Or, a story of how and why Mr Lawwell consigned resolution 12 to the deepest grass;
by Finloch
“It’s about history and being neighbours”, young Elisabeth said to her mum.
And it has to be done for tomorrow, Elisabeth said.
“I’m supposed to ask in an in-person interview about what life was like where an older neighbour grew up and what was life like when the neighbour was my age.
It’s not my fault that we’re new here and haven’t spoken to our old, next door neighbour yet and don’t even know his name.
“I’ve an idea her mother said, why don’t you make it up.
Pretend you’re asking him questions and then write down the answers you think he’d give”.
“It’s supposed to be true”, Elisabeth said. “It’s for News”.
“They’ll never know”, her mother said. “Just make it up.
The real news is always made up anyway”.
I was lucky enough to catch Ali Smith at the Edinburgh Book Festival.
I was part of a very diverse audience and unusually for this kind of event nobody in the sold-out Charlotte Square tent had a Scooby about what she was going to share with us.
Most would have been expecting a reading or two from her recent short story collection, Public Library, about the cynical, thoughtless and almost silent and unpublicised demise of Libraries up and down our land.
Our libraries.
Our land.
Ali is always value for money though and was amazing, reading from her as yet unpublished “Autumn” book, the first she said of a four-book series.
As I listened to her, I was also thinking and juggling around at the back of my mind about what I was going to write for this blog, having been asked for my thoughts, as a non-involved, non-Celtic supporter, on how I see the Resolution 12 situation.
Well Ali’s words stung like a bee and proved quite inspirational. The wisdom and clarity in her new books is highly relevant to all of us who care about Scottish Football and Resolution 12 including Mr Lawwell, Mr Doncaster, Mr Regan, Mr Petrie and us too – the real stakeholders.
Ali also shared with us a Bernard Maclaverty insight from when he once visited a school as part of (I think) a Scottish creative writing initiative and in the course of his talk asked some youngsters,
“What is fiction” ?
Someone put their hand up and said “Please Sir, it’s made up truth”.
Near the end Ali also got to talking about post Brexit Britain and used the chaos to ask the bigger question.
“Why do we never seem to have real debates about anything and why in any “debate” we might see or read that there never seems to be room for to-ing and fro-ing on points because everyone seems to have already made their minds up and just wants to maintain their status quos, achieve their own personal agendas or to steamroller us all to their point of view”.
“People in power seem to be genuinely scared of honest debates”, she said.
She asked how without more real discussions and insightful and open minded debates can any of us (and the debaters themselves too) learn because without that we will just get more of what we’ve had.
And that’s not good enough.
So thanks Ali I’m going to combine these three things from your hour along with two personal career experiences and review Mr Lawwell and his company’s reaction to the bona fide Resolution 12 raised by some of his shareholders a few years ago.
(My career experiences were as the head of a small, and treated as unimportant, company that was part of a worldwide group of companies run (badly) out of the US; and my time as head of a trade association that had two very dominant and troublesome members).
My Five Insights to review Resolution 12 are.
- Some people think “made up news is fine” and feed us all with it all the time.
- Don’t expect real discussions or debates about anything in your club. No two way dialogues, except from those about money once a year.
- “Made up Truths” become gospel not to be challenged.
- The people running the club know they are smarter and more important than any of their minority or remote stakeholders.
- All decisions that really matter in football or indeed in any business are pre-agreed and never discussed in the open.
So now to what I think of Resolution 12.
My starting point is to say this. It is wrong to see or to discuss Mr Lawwell and Resolution 12 as being about the awarding of a license – or the boardroom processes since The Requisitioners first raised it.
Sadly, I’d suggest Requisition 12 was history before it was even raised.
In the late Murray days at Ibrox and in the early Whyte ownership period there had been rumours, and I’m certain deep and meaningful business discussions between the heads of the SFA and SPL and their key committee members.
You can be sure that the SFA, SPL, Celtic and others were all watching the post Murray Rangers situation closely, and the new regime at Ibrox and related financial stuff would have been the talk of the exclusive football steamies.
Despite what some Celtic fans believe, the reality has always been that while Rangers may have dominated (just) all things SFA and SPL, nothing was ever done without the knowledge of and input from the green side of the Old Firm business model.
Sadly, I’d suggest Requisition 12 was history before it was even raised.
Scotland’s unique, idiosyncratic, religio-political old firm business model was not just about driving the individual Glasgow teams to their leviathan duopoly in Scottish football. We all knew (because we were told so) that it was also the commercial bedrock of the business that is Scottish Football.
And yes, for a while David Murray thought his club was bigger than the Old Firm, but he and his ego had moved on when all this stuff happened.
Put simply, Regan who was quite new, was convinced at the time – and still is absolutely certain – that the SFA and Scottish Football needed a dominant Celtic and Rangers, and he also personally needed and needs the support of their CEO’s.
Doncaster too was convinced that the SPL needed Celtic and Rangers arch rivalry with all it entails, delivering TV monies and maximizing his bonuses. He too also personally required and requires the support of the Old Firm CEO’s.
Lawwell the astute numbers man, under a constant watchful eye from Dublin, needed Rangers to ensure his business plan did not develop un-fillable black holes.
And yes, for a while David Murray thought his club was bigger than the Old Firm, but he and his ego had moved on when all this stuff happened.
Importantly, Peter was also one of a small influential football group who effectively controlled the actions of Regan and Doncaster. Nothing strategic would ever have been done by either of them without his involvement and input. That doesn’t mean he necessarily knew all the detail about Craig’s UEFA license shenanigans but he’d have had his suspicions.
And you know something, – at a squeeze I think he and Desmond might have thought keeping a Rangers team alive (for its future dependable revenue streams) was maybe even worth one season’s lost Champions League status.
There is no doubt in my mind that in 2011 Peter and the Celtic Board were worried but supportive of and committed to keeping the Rangers company alive.
Looking back I don’t know when Lawwell and Desmond actually discovered de facto that Rangers should not have been awarded the license.
Was it before it was awarded?
Was it after by which time it was too late anyway?
Those would be two good questions to ask them.
I’d suggest that by the time they knew for sure it was too late, but I could be wrong.
Anyway history shows that pretty quickly after McCoist failed in Europe, Lawwell committed his club to the complex and complicated secret Five-Way Agreement and all it entailed.
Celtic were senior signed-up members of the attempt to help protect and leverage the future blue revenue streams into the SPL then the SPL 2 then the bottom level.
It was all about the blue pound.
It was all about the blue pound into the future.
It was all about the blue pound into the future being central in the business model at Celtic that needed (then and now) a blue pound generating Rangers.
We all know now that compromise was somehow reached ahead of the Brechin cup tie in the summer of 2012.
Many – in fact most of – Scottish football fans were glad that football had once again broken out, having become fed up with all the politics, and were glad to return to talking about players and stuff.
Football gossip is after all more comfortable than finding out we’d all been cheated for years.
Not all fans were ready to “Move-on” however.
Some, like many of us on this site and others like it wanted to dig deeper and examine just what happened and who did what.
Some wanted Celtic as the most wronged club to do and say more about Sporting Integrity.
Some wanted to rub their old rivals into the dirt.
Some wanted a full and frank review because they believed that without Sporting Integrity we would make the same mistakes in the future.
