by Auldheid for the Scottish Football Monitor
On these pages at least there is a mounting lack of trust that the Scottish Football Association can or will govern our game in a fair and honest manner that recognises the principle of sporting integrity as paramount.
This mistrust is equalled only by the frustration at being unable to do anything to change the attitude and action of those at the SFA (and Leagues) responsible for that governance, a frustration compounded by the reluctance of the mainstream media to focus on the very issues of trust and integrity that concern us.
Back in early 2010 Celtic supporters represented by the Celtic Trust, various Association groups and individuals felt the same frustration and found a way to make their voices heard at the SFA – by using their club as a channel of communication to articulate their concerns.
A resolution was agreed and passed to Celtic to convey to the SFA and it was heeded by the club. There is no reason in why a similar conduit cannot be used by supporters groups of all clubs.
The enormity of the task, to get the majority of trusts and associations of all clubs to support this approach and give it sufficient weight, should not be underestimated, but in the interests of amplifying our voice, it is worth the effort.
Based on that 2010 experience, and on the discussion that has taken place on TSFM we have arrived at a (now amended) resolution below under the auspices of TSFM and which has been sent to all representative club supporters groups.
We believe one of the reasons the SFA and SPL were able to mislead (or simply fail to provide leadership) was because of the lack of clarity surrounding who should take provide that leadership and what principles should have been paramount.
The SFA were as tied to the commercial impact of Rangers demise as the SPL and indeed had to be reminded by the supporters of the importance of that sporting integrity. In the aftermath of the Rangers implosion, both the SFA and Leagues on the face of it appear still too commercially oriented to act in a way that balances commercialism and sporting principles.
We have attempted to address this in the resolution below. It also contains additional points raised already on TSFM and elsewhere. It is designed to assist in the widening of accountability in the sport.
We are not wed to the draft or the language. It is there to be revised but we hope it contains enough food for thought to be acceptable to the supporters groups and the clubs.
As recently as today, the SFA has published a Fans Charter. We welcome this development, and although it does not address our specific concerns with respect to governance it is a step in the right direction (http://www.fanscharter.com/).
Some of the principles published are;
- Challenge is to make a National Fans Charter known, accepted and influential
- Getting fan involvement in drafting charter important to acceptance, influence and growing awareness.
We think our resolution is an even bigger step in the direction of those principles.
DRAFT Proposal for Representative Supporter Groups e.g. Trusts or Associations to send to their club to convey to the SFA/SPL/SFL Boards.
We [Insert Association/Trust name here] and in association with fans’ groups of other clubs, ask [Insert Club name here] to convey the following to the Scottish Football Association, SPL and SFL on our behalf.
1 We believe that the commercial viability of Scottish football at the professional level depends absolutely on the belief by supporters that sporting integrity is at the heart of all competition, and that those governing them and the rules by which they exercise governance, must hold sporting integrity as paramount above ALL other concerns. This belief can be summed up in the one word “trust” Without trust in those responsible for governing Scottish Football, commercial viability will suffer, to eventual ruin of our game.
2 There is a perception (accompanied by some dismay and anger) among football supporters throughout Scotland that those who were charged with upholding the rules of the SFA and SPL/SFL, only did so partially – and even then only because of the threat of supporter action if they did not.
3 There appears to be no distinction or order of hierarchy between those governing the game (the SFA) for whom we believe preservation of sporting integrity should be the prime purpose, and the leagues (SPL/SFL) for whom commercial aspects are (understandably) uppermost. As a result sporting integrity lost its primacy and it was left to supporters to insist on it.
4 Consequently many Scottish football supporters have lost confidence that the Scottish Football Association will fulfil their purpose of safeguarding the sport. Indeed their silence following the revelation of a 5 way agreement last summer on the future of the liquidated Glasgow Rangers has exacerbated this loss of confidence in the SFA’s ability to administer professional football in Scotland in a manner that reflects their duty of care to all aspects of the game and everyone who takes part in it.
5 Decisions and deals have been taken by the SFA, SPL, and SFL without any public scrutiny. The operations and decisions of those bodies lack transparency and they are not accountable in any recognisable form to the football supporters throughout the land, without whom there is no professional association.
6 In our view this loss of trust can only begin to be restored by the SFA publically committing itself to:
(i) The production of an unequivocal “mission” statement of purpose/intent which will state (in whatever form they may exist) that maintaining sporting integrity is and will always be their prime goal. The statement will also describe how they intend to ensure this principle is followed in their interactions with Leagues and Clubs, particularly when commercial decisions that might undermine sporting integrity are implemented by the Leagues. (e.g. In the case of TV contracts, sponsorship or any significant league reconstruction).
(ii) Further: in recognition of the inability of some individuals to provide leadership during the past year simply because of conflicts of interest, take steps to remove any such conflict, and in doing so enable the organisation and its office bearers to function unhindered.
(iii) In the interests of transparency, publish the “five point agreement” that allowed The Rangers entry into SFL and SFA, provide a supporting rationale for entering into the agreement, and confirm that the terms have been or are being complied with.
Along with other trust restoring measures (see attached Annex) these steps should mark the end of the continuing lack of trust in the authorities.
7. We appreciate that it may be the start of next season before there is any visible evidence of our concerns being addressed although the statement of purpose/intent by the SFA (i) and action at (ii) can be readily put in place – would be a welcome early development.
8. All club’s supporters groups will be watching closely for signs of progress before advising our members and our other supporters if we feel the necessary trust restoring steps are being taken and advise that they can purchase their season books for 2013/14 knowing that sporting integrity is once more absolutely paramount in Scottish football to the betterment of our game.
Signed __________________________ on behalf of
[Insert supporter trust/association name here]
Date ______________
Annex to resolution.
The following is a list of other measures that the SFA should take in order to satisfy supporters that they should be entrusted with the job of governing Scottish football.
- To increase transparency and accountability in a meaningful way – possibly via creation of an active supporter’s liaison group drawn from representative supporter groups of each club. Its remit, using an agreed consultative mechanism to generate dialogue, to hear supporters’ concerns and consider them before key decisions are made. In an industry that is totally interdependent it is folly to exclude a major stakeholder from key decision making.
- A tightening of and an annual and independent audit of the process for granting UEFA Club (FFP) and National Club licensing reporting to the representative supporter liaison group as well as other SFA members to ensure all clubs are living within their means.
- Introduction of a rule requiring all Scottish football club directors to declare any financial interest/shareholding in any club other than their own and to rule that disposition of those shares/interest should be a part of a fit and proper assessment of a person’s qualification to hold office at an association club.
- A feasibility review of Scottish refereeing to assess the potential for creating a professional service that the SFA provide to the leagues by recruiting and training referees, but where the leagues monitor and reward consistently good performances to an agreed standard. Given the sums dependent on referee decisions, the current system must change for everyone’s sake including the referees.
- A full explanation about the circumstances (including dates) surrounding the award of a UEFA Club licence to Rangers in spring/summer of 2011 when there was unpaid social tax that prime facie did not meet the conditions for deeming the granting of a licence acceptable under the UEFA FFP rules on unpaid tax (the wee tax bill).
The [Insert Club Name here] Trust/Supporters Association asks [Insert Club Name here] to convey our concerns above with their provenance to the appropriate authorities as they see fit viz:
- Football Authority in Scotland (The SFA)
- Europe (UEFA)
- Scottish Government (on the issue of accountability to supporters and proper checks and balance governance.)
Anyone any suggestions why this £400k debt is one of the clubs debts?
Surely if this debt relates to raising the finance to buy the assets from D&P’s then it is a debt that belongs to Charles and his consortium and not TRFC
So, why are TRFC paying this debt?
