The recent revelations of a potential winding up order being served on Rangers Newco certainly does have a sense of “deja vu all over again” for the average reader of this blog.
It reminds me of an episode of the excellent Western series Alias Smith & Jones. The episode was called The Posse That Wouldn’t Quit. In the story, the eponymous anti-heroes were being tracked by a particularly dogged group of law-men whom they just couldn’t shake off – and they spent the entire episode trying to do just that. In a famous quote, Thaddeus Jones, worn out from running, says to Joshua Smith, “We’ve got to get out of this business!”
The SFM has been trying since its inception to widen the scope and remit of the discussion and debate on the blog. Unsuccessfully. Like the posse that wouldn’t quit, Rangers are refusing to go away as a story. With the latest revelations, I confided in my fellow mods that perhaps we too should get out of this business. I suspect that, even if we did, this story would doggedly trail our paths until it wears us all down.
The fact that the latest episode of the Rangers saga has sparked off debate on this blog may even confirm the notion subscribed to by Rangers fans that TSFM is obsessed with their club. However even they must agree that the situation with regard to Rangers would be of interest to anyone with a stake in Scottish Football; and that they themselves must be concerned by the pattern of events which started over a decade ago and saw the old club fall into decline on a trajectory which ended in liquidation.
But let me enter into a wee discussion which doesn’t merely trot out the notion of damage done to others or sins against the greater good, but which enters the realm of the damage done to one of the great institutions of world sport, Rangers themselves.
David Murray was regarded by Rangers fans as a hero. His bluster, hubris and (as some see it) arrogant contempt for his competitors afforded him a status as a champion of the cause as long as it was underpinned by on-field success.
The huge pot of goodwill he possessed was filled and topped-up by a dripping tap of GIRUY-ness for many years beyond the loss of total ascendency that his spending (in pursuit of European success) had achieved, and only began to bottom out around the time the club was sold to Craig Whyte. In retrospect, it can be seen that the damage that was done to the club’s reputation by the Murray ethos (not so much a Rangers ethos as a Thatcherite one) and reckless financial practice is now well known.
Notwithstanding the massive blemish on its character due to its employment policies, the (pre-Murray) Rangers ethos portrayed a particularly Scottish, perhaps even Presbyterian stoicism. It was that of a conservative, establishment orientated, God-fearing and law-abiding institution that played by the rules. It was of a club that would pay its dues, applied thrift and honesty in its business dealings, and was first to congratulate rivals on successes (witness the quiet dignity of John Lawrence at the foot of the aircraft steps with an outstretched hand to Bob Kelly when Celtic returned from Lisbon).
If Murray had dug a hole for that Rangers, Craig Whyte set himself up to fill it in. No neo-bourgeois shirking of responsibilities and duty to the public for him; his signature was more pre-war ghetto, hiding behind the couch until the rent man moved along to the next door. Whyte just didn’t pay any bills and with-held money that was due to be passed along to the treasury to fund the ever more diminished public purse. Where Murray’s Rangers had been regarded by the establishment and others as merely distasteful, Whyte’s was now regarded as a circus act, and almost every day of his tenure brought more bizarre and ridiculous news which had Rangers fans cringing, the rest laughing up their sleeve, and Bill Struth birling in his grave.
The pattern was now developing in plain sight. Murray promised Rangers fans he would only sell to someone who could take the club on, but he sold it – for a pound – to a guy whose reputation did not survive the most cursory of inspection. Whyte protested that season tickets had not been sold in advance, that he used his own money to buy the club. Both complete fabrications. Yet until the very end of Whyte’s time with the club, he, like Murray still, was regarded as hero by a fan-base which badly wanted to believe that the approaching car-crash could be avoided.
Enter Charles Green. Having been bitten twice already, the fans’ first instincts were to be suspicious of his motives. Yet in one of history’s greatest ironic turnarounds, he saw off the challenge of real Rangers-minded folk (like John Brown and Paul Murray) and their warnings, and by appealing to what many regard as the baser instincts of the fan-base became the third hero to emerge in the boardroom in as many years. The irony of course is that Green himself shouldn’t really pass any kind of Rangers sniff-test; personal, sporting, business or cultural; and yet there he is the spokesman for 140 years of the aspirations of a quarter of the country’s fans.
To be fair though, what else could Rangers fans do? Green had managed (and shame on the administration process and football authorities for this) to pick up the assets of the club for less (nett) than Craig Whyte and still maintained a presence in the major leagues.
If they hadn’t backed him only the certainty of doom lay before them. It was Green’s way or the highway in other words – and speaking of words, his sounded mighty fine. But do the real Rangers minded people really buy into it all?
First consider McCoist. I do not challenge his credentials as a Rangers minded man, and his compelling need to be an effective if often ineloquent spokesman for the fans. However, according to James Traynor (who was then acting as an unofficial PR advisor to the Rangers manager), McCoist was ready to walk in July (no pun intended) because he did not trust Green. The story was deliberately leaked, to undermine Green, by both Traynor and McCoist. McCoist also refused for a long period of time to endorse the uptake of season books by Rangers fans, even went as far as to say he couldn’t recommend it.
So what changed? Was it a Damascene conversion to the ways of Green, or was it the 250,000 shares in the new venture that he acquired. Nothing improper or unethical – but is it idealism? Is it fighting for the cause?
Now think Traynor. I realise that can be unpleasant, but bear with me.
Firstly, when he wrote that story on McCoist’s resignation, (and later backed it up on radio claiming he had spoken to Ally before printing the story), he was helping McCoist to twist Green’s arm a little. Now, and I’m guessing that Charles didn’t take this view when he saw the story in question, Green thinks that Traynor is a “media visionary”?
Traynor also very publicly, in a Daily Record leader, took the “New Club line” and was simultaneously contemptuous of Green.
What happened to change both their minds about each other? Could it have been (for Green) the PR success of having JT on board and close enough to control, and (for Traynor) an escape route for a man who had lost the battle with own internal social media demons?
Or, given both McCoist’s and Traynor’s past allegiance to David Murray, is it something else altogether?
Whatever it is, both Traynor and McCoist have started to sing from a totally different hymn sheet to Charles Green since the winding up order story became public. McCoist’s expert étude in equivocation at last Friday’s press conference would have had the Porter in Macbeth slamming down the portcullis (now there’s an irony). He carefully distanced himself from his chairman and ensured that his hands are clean. Traynor has been telling one story, “we have an agreement on the bill”, and Green another, “we are not paying it”.
