It Is Better To Offer No Excuse Than A Bad One

This headline is a quote by George Washington, but it is also friendly advice to Keith Jackson of the Daily Record in response to his ‘exclusive’ today on the reasons Derek McInnes turned down Rangers.

May I begin by drawing people’s attention to two statements by the same organisation on what was essentially the same subject matter:

Aberdeen FC Statement 14th June 2017:

https://www.afc.co.uk/2017/06/14/club-statement-management-team/

“The club can confirm that early this afternoon Sunderland FC agreed to meet all the contractual obligations for both Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty and they have, reluctantly, been granted permission to speak with both of them about the vacant managerial position at Sunderland.

Aberdeen FC will be making no further comment at this moment in time.”

Aberdeen FC Statement 5th December 2017

https://www.afc.co.uk/2017/12/05/club-statement-18/

 

“Aberdeen Football Club has announced this evening that Rangers have contacted the Club asking for permission to speak to Derek McInnes and that permission has been refused.”

 

It is clear from the first statement there are contractual obligations that, when met, mean the club must allow their manager the option of dialogue with interested parties, however reluctant the club may be.

Although money is not mentioned, contractual obligations can only relate to the commitments on either side to terminate the agreement and these are usually financial. In the case of an interested suitor, it would be expected of them to pay this on behalf of the employee.

There is no mention of contractual obligations in the club statement on 5th December, from which one can only infer that Rangers either refused, or were in no position to meet, the financial commitments required. Aberdeen FC therefore exercised their right to refuse permission to speak to McInnes, a position they are perfectly entitled to maintain until such time as Rangers agree to meet all contractual obligations, just as Sunderland did.

The story for the press to pursue is obvious yet Keith Jackson wants to have us believe that the McInnes decision -and ultimately it was his decision – has nothing to do with money. Jackson even suggested that an offer of £1m up-front was on the table in a piece that was published on Wednesday:

In it, Jackson states;

“Dons chairman Stewart Milne made his hardball position clear last night after booting out an official approach from the Ibrox club – and turning down a cheque for £1 million in compensation.”

I’m not entirely sure what Mr Jackson means by an ‘official’ approach, I would have thought ‘formal’ to be more apposite but it’s a moot point in the grand scheme of things. Fact is, Jackson didn’t think long and hard enough about this statement because it contains not one, or two, but three glaring inaccuracies.

  1. Mr Milne did not ‘boot out’ any approach – official, formal or otherwise. If Rangers had met the necessary contractual obligations then Aberdeen FC could not have refused McInnes the opportunity to speak to Rangers – that would have been a breach of contract on the club’s part and McInnes could sue.
  2. Mr Milne is not ’playing hardball’. Playing hardball is about getting what you want. Mr Milne already has what he wants. He doesn’t need to play hardball – it is Rangers who, if they cannot afford the compensation or wish to alter the terms of the compensation, would need to attempt to play hardball. Jackson has this the wrong way around – a common failing when trying to justify a lie and pursue a biased narrative.
  3. I don’t dispute that Rangers offered to pay £1 million in compensation, but I do not believe for one millisecond that it would be paid in a single instalment either by cheque, cash or bank transfer because the audited accounts published last month prove that such a commitment would not be possible. A shortfall of £4m was required in soft loans to see out the current season, with monies required immediately, and a further £3.2m after June 18. Furthermore, these figures did not consider the additional cost of a change of management at the club/holding company/engine room subsidiary/call it what you will.

It’s rather telling that Mr Jackson makes no mention of this £1m cheque in his ‘exclusive’ today. Instead, he offers another inaccuracy. He says’;

“When Milne made it clear he was unwilling to grant the move his blessing – and that McInnes would have to rip up his contract to pursue a return to Ibrox – the ex-Rangers player was boxed into a corner.”

Mr Milne is in no position to grant a move, whether with his blessing or otherwise. There is a binding contract in place and only if contractual obligations are met then – as is glaringly obvious from the Aberdeen Club Statement of 14th June – Mr Milne would have to, albeit reluctantly, allow the manager to speak to the other club, just as he did in the case of Sunderland. He cannot box his manager into a corner. There is no decision for Mr Milne to make if the requisite compensation is agreed to be paid in full to terminate the manager’s contract with Aberdeen FC.