I’d be one of these fans.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Celtic shareholders who pieced together the jigsaw that led to Resolution 12, correctly identified that their club were illegally denied a place in the Champions League and denied substantial revenues.
Fair play to them.
If I was a Celtic shareholder I personally would have wanted to know why my board had not pursued these significant revenues that were due to my company.
It was and is a big deal.
No it was and is a huge deal.
It remains an open sore and everyone involved seems to have ducked any blame.
I applaud those Requisitioner Shareholders for how they have gone about the process, and I have a huge respect for everything they have done on behalf of Celtic and fans of all Scottish clubs.
However in my opinion it was always doomed to failure because of the simple fact that their own club, having been an integral part of the whole murky “Armageddon” process, had already moved on into the new world they had helped to forge, and did not and could not look back.
So Resolution 12 was treated politely but cleverly by the club in the finest traditions of Sir Humphrey.
They did not want to fight their shareholders corner then and I’d suggest still don’t – and wont.
So going back to my five points earlier.
- Mr Lawwell et al did not want to establish the real truth, which they already knew. Hey had already signed up to what had been reported, moved the club on and spent his personal bonuses along the way no doubt.
- Mr Lawwell et al did not want a real debate because he and his small team had already done what they believed at the time to be right for the club they were paid to manage.
Nothing more to say.
And yes he could mumble agreement that Sporting Integrity is important when cornered but between us chaps it wouldn’t ever have filled the yawning gaps in the stands at Celtic Park without a Rangers counterbalance. - Rangers are now back and the Old Firm is once again dominating Scottish Football.
The truth at Celtic Park is we need each other and season book sales and TV revenues are up proving my point all along. - We tolerate the intellectual end of our support, just, but they are hard work and you’d think they own the club.
We even quite enjoy some of their stuff sometimes as long as its not too political but we have a business to run and quite frankly sometimes they just don’t get it. They should realise the SFA and the SPFL are there to do a job for us and we keep them on a short enough leash. - We will always be grateful to Fergus for what he did. We benefited at the time from the fan’s money and now run a very successful shareholder liaison programme. Once a year we have an AGM and try to manage the reality of running a business while having to hear from people who would prefer us to regress to what we were in the 1880s. Shareholders are fine but this club is a business and must be run as such.
My Five Insights sum up the position and stance of the Celtic Board.
I don’t know what will happen to Resolution 12.
The club never wanted it because they are a business and see the world differently from the group of fans who see themselves as the Celtic soul.
I applaud these Celtic fans.
Celtic does not deserve you.
The Cup Final cover up
It’s pretty obvious why the Compliance Officer is to ignore supporter misdemeanours during the game in his investigation
The brief for the Judge`s investigation was narrowly defined
It was limited to examining why the processes used to control the crowd could not prevent the behaviour witnessed from the minute the match ended
It was not an examination of crowd behaviour during the match. It therefore had no role to comment on police inaction during the match in response to sectarian singing or flares.
The Judges brief set the parameters for creating similar Terms of Reference for the Compliance Officer`s investigation This is why he has not been asked to examine crowd misbehaviour during the game but only crowd behaviour after the game. His report is construed as the starting point for the Compliance Officer
Or put another way
It’s yet another stitch up by the goats at Hampden
EASYJAMBOAUGUST 31, 2016 at 17:48
And that in one sentence sums up the the whole Govan operation.
An angry bunch of liquidation deniers who nearly always fail to acknowledge and put their hands up for any wrong doing by the club or fans in a way that most decent folks would expect.
Threaten, boycott, fight, lie. They appear to know no other way of facing the world.
Dignity if it was ever there has gone with the self referral to Dignitas
GK Chesterton probably said something wholy apposite but I cannot get past my disgust at the illegal immoral and nauseating displays of racist sectarian bile which have caused me to stop watching any kind of football involving the atavistic horde to search for it.
Re the Dundee programme, how disappointing is that?!? Shame on them.
Hope Celtic don’t replicate those feelings.
PS
Perfect squirrel for the lack of any major movement in this transfer market and the long drawn out Senderos (to sleep) saga.
Freebies only till January and then unlikely to be any major purchases then either.
Legal actions and costs potentially on the way, stadium still needing acknowledged substantial maintenance costs, potential mid table finish on current performances as folk get wise to Warbuton’s Plan A B & C, string of injuries and lack of fitness to new signings, no obvious source of the money required to make up the acknowledged shortfall from last season.
I could go on……………
EASYJAMBO
AUGUST 31, 2016 at 17:48
“Rangers Statement re Notice of Complaint
…
It is alarming that the governance of Scottish football is so lacking…”
==================================================
Well, they got something right in that long, rambling, emotional and pointless TRFC statement !
A proper club could have just issued that they are ‘disappointed’ at the outcome, and will appeal / provide the SFA with appropriate feedback.
…better than trying to whip up the support, to perhaps distract them…
Irresponsible behaviour – again – from the Govan club.
Senderos has already signed.
The same paper lied about Simunovic failing a medical.
I would bet if these deluded supporters of t’rangers and their media lackeys were to take a lie detector
you would find that they really do believe all the p++h they spout they fair scunner me.
A template for programme notes .
X FC welcomes TRFC and their fans to our stadium for the first time in the SPFL Premiership .
Re the Notices of Complaint:
I’m sure that the Compliance Officer can’t start charging the clubs with supporters’ offences before/during/after the game that may fall into the purview of public order & be thus the responsibility of Police Scotland & their ‘ongoing investigations’. The clubs have been charged with breaches of the SFA’s rules, not civil/criminal laws.
Re TRFC statement:
Pathetic, rabble-rousing tosh. Dignity, my erchie. Certain supporters’ groups now appear to be in charge of (or mouthpiece for) the football club & not the Board. The SFA will ignore the statement, not because it’s beneath contempt, but because they’re feart.
Silence, or something along the lines of: ‘We acknowledge receipt of the Notice of Complaint & will defend it robustly on the day of the hearing. To comment further at this time would not be appropriate.’ would have been dignified, not the cat-muck that bears their signature.
easyJamboAugust 31, 2016 at 17:48
Rangers Statement re Notice of Complaint
RANGERS’ Directors are shocked at the charges issued by the Scottish FA’s Compliance Officer in the wake of the pitch invasion at the end of the Scottish Cup final last May. It is alarming that the governance of Scottish football is so lacking that it is impossible for the Scottish FA to guarantee the safety of footballers at the country’s showpiece event. The SFA is either unwilling or is powerless when it comes to taking the appropriate punitive action against the offenders. A number of Rangers players were assaulted by Hibernian supporters in broad daylight on the Hampden surface and a repeat of this must be avoided at all costs. That should have been the priority of the SFA. Yet, the governing body insists it is not within its remit to issue any charges let alone punishments for such violent and dangerous misconduct. Instead of player and supporter safety they have placed all their emphasis and importance on the monetary value of a set of goalposts, pieces of turf, and advertising boards. Rangers Directors will take time to consider an appropriate and more comprehensive response to redress our grievances but for the moment the board fully endorses the incredulity and anger of all Rangers supporters.
_____________________
Good one, EJ, you almost had me believing that experienced businessmen, who run a football club as well as their main businesses, would write something that one of our ‘Internet Bampots’ might pen as a joke!
