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. This Rangers not too big to fail:

    Queens Park Rangers are suffering from an identity crisis which could push them to the brink of oblivion
    London club faces possibility of relegation, a massive fine and expulsion from the Football League. Add failure to find a new home, a confidence void and an unfamiliar kit and the future looks bleak

    More alarming still is the prospect of an FFP fine as high as £40 million if the club’s losses of £65.4 million for 2012-13 are repeated in the next accounts. Relegation would be like falling into a vat of boiling oil. Last week, Shaun Harvey, the Football League’s chief executive, warned that QPR could be expelled from the ranks of the 72 clubs if they refused to meet the levy on their extravagance.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/queens-park-rangers/11100195/Queens-Park-Rangers-are-suffering-from-an-identity-crisis-which-could-push-them-to-the-brink-of-oblivion.html


  2. Danish Pastry says:

    September 17, 2014 at 7:43 am

    Listened to Sportsound, which mentioned (I think it was Richard Gordon, whose voice seems to convey permanent amusement) the fact that the awestruck Yogi had said in the build up, ‘We don’t have to win the game.’ 😀

    He probably meant they could play for penalties, I suppose. Seems ICT were missing two key players. Amazing though, top of the SPL, yet financial constraints mean they have the squad they have — while their skinto, begging bowl lower league opponents are burgeoning with top players.

    ===================
    DP You’re one of the less emotive posters so I’ll give you a little poetic licence re the above. I understand the point you’re trying to make re cutting cloth. However, yes they’re skint (a situation entirely of their own making), yes they’re ‘begging’ for donations (I’ll not bother pretending it’s investment) but they still have a fan base that when called upon, and when choosing to be called upon, that ICT, and 11 other teams in the premiership can only dream of.

    The fact that with that competitive advantage they still manage to make a Horlicks of it is still the sevco story of the moment of course. Nor does it excuse Hughes’ frankly pathetic but utterly ingrained deference. Respect? Always. Deference….


  3. ((Sorry DP not picking on you!))

    Re QPR. Once again we have a club apparently on the brink of oblivion. Why? Liquidate it and chuck it out of the league (imagine?) As long as they play in a pub league they will still be QPR. In the wilderness, yes. Never to return (to higher leagues)? possibly. Oblivion? no. Unless they know something about liquidation that we in Scotland don’t of course.

    EDIT: oops, post above should of course read “ICT and TEN other clubs…”


  4. @Smugas

    Falling into a vat of boiling oil is a pretty emotive image. I suppose they could re-emerge as ‘Deep Fried Rangers’ 😛

    No matter the size of a team’s fan base, playing with a team completely out with your means is not FFP. Looks like cheating to me. If they do go into admin again, these victories will have been achieved by piling up un-payable debts. Cheating with 40,000 watching or 400 watching is still cheating.

    PS Thank you for the artistic licence, but I already have one :mrgreen:


  5. Barcabhoy says:
    September 17, 2014 at 12:12 am
    76 5 Rate This
    =========================
    Re your comment about most blogs being bastions of intolerance and abuse. I don’t know about most as I don’t follow that many but you certainly come across a good number like that.

    What I find really sad (and annoying) is that BTL comments in many newspaper articles/blogs are very poorly moderated. I think this is a mixture of allowing abuse of posters who may disagree with the paper’s line and wanting ‘click-bait’, that is a hot argument tends to attract lots of comments (often abusive) while a place where reasoned argument prevailed would probably be a lot quieter and hence fewer clicks for the advertisers.


  6. scottc says:
    September 17, 2014 at 7:44 am
    9 0 Rate This

    don’t judge book by the cover
    ================================
    A good education can be a great thing but for many, especially if you come from a working class background it can sometimes be hard to get. Not everyone has an academic brain (though can be very smart in other ways), not everyone “clicks” to education or has the encouragement from parents. That’s why the 11+ was such a bad idea.

    I know myself, I was hot and cold at school, being very good sometimes, very poor at other times. I eventually went to uni in my late 30s and did pretty well … but then the motivation and understanding of what I needed and wanted to do was there. When I was younger I didn’t have a clue. I also learned to tell the difference between guys who were just good at boning things up and guys that really knew and understood what they were talking about.

    Apologies for wandering off a bit. There are of course many guys who never got a full education, having to start work at 14 or 15 but who later in life, self taught, became very “educated” and knowledgeable people whose conversation was always worth hearing unlike some people with “good educations” who never really learned anything.


