In the Service of Fools

Given the recent heightened focus on the refereeing standards in Scotland, I was asked to update a previous blog from 2010 that included suggestions for changing the way refereeing is managed in Scotland .

Having had a look at original my thoughts are “ here we are again”, for the very same reasons the blog was penned in 2010.

Why?

Because the refereeing issue is in my view connected to a lack of proper financial controls that create moral hazard, where one party can act with reckless abandon (see Rangers latest accounts), but other parties, as happened in 2012 are left to face the consequences.

So I’ll just repeat the suggestions made then but with an added comment on the proposed use of VAR, and how that and proper financial controls can save Scottish football from itself. First the Referee Service

Note the word “service” for this is the way that much of what the SFA do should be viewed. The SFA provide a number of services to the clubs who play in Scotland. They should not be seen as their masters but their servants. Or in modern terms the clubs in their professional leagues are the customers and the SFA the service providers. This change of attitude would allow competition to provide such services to enter the scene and so improve them.

This would be a huge cultural change but it has to start somewhere and here we are again under starters orders IF supporters act to bring the change about by calling their clubs to account for allowing the past to repeat itself today  as a result of the notorious  sporting integrity breaking Five Way Agreement, that UEFA never clapped eyes on where our game became a franchise and clubs where stores that changed from Mr Noodles to Nachos but were still the same because they sold food. 

Anyway!

The Referee Service

This would be split with the SFA doing the recruitment, training and match appointments (having taken the nature of the game to be officiated into account). However the monitoring and evaluation would be the province of the customer, using referees or ex refs from anywhere to mark to a standard set by the customer. This spilt of responsibilities would prevent any one person being in a position to exert his own influence on referees as a result of being part of the appointment and evaluation process. It would safeguard the SFA from the kind of suspicion that led to the referees’ strike and lead to a higher standard of referee because the customer would be setting the standard not the supplier (as happens everywhere in business but football) If it did not, it would free the SPL/SL to hire their own referees from wherever they could get them. A bit of competition never did anybody any harm and that includes our referees who, if they reached higher standards, would be in more demand outside Scotland.

Here is the addition brought on by the introduction of VAR which is just another service. Use this “here we go again” opportunity to put the VAR service AND the refereeing it watches over out to tender. The VAR supplier is also the referee monitor service to the leagues and the SFA become trainers and developers at lower levels of professional referees and work with the VAR service under a contract that rewards both parties.  

The Licensing Service

This needs to be calibrated to meet the financial position of Scottish clubs.  The principles in UEFA FFP that stipulate what is to be treated as allowable income and allowable debt continue,  but regulating controls to prevent clubs going bust or acting in a reckless financial manner need introduced. Points deduction is no deterrent if such recklessness creates huge points gap at end of season when the CL money is at stake. Nor is the threat of losing all won by that recklessness a deterrent, when the nature of how it was won is downplayed then ignored and airbrushed from football history.

If survival depends on access to CL geld then referees , as matters continue to stand will come under the kind of scrutiny that unless addressed,  leads to an ever growing suspicion,  because here we bloody well are again,  that our game is bent .

Worse it leads to thinking that the clubs like it that way but ignore that their supporters do not and will continue to ignore until supporters vote with their feet.

In short the Licensing Service that is supposed to protect the financial well being of Scottish clubs has failed. It perpetuates a moral hazard almost by design that caused Rangers demise in 2012  and that failure and how it was dealt with under the 5 Way Agreement has undermined the integrity of our game, causing increased scrutiny of referee decisions and if not dealt with this time will eventually kill football in Scotland as a sport.

VAR however if introduced as a professional service on lines suggested should encourage more prudent financial behaviour in future by making reckless behaviour so risky it will stop and with it the moral hazard it creates.

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Auldheid

About Auldheid

Celtic fan from Glasgow living mostly in Spain. A contributor to several websites, discussion groups and blogs, and a member of the Resolution 12 Celtic shareholders' group. Committed to sporting integrity, good governance, and the idea that football is interdependent. We all need each other in the game.

821 thoughts on “In the Service of Fools


  1. It seems that the going concern in Rangers financials has been a perennial statement in the last few years. Not sure about Scottish Law but if a director/board member states that he will provide loans to fund the operation is that not a guarantee to fulfill such an obligation. I believe that on this side of the ocean such a verbal commitment can be enforced.


  2. Vermallen

    I’m a wee bit confused by your point about (the law?) being able to ensure that a verbal commitment can be enforced. If I promise (even guarantee ) to lend you £1000, on top of a £1000 I previously lent you, which you haven’t yet repaid, and then I say I can’t because I’m skint or that my own financial situation is in peril (e.g. my bus company) – what happens?

    So, I guess my question, in greater detail, is :-

    When might a ‘Going-Doon- the Swanee’ Warning be issued, especially if the Park/Bennett et al formal (loan) facility well runs dry?


  3. Rangers Football Club
    @RangersFC

    Everyone at Rangers FC express sadness and pass on their sympathy to the Auld family and Celtic FC at the passing of former player, Bertie Auld.


  4. vernallen 14th November 2021 At 18:52
    ‘..Not sure about Scottish Law but if a director/board member states that he will provide loans to fund the operation is that not a guarantee…..”
    %%%%%%%%%
    That sent me on an interesting wee search, vernallen, to find out whether a verbal promise is enforceable under Scots Law.
    The answer seems ( to me, who has never studied law, but who did date, back in the sixties, a law student [for the avoidance of doubt, female]) to be an almost unqualified ”yes”.