I am sure that when the blue room boys do get round to responding it will be in a more respectful manner, fully aware that the last thing they want to do is to anger/deride the men who run the sport in which they ply their trade! For we know that the guardians of our game are ever ready to punish their member clubs for the slightest faux pas, such as missing a date on a contract, or speaking out to some foreign press about the way the SFA favour one section of Scottish football!
Heaven forbid, if TRFC really released such a damning retort to a properly constituted investigation report, the SFA would rely on previous examples set, such as the record fine they imposed on Hearts for the words of Vladimir Romanov, and add it to the expected fine for the behaviour of their supporters in the Govan club’s first ever Scottish Cup final!
tamjartmarquezAugust 31, 2016 at 17:51
Attachment
At great expense, the welcome to Scotlands newest club from Dundee FC. Its a bit nauseating, you have been warned. ..as the Dee look to record their first home win over The Gers since 1992…. Not the same club as that created by alchemist Green. Hope their next hosts do better, or will it be vetted by Police Scotland?
_____________________
With apologies to our Dundee supporting readers and contributors, and I’m sure you all feel as disappointed as I do, I just wish your club had shown the same level of integrity on that day in 1986, and had just rolled over in a similar fashion to the way they have done now!
To be clear, that day Dundee did the honourable thing, and displayed proper sporting integrity. How times have changed.
PS, I have no idea how Hearts welcomed TRFC to Tynecastle for their first ever visit, and I can only hope that my club, at the very least, avoids any grovelling platitudes to them in a few weeks time. To be honest, I don’t hold out much hope!
goosygoosyAugust 31, 2016 at 18:03
The Cup Final cover up It’s pretty obvious why the Compliance Officer is to ignore supporter misdemeanours during the game in his investigation The brief for the Judge`s investigation was narrowly defined It was limited to examining why the processes used to control the crowd could not prevent the behaviour witnessed from the minute the match ended It was not an examination of crowd behaviour during the match. It therefore had no role to comment on police inaction during the match in response to sectarian singing or flares. The Judges brief set the parameters for creating similar Terms of Reference for the Compliance Officer`s investigation This is why he has not been asked to examine crowd misbehaviour during the game but only crowd behaviour after the game. His report is construed as the starting point for the Compliance Officer Or put another way It’s yet another stitch up by the goats at Hampden
_____________________
In other words, it’s LNS2, but, in all probability, not LNS Last!
nawliteAugust 31, 2016 at 14:43
‘…A nearly truthful paragraph from today’s BBC online pages.’
______
Having returned refreshed from my little day-trip to the ‘dear green place’ [ The Maltman, Renfield St, was our late afternoon watering hole: I have not been paid for this plug,by the way, but the two bar staff were particularly helpful when I, throwing out a gesticulative arm to make a point, knocked over my pint glass( happily half empty)], I read in the link you provided,nawlite,what Richard Wilson wrote.
I have since put finger to keyboard, and typed the following letter ( I can’t find an email address specific to him) which I will post tomorrow:
” Mr Richard Wilson,c/o BBC Radio Scotland,Pacific Quay, Glasgow
Dear Mr Wilson,
You, as an alumnus of Glasgow University, my own alma mater, would by ordinary folk be assumed to be reasonably intelligent.
That assumption has either been proven to be wrong or you have demonstrated that being intelligent is not a guarantee of a man’s respect for truth.
I refer to this statement of yours in your on-line piece about Ian Durrant on 31st August 2016:
“
Durrant was at the club in February 2012 when Rangers Football Club Plc were put into administration and subsequently liquidation, and worked through the Charles Green era, a time when Ibrox was a place of endless turmoil and the team had to work its way back up from the bottom tier.”
Any half-way intelligent person knows that a Liquidated club cannot participate in Scottish Football.
Rangers FC (IL) therefore did not, could not, ‘work its way back up’ to anywhere.
Now, if you know that to be the case, then you must be assumed to be peddling an untruth,pure and simple.
If you do not know that, you are a fool, and a perniciousness one, at that.
It simply does you and the BBC no good whatsoever to continue to propagate actual untruths.
I ask you to desist from so doing.
And suggest that you begin simply to tell the truth: Rangers FC 1873 was Liquidated, and ceased to exist, commercially, legally and under the SFA’s Articles of Association.
Why don’t you have enough self-respect as any kind of journalist ( especially one receiving payment via the BBC licence fee) to do so?
Yours in puzzled annoyance,
[my real name and address]
And as for Dundee FC’s Board’s readiness to propagate the Big Lie….. What can I say?
Other than “May that Board die the death as a board” and be replaced by honest, decent, men who know what sporting integrity means.
Their attitude , it seems to me, spits insultingly on us all, and on the grave of Turnbull Hutton, that honest man of sporting integrity.
With no intended offence to the supporters of Dundee, I spit on their Board ,so craven as to propagate (needlessly!) the Big Lie.
Who are they, these men who in effect prostitute themselves for a few extra shekels? And why do they feel compelled to do so?
JOHN CLARKAUGUST 31, 2016 at 23:26
And as for Dundee FC’s Board’s readiness to propagate the Big Lie….. What can I say?
===========================
It should not be beyond any Board of Directors to construct a statement for their matchday programme which does not endorse the big lie. Such a statement should also be able to avoid threats from swivel eyed lunatics or being forced to apologise by the SFA / SPFL. It really shouldn’t be that hard, and I guess all boards will contain individuals intelligent enough to write it themselves, should they not wish to pay a PR person to do it for them.
Quick question folks. The TRFC statement yesterday, was it not made clear on review that in fact no Rangers players had been assaulted, and that all the players were off the pitch much quicker than TRFC were making out? Or was that in some sort of anti-TRFC board dream – now that really would be depressing if this crap is entering my dreams
TAYRED
SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 at 09:14
There is no doubt that Fothergham was at least jostled and that a lad took a few fresh air swings at Lee Wallace.
It is correct that these matters be taken on board with the seriousness they deserve. IIRC the fresh air boxer was charged by the Polis.
The problem is however that T’Rangers board are blowing things out of proportion, aided by the distorters of truth in the DR, in relation to ‘attacks on players’ fans defending the club etc etc.
Frankly they need to be put in their place or told to take a hike and leave us all in peace.
Let us not forget the vast majority of T’Rangers fans left the stadium in incredulity and anger that there much fancied team were taken apart by Hibs on the day.
The T’Rangers board appears to be trying to gain favour with the most abhorrent element of their fan base.
While his article flim-flams about the place, Gary Ralston in the DR today is correct about one thing.
If T’Rangers, with such strong views about dealing with wrong doers within the game, do not now press for strict liability they are nothing but a bunch of windbags and hypocrites.
PS Is there any evidence out their that they actually paid their £250k fine?
Just back home after a 35 minute ( 09.10- 09.45)sitting in Court 12 at Parliament House, HMA V CW re Disclosure Order.
Reporting restrictions ,we were reminded, still apply.
Further hearing set for 6th October.
Oh, yes: my letter to Richard Wilson is on its way to Pacific Quay.
WOTTPISEPTEMBER 1, 2016 at 10:11 Cheers for that. The old mind was laying tricks on me again.
http://www.thenational.scot/sport/the-kicker-lets-put-rangers-saga-under-the-microscope.21851?ref=rss
You really have to wonder if some of these journos/contributors are either thick, at the wind up to cause a reaction or simply being tasked with filling column inches for the sake of it.
