How Not To Govern Scottish Football

A Guest Blog for TSFM by Auldheid

It has been some six months since we drew readers’ attention to documents that should have been provided by Rangers administrators Duff and Phelps in March 2012 to Harper MacLeod who acted  on behalf of the then Scottish Premier League to investigate the use of side letters and employee benefit trust payments made by Rangers from the inception of the SPL in July 1998.  You can read the previous blogs/correspondence for background at

  1. http://sfm.scot/scottish-football-an-honest-game-honestly-governed
  2. http://sfm.scot/an-honest-game-convince-us/
  3. http://sfm.scot/an-honest-game-convince-us/https://sfmarchive.privateland.net/it-takes-two-to-tangle/

In the latest letter below sent to Harper MacLeod and SPL Board members on 5th September 2014, you will find the story of what happened when the LNS Decision was delivered to the SPL Board and how the withholding of those same documents not only meant The Commission was misled from the outset in its terms of reference, but how the SPL Board were also incorrectly advised as a consequence of the same concealment.

It is a matter of some regret that secrecy, concealment and non-accountability continues to be the order of the day, not only in Scottish football but in the media coverage of this particular part of its history, but if this series of blogs does nothing else it will bring out the truth not only about the use of ebts but the deceitful attempts thereafter to try and minimise the damage caused. The Inaction will also stand as an indictment against all those responsible in the game and the media  who cover it.

 

Letter to Harper MacLeod

Dear Mr McKenzie

We  write further to our letters of 19th February, 29 March and reminder letter of 18th May 2014 to ask if the SPFL are now , after studiously ignoring for 6 months the correspondence and evidence provided, going to reconsider their position in respect of the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission and Decision of 28 February 2013?

In the detail of our letter of 29 March we suggested that It may be prudent to wait for the results of HMRC’s appeal to the UTT concerning the regularity or otherwise of ebt payments made under the MGMRT arrangement before embarking on any premature decision on the integrity of the LNS Commission Decision with regard to the true nature of the REBT payments being concealed from it.

The UTT have ruled and we know that payments under the MGMRT ebt arrangement are, for the time being and until the Court of Sessions re-examine the case at some future date , “lawful” or “not irregular” in tax terms.

However convenient as that may be to put off addressing the wider issue of the true nature of the MGRT ebts used by Rangers,   it is no reason in terms of the  LNS Commission, not to examine the effect of the concealment from yourselves as commissioners and the SPL  of ebt payments made from 2000 to 2002/03 under the REBT arrangements to Tor Andre Flo and Ronald De Boer which were already ruled irregular by a separate FTT investigating the use of the same Discounted Option Scheme by Aberdeen Asset Management.

We remind you that in the earlier undated letter sent on 19th February we provided irrefutable evidence that

  1. Yourself, acting as the investigating agent for the SPL, was not provided with all the documentation you requested on 5th March 2012
  2. That documentation clearly demonstrated that in the case of two players named on the Commission list (Ronald De Boer and Tor Andre Flo) payments were made via an irregular ebt mechanism that subsequently rendered them subject to tax which HMRC has been trying unsuccessfully to collect since May 2011, a year before the commissioning process commenced.
  3. That in both cases side letters concealed from both football and tax authorities were a feature, whilst later relevant documentation revealing their true irregular nature was not provided as directed by yourselves to the Commission itself.

It is now our firm contention that

  • The findings of Lord Nimmo Smith from paras 104 to 106 of his Decision that no sporting advantage accrued must be set aside where now known irregular payments have occurred. Using Lord Nimmo Smith’s argument sporting advantage had to accrue from season 1999/2000 to 2002/03 and the SPFL need to address that truth and consequences for our game to move on.
  • Whilst it is unclear which SPL/SFA rules would have been breached by making irregular payments, it was not the rules the Commission was directed to  examine as,  according to the Lord Nimmo Smith Decision para 88  “ There may be extreme cases in which there is such a fundamental defect that the registration of a player must be treated as having been invalid from the outset “
  • Payment by irregular means clearly constitute such a fundamental defect and so an extreme case. These payments should not have been conflated with other payments which are for the time being not irregular and to allow an investigation to stand that wrongly treated them under the same rules as the Commission did for regular payments would be a clear miscarriage of justice caused itself by apparent deception of the Commission by those whose very behaviour it was commissioned to investigate! (If we were using lay man terms we could say that the SP(F)L clubs and their supporters were and are being treated like mugs by those governing our game.)

On the matter of that apparent deception we can even go further on its impact. It is a fact that the SPL never made any public announcement as a Board of acceptance of the Lord Nimmo Smith decision. There was one individual statement but no official SPL Board announcement.

We understand that the matter of making an appeal was raised by the SPL Board on 28 Feb 2013 during a telephone conference meeting, not a face to face one, to discuss the most serious issue ever facing Scottish football and that a decision was delayed for 7 days by which time the date for lodging an appeal was about to end.

During the discussions by e mail some Board members expressed dissatisfaction at the token nature of the punishment for what Rangers had been found guilty of (basically misregistration of players) but also concerns about how no sporting advantage had been obtained through the use of ebts with side letters.

The Board were persuaded by your good self that Rangers had a sound argument that no sporting advantage had accrued. The Board were told that Rangers in effect had said that if the EBT details were required to be disclosed, the reason they did not disclose them was because of an error by Rangers in understanding what was required to be disclosed and that in any event they had secured no competitive advantage from not disclosing since the tax position would have been the same whether they disclosed to the SPL/SFA or not.

Given our opening points we suggest that during the investigation had you had in your possession the withheld evidence we supplied in our letter of 19 February 2014 (and notwithstanding the point re different terms of reference resulting) you would have been able to demonstrate the flaw in this argument to the SPL Board when they were asking your advice on the legal position in early March 2013.

It is difficult to accept that there was an error in understanding that side letters should not be disclosed as part of player registration when our supplied evidence shows that in 2005 Rangers deliberately concealed the existence of side letter for De Boer and Flo from HMRC.