  7. StevieBC says:
    September 17, 2014 at 1:07 am

    I understand the sentiment, but.

    A strong free, impartial media, is a vital part of a functioning democracy. Journalism, as a profession, has to accept some, not all, but some, responsibility for the fact that so many people have lost faith in them.


  8. Some numbers re the RIFC share price and the allotment of the new shares tomorrow.

    The share price was 25.5p on the day before the offer was launched, valuing the club at £16.78M.

    The number of shares in circulation will increase tomorrow from 65.810M to 81.478M (i.e. up 15.668M or 23.8%).

    Such an increase would indicate that the price of the enlarged share base would fall to 20.6p, by dilution. That also assumes that the cash injection of £3.13M (less costs) has not added value to the company.

    At today’s current share price of 18.5p, the market capitalisation of the existing share base is £12.17M and of the enlarged share base would be £15.07M.

    The bottom line is that the company will be valued at £1.7M less than it was before the share offer was launched, despite the cash injection of £3.13M.


  9. coineanachantaighe says:
    September 17, 2014 at 11:06 am
    6 0 Rate This

    Barcabhoy says:
    September 17, 2014 at 12:12 am
    76 5 Rate This
    =========================
    Re your comment about most blogs being bastions of intolerance and abuse. I don’t know about most as I don’t follow that many but you certainly come across a good number like that.

    What I find really sad (and annoying) is that BTL comments in many newspaper articles/blogs are very poorly moderated. I think this is a mixture of allowing abuse of posters who may disagree with the paper’s line and wanting ‘click-bait’, that is a hot argument tends to attract lots of comments (often abusive) while a place where reasoned argument prevailed would probably be a lot quieter and hence fewer clicks for the advertisers.

    —————

    I actually didn’t say most , i said some blogs were like this.


  10. ecobhoy says:
    September 17, 2014 at 8:29 am
    I think the biggest problem I have seen on the internet over the last couple of years is the rapidly increasing proportion of posters who have no interest in debate.

    They know they are right and therefore have no need to listen to an alternative viewpoint.

    That deafness & blindness to alarm bells and warning signals brooks no interference from those with an alternative viewpoint or even those who genuinely ask questions to better understand a viewpoint that you might not actually oppose.
    ————————-

    I agree with that. In addition what we have is the equivalent of those who prance around and behind reporters as the transfer window closes. Nothing useful to say or contribute, but want the attention so say or do something juvenile or crude.

    I don’t know where this loutish behavior comes from. It is not something i see in other countries to anywhere near the same extent.


  11. On the subject of dubious administrations, judicial bias, cover-ups and potential overseas buyers for a football club – it allegedly happens down here as well!

    http://www.bloomgatefraud.blogspot.co.uk/

    Whilst the Main Stream Media have eagerly covered: i) THFC’s recent statement that it will be forced to play Home games away from Tottenham because of delays with the construction of the new stadium, ii) a US Investment Firm has recently formally stated (as is the regulatory requirement) that it is considering making a cash offer to purchase THFC, & iii) Levy has somehow failed to agree a Settlement with the last Company required to be located to allow the Stadium Project to proceed, i.e. Archway Steel, nobody seems to have asked the obvious questions of Daniel Levy:

    Why have you allowed the dispute with Archway Steel to carry on for so long without offering a Settlement in line with the true value of this Company moving…i.e. why are you unnecessarily and unreasonable playing hardball to the huge detriment of the entire Northumberland Road Project?
    Are you hiding behind the deliberately prolonged dispute with Archway Steel because you cannot raise the c£400mn funds required for the Project?
    Have you disclosed to potential investors that allegations have been made against you, and EY’s Alan Bloom, relating to “The Greystones Fraud” and other Insolvency Fraud Schemes relating to Alan Bloom’s Administrations, that you (and Alan Bloom) have been found to have perjured yourself at the High Court, and even more damning evidence has recently been exposed against both yourself and Alan Bloom?

    Warning – over 900 pages of allegations.


  12. Those with an interest in press behaviour, should check out this weeks Private Eye. A shocking breach of journalistic ethics if true


  13. scapaflow says:
    September 17, 2014 at 1:53 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    Those with an interest in press behaviour, should check out this weeks Private Eye. A shocking breach of journalistic ethics if true

    I wasn’t aware they had any ethics at all these days. Back in the day, Spitting Image used to portray the press as pigs and vultures. True then and true today, sadly.