They certainly are not up for some serious investigative journalism.
In this case they appear to be unaware that King is not the ‘club’ chairman and that Ashley, by being and investor in a Plc and not the ‘club’ is generally out of harms way when it comes to the footballing authorities having any power with regard to commercial deals between PLC’s and their subsidiaries.
The Kicker also seems to be unaware the SFA are not the English FA and have a different set of rules and regulations.
Hard to know whether to laugh of cry given the heading of the article is “Let’s put Rangers saga under the microscope. . .”
With Aberdeen due to host The Rangers for the first time towards the end of September, I’m glad to report that the official AFC website has made a promising start with the build up.
On their fixtures calendar for the above match, they have been unable to use the old badge for the new club, instead using a bland football logo and under previous encounters, it states ‘no previous matches found’.
Unfortunately I don’t have the computer skills to
regenerate the image here but hopefully someone else can.
Hopefully the club keep up the good (& factual) work in the lead up to the historic first encounter!
Extracted from DR / Gary Ralston article today;
“…
Regan and the SFA – in line with his cohorts at the then SPL – turned the rule book upside down and inside out in a bid to find a way to soften the fall to Scottish football after the financial collapse of Rangers in 2012…”
===================================
I think that is the first time I have read the SMSM come out and criticise the SFA for bending the rules for the Ibrox club.
It’s only taken the SMSM 4 years !
What next ?
Don’t think Level42 will be pleased…
ROUGVIELOVESTHEJUNGLE
SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 at 15:05
…Unfortunately I don’t have the computer skills to regenerate the image here but hopefully someone else can…
=================================
http://www.afc.co.uk/matches/matchcentre-overview.php?FixId=1905
“No previous meeting found”
Will that website entry remain ? The bears will be foaming with rage !
I rather suspect that the football logo and “No previous meeting found” remark have been inserted in the AFC website as a hoot and that the employee concerned will be politely requested to amend the entry before too long. The ticket section of the AFC website displays the TRFC crest for their forthcoming encounter, which rather gives the game away.
re Dundee programme welcome, as various posters have suggested, a suitable accurate description can easily be made without reference to them being new. A big well done to Aberdeen site for the attempt at accuracy.
Dundee wrongly state ‘founded 1872’ below the ‘club crest’, it depicts the interwoven scroll rfc badge, which, phil mac? intimated the ownership may be held by Charlie, Imran and Mr Rizvi, and not the newco. How do Dundee gain permission to reproduce? is it because the 5 stars are missing?
The Dundee programme states ‘the narrative of the turbulent episode(liquidation) has been debated to no end‘. This suggests we are wasting our time, i don’t. Long after i’m gone, the wrongs that have been perpetrated by the old club, the shamateurism of our authorities, the revisionism of the smsm, the complicity of our clubs, wont ever be forgotten. The rise in interest/ attendances this season may well be a dead-cat bounce.
Have the SF(r)Angers decided which Craig Thomson is going to referee the Glasgow derby on the 10th, maybe more importantly will the afore mentioned referee play ball with whichever broadcaster is covering the game
Regarding a match programme article on ‘today’s vistors’ when TRFC come to town. It need only be as simple as
It’s really not that hard.
“Rangers fans furious at Aberdeen’s ‘new club’ dig on official club website”
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/7231365/Rangers-fans-furious-at-Aberdeens-new-club-dig-on-official-club-website.html?CMP=spklr-_-Editorial-_-TWITTER-_-scotsunsport-_-20160901-_-Football-_-560273948
================================
Story and quoted comments are all simply lifted from social media by The Sun !
STEVIEBCSEPTEMBER 1, 2016 at 20:00
============================
Aberdeen will no doubt be forced to apologise by the authorities. It’s incredible that a club which claims to be the same one who stiffed the state purse for tens of millions is the one the authorities side with all the time.
STEVIEBCSEPTEMBER 1, 2016 at 15:17 17 Votes
Extracted from DR / Gary Ralston article today;
“…Regan and the SFA – in line with his cohorts at the then SPL – turned the rule book upside down and inside out in a bid to find a way to soften the fall to Scottish football after the financial collapse of Rangers in 2012…”===================================
I think that is the first time I have read the SMSM come out and criticise the SFA for bending the rules for the Ibrox club.
It’s only taken the SMSM 4 years !
————————
I read it as more of a soften the fall to Scottish football ….Armageddon. that never happened and was never likely.
And not a they turned the rule book upside down and inside out in a bid to find a way to help the new ibrox club from the financial collapse of Rangers in 2012…
I think Aberdeen will be more fearful of an adverse reaction from there own fans should they apologise for telling the truth.
I enjoyed the second episode of Scotland’s Game with a few exceptions:
* The blame for the hate fest that was the 98/99 championship decider was attributed to Sky and 18:05 kick offs. WTF.
* Gretna and Brookes Mileson were convenient scapegoats to illustrate financial mismanagement. Just as well the dead can’t speak.
* The BBC skirted round the “placing” of Rangers FC in Divsion 3.
* The chronology was wrong in suggesting that Hearts went bust before Rangers.
However, a well done is due for including Alex Thomson’s and Tom English’s views on the causes of Rangers demise.
Next week’s episode appears to be about the national team. Pity that we all know that episode isn’t going to end well.
BBC
Senderos had himself left Villa Park for Grasshoppers in January after playing only nine times in 18 months with the then Premier League side.
He played 14 times as the Zurich outfit finished fourth in the Swiss Super League, but it was not enough for the 57-times capped defender to secure a place in his national squad for the Euro 2016 finals
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Dearie Me
If you are a football player in Switzerland and your team finishes in the top 3 of the national league you get a place in the national squad providing you were selected by your club more than 14 times?
Do these hacks have no shame?
Eeeeehhhhh, I’m surprised! but, wtf is happening? I am trying really hard to get my head round BBC’s latest effort on the game up “here” I thought, hey! this looks promising, mind you I have vague memories of my good lady exclaiming similar sentiments on our wedding day but it might be best left at that, it transpires that the acclaimed and the great in the media are coming to terms with the obvious here, our good SDM is in fact a bit of a dodgy character and his long lost illegitimate son CW is cut from the same cloth. I envisage a battle of the bastards in our own portrayal of SFA’s Game of Woes (in a court near you) some time in a not to distant future’s? aye right.
I actually thought Tom English and Stuart Cosgrove called a couple of points worth merit, sadly though, pacification was the order of the day and the usual guff came to the fore. TRFC “were placed” in the third tier of Scottish football? I suppose if that is how you want to phrase it Burke and Hare placed the remains of the corpse on the physicians slab where he proceeded to disected the parts for his students to observe, or words to that effect.
Anyway the beeb had a real good opportunity to word the programme in a way (unlike Dundee) where offence would only be taken by the usual suspects. Èeeeeeeehhhhh?
easyJamboSeptember 1, 2016 at 22:13
‘..* The BBC skirted round the “placing” of Rangers FC in Divsion 3..’
_______
I’ve just this minute watched the episode ( I wasn’t able to watch it live-the distaff side had prior claim to that time-slot!).
Yes. The BBC made no reference to SevcoScotland being created and having to apply for a)membership of a league and b) for membership of the SFA.