More plausibly, Rangers could box McInnes into a corner. The job is his if he wants it, but he will have to resign his position to take it because Rangers won’t meet the contractual obligations. Once again Jackson has it the wrong way around because he is lying and pursuing a biased narrative.

Any reasonably minded follower of Scottish football knows why McInnes is not going to Rangers. It’s all about the money – or the lack of it – and no amount of lying or high-level fantasy by award winning journalists will alter that prosaic fact.

This entry was posted in Blogs by Concomitant. Bookmark the permalink.
Concomitant

About Concomitant

Despite over 30 years in exile I'm still as passionate about our national game as I ever was. It breaks my heart to see it being destroyed by those in power - the SFA, the SPFL, the Scottish media and in some cases the clubs.

779 thoughts on “It Is Better To Offer No Excuse Than A Bad One


  1. JIMBODECEMBER 29, 2017 at 12:55

    When you consider the amount of money that is brought into local business on match days it’s the least that, in this instance, Glasgow City Council and Celtic FC can do.  Even more so now with the restricted parking in the vicinity of CP.

    =======================

    When Brendan Rodgers made the point earlier this year that Celtic are good for the Glasgow economy, and particularly on Champions League days, several media people scorned his point on Twitter, without offering any facts to back themselves up of course.


  2. Rangers have rejected a £500,000 bid for midfielder Josh Windass from Preston North End.
    It is understood Championship side Preston are unlikely to pursue their interest in the former Accrington Stanley player, 23.
    ____________

    That’s a pretty  fast  turnaround of news, breaking with Preston’s £500,000 bid, and already understood there’s to be no further pursuit of the player. It’s  almost  as though  the BBC have been handed a piece of paper with ‘please publish the following: bid, rejected and no pursuit’ written on it!


  3. CORRUPT OFFICIALDECEMBER 29, 2017 at 14:06
    6
    0 Rate This
    JIMBODECEMBER 29, 2017 at 12:55I hope the pathways in the approaches to CP are well salted tomorrow.  I read a few weeks ago that the pavements were very icy and dangerous on the way to the ground.
    —————-
    It’s in the club’s and all club’s best interest as police can call the game off. everything in the ground could look ok but if the police see the surrounding area is unsafe for fans they can call the game off.
    always happy to be corrected if this is now wrong


  4. ALLYJAMBODECEMBER 29, 2017 at 18:48
    2
    0 Rate This
    Rangers have rejected a £500,000 bid for midfielder Josh Windass from Preston North End.
    ——————
    Looks like they see Josh Windass as the only saleable asset in the team and are trying to get his name out there.
    only my opinion 19


  5. CO, It looks all so very predictable, in fact, it was predicted, both here and elsewhere. With every single member of the SMSM standing by, ready to do their bit for the cause.


  6. I’ve got a pair of slip on studs, which you put on your shoes and they give you a good footing in the snow & ice.  Can’t recommend them highly enough.  Anyhow I went round to the local shop earlier for a bottle of wine to sup watching the game tomorrow.

    The sound of them on my wooden floors is like football boots.  My downstairs neighbour must think I’ve had a new lease of life!  Football at my age?  I wish!  21


  7. JIMBODECEMBER 29, 2017 at 20:27
    —————–
    We just know that Fred Astaire moment is just around the corner,you know you won’t be able to help yourself06


  8. Dons/Hibees/Jambos and any other club wanting a UEFA spot.
    Flogging players who have put TRFC near top of league is an admission those players unaffordable.
    The solution is to make a licence for TRFC conditional on a realistic sustainable business plan. SFA are not doing their licencing job. Never have in fact.
    So what questions are your club Directors asking the SFA?
    Why not get them to ask UEFA if they are happy with the way SFA process licence applications from Ibrox. Seems UEFA not happy.
    Proper club licencing can level the playing field a bit but it also protects all clubs from charlatans selling jam tomorrow.


  9. UP THE HOOPS
    The allegations on CQN that Bobby Madden has a gambling problem surely require his  removal from the the firing line until the allegators are proved wrong.
    No snap decisions, just a leisurely swim until there is no question as to his motivations. 


  10. A couple of subjects on here caught my eye over the early festive period. Firstly, the subject of goal-line technology, in view of Hibs’ ‘non-goal’ in the early minutes of the recent Edinburgh derby. As a Hearts fan, I have to hold my hands up to having got lucky on that occasion.

