A Sanity Clause for Xmas?

A Guest blog by redlichtie for TSFM

From what I can see Mike Ashley is likely to be the only game in town for RIFC/TRFC fans unless they want to see another of their clubs go through administration/liquidation.

That particular scenario potentially allows for a phoenix to arise from the ashes but on past evidence it is probably going to be an underfunded operation with overly grandiose pretensions taking them right back into the vicious circle they seem condemned to repeat ad nauseam.

Ashley has the muscle to strongarm the various spivs to give up or greatly dilute their onerous contracts and I suspect that is what has been happening behind the scenes.

From Ashley’s point of view I believe that what is being sought is a stable, self-financing operation that he can then sell on whilst retaining income streams of importance to SD.

I also suspect that he will come to some arrangement with the SFA to dispose of his interest once he has stabilised the club.

The problem for RIFC/TRFC fans is that Ashley is not going to fund some mythical “return to where they belong”, though that is beginning to appear to be the second division of the SPFL where they are heading to have a regular gig.

Like at Newcastle, Ashley will cut their coat according to their cloth. This will mean, again like at Newcastle, a mid-table team with good runs every so often. If the finances can be fixed then they will have an advantage over most other Scottish clubs but in the main we will be back to actual footballing skills and good management being what is important (pace “honest mistakes”).

With recent results and footballing style clearly those are issues that will require attention and McCoist seems likely to present RIFC/TRFC with an early opportunity to address at least one aspect of that if he continues with his current “I’m a good guy” press campaign. It may take just one unguarded comment or action and he will be out.

But will the Bears go for Ashley’s plan? So far they seem antagonistic and still cling to their belief that the world owes them a top football club regardless of cost.

If the fans don’t get behind the current entity I can see Ashley deciding the game’s not worth it and cashing in his chips. Some ‘Rangers Men’ will probably turn up and create a new entity for The People to believe in and Ashley will continue to draw in income from shirt sales and, most likely, charging fans at the world famous Albion car park which he will then own.

The upcoming AGM is crucial and from what we have seen of Ashley so far he gets what he wants.

The crushing reality about to descend on The People is that there really is no Santa Claus. A Sanity Clause, perhaps but no Santa Claus.

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Tom Byrne

About Trisidium

Trisidium is a Dunblane businessman with a keen interest in Scottish Football. He is a Celtic fan, although the demands of modern-day parenting have seen him less at games and more as a taxi service for his kids.

3,813 thoughts on “A Sanity Clause for Xmas?


  1. scapaflow says:
    January 16, 2015 at 10:25 pm
    25 0 Rate This

    Tom English ‏@TomEnglishSport Jan 15
    These guys at Ibrox are truly unembarrassable. Quite remarkable. Shameless individuals.

    ==========================

    That was from yesterday, talking about the present board, not tonights shameful scenes


  2. paulsatim says:
    January 16, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    I know, point was the BBC get it tight on here, sometimes deservedly, but not always

    “om English @TomEnglishSport · 3h 3 hours ago
    Match abandoned. An utter embarrassment”


  3. Re Ashley’s response to King in the 2 minutes per day he gets a call about Rangers
    Derek, remind me is this the same character who organised the season ticket boycott that resulted in them just about going out of business before I bailed them out ?
    And he is going to throw you and the others off the board?
    Yes Mike that’s the one ,
    Ok ! Derek double check there is no fraudulent preference problems then pull the plug and we’ll buy the lot later That will sort them out
    Derek, any other other wee issues?
    SFA?
    Your having a laugh!


  4. Good to hear Tom English and those other intrepid BBC journalists had the courage to take solid stance on the Ibrox snow 🙂

    Makes a change from thin ice.

    So why wasn’t the pitch cleared? Six-yard boxes were nice and green.

    Very glum directors’ box, btw. The brothers looked awfy doon in the mooth. And Celtic management team in attendance by the look of it. Wonder what gems of knowledge Ronny picked up from that? That Scotland doesn’t do snow very well?


  5. scapaflow says:

    January 16, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Coming stage left as it did, I did wonder where Hugh got the line. Doncaster used him before in the run up to the SPL share vote in 2012 to say only the SPL Board would vote and not the clubs.

    Now if Celtic say were to write to SFA cc First Minister saying they had concerns, list them and say they were not prepared to be dragged to another post event summit to share the blame if their fears were realised.

    That might get attention but if it didn’t, it gives Celtic options if they were summoned.


  6. GoosyGoosy says:
    January 16, 2015 at 11:38 pm

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    redlichtie says:
    January 16, 2015 at 10:50 pm
    26 0 Rate This

    So, who else thinks MA may just pull the plug?

    What can the shareholders do if the Board puts RIFC & TRFC into administration tomorrow and does a pre-pack with SD buying the two companies?

    Scottish Football needs a right clearout of these “RRM” who poison our game.
    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,
    MA could become a national hero if he pulled the plug next Monday and had the site bulldozed by Friday

    _______________________________________________________

    Only on 3 sides however. Don’t forget the listed facade!
    Should leave that to fall down on its own, I think.


  7. Bailemenach,

    Closed doors match? They could play the reserves. In fact they could probably agree a 2-0 to Celtic now and both sides would be happy.


  8. Auldheid says:
    January 17, 2015 at 12:01 am

    That would be sensible, but, Messrs Lawwell & Riley have a responsibility here, that lies beyond their duties at Celtic


  9. Danish Pastry says:
    January 16, 2015 at 11:52 pm

    I know shovelling snow off an area the size of a football pitch isn’t easy, but the way the goal areas were totally devoid of snow suggests it wasn’t sticking to the turf as it usually does. I’d reckon a concerted effort by enough people would have had the match playable. How often have we seen matches played with huge mounds of snow surrounding the pitch?

    I wonder how often the question was asked in pubs the length of Britain, ‘don’t they have undersoil heating at (The)Rangers?’ Followed inevitably by (here in England, at least), f**king chip shop league!’ It’s been a very embarrassing night for Scottish football.

    And to think, the SPFL offered to subsidise the TV companies to show TRFC when they visited sub-standard grounds in the lower divisions!

    I suppose the snow could have caught everyone unawares, I mean, it is January, and it never snows in January!


  10. paulsatim says:
    January 17, 2015 at 12:09 am

    That is poor


  11. I’m not sying this is what they should do. Just asking is it possible and how would people react?

    Could Celtic walk away from the Semi Final. Say something like, “It’s only a game ffs and the risk to public safety from disorder is too much of a gamble. You want a place in the final, you have it.”

    Just asking.


