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.
chipsandblog says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:22
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anybody fancy a race at Knockhill ? Your car against my new £47 million formula 1 car
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Show me your pink slip first
Clearly there will be no appeal of LNS adjudication. With the exception of the the HMRC appeal of the FTTT, which will be concluded in 2014 if we’re lucky; the process of examination of what most non TRFC fans consider institutional and industrial scale wrongdoing is over.
Therefore as far as the SPL, SFA, SFL and the various dignatiaries who head up these bodies are concerned, it is busness as usual i.e. beavering away to create a new league structure to ensure the status quo is rebalanced as quickly as possible.
And yet who among the fan base, and I include TRFC, are remotely happy with these fine institutions? So why are we sitting idly by and watching them carrying on the grand charade and being handsomely rewarded for doing so?
The only satisfactory alternative is a no confidence vote and perhaps even a break away position. But are our club chairmen up for it?. It would seem not. Are there no organised (as opposed to internet bampots) fans bodies ho can draw their own line?
neepheid says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:06
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nowoldandgrumpy says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 17:05
What about LH and the COI. A totally ludicrousness situation.
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Neepheid, why should your post be pulled, that is the kind of post that this blog is all about.
I agree with you 100%, Lord Hodge is heavily conflicted in this,he played an important part in a shameful plan to resurrect RFC in anyway possible. Remember how we all waited to find out just how much conflicted D and P and Whyte were, and how many other shenanigans he was going to find, only to receive a damp squib one week before the 5th of November.
bill1903 says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 16:29
Ha ha Angus I remember that well in the late 70′s
Can also remember singing UDA all the way etc
——
Just to clarify for Glaswegians present, we sang the opposite when the other half of the OF were visiting. Lyrics were interchangeable between the UDA and that other Irish organisation, and the lines following were swapped between Her Majesty and His Holiness.
Truthfully, we didn’t care and meant absolutely none of it. We just did it to wind up whichever half of the OF were inhabiting the Paddock end that day.
(Bill – didn’t it feel wierd when we got moved over there, to the “Merkland Road Stand” as it became known? Mind, when I was small, lots of us used to swap ends at half-time, across the South Terrace under the half-time scoreboard to the Paddock. Except in OF games, when the wee door on the left side of the Beach End remained locked.) 🙂
Sorry folks, OT I know.
neepheid says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:06
The only possible above board and logical scenario that I can think of is that it was put to Lord Hodge that there was no prejudice to the creditors in keeping the company in Administration in order that the assets could be sold– with the supporting argument that if the company went into Liquidation this would adversely affect the value of the assets which in turn would prejudice the creditors.
Thus Lord Hodge may well have delayed for the very reason you have suggested so that the purchaser could be in the best possible place to complete a deal for the assets– but the truth is I have no idea and no idea where his conflict of interest report is or why it has taken so long.
Scapaflow14
I have been following Ian Fraser for a long time. He is a vociferous critic of the banks with lots of detail on BOS- HBOS- MIH and so on. He has also focused on people such as SDM, Gavin Masterton, Peter Cummins, Lord Stephenson and so on– he makes for very interesting reading,
I wrote an article tracing statements by the HBOS on their attitude to Scottish Football team clients and comparing their statements and actions to what happened next with regard to RFC , MIH and SDM– the contrast was quite startling.
Axminster Carpet Ltd appoint Duff & Phelps as Administrators
”..the Joint Administrators have had no alternative other than to make approximately 300 employees redundant ..”
so they DO know how an administration runs 😉
“It is necessary to complete the judicial process following the determination by Lord Glennie in the Court of Session that required the Independent Appellate Body to revisit available sanctions relating to Oldco, having been found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute.
“The Scottish FA indicated to Sevco Scotland Ltd that they had to accept responsibility for any sanctions arising out of this case as a condition of transfer of membership.
“Rather than convening the Appellate Tribunal to determine from the sanctions available to it, the company directors of Sevco Scotland Ltd have chosen to accept the 12-month registration embargo.
“This embargo will begin on 1st September 2012 and end on 31st August 2013.
“Sevco Scotland Ltd have also undertaken to accept all other outstanding conditions relating to Oldco’s charges of bringing the game into disrepute..
and yet the spl fine the old club
A Sevcovian view of the Johnny Russell injury.
Proud2BeBritish☆☆☆☆☆ @spex1872
Just open the paper to that @johnnyrussell27 had broken his leg all I can say is….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA YA wee manky f**k!!!
Why was the administration of Rangers carried out differently from any other club in Scotland?.
Why were all the players (assets not sold immediately) like any other club? Why the Lord Farcical COI issue.
The special licence scenario also farcical. Mr Salmond contacting HMRC (fabric of society guff).
Now the LNS (taking the blatant single fish approach). There are a lot of influential people trying to save this institution and basically at this moment in time succeeding with their efforts. The ONLY time it was out of their hands was last summer when US the fans assured justice. .
If clubs do not stand up at this moment in time it may be back to the fans. All fans should be applying pressure to their clubs asking for statements on this LNS non punishment.and the (we will get Sevco up to the top as fast as we can in the next joke of the reconstruction approach, as we know this is coming).
Conflict of Interest as mentioned several times on this blog..This is how I see it.
We here all the social unrest and the threat of CONFLICT when the fabric of society FC play other SPL teams in the future.
I have no INTEREST in seeing this scenario playing out in the future.
If hey are an insttitution FC return to the SPL sooner than they should I think supporters from other clubs will be for the OFF and not return to football.
So who so far is trying to save we make friends where ever we go FC.
Lords, First Minister, QC’s, MSM, Head of SFA, other members of SFA, Head of SPL
Members of Parliament and no doubt others outwith this list.
Thank God I live in Scotland and am not paranoid.