    But I couldn’t find ( so far) anything about how the ‘promisee’ would prove that the ‘promisor’ had made the promise, if the promisor wanted to renege!
    Perhaps a verbal ‘promise’ to lend made at a Boardroom meeting would be recorded in the minutes the meeting, and that would be enough ( if the lending director did not challenge the Minutes at the time) to serve as adequate evidence?
    Or perhaps company directors are universally men of such unimpeachable probity and integrity that they would never ever lie or break a promise!

    I looked at a paper entitled

    ” THE ENFORCEABILITY OF PROMISES IN SCOTLAND AND IN THE EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FROM AN ITALIAN PERSPECTIVE” by Laura Vagni , who is Researcher of Comparative Private Law at the University of Macerata,Faculty of Law.

    Perhaps not every reader’s cup of tea on a Sunday night, but I found it very interesting, as were some of the other sources she references.
    The link (I hope) is :
    https://www.academia.edu/11935746/The_Enforceability_of_Promises_in_Scotland_and_in_the_European_Contract_law_a_Comparative_analisys_from_an_Italian_Perspective


  5. And anent my post at 22.51 tonight, I for fun fired off this email to Professore Vagni:

    “Dear Professor Vagni,
    When you published “THE ENFORCEABILITY OF PROMISES IN SCOTLAND AND IN THE EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FROM AN ITALIAN PERSPECTIVE” I suspect that you little realised that it would be referred to in 2021, by a football supporter in Edinburgh, in a football blog [ sfm.scot/blogs] in a discussion about the enforceability of a verbal promise, by the directors of a football club, to lend money to the club if the need arose to prevent insolvency!

    Well, this very evening I referred to your paper as part of a discussion on whether a promise by some directors on the board of Rangers International Football Club plc that they will provide loans if the company needs money to avoid insolvency.
    The discussion on the blog is about whether the Company could take legal action to enforce that ‘promise’, and what evidence they would have to produce that such a promise had been made.

    I would like to think that you will be pleased to learn that basic Scottish bloggers/ tifosi on a football blog have been introduced to your academic expertise to help in their discussions!

    Auguri, e buona notte

    Sincerely,
    JC


  6. Best 67 and JC

    Sorry for any confusion in my earlier post in regards to directors and promises. My understanding is that any board member with signing authority who makes a verbal commitment or promises can or could be held responsible should any action arise. However there maybe loopholes that could negate such commitments or promises. I didn’t mean to imply this could apply to the ordinary person in the street but could apply to those in authority. If I was a board member at the company/holding company/engine room, or what ever guise they operate under I would be careful about having my name attached to any written minutes.


  7. A11 – “halftime pie”

    I suspect that a Cappielow shell pie would be closer to “meat free” than one that could be described as “steak and sausage” 🙂 That said, with a bit of brown sauce, definitely a decent snack.


  8. vernallen 15th November 2021 At 01:27
    ‘.. If I was a board member…… I would be careful about having my name attached to any written minutes’
    %%%%%%%%%
    Ha, ha, yes indeed: but if the Minutes had you recorded as having been present and that you had made a promise, without signing anything, to lend to the company if and when requested , what then if your promise was called in later?
    The whole question of when a verbal promise is to be treated as actually being a legally binding and enforceable contract seems historically to have been a problem area right up to modern times in Scots law, as far as my VERY limited reading and understanding leads me to believe.
    But like you, vernallen, if I was ever to be a wealthy board member I’d be very careful never to suggest even in jest that I’d lend the company money as and when it might need a loan!


  9. I’ll leave the comments about how good a player wee Bertie was to those who saw him play.
    I’m just a little bit too young.

    What I can comment on is I spent a wonderful evening in his company a few years ago.
    One of the funniest men i’ve had the pleasure of listening to.
    Better than some comedians I’ve seen.

    Coincidently, Tam Cowan told a story about Bertie on Off The Ball on Saturday about the time Bertie told Tam about a gay player in the Celtic European Cup winning team. If you haven’t heard this you should still be able to get it on Catch Up or whatever the radio equivalent is. Classic!

    RIP


  10. What a truly stunningly skilful performance by Scotland tonight!
    I don’t think I have seen anything like that for about 55 years.
    I am delighted that we can internationally lift our heads up again.


  11. The funniest thing doing the rounds just now is the supposed clause inserted in the deal taking the whole management team from Ibrox to Aston Villa…They are forbidden to take with them any of the current playing staff. Villa fans will be gutted.


  12. bect67 14th November 2021 At 17:18
    ‘..Whit happens if they don’t win the League this season ( a New Newco?)?’
    %%%%%%%%%
    You may be sure, bect67, that if RIFC plc were to go into Administration due to lack of the millions of UEFA money, the same CG scenario would emerge, given that there is no lack of people like CG and CW or of ineffective Administrators or of people of the stamp of our Football Governance fraternity!

    For as long as TRFC are allowed to ponce about as RFC of 1872, and RIFC plc are able to make money on the back of that, Scottish Football governance will remain rotten at its very heart.


  13. Hello..
    Just catching up or trying to.
    On deferred wages? New rules were brought in on May 2012. If i remember, all players must be paid on time or club faces a transfer embargo. I would have to look it up to be sure.
    On kings £5mill repaid loan, this was paid after the accounts were made up to the end of june. Will this show up in the next accounts? If so they are £5mill down before a ball is even kicked so to speak. Happy to be corrected as i have been away


  14. gunnerb 15th November 2021 At 22:59
    ‘….Villa fans will be gutted.’
    %%%%%%%
    Ok, it’s a spoof.
    But it may be aimed at pointing up the ‘power’ that a football club manager may have in suggesting to his new club that there are players in a club he has previously managed who ought to be bought.