  12. Allyjambo says:
    January 17, 2015 at 12:10 am

    Funnily enough, I think Dunfermline put out an appeal for fans to help with snow clearance just before Christmas, then again, lacks a bit of dignity for the Mighty Glasgow Rangers


  13. paulsatim says:
    January 17, 2015 at 12:09 am

    scapaflow says:
    January 16, 2015 at 11:43 pm
    =================
    Sorry Scapa, just in case you had picked that up as tonights! Here’s the Beeb’s “sanitised” report from tonight, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30859756?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

    That really is poor. No mention either of trouble on the Daily Record website unless I’m missing it. Have scoured various outlets and can find no mention of the trouble that occurred, only talk about protests against the board pre-match.

    It’s like being inside a mash-up of The Matrix and 1984. Reality seems to be being re-written in front of my eyes. No linking to all the clips appearing on youtube by any mainstream outlet that I can find.

    TSFM exists because of the failure of the MSM which has been well documented on here. If tonight’s goings on are just swept under the carpet then there is just no chance of informed public debate.

    Ordinary people need a strong TSFM.


  14. I lost track of time tonight as I was at a leaving doo but I thought I was watching the SKY team an hour before kick off as opposed to a few minutes before the start of the match.

    For ANY official to allow that match to go ahead tonight is an absolute disgrace. Bobby Madden should immediately be banned from all future matches until a hearing is heard as to why he allowed that game to go on. I honestly thought it was the warm up until someone said it was the real game.

    People have spoken long and hard concerning the state of our sport over the last two and a half years but could anyone really doubt how far our game has fallen watching the club, WITH THE SECOND LARGEST WAGE BILL IN SCOTLAND, being unable to clear their pitch for their biggest game of the season. It is truly embarrassing and that game went out all over the UK.

    I do not want ‘The Rangers’ fined for this latest debacle because the blame lies squarely at the door of the SPFL and the SFA. They have pandered time and again to a group of individuals who are destroying a footballing entity with a large support. Whether that footballing entity has earned that large support is a completely separate issue however the governing body is now in the cross hairs due to the decisions made thirty months ago.

    In the space of a few hours today I spoke to a few of ‘The Rangers’ fans. The first thought virtually the media spin of ‘it is illegal what is going on’ and ‘Mike Ashley does not know who he is dealing with’. A complete amateur as to how business, never mind Mike Ashley, operates. The second group was some guys who had been at the game and we got into a discussion, ironically in the bog, as to how our sport was going. They were amazed that Celtic could not afford the £250K to get Garry Mackay Steven and I responded that it was simple business. Although they seemed more clued up on the current situation than the first guy the still seemed to think that money was available to cure all of their ills.

    At the end of the discussion I did actually feel sorry for these guys because, at the end of the day, they clearly did not understand business or financial ins and outs, no they simply just wanted to go and watch their team play.

    Unfortunately for them the two issues have now collided in the most critical fashion. Business and sport rarely make easy bedfellows but now ‘The Rangers’ fans, despite their denials, have now watched one club go belly up and are now witnessing the complete destruction of its re-incarnation.

    I do not know where this madness will end, and I’m dreading the league cup semi final, but the authorities MUST take responsibility for this. They have allowed, at best, dubious individuals carte blanche to do as they will while encouraging the continuation myth which in turn has allowed fans to be fleeced time and again.

    It is simply unacceptable for this situation to continue and the authorities now must accept responsibility and sort this issue out. That is what they are paid their handsome salary for!


  15. Been realising that some of the comments tonight might be upsetting to decent TRFC fans.
    And I sympathise.
    But as a Caley Thistle fan, I can think of NO occasion in history where 10 persons wearing the colours of my club were ever observed – on social media or elsewhere- kicking the living cr*p out of another human being wearing any jersey (even, god forbid Ross County).
    So our indignance is entirely justified.
    And if god forbid they ever did, they would be hounded out in no short measure and we decent innocence fans would expect to be dealt with harshly by mere dint of association.
    And if it happened that 10 Caley Thistle fans ever did such a thing, I would expect it to be newsworthy and reported widely.
    I would welcome the approbation of fellow fans from other clubs. And I would expect our borad to be the first to speak out against the perpetrators, with our fans group following swiftly on their heels.

    My message is this TRFC.
    Until you put your house in order, we have no need for you. Good day to you.


  16. First of all, this is not a post in support, in any way, of any trouble caused by Rangers fans at tonight’s game. Let me make that clear.

    If there was civil disturbance at the game, or outside the ground, then those involved should be punished to the full letter of the law.

    If Hearts fans were hurt, then the perpetrators should be found and find themselves in court on Monday morning.

    But, from the posts tonight on TSFM all all I am seeing is how bad Rangers fans are and how the best thing for Scottish football is if there was no Rangers.

    “Bulldoze” the ground, apparently. Evidence taken from twitter posts.

    As someone who lived directly across the road from a Premier League (as was) ground, I can assure you that that every team has its fair share of idiots following them.

    I get the impression that a lot of posters on TSFM think that with no Rangers, opposing fans will be turning up to games and giving each other a great big cuddle (maybe even a peck on the cheek) and there will be no bother.

    Lol.

    Tonight’s game should never have gone ahead due to the weather.

    Idiot Rangers fans turned up and tried to make themselves heard by behaving like the idiots that they are.

    If TSFM is hoping to represent the whole of Scottish Football fans, then it needs to be seen as more than the de facto place to moan about Rangers because the Daily Record considers its readership to be with Rangers fans who buy their paper.

    For every insightful and well researched post by people like Ecoboy, there is a dozen which add nothing this site other than a right “girn aboot the Rangers”.

    There is much talk that various represantatives of the media visit this site – that being the case, I doubt it is going to influence any of them if it it simply seen a a Ranger moan-a-thon.

    In fact, if most readers get their wish that there was no The Rangers, would anyone actually bother asking the questions that the media won’t ask?

    IMHO, of course. 🙂


  17. The Glen says:
    January 17, 2015 at 1:26 am

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    ____________________________________________________

    Glen, clearly you rank among the decent TRFC contingent.
    But: No – at Caley we don’t have trouble. So your assertion that every team has its fair share of idiots following them may be true, the extent to which those idiots are allowed to set the agenda and run amok at each club is a different matter.

    I use the example of last seasons league cup final between Aberdeen and ICT as what the game should aspire to.

    And it is more than aspiration.
    It was actually achieved.
    Carnival atmosphere.
    Not a single arrest.
    The ground was half full of kids.
    And fans were mixing freely with good humour.
    The police were delighted with the carnival atmosphere.
    We lost the match, but everyone won the occasion.

    The only derision and dissent was reserved for Neil Doncaster, who was roundly, loudly and rightly booed by fans from all ends, and for good reason.