Just listened to Alex Tommo on line debate on rangers
The panel:
Gary Calderwood – Rangers fan
Stewart Weir – Football journalist
Adam Morallee – Sports lawyer
Some of Gary’s points.
Murray some blame. Craig White loads of blame. All rangers fans and ex directors new Mr White not man for the job. MSM gave Murray easy time in past. MSM now have an agenda.
SPL/SFA/and SFL making it up as they are going along. Someone pulling their strings (got a bit agitated at this point and did not want to go there, in his words) he was dying to shout out PETER LAWELL but showed great restraint. Still enjoying big adventure.
Some of Stewarts points
Rangers received loads of punishments. TV wants 4 old firm games. All SPL clubs want 4 games against each of old firm (basically finance). To may teams in Scotland. Some teams in Spain on the edge.
Some of Adam’s points.
Pay your taxes. EUFA using rangers as an example of bad management. 3 teams in Spain on the brink.
Final note Gary when talking about MSM and media he referred to Phil Mac Giolla Bhain as:
“Phil I do not know what name he is using now, he wrote Downfall, It is Phil something or other”
They just cannot help themselves.
Link to tommo debate
http://t.co/k0gyfs07
valentinesclown says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:08
0 0 Rate This
Link to tommo debate
http://t.co/k0gyfs07
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what was the point of that? (the debate, not posting the link)
Not only wouldn’t you risk the negative headlines why risk pissing off the very people who seemingly brought the initial investors to the table. Think of all the juicy leaks about who they really are and maybe even the investment terms they negotiated…drip, drip, drip.
nixonwhytewashing says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 13:08
Seems to be a large sell off this morning of 25,000 RFC shares worth £20K on a “delayed publication request” basis.
This means the trade may have occurred some time ago but they didn’t tell you about it at the time. This is common for big trades like this one and will have taken some time to round up that many buyers for the trade by the market maker. If they had to publish live each tranche of say 500 that they manage to knock out, people would see them and realise there was a big seller desperate to get rid of stock and buyers would hold out and offer a lower price to the seller. By keeping all the buyers in ignorance until they have all been sold, the seller gets a better price overall.
…………………………………………..
If this happened a while ago and to different buyers does the 80p represent the average amount paid per share?
If so, a few weeks ago shares were trading at mid 80s so this would mean some of these shares were probably sold at 75p or lower to give an average of 80p.
When you think about it Mr Charles, for all his bluster and annoying statements, has to be one of the unluckiest people around. With the exception of managing to cajole McCoist, the fans and even Old Leggo round nothing has gone right for him or Sevco.
I’m pretty sure that when he first got involved he would have thought that Sevco would still be in the SPL having managed to convince the creditors to agree to a paltry CVA. I’m also sure that in his own mind he would have thought he could have convinced UEFA to overturn the 3 year ban.
It must have been his worst case scenario for Sevco to be put into the 4th tier with massive reductions in season ticket revenue as a result.
He probably knew that he couldn’t hold onto the big earners at the club but envisaged at least £10m in transfer out fees. They walked away for nowt.
He must have been cursing his luck watching as his Club crashed out of the Ramsdens Cup, League Cup and Scottish Cup. More missed revenue.
I’m certain that with his charisma and charm he would have thought that the Sevco Supporters would have over subscribed on the Share Issue (Even a week before Christmas) After all “That other lot” (as he likes to call Celtic fans) gave gererously on several different occasions. He might even have thought that there would be a few genuine Sevco minded billionaires willing to “invest” in the Share Issue. After all “That other lot” have at least a couple. He was let down badly.
The only major “win” he had was at the Court of Session when the Transfer Ban was over- turned. It was unlucky for Mr Charles how that worked out. Even when he wins he loses.
You’ve got to ask yourself is it an unlucky Charles Green or Karma for Sevco ?
I could almost feel sorry for him but then again he will still walk away from the debris several £m richer.
All the way to Dubaii to spout nonesense to yet another lackey. He must have just made it out the door when the WUO hit the fan. Lets see if any Aussie journos are as compliant.
Charles Green reaps the rewards from Glasgow Rangers
Gary Meenaghan
Feb 7, 2013
Save this article
.
——————————————————————————–
Charles Green wears a gold Rolex. It hides for the most part below the left sleeve of a smart navy blue suit and is complemented only by a pair of discreet Rangers Football Club cufflinks.
Related
■ Topsy-turvy road ahead in Scottish football shake-up
■ Rangers are staring into the abyss in the Scottish Premier League
Topic
Scotland
The Glasgow club’s chief executive officer was given the watch in May 2003 in Dubai’s resplendent Burj Al Arab hotel. It was a gift for his 50th birthday from friends he had made in the Emirates during regular visits to the Middle East as part of his work with Source Bioscience, a Nottingham-based medical research firm.
Little did Green know at the time, he would almost a decade later be on the receiving end of a far greater offering from the Middle East.
This month marks one year since Craig Whyte, the former owner of the Scottish giants, announced the club was going into administration.
As Green watched the news unfold on television in his London apartment, he received a text message from Imran Ahmad of Zeus Capital offering him the opportunity to become the chief executive of one of football’s biggest football clubs. He replied: “No thanks”.
“I thought that was the end of it,” Green told The Nationalin Dubai this week. “But a few days later he hounded me again and we met in London. That was when I realised not only that Rangers had to be bought by someone, but that Rangers could be bought by my group.”
Last summer, while sourcing investors for a consortium that would eventually acquire the business and assets of the financially-stricken club, Green managed to raise close to £4 million (Dh23.1m) worth of investment from the region. And with substantial finances also arriving from Singapore and Indonesia, the Englishman’s international consortium eventually completed its takeover for £5.5m.
“The big uncertainty throughout it all was whether Rangers would ever play again and what league it would it be in,” he said. “First, it was going to be First Division, then it was the Third Division, then it was like we were almost being blackmailed by the authorities to the point where we got our licence only two or three days before the season started.”
Rangers, a club that have won 54 league titles and never played a league game outside the top tier, found themselves playing in Scotland’s lowest division with a transfer ban prohibiting them from replacing players who had walked out on their contracts.
When the squad started the season, it is said some of the youth players involved had never met their first-team colleagues. And yet the club has continued to attract in excess of 45,000 spectators to home games, in a league that last year had an average attendance of just 475.
“For me, it has been a very, very challenging journey, but ever so rewarding,” Green said. “And when I say rewarding, I don’t mean in financial terms, but rather the satisfaction that comes with now having one of the world’s biggest football clubs in a very safe position; where its financial future is secure.”
Green suggested that, without a rich benefactor, it is hard to come up with a sustainable model for running a football club.
“But our vision,” he said, “is to instead use these great assets that we have got: the academy and our worldwide network.”
Green will look east to continue Rangers’ renaissance by tapping into Arabian Gulf, subcontinent and Far East markets.
“The growth of football is going to be in those regions,” he said. Seeking further investment, however, is not why he visited the UAE and Qatar this week and it is not why he is now in Australia.
A few years after Green received his Rolex, his relationship with the Emirates strengthened further, culminating in the Yorkshireman eventually making the permanent move to Dubai in 2006.
Page 2 of 2
He lived in a penthouse suite opposite Deira City Centre, before relocating to a newly finished villa in the grounds of Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, where he lived until he left the region in 2009. Green, on his return this week to the city he once called home, met with around 70 members of the Dubai Loyal Rangers Supporters Club.
The following day he attended the European Clubs Association annual conference in Doha, before flying on to Perth, Australia.
“The Rangers diaspora is worldwide,” he said. “We have got five million fans around the globe and it provides a wonderful opportunity. For me, this is a failure of previous regimes because that historical base has never been monetised.
“If we want to lay accusations down, the directors and officers of Rangers in the past have not actually done enough, in my mind, to grow the brand.”