Far from suggesting an error in understanding, this suggests that Rangers understood that to reveal the existence of such letters would remove the tax advantage that ebts gave them and that this advantage depended upon side letters being kept secret from authority and that includes football authority, lest informing them alerted HMRC to their existence. The QC advice contained in the withheld documents is that this deliberate concealment in 2005 demonstrated Rangers true intention of putting cash in the hands of player as part of their remuneration package.

It is also clear that revelation of these particular side letters and their circumstances would indeed have changed the tax position since HMRC have billed Rangers for the tax due on the payments to De Boer and Flo.

HMRC have not done so for Moore because the absence of a side letter puts the tax due on that transaction outside the extended time limit rules that allowed them to pursue payment for Flo and De Boer, but regardless of this and regardless of whether it was notified to the SFA, Moore was paid by an irregular means not available to other clubs..

The questions for yourself Mr McKenzie is had you been in possession then of the information supplied by TSFM would you at the time of investigation been in a better position to either refute the case Rangers made in their defence or to advise the SPL Board that the evidence of deliberate concealment from HMRC in 2005 of what transpired to be irregular payments, gave the SPL Board reason for entering an appeal?

Did the very absence of that material, which was not your fault, prevent you from briefing the SPL Board in a way that you might have done had you had all the evidence to hand?

We think the original evidence supplied and the questions raised now as a result of more fully appreciating what was hidden from the then SPL Board (and so SPL clubs) in March 2013 requires that the SPFL conduct a new cleansing investigation into :

  • The apparent deception by Duff and Phelps of the SPL led Commission ,
  • Why the SFA President, Campbell Ogilvie, did not advise or correct Lord Nimmo Smith or The SPL and
  • The implications of the use of now revealed irregular payments by Rangers FC during seasons 1999/2000 to 2002/03.

This letter has been sent by e mail to the current SPL Board members and also by mail or e mail to the then Board Members who, whilst no longer in position might have their own views on what needs to be done on this issue to restore integrity   to the very processes Scottish football relies on to ensure fair play.

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Tom Byrne

About Trisidium

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

1,518 thoughts on “How Not To Govern Scottish Football


  1. nawlite says:
    October 1, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    Eco, I’m loathe to jump in, but the only thing I thought was a bit patronising/pompous was when DP referred to listening to SSB, you responded along the lines of ‘I have a life, so don’t listen’ (I’m paraphrasing).
    ==========================================
    Point taken – but at the end of the day it’s up to individuals how they spend their time and what’s important to them. SSB doesn’t float my boat and I was honest in making it clear that I don’t listen to it. If that’s me being patronising/pompous then I put my hands up and confess that’s the case.

    However others who do listen to SSB and participate in exchanges are perfectly free to do so and their choice doesn’t bother me in the slightest – why should it as I have no interest in that programme or those of a similar nature.

    Surely I have a right to decide not to listen to a programme and not be labelled ‘pompous’ because I am open and honest about my decision. Especially when I don’t decry others who wish to spend their time listening to it – that’s their choice and I surely have the individual right not to make it mine.


  2. jean7brodie says:
    October 1, 2014 at 8:33 pm
    ‘… I thought he was supposed to be a ‘Rangers man’.’
    ———
    So much in sympathy with his fans that he squealed like a stuck pig when he thought his full salary details were going into the Prospectus, being concerned that those who had contributed from the heart might wonder at his venal lack of readiness to put his big money where his even bigger dog-whistling mouth was.
    Unlike Michael Stewart, I am not competent to make a professional judgment on any football manager as a football manager.
    But I can make a judgment on a man as a rabble-rousing, sleekit-whisperer-in- the- ear cad. (Now, there’s a word I don’t think I’ve ever used.It wasn’t the Billy Bunter books that were mentioned recently, was it, along with Winnie the Pooh?)


  3. Re All this anger and rage about McCoist
    ……..
    Frankly
    Its further proof that most Bears still believe that TRFC are somehow entitled to be viewed as an RFC that has emerged from a difficult period.
    The anger comes from a disconnect with reality
    RFC had a team stuffed with high value players who could play and indeed did play at the top level in England.They were well managed by Walter Smith
    However
    That era is OVER. That RFC team are GONE
    TRFC have a team with no high value players.They are managed by someone grossly inferior to WS
    TRFC are not performing below their ability
    They are actually performing at or around their ability
    The real issue is this
    The Bears need to waken up and smell the coffee
    They are getting the sort of performance warranted by the quality
    Instead of slagging off the Manager
    They should look in the mirror and ask themself
    Am I expecting far too much?


  4. From the outside looking in, there appears to be a coordinated media campaign to pressurise Mr McCoist into quitting. I can’t remember another manager being treated to such a sudden ambush. Have they been waiting for permission or did they all come to the same point of view by osmosis? Or are they just doing what they’re told as usual?


  5. Big Pink says:
    October 1, 2014 at 8:09 pm

    To be honest, who can blame him given the others who have enriched themselves throughout this debacle?
    ==============================================
    I look at those attacking McCoist from within his own support demanding that he walk away from his contract and I recognise a huge level of PR infiltration that the spivs have achieved on Rangers fan websites.

    Why should McCoist walk away from his contract of employment? And what other Bear working for any comnpany would walk away from their legal entitlement to suit a change in company ‘politics’.

    Ally’s job was to get Rangers back in the Premiership and I reckon – barring financial collapse – that he’ll probably achieve that next season. OK IMO in football management terms he can’t hack-it if they get promoted so his shelf-life is probably short term.

    But without him the whole spiv plan would have failed back in 2012 IMO so he’s due his dosh. From a purely Celtic viewpoint I want him there in the Premiership but that won’t happen and I think McCoist is clever enough to know when his time’s up.


  6. readcelt says:
    October 1, 2014 at 9:38 pm
    ecobhoy says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:27 am
    —————————————-

    Was that in reply to a quote from the link I posted?