    If you use the fact that SOME other clubs have a contingent idiots too as a rebuttal to those who are rightly fed up with the level of indulgence being shown to those idiots who happen to don the same shirt as you and take on the identity and moniker of your club, then when all is said and done you are abrogating your responsibility to lead by example, and so share some responsibility for the contempt in which elements of your club are rightly viewed.
    Where is your ambition Glen? Where is your dignity?


  18. jimlarkin says:
    January 16, 2015 at 1:53 pm
    “… http://video.ft.com/3990574498001/The-rise-and-fall-of-Rangers/Companies blah, blah, blah…Relegated and NO Liquidation

    Maybe John Clark could email them the facts?blah…Relegated and NO Liquidation
    Maybe John Clark could email them the facts?
    __________
    And I have, as below:
    “Dear Mr McDermott,
    Can you say, please, why you did not mention in your rather facile and frankly embarrassing and partisan piece on the present troubles of Rangers International FC plc the following actual facts, namely:

    a) Rangers FC ( part of the ‘fabric of Scottish society’)did NOT come out of Administration, but were LIQUIDATED
    b) a brand new company was set up by Charles Green’s ‘consortium’ NOT buy a solvent,’going concern’ football club, but to buy merely the assets of a liquidated club at a knock-down price ( and, incidentally, the joint Administrators are currently facing criminal charges on other aspects)
    c) the new entity had to apply for admission to a Scottish Football League AS a new footballing entity
    d) the then Scottish Premier League refused to have them, and the then Scottish Football League was prepared to ADMIT them as a new club only to the Third Division.
    In other words, an old football club died. It no longer existed and could not therefore be relegated or ‘banished to the third division”. It simply died, as many other old clubs have died. And its history stopped with its death.
    A new football club,which had to APPLY for membership of a league in order to be able to seek membership of the SFA,was very ” lucky” to be granted membership at all.
    (And some would maintain that the granting of that membership was a corrupt, deceitful act, done in secret by deceitful men).

    Let me know, please, why I or any other of your readers/viewers who know these facts should be foolish enough to take any report you now make, on any topic, at face value. We will assume that you will be something less than objective, if not positively deceitful.

    You have done yourself absolutely no good in blowing your credibility by what,at best,has been slipshod research into your subject: at worst, a deliberate attempt to mislead and a betrayal of any kind of journalistic principle.
    Yours sincerely,
    John Clark “


  19. I thought it was the SPFL who supply the sanctioned Mitre balls for the games.

    They provide different coloured ‘personalised’ balls for each top-flight club.

    They, apparently, didn’t provide any orange balls tonight.

    While Rangers, perhaps, should have requested them in advance you have to ask why the SPFL don’t ensure that clubs have a ready supply of orange balls.

    I blame the SPFL for this, rather than Rangers.

    With regard to The Glen’s comments, above, I reckon there is some legitimacy in what he is saying – but only when seen from an ‘Old Firm’ perspective.

    I agree football supporters are generally an unruly mob with many fans shouting things at the top of their voice that would normally get you arrested for breach of the peace outwith the confines of a football stadium.

    A number of clubs such as Hibs, St Mirren and Aberdeen also have a ‘casual’ element attached to them that would make you want to get the clubs shut down.

    There would therefore be no cuddling amongst rival fans even if Rangers or Celtic, for that matter, vanished.

    For instance, Cumnock and Auchinleck fans are happy to have a rammy no matter which teams exist in the senior game.

    However, the big distinction with Celtic and Rangers is the religious and political undertones attached to the clubs and the poisonous hatred imported from the festering sore across the sea in Northern Ireland.

    This serves to amplify normal footballing ‘rivalry’ and pushes the clubs and their fans ‘beyond the pale’ in the eyes of many other fans. (Even Hibs, Aberdeen and Aberdeen casuals take the moral high ground on this!)

    It is on this basis that people on here will happily say that our country would be better off without Rangers playing at Ibrox.

    Rangers can be seen as a totem poll for a certain tradition that many find abhorrent in a modern society.

    Celtic can also be seen as a totem poll for a certain tradition that many find abhorrent in a modern society.

    Getting rid of these clubs may not be good for Scottish football but it would help civic society.

    Of that I am in no doubt.


  20. Have just seen a video clip of the disgraceful scenes INSIDE Ibrox. A total absence of police leaving stewards on the verge of being overwhelmed by an out of control Rangers mob.

    On top of that I got a Facebook message from a friend shortly after the game : their coach attacked by a baying mob.

    No words can describe my loathing for Sevco.

    My heart goes out to the police and Celtic fans for the upcoming game.

    These people behave with impunity and without fear of criticism.

    The sooner this disgraced of a spoilt child dies , the better.


  21. The Glen says:
    January 17, 2015 at 1:26 am
    8 11 Rate This
    —————–
    []

    As a Hearts fan who hasn’t attended the thugathon that is Ibrox for 39 years since being attacked as a 15 year old schoolboy , I find your post [].

    The bottom line is Rangers have been pandered to for so long that abnormal/anti social behaviour has long since been ignored and is no longer seen as such.

    A “big club” whose fans behave like delinquent children.

    Can anyone post up G Speirs famous diatribe about Rangers, please ?


  22. RayCharlez 2:16 am

    The last 12 paragraphs of your post could have been summarised in 6 cliched, lazy and tiresome words – ‘two cheeks of the same arse’. We’ve all heard it before. Doesn’t make it accurate however.

    And for the avoidance of any doubt I am not portraying all Celtic fans as saintly, far from it. But compare and contrast Seville 2003 with Manchester 2008.


  23. Bryce
    I qualified what I said with “can be seen as”.
    I do not see them as “two cheeks of the same arse”.
    Quite the contrary.
    I support Celtic. I spend far too much time thinking about them than is healthy for a 47-year-old man.
    But I can still accept the sombre fact that if they and Rangers didn’t exist then civic society would be better off.
    Young men get murdered due to this specific manifestation of football tribalism that permeates the west of Scotland.
    The Glen can’t understand why people want Rangers to die.
    I simply provided an explanation.


  24. Hi Bryce,
    I think one of the main points I was making got lost in the ‘Old Firm’ whataboutery. (albeit I brought it upon myself 😳 )

    Football fans generally display visceral anger in a way that you don’t see in other sports. 👿

    I had to take my kids out of a Pollok-Arthurlie game because of the incessant vitriol spewing from the terrace from grown men who should know better.

    I take the kids to ice hockey, basketball, rugby games etc and you don’t even hear a swearword. They call it a “family atmosphere”.

    Take a picture of a football crowd after a referee gives a decision against their side and all you will see is faces contorted in rage and furious fingers pointing.