And what of Walter Smith? At first, very anti-Charles Green, he even talked about Green’s “new club”. Then a period of silence followed by his being co-opted to the board and a “same club” statement. Now in the face of the damaging WUP story, more silence. Hardly a stamp of approval on Green’s credentials is it?
Rangers fans would be right to be suspicious of any non-Rangers people extrapolating from this story to their own version of Armageddon, but shouldn’t they also reserve some of that scepticism for Green and Traynor (neither are Rangers men, and both with only a financial interest in the club) when they say “all is well” whilst the real Rangers man (McCoist) is only willing to say “as far as I have been told everything is well”
As a Celtic fan, it may be a fair charge to say that I don’t have Rangers best interests at heart, but I do not wish for their extinction, nor do I believe that one should ignore a quarter of the potential audience for our national game. Never thought I’d hear myself say this, but apart from one (admittedly mightily significant) character defect, I can look at the Rangers of Struth and Simon, Gillick and Morton, Henderson and Baxter, and Waddell and Lawrence (and God help me even Jock Wallace) with fondness and a degree of nostalgia.
I suspect most Rangers fans are deeply unhappy about how profoundly their club has changed. To be fair, my own club no longer enchants me in the manner of old. As sport has undergone globalisation, everything has changed. Our relationship to our clubs has altered, the business models have shifted, and the aspirations of clubs is different from that of a generation ago. It has turned most football clubs into different propositions from the institutions people of my generation grew up supporting, but Rangers are virtually unrecognisable.
The challenge right now for Rangers fans is this. How much more damage will be done to the club’s legacy before this saga comes to an end?
And by then will it be too late to do anything about it?
Most people on this blog know my views about the name of Green’s club. I really don’t give a damn because for me it is not important. I do know, like Craig Whyte said, that in the fullness of time there will be a team called Rangers, playing football in a blue strip at Ibrox, and in the top division in the country.
I understand that this may be controversial to many of our contributors, but I hope that this incarnation of Rangers is closer to that of Lawrence and Simon than to Murray and Souness.
nawlite says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 15:54
Stephen Hester started with Credit Suisse in 1982, rising to successively CFO and Head of Fixed Income. Afetr that he he was firstly Finance Director and then COO with Abbey National, before moving on to British Land. (We will draw a veil over that one). Darling put him in charge of the newly nationalised Northern Rock, where he lasted a few months, before moving to RBS firstly as a Non-Exec and then as Fred’s replacement.
Hester is not a banker in much the same way as Goodwin is not a banker. Goodwin made his rep as bright young thing of an MBA, driving down costs especially at Clydesdale.
i would submit that neither of them have a real understanding of either Retail or Corporate banking, and are in fact precisley the sort of “professional” manager my Jeremaih above was aimed at. Whether Hester will be successful or not is too soon to tell, the auguries so far are not all that encouraging.
Cameron on the other hand, is so far beyond the pale, that even the charaltans in the Square Mile can’t stomach him, and handed him a life time ban from full time employment in the City.
Carl31 (@C4rl31) says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:18
In a way that’s what the SFA did with the disciplinary process, only to see two other elders unleash the mob.
Big Pink says: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 15:46
easyJambo says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 15:24(Edit)
So that’s ok then? Aye Right! What the statement doesn’t say is that Ukio hold a security over Tynecastle
_______________________________________________________
Which UKIO? UBIG or Ukio Bankas?
Assuming the HMFC statement is correct that should make a material difference to potential consequences – no?
===================================
UBIG (Hearts owners) transferred some debt and a security over Tynecastle to Ukio Bankas in December 2012, so the Bank has first call over the assets
The main risk to Hearts is the potential impact on their cashflow if the administrator or any new owner of Ukio Bankas’ assets (loan book) decides that Hearts should make regular interest payments rather than accumulate interest, as they have done in the past.
Hearts have been Vlad’s plaything for years, so they haven’t been subject to the same financial constraints as other clubs, e.g. £40M has been written off in DfE swaps and debt forgiveness. Hearts generally accumulated interest on their debt, which was eventually written off.
Now that Vlad’s business empire is creaking (if not collapsing), Hearts have found themselves with a big problem in getting through to the end of the season because of an unsustainable wage bill. If they can see the season out, then most of the big earners will be out of contract and will be released. Hearts will then be able to balance the books, (at least in a trading sense). However, the club probably has around £25M in debts that are unlikely ever be repaid. Tynecastle is the only asset of note but is now probably valued at little more that £6M, compared to a value of around £20M at the height of the property boom (i.e. when Vlad took over).
nawlite says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 15:54
Whilst the personnel and what they bring to the party will be important I think that what is required is a total culture change where the SFA stop seeing themselves as masters of the game buts as its servants.
By this I mean they see themselves as delivering a service to meet their customers needs and the quality of the delivery of that service should be assessed (and so influenced ) by the customers who are the leagues AND the supporters, represented by individuals put forward by supporter trusts to be “the game’s policemen”.
Refereeing is an example of a service the SFA provide to the leagues. It must be the only service in the world where those providing it assess their own performance and reward or demote themselves on their own say so. That is how to promote bad refereeing.
In short a service level culture needs to be introduced throughout the organisation.
They have already done so to an extent with the Disciplinary system where clubs now know the timeframe of cases being judged rather than it suiting SFA convenience.
There are process in place for turning an authority into a service provider. It has happened throughout the public sector and in my own experience the change benefitted both the service provider and the customer, so it is not something new.
It will happen eventually for the existing structure has failed.
easyJambo says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:28
Tynecastle is the only asset of note but is now probably valued at little more that £6M, compared to a value of around £20M at the height of the property boom (i.e. when Vlad took over).
——————————————
This isn’t intended to be flippant, but wasn’t The Rangers answer to this to get someone in to give a new and pretty beneficial view of what the ground’s value is? Could Hearts get someone in to put a value of whatever on Tynecastle that would go into the books as something they can then secure debt against? I’m no accountant is has to be said, just curious how these things work
Carl31 (@C4rl31) says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:18
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards?
That is exactly what is required by whatever means, but such a body needs to be created.
Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:39
There is a lot of merit in what you say, however, having, for my sins, sat on Community Planning Partnership boards, I am far from convinced that the Community reps have the capacity to take on the “professional” mangers, without a lot more support than they get at the moment. It really is David and Goliath, only in this case David doesn’t even get a bloody slingshot.
The Imporvement Service has done some good work on capacirty building, but it really needs a tremondous culture and power shift for the idea to work as intended.