  14. scapaflow says:
    September 17, 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Journo in question has denied story in the Eye, be interesting to see if Hyslop can stand it up


  15. South0fThe Border says:

    September 17, 2014 at 1:41 pm
    ____________________________________

    I could be wrong, but wasn’t Levy the guy who walked Joe Lewis up the Marble Staircase with a never again to be seen £30M in 1998?


  16. Barcabhoy says:
    September 17, 2014 at 12:40 pm
    ==================================
    Apologies, must have read too quickly.


  17. Just when I thought the CL couldn’t annoy me any more, what does the ref look like in the man c/ bayern tie? Like a Yorkshireman on Safari!


  18. At the risk of introducing a hot issue on the eve of a big vote
    I pose this question
    If Scotland had become independent in 2011 would the events of 2012 in Scottish football have unfolded the way the did?
    If not why not


  19. South0fThe Border says:
    September 17, 2014 at 1:41 pm
    ‘…Warning – over 900 pages of allegations.’
    ——–
    Thanks for that link, SotB. I’ve just had an entertainingly informative half hour of reading some of the background material relating to the Greystones alleged fraud case. And some of the stuff in “Accountancy Age”.
    I wonder sometimes at my own innocent naivety. Apparently, conflicted Administrators and Insolvency Practitioners are ten a penny,( or maybe two a million) and not too hellish much is done about it, the Law, of course, being ( broadly)written by the same kind of people,( same schools, same capitalist ethos,same greed) who would be prepared to sell their souls for an extra million or two and who do not want commercial ‘Law’ to get in their personal way.
    It never was allowed to get in the way of, say, the East India Company, or Jardine Mathieson.


  20. GoosyGoosy says:
    September 17, 2014 at 10:26 pm

    Not going there


  21. Very quiet on all matters Sevco in the lead up to the most important election in living memory for our country.

    Would the men of “integrity” in the Ibrox boardroom chance getting all the inevitable bad news out tomorrow or more likely on Friday when everyone is concentrating on the result. There’s never been a better day to sneak out dodgy news since the opening ceremony of the Olympics.


  22. rougvielovesthejungle says:
    September 17, 2014 at 10:47 pm
    ‘….There’s never been a better day to sneak out dodgy news since the opening ceremony of the Olympics.’
    ———
    Is there any major thing they would be shy about announcing other than, say, the decision to fold because of deep uncertainty about their ability to continue to trade for more than a month or two?
    That would be the Laxey Partners’ standard line of approach, as honourable men of business: grasp the nettle, ‘fess up, shut down, and get the hell out,simulating regret but laughing all the way to the bank.
    Dear Lord, hasn’t this saga made me cynical in my old age….


  23. rougvielovesthejungle says:
    September 17, 2014 at 10:47 pm

    Share price is volatile, but tiny amounts of shares changing hands so pretty meaningless. As someone else pointed out there are announcements due on friday, but not expecting anything earth shattering.

    Which probably means they’ll announce they are playing in England next season :mrgreen:


  24. rougvielovesthejungle says:
    September 17, 2014 at 10:47 pm

    Very quiet on all matters Sevco in the lead up to the most important election in living memory…There’s never been a better day to sneak out dodgy news since the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
    =====================================
    Exactly rltj.

    Another ‘learning’ from becoming a Bampot is the increased awareness of media/bad news management.
    I’m quite sure that an assorted number of companies, celebs, govt departments, even football clubs have their Press Releases at the ready – to be lost amongst the prevailing Referendum stories.

    Like TV’s ‘Nature Watch’ mibbees we could have a ‘Media Watch’ to see what gets released over the next 2 days. 😀

    Certainly 5pm this Friday is looking ‘absolutely’ ideal for perhaps a rambling, accusatory, deflecting TRFC/RIFC statement ?

    Who knows, maybe a scrawled press release wrapped around a brick will be lobbed out of the SFA bunker during Friday as well…?


  25. By way of light relief, let me say that the Greystones alleged fraud case stuff I was reading earlier involves people by the name of Bloom.

    Now,the only Bloom I know is a character in Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, and , with the reference in earlier posts to tomorrow’s vote, I was reminded of this little exchange between drinkers in a Dublin pub in 1904:
    ” Persecution, says he[Bloom], all the history of the world is full of it. Perpetuating national hatred among the nations.
    -But do you know what a nation means? says John Wyse.
    – A nation? says Bloom.A nation is the same people living in the same place.
    -By God, then,says Ned, laughing, if that’s so I’m a nation for I’m living in the same place for the past five years.
    So of course everyone had the laugh at Bloom and says he, trying to muck out of it:
    -Or also living in different places.
    -That covers my case,says Joe.
    ( Ulysses,Picador edition 1997,page 316)

    (And I am making no political point here. I just think that that is so like manys a pub discussion that quickly descends from the sublime to the gorblimey because there’s always some guy in the company that comes in with the wise-crack!)