    Take a picture of a rugby crowd after a referee gives a decision against their side and there is no anger visible.

    I remember St Mirren fans hissing after Dunfermline’s Norrie McCathie died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

    Football fan banter!!!

    Celtic fans are not saintly but I was trying to point out that you will struggle to find the moral high ground anywhere in football (maybe at the likes of Spartans 😀 )

    I find the phrase “decent football fans” a bit laughable.

    Take your kids to any football game at Amateur, Junior or Senior level and you will not find a “family atmosphere”.

    If football didn’t exist then I suspect this would improve civic society.

    As it is, I love football and love Celtic but I would be willing to give both up if it stopped one poor family suffering the heartache of a needless loss caused by a daft game.


  25. Meant to add:

    Even most “decent” football fans shout and bawl at referees, linesmen, players and opposition fans in an aggressive manner.

    As I said earlier, this type of behaviour would be seen as a breach of the peace outside the stadium.

    This normalises a type of aggressive mob mentality within which genuine agenda-driven nutters can thrive.

    Their conduct doesn’t look as mad given the benchmark created by the “decent” fans.

    I reckon most of us are culpable to an extent with regard to this


  26. Allyjambo says:
    January 17, 2015 at 12:10 am
    19 0 Rate This
    ———-

    Was thinking the match went ahead because authorities did not want the protests outside to get out of hand. That said, I’ve seen Bundesliga matches played in similar. Questions about ground staff numbers.

    On the EGM, seems a long shot of King & co. And how can King ever hope to get on the board with his criminal record? A bid designed to fail by the look of it — unless there’s been a nod and a wink from Hampden. Or will Ashley content himself with his name being ‘added’ to the deeds? I take it that way he would scoop maximum revenue from least effort — and get a share if whatever Green and x others are benefitting from?

    Still more questions than answers.


  27. Trying to make sense of Ashley’s actions here.
    What if he has absolutely no intention of lending Rangers the money but merely is using the thirty five day exclusivity to block alternate funding.
    Supposing the 6.5 million is owed to Ashley through either an in with the bricks deal hinted at in the June 2012 e-mail or through a clause in Rangers retail (I believe there was one which forced the club to buy replica kit at full price if sales went below a certain level.)
    Perhaps Ashley is seriously angry at the South African based King in exile’s attempt to starve him through boycotts which have hit his sales. He now realises that the Bears will not buy into his ventures voluntarily. However his contracts force Rangers to pay him. By blocking any other secured funding options he has total control. Either the Ursine trio and the Castlemilk cavalry leader throw in unsecured funding to keep the lights on and feed Ashley with money that they will never see back by additional secured lending when the 35 days to buy off his 6.5 mill off radar liability and his 3million of loans. Even then Ashley’s retail contracts remain.
    Ashley, as Lichtie states in the article is their only hope of any future.
    The vehemence, and violence of last night will surely have made him realise that he has no long term future, ever, with this club. Ashley will not accept being bullied and biycotted by the RRM and the fans. He holds all the power. I expect a swift and very brutal liquidation very soon. He can cite, correctly, the hostility shown to him as a reason so to do, and argue that with his long term plans thwarted, as a good businessman he must recoup as much as he can from the wreckage.
    Of course I could have just invented the whole scenario.


  28. Three things

    The shambles last night simply reflects the shambles in the boardroom at Ibrox and the boardrooms of the SFA and SPFL.
    It was all too predictable with the MSM whipping up the blue fans to a foam and the weather was just one of those wee bonuses.
    Ashley wasn’t there and will never need to be there because he’s calling the real shots and will only do what is right for him.
    That is not and never has been running the blue club.
    It is just about business and always has been.

    It is wrong by any of us to accept the fan violence like last night at the front door, the general unsociable behaviour and the constant “breach of the peace” lunacy we’ve all witnessed at football matches.
    It is not normal.
    It is not acceptable.
    It is copycat behaviour that somehow has become “acceptable” when it isn’t.
    It has never been acceptable and is not acceptable now.
    Justifying your own team’s “excesses” by saying they are not as bad as other teams “excesses” is whataboutery of the worst kind.

    Finally please stop feeding the new poster with the poet inspired monicker.

    There is real stuff to think about.


  29. MA has the keys to the castle. How he can control proceedings, has to questioned by the SFA when his holding is less than 9%.

    The corruption from day one between the new club and the authorities not only stretches and breaks the rules but totally demeans the whole ethos of fair play and equality.

    Dave king has now tried to get his foot in the door but there’s is no feasible way he should pass the fit and proper person test, again rules for one club. The world knows he’s a convicted fraudster, yet out authorities seem to be standing back and encouraging the whole circus.

    The supporters of other clubs have now realised the power they have and if the SFA keep up this behaviour, fans will DEMAND their heads on sticks. I long for the day when ALL clubs are treated fairly and without favouritism no matter what lodge or golf club they belong to.


  30. ……and Paul Murray finally gets a mention. Wondered where he would turn up in the latest bout. What does he know that makes every group of RRM see the need to have him in the tent pi$$ing out. He seems to be such a whizz at the old boardroom dancing that everyone feels the need to cut a rug with him…..


  31. Yup, and you also said “mike doesn’t put money in to win prizes but just relies on club loyalty”

    Read that to yourself again. I think one of the many flaws visible last night, and I’ll grant you there was almost certainly ‘banter’ from both sides, is contained within that statement.

    For others btw. You can’t on one hand blame Madden for the extra 5mins played (although a nasty injury during the period would have been unfortunate) and then blame the police for being unprepared. Difficult situation handled by them as best they could.


  32. I’m a bit surprised, but ‘orrible ‘Orace seems to have reeled quite a few of you in. Wonder if he will get a bonus at the end of the month. Oh no, wait a minute. Why does the end of the month ring a bell?


  33. Seeing David Ginola bidding to replace Blatter. Backed a betting company, hmm. But a nice bit of left-field thinking all the same. Wonder if any other fitba organisations could do with a change at the top?

    <blockquote>Ginola is running under the banner "Rebooting football" and promises to bring “democracy, transparency and equality” to the game. Paddy Power is backing Ginola in the campaign with ChangeFIFA, a movement to make football governance more accountable.


  34. After last night’s events confirmed the agitated state of a certain segment of Rangers fans, it would be fair to naturally turn one’s thoughts to the upcoming cup tie in 2 weeks & see the potential for real unrest & violence in this game.

    Now as someone growing up in the East End of Glasgow in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s, when has it ever been different?

    No matter the events surrounding both clubs, no matter the events going on in Scottish civic society & wider, you always knew that this game was potentially incendiary & if you found yourself in wrong place at the wrong time, then anything could happen & often did.