    That was not ‘My’ opinion but it seems to have irked enough for a lengthy response based on almost a single quoted paragraph from a much longer article which highlighted various issues.
    ===============================================
    And your point is caller? Btw I don’t irk easily and especially not on a blog – I save emotion for the real world and would recommend you might attempt that sometime 😆

    I didn’t read the full article because the one para you quoted left me cold – but that’s probably me being pompous again 🙄

    However people have the right not to read things that don’t interest them so I would assume you won’t be reading anything of mine in the near future 😆


  7. twopanda says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    eco – DP is sound
    ==============================
    Well I know the pound is sound and that seems to meet with universal agreement 😆


  8. Flocculent Apoidea says:
    October 1, 2014 at 9:59 pm
    4 0 Rate This

    From the outside looking in, there appears to be a coordinated media campaign to pressurise Mr McCoist into quitting. I can’t remember another manager being treated to such a sudden ambush. Have they been waiting for permission or did they all come to the same point of view by osmosis? Or are they just doing what they’re told as usual?
    ——————–
    Are there ant links available for this ambush?
    Aside from Phils latest piece and a bit of soft soap in The Herald I’m struggling to find anything.

    Granted, South Today and The Reading Chronicle aren’t great sources of goings on in Scottish fitba.

    It is interesting to think that if the tide has turned the press will look to serve their demographic by feeding them what they want to hear.
    A curious outcome of the move to online news sources and declining sales of printed media might be that those in charge of the papers don’t even know who their demographic is anymore, and are simply chasing ever declining returns from a perpetually shrinking customer base.


  9. ecobhoy says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:15 pm
    0 4 Rate This

    readcelt says:
    October 1, 2014 at 9:38 pm
    ecobhoy says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:27 am
    —————————————-

    Was that in reply to a quote from the link I posted?

    That was not ‘My’ opinion but it seems to have irked enough for a lengthy response based on almost a single quoted paragraph from a much longer article which highlighted various issues.
    ===============================================
    And your point is caller? Btw I don’t irk easily and especially not on a blog – I save emotion for the real world and would recommend you might attempt that sometime 😆

    I didn’t read the full article because the one para you quoted left me cold – but that’s probably me being pompous again 🙄

    However people have the right not to read things that don’t interest them so I would assume you won’t be reading anything of mine in the near future 😆
    ——————————–

    Just found it curious that a solitary quote would have resulted in that.

    But you didn’t read the brief, so that explains it. Shame. Had some decent points possibly not served by my choice of snippet to post up.


  10. Ally has taken some criticism over the last two nights on ssb. Pundits also giving a hard to due to their lack of criticism of great guy, nice man, the legend that is Ally. In fact 2 fans of the govan club asked why Celtic manager gets so much stick from ssb and Ally is giving an easy time. A lot of denial and sputtering from pundits concerning this truthful fact.
    Ally must be in the top 5 of spivs who have taken the most money out of his beloved club and his loyal fans. All other spivs have also financially gained but not one of them has any connection to the club, but Ally nice guy has. Shame on him.


  11. Ecobhoy et al

    The bickering needs to stop guys. Now please.


  12. Interesting to see Michael Stewart’s fairly vicious attack in the Sun on McCoist.

    Irrespective of McCoist’s ability or lack of it as Rangers’ manager I really wonder what gives Stewart the right or expertise to comment on McCoist or any other footbasll manager given his less than lacklustre career as a footballer.

    I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for McCoist when the toothless stooges of the SMSM via the Rangers spivs are paid to attack a footballer whose boots they could never fill.

    We live in interesting times 😆


  13. Readcelt, I refer to the Herald piece and some phone-in radio show that others have mentioned but, most notably, the sport segment of the TV news (probably BBC but maybe STV also) made it a headline item. I don’t bother with newspapers or radio phone-ins so can’t comment on any other than what gets reported here.
    Having previously been untouchable, it just seems to have officially become McCoist Season (as opposed to McCoist’s season).


  14. To avoid any doubt I believe McMurdo is a numpty. I reproduced his latest blog to give others the chance to see what he was saying. B McM is long suspected of being someone’s catspaw. The thing is who gains from this line.


  15. andycolo says:
    October 1, 2014 at 11:00 pm

    AC, that`s solid sensible!
    Keep on
    mtp


  16. It may be of some interest in the context of alleged corruption in UEFA and FIFA, that the best football administrator in Nepal, the redoubtable President of the All Nepal Football Association, Mr Ganesh Thapa, has been accused by the Nepalese Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee of embezzling 582 million rupees ( approx. £3.6M over his 19 year tenure.
    The committee has ordered the government to immediately begin an investigation and suspend Thapa.
    They appear to take these things seriously in Nepal.
    (
    ( Item in today’s print-‘Scotsman’)
    ps. monthly rent for a Kathmandu city centre 3-bed apartment is about 25 000 rupees, so 582M goes quite a long way.You could have a really good night out for that, Chick.


  17. @ecobhoy 10.15 pm

    “Irrespective of McCoist’s ability or lack of it as Rangers’ manager I really wonder what gives Stewart the right or expertise to comment on McCoist or any other footbasll manager given his less than lacklustre career as a footballer.”

    Probably the same right and expertise you feel you have in commenting on Mr Stewart 🙄


  18. ecobhoy says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:51 pm
    ‘.I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for McCoist when the toothless stooges of the SMSM via the Rangers spivs are paid to attack a footballer whose boots they could never fill.’
    ———
    I don’t believe I’d ever be sorry for McCoist,or that he is at all being hard done by! but I think you raise an interesting question: who is now providing the succulent lamb?
    Who, or which faction, is now turning the barrel-organ handle to make the monkeys jump? Which editors are being wooed by which party?
    Or is it simply the case that influential people not already on the Boards have begun to fear that a ‘return’ to the top division is at serious risk purely in terms of lack of success on the field of play?
    That they fear that the phoenix, instead of soaring to the clouds, will have its arse burnt to ash, and instead of ‘restored’ glory and ‘rightful supremacy’ they will have only the cold, slow descent into oblivion, if the team is not brought to anything approximating the high standard that they were unrealistically believed not to have lost? And which their fans were constantly told ( until now) that they had not lost.The fans were encouraged to believe that progress to the top division would be effected at a canter.
    Now that that certainty is beginning to be eroded ( kind of like the ‘certainty’ that Celtic had only to turn up for games to win their league at a canter!) hard questions are being asked.Of Ally McCoist. But at whose instigation in particular?
    Whose vested interests control our media people?