Football it is only a game, but maybe not for long..
mirrenman says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:53
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Axminster Carpet Ltd appoint Duff & Phelps as Administrators
”..the Joint Administrators have had no alternative other than to make approximately 300 employees redundant ..”
so they DO know how an administration runs 😉
*******
………..and a convenient source for carpets, to sweep things under.
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:53
The only possible above board and logical scenario that I can think of is that it was put to Lord Hodge that there was no prejudice to the creditors in keeping the company in Administration in order that the assets could be sold– with the supporting argument that if the company went into Liquidation this would adversely affect the value of the assets which in turn would prejudice the creditors.
================
The scenario you outline is quite definitely not above board. If that proposition was put to Lord Hodge (by whom, by the way?) and he accepted it, then why did he not just say so? And why would such deliberations not be in open court? Surely the creditors had an overriding interest, and were entitled to know what was going on? Sorry, but it just doesn’t wash with me.
I hope that thumbs up re the Johnny Russell tweet was a mistake or it was from a very sick person.
mirrenman says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:53
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Axminster Carpet Ltd appoint Duff & Phelps as Administrators
”..the Joint Administrators have had no alternative other than to make approximately 300 employees redundant ..”
so they DO know how an administration runs
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South of the border, they might have proper press, politicians and judiciary to worry about if they adopted the same under the carpet tactics as they did with RFC.
liveinhop says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:11
“It has been decided by the board that any proceeds from gate receipts due to the Club will be donated to the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice Brick by Brick Appeal and Erskine charities via the Rangers Charity Foundation.”
Ticket Prices were set at £15 and £5 for concessions.
Ref: Norris
Att: 9,564
Except when a match is played on a neutral ground, the monies received from all admission charges to a match in any Round other than the Preliminary Round (if applicable), First, Second, Third, Semi-Final and Final Rounds, shall be divided as follows:-
(1) A levy of 5% of the monies received from all admission charges to the match shall be paid to the Association within three days of the date on which the match is played.
(2) The host club shall be entitled to make a deduction of 20% from the gross receipts.
(3) When, after payment of the levy and of the deduction foresaid, half of the remainder of the receipts exceeds the guarantee, the said remainder of the receipts shall be divided, equally, between the two clubs.
(4) When, after payment of the levy and of the deduction foresaid, half of the said remainder of the receipts does not exceed the guarantee, the visiting club shall only receive the guarantee.
The host club shall be responsible for payment of the match expenses.
Do the math
66.6% full price £95,639
33.3% concessions £15,939
Total = £111,578
-5% to SFA -20% to Dundee Utd for costs – £27894
Leaves £83,684 to be split two ways = £41,842
£41,842 minus £16,400 to Hospice = £25,442 for Erskine?
It is truly amazing that Duff & Phelps kept the whole RFC team and employees whilst in administration. They then sold the assets at well below market value.
What they should have done is make major redundancies straight away, The whole process was dragged out so that D&P have probably eaten up any money creditors may have received.
BDO are absolutely no help whatsoever, by the time they rule, it will be pointless.
Could have saved myself a bit of bother
Scotzine says the Rangers share of the cup tie cash was around £33k and it was split 50/50 between the two charities.
http://www.scotzine.com/2013/03/rangers-fulfill-pledge-by-green-to-donate-funds-to-charity/
Thats being said it looks like the were around £9k short based on the above calc.
Must be a load of concessions going to Dundee Utd games becasue even at 50% paying full price it still gives you £35,865 ??
neepheid says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 18:06
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—————–
… I have been told before by several well connected posters what an upright judge Lord Hodge is, how unworthy it is to even think such thoughts. And now to cap it all I have Lord Hodge’s even more esteemed colleague, Lord Nimmo-Smith stepping centre stage with a judgement that is breathtaking in its partiality and brass-necked arrogance.
Well, apologies in advance to TSFM or Big Pink or whatever, because I know he doesn’t like stuff like this on his blog, but I have to say it- this whole affair reeks of judicial corruption. If that is the Scottish legal system, then I am truly, truly ashamed to be Scottish.
—————-
Perhaps we’ve all been expecting too much of the judiciary? I’m more inclined to view many of them as having the qualities of Mr Justice Cocklecarrot, of Private Eye fame. I’m not sure judges in England are viewed with anything like the reverence some are in Scotland. In any case, one word should make us think twice regarding the Scottish judiciary: Lockerbie.
Otherwise, on a lighter judical note, James ‘Cocklecarrot’ Pickles’ obituary should cure anyone of the notion that judges are beyond reproach.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/8220386/His-Honour-James-Pickles.html
PS Show us the deeds!
So in amongst all of the other charges of incompetence, corruption, and bringing their own sport into disrepute we can now also add the allowing of a club to participate in their league who will incurr loses of at least £21M before they reach the top league if they are not given another leg up.
So a debt of £21M before they even get to the SPL. This is more than the debt that finally finished the old club and it will only get worse.
One of the things I would really like to know in this issue is that they day after the CVA failed every, and I mean every paper in Scotland, said that Rangers were dead. Thats headline after headline stating that RFC had been liquidated.
Within a month the line had altered to ‘it was the holding company that went bust’. What happened in that timeframe to make every media company in the country to alter there stance. All of these papers have a business section that could have dispelled this myth in a matter of seconds so what changed?
Anybody got any contacts at a paper who could let us know when and why the story changed?
If at one stage they were willing to admit the truth what happened?
And here is the fix
http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/110253-fifa-sporting-merit-should-come-first-in-rangers-first-division-vote/
“Sporting merit” should come first when it comes to deciding which league Rangers play in next season, according to FIFA.
The world football governing body say they will not intervene on the matter if Charles Green’s new company gain immediate access to the First Division and bypass two tiers of the Scottish Football League, saying the final decision is for the Scottish FA to make.
FIFA’s Statutes state the “entitlement” of a club to take part in a league should “depend principally on sporting merit” and not depend on other factors, a point which has been emphasised by a spokesman for the organisation.