Bit of light relief from RM:
—
“I trust that FARE, that bastion of sporting integrity, will have a presence in all areas of the phiggery tonight. Those naughty Italians might be singing songs lamenting the demise of the pope and have to forfeit the tie.”
—
Quite apart from the non-demise of the Pope, this bear seems to think that Italian fans would sing songs to insult their own religion simply because they’re playing Celtic. What a div.
Random insertion of “h” as the second letter of words in an effort to Irish-fy them doesn’t always work too well, either. The “Figgery”, anyone? 🙂
Much being made of a Juve statement which included the (obviously mistranslated) line “we are not perverts”, too. Sigh.
TW (@tartanwulver) says: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:39
easyJambo says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:28
Tynecastle is the only asset of note but is now probably valued at little more that £6M, compared to a value of around £20M at the height of the property boom (i.e. when Vlad took over).
——————————————
This isn’t intended to be flippant, but wasn’t The Rangers answer to this to get someone in to give a new and pretty beneficial view of what the ground’s value is? Could Hearts get someone in to put a value of whatever on Tynecastle that would go into the books as something they can then secure debt against? I’m no accountant is has to be said, just curious how these things work
=======================
The last valuation of Tynecastle was in March 2012, when it was valued at £13.75M on a depreciated replacement cost (i.e. the inflated value)
When it was mooted in 2004 that Hearts would sell Tynecastle and move to Murrayfield, Cala Homes had offered £20M – £22M for the site, depending on the number of flats they would get permission to build.
The assignation of the security had a sum of £6.8M attached to it. I think that would be fair value to any potential developer.
And a further statement for the Lithuanian authorities:
The last three paragraphs relate directly to Vlad as he funded the 2011 capital increase.
Vlad on the run?
Enough from me for this evening …. going to the big game , ……in Perth. St Johnstone U20s v Hearts U20s.
What do you mean there’s another big game on tonight? 🙂
No doubt our media will tell us that the financial doom and gloom is a direct result of new Rangers not being allowed into the SPL. Hearts and Kilmarnock have been operating on the edge for a number of years. Hearts fans are no different to most fans, they chased an unaffordable dream.
As for the SFA. Regan was all about transparency at first. After Dallasgate he restricted his comments to tweets. After the Rangers debacle he went into hiding alongside Doncaster and CO, only emerging when he really has no choice. The SFA / SPL are not capable of making difficult decisions and it seems they are willing to wait for LNS or even TRFC back in Europe before somebody else makes it clear they are a new club.
May have picked this up wrong but should Hearts be in administration as it seem’s a similar situation that southampton found themselves in.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8014811.stm
Also do hearts have enough assets to cover their debt?.If not,would they not be considered as trading whilst insolvent?
Would Hearts be entitled to a 5 way agreement also
A cracker from dingwall in the times tonight ,quote, Scottish football has not learned the lessons from the light blues BRUSH with death
aye okay marc
yourhavingalaugh says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 17:36
A precedent has been set has it not?
easyJambo says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 17:11
9 0 Rate This
… Vlad on the run?
Enough from me for this evening …. going to the big game , ……in Perth. St Johnstone U20s v Hearts U20s.
What do you mean there’s another big game on tonight?
————
Crivvens and jings regarding Vlad.
Off to Perth? Brilliant.
Wouldn’t you wonder why 100k shares sold on Friday is being reported on Tuesday?
At a relatively low price too?
What is required is for an effective rule book to be drawn up, based on UEFA/FIFA guidlines.
What is then needed, is a Rules Commission, made out of esteemed members of the legal profession,whose sole duty would be to oversee and administer the rules, without fear or favour.
If the legal profession are not deemed to be impartial, tnen it is time to put out the lights, shut the shop and find a good home for the cat.
Quick post to say good luck to Celtic tonight, you carry the good name of Scottish football (that’s the good name coz it’s the football bit) into the game and I know you won’t let us down, win or lose. Great that you are on ITV down here in England too.
Long Time Lurker says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 16:02
28 2 Rate This
… I also get the sense that after the result of the FTTT was published and following on from the huge surprise that the FTTT found in favour of MIH, that there is more caution when people are dropping hints on possible future events. (I am not bieng cricial of RTC here).
————–
Exactly. No one yet knows the meaning of the nuclear rumour. Regarding RTC, it was indicated that it could go in favour of Rangers, and LNS go against, or the other way around. So fair do’s. I suppose it’s much easier if you look at it all in a dispassionate way. There’s no doubt some wishful thinking in some of the reports. The crux of the matter is justice and fair play. I can wait for that.
McCoist has won something, per link.
A manager of a full-time team against part-time posties, plumbers etc… ?
Oh well, suppose it’s the first official award for TRFC ? 🙂
http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/news/article/irn-bru-sfl3-manager-of-the-month—december-2012/
StevieBC says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 19:15
0 0 Rate This
McCoist has won something, per link.
==========
Now this one is a real world record- highest paid manager ever to win a manager of the month award in the fourth tier of football anywhere, at any time, in the history of world football. Makes me proud to be Scottish!
E times 2 pages of Celtic an Juventus , 4 pages of TRFC.
Best of luck to Celtic tonight.
Best post of the week for me has been bayviewgold’s earlier, can I requote this section?
“………we are missing the bigger picture, that is the complete absence of any leadership or morals from the SFA, SPL and SFL, because for as bad as TRFC are – if the leaders of the game in this country grew a pair, all the side show that is going on in govan would not exist, by the TSFM continually focusing on rangers we are treating the symptoms not the cause – as a wee team supporter I am completely disgusted with the SFA.”
Our focus should be on the SFA especially, who, only in the last week reiterated the position taken by Campbell Ogilvie last year by emphasising how they wish to appear ‘toothless’.
I’ve written to the SFA several times within the past year, without response or acknowledgement: they treat their customers with contempt. Hopefully, Auldheid’s “A Question of Trust” gets us somewhere, but I’m losing a bit of faith.
To the telly!
Unbelievable football from Celtic.
Danish, I should maybe have quoted you more succinctly. My only issue was with your assertion – “Just as every wee team supporter probably has a big team somewhere in Scotland or the UK”. I just don’t believe that’s the case. No issue with anything else suggested. That’s all. Don’t want to clog the blog, though it’s gone very quiet for some reason.
Alex Thomo is reporting from Rome, I can see and hear the conspiracies theories now on RM etc
That was some poor refereeing there. Juve weren’t 3 goals better.