  19. ecobhoy says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:51 pm

    Interesting to see Michael Stewart’s fairly vicious attack in the Sun on McCoist.
    ———————————————–

    Since when did being a good footballer equate with being a good manager?…and what have you done with the real ecobhoy??

    To be serious..I find Michael Stewart refreshingly frank and seemingly unswayed by any need to be seen as unbiased. Calls it as he sees it in my opinion.I along with others nailed McCoist’s real rangersness many moons ago on RTC . He has been aware of the plan to fleece the loyal since day one and has carried out his part admirably, his coaching and managerial skills have been secondary in this pantomime and his nest is well feathered. How he gets out of this with legendary status intact will be fun to see.


  20. Ecobhoy at 10.51pm. What or who gives Jackson,Keevins,Guidi,Delahunt and all the rest of the non playing football hacks the right to pass judgement on players, managers and coaches? But they do pass judgement and nobody thinks twice about it. So why not ex-players? PS. I enjoy reading Ecobhoy’s posts and long may they continue, but I had to question that one.


  21. jean7brodie says: October 1, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    Ma maw’n’da stayed in Polmadie Road. Not far from where Rab C woke up in the middle of the road one morning. 😆


  22. I think that Michael Stewart is perfectly placed to comment on any manager in the Scottish game. He has played for Hearts, Hibs and Manchester United, and been capped four times by his country. He has played for several managers, both good and bad.

    The fact that he hasn’t played for either Celtic or Rangers, would appear, to me at least, to allow him to distance himself from the sycophantic ex players who talk about the great derby games that were all played at 100 miles an hour, full of tension, passion and atmosphere while refusing to criticise an opponent, when what the reality was that the games played had little skill with over physical challenges, played to a backdrop of sectarianism and bigotry.

    Michael Stewart certainly had his limitations as a player, mainly because he had a chip on both shoulders, thinking he was better than he was, and he certainly felt that he was a better player than Darren Fletcher who “made it” at Man Utd.

    However, one thing you couldn’t criticise him for was his application to a game. It is something that I saw of him even at training, to which he applied himself with the same level of intensity as a match situation. I recall watching one incident when he had a training bust up with David Obua. Stewart had a go at Obua for not working hard enough and was 100% accurate when he challenged Obua with the question “Don’t you want to improve yourself?”

    That told me a lot about Michael Stewart (and David Obua) and suggests that he is aware of what makes a good manager and coach.


  23. gunnerb says:
    October 2, 2014 at 12:20 am
    ‘…I find Michael Stewart refreshingly frank and seemingly unswayed by any need to be seen as unbiased.’
    ——-
    Kenny McIntyre tonight ( or, geez! I now see,that was last night!) did his duty as an impartial BBC Sportsound presenter, when he reminded Stewart of his personal little difficulty with McCoist ( I can’t remember what that was).

    Stewart’s reply was that he was giving, and had been giving for some time, his purely professional opinion/assessment of McCoist’s managerial talents- in the knowledge that if he was talking football rubbish simply to bad-mouth McCoist for personal reasons, his own credibility as any kind of professional would have been instantly called into question by other professionals.

    That is, he was ready, is ready, to take on, in football analysis terms as opposed to partisanship blindness, any other professional pundit in demonstrating the lack of tactical nous in McCoist- a lack which has been clearly perceived by a substantial body of the support, now that harder competition faces them.

    Some of the other pundits who know their onions might not, as fans, be happy that Stewart is open and honest in his assessment in a way that they dare not be, but will, must indeed, agree professionally with that assessment.

    And are now apparently beginning to give expression to that agreement, in a way that they were perhaps afraid (or not allowed) to do previously.

    It is now openly being agreed that whatever his genuine and praiseworthy talents as a footballer, McCoist has been found wanting as a football manager.

    No particular shame in that.

    The shame lies in the use and abuse of him ( with his consent!) by turds like CG etc etc., as a tool to extract the maximum personal gain from his ‘rangersness’- at the expense, literally, of the genuine fans.

    Their ‘legend’ is not a good football manager.Fair enough.

    That he has, in effect, colluded in the very destruction of their club, being right in there with a huge remuneration package, a barrow-load of cheaply bought shares, and sackable only at enormous cost to a cash-strapped club that he ‘loves’….that is in no wise acceptable.
    Legend or otherwise, his tea’s oot.


  24. +1 TSFM 🙂

    On McCoist’s remuneration arrangements, it seems to me, notwithstanding his fairly obvious shortcomings as a manager, that he is the sole reason that the “same club” sham has been largely successful in the eyes of the Rangers fans.

    Without McCoist, especially in the light of the July 2012 refusal to allow entry to the SPL, continuity Rangers would not exist.

    With that in mind, perhaps some of those Rangers fans who are criticising his salary should have another look at his worth to the club going forward. Financially in the longer term, there is an ocean of difference between the two states of OCNC if the perception of the fans is unfavourable.

    It might be arguable of course, but my guess is that McCoist has added more value to the new club than he has extracted – which is more than can be said for Murray, Whyte and Green – or even Easdale(s) for that matter.


  25. twopanda says: October 1, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    Been dipping in and out for a few months – work has been very busy. Looks like nothing much has changed. The club/company have taken no steps to make cuts, to secure a stable business model. Again, where are the SFA? The body behind the license?


  26. An interesting narrative online – Craig Whyte, disgraced former owner etc. etc.

    Nisi Dominus Frustra on KDS makes a very good point, where is the commentary on the actions, business strategy and behaviours of (S)DM?

    Why was the Club sold for a £?

    Many people on RTC routinely made the point: follow the money.

    Are Media House still on the scene, trying to steer the narrative in the SMSM? I wonder if this is the force behind the level of disgrace being thrust upon Mr Whyte? If so, who is paying that particular fee?

    Don’t get me wrong, Craig Whyte is no saint. However, he is not the only sinner in this sorry episode.