He added: “Where we see the growth is in Asia. Half the world’s population lives in China and India, yet there aren’t any football teams there. Forget the Mickey Mouse stuff going on at the moment, where they pay crazy wages for [Nicolas] Anelka and [Didier] Drogba for a six-month deal that sees them walk around the training ground …
“What people want to see is clubs with history, and there are not many in the world that can compare to the history of Rangers.”
¿¿¿
Rangers have a back story stretching 140 years, but with a growing number of European clubs opening elite football schools in Asia, Green knows Rangers will need to move quickly to ensure a foothold. He has already held meetings regarding training camps and academies and hopes to use the connections he has developed in the UAE over the past decade or so to help the club’s cause.
“It’s part of what I am doing here because there is a pool of talent in this region – both local and expat,” he said.
“I know Emiratis like their football as much as they like their horses, so there would be a strong interest. I had a meeting earlier with a very close friend and he is extremely excited about the prospect of trying to help me drive this here.”
In terms of finances and player recruitment, to stand still is to move backwards and Green appreciates this.
“The hardest part of our work is done, but now we have to sustain it and push on,” he said.
The hands on his Rolex are ticking.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Follow us @SprtNationalUAE
One-page article
Charles Green wears a gold Rolex. It hides for the most part below the left sleeve of a smart navy blue suit and is complemented only by a pair of discreet Rangers Football Club cufflinks.
Related
■ Topsy-turvy road ahead in Scottish football shake-up
■ Rangers are staring into the abyss in the Scottish Premier League
Topic
Scotland
The Glasgow club’s chief executive officer was given the watch in May 2003 in Dubai’s resplendent Burj Al Arab hotel. It was a gift for his 50th birthday from friends he had made in the Emirates during regular visits to the Middle East as part of his work with Source Bioscience, a Nottingham-based medical research firm.
Little did Green know at the time, he would almost a decade later be on the receiving end of a far greater offering from the Middle East.
This month marks one year since Craig Whyte, the former owner of the Scottish giants, announced the club was going into administration.
As Green watched the news unfold on television in his London apartment, he received a text message from Imran Ahmad of Zeus Capital offering him the opportunity to become the chief executive of one of football’s biggest football clubs. He replied: “No thanks”.
“I thought that was the end of it,” Green told The Nationalin Dubai this week. “But a few days later he hounded me again and we met in London. That was when I realised not only that Rangers had to be bought by someone, but that Rangers could be bought by my group.”
Last summer, while sourcing investors for a consortium that would eventually acquire the business and assets of the financially-stricken club, Green managed to raise close to £4 million (Dh23.1m) worth of investment from the region. And with substantial finances also arriving from Singapore and Indonesia, the Englishman’s international consortium eventually completed its takeover for £5.5m.
“The big uncertainty throughout it all was whether Rangers would ever play again and what league it would it be in,” he said. “First, it was going to be First Division, then it was the Third Division, then it was like we were almost being blackmailed by the authorities to the point where we got our licence only two or three days before the season started.”
Rangers, a club that have won 54 league titles and never played a league game outside the top tier, found themselves playing in Scotland’s lowest division with a transfer ban prohibiting them from replacing players who had walked out on their contracts.
When the squad started the season, it is said some of the youth players involved had never met their first-team colleagues. And yet the club has continued to attract in excess of 45,000 spectators to home games, in a league that last year had an average attendance of just 475.
“For me, it has been a very, very challenging journey, but ever so rewarding,” Green said. “And when I say rewarding, I don’t mean in financial terms, but rather the satisfaction that comes with now having one of the world’s biggest football clubs in a very safe position; where its financial future is secure.”
Green suggested that, without a rich benefactor, it is hard to come up with a sustainable model for running a football club.
“But our vision,” he said, “is to instead use these great assets that we have got: the academy and our worldwide network.”
Green will look east to continue Rangers’ renaissance by tapping into Arabian Gulf, subcontinent and Far East markets.
“The growth of football is going to be in those regions,” he said. Seeking further investment, however, is not why he visited the UAE and Qatar this week and it is not why he is now in Australia.
A few years after Green received his Rolex, his relationship with the Emirates strengthened further, culminating in the Yorkshireman eventually making the permanent move to Dubai in 2006.
He lived in a penthouse suite opposite Deira City Centre, before relocating to a newly finished villa in the grounds of Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, where he lived until he left the region in 2009. Green, on his return this week to the city he once called home, met with around 70 members of the Dubai Loyal Rangers Supporters Club.
The following day he attended the European Clubs Association annual conference in Doha, before flying on to Perth, Australia.
“The Rangers diaspora is worldwide,” he said. “We have got five million fans around the globe and it provides a wonderful opportunity. For me, this is a failure of previous regimes because that historical base has never been monetised.
“If we want to lay accusations down, the directors and officers of Rangers in the past have not actually done enough, in my mind, to grow the brand.”
He added: “Where we see the growth is in Asia. Half the world’s population lives in China and India, yet there aren’t any football teams there. Forget the Mickey Mouse stuff going on at the moment, where they pay crazy wages for [Nicolas] Anelka and [Didier] Drogba for a six-month deal that sees them walk around the training ground …
“What people want to see is clubs with history, and there are not many in the world that can compare to the history of Rangers.”
¿¿¿
Rangers have a back story stretching 140 years, but with a growing number of European clubs opening elite football schools in Asia, Green knows Rangers will need to move quickly to ensure a foothold. He has already held meetings regarding training camps and academies and hopes to use the connections he has developed in the UAE over the past decade or so to help the club’s cause.
“It’s part of what I am doing here because there is a pool of talent in this region – both local and expat,” he said.
“I know Emiratis like their football as much as they like their horses, so there would be a strong interest. I had a meeting earlier with a very close friend and he is extremely excited about the prospect of trying to help me drive this here.”
In terms of finances and player recruitment, to stand still is to move backwards and Green appreciates this.
“The hardest part of our work is done, but now we have to sustain it and push on,” he said.
The hands on his Rolex are ticking.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Follow us @SprtNationalUAE
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/events/areas/dubai/charles-green-reaps-the-rewards-from-glasgow-rangers#ixzz2KDtY5QZE
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook
Oops sorry double rubbish inflicted there.
Is McCoist for real or has someone kidnapped him and put a clone in place ,last year he went out of every cup competition cutting of any cash flow the club badly needed to survive last season, fast forward and he repeats the format but decides to add a comment to this ,We are not focussing on cup competitions as the league has always been our main priority,dont you be sending your CV out to any clubs in the near future Ally,unless its comedy clubs.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:17
I think it was done to show the bears AT is not against them by giving one of their own the opportunity to speak for them all. I got bored with it very quickly as it was no more than a platform for ‘Gary’ to talk in what I’m sure he considered a reasonable and well thought out manner, but left it clear he wasn’t saying what he really wanted to say. In effect the whole thing didn’t move the debate on one little bit, though I’m sure many TRFC fans will think Gary stuck it right up them!
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 13:56
Anyone any suggestions why this £400k debt is one of the clubs debts?
————————————————
NTHM, though I take some of Corsica’s comments the other day with a degree of caution, this Orlit matter does fit in with it. Using typical commission rates in the finance industry of 3-4%, a fee of £400K suggests a commission charge for obtaining loan finance of say £10-11M. That number rings a bell in connection with the gestation and difficult birth of Sevco.
Corsica suggested Far East investors may be wanting their money back and this is just another indication that all is not well.
Interestingly Orlit state the matter has not been settled to their satisfaction, according to Alex Thomson.
Maybe Platini should drop in to Ibrox on his visit to Glasgow and leave them a copy of UEFA’s rules, including the Financial Fair Play rules ? Which leads me on to think that the story of Platini coming over for the Celtic – Juventus match is just a convenient cover for the real purpose of his trip – to headhunt Gordon Smith & Campbell Ogilvie for UEFA’s new dream-team administration.