SFL clubs will vote on Friday whether to forego “sporting merit” in return for financial gain and a change to the league structure, although 13 of the 29 sides eligible to vote have already stated they would oppose such a move.
The Scottish FA’s chief executive, Stewart Regan, has already spoken out over the need for Rangers to be allowed to bypass the bottom two divisions in order to protect the financial future of the game.
He warned of the “slow, lingering death” of football in the nation if the club were not voted in to the second tier with immediate effect.
The Scottish Premier League has warned it stands to lose £15.7m per annum in commercial revenue if clubs decide instead to allow Rangers to enter at Third Division level.
The SPL chief executive, Neil Doncaster, reportedly told SFL sides last week that a number of clubs in his league stand to go into administration if a deal cannot be struck.
Despite any move to allow Rangers to compete in the First Division being stated publicly by those in power as a necessary financial decision, going against FIFA’s Statutes, the governing body say they will not intervene. They did, however, reiterate their standpoint as outlined in their rule book.
In a statement to STV, they said: “FIFA is not in a position to comment on the matter as this is a domestic issue which falls under the remit of the SFA and should be dealt with in accordance with the laws and regulations applicable on national level.
“However, and generally speaking, we can point you to Art. 9.2 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes under ‘Principle of promotion and relegation’.
“[It] states that “in addition to qualification on sporting merit, a club’s participation in a domestic league championship may be subject to other criteria within the scope of licensing procedure, whereby the emphasis is on sporting, infrastructural, administrative, legal and financial considerations. Licensing decisions must be able to be examined by the Member [Scottish FA]’s body of appeal.”
A spokesperson for FIFA also made clear that “sporting merit” should be the main factor in all cases where it is under consideration which league a club should participate in, regardless of any other circumstances.
The Scottish FA is obliged to abide by FIFA’s Statutes, as per its own Articles of Association, but is devolved the power by FIFA, and at confederation level by UEFA, to run the game nationally.
The Scottish FA were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Rangers manager Ally McCoist has stated his desire for the newco to start life in the Third Division, with the Rangers Supporters Trust also expressing the wishes of fans for the team to play in Scottish football’s fourth tier.
One SFL chairman has told STV that if the governing body try to go against the decision of the clubs and insist Rangers are installed in the second tier, they would revolt.
Another stated on Tuesday that any talk of creating a breakaway SPL2, which was threatened to clubs if they did not vote Rangers into the First Division, was unrealistic.
FIFA’S STATUTES ON “PRINCIPLE OF PROMOTION AND RELEGATION” IN FULL
A club’s entitlement to take part in a domestic league championship shall depend principally on sporting merit. A club shall qualify for a domestic league championship by remaining in a certain division or by being promoted or relegated to another at the end of a season.
In addition to qualification on sporting merit, a club’s participation in a domestic league championship may be subject to other criteria within the scope of the licensing procedure, whereby the emphasis is on sporting, infrastructural, administrative, legal and financial considerations. Licensing decisions must be able to be examined by the Member’s body of appeal.
Altering the legal form or company structure of a club to facilitate its qualification on sporting merit and/or its receipt of a licence for a domestic league championship, to the detriment of the integrity of a sports competition, is prohibited. This includes, for example, changing the headquarters, changing the name or transferring stakeholdings between different clubs. Prohibitive decisions must be able to be examined by the Member’s body of appeal.
Each Member is responsible for deciding national issues, which may not be delegated to the Leagues. Each Confederation is responsible for deciding issues involving more than one Association concerning its own territory. FIFA is responsible for deciding international issues involving more than one Confederation.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:06
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And here is the fix
http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/110253-fifa-sporting-merit-should-come-first-in-rangers-first-division-vote/
“Sporting merit” should come first when it comes to deciding which league Rangers play in next season, according ….
————–
I’ve consistently refused to believe that fast-tracking was ever on the cards. In fact, I saw it as a sign genuine paranoia. But there now seems to be an orchestrated campaign to move Greengers up the leagues pronto. Whether it happens is another thing, but the media and Green are dropping heavy hints and making subtle demands already. Even the authorities are not dismissing the idea out of hand.
Neepheid
An excellent point well made. I’m in complete agreement. Collusion is behind this shameful story:-
– How were D&P allowed to conduct their administration in the manner they did? Why were court appointed administrators allowed to work for the benefit of the club rather than the creditors? Where is Lord Hodges COI report?
– What has happened to the police investigation into Craig Whyte’s takeover?
– why did the SFA insist on a transfer embargo as punishment (recommended by Nimmo Smith iirc) for Craig Whyte’s failure to disclose disqualification & non payment of PAYE when it wasn’t in the rules? Why was the embargo then delayed for one transfer window?
– where is OSCRs report into the Legends Charity Match last year?
– where is the result of SFAs investigation into sectarian singing v Kilmarnock following administration last year? And Hampden v QoS. And Berwick, were a national broadcaster had to apologise for their shameful behaviour?
– why did 2 FTT judges ignore the obvious scam so well detailed by Poon and rule in rangers favour?
– Nimmo Smith unbelevable commenting that non disclosure of side letters offered no sporting advantage
Those are just some of the questions that confirm to me that there is collusion at the highest level. Is this a planned strategy or is it reactive? It certainly looks planned.
The next phase to me looks like league reconstruction. with it being being accelerated, and Sevco settling football debts, leaking the potential signing of an ROI player and Green’s talk of hounding out the bigots it looks to me like they’re trying to clean up their image for their invite into a higher league.
I’m angry too, neepheid. Really angry. It’s shameful what’s going on and I feel helpless. I’m hoping that maybe the collective fan power of all other Scottish clubs can again see justice done. Starting by withholding our season ticket money until the Blazers at the SFA are forced out.
Any fast tracking will kill Scottish football stone dead!
arabest1 says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:30
Any fast tracking will kill Scottish football stone dead!