Disappointed. Played some nice football but was having palpitations every time juve went forward.
Knocked on the door but it never opened.
Sorry for discussing tonight match but Not The H whilst I think the ref was blind at corners I think Efe was at fault for 2 goals. I said to my son the other month that he has a habit of trying to do a Gary Gillespie and dribble his way out of defence and he gets lucky. Tonight his luck ran out
good game tonight and a lot of good football in the first half. It went flat for parts of the second half. Most of the substitutions were poor and did not help the team. Forest did not really kick a ball after the first half. Brown for Kayal was pointless.
Neil got it right against Barca but wrong tonight. 2 of the goals could have easily been prevented and Hooper got far too involved in the box when it was obvious that the ref was never going to give anything.
Neil has to be proud though, he has got it right most of the time this season and put together a good squad. The loss of Samaras was a blow for his height and strength. Still its a learning curve for the team and manager.
Thought Celtic played well but Ambrose was leg-weary and Foster was a bit leaden and still unfit. The main official should be in jail for impersonating a referee.
The diving is bad enough at times but I think the jersey pulling and illegal holding and blocking is worse. The defender should be up for assault.
Araminta – Sorry, but the Grand Old Lady of Italian Football (how many times did the commentator say that?) were three goals better. TDs? I may be going for a World Record here. 🙂
Celtic are almost there, but Juve were consummately professional – to the extent of knowing just how much they could get away with – and had guile, where Celtic were stoic and played very well but their neurons were a yard off the pace when it counted. Also, they need to learn that the object is to kick the ball so it *misses* the guy in the pink shirt between the posts.
It brought to mind Ferraris v Bentleys.
And, of course, the proof that Juve were three goals better is on the scoresheet.
Still, a fine display by Celtic and absolutely no shame in it. They were by no means embarrassed 3-0 like, say, a 3rd Division team might be when up against an SPL team in a cup…
Wait til you see – Celtic will go to Torino and win 3-1. It’s the Scottish way.
Flocculent Apoidea says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 20:54
Have to agree. I have two teams – Clyde and Scotland (my ‘big’ team).
However, I can sort of understand what the original poster was getting at. There is a tradition of fans going to see another local side when their own team are away from home, and it would be a boost to Scottish football if this continued to be the case.
most fans of small teams support or lean towards a big team. I have never known a fan of a small club to be indifferent towards Celtic or Rangers. They either lean to one, the other or despise them and blame them for all their ills.
thumbs down=thumbs up.
Hopefully no more threads on here about Juventus tickets and the likes ….
Flocculent Apoidea says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 20:54
2 0 Rate This
Danish, I should maybe have quoted you more succinctly. My only issue was with your assertion – “Just as every wee team supporter probably has a big team somewhere in Scotland or the UK”. I just don’t believe that’s the case. No issue with anything else suggested. That’s all. Don’t want to clog the blog, though it’s gone very quiet for some reason.
———
Cheers mate. I included ‘probably’ in that sentence for the specific purpose of not being over assertive. Ye cannae win 😀
But to be honest, I’m going the other way, I’m attracted far more to the lower league teams and football on the edge myself. Have been for a long time. When you look at the refereeing tonight, and then the manager on the touchline for Juve I wonder why I even bother watching big-time fitba. You can say there’s been some appalling refereeing in Scotland maybe, but that was criminal at set-pieces.
I think it’s gone quiet because everyone’s at the match 🙂
I thought Celtic showed the class and quality to play at this level, just lacking in experience against a classy and savvy Italian side. No shame in the way they played.
Danish Pastry says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 22:07
You can say there’s been some appalling refereeing in Scotland maybe, but that was criminal at set-pieces.
——
It was. Absolutely shocking.
Having said that, the worst offender Lichtsteiner was actually pretty useful when not cuddling up to the nearest CFC player.
Anyway, are we still at Def Con 1? No news from Govan way?
angus1983 says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 21:56
The word missing is cynicism, but I’m not sure that is what purists like ourselves want. Unless of course it combats cynics. 😉
Just watched the Celtic game in the local bar here in Italy, out-numbered 150 to 1 and was on the receiving end of the Italian equivalent of GIRUY – all night.
They watched the same game as me and reckoned Celtic were poor, oh! and the ref had a great game ??
So I brought up the subject of title stripping. I’m back home and I left them arguing amongst themselves – c’mon, you all would have done the same.
In transfer news, I see TRFC have announced their interest in signing Cammy Bell. Could there be a teensy problem with that cunning plan?
Araminta Moonbeam QC says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 22:48
3 0 Rate This
In transfer news, I see TRFC have announced their interest in signing Cammy Bell. Could there be a teensy problem with that cunning plan?
=============
Not only that, they have not even spoken to him yet.
I thought it would be 1-2 tonight and Celtic played well enough first half. Always seem to like giving away early goals.
Angus I could agree with you more, if they are true to form like the National Team they will get a 1-3 result in Turin and of course Juve will score in 90th or get a penalty in 92 minsm 🙂
It’s easy to blame refs but sometimes they can’t be absolved.Celtic should have had 2 penalties within the first 6 minutes.The ref bottled it by booking hooper later.He should have booked the defender but that would have meant awarding a penalty.Took the easy option.
Tonight,IMO,Celtic let themselves down.The scoreline flattered Juve but you can’t blame them for taking advantage of bad,sloppy defending.
Celtic had chances,especially the free headers that dropped to Wanyama and Ambrose.
Forrest is not good enough yet at this level.Lennon got most of his subs wrong.
It’s a learning curve.
The ref was bad but basic errors cost us.
Thee’s always next year.
I think it is time to hear the next big Rangers scandal. We have waited long enough.
Anyone?
beatipacificiscotia says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 07:05
Patience – if it comes, it will come when it comes.
stmungo69 says:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 22:46
34 2 Rate This
Just watched the Celtic game in the local bar here in Italy, out-numbered 150 to 1 and was on the receiving end of the Italian equivalent of GIRUY – all night.
They watched the same game as me and reckoned Celtic were poor, oh! and the ref had a great game ??
So I brought up the subject of title stripping. I’m back home and I left them arguing amongst themselves – c’mon, you all would have done the same.
Good on you….and we are never truly outnumbered ,,,never…roll on Part 2..
Senior – I don’t think it’s cynicism. It may appear that way to an opposing fan, but as a (more or less) neutral, it appeared to me that Juve knew how to manipulate the game while staying just the right side of the rules (penalty box behaviour should have been stamped on by the ref, it wasn’t, and therefore allowed the Italians to push the rules a bit further).