The latest on TRFC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21370477
torrejohnbhoy says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:38
0 0 Rate This
The latest on TRFC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21370477
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7 days…..valentines day…..no, surely not, could they? would they? please please please…let it all happen again!
Come on , we all want to see another Mr Custard!
What Greens telling the Aussies.
From KDS:
1. He’s sent a letter to the prime minister over issues regarding the club.
2.kit deal has or will be signed today with manufacturers and sponsors, can’t disclose info for maximum impact.
3.At ECA meeting sat around table with AC Milan, lazio and juve. Juve chief asking is everything we read about your club true, green replies depends were you read it!! Auchenhowie will be available for use for juve during their stay in Glasgow(not sure if joking or not ha ha).
4. Talks are ongoing and nearly confirmed for a pre season game at ibrox against Arsenal where Arsenal will hand back the sold shares,,, absolute class if true!!
I presume Gary was somehow selected to appear as the voice of Rangers for some reason, it certainly wasn’t because he had something new or enlightening to say! With a near 50,000 turning up at Ibrox each home game you’d think they’d be able to find someone a bit more erudite than him, although I suspect he’s the most presentable of the loud mouthed minority who seem to be running things (into the ground) on behalf of the fans. If I was a Rangers fan I’d have cringed at the effort, especially as he was given free rein with nobody contradicting him or putting forward awkward facts. Still, it’s hard to put forward an argument for your position, when none actually exist! I suppose too, that although they weren’t making it hard for him, they might not have been feeding him lines as would have happened in the safety of a Glasgow studio.
torrejohnbhoy says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:38
0 0 Rate This
The latest on TRFC:
==================
What is the last paragraph in that article about?
FIFA Updates @FIFAupdates
Rangers face winding-up order: The company which runs Rangers Football Club faces the prospect of a winding-up o… http://bbc.in/X8MRn9
Collapse Reply Retweet Favorite More
It does seem that, from that statement, Mr Green loaded at least some debt from the purchase of the assets from the administrators, onto the club. I believe that is prohibited.
The statement also leads you to think that TRFC is liable rather than RIFC – since RIFC didnt exist when Green obtained ‘Rangers from the administrators’. This raises a question over whether Mr Green meets the fit and proper person criteria. This requires administrative intervention – the SFA and SFL now need to pay attention and get involved.
Also, we are asked to believe that despite RIFC having raised £22m from a recent float (maybe only £9m cash), the holding company is unable to provide £400k (possibly only £200k) to its subsidiary football club company to settle a debt that, at its origin, Mr Green agreed upon.
Beeb has the story that no agreement to pay is in place, paperwork or no paperwork.
Also if this leads to the worst…
…seeing as this debt is from the far east and since Chinese New Year is coming up, maybe it might be a bit after Valentines Day this year.
Love it! “The company which runs Rangers Football Club”…..”no agreement has been reached between Rangers and…Orlit Enterprises”.
So the company that runs “Rangers Football Club” is….”Rangers”! Hilarious! Well the BBC brought this on themselves when they failed from the start to explain exactly what was going on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21370477
“The company which runs Rangers Football Club” Is this to make the 500,000,000 Sevconians throughout Christendom feel better about the latest dire news ? Have they been in talks with the correspondents of the Erskine and Forth Road Bridges ?
Jeezo.
torrejohnbhoy says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:46
1 1 Rate This
What Greens telling the Aussies.
2.kit deal has or will be signed today with manufacturers and sponsors, can’t disclose info for maximum impact.
—————————————————
who is signing this deal? you’d expect it to be green, but OK, he is in Oz, so he obviously delegated this to some company lawyer, fine.
So, if the deal is being signed today…..announcement on sevco’s official site tonight?
Carl31 (@C4rl31) says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 15:03
From my reading of the various tweets, blog postings the £400,000 is for services to Mr Green and the consortia who purchased the assets of RFC from the administrators.
Although this is now a debt, would it be the case that there was no debt at the time of purchase – as Green at al were using Orlit to identify and attract others to joint the consortium?
Seen on RM
Straight from the horses mouth at Perth WA meeting, Mr Charles green said,,,,
This issue is over a investor advisor who reckons he is owed more than the usual 5 to 7% because our floatation has been so successful. After negotiations there is an agreed amount to be paid!! As usual nothing to it!!
———–
REPLY
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That does not sound feasible though.
The advisor would only be able to progress a winding up order if he had a legal claim for more than 7%. The contract would have had a % written into it, which would be pretty obvious. You cant just wind a company up because you think that they should give you more out of the goodness of their hearts.
Anyway, if the scheme was successful, then he would have got 7% of a larger amount, giving him a better return.
Not saying its not true, just seems a little odd.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:46
8 1 Rate This
torrejohnbhoy says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:38
0 0 Rate This
The latest on TRFC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21370477
—————————————–
7 days…..valentines day…..no, surely not, could they? would they? please please please…let it all happen again!
Come on , we all want to see another Mr Custard
——————————————————————————————————————–
Suits me
Genuinely sorry if I’m being slow here. I thought the Orlit input was to help attract finance to the original spiv 5.5m whip round. What has the recent flotation got to do with it? (Apart from the obvious, that it was 22.5m chocolate drops that were ingathered).
Seriously I still don’t get the link between the Orlit debt and the success or otherwise of the recent flotation and the the reporting thereof.
Finally, has anyone considered the defence, “OK the gemz a bogey, the horse has bolted, we’re very sorry and here’s Traynor and Ogilvie as sacrificial offerings. Please can we go into the SPL now coz we’re toast otherwise.”
Thanks for your mail.
Mr Green is now in Australia and regrettably our interview was conducted (and written) before this matter came to light.
I understand he will return to Dubai next week, so I will certainly explore the situation then, given the chance.
Thanks again.
Gary
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 15:10
torrejohnbhoy says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:46
1 1 Rate This
What Greens telling the Aussies.
2.kit deal has or will be signed today with manufacturers and sponsors, can’t disclose info for maximum impact.
—————————————————
who is signing this deal? you’d expect it to be green, but OK, he is in Oz, so he obviously delegated this to some company lawyer, fine.
So, if the deal is being signed today…..announcement on sevco’s official site tonight?
======================================
More bluster.Last week he wrote to HMRC,this week it’s the Prime Minister.
Adidas were lined up(to replace Real Madrid as biggest shirt seller in the world).Last week he told fans that he couldn’t get a shirt deal in the SFL.Today,it’s been delayed because of the impact it’ll have.
Charlie at his best.
@LTL,
the arrangement seems to have been that …
…the debt arising because of services provided to get money together to buy the assets that subsequently formed the club, are then the club’s debt. Not CG’s debt, or another company’s debt. If it were another company’s debt or CG’s debt, then I trust the statement that ended, “unworthy of further comment”, would have said so.
It seems a bit CW over again to me.
Tom English @TomEnglishSport
“Rangers are debt-free”. Another pearler from Charles Green. I’ll file it with the Dallas Cowboys, Man Utd want ‘us’ in the Prem etc, etc
ianagain says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 14:23
…
——————————————————————————–
Charles Green wears a gold Rolex. It hides for the most part below the left sleeve of a smart navy blue suit and is complemented only by a pair of discreet Rangers Football Club cufflinks.
…
The Glasgow club’s chief executive officer was given the watch in May 2003 in Dubai’s resplendent Burj Al Arab hotel. It was a gift for his 50th birthday from friends he had made in the Emirates during regular visits to the Middle East as part of his work with Source Bioscience, a Nottingham-based medical research firm.