    I do not say that that ‘power’ has ever been improperly exercised, but in the abstract, one can see that such a situation might arise!


  15. Well, the hearing this morning has just ended: it was about what rate of interest should be awarded on the damages sum. The Noters asked for 8%, from 14 June 2012: the Respondents said it should be 4% and only from Feb 2017.
    Lord Tyre awarded 4% from 14 June 2012.
    One or two other additional fees were claimed under a number of heads (a) to (i).
    The judge awarded only (a) to (c).
    It will be for the Auditor (of Court) to do the actual calculations.


  16. ‘Cluster One 15th November 2021 At 23:29

    …On deferred wages? New rules were brought in on May 2012. If i remember, all players must be paid on time or club faces a transfer embargo. I would have to look it up to be sure…’
    ::
    ::
    I doubt that any players (and their grasping agents) would agree to deferred wages, even if allowed under SFA rules. Contractual bonuses may be a different matter.

    I suspect that senior staff members of RIFC & TRFC (Messrs. Dickson, Robertson & Bisgrove as examples; there may be others!) may have agreed to being short-paid over an agreed period.

    If only we had some of that famous Douglas Park transparency that he likes to witter on about!


  17. My earlier post at 10.31 this morning:
    ‘The hearing’, of course, was the hearing before Lord Tyre of “P115/17 Note: RFC 2012 Plc for orders under paragraph 75”
    BDO were looking for the Court to exercise the discretion it has under the Insolvency Act to fix the rate of interest to be paid on the amount that was awarded by way of damages from the Administrators.
    But Lord Tyre decided that, since interest rates since 2008 have generally been low for everyone it would not be appropriate to award more than what the Rules of the Court of Session generally stipulate , i.e 4%.
    Expenses in full were awarded to BDO.
    Mr McBrearty , representing the Noters, argued that there had been a whole lot of extra work occasioned by the Covid precautions that had to be taken by solicitors involved.

    Lord Tyre had a little chuckle at the idea that solicitors who did not need to move from the comfort of their offices at all for a ‘virtual’ hearing had had more work to do! While Lord Tyre said that he deeply appreciated the work of Counsel and their agents/solicitors, and the transcribers and everyone involved in a long and complex case, he did not agree that the Covid-related expenses could be recognised as an expense of the action.


  18. jj 16th Nov 11.07

    I doubt that any players (and their grasping agents) would agree to deferred wages, even if allowed under SFA rules. Contractual bonuses may be a different matter.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………….

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52192550


  19. As usual, David Squires’ regular Tuesday cartoon strip in the Guardian is worth a look –

    https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2021/nov/16/david-squires-on-steven-gerrard-return-premier-league-managerial-changes

    His panel on ‘The Scottish Fitbaship’ is brilliant.

    ‘Gerrard’s coaching abilities remain something of an unknown quantity, because for the last few years he’s been managing in a mysterious faraway land. We can only speculate what goes on behind the Irn Bru curtain.’


  20. Does anyone find it strange that Sevco have not, (at least to the outside world), appointed a leader from amongst the four coaches currently in control of training?.
    If a manager is not appointed prior to the semi, (or even appointed, but not up to speed) who will pick the team, decide on tactics, formation and shape. Who dictates whom and when subs will be made, selects the penalty takers, etc.
    Surely the four won’t be voting on them?
    It’s not particularly any of my business, but if I was a fan, it’s something I would want to know……And yet nobody appears to have asked.
    Very strange.


  21. Jingso.Jimsie 16th November 2021 At 16:18
    ‘..for the last few years he’s been managing in a mysterious faraway land…’
    %%%%%%%%
    Yes, indeed: a land where a 9 year-old football club is supported in a ridiculous fiction that it is 149 and a bit years old!
    A land where notions of Integrity in sport are dismissed by those who accepted office as the GUARDIANS of that Integrity for base, venal, mercenary reasons: and by so doing have destroyed any belief in their own PERSONAL integrity as decent human beings and men of principle.
    Honest to God!
    That we should have to put up with such turpitude and perversity in our football governance!
    In which Circle of Dante’s ‘hell’ would they be found, I wonder?
    Possibly the 8th?
    And good enough for them, too!


  22. In regards to the GVB continuing saga .. First does anyone in Scotland just fly somewhere or do they just jet in, second is GVB get anxious in regards to the financials at Ibrox and recognizes everything might not all be as sky blue as media pundits allude to, and, thirdly is the question regarding backroom staff ( what a terrible phrase to apply to members of the coaching staff, almost like a political party) turning this into an Eddie Howe sort of escapade. I understand that there are former Ranger’s players in OZ who might have a lead on a new manager. Seems to have worked for the other side of Glasgow.


  23. vernallen 17th Nov 01.39.

    “Seems to have worked for the other side of Glasgow.”
    ………………………………………………………………………..

    Has it?

    Season 20/21
    P-13 W-9 D-3 L-1 GF 34 GA 13 GD 21 PTS 30.

    Season 21/22
    P-13 W-8 D-2 L-3 GF 30 GA 9 GD 21 PTS 26

    After 13 games last season Rangers had 35 points compared to 30 this season. Imagine had Rangers been 9 points ahead after 1/3 of this season has been completed. What would the reaction of the Celtic support been toward the manager?