The “injuries” and “cramp” to take the pace out of the game at crucial times, the winding up of CFC players who would have been hesitant to take chances physically thereafter, Add that to the effortless speed, vision and accuracy when a gap appeared and you have a top team. Not always pretty, but not ugly and not cheating – and how to get to the top of Serie A and Europe.
As I say, CFC seemed to be nearly there – but lacked the final and perhaps most important qualities required to succeed at this level. Stmungo’s Italian mates may see this as a “poor” team, I see it as a work still in progress with Lennon surely learning from last night’s game.
Aberdeen fans wil remember the humping handed out by Liverpool in 1980/81 in the European Cup. We could have been seen as poor then – but Fergie took huge lessons from it and went on to better things in Europe from the very next season (ha ha Ipswich).
Alex Tomo just dropping a hint that our hero, the Motherwell born billionaire, the bold Craigy White, is about to make an appearance – links to a current Rangers official? Man, I’ve e missed that guy..
alex thomson@alextomo
#c4news TOMOBLOG – revelations later concerning Craig Whyte and a senior current Rangers official
22mYour club is dead@corsica1968
@alextomo Surely not the Andrew Dickson that Ellis said was his “eyes & ears”? Is he still there?
16malex thomson@alextomo
@corsica1968 much further up the food chain than mere Andrew Dickson
BANG!
Group:Snr. Member
Jarvis13 Feb 2013, 09:06 AM
This will cheer us all up. One for the Facebook Friends
@alextomo: #c4news TOMOBLOG – revelations later concerning Craig Whyte and a senior current Rangers official
“I thought Celtic showed the class and quality to play at this level, just lacking in experience against a classy and savvy Italian side. No shame in the way they played.”
…….can the same be said of Neil Lennon?
alex thomson@alextomo
#c4news TOMOBLOG – revelations later concerning Craig Whyte and a senior current Rangers official
I wonder if “later” means that the Blog has been cleared by the lawyers and Alex is waiting for a response from the [guilty] party.
Shield, Lennon got his subs and starting 11 wrong, that was his only fault. You do yourself no favours by having a sly dig at him because of your own shortcomings. I am sure you have many other forums where you discuss your dislike Lennon.
Shield – instead of looking for deflections, read this and think about whom CW is about to out……….now why would CW want 6 directors tickets and 1 million quid – he sold it for double the money he gor from SDM after the duping did he not……..Hmmmm!
http://www.sydneytrueblues.com/2013/02/12/charles-green-qa-report/
Quote
I have never told lies.
•Craig Whyte
Craig Whyte has approached us and said he wants 6 tickets in the directors box plus a payment of £1 million. I said that we should offer it to him but let it be made public that he is back in Glasgow. I’m sure if we told people Craig Whyte was at Ibrox we would have the biggest attendance ever. Everyone is now looking to steal our success and people are looking for huge entitlements.
chipsandblog says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 08:44
There has been a lot of recent discussions on dignity, integrity etc. I was actually referring to his comments after the game, where he said the referee was “pro-Juventus”. I may have my “own shortcomings” but you certainly wouldn’t be aware of them.
Having said that, I take your point. It probably was a sly dig.
alex thomson@alextomo
#c4news TOMOBLOG – revelations later concerning Craig Whyte and a senior current Rangers official
Perhaps later also means that the person whom AT may be offering a right of reply to has been out of the country and they have just returned?
exiledcelt says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 08:48
http://www.sydneytrueblues.com/2013/02/12/charles-green-qa-report/
Q&A – Question 1
Q – Hi Charles, what school did you go to?
In this day and age and sitting on the other side of the planet, surely it was just a wind up?
exiledcelt says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 08:48
I remember hearing CW’s request last year. Everyone thought he was simply deluded and still in denial about his position at the time. Are you saying this was due to some link with a Rangers official?
CG has also said they have £20m in the bank. It will be interesting to see if that is proven to be a lie, as discussed previously on here.
O.G.Rafferty – CQN – 08:28
“Bum of squeak time…”
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/?cqn_match_reports_=celtic-0-3-juventus&cpage=6#comments
Long Time Lurker says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 07:26
beatipacificiscotia says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 07:05
Patience – if it comes, it will come when it comes
——————-
I can’t wait until I have some of that patience.
Carl31 (@C4rl31) says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 09:13
I must admit – my apetite for news is going into overdrive now that AT has said that a new blog is comming.
I wonder if BDO will show an interest in the AT Blog?
http://www.sydneytrueblues.com/2013/02/12/charles-green-qa-report/
“11 RSC under the ORSA umbrella with additional interest to start clubs in Phuket and Indonesia. Right now the membership currently looks like this:
• Hong Kong – 15 members
• Perth – 79
• Adelaide – 18
• Melbourne 1 – 22
• Melbourne 2 – 20
• Northern Beaches – 20
• Sydney – 55
• Gold Coast – 18
• Brisbane 24
• Northern Territory – 14
• Kiwi True Blues– 28”
To my reading that means 313 fans willing to get involved in RSCs on the other side of the world.
Even saying that they are the 10% who really want to run clubs and be active supporters etc that maybe puts the rest at around 3000.
A long long way off from the 500m worldwide, especially when you consider this is the english speaking part of the world where most ex-pats have emmigrated to.
Green wows them in Oz.
Charles Green Q&A Report
9 February 2013 – Charles Green Q&A, Aurora Hotel, Sydney – The Home of The Sydney True Blues
The following is a report from Charles Green’s visit to Sydney for a Q&A. The notes were taken by a member of the Sydney True Blues as a volunteer. Anything reported below can not be taken as a direct quote as no audio recording of the meeting was allowed.
Introductions
Derek Kerr – Introduction to the event and welcome to our guests, Alan McKenzie, Jim Hannah and Charles Green. Thank you for making the journey to Australia and taking the time to come here today.
Ian Gray – Welcome everyone, I just want to start by giving a brief history of Rangers supporters clubs within Sydney. I arrived in 1997 and got straight into the clubcall section of the Rangers News to look for Rangers supporters in Sydney. As part of the Coogee RSC we would watch video recordings of the match which were 2 weeks old that family would send over from home. It was amazing. For Old firm games we would get around 200-400 people turn up.