  26. StevieBC says:
    September 17, 2014 at 11:36 pm
    ‘.Who knows, maybe a scrawled press release wrapped around a brick will be lobbed out of the SFA bunker during Friday as well…?’
    ——
    And, based on past experience,probably most of us can hazard a guess as to what its contents would be! 😀
    And, just afore I go to bed, the eighteen-year-old rowan tree that I cut down today, most reluctantly,(it had self-seeded too close to my neighbour’s garage, and, more importantly, Mrs C told me she didn’t like it) is so very nearly straight that its stripped trunk makes a perfect flag-pole, well able to carry the weight of a proudly fluttering flag the name of which reminds me of a seasoning and a crossword three-letter word for ‘anger’.
    Goodnight, all.


  27. I may be uniquely unlucky, as I support The Pars in Scotland and I used to also follow Northwich Victoria when I lived in Northern England. Northwich Victoria suffered at the hands of a variety of spivs over many years and were relegated more than once due to financial irregularities.

    The Vics lost their historic Drill Field ground many years ago and then also managed to lose the replacement ground in the town of Northwich as well.

    However, fans of Northwich Victoria decided that enough was enough and set up a supporter owned club called 1874 Northwich two years ago. Last season was 1874 Northwich’s first season in the North West Counties Football League and they won promotion to the Premier Division at the first attempt.

    Northwich Victoria still exists, but now plays in Manchester, which is 30-40 minutes away from the town of Northwich. The fans of 1874 Northwich believe that they are the custodians of the history of the club that they used to support, but no one is hung up on who owns the physical trophies and pennants.

    So now I support The Pars, which has become a community owned club and I also follow 1874 Northwich, which is a fan owned club. I’m loving it.

    The Pars almost died, but the fans are now more engaged with the club than at any time in my memory. Northwich Victoria continues to live, but the life blood of that club now flows through the veins of 1874 Northwich. Neither set of fans is really that bothered that their clubs are are playing at a level below which they ‘deserve’ to be playing.

    I can assure fans of The Rangers that setting up a club from scratch over which they have actual ownership and control is even more satisfying than supporting the ‘official’ version of the club. Especially when the owners of the ‘official’ version have betrayed the heritage of that club.

    It’s not about the stadium. It’s not about the silverware. It’s not about the registered trademark. It’s about the fans. Rangers fans actually have the power here. They just need to realise it.


  28. Cygnus X2 says:
    September 18, 2014 at 5:18 am
    4 0 Rate This
    ————-

    Great post Cygnus. The fans need some straight talking from the SFA & SPFL on the actual status of TRFC. It would liberate them to do a Northwich.


  29. John Clark says:
    September 18, 2014 at 12:17 am
    15 4 Rate This

    StevieBC says:
    September 17, 2014 at 11:36 pm
    ‘.Who knows, maybe a scrawled press release wrapped around a brick will be lobbed out of the SFA bunker during Friday as well…?’
    ——
    And, based on past experience,probably most of us can hazard a guess as to what its contents would be!
    And, just afore I go to bed, the eighteen-year-old rowan tree that I cut down today, most reluctantly,(it had self-seeded too close to my neighbour’s garage, and, more importantly, Mrs C told me she didn’t like it) is so very nearly straight that its stripped trunk makes a perfect flag-pole, well able to carry the weight of a proudly fluttering flag the name of which reminds me of a seasoning and a crossword three-letter word for ‘anger’.
    Goodnight, all.
    ———

    Morning JC. You might incur the ire of the mods for that post.

    It actually reminded of the old joke about two peanuts walking down the street …

    I’ll get ma coat.


  30. Cygnus X2 says:
    September 18, 2014 at 5:18 am
    29 0 Rate This

    It’s not about the stadium. It’s not about the silverware. It’s not about the registered trademark. It’s about the fans. Rangers fans actually have the power here. They just need to realise it.
    ===============================================================================================
    Great post Cygnus…and do remind me of the name of the man we normally associate with the expression, which is now so ominously relevant…”…football without the fans is nothing…!”