——
Bears repeating. Are you reading, Messrs Regan, Doncaster, Longmuir et al?
bellshilltim says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:24
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I’m angry too, neepheid. Really angry. It’s shameful what’s going on and I feel helpless. I’m hoping that maybe the collective fan power of all other Scottish clubs can again see justice done. Starting by withholding our season ticket money until the Blazers at the SFA are forced out …
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It’s some list when you arrange it in the way you did. Only fan power will stop this now. But fans too must be weary of having to continually fight for justice and fair play from the bodies who are tasked with upholding the same. You’d think we were reading about the goings-on in some tin-pot dictatorship.
Not a tin pot dictatorship Danish just the best wee banana republic in the world
Danish Pastry says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 21:01
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bellshilltim says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:24
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I’m angry too, neepheid. Really angry. It’s shameful what’s going on and I feel helpless. I’m hoping that maybe the collective fan power of all other Scottish clubs can again see justice done. Starting by withholding our season ticket money until the Blazers at the SFA are forced out …
———-
It’s some list when you arrange it in the way you did. Only fan power will stop this now. But fans too must be weary of having to continually fight for justice and fair play from the bodies who are tasked with upholding the same. You’d think we were reading about the goings-on in some tin-pot dictatorship.
=======================================
DP,
Think you may have hit the nail on the head.
Fans will weary of fighting,and why not?
The governance of our game should be the responsibility of the governing bodies,who we should not forget are made up of the clubs themselves.As far as I’m concerned,the clubs,by their inactions are 100% complicit.
Eventually fans will just say no more to paying all this cash to be treated like sh*t.
If TRFC are fast-tracked next season,Scottish Football is dead.
And if you think the SFA/SPL/SFL and the clubs themselves won’t make the same mistake as last year and underestimate the fans feelings,you’re wrong!
wottpi says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 19:37
Did you take off the VAT in your calculations.
That is remitted to HMRC so doesn’t form part of the money made from the game.
That would be before all other deductions were made.
dentarthurdent42 says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 21:24
wottpi says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 19:37
Did you take off the VAT in your calculations.
That is remitted to HMRC so doesn’t form part of the money made from the game.
==================================================
It did last year!
No it didn’t.
Rangers just stole that.
wottpi says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 19:45
4 1 Rate This
Could have saved myself a bit of bother
Scotzine says the Rangers share of the cup tie cash was around £33k and it was split 50/50 between the two charities.
http://www.scotzine.com/2013/03/rangers-fulfill-pledge-by-green-to-donate-funds-to-charity/
Thats being said it looks like the were around £9k short based on the above calc.
Must be a load of concessions going to Dundee Utd games becasue even at 50% paying full price it still gives you £35,865 ??
______________
i am sure i read on the monday after the game that thomson said there was a cheque on the way to t’rangers for 35k
angus1983 says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:39
18
0
Rate This
arabest1 says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:30
Any fast tracking will kill Scottish football stone dead!
——
Bears repeating. Are you reading, Messrs Regan, Doncaster, Longmuir et al…………………………………………………………
———————————————————————————————————–
Thompson, Milne, Brown, Petrie, Lawell, et al
torrejohnbhoy says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 21:20 (Edit)
The governance of our game should be the responsibility of the governing bodies, who we should not forget are made up of the clubs themselves. As far as I’m concerned, the clubs, by their inactions are 100% complicit.
Eventually fans will just say no more to paying all this cash to be treated like sh*t.
__________________________________________________________________________
I’m not so sure the fans will draw a line. There is too much emotional investment for some. Having said that, it’s fine they are happy enough to go along with the sham. I’m certainly not gonna criticise anyone who is steeped in the traditions of going to the gemme and finds it difficult to walk away.
For me it is simple. Like you I agree that the clubs have the power to deal with this appropriately if they so choose. If my team choose not to make a stand then I conclude they are happy to be cheated and treated like bit part players in the Big Bear Ego-boosting exercise that Scottish football has become. Their participation will validate the history of cheating and malfeasance by Rangers, and by default they will have lost my financial support.
I will still watch out for their scores, but if this episode has taught me one thing it is that my disappointment in defeat in the past was unjustified – especially since the outcome was almost certainly pre-ordained.
My reaction to any defeat in future will be;
1. Quelle surprise!
2. They walked into this with their eyes and wallets open. Hell mend them.
One thing I should have said. When the dust over this clears, our national game will be in a different place, with a different ethos and a different atmosphere.
The success or otherwise of this new entity, forged in the coals of an electric fire by the geniuses who have steered this trainwreck will depend on what the fans voting with their feet decide.
Does anyone think there will more turning up?
What about the same?
Or less?
Rhetorical question
Big Pink says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 22:02
18 0 Rate This
I’m not so sure the fans will draw a line. There is too much emotional investment for some. Having said that, it’s fine they are happy enough to go along with the sham. I’m certainly not gonna criticise anyone who is steeped in the traditions of going to the gemme and finds it difficult to walk away …
———-
If fans do walk away I hope each one writes to their club informing it why they cannot stomach what’s going on any more. It’ll send a powerful message.
Any fast tracking will kill the game stone dead.
Well,of course deep down they know that ,don’t they?
No,…….they probably don’t.
But the fans know it!!!
I’ve all but given up hope.
It seems to me the people charged with leading our clubs and leading our football authorities have blithely piloted the ship into the most dangerous of waters.
As ever higher waves crash repeatedly over the bow they desperately exhort the oceans to relent and let them pass.
It doesn’t occur to them they steered the ship into this storm or that they should turn about and return to calmer waters.
Danish Pastry says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 23:04
———-
If fans do walk away I hope each one writes to their club informing it why they cannot stomach what’s going on any more. It’ll send a powerful message.
———-
I’d like to think they could write to their clubs before walking away. It might make a difference.