    I knew as a Celtic fan not to walk through Bridgeton. I knew coming back from Hampden parts of areas where I could not go for fear of being bushwhacked by assorted goons.

    Looking back on this & thankfully surviving unscathed, it all added to life’s’ rich tapestry & in my quieter moments I can have a chuckle about it, but the whole thing is so redolent of a bygone age & in my view is where it should be consigned.

    Football fans in the 21st century like my children should be able to go & watch a football match without going through the experiences my generation went through. Yes, the game is sanitised these days, yes, it’s corporate at the top level these days & no, we cannot always keep the beasts behind the gate, but last nights events are a possible precursor to horrific scenes that may blight Glasgow in 2 weeks time and I want a end to it for ever.

    I never want to play any Rangers again. I never want this game to be an outlet for society’s dark bile to seep out. The game is quieter in Scotland without it & so is life. I want my children to go to a game of football, enjoy it & come home safely.

    How society rids itself of such a game, I don’t know, especially when there is such a gladiatorial clamour for it from so many quarters, but I can guarantee you this, me & my family & my money will go elsewhere for entertainment & will never return so long as this fixture is the supposed epoch of the football calendar

    I suspect I’m not alone in this. Fierce competition is wanted, hatred, bile & violence isn’t.


  35. Horace_McGonigal107 says:
    January 17, 2015 at 8:40 am

    It was clear from the footage, that a section of the Heart’s fans were looking for trouble within the ground, every bit as much as a section of the rangers’ fans. was it all of the Heart’s or Rangers’ fans? Of course it wasn’t.

    But, the idea that violence is somehow normal and acceptable, because it occurs within or as the result of a football match, is so fecking stupid, as to be almost beyond belief.

    The police will often not arrest perps, because they claim it will spark more trouble. I believe this attitude to be self defeating.

    The message to the thugs, and their apologists on here and other fan sites is simple, Grow up, would you, please?


  36. valentinesclown says:
    January 17, 2015 at 9:05 am
    1 0 Rate This

    Same fans then, same fans now and are we the SFA going to let them be the same fans forever???
    ==================
    Yes, that’s the SFA’s clear intention. Anyone remember the quaint little renditions from the “songbook” at Berwick a couple of years ago? What happened about that? Compliance Officer looking the other way, probably.

    It’s just like the £250k remaining uncollected for over 2 years. That would only ever happen with one club, that is as clear as can be. In the same circumstances, any other club would simply be told to pay up or lose their membership.

    I blame the rest of the clubs. Ogilvie is just being a Real Rangers Man- he can’t help himself. The other clubs could finish this partiality tomorrow, if they wanted to. But they don’t want to. They imagine that letting this continue is good for business. Demented is the only word I can use to describe that viewpoint.


  37. ceman63 says:
    January 17, 2015 at 6:58 am
    26 1 Rate This

    Either the Ursine trio and the Castlemilk cavalry leader….
    ===============================================================
    Iceman…pure dead brilliant…and before 7.00 am on a Saturday morning…. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀


  38. Hoping this makes it through moderation ok.

    It seems that in the clamour for regime change, both the support and the would be new regime have taken insufficient time to do one very, very simple thing.

    Know your enemy.

    It does not to take long, with a computer and a search engine, to establish that for Mike Ashley the following should be considered always to apply.

    1) He parks his tanks on your lawn.
    2) He always goes all in.
    3) He buys up brands then streches merchandising opportunities to an eye popping extent. (Pink velour Lonsdael lesiure suit anyone ?)
    4) He is *most* unlikely to have invested or be likely to invest any emotional attachment with his latest sporting acquisition.
    5) He doesn’t always waste much time with what we might recognise to be any form of traditional due diligence – but that doesn’t stop him from ultimately winning, once he’s shrugged his very broad shoulders and sorted out any little issues.
    6) He always wins.
    7) He’s an intensely private man.
    8) It’s ‘all’ about the business opportnity.

    It’s surely the first rule of engagement that when having to have any dealings with anyone, on any front, is to know your enemy. By and large, if someone has an extablished behviour pattern, they are quite unlikely to make an exception for you. If they stiffed the last guy, they’ll probably be stiffing you as well.

    I’d have thought this was basic stuff, no ?


  39. Danish Pastry says:
    January 17, 2015 at 9:14 am

    Ginola is running under the banner “Rebooting football” and promises to bring “democracy, transparency and equality” to the game. Paddy Power is backing Ginola in the campaign with ChangeFIFA, a movement to make football governance more accountable
    ——————————————–
    Sadly, despite the press release’s claims, yesterday’s press conference with David Ginola only served to reveal his ‘bid’ to be offering football more of the same – that is, flim-flam, fronted by glitz and glamour, backed by money men / the gambling industry with an agenda of their own.

    Having said that – maybe he is the perfect man to run against Neil Doncaster for his job instead? Yes, I like your thinking!


  40. ianagain says:
    January 16, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    Mibbees they will now regret getting rid of the wee men and women who would normally have been available to clear the pitch?
    ============================================================
    I’ve been out walking the dogs this morning and accidentally by design bumped into a good Rangers mate who still has an ‘in’ wrt matters Ibrox. Like me he often feels the need to get out the house the morning after a night game to clear his head and avoid the happy smiles of his missuse serving-up cold tongue for breakfast 🙂

    Apparently there was a panic appeal yesterday from Ibrox to G4S looking for approximately 60-80 stewards for Ibrox.

    You may remenber that G4S used to do the security/stewarding at Ibrox but were punted and replaced by Garrion Security in-house employees. Prior to the swap the G4S guys shift started 2-3 hours before kick-off and part of their duties – if the pitch was waterlogged or had snow on it – was to clear it.

    I can only assume last night that the Garrion Security staff were too busy before the game trying to keep the fans out – I know a novel experience down Ibrox Way these days 🙄

    Ot perhaps when Garrion Security took over the contract the hours were cut and the staff simply didn’t have the time to clear the pitch. It was obvious that the ‘lines’ and goal-mouth were cleared no problem so the rest of the pitch could have been as well.

    However from watching it on ra telly the pitch looked frozen which surprised me as it wasn’t that cold and the undersoil heating should have been able to clear it.

    Seems to me that the SPFL/SFA have allowed Rangers to slip down to a Lead Standard stadium where the undersoil heating doesn’t need to be switched on when the home fans are rioting 😆


  41. Tartanwulver says:
    January 17, 2015 at 9:38 am
    1 0 Rate This

    Having said that – maybe he is the perfect man to run against Neil Doncaster…
    ———

    😛 Indeed @Tartan. But the idea of a people’s movement (crowd-funding in this Ginola thing) to reboot Scottish fitba (a phrase regularly used on here) is an idea.