…
The hands on his Rolex are ticking…
==============================
For a spiv, that sounds about right: a ‘ticking Rolex’.
Did Charlie’s friends give him a counterfeit watch then ? 🙄
smugas says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 15:41
Currently there is no direct link betwwen Orlit and the IPO other than a club that is cash rich and debt free following a sucessful floatation can surely sort out a insignificant and historical debt of £400,000 with ease?
Thats is of course on the basis that the floation put hard cash in the bank and they are indeed cash rich and debt free.
How much hard cash was raised by the IPO seems to be another story bubbling away for another time.
I think what is interesting is that with two invoices paid and the two disputed being for a reported £400k you have to wonder what commission Orlit were on being that the investors they pulled in were only for the orignal asset buying exercise, which as we know was £5.5m.
£400k (plus the unknown) seems a bit on the high side but maybe they were originally asked to try and help secure investors for the £8.3m that was going to be used in the CVA.
At £8.3m then the (£400k plus the unknown) comes more into the 5-7% bracket. But that assumes Orlit brought in all the investors, which I do not think is the case.
Therefore the less Orlit brought in in terms of investors the more the £400k (plus the unknown) invoice seem high.
Maybe Orlit did their job and achieved a list of investors willing to put in £8.3m or £5.5m and are asking for the commission but as he did not need all of the investors Orlit identified Mr Green has bumped them for the difference but Orlit are wanting paid as agreed in their contract?
As was pointed out yesterday on a Rangers board the club may indeed have the £400k but in terms of managing cash flow a staged replayment plan may indeed be the sensible option in the same way many of us manage our weekly and monthly household bills over a longer period to keep some money in the bank for rainy days etc.
All that being said these are interesting times and even the mention of WUOs should be cause for concern and questions needing to be asked.
More detailed minutes of the Perth meeting with CG
1. Sponsorship deal and new kit maker pretty much signed up TODAY, holding off for announcement as the sponsors and kit makers obviously want a big impact statement and not some leaked pi5h
2. Rangers BUYING back the Arsenal shares and also going to play Arsenal in a pre-season friendly (which will probably cover the costs anyway)
3. Rangers to play Linfield in a friendly soon (Linfield can cancel a league game) as a thank you for when they helped us out
4. Stadium will be renamed, 2 potential sponsors, once the winner is confirmed the fans will have a chance to get involved in the renaming, which will obviously have to include the name Ibrox. The sponsors do not want to be involved in a scheme that may ALIENATE the fans/customers so they have agreed to work with the fans.
5. Green is still taking players like Allan McGregor etc to court to sue for breach of contract
6. Naismith actually signed for West Ham before switching to Everton
7. McCoist still has his backing, he said that any man who has endured what McCoist has over the past year deserves loyalty, what the future plans involve is perhaps getting some better people around McCoist, I read it as meaning some better backroom staff
8. Rangers media is going to go full throttle, new APPS for phones allowing you to watch games for £1 etc and the radio phone in to talk direct with Green and McCoist etc
9. We bought back the Albion Car Park for £1.4m after Murray sold it to Lloyds for £400,000. Apparently we can make around £400,000 per year on it (or was it £150k?), we had a lease with Lloys which would have meant giving them around £4m until the end of the lease, but Green persuaded them as he threatened to ask the fans to boycott
10. The cross league thing was discussed in depth, with the legal precendent of the Dutch and Belgium womans league setting the example. The club are actively persuing this to try and get to England.
———————————————————
(no mention of Orange strips!!! shocked!)
PS
As this is the Scottish Football Monitor a 1-0 win in a friendly is still a win, So well done to WGS on his first game and lets hope the players can re-gel under him and get some good performances in over the next few games.
Re The Rangers Standard piece / Gary with AT.
The enormity of the density in some of the reasoning emanating from Govan is evident to all but them.
To lay the blame at the door of CFC for their demise is the equivalent of an own goal.
To say that ‘CFC ruined us’ rather than their own Directors’ mismanagement gifts Celtic an undeserved win.
If the same ever happened to CFC blaming the Govan Club for it would be the last thing they’d do.
And RS is supposed to for the intelligent newGers supporters.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 16:26
2. Rangers BUYING back the Arsenal shares and also going to play Arsenal in a pre-season friendly (which will probably cover the costs anyway)
===========================================================================
I assume Australians don’t know that Arsenal are in the middle of a takeover war and the shares are trading for thousands of pounds,EACH!
Just an evil thought…if the team that played Linfield in May of 2012 was in fact in the words of CG in a bit of an anomaly at the time being in between club licences and league memberships…so being more Sevco than Rangers I suppose, doesn’t that mean that Linfield broke their association rules by playing a non association team? were players insured? etc.
No other friendlies took place.
Did the non conforming of rules extend beyond our shores?
I know its been a while, but CG did bring it up, and we shouldn’t not ask questions.
valentinesclown says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 13:57
11 0 i
Rate This
——————————
The stuff alluded to by Gary the fan really was laughable.
Basically saying It was all the SFA, SPL’s fault for making up rules that didn’t favour Rangers and a dark sinister hand pulling the strings that cant be named.
There must be a term for this kind of delusion where you perceived yourself as top dog but now see only enemies, conspiracy and agendas when laid low.
These ‘fans’ have been writing the longest suicide note in history.
By their actions (or inactions) they have time and again sliced at their own wrists.
Will they finally complete the job they seem hell bent on achieving?
Leo Knifton. Can anybody link Leo Knifton to Mr Chan and Mr Whyte?
Mr Knifton was a major shareholder in Tricor before the shares went south and he sold it to Mr Chan, the owner of wind-up merchants,Orlit. Mr Knifton appears to be a boiler-room legned.
Strangely, he pops up on a thread about Aidan Earley – remember him?
Surely just a coincidence? Can anybody help unravel this particular knot?
http://boards.fool.co.uk/hollywood-media-and-aidan-earley-10658478.aspx?sort=whole#10677637
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 16:26
9. We bought back the Albion Car Park for £1.4m after Murray sold it to Lloyds for £400,000. Apparently we can make around £400,000 per year on it (or was it £150k?), we had a lease with Lloyds which would have meant giving them around £4m until the end of the lease, but Green persuaded them as he threatened to ask the fans to boycott
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FFS these guys would boycott the opeing of an envelope! 🙂
Scotzine @scotzine
The winding up order was also discussed. Green stated that Orlit and Green agreed on a figure, but he claimed they asked for more money.thereafter and he rejected that. He also stated that there was no contract that it was all a gentlemans agreement and he will not be blackmailed. If they want to try a winding up order then let them do so.
———————————–
So what happened to subject to paperwork?
Say what you like about Mr Green (and most of us do) but he was at least honest in the RIFC prospectus last December when, covering the risks to the football club he wrote:-
“the directors consider this risk (of club not performing well on field) to have been mitigated as the Club has projected…..an early exit from cup competitions”
This proves conclusively that the new club cannot possibly be connected to the old club (or connected to the thigh bone for that matter) because when Green was trying to do a CVA in May 2012, he was tempting HMRC and the administrators with juicy little titbits like
“We will pay the administrators a further £1,000,000 if the club qualifies for the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League in season 2012/13”
This despite the fact that on 31 March 2012 RFC(IL) was formally excluded from European football for at least the next 4 seasons for failure to file audited accounts by that date (consequence, not punishment remember!) and yet the administrators – whose name fails me at present – were attracted to that clause in the CVA proposal.
Nowoldandgrumpy
It was verbal paperwork,new to market.
This is unquestionably OT, but in the context of current affairs in Scottish Football, I think a case can be made for broadening the educational dimension on TSFM.
BTW, no individual may be identified in any way in these descriptions except through reference to works of fiction or just pure imagination and for this the poster can accept no responsibility whatsoever.