The noise, or lack of it for the 2 weeks or so leading up to LNS findings from Charlieboy is surely no accident. Now we get the coming down hard on the “minority” bad element and the possibility of signing Daly. I think we are being looked upon as being toast. We are being buttered up here for sure. I can’t believe it’s not bluster that’s being churned out to us bampots.
I will not even watch a game on telly now it is all I can do to read TSFM I have truly had enough and doubt I will ever be back. I will have to find new interests.
Why is anyone surprised that the helping hand is again being mooted for the peepils club sevco 2012 .
Even after all we have witnessed ,some are still surprised ! ,go figure .
IMO the blatant and unrelenting bending ,breaking and ignoring of almost every rule in the book to force the peepils club into our midst (for the good of Scottish football ) has exposed a terminal cancer in our franchise (it no longer deserves to be called GAME ).
The peepil in charge wanted ragers 1872 as the heart of our franchise but the heart was disease ridden ,by years of abuse and bloated with overdoses of succulent lamb and the fat of the banks ,so a bypass was needed .The bypass operation was put in place but the rest of the body rejected the new heart and the peepil are doing everything to keep the new heart beating
They allowed it a transfusion of new blood in the transfer window (against the rules ) to get them through intensive care and are now looking to fast track them into the out patients department .
What we the rest of the mug punters have to realise is that the peepil want the new heart to replace the old one and all our money to keep pumping through it ,they see it as the HEART of our franchise and will pump it full of drugs to insure it is in tip TOP condition .
So any of the clubs outside Celtic had any delusions of seeing their teams having a crack at CL glory ,forget it .2nd place ,forget it .Cup glory ,lower your expectations .At the end of the day we are all here just to keep pumping our hard earned cash into the franchise for the good of the new heart .
The trouble is with all this effort put into saving the new heart the peepil have neglected the rest of the body and the cancer is so widespread the only humane thing is to switch the life support off and seek a transplant into a clean body .
A rumour that the Scottish football authorities are going to bring in their own version of the UEFA ‘Financial Fair Play’ rules. All Scottish clubs are to be asked to sign up to the new ‘Financial Skulduggery’ guidelines to ensure that the blooming health enjoyed by Scottish football in the recent past is continued into the future.
carlislecelt says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 03:54
13 0 Rate This
I will not even watch a game on telly now it is all I can do to read TSFM I have truly had enough and doubt I will ever be back. I will have to find new interests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not having been to Carlisle since I passed through on the way from Gloucester to Lake Bassenthwaite when I was about 11 or 12, I did a quick online search for things to do in the town and came across this…
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=23269
It’s got to be more interesting than watching a rigged league!
There’s a thread running on RM – “DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY WE DIDN’T DECLARE THE EBT’s TO THE SFA ?”
The penny appears to have dropped with this Berr this morning:
======================
SkiBunny
Andy Goram
True Blue
1,208 posts
Gender:Male
Location:G51
Posted Today, 07:27 AM
Would be good to get a definite answer to this.
Dare I say it but if by declaring the EBT’s to SPL we would have to have paid a lot more money then it’s fair to say we wouldn’t have been able to afford all our players and therefore did gain a sporting advantage by hiding the EBTs.
If it would have made no difference financially whether SPL were informed or not then we woukd’ve signed all the playees anyway and there is absolutely no case for a sporting advantage.
Charles Green, quoted in the online Daily Record today: “We’re fortunate that players of a high calibre who wouldn’t normally sign for a Third or Second Division club are perhaps prepared to take the view that doing a one-year stint with Rangers in the new league as a springboard to going into the SPL is something worth doing.’
According to my arithmetic, a one year stint with a third, or even second, division team wouldn’t be a springboard to the SPL, would it? Surely (unless there is some underhand agenda at work), he meant to say that a ‘two- or three-year’ stint would be required?
I think he means that they would be in the second tear of any reconstructed leagues.
After all the rule bending, breaking and making it up as they went along we now come to the final act of the SPL/ SFA plan to bring integrate new Gers in Scottish Football.
League reconstruction.
T’Gers will be jumped up a league on some spurious grounds, I think stadium facilities is the firm favourite, in order to get them in the top flight asap, no doubt just in time to negotiate a new TV deal.
It’s been about money at every turn. From how much was owed in the BTC, to how much was paid to the creditors, to the value of the TV deal, the amount raised at the IPO until the unaudited accounts were published and Doncaster’s ridiculous salary increase.
I know now those that run the game don’t care about fair play nor have a plan to re-invigorate our national game. It’s all about short term cash, short term solutions from short sighted lightweights.
And it will kill our game even though they think they are saving it.
Shameful.
TW (@tartanwulver) says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 08:32
Mr Green: ” … doing a one-year stint with Rangers in the new league as a springboard to going into the SPL is something worth doing.”
——
Sounds a fairly unequivocal statement (one year in the new league” from Mr Green. Does he know something that we don’t (yet)?
SPL, SFL, SFA – don’t do it. Dinna say you weren’t warned.
What the move on brigade do not appear to understand is that by their actions the SFA have created a belief amongst all other clubs that they see The Rangers survival so essential to the commercial success of Scottish football that anything goes in preserving The Rangers fate.
Imagine a less than top strength are either involved in a game against a well organised opponent on which promotion or their relegation ends.
The match officials, appointed under the auspices of the same referee (lets call him McCurry) sends off an opponent and disallows what looks like two perfectly good goals for them. Hard to imagine I know but without a victory The Rangers top flight future is in jeopardy.
Now the chances of the team being denied are Celtic is remote but it could be any other club in Scotland played on the way up or in the top flight who cannot win because of the SFA belief AND their ability to bring about that belief through picking match officials, that The Rangers survival is all that matters.
So whilst personell changes might help it is even more important that the ability to influence results (known as match fixing when others do it) is removed from the SFA and placed with the new one league authority that emerges on the basis that clubs will watch each other for appointments to important games (or even -gasp – appoint an official from elsewhere.