In Feb 2012, just 2 weeks after the club went into administration we held the ORSA AGM in Perth and we had enquiries from people looking to set up supporters clubs in Sydney and the Gold Coast – the support has been phenomenal with the guys here in Sydney staying up until 2am to watch the games. We now have 11 RSC under the ORSA umbrella with additional interest to start clubs in Phuket and Indonesia. Right now the membership currently looks like this:
• Hong Kong – 15 members
• Perth – 79
• Adelaide – 18
• Melbourne 1 – 22
• Melbourne 2 – 20
• Northern Beaches – 20
• Sydney – 55
• Gold Coast – 18
• Brisbane 24
• Northern Territory – 14
• Kiwi True Blues– 28
Thanks to ORSA we managed to get 6 tickets to the UEFA Cup Final to fans in Australia. We also had Goram and Amoruso out here thanks to ORSA. There are well over 100 people here today which means there must be about at least 40 people here who are not members of the supporters club so I would urge all of you to join one of the clubs and show your support for Rangers.
DK – Thanks Ian, now its time for the main event. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Mr Charles Green.
Charles Green – Thank you for such a great welcome. In the past few days I have been to Dubai, Qatar, Perth, Melbourne and now Sydney and everywhere the reception has just been fantastic. I am learning each day how great this club is, it also makes me realise that all the hard work that we did in February to buy the club is appreciated. Its great to be here and I will make sure I don’t ramble on as much as the last guy!
Defending The Club
In my short time at Rangers I have faced more charges than any other Chief Executive ever. I am told that my conduct isn’t right but I refuse to let people tread over this club and I will stand up for the club. I won’t apologise for telling the truth and defending this club.
Background to Buying the Club
Back in February I was watching the News at Ten and the main headline was Rangers had went into administration and I felt a sadness for the club. I was mates with Colin Hendry and I had been to Scotland games at Ibrox – but I wasn’t a Rangers fan. I did know that Rangers were a massive club – although that is nothing to how massive I now know this club is. I was initially asked to buy the club and I said no. I was asked again and was encouraged to get a group of investors together. At that time I was planning to go live in France but I was encouraged to look into buying Rangers.
I wanted to get lawyers and accountants together to analyse the club and we had to trail through a 15,000 page report from Duff & Phelps. I was introduced to the media by Duff & Phelps as having exclusivity to buy the club. The administrators were running out of cash and it was the end of the season so there was no income for the club. Various different groups were offering to buy the club but were not coming up with any cash. In the end I paid £250k for exclusivity of the club. At that time the fans were questioning me, and none of the other investors wanted to go public. I was being accused of working alongside Craig Whyte and using his money to buy the club. Needless to say that wasn’t the case.
We were ready for both the Newco and CVA routes but by the 1st of August we still weren’t registered by the SFA and it was so close to not being registered in time for the game vs Brechin. If we hadn’t made that we would have been unable to play in the league for a full year. We were misled by HMRC and all the problems could have been avoided if we knew the outcome of the tax case sooner as Ticketus were willing to accept the CVA. We would have saved over £500,000 in legal fees if HMRC had been upfront.
HMRC are now appealing the decision against a company which is in liquidation and has no assets. They also have no chance of winning this. Rangers made huge mistakes in the past and did deserve to be punished, but not the fans or the staff working for the club. The people who should have been held accountable for all the mistakes have never felt any pain. It is now the fans who are paying for these mistakes.
I have never told lies. I am the biggest shareholder at Rangers with an 8% stake. We can never get to a situation where one man has sole control again. That’s why we need fans to invest and buy shares in the club. The stock offering was extremely successful and that was a result of the confidence that the fans gave the City of London – seeing 49k fans turn up every week.
On Tuesday I was in Qatar at the European Club Association Conference and I was sat with the Chairmen of 3 Italian clubs – AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus and I offered Juventus the use of Murray Park while they are in Glasgow next week. We have a lot of friends in Europe and they can’t believe the treatment that Rangers have faced. Growing up I was always taught that when someone is down, you help them back up. That hasn’t been the case with Rangers. People have put the boot in at every opportunity. It is absolutely crazy as you just have to look at the Sky viewing figures or the attendances in the SPL to realise what a mistake it was. During the summer I was told by other Chairmen that they had no choice to vote us down as their own fans were refusing to buy season tickets – I even offered to pay for the 3,000 season tickets that one club normally sells. They told me they could’t do it as there were fans protesting outside their stadiums. None of these decisions were based on business. If we had stayed in the SPL we would have had more bills but we would have had £30M more revenue and Deloitte had helped to advise us that HMRC couldn’t win the tax case. We suffered due to poor decisions – if HMRC had made a decision sooner there would be no newco.
Meanwhile I am getting grief from everyone while I am trying to fight to save the previous titles that were trying to be stripped from the club. I was ready to pack it in but Ally asked me not to leave. Ally couldn’t come out publically and back me as Walter was just putting a bid together so he couldn’t be seen to be backing me over Walter. I was happy to work with Walter and he has since told me he is happy his bid collapsed.
Orlit
We have cash in the bank and are debt free – there is not a single club in Italy without debt. We have £20M in the bank. We have no borrowings yet people are still trying to make mischief. The Orlit situation. We had agreed to pay introductory fees to the stockbroker of 5%. Now we are doing so well they are asking for £230K more and have placed a winding up order against the club! It is complete nonsense and they will not get a penny from me as I will never give in to blackmail and threats.
Craig Whyte
Craig Whyte has approached us and said he wants 6 tickets in the directors box plus a payment of £1 million. I said that we should offer it to him but let it be made public that he is back in Glasgow. I’m sure if we told people Craig Whyte was at Ibrox we would have the biggest attendance ever. Everyone is now looking to steal our success and people are looking for huge entitlements.
The Future
I won’t work after Rangers – this is the most satisfying job I have ever had. But of course the shareholders can vote me out. No one has sole control. We operate tight controls now. We need to strike a better balance between running as a business and satisfying the fans. When I was at Sheffield I paid £500k for a Flo brother – Rangers paid £11.5M too much. The club were spending far too much on players and wages. Yet we are still unable to sign players and have no idea what league we will be playing in next season – absolute madness. It is hurting us as it affects decisions – shirt sponsors, TV deals. We also have to face difficult decisions such as the opportunity of stadium naming rights – more on that later.
I have been accused of pandering to the Rangers fans by the media. I didn’t go out of my way to win over the fans, I simply told the truth. I spoke to a fan who was renewing his season ticket for the 30th year and he said that I was the first time anyone from the club had ever spoke to him. That can’t be right. That’s why I have went to the USA and Belfast and I am going up to Stornoway to meet the fans and hear your views. It is so important to listen to the fans. I am looking at business development in Asia and the Far East. Rangers have let down the 600 supporters clubs we have worldwide. Melbourne RSC are celebrating their 30th anniversary and Rangers haven’t done enough to capitalise on the global fanbase. I’m sure if I went to the South Pole I would find a RSC. It is a lost opportunity to not capitalise on this global presence.