Various definitions and descriptions for ‘Spiv’
• A flashy, slick operator who makes a living more from speculation or profiteering than from actual work. The kind of guy who wears a shiny medallion, goes bankrupt from a dodgy swampland development scheme, but still has a big house in his wife’s name.
• A ‘Spiv’ is the name generally given to a shady character who may try to sell counterfeit objects to you at a discounted price.
• (a person without employment who makes money by various dubious schemes; goes about smartly dressed and having a good time)
•
• Brit slang a person who makes a living by underhand dealings or swindling; black marketer
• In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices. The goods are generally not what they seem or have been obtained illegally. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war rationing period.
According to Eric Partridge[1] the word was originally racecourse slang, but had become widely accepted by 1950. It appeared in a paperback crime novel in 1934.[2]
The origin of the word is obscure.
• The Romany word spiv (“sparrow”) was supposedly used by the criminal fraternity to indicate a small-time crook, con-man, black-marketeer, or fence rather than a “proper villain”
• Cockneys, meanwhile, claim it as back slang for VIPs (Very Important Persons)[citation needed] or a London Metropolitan Police acronym for Suspected Persons and Itinerant Vagrants (SPIVs)
• It may come from spiffy, meaning smartly dressed, as spivs are known for their loud and flashy clothing (velvet-collared jacket, loud kipper tie, cocked fedora hat). This might be an example of a reversed etymology: flashily dressed “spivs” might have been the source of the term, and then applied later when its origin was forgotten.
• It may also derive from spiff, a bonus for salespeople (especially drapers but later car salesmen etc.) for managing to sell excess or out of fashion stock. The seller might offer a discount, by splitting his commission with the customer. A seller of stolen goods could give this explanation for a bargain price.
• In his book Haircults, Dylan Jones wrote that spiv was short for suspicious itinerant vagrant. Additionally, according to Jones, the spiv image was not of a flashy criminal but of a shabby-looking drifter.
The Oxford English Dictionary notes that “Spiv” was the nick-name of Henry ‘Spiv’ Bagster, a London small-time crook in the 1900s who was frequently arrested for illegal street trading and confidence tricks, and that national newspapers reported his court appearances in 1903-06.
Immediately after the Second World War, the comedian Arthur English had a successful career appearing as a spiv with a pencil moustache, wide-brimmed hat, light-coloured suit and a bright patterned tie, and this set the popular image.
The dog’s already at the door.
Share update:
23k sold at 77p late on(16.24pm)
This is more relevant from Alex Thomson
http://t.co/raxijRlk
The Rangers Standard piece shows promise. They need to take the next step and realise that it is the actions of Rangers custodians and Rangers fans that causes the negative publicity and not whatever any Celtic supporter or any other supporter might say on the matter.
If Rangers and its fans were to dial down the ‘we are the people’ bollox and be seen to be working with everyone else instead of against them, we might all get along better.
It is their pseudo-supremacist attitude that alienates everyone and only they can change that.
THURSDAY, 07 FEBRUARY 2013 17:02
Time For Fans To Unite
WRITTEN BY JAMES TRAYNOR
RANGERS, once again, appear to be under attack from the vindictive and downright malicious.
This isn’t paranoia and nor is it an attempt to play the victim card. There is no need for Rangers to do that because this club are no longer victims.
Rangers are in an extremely healthy financial position despite the best efforts of the media and others to suggest otherwise. Their desperation to see Rangers fail appears to be blinding them to a reality they don’t wish to view.
And I’m afraid their bile towards Rangers has poisoned their systems.
Once again, however, Rangers fans feel they have to react. Some are fretting, others are simmering, unsure what to do or say while a fair few aren‘t holding anything in reserve. They are venting their spleens.
Sadly for Rangers fans this is not a new phenomenon.
It is a fact that Rangers’ business cannot be reported in a fair or balanced manner. Stories are written to fit headlines which often bear little or no resemblance to the truth.
Rangers fans have every right to be angry and are entitled to expect the club to deal with those in the media, who wilfully distort, and also that close-knit gang of internet bloggers and posters. They will never have any connection with reality.
Of course, Rangers fans want to know what the club intend doing about this almost constant barrage of abuse. A great deal is the simple answer but the club cannot leap up on to the Ibrox roof and start screaming about the injustice of it.
The club must act in a responsible manner and our supporters have to understand that Rangers cannot react to every single internet bampot or each journalist or paper displaying a clear anti-Rangers agenda. But while it would be undignified to bawl and shout it would also be wrong to say and do nothing.
Over the last couple of days Rangers have tried to make it clear to media outlets that stories claiming a Singapore-based company are owed £400,000 are not accurate. Yet papers, TV and radio ran with their versions anyway.
They continue to report that Rangers face a Winding Up Petition but don’t point out this is a routine way of forcing payment and that there is no realistic threat of closure. They have chosen not to highlight the fact that Rangers believe agreement has been reached on a settlement sum which has actually been lodged with lawyers.
Wording of the agreement is all that stops this matter from being concluded.
But this issue is dealt with elsewhere on this site and I refer to it here only to show how difficult it is for some people to display basic decency and honesty. Despite what they and many in the media wish to believe Rangers are alive and well and there is a plan of action to try to deal with them, and also to curb the more deranged and spiteful critics.
But please, be patient. As soon as the changes agreed for Rangers PR and media kick in the approach will be very different. Details of those changes will be revealed soon enough but let me share something with you right now.
I worked in papers for years and I know that managements, editors and hacks don’t even miss a beat when they hear that a particular club’s fans say they aren’t going to buy the paper anymore. It means nothing because so far these threats have been empty.
Some fans do withdraw patronage but the fact nothing changes in terms of the balance of reporting suggests too few are exercising their right to switch.
If every fan who said he or she would never buy a particular paper again actually didn’t then those publications would be out of business. The bottom line is everything to the managements and shareholders of these companies and a sharp decline in sales would register like a thunder clap at boardroom level.
Too few fans realise just how much power they actually can command, especially if they’d step outwith their different groups and unite in one cause. Believe me, you could make media managements snap to attention and pay closer attention to the agendas of their editors, producers and journalists.
Just imagine the strength to be wielded if, instead of arguing among yourselves on forums, Twitter and Facebook, you all came together and acted as one massive and potent force for change. Just by refusing to acknowledge stories and broadcasts which you believe to be malicious you’d change the entire agenda.
Many are calling on the club to fire out banning orders and writs to various media outlets but an immediate and effective answer lies with the fans themselves. While a supporter cannot change his or her club because of the emotional investment, reading and listening habits can be altered very easily.
If fans can no longer trust a particular journalist or paper to be impartial they can stop reading. If they don’t like the agendas of a particular TV or radio station they don’t have to watch or listen.
Now, before we have the usual suspects out there in media land foaming at the mouth let me make it clear that I am not telling Rangers fans that every journo is working against this club. That level of paranoia might exist somewhere else but certainly not within Ibrox.
But why is it that so many continue to write or broadcast that this club is a new club when it is the owners who are new? Is it a lack of basic intelligence or is it something more sinister?
Why is there this obsession with Rangers and titles? Why is it always written that Rangers went down owing £130 plus million?
Why would a reporter write that Rangers had lost their Tupe case after it had been explained to him that last week’s ruling by the arbitration panel was nothing more than a procedural one and not a final decision on the actual case? A lack of smarts again, or something darker?
There are many examples of this level of reporting with regard to Rangers but I want to point out that I believe there are still a lot of good, honest hacks out there. Maybe they, too, should stand up for themselves and their profession.
But this club’s fans can make their play by realising it is your interest, your angst and rage which encourage the repeat offenders. Believe me, they get a real kick out of becoming the subjects of on-line threads and discussions and by paying attention, even if it is to hurl insults or use unacceptable language to describe them, you give them exactly what they want.