Nor did they mention the deceitful practice of sending false information about payments to players to the SFA and the SPL.
A pretty poor show all round, and quite possibly wholly designed to make the iniquitous behaviour of RFC(IL) and SDM get lost from view in the general ‘TV money mania’ theme, as if what happened at Ibrox was not in any way different from what happened at Tyncastle, Motherwell or Gretna….
The programme has really only reinforced belief that the BBC is deliberately blinkered and refuses to address the actual issue of the sports cheating of SDM and the appalling dereliction of duty of the SFA.
And as for even asking questions about how much the EBT-of-hardly-enough-for-a-good-night-out recipient former Secretary of RFC(IL) and subsequently President of the SFA knew about the veracity of the information provided by his former club on its ‘payments to players’ forms……..
It was, in my opinion, a piss-poor ‘examination’ of Scottish football, asking no real questions,but making sure that ‘CW as an object of hate’ ( as opposed to SDM) was pretty powerfully reinforced.
No doubt the BBC checked with their legals about the likely effect on potential jurors in the criminal proceedings currently ongoing before they broadcast the programme.
But if I were an accused person facing possible trial, I would expect my Counsel to call for any possible trial to be abandoned, on the back of such a programme.
But who knows? Perhaps that is part of the BBC’s agenda? No baddies anywhere, just continue to lie with conviction, and get the masses to move on and passively endorse the cheating of SDM and our ‘Football Authorities.’
God, let me have ‘Bomber’ any day,rather than sophisticated double-speaking BBC ‘establishment’ and untruth merchants and propagandists who so fundamentally abuse their position.
The ‘Bombers’ of the world are intellectually honest ,within their limited intellectual capacity.
I am afraid that the same cannot be said of the intelligent chaps at the BBC or in the print media.
The BBC programme did provide a couple of worthwhile nuggets, principally the admission by Mr McLeish that sporting advantage had been gained during his tenure. One notable admission was the role played by a certain gentleman from Yorkshire now living in a plush pied a terre in France. And of course nobody asked the question of what the SFA did whilst these financial calamities unfolded before their very eyes.
John Clark September 2, 2016 at 00:22
========================
JC – I’m not in the habit of disagreeing with you, but I think you are looking for too much if you expect a forensic examination of why multiple clubs failed in a one hour programme. The Administration or Liquidation of Motherwell, Dundee, Gretna, Hearts and Rangers were all covered, while Airdrie and Dunfermline were omitted. Sure, they avoided the putting forward a definitive position on the liquidation of Rangers and the newco but we did have both Alex Thomson and Tom English make it perfectly clear that SDM was ultimately responsible for the failure of the club.
Re Scotland’s game. I too thought the BBC tiptoed around much of the Ibrox saga, but at least they did go to a big hitter in Alex Thompson for comments, who has never thought of the EBT scheme as anything other than a sham. The admission from Alex McLeish that EBT’s were to match Celtic’s wage power was very telling, albeit he was never pushed on the advantages they brought. All in all though too many guilty men have escaped in this programme, and for me the powers that be from the Bank of Scotland at the time are the most significant. Without their inexplicable backing of Rangers none of this would have happened, and the taxpayer ultimately payed the price for much it, given how much debt was moved around David Murray’s now bankrupt company. I still think it is relevant to ask if the taxpayer payed for Murray Park, but we will never know, because those who could tell us never will, and will never be forced to. It is clear that the David Murray years have left an expectation hanging over Ibrox which may take a generation for many people to realise his time there was nothing other than an establishment backed falsehood.
Yes the role the BOS played was not referred to at all and indeed the video shown was of Lloyds who, if memory serves, only took over BOS after the banking crash and at the “prompting” of HM Government.
Not forgetting the line “Rangers are back in the top league”…. It was better than I thought it would be, full of inaccuracies, half-truths and blanking certain important aspects of course. But you can’t help think that Miles fae Gretna was given a real shoeing for his 5 (?) years of simply funding a team with his own money, but Murray et al spending other peoples money, including of course the tax payers, got off incredibly lightly.
There could easily have been an hour long programme for the RFC/TRFC saga alone, there was never going to be. There were some interesting comments there, Roger Mitchell came across better than I expected. You forget just how much has gone on in Scottish football over the last 30 years – Fabrizio Ravanelli coming off the bench to score a hatrick for Dundee almost made me choke on my Highland Park. McLeish, Cosgrove, Thomson all made interesting comments relating to RFC/TRFC. How can you discuss TRFC/Sevco without even mentioning Green?
But the single most telling part of the entire 2 hours of this programme so far was the shifty, swivelling eyes of Alex McLeish when he admitted EBTs were used to allow RFC keep up with Celtic. Those eyes tell you more than any comment – he knew, he knew all along this was illegal, he knew it was being done to “gain an advantage”. Worse than that not only was he happy to go along with it, he was happy to line his own pockets whilst doing so.
Up The Hoops;07.12
“establishment backed falsehood”;excellent 3 word summary of the Murray stewardship at Ibrox.
Tayred;08.41
Re Mcleish;lets be clear,this is the admission by the former manager of(the former)Rangers of gaining sporting advantage by currently anyway,illegal methods.
You’re right to mention his body language,he knew what he was saying was huge,you can even see the vein in his neck pumping furiously.The fact he said it and it was broadcast says a lot for me.
Is the ground already being laid for the Supreme Court decision?
Thomson?”If thats not sporting advantage,I don’t know what is”or words to that effect were actually broadcast.
Mcleish and Thomson effectively rubbishing LNS.
For me,this went much further than I thought it would,not sure why the BBC would commission this as aspects of it are so toxic……..content and timing?
easyJamboSeptember 2, 2016 at 01:45
‘..I’m not in the habit of disagreeing with you, but I think you are looking for too much if you expect a forensic examination of why multiple clubs failed in a one hour programme. ‘
_________
That’s a fair enough observation,eJ, if we separate examination of the business failures caused by uncontrolled and irresponsible spending from the ‘sports cheating’ element ( the element which my limited financial expertise finds it easier to focus on!)
That element has simply not been addressed.
Murray’s recklessness certainly was the principal cause of the business failure.If the Supreme Court were to decide against HMRC, he might justifiably assert that failure was due to the improper demand for tax that was not in the event actually due, which made it impossible for him to to do anything other than get shot of the club for the infamous£1.00
But he ought never to escape the charge of sports cheating, by failing to report honestly as required by the Articles of Association , the true levels of remuneration being paid to his players. Nor should the SFA escape examination and scrutiny of how that cheating went unnoticed for so long, and was not, in any meaningful sense, properly dealt with.
Discussing the ‘business’ failures that killed some clubs and seriously weakened others is all very well.
But by not discussing the sports cheating of SDM over many years, and the alleged negligence that allowed that cheating to go unnoticed and/or whether there may have been any actual complicity in that cheating by people in the SFA , the BBC has treated the question of Sporting Integrity and the huge breaches of it as matters of little moment, and continues in effect to support the Big Lie.
Whether millionaires , real or pseudo, spend fortunes recklessly is one question.
Whether we can allow them simply to cheat like some drug-swallowing phony of an athlete,and lie about their cheating, is a much more important question- of Sport.