  24. Albertz
    Apart from the obvious, “if your auntie had calls she’d be your uncle”, I’m not so sure your implication is correct.
    Speaking generally, with a brand new team, I think any manager would still have a considerable amount in his goodwill pot if the masses were convinced he was going in the right direction.
    More specifically, earlier in the campaign it did look as though Rangers would stretch their lead. I got the feeling that the backlash was aimed firmly at the Celtic board and not the manager.
    But like I say, “if your auntie …”


  25. BP

    You will know as well as i do that any amount of “goodwill” can disappear quickly on either side of the Old Firm divide if results are not forthcoming. I am not suggesting that the Celtic manager will be handed his P45 anytime soon but had Rangers replicated the previous season’s points tally then questions would be have been asked, and tactics, signings etc would come under more scrutiny.

    Whilst not being concerned on what is happening over at Celtic, i would agree with you that the majority of the supports anger seems to be directed towards the board, although as last season showed the manager & players will quickly become targets should results not improve.


  26. ‘Albertz11 16th November 2021 At 15:16

    jj 16th Nov 11.07

    I doubt that any players (and their grasping agents) would agree to deferred wages, even if allowed under SFA rules. Contractual bonuses may be a different matter.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………….

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52192550
    ::
    ::
    Your link references the situation in April 2020 – 19 months ago. That was under the specific conditions of the COVID19 pandemic & was occurring nationally & internationally, across many types of businesses. Many chose not to publicise that they were doing so: TRFC (from the BBC report) went full-on virtue-signalling.

    RIFC records in its Annual Report that senior staff are still deferring wages in June 2021 (the date of the report). Is that because of COVID19 or is there another reason?

    You’ve got the contacts: how many players are not currently in receipt of full salary? How many senior staff?


  27. jj 17th Nov 11.32

    The wage deferrals spanned both accounting periods hence their inclusion in 2 seperate reports.

    Replied to westcoaster on 9th Nov on the subject.

    In answer to your final point , None is the answer.


  28. I think TRFC/RIFC will struggle to keep the perception of a connection to RFC(in liquidation) extant . I think they got lucky in securing Davis and McGregor , and would hope to keep Patterson , but the barrel must be close to empty . The daughter’s Rangers -supporting man agrees so it’s not just a Thistle thing .


  29. ‘Albertz11 17th November 2021 At 11:48

    jj 17th Nov 11.32

    The wage deferrals spanned both accounting periods hence their inclusion in 2 seperate reports.

    Replied to westcoaster on 9th Nov on the subject.

    In answer to your final point , None is the answer.’
    ::
    ::
    Thank you for your reply.

    It’s heartening to know that every senior, salaried employee at Ibrox is now receiving their full whack, even those who weren’t when the AR was compiled!


  30. j.j.

    The following response to you:-

    ‘In answer to your final point, None is the answer’

    should, for clarification, read:-

    ‘Sorry, I haven’t a clue. My bull**** answer to your final point was typed whilst wearing my ‘everything in the garden’s rosy’ specs’.

    (wrt ‘contacts’ – the boy’s goat some imagination!).


  31. jj 17th Nov 16.07

    Where does it say in the accounts that senior staff were not receiving their full salary post-June 2021


  32. Albertz

    “BP You will know as well as i do that any amount of “goodwill” can disappear quickly on either side of the Old Firm divide ..,”
    ——————————————-

    10/10 for the “OF” reference?, but I don’t agree.

    Last season and this season aren’t comparable for myriad reasons. Celtic fans were on Lennon’s case from eighteen months before it became clear he had lost it.

    The current manager has betrayed no similar behaviour, in fact the opposite appears to be the case thus far.

    Had Rangers been less inconsistent, I don’t think there would have been calls for his head from the fans – though the MSM were gearing up for it at one point.

    I also know that the feeling at Parkhead was that if Celtic were within three or four results of Rangers at the turn of the year, then decisive moves could be made in the window to put pressure on.

    Again something that simply didn’t happen last year. This optimism was in place even before the split between Gerrard/Defoe/Rangers board started to emerge.


  33. Albertz11 17th November 2021 @ 18:04hrs –

    It doesn’t.

    However, it also doesn’t state that all staff returned to full salaries prior to the compilation of the AR for the 12 month period ending June 2021, hence the possibility that the practice had continued beyond the AR shut-off point & may still have been ongoing.

    You’ve written that all employees are now receiving their full salaries. I’ll accept that.


  34. For some reason I did not this year receive an email informing me of the Celtic plc agm, and so ( obviously) was unable to print off a hard copy of the proxy voting form .
    Without that voting form it would have been pointless to attend in person. So I didn’t attend. ( Whether Celtic plc or the mailing company was responsible, it was a damned poor show and someone should get his arse kicked. I shall be following the matter up with Celtic plc)

    What I did today instead was begin the process of typing up ( for my own sake) the manuscript notes I made of all the BDO v Administrators hearings that I had been able ‘virtually’ to attend and make notes of.
    I didn’t, and don’t, intend to put them on the blog, of course.