You are just about the only audience they have. Do not indulge them. Ignore their malice, pay no attention to their agendas, and do not let them into your heads.
I know there are various factions among Rangers supporters but why not stand united in this cause? Your attention is their oxygen. It can be so easily switched off.
_____________________
2011 “New owner Craig Whyte’s refusal to give in to demands to hand over fistfuls of his cash………. ”
the more things change……….
But why is it that so many continue to write or broadcast that this club is a new club when it is the owners who are new? Is it a lack of basic intelligence or is it something more sinister?
he really is a moron
_____________________
By James Traynor
James Traynor: SPL will not be able to prosper without Rangers
13 Jun 2012 12:59
NO more than a good John Greig clearance away from Hampden one of the world’s oldest clubs lies dying. And no one on Hampden’s sixth floor even bats an eyelid.
NO more than a good John Greig clearance away from Hampden one of the world’s oldest clubs lies dying. And no one on Hampden’s sixth floor even bats an eyelid.
No one up there in the offices of the SFA and SPL said a word.
Rangers FC as we know them are dead. It’s all over. They are about to shut down for ever but not a single person among the game’s hierarchy was open for comment.
And that just about sums it up for Rangers, the club the rest of the Scottish game came to detest.
We are still waiting for the verdicts on EBT schemes and dual contracts but the fans of every other club have passed judgment. Rangers are guilty.
Of course they are. They’re cheats and liars. Everybody knows that. They can’t help themselves, it’s in their DNA.
And of course they must be stripped of their titles, trophies and dignity. Oh, and don’t forget those five stars above their badge, Get them torn off as well.
It’s all madness rooted in jealousies and twisted logic. Rangers have a seriously bad lot but the majority of the people who support the club are decent.
Yet everywhere so many people are waiting to dance on this club’s grave.
Well, they should get their pumps and tap shoes tied up because it won’t be long now. Yesterday the CVA proposal put forward on behalf of Charles Green by administrators Duff and Phelps was rejected by HMRC.
They didn’t even wait until tomorrow’s creditors’ meeting, although that will still go ahead.
But Rangers FC won’t. They’ll slip into liquidation within the next couple of weeks with a new company emerging but 140 years of history, triumph and tears, will have ended.
No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out Rangers as we know them died.
They were closed and a newco must start from scratch although their fans will insist the history will be boxed up with the strips and balls and carried into the future with the new club.
So Jim, the man who brought us hover pitches and Motherwell born billionaires with wealth of the radar and a 30 million war chest for Walter, is rallying the hordes and telling them all to stick their head up their own ***** and believe him!!!!!…..the biggest laugh is they will……what a year we have had…….what a year the next one promises to be!
Lord Wobbly says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 18:12
3 0 Rate This
The Rangers Standard piece shows promise. They need to take
the next step and realise that it is the actions of Rangers
custodians and Rangers fans that causes the negative publicity
and not whatever any Celtic supporter or any other supporter
might say on the matter.
If Rangers and its fans were to dial down the ‘we are the people’ bollox and be seen to be working with everyone else instead of against them, we might all get along better.
It is their pseudo-supremacist attitude that alienates everyone
and only they can change that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And right on cue James Traynor proves that my point is entirely valid. Sadly.
http://i50.tinypic.com/eg64gz.jpg
from KDS 🙂
“… Rangers believe agreement has been reached on a settlement sum which has actually been lodged with lawyers.”
James Traynor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, if I read that correctly that would be another debt ‘settled’ at less than owed amount?
OK, here’s that brand new statement from RFC with (in brackets) what they really mean…..
In an ideal world, for instance, one in which journalism wasn’t at such a damning low it has to be investigated by the highest authorities with culprits facing jail sentences, there would be no need for this Club to respond. (journalism has gone to the dogs since I left the Record)
However, because it has become clear Rangers cannot rely on basic honesty, decency or integrity from enough of the country’s media outlets we must speak for ourselves. (In the good old bad old days the press – i.e. me – just swept this sort of stuff under the carpet)
Rangers have been disputing a payment to a foreign company, Orlit (“You learn something new every day”)
What we have said and what we are telling our supporters is that not all of the invoices submitted with regard to this bill are legitimate. (some of the invoices look as if they have been done on “clip-it art”; now why does that ring a bell?)
Clearly there has been a lack of understanding within the media about this when all we have done is refuse to be forced into paying sums we do not owe. It is as simple as that. (why is the poodle that is the MSM not kow-towing to our every demand?)
Who on earth would pay out when faced with a spurious request for money? (let’s face it, in the old days we didn’t even pay out when faced with legitimate requests for money – just ask the creditors of RFC(IL) )
No matter what anyone else says, Rangers have agreed a figure to settle this issue and it is a figure which, as we have already tried to explain, is significantly less than the initial demand. (we’ve agreed £395,000 plus costs)
Only the wording, which would put this matter to rest once and for all, has still to be signed off. (“your cheque is in the post”)
And despite what some over-excited but desperately ill-informed bloggers claim, there is no threat of this Club being closed. That is downright malicious and ludicrous. (internet bampots – they were solely responsible for bringing the old company down, weren’t they – and here they go again)
But let’s make one thing clear: If Orlit wish to instruct their lawyers to go to court then we will defend our position vigorously. (We love appearing in a court of law, and we know the way to Glasgow Sheriff Court…that nice Mr Whyte left instructions in his top drawer)
We are absolutely convinced we’d win but we did think it would be better to avoid giving our many detractors another bar with which to beat us over the head. (the last thing we want to do is have to appear in a court of law, especially Glasgow Sheriff Court )
That’s why we made an offer to settle but we now find we are still being harassed. (why doesn’t Orlit just accept the £50 plus two complimentary tickets to every home game until the end of the season?)
The thought process seems to be that if we have £22m from the recent IPO we should just pay up. Bizarre. Why should we? (i.e. “why should we have £22M from the recent IPO?”)
Of course we can pay the amount demanded – it is, as we’ve already stated, a small amount – but it is ridiculous to hand over more than is due. (we can pay the amount due, IF we can find someone to lend us the money)
The money belongs to Rangers and we will not give it out to anyone who comes along with invented invoices. (see how good I am at alliteration – “invented invoices” – that’s the journalist in me)
That would be reckless in the extreme and suggest that nothing has been understood from the past when Rangers were in effect mugged by money grabbers. (Fook Meng once, fook me; Fook Meng twice, fook the fans; Fook Meng three times, aw fook……)
We are here to make sure that does not happen again. We do pay our bills on time and we have always been prepared to pay this one. (We are not prepared to pay this one)
There are many people and journalists who will choose to disbelieve this truth but that is up to them. (When I was in the MSM we always disbelieved the truth just like that nice Mr Murray used to tell us to)
They will continue to attack Rangers no matter what we say (Of course they will continue to attack Rangers – have you seen how bad Cribari and Faure are in defence? )
They deserve to know and understand the exact and precise state of play, (please, bears and bearettes, just don’t ask if the £22M is in our bank account yet)
Rangers will not be closed. This Club will never run up crippling debts and we will not pay over-inflated salaries to players. (Look, there’s a moonbeam at the end of Edmiston Drive)
However, we will have a sensible pay structure which won’t threaten the club’s existence. That is what we believe the fans want. (we won’t pay out a king’s ransom for footballers; we’ll pay it out for any useless dud)
Having said that, Rangers are rising and we will return to the top flight where we will be competitive again. (the Zombies are coming….)
We are still very much at the beginning of a long road back and although there will be potholes to be negotiated, nothing will stop us. (We had hopes that the five way agreement would have delivered us back to the SPL by Christmas 2012 but seemingly not….)