Jim Traynor and Media
We have brought Jim Traynor on board. He is not a Rangers fan but he knows Scottish football inside out. I asked him to leave the BBC / Daily Record as we need to be able to control the media and Jim is a great asset. Serious action is needed with regard to the media. The Old Firm have always had a huge influence over the media but with Rangers not speaking out for the last 5-6 years had given Celtic too much power. Dominance was now held by just one club and that was not healthy. The reaction of other journalists to us winning the tax case was unbelievable with one editor with his head in his hands and the other claiming it was ‘a fucking conspiracy by the government’. Jim had lost faith in the media. Jim has something on everyone in Scottish football and now he is working for us you can guarantee there are quite a few people on Immodium now!
We plan to transform our use of media – starting with a Rangers App for iPhones. Jim Traynor will be out here in Oz next week. We will be holding an interactive phone in where you can speak face to face online and will get the chance to ask questions to myself and Ally directly. We are building a TV broadcast unit in Argyle House so we can control our own productions – there will be no political correctness or boundaries and it will be a fully open forum to discuss. We will also film the aboard meeting – a first in UK PLC history. Fans have a right to know what is going on.
Cross Border Leagues
SFA have now admitted they have been speaking to UEFA about cross border leagues and that they wouldn’t oppose Rangers leaving Scotland. This was denied 6 months ago. They haven’t been telling the truth yet I am on a charge by the SFA every month for bringing the game into disrepute by telling the truth.
I told Neil Doncaster I wouldn’t be attending the league restructure meeting as I can’t vote. It is ridiculous we can’t vote. The rules change like the weather. Now we don’t want to listen to the fans, less than a year after being told the views of fans were the most important. I have been looking into us playing in the Conference as it would be a higher standard than what we are playing in now. I have 2 legal opinions that we should sue the FA under the EU treaty for fair trade. To not let us play in that league falls under anti-competition legislation and I have written to the Prime minister to explain this. I will explore every opportunity and do what is right for Rangers.
The Rangers Support
We sold 38,500 season tickets this year. 9,000 did not renew this year due to various reasons. I am hopefully that most of these fans now trust me and will come back next year giving us even more season ticket sales. We have a lot more young people coming to games and that is good for the future of the club. We are making friends on all of our away trips and all of the local pubs and shops love it. In Annan the local shops ran out of beer when we came to visit. We have Russian and South American camera crews following the rise of Rangers – this helps to raise our profile abroad. We have paid the price for our mistakes so there will be no more apologies from us.
Boycotts
I was asked by a fan if we will boycott all away games when we get back to the SPL. No. The Dundee United boycott was to make a stand against their chairman who tried to harm our club. That fans boycott was for one reason, but the fans drive on the players. I would love to see the opposite and have so many fans turn up to away games that some of our fans are turned away despite the fact these teams can’t fill their own stadiums. Maybe we could borrow some of the empty seats from Celtic! A taxi driver who was a Celtic fan actually asked for my photo and thanked me for saving Rangers as he said without Rangers there is no Celtic. There is no spectacle of Old Firm matches anymore.
League Reconstruction
In the next 4-6 weeks I will be wanting the outcome of the league reconstruction. At most it will take us another 2 years to get back to the top. We performed terribly against Dundee Utd last week and we need to build a side that can compete and get in Europe. We can never be bigger than Manchester United or Barcelona – we are dreaming if we think we can. I was told to only ever dream when I am sleeping. Dreams when you are awake only distract you. We need a different model – we need to look at Ajax and Sporting Lisbon and Porto. These teams compete well in Europe every year. We need more out of Murray Park and we need to buy young players from teams. Not Messi or even Fabregas who is sitting on the bench behind Messi. We need the youngsters with great potential but don’t get a chance because they are stuck behind Messi and Fabregas. We need a mixture of 1 or 2 experienced players alongside a young team.
I am wide awake to the tough realities we face but I am confident we will deliver success over the coming 4-5 years. I am now happy to answer any questions that you may have, unless the question is ‘will I buy a round?’ – the answer is no!
Q&A
Q – Hi Charles, what school did you go to?
CG – I left school at 15 and went to work in the mines. It was not a comprehensive or grammar school. But I always worked hard. Seeing you all here I see what a diverse group you are but you are all part of the one family and I feel part of that family. I want to be part of it for the next 15 years.
Q – When are you going to invite Linfield to Ibrox?
CG – As we speak, Andrew Dixon is fixing this. Before the end of May – as soon as they have secured a European place for next season. I am also in talks to have a friendly with Arsenal and we will be buying back our shares in Arsenal. I am sure you have also heard the recent reports about Gazza and I will be looking to arrange a game with Newcastle to raise funds to support Gazza – a Rangers and Newcastle legend.
Q – Over the past 12 months the media has been full of misinformation and lies. With Jim Traynor now on board are we going to go on the offensive or go after individuals who have harmed the club?
CG – We have 3 potential positions. 1 – stay where we were and let everyone walk all over us. 2 – go to war with everyone. But wars are draining and they are not constructive. 3 – is the middle ground and Jim Traynor is a great weapon. We can use him to harm anyone who wants to harm us. I don’t want to go on the offensive, I just want us to be allowed to get on with ourselves and for everyone else to focus on their own business.
Q – Where is the future for Rangers in Europe such as the Europa League?
CG – Europe is a massive opportunity. The Champions League Final will generate over £1 billion for the clubs involved. And there are clubs looking at refreshing the Europa League. We need this as the format is stale in Scotland and fans lose interest quickly. Next year I want a stronger Rangers who will be competitive in the cups. But we cant buy until Jan 2014. I will only accept a move to a higher league if we get the transfer ban removed. Otherwise there is no point in being in the higher league and being disadvantaged. Stuart Regan thought I was all talk when I threatened to refuse to play this season unless we backed him. The balance of power has now shifted and the future is bright for Rangers.
Q – Thank you so much for saving our club. What can we do to ensure the future success of the club to allow my son to follow Rangers?