    However, I had forgotten one little item from the evidence of Paul John Clark during the hearing on May 24 2021 that was of significance in a number of ways.
    You can judge how significant and in what ways for yourself:
    %%%
    From Monday morning May 24 2021, Mr Clark being examined by Mr McBrearty, QC for BDO, Judge Tyre presiding:

    “QC: Maurice Rothbart., Steve McKenna.. seem to support the view that there was a market. You don’t dispute that?
    Mr Clark: If it were a manufacturing business, easy to see break-up….I accept that we did not actively go out to look
    QC: What you didn’t do was to seek advice ..?
    Mr Clark I accept that.
    QC: You identified the concern of fans at the prospect of break-up?
    Mr Clark: Yes
    QC: Football fans protest over many things?….
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: ..the SFA embargo?…
    Mr C: Yes
    QC ..[there] might be liquidation? asset sale, because it might break continuity..?
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: ..’red card’ protest in the 77th minute?..
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: Very considerable emotional…..[? Upset?]
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: Understandable, at facing the demise of their football club?
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: They didn’t like the sale to Sevco?
    Mr C: They preferred a CVA!
    QC: When the CVA didn’t happen, and the asset sale went ahead, although it was
    TECHNICALLY A LIQUIDATION OF THE EXISTING ENTITY the Rangers fans kept on supporting?
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: In advance you knew the fans didn’t want an asset sale to Sevco.
    Mr C: The final structure was put in place for a deliverable outcome. We decided near the end of the season that the actual sale to Sevco was either going to be a CVA or asset sale. It was only when we knew that a CVA was not going to proceed [that] we decided on an asset sale.

    [ At this juncture, Lord Tyre suggested a break. The QC asked, and was granted, a minute or two to finish his line of questioning]

    QC: You reached a stage where the decision was not popular?
    Mr C: Yes
    QC: Rangers fans, they just have to suck it and see?
    Mr C: [ed: I missed the words used, but the meaning was ‘yes, as things turned out’]
    QC: And they’re back, winning the league!

    Lord Tyre: It’s 11.28 now, we’ll break, and resume at 11.45. “


  35. Is it just me? Am I the only one seeing a problem with the Chairman (business) of a competing football club sponsoring the league in which “his” club is playing???

    How would it be received if Dermot Desmond’s IIU were to take over sponsorship of the SPFL post-Cinch?


  36. Ian Bankier intimated at the Celtic AGM the club were “concerned” with refereeing performance and had regularly voiced their concerns to the SFA (Ian Maxwell). He did not elaborate on any of the SFA’s replies however. I suppose being told to shut up and get to the back of the bus would not have gone down well with supporters.

    Thinking back to a time when The Rangers complained about Collum, who was then removed from the The Rangers rota for months.

    Strange how Walsh is given the Celtic v St Johnstone Semi, when in the recent league match, his incompetence, or more likely manipulation of events, was so obvious.


  37. normanbatesmumfc 18th November 2021 At 10:42
    “.. Am I the only one seeing a problem with the Chairman (business) of a competing football club sponsoring the league in which “his” club is playing???”
    %%%%%%%%%%%
    No, nbmfc, you are but one of many thousands who can reason that there is room for a ‘conflict of interest’ in that relationship as there is in the relationship between an MP and a company for which he is paid to lobby!
    We know that the then SPL/SFL participated in the creation of the 5-Way Agreement in 2012 which demonstrated that money rather than principle was their principal concern.

    We must , as reasonably sensible folk, reasonably conclude that they might be exposed to further unprincipled action if they thought that sponsorship monies might be withdrawn if any sponsor had occasion to take umbrage at them.
    Not a case of me giving a dog a bad name, as recognising that the dog already has a bad name!


  38. Amidst the fall out from the Celtic AGM yesterday, and the associated media spin on it, I feel one very important matter has been overlooked. It was confirmed at the AGM that the majority of Scottish clubs don’t want Financial Fair Play. What is particularly interesting is that the absence of FFP really only benefits one club, so why are the majority against it? Very, very strange. I wish the matter had been given more debate, but I suspect so many uncomfortable questions were asked of the Celtic Chairman that he was more than happy for obfuscation and deflection to come into play at times.

    It is undeniable though that this subject needs to be given more public debate. Rangers have just appointed a new, high profile manager, and it remains to be seen if the magic money tree will bear fruit yet again. Meanwhile other clubs are expected to live within their means, and generally do.

    What is also undeniable is that the Celtic Board have once again been shown up to be completely spineless. it is quite incredible to sit there and say you believe the Scottish Government mistreated your club, then in the next breath say ‘but what can we do?’ They also handed the SFA a free pass yet again on the wrongful award of a European licence to Rangers in 2011. Going back to FFP they seem totally unconcerned about any level of debt accrued by Rangers, no matter the success it brings. At the same time they insist Celtic must show a level of financial probity unseen at Ibrox since 1985.

    What an all round strange approach to have. It makes no sense at all. Would Dermot Desmond allow any of his other businesses to be cheated? Would Ian Bankier allow his own successful business to be cheated? Would Tom Allison sit back and watch Peel Ports being cheated? I suspect the answer is no every time, so why are they happy to see Celtic being cheated? It is utterly bizarre.


  39. upthehoops 18th November 2021 At 19:32
    ‘… to sit there and say you believe the Scottish Government mistreated your club, then in the next breath say ‘but what can we do?’’
    %%%%%
    Bankier is quoted by Ronnie Esplin ( caveat: he is a SMSM journalist!) as having said ” Well, if the First Minister stands up and says ‘ I want a red card or a yellow card to be shown to Celtic football Club, what is it you do? So, do you take them on?”

    Too right you do, Mr Bankier!
    You should have challenged her directly and immediately-and through the Courts if necessary.
    It is NO function of the First Minister to act like some over-excited assistant referee almost choking on his whistle as he blows for a foul while simultaneously yelling for a ‘red card’.