As a Celtic supporter who has felt for years that Rangers benefitted from decisions on field or disciplinary, this belief that there was a fix in place reinforced by the latest fixes, I do not think I could be bothered reliving that experience, to all other clubs who will be affected by The Rangers first and foremost belief system, watch paranoia does not get the better of you.
To the “move on brigade” you mean move back do’nt you?
i don’t read the mainstream media and i don’t listen to the football shows on radio so i don’t know what the pundits reaction to the nimmo report is but i can hazard a guess.
all the rangers people in the football media, and that will be the majority, will be delighted with the outcome. the remainder, including ex-celtic people will be too frightened to say anything negative about the report.
it seems to me that ally mccoist’s well considered bullying and intimidation strategy has paid off for rangers.
what an odious organisation. they have corrupted and contaminated scottish society never mind scottish football.
I’ll always remember the actions of one referee (lets call him McCurry) at Pitoddrie one night.
Rangers happened to be the opponents and Barry EBT Ferguson, clattered into Arild Stavrum in the box. Blatant penalty, not given.
The referee later conceded it was a penalty but his quote went something along the lines of ” I couldn’t give it, it would have meant sending the Scotland captain off”.
Scottish fitba has been a sorry charade for a long, long time unfortunately.
I started writing a tome on the possible scenarios and fan reactions in the next few seasons. I deleted it after the first three paragraphs. I don’t really care now, and I cannot sum it up any better than the Big Pink himself:
“They walked into this with their eyes and wallets open. Hell mend them.”
What I would say though is that whilst that may describe the collective chairman’s approach, a number (a significant number?) of the fans had their wallets open and their eyes and minds wired shut. That is no longer the case. That the collective clubs approach and ‘solution’ to the problem clearly decided to simply ignore this fact will have implications. Armageddon? For the top two (and you know who I mean) no, definitely not. For the remainder? Your chairmen have consigned you to the dog basket under the table for the rest of their existence. In the short term I can only assume the entire approach here has been to get back to how things were and continue to live off the proverbial scraps. I am not convinced by this business model, at least no more convinced in it than previously but with a much greater understanding now of how it works (or doesn’t). Fundamentally though even the most integrity-challenged can see that financially it works better with a rich sevco in the top than it does without.
In the long term though the only way they, the Chairmen can get around this is to ask you the fan to put your principles to one side and return to blindly following. Who’s will do you believe is stronger? For this generation I suspect they will maintain a degree of success, where success is measured as avoiding making a loss. For the next generation? Ah well therein lies their problem. To look at the whole picture all will appear to be fine. A few helicopter sundays, even a few CL QF’s and all will appear rosy at the top. Underneath that veneer?
Well to go back to Big Pink, “Hell mend them”
Carfins Finest. (@edunne58) on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 16:53
115 3 Rate This
Have I finally got my paranoia back?
———-
Yes!
The sad think is, watching the fans walking away in a disorganised fashion and achieving nothing, when,if those same fans, collectively, for one weekend only, stayed away from all league football they would bring SFA to heel. The SFA of course do not mind fans walking away willy nilly, no problem, but they dread the prospect of a complete shut-down of Scottish football, even for one weekend.
The one disaster for all decent fans is the fact we have no all-embracing way of communicating with the fans as a collective. This fact alone is saving SFA/SPL/SFL.
If we had this facility IMO we would have put a stop to all these shenanigans a long time ago.
Surely it is not beyond the wit of some bampottery genius to construct such a network?
Quick poll if I may.
The issue is your continued active and financial support for whatever team you follow.
Think about your answer, there is obviously a negative vibe around at the moment so look deep inside and give an answer that reflects what you will feel come next August.
I did something similar a week ago but it was in a moment where the result would have been very skewed.
TU: Peeved but will follow my team as always.
TD: I´m clear on the issue, line in the sand and not going back.
SPL FANS UTD @splfansunited
SPL Fans United first poll http://www.splfansunited.com/2013/03/06/spl-fans-united-first-poll/ … #SPLFansUnited
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Auldheid says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 09:39
To the “move on brigade” you mean move back do’nt you?
======
That’s it in a nutshell. The clowns responsible for running our game, plus 99% of the “peepil”, look back fondly to the SDM era as a golden age for Scottish football. They ignore all the evidence of declining standards at club and international level, shrinking gates, crap TV deals, etc. They truly believe that that was as good as it gets, they can’t imagine anything better, and they just can’t wait to restore the natural order.
I forecast back in December that a fix would be put in place to accelerate TRFC into the top flight. I even set out the ways it could be engineered. A fair number told me that it was unthinkable, the clubs wouldn’t wear it, that we had promises (from Doncaster, Regan and Longmuir!) that Sporting Integrity would be the only consideration. Does anyone still doubt that a fix is being put in place right now?
What the authorities (and the clubs) are counting on is the onset of “battle fatigue” among the fans. Will there be any remaining appetite for another campaign like last summer’s? Personally I doubt it. This time the fix will be pushed through as quietly as possible, and presented to the fans as a “fait accompli”. At which point the supporters who are the lifeblood of the game have a simple choice. Walk away entirely, or keep giving money to an utterly corrupt, shabby, fourth rate little franchise operation run entirely by and for the “peepil” down Ibrox way. I think a lot will simply walk away. At which point the “return to the golden age” scenario looks a bit shaky with the only money going into the game being from one team.
Personally, I will walk away. I never liked wrestling, because even as an eight year old watching it on the telly in the 50s, I could see it was bent. So why should I pay to watch bent football?
A tidied up repost:
I see they are out in force now, the “Move On Brigade” I mean.
What the Move On Brigade do not appear to understand is that by their actions the SFA have created a belief amongst all other clubs that the SFA see The Rangers survival so essential to the commercial success of Scottish football that anything goes in preserving The Rangers fate.