    If the other 41 clubs had the fitbaws tae look at the concept of an alternative governing body/league body it might just see some movement towards reform in the existing ones — that is if they haven’t re-written every rule by then inserting the word ‘discretion’ and secured huge, golden handshakes — in the event of them being sacked … er … relocated.


  42. As many other have already said, the prospect of Celtic playing the current incarnation of The Rangers fills me with dread.

    Nothing to do with what will happen on the pitch.

    It is the run up and aftermath in the streets and homes of Scotland that ought to worry everyone.

    As the scenes from last night confirm – the atmosphere is already at fever pitch due to the continuing calamity at Ibrox.

    People ARE going to get hurt.

    This is about as close to a certainty as you can reasonably get. History is clear on this.

    Personally I would rather the fixture never happened.

    The fact that it is going ahead is the direct responsibility of Doncaster, Regan and, sadly, representatives of our own clubs by not acting to eliminate the cancerous influence of events at Ibrox over the last few years. They must take some responsibility for the damage that is IMO inevitable.

    Likewise, all the pundits and, again sadly, players that have gone on the record saying how much they want to see a reincarnation of the “Old Firm” – they too have to be reminded that by doing so they effectively condone the resulting fallout.

    But a special responsibility lies with the SMSM.

    They have a choice to make. Do they stoke the fires in advance in a desperate attempt to boost their flagging sales?

    Or do they show some restraint and play it down in the hope that the moronic elements on both side are not unneccessarily wound up (beyond the usual levels of idiocy).

    It is a simple and clear choice.

    Me? I fully expect them to dance with the devil as usual. But despite my own atheism, I hope there is a burning circle of hell awaiting for any journo that stokes these fires.


  43. ecobhoy says:
    January 17, 2015 at 9:43 am

    I can only assume last night that the Garrion Security staff were too busy before the game trying to keep the fans out
    ———
    Some questions needing answered by Polis Scotland I think – the demo would’ve wanted but may not have had an adequate quota of bobbies ❓

    For example if I’d gone too far in an OC/NC debate on here and ended up with an angry mob of TSFM’rs on my doorstep (with the traditional pitchforks and torches) I’d be mighty p****d off if I had to fund my own security 😆

    The goings on inside the ground rather than at the foot of the marble staircase need some examination too – my understanding is that clubs (or should that be companies ❓ 😈 ) reduce policing numbers/costs by providing an adequate number of trained stewards – will the Polis feel that Rangers have failed to do this last night and insist on larger police numbers for the rearranged fixture and any other high profile matches at Ibrox – pushing costs up ❓


  44. According to the “gossip” section on the BBC website it looks as though there may be another dual ownership issue heading to the SFA’s in box….

    “The Argentine consortium led by lawyer Ricardo Pini is expected to continue to try to buy St Mirren even if it is successful in its attempts to secure Girona, currently pushing for promotion from the Spanish second division. (The Herald)”


  45. Horace! That was some outburst earlier on, calling a poster ‘Rat face.’

    Yes, ‘The Glen’ has a lot of valid complaints about this site, but he seems in a different league to you, let’s be honest.


  46. Crivens.
    I seem to woken up and logged into the wrong site. 🙄
    The Whataboutery Football Monitor?

    Neither King nor Murray P have any chance of a place in the Blue Room of Dignity following the Doncaster Interpretation.
    Hiding on the PLC board rather than the TRFC board is not an option.

    Was the reason for one of the Easdale Bros not getting a PLC directorship ever revealed? Was it an AIM restriction on convicted criminals? If so, where goest Mr King?

    Ashley’s proposed loan seems a step too far down the dual ownership and/or control road too.


  47. They say a week is a long time in politics, but now that King has called an Extraordinary General Meeting, the board have just SEVEN weeks to do what they want – assuming the request is properly made. Am I the only one who thinks it will all be over by then – one way or another ? Once again the King appears to be in the all together.

    http://www.companylawclub.co.uk/topics/calling_general_meetings.shtml#Dir

    If the request is properly made, the directors must within 21 days call the meeting for a date not more than 28 days after the date of the notice calling the meeting. If the request included a proposed resolution, that must be included in the notice, which will then be part of the business that can be conducted at the meeting. (If it is a special resolution, the notice of the meeting must say so, in accordance with sec283, above.)


  48. I have no inside knowledge of police operational matters. To an outsider looking in they had to deal with a big home gate with a potentially volatile away support due simply to the sporting importance of the fixture. So resources would be deployed. It is Friday night and they’re expected by sky/BT to also have officers available for big matches not 15 hours later. That equals resources stretched. Throw I some snow on the M8 and anyone fortunate enough to travel the route regularly will know that equals mass terror and hysteria! That stretches them to breaking point. Then add in simply that they would have been trying to shepherd say 20,000 to one set of gates and 2000 to another. Turns out the 20,000 are a bit anti and insist on going through another gate altogether (the front door as it happens). Again I state, as a simple onlooker that they seem to have coped well with what was undoubtedly a high pressure situation.


  49. valentinesclown says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:25 am
    View of Ibrox position and who is at fault from rangers fan points of view
    ——————
    Ah….the bitter and hating fans of other clubs to blame….quite depressing really… 🙄

    From a glass-half-full point of view at least he didn’t blame the Jesuits and Opus Dei…


  50. parttimearab says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:10 am

    my understanding is that clubs (or should that be companies ❓ 😈 ) reduce policing numbers/costs by providing an adequate number of trained stewards – will the Polis feel that Rangers have failed to do this last night and insist on larger police numbers for the rearranged fixture and any other high profile matches at Ibrox – pushing costs up ❓
    ===================================================

    I have the same understanding. Most people when they look at a steward simply see a hi-viz jacket. However it’s not as simple as that.

    There are various grades of steward which actually govern what ‘powers’ and duties they have. It costs money to provide the training to gain the certification.

    The bigger security companies like G4S do have enough trained staff at the various levels to handle any contract they are hired to perform.

    I can’t help but wonder whether Garrion Security has the same what will I call it? Possibly ‘flexibility’ is as good a word as any.

    I’m not suggestion for one moment this applies to Garrion Security but I think we all know the stories about security companies springing-up and undercutting the bigger companies. One of the ways this can be achieved is cutting back on certification and training costs.

    I certainly believe last night might give Police Scotland food for thought in terms of ensuring not just that stewarding numbers at any ground meet requirements but that the personnel involved have the necessary training and certification.

    If Police Scotland can’t be reassured on this aspect then they have a duty not just to football fans but the general public and their own officers to ensure they have adequate resources deployed.

