is agreed, given that he is currently sitting on the board of Leeds United as chairman after masterminding a 100 per cent buy out of the Elland Road club.

But his very involvement in the bombshell proposal could unlock a huge financial windfall as well as access to commercial partners and some of the most advanced player recruitment technology in the cash rich NFL. Marathe has used this data to drive his