  27. Interesting that the worm seems to have turned with the press now targeting McCoist.
    Thanks for the pointing me in the right direction guys.
    I guess this is interesting because it lies at the heart of what the media is there to do.
    Do they report the news, shape the news or make the news?
    The MSM’s persuit of what they see as their main demographic in an environment of perpetually declining print circulation and revenues reminded me of a Henry Ford quote.
    “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”
    We are seeing a change of direction, rounding a bend but the MSM are still galloping in ever decreasing circles.


  28. I see today’s Herald refers to Rangers current state and uses the term ‘since Administration’. The ‘L’ word is too much for yet another MSM writer. The media keep asking for Scottish football ‘to move on’. That will be impossible unless the truth is admitted and accepted.


  29. John Clark says:
    October 1, 2014 at 9:42 pm

    You are correct in your guess that I am suggesting CG, or someone of that ilk living in France, might well be behind this purchase. It might well point to the next move in the spivs’ strategy with the purchaser aware of something that might make 20p per share a profitable investment. Whether that’s something to cause a rise (even temporary) in the share price about to be revealed, or, dare I say it, a sale, or sale and leaseback, of the heritable assets, only time will tell, but surely only someone with knowledge, or belief, of a soon to be made profit would ‘invest’ in this unviable (as it stands) company.

    Something I find a bit strange is the idea that a sale and purchase transaction between spivs would be done using brokers. If the two parties are known to each other, why not save on brokerage fees, and stamp duty (there are ways round it when spivs are involved), by doing a Stock Transfer? Unless, of course, publicity of the transaction is what’s sought, or the setting of a price for some spiv-like purpose.

    The idea that the purchaser and seller are unknown to each other seems very unlikely (though the beneficial owners might not know each other) as the chances of someone wanting to buy a large parcel of shares at the same time as someone wants to sell it must be very remote, so, whatever the motivation behind the trade, why would both parties pay brokerage, even if everything else was above board, ie Stamp Duty was paid with the correct consideration being declared?

    I find it pretty hard to believe that anyone who isn’t in the loop, with at least one of the, apparently, opposing parties at Ibrox, would want to get significantly involved, at least until some form of normal business practice is in place at RIFC plc! They wouldn’t necessarily care what state TRFC Ltd is in, though.


  30. easyJambo says:
    October 2, 2014 at 7:52 am

    If I’m not mistaken, the maximum amount Ashley can own in RIFC/TRFC is 10% without falling foul of UEFA?, and subsequently SFA an FA, regulations. Perhaps adding the amount of this share purchase to Ashley’s existing holding, and coming up with a figure close to 10% (9%) is enough for a Sun reporter to create this connection! Perhaps it’s true, but if it is true, why would Ashley carry out a purchase in the name of a nominee, then allow the news to break via a source close to him? It doesn’t make sense, but then again, in this TRFC saga, if it doesn’t make sense, it probably makes sense 😐

    A’ll get ma coat…


  31. ekt1m says:
    October 2, 2014 at 12:54 am

    Ecobhoy at 10.51pm. What or who gives Jackson,Keevins,Guidi,Delahunt and all the rest of the non playing football hacks the right to pass judgement on players, managers and coaches? But they do pass judgement and nobody thinks twice about it. So why not ex-players? PS. I enjoy reading Ecobhoy’s posts and long may they continue, but I had to question that one.
    =======================================================
    IMO TSFM would be a terribly tame place if we all agreed with each other all of the time 😆

    However, I have repeated my 10.51 post so that everyone is clear what I stated:

    ecobhoy says:
    October 1, 2014 at 10:51 pm

    Interesting to see Michael Stewart’s fairly vicious attack in the Sun on McCoist.

    Irrespective of McCoist’s ability or lack of it as Rangers’ manager I really wonder what gives Stewart the right or expertise to comment on McCoist or any other football manager given his less than lacklustre career as a footballer.

    I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for McCoist when the toothless stooges of the SMSM via the Rangers spivs are paid to attack a footballer whose boots they could never fill.

    We live in interesting times 😆

    I don’t deny any sports hack the right to pass judgement but I don’t accept your observation that ‘nobody thinks twice’ about that judgement.

    I think the judgements passed on players are eagerly devoured by fans and invariably the subject of heated debate by them. However in the Alice in Wonderland world of football ‘journalism’ all is seldom as it appears or is presented.

    I have written on this subject previously about how and why sports journos are fed the info from clubs, managers and fellow players to dish the dirt on a player.

    One of the key elements in this strategy – often used to facilitate an exit from a club or as a warning shot – is the timing of it. Stewart can hardly claim a world exclusive in revealing that McCoist can’t manage.

    Every Bear and most other Scottish Football supporters has known that for at least a couple of years although many down Ibrox Way were in deep denial of that and many other things which they tried to keep firmly locked away.

    So the paper dogs of war have been unleashed and set-on McCoist and our sports journos are, as always, doing the bidding of the PR spinners who are still in control of the whole shooting match.

    McCoist’s job was always simply to get Rangers to the Premiership IMO. Given his lack of management skills it was unlikely to ever be a pretty footballing progress and it hasn’t been.

    But barring another financial collapse at Ibrox I still thinkMcCoist can get them to the Premiership and I genuinely believe he would have walked away at that point because he might be many things but I don’t think he actually has any delusions about his management failings. So returning them – or a faded facsimile – to the top would have let him walk away cleanly.

    But for some reason those in charge want rid of him NOW and have tipped the nod that it’s open season on him with no reprisals from the club. If I thought for a minute that the attacks on McCoist were the start of a new era in Scottish sports journalism then I would probably close my eyes to what is happening.

    But after a once proud Ibrox football legend is savaged by a toothless useles pack of press hyenas business will return to normal and Ibrox will call the shots yet again and the journos will jump to attention and as high as they are instructed to.

    So Stewart and his buddies can say what they want but as per usual I’ll ignore it and make my own mind up wrt to players and managers and I’ll get it wrong as many times as do the hacks. My only consolation is that I will have made genuine mistakes all on my own based on footballing merit and not through eating any suspect lamb of unknown origin and agenda from the PR buffet.