    As for ‘Making your views ‘really clear’ to the Scottish FA [as bankrupt of Integrity as any liquidated football club ever was of Cash] that was no more effective than your refusal to fight for an independent investigation of the Res12 matter!

    It was Celtic’s fight as a PLC being damaged by unjustified political interference by the First Minister.
    And that fight should have been fought and won.
    Shame on you and your fellow Board members.


  40. Latest fines from UEFA.

    Competition: 2021/22 UEFA Europa League
    Date: 19 October 2021
    Match: Celtic FC vs. Ferencvárosi TC (2:0)
    Celtic FC
    Charges:
    • Provocative offensive message, Art. 16(2)(e) DR
    Decision:
    The Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body has decided:
    • To fine Celtic FC €15,000 for transmitting a provocative message of an offensive nature.
    • The above fine must be paid within 90 days of communication of this decision

    Competition: 2021/22 UEFA Europa League
    Date: 4 November 2021
    Match: Brøndby IF vs. Rangers FC (1:1)
    Brøndby IF
    Charges:
    • Crowd disturbances, Art. 16(2)(h) DR
    • Insufficient limitation of spectator movement, Art. 37.01 SSR
    • Throwing of objects, Art. 16(2)(b) DR
    • Blocking of public passageways, Art. 38 SSR
    • Lighting of fireworks, Art. 16(2)(c) DR
    • Illicit chants, Art. 16(2)(e) DR
    Decision:
    The Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body has decided:
    • To fine Brøndby IF €10,000 for crowd disturbances.
    • To fine Brøndby IF €5,000 for insufficient limitation of spectator movement.
    • To fine Brøndby IF €5,000 for throwing of objects.
    • To fine Brøndby IF €8,000 for blocking of public passageways.
    • To fine Brøndby IF €5,000 for lighting of fireworks.
    • To fine Brøndby IF €10,000 for transmitting a provocative message of an offensive nature.
    • The above fines in the total amount of €43,000 must be paid within 90 days of communication of this decision.

    Rangers FC
    Charges:
    • Crowd disturbances, Art. 16(2)(h) DR
    • Throwing of objects, Art. 16(2)(b) DR
    • Lighting of fireworks, Art. 16(2)(c) DR
    Decision:
    The Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body has decided:
    • To close the proceedings opened against Rangers FC for alleged crowd disturbances.
    • To fine Rangers FC €5,250 for lighting and throwing of an object.
    • The above fine must be paid into the bank account indicated below within 90 days of communication of this


  41. I believe GVB got the message most managers/coaches/etc dread. You will be given time is not a message you want to hear before you’ve even managed a game. That is very similar to the owner/board stating confidence in their manager/coach falling a dismal spell of performances. Generally the axe falls soon after.


  42. Slight correction in the above post — should read “following a dismal spell of performances”.


  43. From Barry Ferguson’s column in the Record –

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gio-van-bronckhorst-knows-rangers-25499587

    ‘OK, there are a few players heading towards the end of their contracts and the odd lad is the wrong side of 30.’

    Of the 29 players listed in TRFC’s first team squad (using Tranfermarkt as a base), seven are 30 or over – McGregor, McLaughlin, Balogun, Tavernier, Arfield, Davis & Defoe. (In addition, Jack is 30 before season’s end.) That’s about 27.5% of the squad.

    The following players are out-of-contract before the start of next season – McGregor, McLaughlin, Balogun, Davis, Arfield, Defoe, Goldson, Barker & Firth. That’s about 31% of the squad. Of course, some may be offered new contracts & some may not. Some may decide to move on.

    What should be worrying for GvB is that there are five ‘stripped’ first-team regulars (in reality six, if you include McLaughlin) in both lists.

    It looks like there will need to be a substantial rebuilding job over the next season & a half, which may well be complicated by TRFC’s apparent need to sell players; the most-marketable of whom aren’t mentioned above. Few of the names I’ve listed are worth a substantial fee.

    It’s going to be interesting…


  44. I’m a little late on this one .. Parks Motor Group sponsorship of the SWPL is announced with great fanfare. Parks Motor Group sponsorship deal with Rangers not treated in the same vein. You would think the Parks Motor would like all Rangers supporters to know of their allegiance to the club with a sponsorship deal, which could lead to increased car sales, in a very depressed industry these days.


  45. Jingso.Jimsie 20th November 2021 At 11:20
    ‘..From Barry Ferguson’s column in the Record –
    ‘OK, there are a few players heading towards the end of their contracts and the odd lad is the wrong side of 30.’
    %%%%%
    When I read your post a little earlier today, JJ, I did not see the second quotation mark. I therefore took it that the whole piece was a straight quote from the DR!
    I was flabbergasted that Barry’s ‘ghost’ writer would have had either the ability or the temerity to provide such a nicely put together factual summary of what is shaping up to be something of a possibly serious problem for TRFC; and that the editor of the DR would let it to be published!

    Only when I had opened the link and read the whole thing did I realise that you had lifted only one line ( the one quoted above) and that the rest of the piece was your own excellent work.

    It brought me up to the minute on the subject, and I thank you for it.