Imagine an unfortified by financial steroids (The) Rangers are involved in a game against a well organised opponent on which promotion or their own relegation depends.
The match officials, appointed under the auspices of the SFA appoint a referee (lets call him McCurry) who sends off an opponent and disallows what looks like two perfectly good goals for them. Hard to imagine I know but without a victory The Rangers top flight future or ascendency to it is in jeopardy.
Now the chances that the team being denied a result is Celtic are remote, but it could be any other club in Scotland played on the way up or in the top flight who simply cannot win because of the SFA belief, AND their ability to bring about that belief through picking match officials who probably subscribe to it, that The Rangers survival is all that matters.
So whilst personell changes like removing Ogilvie & co might help, it is even more important that the ability to influence results (known as match fixing when others do it) is removed from the SFA and placed with the new one league authority that emerges, on the basis that clubs will watch each other for appointments to important games (or even -gasp – appoint an official from elsewhere.)
As a Celtic supporter who has felt for years that Rangers benefitted from decisions either on field or disciplinary when it mattered to their results, a belief that there was a fix in place, reinforced by the latest shennagins, I do not think I could be bothered reliving that experience.
To all other clubs who will be affected by “The Rangers first and foremost” belief system of the SFA, watch paranoia does not get the better of you.
To the “Move On Brigade” you mean move back do’nt you?
When everyone contributes to this blog they commit with passion and a desire for a better footballing world in Scotland.We can occasionally write with anger and frustration and this is no surprise.
One certainty is that ,as fans,we know the truth.We know the truth of what has happened over the last twelve months in relation to backroom deals, legal judgements based on skewed evidence and an overall spin massively detached from reality.
The truth breeds in those who know it dignity and lack of fear.We have witnessed the most ugly scandal in Scottish football history.It has asked serious questions about the governance of football,the Scottish legal system,corporate misgovernance and the behaviour of so called football supporters.
As an episode there is no other way to describe it.It has been ugly.
The truth shines through and many of us can feel its glow.
Nobody can take that away from us.
The SPL Fans Utd proposal of clubs leaving the SPL is plainly not going to happen.
In fact it´s so unrealistic that the group will easily be dismissed as head in the cloud loonies by the MSM.
Don´t take my last remark as being rude, it´s reallity and most will know it.
Isn´t it best to target the likes of Regan and Doncaster ?
Much more realistic and achieveable.
A friend of mine had an interesting take on the EBT declarations/side contracts thing
IF RFC had declared these to the SPL/SFA and the SPL/SFA accepted them, then wouldn’t that have given every other club the opportunity to also use the scheme?
On the face of it, you can’t pay players wages through an EBT, but the RFC scheme would seem to show it was possible – see the FTT result.
So, if this method was legal and acceptable, then by NOT declaring it, they failed to afford their opponents the same opportunity to avoid the tax
this would have
1. saved clubs a small fortune
2. allowed clubs to sign a better quality player
this could have led to a more competitive league, good players staying and playing for their “diddy” clubs instead of being bench warmers at Ibrox (and Celtic Park)
So, the sporting advantage of NOT declaring the contracts was that it robbed opponents of taking advantage of the same scheme – which on the face of it was illegal.
Stadium criteria = a requirement for asbestos would be in line with recent rulings, they’ve killed the game, might as well finish us off.
NTHM
So, if this method was legal and acceptable, then by NOT declaring it, they failed to afford their opponents the same opportunity to avoid the tax
—————————————————————————————–
That is a very weak case you make.
Is the onus on a club (or any business) employing a certain method of going about their business to inform all competition of it´s methods ?
NO
bellshilltim says:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 20:24
61 0 Rate This
Neepheid
=============
One aspect missed is the secret so called 5 way agreement. Though we do not know its contents, I think we can now have a good guess at it.
As a starting point the agreement was not a list of conditions that Sevco must agree to gain RFC(IL) membership. The leaked draft shows three conditions for membership, pay football debts, and accept penalties of RFC(IA), the transfer embargo/registration and the stripping of certain titles of RFC(IL).
For this the SFA will by fair means or foul (mostly foul) put Sevco in the SPL or at worst SFL div1.
Instead of demanding these conditions be fully met, the SFA allow Sevco to negotiate these terms.
CG states that he did not agree to the stripping of titles as part of the agreement. This may have been changed to an acceptance of a commission decision. However it is clear now that there was never any intention by the SFA/SPL to allow the stripping of titles, as they provided the registration officer and the SPL lawyers to kill that stone dead.
The transfer embargo/registration was delayed until the end of the transfer window to allow them to sign players that would ensure the winning of div3.
So the only condition that was required to obtain any form of membership, was the payment of football debts. However even this was provided with a condition that there was no time limit for these payments to be made.
Of course this is speculation on my part, however from what we have witnessed, I do not feel that it is far from the truth.
greenockjack says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 10:57
1 1 Rate This
The SPL Fans Utd proposal of clubs leaving the SPL is plainly not going to happen.
———————————–
yup, total non starter
if the SPL clubs objected to LNS’s verdict they could simply appeal it, ignore it, make a statement about it…..101 other things they could do.
the SPL clubs are happy enough to play ball and get TRFC into the SPL but they can’t be seen to say that or they will lose fans
expect silence and inaction.
We may see TRFC pushed up a league under reconstruction, but we may not – the clubs will know it is sensitive – plus, the SFL clubs will not want to miss out either
I am still having some difficulty with the reaction to last weeks decision,which I honestly feel was wholly as anticipated.The predicted sanctions were never even on the”punishment” agenda.Never…….ever.
It is now noticeable that some of the more regular and prominent posters are beginning to question what is really going on here,the agenda is clear;the return to prominence for this organisation as quickly as possible with the seeming aid of political and legal circles as well as the football authorities.The financial and footballing issues here are secondary.This organisation,is representative,publically of much west of scotland establishment posturing,will not be allowed to expire and has many accomplices to make sure it continues.