    Perhaps surprisingly, Tom English makes a decent fist of the subject of goal-line technology and the use of Video Assistant Referees in his recent BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42507695

    If only Tom English was entirely consistent in his analysis of the history of Scottish football, we might not have been subjected over the past five years to such manufactured words, phrases and myths as ‘engine room subsidiary’ and ‘after leaving liquidation’.

    Tom English and every so-called journalist in this country knows precisely what happened to Rangers Football Club in 2012. The fact that they know so is recorded for posterity, since every last one of them reported the death of Rangers FC back in the summer of 2012. Whether Tom, like so many others, subsequently took the view it was safer for him to print the official PR propaganda rather than the truth he incontrovertibly knew, doesn’t alter the fact that he, like his cowardly colleagues, is guilty of propagating fiction as fact. He has no excuse, because there is no excuse for such dereliction of duty as a supposed journalist.

    The second subject that caught my eye is the fact that Manchester City currently sit 15 points ahead of their nearest EPL rivals and have a goal difference that exceeds the combined totals of the clubs in 2nd and 3rd places.

    PSG currently sit eleven points above 2nd placed Monaco in Ligue 1 while Barcelona lead 2nd placed Atletico by 9 points, and Real by 14 points.

    Bayern Munich unsurprisingly lead Schalke by eleven points at the top of the Bundesliga at present.

    In Scotland, Celtic presently hold a mere eight point lead over second-placed Aberdeen, yet we are lead to believe our league is a meaningless-one-horse-race-foregone-conclusion. It is unjust, we are told, that one club has such an unfair financial advantage over its rivals.

    Feel free to correct me, but are Sky and BT customers in England queueing up to cancel their subscriptions because they’re witnessing a foregone conclusion regarding Man City? Spain? France? Germany?

    Now I’m not for one second suggesting that the quality on display in the SPFL comes remotely close to those other major leagues, but I can’t help but feeling that we do ourselves a massive disservice by undervaluing our domestic game here in Scotland. I sense a reasonably bright future for Scottish football, probably enhanced by my own club’s relatively successful academy programme allied to news of various other youngsters coming through their own club’s systems. Perhaps if Doncaster and Regan were to promote the positives (ie resign), instead of ridiculing our game, we might make further progress.

    It is puzzling why we didn’t hear about Scotland’s unfair financial disparity during the glory years of the now defunct Rangers FC, season after season in which they lifted titles and trophies that they couldn’t genuinely afford to fund, lording it over the rest of us while exploiting a massive financial disparity between themselves and their rivals!

    The infuriating thing is that there’s a massive story out there for a real journalist; a story that involves deceit, corruption and cheating. A story that would seal a journalist’s place in history forever. And that’s just about the governing bodies!

    Finally, as a Hearts fan I’m contractually obliged to point out that although Hibs were undoubtedly deprived of a goal in the midweek derby, an incident which has justifiably been replayed over and over ad nauseam, and which supposedly highlighted the inconsistencies/frailties of our officials, little time has been spent highlighting the blatant handball in the penalty area by Lewis Stevenson of Hibs in the dying embers of the same game. As penalties go, that was a stonewaller, but I accept those same officials are mere mortals, subject to the same degree of error as you or I.


  11. AULDHEIDDECEMBER 29, 2017 at 21:07

    UP THE HOOPSThe allegations on CQN that Bobby Madden has a gambling problem surely require his  removal from the the firing line until the allegators are proved wrong.No snap decisions, just a leisurely swim until there is no question as to his motivations. 

    =====================================

    How soon should soon be? If this is true and the SFA know about it…


  12. Jimbo, as much as it pains me to say so I would argue Celtics record of signing players and selling them on would equate to a massive profit when all considered. Van Dyk, Wanyama, Dembelle (when he goes). My club could only dream of such sales. Yes you have had flops but by and large, in the last 5 years I can’t think of any big money signings you have lost money on. Add in free transfers of Craig Gordon (who we had training with us and McCoist decided Bell and Simonnson were a better option ffs!) and Sinclair and it’s clear you have a transfer strategy the rest of us could only dream off! It sickens me to see my rivals make such astute signings while my own team think lucrative deals for mid thirties has been a like Kranjcar, Barton, Sendoras and Alves is the way forward. In the entire time of the ‘Banter years’ only Morales has struck me as a decent signing in the sense we will make good money of him. 