  46. There was a peculiar little exchange in the radio commentary of tonight’s semi-final.
    Alan Preston ( for whose analysis of any game he is watching I have the greatest respect) wondered whether what Bankier might have said about referees could be having an effect on the referee. ( I think this was in relation to yellow cards being shown to ST J players)

    Liam Mcleod observed immediately that it was known on Monday who was to be the referee at this evening’s match, while the AGM was on Wednesday.
    How does one interpret that exchange?
    Did Preston believe that the choice of referee was made with particular care to ensure that Celtic would have no grounds for complaint?
    Or that, no matter who had been appointed as referee, he would have been told to have Bankier’s comments in mind?
    It annoys the hell out of me that the whole feckin dirty mess created by the way the Football Authorities manufactured and maintain the stupid myth that TRFC is Rangers of 1872 has so corrupted the game as to make us suspicious of anything in Scottish professional football.

    [Really, when there is absolutely no trust, the game’s a bogey, operating on principles that are the very antithesis truth and integrity.]


  47. From time to time I dip into the UEFA website.
    I did so a minute ago( into the disciplinary pages)
    And my eye was caught by

    “Competition: 2021/22 UEFA Europa League
    Date: 4 November 2021
    Match: Brøndby IF vs. Rangers FC (1:1)
    Brøndby IF
    Charges:
    • Crowd disturbances, Art. 16(2)(h) DR
    • Insufficient limitation of spectator movement, Art. 37.01 SSR
    • Throwing of objects, Art. 16(2)(b) DR
    • Blocking of public passageways, Art. 38 SSR
    • Lighting of fireworks, Art. 16(2)(c) DR
    • Illicit chants, Art. 16(2)(e) DR
    I am intrigued by ” illicit chants”
    What kind of chants would they, could they, have been?
    Anyone know?


  48. Just watching MOTD and somewhat surprised to see SG being interviewed (and appearing happy to do so) on BBC. Unless I am mistaken throughout his time in Scotland he refused to be interviewed by the BBC (Scotland). I get that MOTD have a contractual right to hear from the managers but I thought that Sportscene had the same? Why did Sportscene accept presenting quotes rather than interviews with SG?
    Happy to stand corrected but have I missed something/misunderstood the past?


  49. @wokingcelt I believe SG was operating to a TRFC policy and not his own. It probably did break SPFL contracts but unless broadcasters complain then Neil Doncaster and Co are unlikely to do anything. Presumably Cinch lodged a complaint wrt contractual rights on sponsorship and with a threat to finance Doncaster had to act.


  50. John Clark 20th Nov 23.59,

    I am intrigued by ” illicit chants”
    What kind of chants would they, could they, have been?
    Anyone know?
    ………………………………
    • To fine Brøndby IF €10,000 for transmitting a provocative message of an offensive nature.
    ………………………………………………………………

    Perhaps a anti UEFA chant?


  51. wokingcelt & tykebhoy.

    Rangers banned BBC reporter Chris McLaughlin from attending Ibrox from 2015, as they were entitled to do.
    The BBC stood behind him, and have refused to send anyone from the organisation to Ibrox from that day to this, as they are entitled to do.
    Got to be honest and say that i haven’t missed them.


  52. ‘John Clark 20th November 2021 At 21:38

    …When I read your post a little earlier today, JJ, I did not see the second quotation mark. I therefore took it that the whole piece was a straight quote from the DR!…

    … and that the rest of the piece was your own excellent work…
    ::
    ::
    One of the drawbacks in posting on here is that there seems to be no facility to italicise or embolden remarks made by others. I should probably have put the quote above the hyperlink to emphasise it was a quote from Ferguson’s ghost-writer.

    As an aside, I don’t know whether to be offended or not by your comment which appears to state that I write like a tabloidist…


  53. Albertz11 21st November 2021 At 09:20

    wokingcelt & tykebhoy.

    Rangers banned BBC reporter Chris McLaughlin from attending Ibrox from 2015, as they were entitled to do.

    What for?.....Wearing trainers?


  54. Jingso.Jimsie 21st November 2021 At 11:14
    “As an aside, I don’t know whether to be offended or not by your comment which appears to state that I write like a tabloidist…”
    %%%%%
    Be assured , JJ, the very opposite was the intention: it was because your piece was so well written ,and contained an implicit criticism of TRFC finances, that I couldn’t believe that a DR hack could have written it!

    On the absence of the facility on the blog for using ‘italics’, Bold, underlining with a line rather than having to use any symbols that work (like the % sign), I long ago asked for that facility to be restored….
    And if I give a ‘thumbs up’ to any post that already has a few, those few disappear and become ‘0’s! [I don’t use that button now, of course]

    Curiously enough, even if pre-type my stuff on ‘Open Office’ using bold, or italics etc, when I cut and paste to the blog, all that disappears!

    If BP sees this post, he might be able to help?


  55. Albertz11 21st November 2021 At 09:06
    ‘..Perhaps a anti UEFA chant?’
    %%%%%%%%%
    I didn’t know there was such a thing!( If there is an English version, I’ll learn it!)


  56. Albertz11 21st November 2021 At 09:20
    ‘….banned BBC reporter Chris McLaughlin from attending Ibrox from 2015, as they were entitled to do’
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%
    It is one of the wonders of the modern world that the BBC in Scotland, having disgracefully rolled over on its belly to yield to the then BBC Trust’s order to propagate the myth that RFC of 1872 did not die, found the guts to tell the Ibrox board that if McLaughlin was banned from Ibrox, no other BBC reporter would be sent to Ibrox.

    Now, we’re not likely to get the full story until McLaughlin leaves the BBC of his own accord and writes his book [ perhaps in collaboration with Jim Spence]..if there isn’t a ‘non-disclosure agreement’
    Interestingly, Andrew Marr announced just the other day that he is leaving the BBC after umpteen years ,saying he is keen to do journalism with “no filter”.