    Last night had all the potential for a battle to have erupted and perhaps all that saved the situation was that most Bears were intent on targeting their own Board with abuse rather than Herarts fans.

    Whether that would have held the line if it was a game involving Celtic is a moot point IMO. I certainly wouldn’t like to see it tested but the forthcoming game is at Hampden and I am sure Police Scotland have enough Old Heids left to know exactly how the fixrure should be policed to minimise trouble in and around the ground.

    It’s later of course many of the real problems arise and these flash-points are almost impossible to police effectively. I got my letter this week from Celtic for my ticket and it went straight into my recycling bin without a thought.

    I have no need to prove my support for Celtic or Scottish Football by attending a hate-filled cauldron. The older I get and the more inhumanity I see in the world the less I feel the need to support/participate in a Scottish football game which has little, if anything, to do with football.


  51. Smugas says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:40 am
    To an outsider looking in they had to deal with a big home gate… they would have been trying to shepherd say 20,000 to one set of gates
    —————————
    I’m sure Chick suggested a 6-7k turnout…and I have a feeling he’s not prone to underestimating Ibrox crowd figures…


  52. On the newsnet article. Ok fair play first of all. The guy has put pen to paper as it were and despite Glenn’s protestations that is what we, well certainly I want on here.

    I can counter it very simply FWIW. You simply cannot hold that opinion and simultaneously ignore that Murray withheld the information that HMRC needed to come their perfectly legal verdict. Their problems are entirely self inflicted so, to use the authors own term, they did indeed reap what they sowed.

    It does raise an interesting point though. Several, from chick down to the every pub’s glass bottom gazers have asked the question. Which would have been more damaging to rangers? The 4th division as happened or the hawked newco straight into the SPL albeit on much restricted resources, certainly on previous. Well I think we now have the answer, in fact the author of the piece confirms it. Doesn’t make the outcome in any way less valid though!


  53. mcfc says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:26 am
    They say a week is a long time in politics, but now that King has called an Extraordinary General Meeting, the board have just SEVEN weeks to do what they want – assuming the request is properly made. Am I the only one who thinks it will all be over by then – one way or another ? Once again the King appears to be in the all together.

    http://www.companylawclub.co.uk/topics/calling_general_meetings.shtml#Dir

    If the request is properly made, the directors must within 21 days call the meeting for a date not more than 28 days after the date of the notice calling the meeting. If the request included a proposed resolution, that must be included in the notice, which will then be part of the business that can be conducted at the meeting. (If it is a special resolution, the notice of the meeting must say so, in accordance with sec283, above.)
    ============================================================
    Deja vu. Deckchairs being arranged.
    TRFC are sleepwalking into oblivion, just as RFC did previously.
    Does any of this seem like the “HMRC will agree a CVA” nonsense?

    There’s a fecking great elephant in the room and SFA/SPFL/any number of disparate fans groups/MSM/etc etc are all looking out of the window at the view.

    The only one involved who seems to be in any position of a lack of denial is MA (and placemen). Is he the only one who played no role, either active or passive, in the downfall of RFC (assuming we conflate SPL/SPFL)?


  54. Part time Arab (who do you support the rest of the time by the way, come on, who’s yer big team?). Can’t do irony smiley on iPhone, sorry!

    Didn’t see the game so my numbers were entirely speculative. I was commenting from a policing standpoint.


  55. Smugas says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:53 am
    —————————
    Rangers fans who think that the use of EBT’s was perfectly acceptable should ask themselves the question if it were another team which had benefited from their use (let’s use Celtic as an example) would they consider it cheating that they were able to pay players more simply because they tried to get around paying the proper tax on their earnings (and trying to hide the evidence)?

    Having witnessed the “State Aid” fiasco, I think we all know the answer to that.


  56. http://youtu.be/kAFB93uX6dA

    Apologies if it is a repost of Scotland’s Shame from last night.
    This blog is supposed to be about “monitoring” Scottish Football, but occasionally shameful incidents like this remind me of why I for one am not looking forward to the game on Feb 1st and would never miss any entity playing out of ibrox


  57. mcfc says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:26 am

    They say a week is a long time in politics, but now that King has called an Extraordinary General Meeting, the board have just SEVEN weeks to do what they want – assuming the request is properly made. Am I the only one who thinks it will all be over by then – one way or another ? Once again the King appears to be in the all together.

    http://www.companylawclub.co.uk/topics/calling_general_meetings.shtml#Dir

    If the request is properly made, the directors must within 21 days call the meeting for a date not more than 28 days after the date of the notice calling the meeting. If the request included a proposed resolution, that must be included in the notice, which will then be part of the business that can be conducted at the meeting. (If it is a special resolution, the notice of the meeting must say so, in accordance with sec283, above.)
    =====================================================================

    I think that whatever is going to happen will be all done and dusted long before an egm. It simply boils down to who will win the votes at the egm.

    If the current incumbents judge that they can’t win the votes then they won’t wait IMO to be humiliated at the vote and much worse lose control of the Board.

    They will make their move long before that. What that move will be remains to be seen but whatever it is it will be cataclysmic IMO for a lot of Bears.

    It’s often said on here that Ashley has totally ignored protests from NUFC fans in how he runs their club and he will do the same with Bears.

    If he does then he will find – if he hasn’t already sussed it – that Rangers are different in exactly the same way that Celtic are and 2/3 other Scottish clubs.

    I genuinely believe that Bears are capable of achieving a boycott at Ibrox which would be lucky to see 10K STs sold. The Bears I reckon have crossed the Rubicon and they aren’t attacking their club.

    They are attacking the men who want to destroy their club and because it’s difficult to attack anonymous overseas investors then Ashley and SportsDirect become the prime targets.

    And the Bears have the ability and geographic spread to mount pickets of SportsDirect shops and they might be aggrieved enough to make it hurt financially.

    Whatever happens make no mistake this is a fight to the death to preserve the Old Order. It might be utter madness to those who think in terms of balance sheets.

    But to a football support it makes perfect sense. And as I have often said it is up to Bears to decide what kind of club they want but they will have to live the consequences that flow from their choice.

    King announcing himself as a potential director will be interesting from an AIM and SFA perspective of course but I feel sure he wouldn’t be making this move if he didn’t think there was a way of pulling it off with both bodies.

    Yip the climax is nearly there and, as always, it’s all about timing 😆


  58. So, Bobby Madden was told that the snow would melt when the undersoil heating took effect!

    a) was it ever on
    b) I demand to know who told him


  59. Smugas says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:57 amPart time Arab (who do you support the rest of the time by the way, come on, who’s yer big team?). Can’t do irony smiley on iPhone, sorry!