Paranoia?
Look again at bellshilltim’s post at 20.24 yesterday.All of this is happening right in front of our own eyes,in public,which only confirms the role of the SMM in all of this.
I t is not therefore a time to turn your back on your club.We can only stand up to this by supporting your own club,thats what sends a clear message.If your club meet this organisation at any time, at their place,don’t go.All SPL clubs and supporters should withdraw support for the national team.
Go to your own club’s site and ask for clear guidance on their position regards LNS,how do they intend to protest?Would they now consider a breakaway league formation?What are they proposing to protect sporting honesty?Will they support non attendance at ibrox?Will they withdraw support for the national side,while the current rulers remain in situ?
Gather support on club forums and take it then direct to your club.You are paying customers/clients of your club,if there is substantial no.s here they will(have to)listen.
Alternatively,just walk away,and accept what is going on,nothing would make those in establishment circles happier.
As the Nimmo decision many on here can now view themselves as second-class citizens/subjects.
The How:
http://www.michaeljournal.org/kennedy.htm
The Why:
Draw your own conclusions.
If banks are allowed to be “too big to fail” and the financial sector is to a large degree holding the strings of politicans then does this have a knockdown effect throughout society ?
If the people who the politicans purport to represent don´t or find it difficult to do anything about it, is it surprising that it is taken as an example ?
greenockjack says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 11:07
0 1 Rate This
NTHM
So, if this method was legal and acceptable, then by NOT declaring it, they failed to afford their opponents the same opportunity to avoid the tax
—————————————————————————————–
That is a very weak case you make.
Is the onus on a club (or any business) employing a certain method of going about their business to inform all competition of it´s methods ?
NO
——————–
I think you missed the subtlety of my point………
If RFC had declared them to the SPL/SFA…..THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO PAY TAX ON THEM and that would have meant they couldn’t have afforded them (or at least, not all of them…a fact neatly underlined by the fact they are now in liquidation and are no more)
BTW, Celtic did take advice on EBT’s and were told it was a non starter, the promptly paid the tax owed on juninho’s contract and had nothing else to do with it.
Of course, if it had been common knowledge this was going on – RFC may have been brought to account much sooner, this may have curtailed the EBT program, negating the need for the FTT and LNS enquiry. It may not have saved RC from liquidation, it may have meant they didn’t steal several titles and millions in UEFA money, but i’m sure their Loyal fanbase wouldn’t have minded.
Level playing field and all that – no?
After the Nimmo decision many on here can now view themselves as second-class citizens/subjects.
The How:
http://www.michaeljournal.org/kennedy.htm
The Why:
Draw your own conclusions.
From the Independent:
“Ronnie O’Sullivan has announced he will return to the Crucible to defend his world title, before admitting he has no idea whether his comeback will end in tears.
The four-time world champion, who has played just one competitive match in the past year, has accepted a wild card to defend his world title at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, having become “bored” of his self-imposed snooker sabbatical.”
Where’s the sporting integrity here. Is Ronnie part of the corrupt ‘establishment’? Are snooker fans protesting because this will exclude a player who has played consistently throughout the year?
I can answer that…….no.
NTHM
I´ll have to look again at the details before answering your last.
To each their own, absolutely.
However you do realise that by doing this you are halping Rangers in bridging the gap in their still hopelessly broken business model.
It is clear that they cannot achieve anything like the income they would require to dominate (at least in part) Scottish football without lying cheating and stealing. That is very obvious, the income simply isn’t there.
To cut costs to balance the budgets is the only other option, but in doing that there is no way to reach the same level of domination (assuming they don’t start the stealing and cheating again), that leads to less success and the Rangers fans simply walking away.
However there is a third way. Reduce everyone else’s income as well. If other people’s fan base can be cut back then their income will be cut back. In order to balance the books their own spending will have to be cut back.
So if Rangers can’t make enough money, and can’t cut spending enough to balance the books then the simple solution is to cut everyone else’s budgets as well. Then you can move back up through the leagues, get back to the top of Scottish football, watch other people’s crowds diminish, and all within budget.
It has been quite amusing watching the encouragement for people “walking away” from their own clubs going on here. With the prods and the polls to keepm that mindset going.
Like I said, to each their own, and if you are walking away from Scottish football then you won’t really care about the outcome. However the reality is walking away helps no-one except Rangers. You are doing their work for them, and making it easier to get back to the top and to start playing in Europe again, making more money.
So long as walking away is what you want, fine. However don’t be manipulated into doing it. Do it because you think it is right, and can I suggest not looking back.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 11:00
“….So, the sporting advantage of NOT declaring the contracts was that it robbed opponents of taking advantage of the same scheme – which on the face of it was illegal.”
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NTHM – I’m not sure I get your logic here – if any club finds a legal way to steal a march on their rivals, why should they be obliged to share that? EBTs were legal tax avoidance schemes just like investing in re-forestation and film companies.
The problem for Rangers was that they badly administered some and didn’t declare full payment details in the players’ registration documents. The problem for all other clubs was that the terms of the LNS inquiry were so narrowly defined that he and his colleagues were able to arrive at a conlcusion that was technically accurate but unfair. They were aided an abetted in this by an senior and experienced SFA official who caved under basic questioning and accceded to the tortured logic that if the club registering a player doesn’t provide full details then that player cannot be wrongly registered and when the officals later discover that wrongful registration, well… tough.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 11:00
It’s funny I was going to write something very similar on another blog the other day, but got sidetracked by work.
They found a scheme they may genuinely believed to have been legal, but sought to hide it from the authorities to prevent other teams copying it and eroding the financial advantage they’d created for themselves.
It does matter which way you look at it. They hid documents from the authorities and by doing so maintained an advantage over other teams. Had they been open, the other teams could have looked at it, made their own decision about the legality of EBT schemes and gone from there but at the very least the same option would have been available to all.