I’ve not watched ‘Scotland’s Game’. I was certain it would whitewash over everything we have discussed on here, giving only a little glimpse of the truth (to lend the veneer of fearless honesty to what they wish to pedal), and that seems to be, from reading here and elsewhere on the internet, what has been dished up so far.
Put quite simply, I have learned that the BBC are not to be trusted, and so I would not be able to accept anything they say without questioning in my mind, without doubting the veracity of what they say, even should they say something that pleases me, or makes me feel good about Scottish football, or see/hear something apparently admirable about a personality in the game. I also know they would be quite happy to expose some wrongdoing by someone outside of the ‘Rangers scandal saga’, if only they could find it, but in the event they had discovered something new, or just something that backs up what we all know, or suspect, we all know it would remain undisclosed!
The blindingly obvious lies that all of the SMSM have peddled have made it impossible for me to accept anything that isn’t backed by the blindingly obvious, such as seeing a photo with the scarf above the head of a player they tell me has just signed for a club.
That the BBC have sunk so low makes me question anything and everything I previously believed to be true that I accepted as ‘it must be true’ because I heard/saw it on the BBC News!
When a broadcaster makes these ‘hard hitting’ documentaries, they tend to fill them with much of what they’ve broadcast before, it’s cheap and it gives them the opportunity to show how on the ball they were at the time. I have not read that any part of the ‘Men Who Sold the Jerseys’ has been included (there may have been?), and I doubt any will be used. Certainly the best sports documentary/expose BBC Scotland has ever produced, but I get the feeling it’s something they wish we’d all forget!
For any broadcaster to make a documentary about the ails of Scottish football, and to not fill it with the actions of David Murray, his mate Ogilvie, their mates Doncaster and Regan, Masterton, Bank of Scotland, Farry, the SMSM… is just ludicrous. For within that cabal lies the root, and branch, and the whole bloody trunk, of what went wrong with Scotland’s Game. And to make a so called ‘hard hitting documentary’ without exposing all of this to the full, only adds to the problem and cover-up. Which is probably the main motivator for making the program in the first place.
What could cover up better than an expose that exposes nothing? That breezes past the know facts that it doesn’t ignore completely? That spends less than, say, twenty five percent of the program on a club it gives around (and I’m being conservative here) sixty percent of it’s normal airtime?
We know it was happening in the past, and I bet it’s happened again, this program will have been run past David Murray (or his men), and perhaps King, before airing, with anything he didn’t like edited out! Who knows, and it would surprise me in the least, if this program wasn’t commissioned by the disgraced knight himself!
Yes NTdeal that was my take on it as well.
They absolutely rubbished LNS (agree on Big Eck’s body language) and yet never actually mentioned LNS. They rubbished more than questionable bank funding and yet HBoS wasn’t remotely featured just a passing mention to Lloyds as it became. There were lots of subtleties, not least the closing still shot on Regan and Doncaster.
It was almost like a football version of ‘the Office’ where the point of the humour isn’t the slapstick happening in front of you but more the cheek-crunching awkwardness of everything else going on around the supposed central joke. Subtle enough for the Bampots to pick up, subtle enough for the hacks and ethereal myth worshippers to conveniently ignore.
Oh, and the omission of Green was no surprise since it allowed them then to simply state ‘back’ ‘placed’ etc with impunity. Its not important is it?
Fair play to Thomson (as you’d expect), Cosgrove and English for at least having the balls to try (and be publicly seen to be trying). And noticeably, subtly again, Thomson acknowledges that integrity (for want of a better word) goes out of the window and brand strength is brought to to the fore for seemingly obvious motives, but ironically only for the brand in question.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14715626.Sectarian_singing_probe_at_Hearts_v_Celtic_game_hindered_by_Tynecastle_no_audio_CCTV_cams/
http://www.heartsfc.co.uk/news/5372
Disappointed by my club’s statement.
As is the current fashion I would like to have the board recognizing and supporting my incredulity and anger at the offense given to our beloved and hard working CCTV equipment in the Herald’s report.
For heavens sake the CCTV has given us years of good service and on a fortnightly basis merely turns itself on to watch a decent game. Only on the odd occasion it has to divert its attention to a bunch of sweaty oiks shouting and swearing and singing all sorts.
No wonder it feels justified in defending and protecting its audio feed from such an attack to the senses.
wottpiSeptember 2, 2016 at 11:53
‘..No wonder it feels justified in defending and protecting its audio feed from such an attack to the senses..’
______I wonder how the poor thing is defending itself from the police officers ‘pouring’ all over it, as Martin Williams, senior reporter , writes? And the days of blaming a compositor or sub-editor or audio-typist for using the wrong word are long gone.
Williams! Apologise at once to your handful of readers.
John Clark September 2, 2016 at 10:50
—————————————-
Fair comments JC, although I think the £700M MIH debt to Lloyds outweighs any mitigation that it was only HMRC’s demands that forced the sale of the club.
Please continue to focus in on “sporting integrity” though, and if I stick to the numbers game, then we should make a good team.
wottpiSeptember 2, 2016 at 11:53
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14715626.Sectarian_singing_probe_at_Hearts_v_Celtic_game_hindered_by_Tynecastle_no_audio_CCTV_cams/
http://www.heartsfc.co.uk/news/5372
Disappointed by my club’s statement.
As is the current fashion I would like to have the board recognizing and supporting my incredulity and anger at the offense given to our beloved and hard working CCTV equipment in the Herald’s report.
For heavens sake the CCTV has given us years of good service and on a fortnightly basis merely turns itself on to watch a decent game. Only on the odd occasion it has to divert its attention to a bunch of sweaty oiks shouting and swearing and singing all sorts. No wonder it feels justified in defending and protecting its audio feed from such an attack to the senses.
______________________
Took me a minute to realise you were being sarcastic, but made me smile once I got it
How very dare they insult our cameras…
I take it they are state of the art at places like Ibrox, with full audio capability! And how about Hampden, did the cameras there pick up the bigoted songs from the TRFC support, or even film (you know, what cameras are meant to do) the idiots who threw the pyrotechnics?)
The cameras at Ibrox are so state of the art that they can identify individual fans voices in beautiful crystal clear high definition. That’s then fed back to the Server using the in-stadium WiFi… Oh, hang on
NTDEALSEPTEMBER 2, 2016 at 10:02…For me,this went much further than I thought it would,not sure why the BBC would commission this as aspects of it are so toxic……..content and timing?
===============================
Disclaimer: I haven’t seen any of this programme, as I thought I wouldn’t learn anything – and I would probably have thrown something at the TV/laptop in frustration !
It seems that most comments confirm this expectation.
As for the BBC’s motives: mibbes it’s as simple as trying to be seen ‘to be balancing’ their reporting on Scottish football – and wrt TRFC ?
Agreed, there are glaring omissions, but there is some criticism – however tame.
The BBC MUST be painfully aware that many Scottish football fans/customers now have a justified disregard for the organisation, because it chose to abdicate its reporting responsibilities on merely football…and logically you have to also wonder where else the BBC is choosing to turn a blind eye ?
The BBC has been getting pelters for a few years now – and not just from Mr. Clark !
They have to do something to restore credibility.
This programme doesn’t cut it – but is perhaps a baby step in the right direction ?
I wonder if Tom English would like to elaborate on his employer’s programme, and the reasons for the various omissions ?