  31. Kilgore Trout says:
    September 18, 2014 at 8:26 am
    1 0 Rate This

    Arrgghh! Can’t edit!

    Pepper Rammy.
    ———

    Haha, that must be from the Scots thesaurus!

    Since we’re into word puzzles and riddles. Here’s a clue about my hope for this day:

    I never did enjoy people encouraging negativity during essential national campaigns, ever.


  32. In afraid the well-meaning posts about how much more satisfaction the Sevco fans would get from forming and following a new club than by continuing to support a bunch of shady businessmen claiming ownership of Rangers are labouring under the delusion that supporting Rangers has anything to do with football.

    It certainly did at one point but in my view that all but ceased to exist shortly after 1986 when David Murray arrived on the scene. It then became more about supremacy than sport. It became about burying Celtic, 10-in-a-row, biggest-club-in-Britain, world-class players, quintessential British club, orange strips, and becoming champions of Europe at any (borrowed) cost.

    We have had more than 25 years of this nonsense — an entire generation of fans — and the fact that it killed them is blithely ignored by all and sundry, not for football reasons but for social and “cultural” reasons we all know too well.

    If you believe that any of this is overstated, cast your mind back just two years when the large-limbed spiv, faced by an angry, disbelieving and demoralised support, announced he had bought the history, “saved” the club in the face of “bigotry”, and was suddenly proclaimed a hero who would lead them “back” to their rightful place at the top of Scottish football!

    No, I’m afraid any suggestions that this fan base could possibly walk away from all the trappings of Rangersness for the purpose of enjoying the football falls in the face of the facts. Pity.


  33. Torquemada says:
    September 18, 2014 at 8:58 am
    5 3 Rate This
    ———

    The sentiments are expressed more in hope than from any inner conviction, at least on my part. At some point common sense must kick in. Oddly enough, today might help resolve some of the underlying issues one way or the other.


  34. I trust this will be seen as humour and not ‘political’. Still we live in tense times so who knows 😎

    keith jackson @tedermeatballs · 9h

    I’m voting no. And i’m doing so because i love my daughter. And i’m a passionate scotsman. A pragmatist. Not a Romanist.

    All was hurriedly explained but whether it will be believed is another issue:

    keith jackson @tedermeatballs · 9h

    Bed time. Just want to make clear that ‘romanist’ tweet was a spellcheck version of romanticist. What a mistake to make!! Nite Scotland.

    If only he was able to sub-edit and typed ‘romantic’ all would have been well – for 50% or thereabouts of the population anyway 🙄


  35. @Essexbeancounter I believe that it was one of Dunfermline’s best ever managers that told that particular truth.

    @Torquemada I deliberately steered clear of the territory you covered. It may be an addiction to some of the unsavory side of Rangers heritage that is preventing a supported rebellion.

    A Rangers run by fans could go in different directions. I would hope that baggage would be ditched in that event.


  36. Danish Pastry says:
    September 18, 2014 at 9:12 am
    ——————-
    Today is indeed a momentous day for Scotland, DP. From my vantage point here in what the Romans accurately called Scotia Major, I do hope my wee cousins in Scotia Minor make the right decision. 😀


  37. Cygnus X2 says:
    September 18, 2014 at 9:27 am

    @Essexbeancounter I believe that it was one of Dunfermline’s best ever managers that told that particular truth.

    @Torquemada I deliberately steered clear of the territory you covered. It may be an addiction to some of the unsavory side of Rangers heritage that is preventing a supported rebellion.

    A Rangers run by fans could go in different directions. I would hope that baggage would be ditched in that event.
    ==================================================
    I have long thought that there is a high probability than a fan-controlled club will be formed and I mean a separate entity and not the fans buying a ‘controlling’ interest in the husk that a spiv Rangers will inevitably become IMO.

    But I can’t see only one ‘alternative’ club being created but at least two as I think the divisions in the current Rangers support are just too deep for any unity.

    As I have previously stated I would be rooting for the ordinary Bears who are interested only in football and I happen to think they will be the one that eventually survives. I just hope that they will have the time to be able to resist any move from the baggage-train to find a new home when their new club runs out of steam and track.

    I think the big problem we have is the timing of it all because the spivs will still have many money-making ploys up their sleeves and lots of stripping still to do before they move on.


  38. Eco,

    Nice thought but put yourself in the SFA’s shoes. You’ll have (pick a number at random, say a thousand) guys at one door in their shiny “we luv fitba” tracksuits and you’ll have ten times that number at another door ‘flash mobbed’ by money interests in their new orange tops chanting WATP and demanding the licence to be theirs.