  32. Big Pink says:
    October 2, 2014 at 1:54 am

    It might be arguable of course, but my guess is that McCoist has added more value to the new club than he has extracted – which is more than can be said for Murray, Whyte and Green – or even Easdale(s) for that matter.
    =================================================================
    I have always felt that without McCoist actually rallying the Bears back in 2012 that it’s arguable that Rangers in all its forms might well have become extinct.

    Green has shown down the years – long before Rangers – what a shrewd operator he is and has got the ‘daft Yorkshireman’ front down to a T.

    The whole Rangers Project was in trouble and Green recognised that McCoist could save his bacon by not walking away and making sure the support didn’t either. Of course in the process McCoist hung the ‘Don’t Do Walking Away’ noose around his own neck.

    He is in a no win situation IMO – damned if he walks and damned if he doesn’t – and that’s further complicated depending on the pay-off deal.

    I think it’s obvious that unless some kind of miracle takes place on the football field then his hope of surviving until the Premiership is fast fading. Obviously if there are problems with payments/fees to players then that makes things worse.

    Possibly McCoist’s cleanest way out is financial collapse at Rangers – that means all decisions are taken out of his hands. If I was him that would be my light at the end of the tunnel but at some stage the emotional battering he is being subjected to will cause him to crumple.

    Having watched Moyes disintegrating under the pressure at Man Utd it’s not a pretty sight and possibly the money helps ease the pain but I doubt it always cures the psychological damage inflicted.

    This is no eulogy or excuse for the repulsive things McCoist has done previously – but where were those now brave journalists then? Hiding in their holes and keeping quiet and that is where they will return after a pat on the head and a scrap of lamb from their PR Master for a job well done.


  33. Easy/Ally

    I’m with Ally on this one. Mike Ashley stated publicly he was not going to exercise his option in the rights issue. As a result at the beginning of last week there was an AIM notification that he had dropped below the 3% threshold. There could only be two reasons for this. Firstly he genuinely wasn’t interested or secondly that he wanted to drop off the radar to make a surprise move.

    If he wanted to publicly increase his shareholding why not participate in the share offer where the money would go into the club it wouldn’t have prevented him also buying more shares up to the 10%. If he is behind this weeks share purchase the money didn’t go to the club, as the Sun suggests, but to HH. Why would he hide behind BNP and then have someone widely publicize it. I think the source close to Mike Ashley is a regular at distributing :slamb:


  34. The sudden and universal 180 turn from the MSM on McCoist’s obvious managerial shortcomings is beyond suspicious.

    And they still have the nerve to refer to themselves as “journalists”…


  35. ecobhoy says:
    October 2, 2014 at 9:36 am

    Can I say that I could never feel sorry for anyone who makes a very good living from doing something as enjoyable as playing, or managing in, football should things go wrong in their career (other than serious injury)especially when due to their own lack of ability. Football led to Ally McCoist having a relatively successful, and no doubt lucrative, television career, too, but he made a choice to return to football as an unbelievably high paid manager, with no experience other than as Walter Smith’s sidekick. I’m not suggesting football management is easy, but if your any good at it, at all, 90% of it is fun! Regardless of any damage he’s done to TRFC, he’s been very well paid for something he’s clearly not very good at. Lucky man.

    On Michael Stewart’s right to criticise McCoist, or any football manager. I haven’t read much, if anything, written by Stewart, but unless he’s previously been one of McCoist’s sycophants I can’t see why he shouldn’t be at liberty to criticise him, heavily, now in his role as a football manager. McCoist has made good money from being in the public eye, as part of the entertainment industry, all his life. He has courted publicity and, as a result, made that successful transition to television. He has criticised other players as a pundit, though not maliciously as I recall, but since moving into management has shown himself to be a crass and malicious opponent who panders to the herd mentality, and even the bigotry of his fellow bears. To be fair to Stewart, his criticism is purely of McCoist’s managerial ability and doesn’t move into his personal or ‘business’ life, which Stewart, or any sports journo, might well be best to leave alone.

    If I am correct that Michael Stewart has never been in the ‘Super Ally’ camp, then I can think of no Scottish pundit with any more ‘right’ to be critical of him, and compared to the namby pamby critique by Richard Wilson the other day, he’s a breath of fresh air for the SMSM.

    Michael Stewart is relatively new to the media and is clearly learning his new trade, but, unlike the majority of ex-players who have a ‘column’ this would appear to be his own words and opinion. If he makes a balls of his career in journalism, as he wasted his talent as a player, I will have no sympathy for him either.


  36. Can anyone update,someone recently stated in a court that there would be accounts published and an agm, what would the earliest dates for these to happen now we are into October
    Thanks


  37. yourhavingalaugh says:
    October 2, 2014 at 10:31 am

    I think the AGM will follow 28 days after the announcement and the accounts have been published. See how confident I am that the accounts will be published 🙄


  38. Eco,
    Many thanks for your post @ 9.36 where you repeated your earlier post and then expanded on your reasons for the comments.
    Take the point.

    Re Ally though, I just can’t afford him any slack at all in this debacle.
    He played the naive cheeky chappy whose gig was never financial matters.
    He claimed he was shown a piece of paper and simply signed.
    Not all of our heads button up the back.
    IMO he knew full well what was going on and that without him on board, the Spiv’s plans were dead in the water.
    He screwed them big style if, as Phil alleges, his contract was for 5 years.
    Add in his penny shares and you have quite a nice set up for a man whose gig ain’t finances.
    I think it’s interesting that all of a sudden the stenographers in the SMSM seem to have had a mass appointment at Specsavers.
    It comes just after McCoist made a casual aside in a recent presser where he informed us all that he was keeping a Diary of his roller coaster ride in Govan.
    IMO that little gem was being aimed at the Spivs and putting them on notice that he knew where the bodies were buried.
    Could it be that this is their reaction.
    Either way it’s going to get very messy and I for one will have NO sympathy for the Cheeky Chappy.
    Finally, JC was asking earlier about the bit of history between Stewart and McCoist.
    IIRC, I read somewhere (senior moment as I can’t remember where) that after a piece Stewart had written McCoist rang him up and it was not a pleasant exchange of words…… allegedly.