    Didn’t see the game so my numbers were entirely speculative. I was commenting from a policing standpoint.
    ———————————————————
    No big team 😛 but thanks to Mrs Parttimearab I now have a ‘wee’ team to watch as well….and I have to say I’ve enjoyed being ‘dragged’ round a number of grounds over the last few years….although I’d like to add that Scottish football needs a warmer Arbroath 😆

    I do take your point that the Polis have a difficult job and were no doubt stretched by the weather conditions coinciding with last night’s match.


  60. Glen, the key bit is about the hiding of the evidence. The newsnet guy correctly notes their current legal status (dos cases and the bonus EBTs aside) and uses that to shift the blame to the SPFL. I accept that arguement (I don’t for one second agree with it btw) but note that it is virtually destroyed by not even acknowledging the role of the Murray regime in stopping HMRC coming to their verdict.


  61. The Glen says:
    January 17, 2015 at 11:14 am
    ========================================================
    Ultimately, it is about playing players who would otherwise not have been playing at Ibrox without underhand payments. Playing those players won points that won titles and cups.

    I still find it amazing double think that LNS was able to assert otherwise. In maths I was always taugh to check your answer by another method i.e. if the second method makes the answer look stupid then it probably is – so check the first method. It looks like LNS didn’t study the same maths as me because applying the common sense method would have told him that his answer could not be more stupid – so go back and check your workings for your error(s).


  62. Mcfc

    It’s back to RTC’s simplest of premises that stands as true today as the day he/she penned it.

    To win the BTC was to lose LNS.

    They didn’t have the option to try to manipulate both although to be fair I don’t think for a second they ever thought the BTC would be turned over.


  63. ecobhoy says:
    January 17, 2015 at 11:19 am
    =====================================================
    Eco – increasingly I think Mike’s instructions to his men is simple. Keep the merchandise money flowing if you can, but put nothing in that we can’t get back if/when it goes pear shaped. If the fans can’t adjust to a club living within its means, let then find some sugar daddy or RRM to buy me out – or they can GTF.


  64. The moral high ground in football is never more prevalent when it is claimed this group of fans did that/are worse etc.

    All I would ask is that news and sports media report and condemn such incidents without fear or favour. I have not seen anything today which makes me think they are capable of that. There was much more happened at Ibrox last night than protests against the board. You wouldn’t think so going by today’s press.


  65. Smugas says:
    January 17, 2015 at 11:30 am
    ———————–
    mcfc says:
    January 17, 2015 at 11:30 am
    ———————–
    I completely agree with both of you.

    And my point was that if anyone other team had been advised by a Mr Baxendale-Walker and headed off on the EBT route (and, even worse, trying to hide the evidence), thereby depriving Rangers of trophies, would the Rangers support be happy?

    I doubt it very much.


  66. In view of the criticism directed Rangers way over last night’s call off it would appear theirs is not the only stadium with pitch protection issues…

    “The game at Tannadice was called off after a second inspection as parts of the surface were frozen.”

    😳 😳 😳

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30862288

    Off to check the SPFL rules on pitch protection…


  67. Another bleating blog about the injustice of HMRC action against OldCo.

    A particularly mangy squirrel?

    Or is this the nearest “safe ground” they can find to current events?

    Or is it preparing the root cause expalnation for “another” administration/liquidation event – similar to the one which has Craig Whyte creating the last event single handed in just a few weeks.

    http://www.ibroxnoise.co.uk/2015/01/rangers-crisis-why-scottish-football.html


  68. Standing at the cashline machine Bishopbriggs at 10.10pm I spot lying in the snow at my feet a discarded tcket stub for the game last night. It was for the Sandy Jardine East Corner stand and what entrigued me was that it was a complimentary ! So they can still afford to dish out comps then. I wonder how many were given out ?


  69. The Glen says:
    January 17, 2015 at 11:14 am
    Smugas says:
    January 17, 2015 at 10:53 am
    —————————
    Rangers fans who think that the use of EBT’s was perfectly acceptable should ask themselves the question if it were another team which had benefited from their use (let’s use Celtic as an example) would they consider it cheating that they were able to pay players more simply because they tried to get around paying the proper tax on their earnings (and trying to hide the evidence)?
    ========================================================
    I think it’s important to remember that two tax tribunals have declared that in the overwhelming majority of the Rangers EBT cases there was no law broken and no tax unpaid quite simply because EBTs at the time were not unlawful.

    Changes in tax legislation made their use redundants and that’s why companies throughout the UK turned to other vehicles to reduce tax payable. It’s an ongoing war with HMRC having to get new legislation drafted to block the new schemes as they are created.

    There is possibly another appeal to be heard but that might fall by the wayside depending on how the liquidation of Murray companies is handled.

    As to the issue of ‘hiding the evidence’ that at the end of the day is why they were fined £250k by LNS.


  70. I think the apologists for David Murray and the assertions they make that he has done nothing wrong and that MIH/RFC were collectively found not guilty (shhh!) should answer the following question.

    Why in 2004 when he was asked to cooperate with Hector did MIH/RFC refuse to allow anyone to show the side letters that Hector had requested? If they were so sure of being innocent and within the letter of the law – for either tax legalities or of SFA regulations, then cooperation then would have meant by 2005 it would have been all be over with no need to sell to CW later on for a quid. Indeed with an innocent verdict in 2005 would have meant he could sell RFC for a considerable sum unencumbered with no potential tax losses.

    Yet they decided to refuse to cooperate – this was the decision that was the downfall of RFC – everything else that followed was a consequence of this decision.


  71. neutralaxis says:
    January 17, 2015 at 9:37 am

    It’s surely the first rule of engagement that when having to have any dealings with anyone, on any front, is to know your enemy. By and large, if someone has an extablished behaviour pattern, they are quite unlikely to make an exception for you. If they stiffed the last guy, they’ll probably be stiffing you as well.

    I’d have thought this was basic stuff, no ?
    ==================================================
    It is but only if the other side is adopting a rational approach to the situation 😯


  72. parttimearab says:
    January 17, 2015 at 11:53 am

    Off to check the SPFL rules on pitch protection…
    ————————————————-
    Which I’ve now done (on my slightly out of date copy)……covered by H10…”an adequate winter pitch protection system….shall be fully utilised…”

    No mention of any specific sanctions and adequate might be open to interpretation….would Berwick’s need to be as “adequate” as Celtic’s…presumably if the system is adequate and it has been utilised no sanction even if it failed to cope with a cold but not unusually so night in Dundee…

    All very odd….but not surprising 😯 :irony:

    ….just hope not too many ICT fans had set off.

Comments are closed.