    To give CO his due (and I’d dearly live to hand deliver it!) its not clear to me why he’s still hanging on in office. I know there’s the FIFA stuff looming but things could get nasty for him here very quickly whereas I can’t see how it’ll get5 any better


  39. Smugas says:
    September 18, 2014 at 10:42 am

    Eco,

    Nice thought but put yourself in the SFA’s shoes. You’ll have (pick a number at random, say a thousand) guys at one door in their shiny “we luv fitba” tracksuits and you’ll have ten times that number at another door ‘flash mobbed’ by money interests in their new orange tops chanting WATP and demanding the licence to be theirs.
    ================================================
    To be fair, I may be looking much further down the line than you are as the ability of this current shambles to hirple on should never be underestimated IMO.

    In some ways the longer they last the better as it will clearly identify and solidify the fan divisions. At the moment it seems the Loyalist leaning are more pro-Board than the others.

    There is of course a middle ground allied to neither sides of the division who might be opposed to the Board but won’t boycott because they genuinely ‘support the team’.

    So it’s difficult to hazard a gues at how it will all turn out but I have always felt that it’s one that Rangers fans must sort-out and decide for themselves.

    They have to determine what kind of club they want to support and who should own/control it. I hope they choose wisely.


  40. First figure is amount bought at 20p on 12 September and second is total holding which includes first figure.

    Doesn’t look as though any of the directors took the full allocation available to them if my arithmetic is as mental as usual.

    David Somers 20p 14,186 61186

    Norman Crighton 20p 36,222 96222

    James Andrew Easdale 20p 215,606 572749

    Philip Nash 20p 54,031 233031


  41. ecobhoy – If I remember corrrectly, the entitlement was 0.3 shares for each share held. They could also bid for an excess if the full allocation was not taken up by others.

    On that basis, they have all taken up their full allocation, plus some extra shares on top (quite a lot in Easdale’s case).

    Orig Holding – Allocation – Bought
    Somers 47000 14100 14186
    Crighton 60000 18000 36222
    Easdale 357143 107142 215606
    Nash 179000 53700 54031


  42. I think your arithmetic might be mental.

    Based on EasyJambo’s analysis http://www.tsfm.net/how-not-to-govern-scottish-football/comment-page-9/#comment-30293

    Anyone taking up their full rights could have increased their holding by 24% Sommers and Nash incresed theirs by 30% and Crighton and Easdale by over 60%

    Bought Now Held Increase
     David Somers 14,186 61,186 30.18%

     Norman Crighton 36,222 96,222 60.37%

     James Andrew Easdale 215,606 572,749 60.37%

     Philip Nash 54,031 233031 30.18%
    Overall 15,668,000 81,478,000 23.81%


  43. BigGav says:
    September 18, 2014 at 1:37 pm

    ecobhoy – If I remember corrrectly, the entitlement was 0.3 shares for each share held. They could also bid for an excess if the full allocation was not taken up by others.

    On that basis, they have all taken up their full allocation, plus some extra shares on top (quite a lot in Easdale’s case).
    =======================================================
    I stand duly corrected 😳

    For some daft reason I was thinking of a 1 for 1 basis which i knew it wasn’t. I will plead in my defence that my mind is more concentrated on another more important event happening today.

    And just in case that sets the ‘political police’ running – I’m not talking about the referendum but the Celtic match 😆

    @tykebhoy – looking at the chicken entrails I wonder if there is anything in the fact that Easdale and Crighton have increased their holdings by the same percentage viz: 60.37% whereas Nash and Somers are also in tandem albeit at the lower increase of 30.18% which is almost half the Easdale/Crighton increase.


  44. Isn’t the honorable Crighton a Laxey man and Nash in the same camp. Can’t remember which side Sommers favours but if its the Easdales then we have no sahre dilultion in the directors holdings between camps. Could they finally have agreed about something :irony:


  45. ecobhoy says:
    September 18, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    looking at the chicken entrails I wonder if there is anything in the fact that Easdale and Crighton have increased their holdings by the same percentage viz: 60.37% whereas Nash and Somers are also in tandem albeit at the lower increase of 30.18% which is almost half the Easdale/Crighton increase.
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    That would certainly seem to indicate an orchestrated purchase policy by the gang of four, carefully designed to achieve some end result which, whatever it is, is unlikely to benefit the “club”.