CG – I had a meeting with Central Coast Mariners today, they have great facilities. Scottish talent will never be enough so we need to look at other players from overseas. Ji Sun Park at Man Utd is a great example of this. He is a great player from a commercial sense. We need to set up an academy for talent in Australia, Japan and China. Central Coast can be a feeder club for us. I will be bringing teams over to Scotland. Rangers will be going to the USA this year and Indonesia next year. We will be hosting friendlies at Ibrox. Claudio Reyna will be helping us set up an academy in USA. We need a mix of cultures to build a side which can compete. We have a goalie in our under 17 team who is amazing and teams in England want him. This is also our future through our own academy. Many players walked out on Rangers for personal gain. Naismith said I turned the Rangers fans against him – but if he loved Rangers so much he wouldn’t have left. These are players without honour and they will never be back at Rangers. Players like McGregor, Naismith, Whittaker and Lafferty are not welcome back.
Q – Talk in the past about casinos around Ibrox – are there any plans for the future?
CG – The previous plans were so grand and were too far-fetched. I am working with planners on new schemes. I bought back the Albion Car park and Edminston House. We were paying £400,000 a year in finance a year to Lloyds for the car park. I paid £1.4 M to buy this back. I want to move Ibrox complex from in front of the stadium and create a walkway to the ground for families – similar to Wembley Way. We bought Edminston House for £1 million. The ground floor will become the new Rangers shop and the current shop will become a ticket centre so fans don’t need to queue outside. I want to open a fan museum and create a café bar so that fans can spend 3-4 hours at Ibrox on a non-matchday.
Q – You have done more for Rangers in the last 6 months than Murray and Whyte in the last 20 years. Thank you so much.
CG – Thank you.
Q – Whyte was a complete disaster. How do we ensure the guy after you is not the same?
CG – When our share price went up many investors took their money and left and that is fine. Rangers are currently only valued at £60M. We will be worth half a billion in 5 years. We are selling shares in an institution and many fans have invested so will help to control the club. The latest Deloitte report shows that when you exclude the money from Sky TV Rangers are bigger than Aston Villa, Sunderland and Everton combined. With TV money, we will be massive.
Q – Have you ever considered changing surname?
CG – Yeah – Will do it once we win Champions League.
Q – Is it realistic that we can move to England?
CG – If teams from Wales get in then teams from Scotland get in otherwise they are breaching EU free trade laws. We are looking into this. UEFA/FIFA don’t let football matters go to court but this could be the Bosman situation all over again only for clubs and we are pursuing this.
Q – How much have you fell in love with Rangers?
CG – Well the last time I went without sleep for 4 days was on my honeymoon!
William de Chermont – Thanks everyone for coming today. We really want you to join ORSA if you are not a member. Thanks to Ian Gray for the past year. Thanks to Gary Coutts from the Northern Beaches. Thanks to Billy Moffat and most of all thanks to Charles Green – you are welcome back any time.
wottpi says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 09:04
============================================
Apologies,
Must have been posting at the same time
From Mr Green Q& A
Jim Traynor and Media
We have brought Jim Traynor on board. He is not a Rangers fan but he knows Scottish football inside out. I asked him to leave the BBC / Daily Record as we need to be able to control the media and Jim is a great asset. Serious action is needed with regard to the media. The Old Firm have always had a huge influence over the media but with Rangers not speaking out for the last 5-6 years had given Celtic too much power. Dominance was now held by just one club and that was not healthy.
——————————————————————————————
Jim not a Rangers fan
Need to control media, has he not got Moonbeams phone number.
We’ll see if the SFA are serious about pursuing Craig Whyte, considering they have issued a writ recently in an attempt to secure the £200,000 fine placed on the man last year. Nevertheless, I don’t really see how he would have to pay this.
But if a link between Whyte and the present Ibrox hierarchy is established, given the ban the SFA also placed on Whyte, then surely by association they have more chance of taking action in terms of the financial sections of their secret ‘5 Way Agreement’.
CG allegedly says “When our share price went up many investors took their money and left and that is fine. Rangers are currently only valued at £60M. We will be worth half a billion in 5 years. We are selling shares in an institution and many fans have invested so will help to control the club. The latest Deloitte report shows that when you exclude the money from Sky TV Rangers are bigger than Aston Villa, Sunderland and Everton combined. With TV money, we will be massive”.
If so, the CEO of an AIM listed company, clearly states that the company will grow 8x in value over the next five years and this in a company where shares are publicly traded.
Is this legal?
borussiabeefburg says:
But if a link between Whyte and the present Ibrox hierarchy is established, given the ban the SFA also placed on Whyte, then surely by association they have more chance of taking action in terms of the financial sections of their secret ’5 Way Agreement’.
Should a direct link be established between Whyte and the present TRFC board/business then the SFA will be the least of their “judicial” worries.
“Orlit
We have cash in the bank and are debt free – there is not a single club in Italy without debt. We have £20M in the bank. We have no borrowings yet people are still trying to make mischief. The Orlit situation. We had agreed to pay introductory fees to the stockbroker of 5%. Now we are doing so well they are asking for £230K more and have placed a winding up order against the club! It is complete nonsense and they will not get a penny from me as I will never give in to blackmail and threats.”
So Charles confirms there is a winding up order, or is it a threat or is it something else entirely??????????
The fee we know that has been discussed is £400k with potentiall two invoicces already been paid.
Even taking the ‘greedy ask for extras’ of £230k more than entitled to from the £400kinvoice reported that leaves £170k
At a 5% introductory fees that means Orlit introduced Charles to £3.4m of investment/loans or whatever.
(At £400,000k the money raised must have been £8m)
Can anyone identify where that money went to and/or how that money ties in with the previous share holding being that is is reported this was all related to pre-aquisition costs and the June Payroll.
Still smells fishy to me.
Green is hilarious. Spinning plates and dealing out preposterous sound bites for churnalists to print, whilst the clock ticks down on his time and he exits stage left with a bag full of cash and the dazed and confused hordes in his wake
‘But I thought we were bigger than Liverpool, Chelsea and Man U combined, with £50billion in the bank and a worldwide fan base of 700 million?’
Defending The Club
In my short time at Rangers I have faced more charges than any other Chief Executive ever. I am told that my conduct isn’t right but I refuse to let people tread over this club and I will stand up for the club. I won’t apologise for telling the truth and defending this club.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can think of ONE. How many more have there been?
exiledcelt says:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 08:48
http://www.sydneytrueblues.com/2013/02/12/charles-green-qa-report/
————————————————
“In Feb 2012, just 2 weeks after the club went into administration we held the ORSA AGM in Perth”
I thought it was only Celtic supporters who got quite that excited about Rangers going into administration.