  39. Mystery Buyer Sweepstake

    Charles Green
    George Soros
    Stockcash
    Craig Whyte
    Hargreave Hale 😉
    Police Scotland

    mtp


  40. twopanda says:
    October 2, 2014 at 10:58 am
    0 0 Rate This

    Mystery Buyer Sweepstake

    Charles Green
    George Soros
    Stockcash
    Craig Whyte
    Hargreave Hale 😉
    Police Scotland

    Dave King.


  41. Whoever the purchaser is, this is the first salvo in the battle for control. One would assume that the Easedale Alliance(if they are against dis-applying pre-emption rights) will not have been involved – but who knows?

    I do think it makes it less certain that an insolvency event is on the horizon and more likely that another share issue s on the cards – either elastoplast or otherwise.


  42. I haven’t done the arithmetic, but the last share issue would have seen some dilution of the holdings (of those who did not take up shares). The Easdales did buy up some to protect their relative holding, but would another Elastoplast force them to up the ante?

    Also how many more shares can they issue (with pre-emption rights) before having to go to the AGM for permission?

    And have to ask this question. If the Easdales are blocking wider share ownership, what’s their plan for getting some badly needed working capital in?


  43. TSFM,

    Please check my post held in moderation.


  44. Allyjambo says:
    October 2, 2014 at 8:48 am

    John Clark says:
    October 1, 2014 at 9:42 pm

    You are correct in your guess that I am suggesting CG, or someone of that ilk living in France, might well be behind this purchase. It might well point to the next move in the spivs’ strategy with the purchaser aware of something that might make 20p per share a profitable investment. Whether that’s something to cause a rise (even temporary) in the share price about to be revealed, or, dare I say it, a sale, or sale and leaseback, of the heritable assets, only time will tell, but surely only someone with knowledge, or belief, of a soon to be made profit would ‘invest’ in this unviable (as it stands) company.
    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
    Well heres one option for the next lot of Spivs

    Match fixing on behalf of a Far Eastern syndicate

    It wouldnt take much

    Fire McCoist and replace him with a Player Manager


  45. mungoboy says:
    October 2, 2014 at 10:38 am
    ===================================
    McCoist IMO is a very complex individual and has done many things which I regard as despicable.

    However, as I have said many times, one thing McCoist isn’t is a clown when it comes to financial matters. He never ever has been – well except on a personal level but that is something any one of us can end-up in and isn’t for comment here.

    I think a lot of people who know that McCoist is on-the-ball financially with good professional backing actually miss is just how much of a Bear he actually is and so there is a real cauldron bubbling away inside him. He genuinely believes the whole Rangersness thing.

    Personally I think he deserves what he has been paid and I believe without his support Rangers would never have made it past the summer of 2012. So how do you put a price on that and, in any case, the value and currency involved are different depending on whether you look from the spiv or ordinary fan viewpoint.

    But I genuinely don’t think ordinary fans can take any more and even the spivs must see how close they are to the tipping point. The current PR dirty-tricks to do in McCoist could simply be to get the fans onside for another plucking – either shares or STs or indeed both.

    So they get rid of McCoist by manipulating fan sites big-style and hire a replacement and fans are happy. But the flaw in the argument I can’t ignore is who would take the job and what financial demnds would they have to get new players.

    So the spivs probably don’t gain any financial advantage even if they force McCoist to walk without any dosh or with a drastically reduced golden cheerio.

    Whatever they come-up with will probably be a total surprise and something which none of us can predicted because these people know exactly what they are doing and have all the necessary expertise and previous practice to reach their goal.


  46. Eco,

    Back on form mate! Agree100%. Only to say that I don’t think many ever considered he would be their eventual premiership boss other than for a token gesture period.


  47. I personally think some people are over analysing the McCoist situation.

    The point is that he is a shite manager getting paid a ridiculous sum of money that very few clubs on the planet would entertain.


  48. Ever since its latest software update I want to throw my iPad out the window!!!!

    Ok, back to matters in hand.

    From Phils last post he seems to be suggesting the nuclear button for McCoist would be the media divulging his remuneration. No pay cut etc.
    It has also been hinted that attendance figures also trigger monies exiting the business.
    Is Ally getting a bonus based on bums on seats?
    Would this be the endgame scenario that would hound him out and force him to step down without a massive pay off.
    It would be a difficult volte-face for the media, having regurgitated the narrative around McCoist thus far in such gushing terms but not an impossible one.
    I’d guess the Livingston game will do a lot to determine if that button is pushed.


  49. sannoffymesssoitizz says:
    October 2, 2014 at 11:58 am

    I also find it suspcious that in recent days the majority of callers that the editorial team at Radio Clyde 1 SSB have broadcast have called to express their opinion that Ally is just not a good enough manager for TRFC. 🙄

    Of course it could just be the SMSM reflecting the views of its readers and listeners

    ===================================================
    It could be an genuine outpouring of grief from fans but personally I believe it is much more orchestrated than that as most Bears I talk to about Ibrox issues are very quiet and reflective and don’t even dig me up about Celtic which is a whole new experience 😆

    As to the SMSM reflecting the views of its readers well that’ll be a first. The proof of the pudding for me is what happens if McCoist Walks because I strongly suspect we will see the SMSM resume normal programming which on the Rangers Channel means ‘Radio Silence’ except for good news PR puffs.


  50. ecobhoy says:
    October 2, 2014 at 12:03 pm
    ==========================

    Without McCoist there is every possibility that the whole Charles Green fiasco would not have happened. Most of us on here go on about how Rangers should bite the bullet and start again, if McCoist hadn’t came out in favour of Green they would probably have went down that route. By nailing his colours to the Green mast he didn’t do the Rangers fans any favours. In fact history will probably show that he caused them more harm than good. The only way for Rangers fans to achieve some form of control will be for them to reform the club – something that they should have done in 2012.