  46. Cygnus X2 says:

    September 18, 2014 at 9:27 am

    16

    1

    Rate This

    @Essexbeancounter I believe that it was one of Dunfermline’s best ever managers that told that particular truth.
    ===================================================
    Cygnus…shurely he was the bestest ever…and then went on to manage the national team…after some modest success at club level!


  47. ecobhoy says:
    September 18, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    @tykebhoy – looking at the chicken entrails I wonder if there is anything in the fact that Easdale and Crighton have increased their holdings by the same percentage viz: 60.37% whereas Nash and Somers are also in tandem albeit at the lower increase of 30.18% which is almost half the Easdale/Crighton increase.
    ===============================================================
    For every one percent you buy I’ll buy two. They’re just following in David Murray’s footsteps after all 🙄


  48. ecobhoy says:
    September 18, 2014 at 2:11 pm
    2 0 Rate This

    And just in case that sets the ‘political police’ running – I’m not talking about the referendum but the Celtic match.
    ———-

    Well, this is not a Celtic & politics forum ye ken. We can’t have ye rubbing salt into the wounds caused by the ire of the mods …

    :mrgreen:

    Good luck Celtic. One team left in Europe. The Red Bull manager goes by the name of Adolf Hütter, so no juvenile sniggering at the back.


  49. With all this share maneuvering, dilution, increase to 81m, do the board now have the ability/authority to pass the ‘thingmy’ (big word I’ll get wrong) they didn’t get passed at the AGM. And do they need a new AGM to do it?


  50. dis-application of pre-emption rights?

    Too early to tell because other than the directors we don’t know who’s taken up their offer rights plus extras and/or whether they were for or against the motion last time round.


  51. Not wanting to get dragged into the referendum debate but just seen something doing the rounds on facebook that appears to be from a old friend of this site.

    Alzipratu@corsica1968
    F*ck it!!! Wife’s gonna kill me but just bought a train ticket to Glasgow, See you in five hours.I’m coming home. Let’s do this! #Vote Yes

    Yes or No you have to feel sorry for the hiding he is going to get when she finds out 🙂


  52. tykebhoy says:
    September 18, 2014 at 4:26 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    dis-application of pre-emption rights?

    Too early to tell because other than the directors we don’t know who’s taken up their offer rights plus extras and/or whether they were for or against the motion last time round.
    ——-

    Yes, thingmy and thingmybob.

    Seemed like a big deal at the time from what I’ve gleaned from blog.

    I read recently the purpose was probably to issue even more millions of shares. So that’s where the original, original ‘investors’ cash in? But how?


  53. tykebhoy says:
    September 18, 2014 at 4:26 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    dis-application of pre-emption rights?

    Too early to tell because other than the directors we don’t know who’s taken up their offer rights plus extras and/or whether they were for or against the motion last time round.
    ——-

    Yes, thingmy and thingmybob.

    Seemed like a big deal at the time from what I’ve gleaned from the blog.

    I read recently the purpose was probably to issue even more millions of shares. So that’s where the original, original ‘investors’ cash in. But how? Where’s the profit? There’s still more going out than’s coming in.


  54. In my neck of the Woods we have a sports magazine called ‘Der Kicker’, well today they printed The Bundesliga 1 table and somehow forgot HSV (Hamburg).

    Of course this is now big news and a few laughs are being had at the expense of both the magazine and the football Club as appearently a lot of Germans thought they died years ago so never noticed.

    But one comment really made me laugh, obviously from an ex-pat or someone clued into the Whole charade.

    “look, if it’s ok for the Scottish media to pretend Glasgow Rangers still exist after they died then it must be acceptable for the German media to pretend a Club does not exist when they are still alive and kicking….”


  55. Danish,

    By issuing many millions of shares to the select few (rather than everyone) they will end up owning a greater and greater percentage of the leaky bucket.

    The question remains: which is more valuable? The bucket sans contents, the rapidly diminishing contents or the opportunity to get a free (well unless you’re a fan, a creditor or a lender obviously) refill.

    The bears need to pray it’s the latter, try and divest themselves of the emotional attraction to the second and would be best not even thinking about option 1 for fear of putting them off their dinner.


  56. Smugas says:
    September 18, 2014 at 7:01 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    By issuing many millions of shares to the select few …
    ——-

    Issuing? Is that making available for purchase to the select few or cut price / free tranches to pals?