I think they had a cheek calling gretna a ponzi scheme without mentioning the biggest ponzi scheme in scottish football.
Well they did mention liquidation but spoiled it with back in the top division rubbish.
It’s a quiet night and all, and I’m just winding down from a two-hour Skype session with the granweans in Oz, and suddenly from out of the blue the name Bill Miller popped into my head.Brought back some memories of what was happening aeons ago. In particular, this little piece:
“Miller’s £11.2 million plans have been criticised by some fans who fear the end of the club formed in 1872. The towing-truck tycoon’s plans involve merging his new company with the old company at a later date, but that would involve agreeing a Company Voluntary Arrangement and possibly dealing with Whyte but the 65 year-old has pleaded with fans to support his plans and insists the history will remain intact.
“
I have fought hard to try and offer Rangers a fresh start and I hope all Rangers fans will continue to rally round the club as we endeavour to leave behind this distressing chapter in the club’s history,” he said.
“Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we have worked hard to ensure that there is no loss of history, no loss of tradition and no liquidation of Rangers Football Club.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
[ By Roddy Forsyth, ‘The Telegraph’10:23PM BST 03 May 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/9243389/Rangers-takeover-Bill-Miller-promises-fiscal-discipline-after-being-named-preferred-bidder.html ]
Old Bill, mere trucker though he may have been, had a very clear perception that liquidation of Rangers Football Club equaled loss of history, loss of tradition.
What a pity that the Administrators seem to have had other plans, and that the supporters, by pissing him off so crudely,got in the way of his efforts to buy the club out of administration and save it from Liquidation- and consequent loss of life, history, and tradition.
Instead, they let Whyte run it into Liquidation, and the Administrators to sell off the assets dirt cheap to CG, who , in turn, makes some incredibly bad business decisions, and effs off.
But not before he has made total ars.s of the SFA and SPL, reducing them to gibbering, unprincipled shallow, hollow men ready to throw , at his bidding, their self-respect and the concept of Sporting Integrity to the wind.
As already mentioned, the second episode of ‘Scotland’s Game’ contained a strange mixture of refreshingly honest admissions about the demise of Rangers FC and an overwhelming annoyance that the documentary deliberately stopped short of telling the absolute truth about the liquidation of the club, almost as if the BBC had imposed a gagging order on itself.
For example, it was stated as fact that Scottish football could not survive without the financial draw of the big two clubs and the TV and other commercial contracts they and they alone attracted. Now I might not agree with that – indeed I don’t – but at least I can see where they’re coming from, leaving aside the unwarranted scaremongering predictions of financial armageddon without Rangers in the top flight for a moment.
What I can’t accept is the football authorities’ wanton and reckless abandonment of principle in awarding titles and trophies of a defunct club to the brand new club that they had just issued with a licence to play, in the full and certain knowledge that it had just been created, then to compound the matter, treating the two clubs as one and the same.
Personally, I would have had no great difficulty in accepting that the new club has a spiritual link to the old one and my personal crusade on this subject has never been about Rangers supporters not having a team to support – they always will have and they always should have.
But the club they now support is categorically not the one which died in 2012, and no amount of fudge and obfuscation by our pitiful, pathetic, pandering media will change that fact.
I see lee wallace has pulled out of the Scotland team again if this guy even plays for 10 seconds for t’rangers against Linfield he should never be called up again.
STEVIEBC SEPTEMBER2nd@16.08
There were glaring omissions,you’re right.
However the contributions of Mcleish,Thomson,English and Cosgrove were all significant.
Baby steps,but forward steps none the less.
Good morning to all at the SFM,
I came across this link from companies house re. the RFCL. It mentions the previous name of TRFCL was Sevco Scotland Ltd for a period from 29 May 2012 – 31 July 2012. I checked when the new club played Brechin in their first game in the Ramsden cup, and found it was the 29 July 2012, … i’m now assuming it was Sevco and not the “rangers” who played against Brechin that day !!! …. izzat rite !!!
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC425159
JOHN CLARKSEPTEMBER 2, 2016 at 12:43
wottpiSeptember 2, 2016 at 11:53‘..No wonder it feels justified in defending and protecting its audio feed from such an attack to the senses..’______I wonder how the poor thing is defending itself from the police officers ‘pouring’ all over it, as Martin Williams, senior reporter , writes?
———–
This small detail might be as revealing as anything contained in the three episodes of “Scotland’s Game.”
“Pouring over”? Seriously?! “Pouring”?
The mainstream media just can’t afford to maintain its old standards anymore.
@ PORTBHOY:
‘Who played Brechin on 29.07.12?’
Well, it wasn’t RFC or TRFC. Sevco Scotland had a unique ‘conditional’ (???) membership granted to allow them to fulfil the fixture.
Frankly, I think Brechin should have refused to play them, but, in saying that, I’ve no idea what pressures were put on ‘The City’ by the governing bodies.
A line has disappeared from my post at 1044.
It should have included the following last sentence:
‘Had there been scrupulous governance, the Ibrox team would have been told that they weren’t eligible for administrative reasons to compete in the Ramsden’s Cup in season 2012/13.’
Lost a post last night re the Scotland U21 game last night.
Got in just before the Macedonia goal which is reported as being 17 mins.
Still long queues to the Wheatfield turnstiles as we got in. Lots of kids parties included.
No idea what input Hearts / Police had to the event but the SFA, again, is a total shambles.
Not a great introduction to international football for the youngster that the SFA encouraged to attend via low prices and ticket offer to football clubs.
A few more staff to open the Gorgie turnstiles and crowd control directing people (hardly any cost at all in the grand scheme of things) could have had everyone inside at KO with no bother.
Why do we never seem to get it right???
Good Morning
A few weeks before the end of last season I posted that the SFA did not realise what they had done. Well now it is coming back to haunt them.
The Hubris, denial, and downright lies of the “The Rangers” (formerly known as Sevco, and yes it was Sevco who played Brechin) supporters is there for all to see.
They are now turning to bite the hand that fed them.
Sevco are adamant that their players were assaulted. Apart from a fresh air swing which in Law is an assault, I challenge “The Rangers” to produce evidence. Where are the videos, still photos , medical reports in support of their ridiculous stance?
John Clark, our intrepid Court Reporter will be aware that today is a Milestone in the Sevco Saga.
All of those charged are now free to tell their story with impunity, with the exception of Mr. Whyte , whom I would expect to walk in the near future.
In my opinion he bought Rangers for £1 from a willing seller and what he did thereafter has still to be proved.
Past behaviour is an indicater of future performance and I doubt that the fools at Crown Office will be victorious.
I understand that JohnJames is to write more on this possibly today.
As for the present version of a team playing out of Govan don’t worry they, I predict will be in administration before the season is out and will then be liquidated as no administrator worth his salt could keep a loss making business afloat.
Good times ahead.
Hoopy 7September 3, 2016 at 11:45
‘…A few weeks before the end of last season I posted that the SFA did not realise what they had done.’
_________
There are, of course, some really wicked people who assert that the SFA knew damned fine both what SDM was doing and what they were having to do to protect him and save ‘Rangers’ , even to the extent of fabricating the Big Lie, beginning with the ridiculous SevcoScotland match v Brechin City ( or even earlier,perhaps, with the misinformation to UEFA about tax debt/UEFA licence)
The essential truth of the old Proverb , that there is no honour among thieves, is clearly demonstrated by the ungrateful wretches on the RIFC/TRFC Boards.