  51. tomtom says:
    October 2, 2014 at 12:49 pm
    ecobhoy says:
    October 2, 2014 at 12:03 pm
    ==========================

    Without McCoist there is every possibility that the whole Charles Green fiasco would not have happened. Most of us on here go on about how Rangers should bite the bullet and start again, if McCoist hadn’t came out in favour of Green they would probably have went down that route. By nailing his colours to the Green mast he didn’t do the Rangers fans any favours. In fact history will probably show that he caused them more harm than good. The only way for Rangers fans to achieve some form of control will be for them to reform the club – something that they should have done in 2012.

    ==========================================================
    I agree that McCoist was pivotal to Green’s consortium succeeding. But if McCoist hadn’t supported Green I truly believe it’s impossible to answer the ‘What If’ question.

    One of the major probs for me remains with the anonymity of those who controlled the consortium. They could have done a number of things but they would have ensured they didn’t lose their money and the fate of Rangers was merely a side show to them IMO. I believe it still is.

    You might be right about the judgement of history but we need to see the end game before reaching any firm conclusion IMO and that might still be some time away.

    I also happen to believe that the Bears had to have their baptism of fire to reach the stage where some might actually start a ‘new’ Rangers not playing at Ibrox. It couldn’t have been done in SFL3 – there wasn’t enough time and Bears had been fed the ‘journey’ line about making friends along the way and developing youth players. There was actually quite a lot of Bears wanted to start at the ‘bottom’ and actually some genuine atonement from a few Bears.

    I have argued here before that fans founding a new club is the answer but to do so means throwing-off the shackles of history and that tbh is a huge ask of them. The alternative is to continue pumping hard-earned cash into the spiv money machine.

    Sadly they have yet to realise that buying shares in a spiv-controlled entity is a waste of time and money. Hopefully soon they will realise what share dilution actually means and that coupled with another financial disaster might just provide enough impetus for real change.

    But the problem is that as the spivs pack-up and leave then the impoverished Blue Knights will creep in the back door wheedling for the fans to pony-up the cash to save the Old Rangers of Struthian Mythology.

    If ther fans fall for it then there’ll be another delay before it all hits the buffers again. By that stage I don’t know if there will be enough will left for fans to rebuild,


  52. Re the Herald piece on Murray,surely straight out of the Ricky Fulton book of comments (you are talking p!sh that could never happen oan this planet)


  53. wotppi

    I think you’re coming at the McCoist story from the wrong angle. I’d say McCoist has done a brilliant job of doing what he thought he was being asked to do – to pilot the glorious return, to do it without embarrassment in Rangers stylee (ie sledgehammer vs nut) and not to ask too many questions on the way.

    1/ He got confuddled that the bus he was piloting wasn’t actually a real rangers bus after all but was actually a metaphoric French pension fund with a paint job.

    2/ He missed the fact, but to be fair so did 40,000 season ticket holders, that someone else could have done the same job for 1/3 of the money (whilst spending 1/3 of the budget leaving the mythical treasure chest for taking on the SPFL as more than just a distant memory)

    3/ To be fair to him (despite the dog whistles and other unforgiveable unsavoury moments) he has stuck to his cause because I repeat he thought the cause was Rangers. It was a glorious journey after all. It still is to be fair albeit the foothills are becoming a bit more challenging and the promised new wheels, pedals, frame and handlebars for what is still the same bike 😉 seem to be held up in delivery this time. But to be fair, he’s stuck at it where others were quick(er) to jump off.

    Be interesting to see who’s right. Just now he’s still got a foot in both camps but he’s stretching and that’s leaving his ‘cheeky grin’ dangerously exposed!


  54. TSFM,

    Please delete my post at 11:14 (held in moderation) and re-instate my amended post at 11:58 which appears to have been deleted after Eco replied to its final two parargraphs at 12:24

    Cheers


  55. yourhavingalaugh says:
    October 2, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    Re the Herald piece on Murray,surely straight out of the Ricky Fulton book of comments (you are talking p!sh that could never happen oan this planet)
    ========================================================

    I often find with articles like that, that the BTL comments are more interesting than the article. Certainly a few folk commenting there were clued up as to the true history of Sir Dave.

    Or was it just some of you guys? 🙂


  56. Douglas Fraser ‏@BBCDouglasF 3m3 minutes ago
    #Rangers share trades: Mike Ashley sells 3m, MASH Holdings via Goldman Sachs takes new stake to 9%. (Laxey’s 16% stake was so last week)


  57. easyJambo says: October 2, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    Could it be that Ashley’s increased holding is to try to protect his onerous(?) retail contract(s)?


  58. sannoffymesssoitizz says: October 2, 2014 at 3:27 pm

    easyJambo says: October 2, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    Could it be that Ashley’s increased holding is to try to protect his onerous(?) retail contract(s)?
    ==============================

    It’s difficult to work out what is going on here. Ashley declined to get involved in the share offer, but then buys a further 4.265M from another shareholder, rather than invest the same amount of money in the club, which he could have done in the share offer.

    I can only guess that he was spooked into doing something after the voting blocks became apparent with the publication of the list of major shareholdings following the share offer.

    I think there is one obvious assumption that we can make and that is that Mike Ashley is looking after Mike Ashley’s interests. He already has control of Rangers Retail, trademarks and Ibrox naming rights so it is likely that he will be seeking to influence the outcome of what happens next.


  59. sannoffymesssoitizz says:
    October 2, 2014 at 3:27 pm

    Could it be that Ashley’s increased holding is to try to protect his onerous(?) retail contract(s)?

    _________________________________________________

    Do you mean protect his investment in Tesco?


  60. EJ,

    I hesitate given my record on accuracy recently… 😆

    If Mike Ashley owned 3m shares pre share issue then he couldn’t guarantee himself another 4.26m unless he gambled on getting the lions share in the ‘spares’ reserve (although as you say that would have put the money into the club). I would actually have guessed that in the knowledge that he had 3m in the bag and 4.2m promised to him he knew he couldn’t go for the extra his original 3m merited in the offer as the overall purchase would have taken him over the 10%.

    Or am I a cream filled piece of confectionary again?

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