  57. DP at7.40pm. If the board hope to raise enough cash to get through to season’s end, they’ll have to sell at market price, if not it’s curtains for TRFC. IMO. Edit. 65.5m+15.3m=81m shares approx. leaving 19m to be sold to whomever the board choose, providing they get the motion approved at the AGM. I can’t see any fan or investor paying above the market price at that point.


  58. Danish Pastry says:
    September 18, 2014 at 4:17 pm
    6 0 Rate This

    With all this share maneuvering, dilution, increase to 81m, do the board now have the ability/authority to pass the ‘thingmy’ (big word I’ll get wrong) they didn’t get passed at the AGM. And do they need a new AGM to do it?

    ======

    am I missing something, as far as I can tell the new 15.5M shares were not admitted to AIM as scheduled at 8am

    Something up?


  59. the taxman cometh says:
    September 18, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    Danish Pastry says:
    September 18, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    ======
    am I missing something, as far as I can tell the new 15.5M shares were not admitted to AIM as scheduled at 8am
    Something up?

    tc correct

    This grasping lot are NO future for Bears
    Throw out the TRASH
    mtp


  60. the taxman cometh says: September 18, 2014 at 8:46 pm
    am I missing something, as far as I can tell the new 15.5M shares were not admitted to AIM as scheduled at 8am
    Something up?
    =============
    I’ve been pondering the same during the day.

    Here is an extract from the AIM rules.
    http://www.londonstockexchange.com/companies-and-advisors/aim/advisers/rules/aim-rules-for-companies.pdf

    Securities to be admitted
    33. Only securities which have been unconditionally allotted can be admitted as AIM securities.
    An AIM company must ensure that application is made to admit all securities within a class of AIM securities.

    Is it possible that the purchase of the new shares have conditions attached?


  61. I’m seeing a few of the online share sites noting the 81.48m shares issued. Does that not mean they are ‘admitted’ to AIM? Or is that just a recognition of what RIFC have told them? Are you guys saying there should a formal regulatory announcement and that there has not been one?

    http://www.livecharts.co.uk/share_prices/share_price/symbol-RFC

    PS Yes, it’s late but I can’t sleep. No idea why.


  62. Danish Pastry says: September 18, 2014 at 11:56 pm
    =========================
    If some sites are reflecting the increased share numbers then they probably have been admitted.

    The two sites that I use haven’t updated the number as yet, hence the question.


  63. Well, that was a long night.

    Seems obvious from this blog and what we’ve just been through that Scotland is not well-served by its media.

    My Icelandic missus is kind of shocked this morning. Her Danish colleagues are already expressing their bewilderment that the people of oor wee country wouldn’t want to be new Scandinavians. Well, 45% actually would. Can’t help feeling the triumphalist media myth of impending Armageddon has struck again and the spivs of Westminster are about to rip off an unsuspecting public. 🙂


  64. I bet the people at UEFA are glad at the result.
    What would they have done with Berwick Rangers?

    In my opinion it has not been a good campaign.
    Exciting at the end but not good.
    We’ve had over two years of a debate which one side has won hands down with an emotional debate for independence.

    One side then carried the vote after a lousy campaign because of a combination of fear factor and the promise of party bags for all.

    Neither properly discussed interdependence.

    That is the future.

    The same interdependence we seek with strong clubs at all levels from the south of scotland league to our premiership.
    The same interdependence that our administrators and power brokers only think applies to the two big clubs.

    Just like, whatever happens now in Scotland, going forward we seek the same solution.

    An interdependent framework managed and run openly for the benefit of all.

    And the parallel is we need to start with a clear out too.


  65. Finloch says:
    September 19, 2014 at 11:25 am

    And the parallel is we need to start with a clear out too.
    ======================
    There will be no clear outs, parallel or otherwise. The future of the status quo at Hampden is absolutely guaranteed, sadly there is no general appetite for change in the football governance sphere either.


  66. Finloch says:
    September 19, 2014 at 11:25 am
    2 2 Rate This
    ———-

    I reckon Berwick would have enjoyed the Welsh solution viz a viz their teams under the English FA.

    A good clear out. But the status quo upheld in one aspect of society might just make a radical change more difficult in others. So unless something extraordinary is revealed I can’t see Regan, Ogilvie or Doncaster leaving their posts anytime soon.

    Now if that other self-proclaimed bastion of Britishness survives this season, that is another matter. Share price bouncing back (no mention of dead cats from me).


  67. Euro 2020 Vote

    England YES
    Wales NO
    Ireland YES
    Scotland YES

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