JOHN CLARK
SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 at 01:49
================================
Miller or Kennedy or “The Blue Knights” or Ng or anyone else would not have made a blind bit of difference.
As soon as Rangers failed to pay the wee tax case, then it’s normal income tax and VAT then placed itself into administration they were always going to be liquidated. HMRC were never going to agree a CVA and had enough of the debt to block it.
Getting into the CL group stages that season was the only thing which might, just might, have kept them going. However the pre-sale of season tickets to Ticketus, and the resultant loss of revenue for the coming seasons would have killed them off anyway, just a bit later.
JOHN CLARKSEPTEMBER 3, 2016 at 12:16
“There are, of course, some really wicked people who assert that the SFA knew damned fine both what SDM was doing and what they were having to do to protect him and save ‘Rangers’”
—————————————————————————————————————————————–
Of course they knew John.
Never forget that the original plan was to insert them in the SPL with the debt dumped (probably the only debt free club in Scotland), A decent Season ticket burst, and with £22m in the pipeline from the IPO.
i doubt many players would have donned their marching boots when their wages were guaranteed.
That WAS the plan…”A” Rangers was no good to them……..It had to be a “strong” one !
They understand the psyche of the peepo
HomunculusSeptember 3, 2016 at 12:34
‘..HMRC were never going to agree a CVA and had enough of the debt to block it.’
_______
Mind you, Homunculus, they appear to have been very ready indeed to accommodate and accept the delaying tactics practised by RFC far beyond any ordinarily generous period of time;
and they allowed some official to write encouraging guff about ‘Rangers’ being able to continue playing football at Ibrox’:
and perhaps worst of all, they made a right pig’s bolloks of the HMRC case both at the FTTT , and at the UTTT and before Lord Doherty.
In the Court of Session, Mr Ghosh showed ( as Dr Poon had before) how straightforward the case actually was! Footballers getting paid for their work but saying ‘don’t pay me directly, give the money to a ‘trust’ and I’ll get it from them and the taxman need never know.I trust you, of course, but, give me a wee written guarantee that you’ll pay the tax, if he does come looking for it. And lie to the SFA, with a nod and a wink and a wee sly smile, eh?”
Just watching the legends game (Milan v arsenal) when a thought came into my head.
Can anyone remember what was the outcome/story about the money raised from the old rangers hmm!!! legends v a.c. Milan legends.
All I remember there was concern about which direction the money went as in the charities, expenses or the club(old club).
Homunculus and John Clark, you both took me back to this, from RTC.
Rangers Tax Case
What Now For Rangers?
12/06/2012 5,766 Comments
222 Votes
The announcement that HMRC would oppose the CVA proposal for rescuing Rangers FC is just a few hours old, and I thought that a quick post was due. However, I do not have any new information. I just wanted to move this blog-page along.
As it starts to sink in that The Rangers Football Club plc is now destined to end in corporate failure and liquidation, the questions are coming thick and fast as to what happens next.
The simplest answer is that there are too many permutations to provide a certain path forward. HMRC had previously indicated that they would want Duff & Phelps replaced by BDO as liquidators. I expect that they will want ‘clean hands’ from this point on and that there will be fresh faces atop the marble staircase within a few days. However, it is possible that the liquidators will want to proceed with an asset sale to Green. Other bidders may emerge (or reemerge).
Given the tiny amounts that would be raised in a public fire-sale, it does appear that an asset sale to a newco is almost certain. So a new organisation purporting to represent the legacy of The Rangers Football Club plc will emerge. However, if they are to be playing in any league next season the asset sale will have to be unopposed. If there are legal challenges to a sale, we could see at least one season without any Rangers-type team.
The focus will soon turn to the SFA and the SPL. The ruling bodies of professional football in Scotland have the responsibility to determine whether a newco attempting to transfer Rangers’ league ‘share’ and SFA membership will be allowed to join the top flight of the Scottish game- and if so- when. What must be clear is that any organisation that has bought another club’s share / membership must also face the punishments that awaited the old club. To allow a newco-Rangers to ditch its legacy responsibilities will be to set an expectation that others can do likewise. The battleground is now going to shift and we can expect a massive effort to convince us that an SPL without Rangers would be unbearable
KENTES1SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 at 14:58
Can anyone remember what was the outcome/story about the money raised from the old rangers hmm!!! legends v a.c. Milan legends.All I remember there was concern about which direction the money went as in the charities, expenses or the club(old club).
—————————————–
http://www.scotsman.com/news/rangers-charity-criticised-over-ac-milan-cash-1-3031799
Rangers charity criticised over AC Milan cash
THE CHARITIES watchdog has criticised the Rangers Charity Foundation after it was revealed that cash collected from a fundraising football match went to the club instead. The game between Rangers Legends and the AC Milan Glorie was played after the Ibrox side entered administration, with a fundraising dinner included. However, complaints were lodged after it transpired that nearly £200,000 went directly to the club, and not the charity. The Scottish Charity Regulator ruled that the decision to allocate the sum to the club ‘constituted misconduct’ but decided not to take action against those involved.
One of the trustees told administrators Duff and Phelps of the club’s intention to provide support for the dinner and the match, and according to the report was conerned that the administrators would block the match from going ahead if it was not in the club’s creditors’ interest.The trustee agreed to hand over control of the match’s income to Duff and Phelps so that Rangers could recover costs. Prior to this decision, 60 per cent of the net profit along with a £25,000 management fee had been earmarked for the Rangers Charity Foundation, but the decision to hand control to the administrators led to the charity only receiving ten per cent of the profit – less than £40,000 – and the management fee.
CLUSTER ONE 16.19 03/09/16.19.
Cheers for the reply CLUSTER, I knew I had seen it somewhere but wasn’t to sure.
Apart from the obvious answer I still can’t understand how a regulatory body (sfa apart obviously) can say that the club’s actions were not following the correct procedures(to put it mildly) but can say that they cant/wont take any action against them, as the song says (Eurithmics I think) TELL ME WHY!!!!!
Kentes1 / Cluster One
if I remember correctly, OSCR investigated and a slight slap on the charitable wrist was the result. I seem to remember they had been making decisions without a quorum of trustees, and they had to appoint at least one other. The existence / decisions of RFC employee(s)? on the charity board which could have raised a few eyebrows in charity circles didn’t lead to other action we know about, although some might have thought that this could be interpreted as a conflict of interest and possible breach of remuneration rules as a majority of trustees were connected to and remunerated by RFC.
Of course I”m sure the current Board and staff will be following all aspects of charity law.
KENTES1SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 at 21:14
BAD CAPT MADMANSEPTEMBER 3, 2016 at 22:08
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• OSCR identified that issues of conflict of interest inherent in the Charity’s structure had not been appropriately dealt with. So, we have: ■“breach of the trustees duties” ■“misconduct on the part of the charity trustees as a whole” ■decisions being taken in ways which “did not comply with the requirements of the Charity’s Trust Deed” ■“issues of conflict of interest inherent in the Charity’s structure had not been appropriately dealt with”
More info can be found here by the sadly missed Paul McConville
https://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/a-lesson-in-blatant-spinning-by-rangers-how-it-reported-the-charity-investigation-decision/#more-3997