Rangers are no longer soft touches. We will not bow to or run from bullies and we will not be pressured into handing out even £1 if it is not merited. (so feck off, mate, I’ve already got a Big Issue)
We are sorry if this, or the fact that Rangers are financially healthy, isn’t what people want to hear but this is the new reality. (but please don’t ask us if we have £22M in our bank account)
It is for others to come to terms with that and also our continued revival. It would, however, be a pleasant change if we could be left alone to get on with our business. (we are anxiously waiting on some players coming back from international duty, we’ve got promotion and cups still to fight for…..well, promotion anyway…. well the 3rd Division title……)
It’s not possible for Mccoist to throw away a huge points lead in the league 2 years in a row is it ?
slimshady61 says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 18:46
——————-
Thanks Slim, wonderful post.Now that is the perfect example of reading between the lines.
The guy from thesaint-online.com is a bit behind the times with his article.
However, with a riparian horde of supporters backing them and a financial structure not dependent on one man, Rangers are lean and coming back to health, a “strong state“ as Wilson puts it. There will be bumps along the road but watching the restoration of Rangers will be fascinating for all observers, sympathetic or unsympathetic alike, quite simply because, as the song goes, “there’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers, no not one and there never shall be one”.
——————————————————–
there’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers, no not one and there never shall be one”.
yep, because there are 2.
The Daily Ranger @DailyRangerRFC 55m
@alextomo I mean as an intelligent reporter you didn’t
honestly believe WUO was a possibility did you? So why run
with the story?
alex thomson @alextomo 39m
@DailyRangerRFC because Rangers have confirmed it mate –
apart from the fact that it’s true for reasons I cannot yet
disclose.
Thrashed at Tannadice,
Trashed by the media,
Rash, rushed outbursts in paranoid form,
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
Poor form from Sevco,
Is it possible yer bust ?
I think that’s the first piece by Jim Traynor I’ve ever read. Well, I’ve now had the chance to sample the style (perfectly fine) and content (not very strong) of his writing and to be fair, he gives at least one good piece of advice. I intend to follow it, so I don’t expect I’ll be reading any more of his output.
chipsandblog says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 18:58
The guy from thesaint-online.com is a bit behind the times with his article.
However, with a riparian horde of supporters backing them and a financial structure not dependent on one man, Rangers are lean and coming back to health, a “strong state“ as Wilson puts it. There will be bumps along the road but watching the restoration of Rangers will be fascinating for all observers, sympathetic or unsympathetic alike, quite simply because, as the song goes, “there’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers, no not one and there never shall be one”.
——————————————————–
there’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers, no not one and there never shall be one”.
yep, because there are 2.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder what he thinks ‘riparian’ means?
This man Green, he is a wag (oldfashioned word, doesn’t mean wives and girlfriends). Whyte sells Arsenal shares for a tidy sum, no doubt the certificate was the original, framed and only of value to Rangers and their fans because it was the original, dated, old style with old style Arsenal Limited seal. In the intervening years, Rangers, as with everyone, could have bought shares in Arsenal, but they wouldn’t have been the original shares in a great ‘British’ institution, bought at their inception as a limited company. Hearts, Celtic, Hibs… in fact everyone can buy shares in Arsenal, and they will have exactly the same meaning and sentiment as the shares TRFC will have – sod all!!! But the sychophantic TRFC fans won’t grasp this anymore than they grasp the oldco – newco reality. Or put another way, the time-line was broken and history goes out the window!
scottc says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 19:13
1 0 Rate This
chipsandblog says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 18:58
The guy from thesaint-online.com is a bit behind the times with his article.
However, with a riparian horde of supporters backing them and a financial structure not dependent on one man, Rangers are lean and coming back to health, a “strong state“ as Wilson puts it.
There will be bumps along the road but watching the restoration of Rangers will be fascinating for all observers, sympathetic or unsympathetic alike, quite simply because, as the song goes, “there’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers, no not one and there never shall be one”.
——————————————————–
there’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers, no not one and there never shall be one”.
yep, because there are 2.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder what he thinks ‘riparian’ means?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dead Huns? *
* the word ‘Huns’ is utilised for comedic value only.
scottc @ 1913.
perhaps he “tongue in cheek” meant RIP aryan
Remember one of the main tenets of the RTC blog was the poor standard of Scottish football journalists.
Today’s publication from Traynor is a perfect illustration of that; this is as god as he can produce without a sub-editor to tidy things up. I think it is embarrassing and amateur. I’d love to know how much he’s being paid in respect of such talent.
Good to have you back Slim!
troubledfan says:
Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 19:30
0 0 Rate This
scottc @ 1913.
perhaps he “tongue in cheek” meant RIP aryan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Try to keep up 😀
Douglas Fraser @BBCDouglsFraser 1h
@Rangers has issued 2 rants rubbishing claims it’s back in a
financial hole. It probably isn’t, but it keeps digging a PR hole…
#rfc
Douglas Fraser @BBCDouglsFraser 59m
“#Rangers: under attack from the vindictive and malicious.
This isn’t paranoia, nor an attempt to play the victim card” RFC
spokesman
Douglas Fraser @BBCDouglsFraser 30m
Just re-read the #Rangers #RFC statements this evening –
concluding the only explanation is that the website’s been
hacked
Douglas Fraser @BBCDouglsFraser
As in financial journalist. Come on Douglas worth more than a tweet shirley. Phone call Singapore? Column? Remember you all got castigated last time
Lurking at the back of my mind is the timing of the share issue. I know CG had promised a share issue to the fans but I still don’t understand the timing of it. Surely a share issue around the time of promotion to the top league would be much more useful to team development. I know this is an old issue but with all the latest events my mind always harks back to why newco needed to raise these funds at this time. Why when they are debt free? Or meant to be.
Is that not a rather sad piece from Traynor ?
IIRC, he worked in TV & print media for 36 years, and ‘retired’ from it in December to join TRFC.
Now, literally just weeks later he seems to be advocating a full scale boycott of TV and print media to the TRFC fans.
That would be like someone working in the same business all their adult life, and shortly after retiring they then tell anyone who will listen: “you don’t want to buy anything from that business, it’s cr*p” – and generally bad mouthing the business which provided you and your family with a source of income for decades.
And he also seems to be in a rush to burn any bridges he had left in the MSM, IMO…
Where would he go after the TRFC gig bites the dust ? Channel 4 ? [joking of course 😉 ]
lord wobbly..
spooning viagra into my coffee n snorting it thru the cardboad bog roll centre..
unfortunately its not helping my internet server lag.. :-)..
I thought Traynor’s final piece in the DR was one of the most humiliating exits a person claiming to be a professional could make.
This latest shocker is quite simply one of the most misguided excuses for a press release I have ever seen. Indeed, I have never seen anything come close to this. Whilst it is amusing, it must also ring alarm bells about the mentality within Ibrox if this was authorized prior to release. Talk about how to win friends and influence people….
Slimshady did a wonderful job of ripping it apart and my favorite is:
“Only the wording, which would put this matter to rest once and for all, has still to be signed off.”, which I take as ” Orlit does not like the fact we offered to pay a tiny fraction of what was owed when we proposed ‘three pounds’ where they strangely expected the full four-hundred thousand”
All I got from reading Traynor’s piece was the message “Its very important bearz that despite what happened the last time that you actually go out of your way to ignore what every other fan in Scotland is telling you this time around.
If that was the intended message then I’m sorry silence would have been a lot more effective.
Oh, and just to throw a wee financial firecracker into the mix. On proving a debt (whether Charlie and Jim agrees is immaterial) the next logical step would be an arrestment, no (or does that only apply to non corporates? Now oldco worked significantly in the red so it wouldn’t have had any effect, but a recently IPO’d newco, sheesh!