    I don’t dispute that the proprietors of a place of entertainment (even if a pawn shop may be holding a wee ticket as pledge of security for a loan) are entitled , on reasonable grounds, to refuse entry to anyone.
    But refusing access to the BBC instead of publicly demonstrating and explaining why was always a bit stupid. It suggested that the RIFC plc Board know damn fine that RFC of 1872 is in Liquidation and that their claim to be the holding company of the most successful football club in the world is bogus, misleading, and farcical.


  57. “Rangers have now progressed beyond the semi final just once in their last nine attempts” (BBC Website)

    should read…

    “TRFC have now progressed beyond the semi final just once in their 9-year old history” (SMSM Factcheckers Anonymous)


  58. Albertz11 21st November 2021 At 09:20
    1 3 Rate This

    wokingcelt & tykebhoy.

    Rangers banned BBC reporter Chris McLaughlin from attending Ibrox from 2015, as they were entitled to do.
    The BBC stood behind him, and have refused to send anyone from the organisation to Ibrox from that day to this, as they are entitled to do.
    Got to be honest and say that i haven’t missed them.

    ++++++++++++++++

    McLaughlin reported the factually correct news that three Rangers fans had been arrested at a game for sectarian offences. That Rangers should see this as a banning matter says much.


  59. bect67 21st November 2021 At 20:14
    ‘..should read…..’
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%
    Nice one, bect67!
    The BBC seem to share the view of an eminent QC, who [ffs!] can talk in court of ‘a technical Liquidation’ of a club which the Administrators failed to bring out of Administration, causing it to crash into Liquidation ,but which while in Liquidation is miraculously ‘back’ and ‘being there and winning a League title’
    An arrant piece of nonsense, on a par with the nonsense that some of us had a right good laugh at in Court some years ago, about the eternality of the ‘ethereal whatness’ that is the transferable essence of a football club( or rubbish to that effect)

    A Liquidation is of course “technical”: that is, it happens when the laws on Insolvency in all their ‘technicality’ are applied to a club that went bust because it could not pay its debts and when the Administrators make a hames of the Administration and fail either to find a buyer or succeed in achieving a CVA. [ see my post of 17 November at 21.53]

    If that club had not been ,as a matter of fact and law, liquidated there would have been no need for CG to set up another club from scratch and apply for a share in one of the leagues prior to and and as a necessary condition of seeking membership of the SFA.
    He would simply have become the new owner of a historic club, the players’ contracts would still have been binding, the debts to HMRC and other creditors would have been paid ( under some agreed arrangement) and RFC of 1872 would not have died, killed in effect by the hubristic tax-evading Knight.


  60. upthehoops 21st November 2021 At 21:42
    ‘..McLaughlin reported the factually correct news that three Rangers fans had been arrested at a game for sectarian offences. That Rangers should see this as a banning matter says much.’
    %%%%%%%
    Yes, indeed.
    Can you give us a date when McLaughlin ran with that story?

    Why are the other organs of the SMSM not even now screaming about the banning of a newsman?
    Was/is it out of fear of missing out on the succulent lamb?

    What was the outcome of the arrests? Prosecution? Conviction? Charges dropped? Arresting officers quietly warned not to be too enthusiastic in making arrests at Ibrox? and cards appropriately marked ‘lack of judgment’?

    This is what happens when one’s trust in the integrity of those in any kind of public office takes a battering.
    And when the Press allows itself to be muzzled, or happily muzzles itself, then we are in dead trouble.
    Ja wohl, meine freunden!


  61. An interesting 10 days (perhaps season-defining) ahead for TRFC’s new management team:

    Three difficult fixtures: Sparta Prague on Thursday, away to Livingston on Sunday & away to Hibs next Wednesday.

    A dressing-room to re-energise after the SF defeat & some frankly-embarrassing post-match comments by players.

    Clamour to play Patterson. (He’s now a £25m player, according to sections of the press. That’s quite a rise from the already-inflated £10m the SMSM had him valued at a month ago. How many first-team games has he started? Where’s his head at with all this transfer talk?)

    There’s always plenty of other matters to occupy a new manager’s time as well. It’s a good job GvB has Jimmy Bell to depend on! Worthwhile Advice Taken Personally…


  62. Jingso.Jimsie 22nd November 2021 At 16:28
    Saw what you did there !


  63. Is there prize money for the cup competition from which Rangers were recently eliminated. The board room must be a little touchy as recent financials did not paint a very good picture. There is a positive to this though, no win bonuses need to be paid. However with the $25 million valuation of Nathan Patterson be bandied about, this should cancel the need for another share issue.


  64. Albertz11 21st November 2021 At 09:20
    The ibrox clubs have been banning the BBC for years for one thing or another


  65. Co …

    Although, I’m sure, Sutton won’t be too bothered, it’s pathetic intit?!

    We Are The Petties!


  66. It’s worse than pathetic Bect. The violence and lawlessness of Sevco fans under the casual acceptance of their board, coupled with the lauding and revelry received from those same fans does nothing but paint a target on Sutton’s back for these lunatics
    The most distasteful aspect is that it is designed to. They know it, and so does everyone with half a brain……..Including the fitba’ authorities who must at least collectively meet that criteria.
    Half a brain they may just about muster, but an ounce of courage to challenge a disorganised crime syndicate is an ask too far.

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