    Even going back further we have never had the same vision in the transfer market. The 90s and 2000s were littered with both half’s of the old firm signing players past their best (Kanchelskis, Graveson) or huge flops (Flo, Shidt). However Celtic learned from their lesson and now have one of the best models in football while Rangers continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. 


  13. Darkbeforedawn,

    Here’s some names to jog your memory:
    Ciftci, Pukki, Balde, Boerrigter, Kayal, Juninnho, Fortune, Fernandez, Loovens, Hooiveld, Jarosik,Rasmussen, Graveson, Scheidt.

    But I get your bigger point, by and large recently our signing policy has been good.

    There’s no guarantees.  I seem to remember Davie Weir done OK for you in his 30s.


  14. That was a waste of a game wasn’t even good for us neutrals.


  15. There were no controversial penalties or red cards. That’s about the only good thing I can say about it.

    Meanwhile.  181705 (Let my emotions out)

    At least the A&E wards should be relatively quiet tonight.


  16. I watched it as a neutral and quite enjoyed it.
    Expected Celtic to be all over Rangers but it was Rangers who seemed more up for it.
    Cant believe it was 0-0……funny old game as they say 


  17. Good result for Aberdeen I would have thought.

    A chance to get two nearer the leaders and two further away from the third place team. 

    I think the draw was a fair result, several missed chances and half chances for both sides today. Both keepers made a few decent saves. 


  18. I heard today that Craig Graham  the Spartans chairman is awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list. 
    I’m pleased for Craig and Spartans. 
    Craig took a Corinthian and undisciplined club going nowhere fast, rooted it into a previously ignored community and has achieved some incredible health and social goals deep into that community using football as glue.
    other clubs are now slowly learning from his vision and Scottish football is better for what he has done  
    Yes he could have been and should have been knighted

    but to paraphrase our old pal Red Lichtie
    Scottish Football needs more Craig Graham’s. 


  19. FinlochDecember 30, 2017 at 20:42
    ‘…Craig took a Corinthian and undisciplined club going nowhere fast, rooted it into a previously ignored community and has achieved some incredible health and social goals deep into that community using football as glue.’
    ________
    Beautifully expressed, Finloch.

    Football as a glue of ‘community’

    Of community trust,

    of basic honesty,

    of the  Corinthian spirit,

    of sporting integrity….

    and of all the virtues that the SFA has so spectacularly abandoned, in its determination to insist that Charles Green’s Sevcoscotland is entitled to call itself the Rangers of 1872

    That such an incredibly monstrous perversion of truth of any kind, never mind sporting truth, is being, and has been for 5 years, propagated by our Football Governance body and supported by the SMSM is stark evidence of a deep, deep corruption at the heart of our sport, and, worse, at the very essence of our ‘free’ Press.

    in this little country of ours.


  20. BILL1903DECEMBER 30, 2017 at 14:01

    I watched it as a neutral and quite enjoyed it.Expected Celtic to be all over Rangers but it was Rangers who seemed more up for it.Cant believe it was 0-0……funny old game as they say 

    ============================

    I was at the game. At half time I simply couldn’t believe how Celtic were not at least two ahead.  Happy to concede Rangers were the better side in the 2nd half and had two very good chances themselves.  However, I really don’t know what to make of such celebrations at a 0-0 draw.  Hibs, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock have all drawn at Celtic Park this season and all scored into the bargain, yet none of them reacted like they had won the Champions League. 

    I remember in the 90’s when financially doped Rangers were miles in front of Celtic, who Rangers financial dopers tried to put out of business.  Despite that Celtic in those days managed to beat Rangers in the league, and knock them out the cup.  The media were quick to remind us such blips meant nothing as Celtic were miles behind on the park and in the boardroom. The fact they have decided to celebrate Rangers fantastic 0-0 victory yesterday as much as the fans did does not bother me at all. A reality check will be imposed on them soon.  It’s their one almighty fall when it comes, and they could have avoided it. 


  21. UPTHEHOOPS
    DECEMBER 31, 2017 at 13:11
    =================================

    Yesterday’s performance and result has possibly caused a bit of consternation in the board room.

    We know the club, and by extension the PLC is running at a loss, predicting a shortfall of £4m this season. Dave King has said he will fill that gap, but with his Takeover Panel issues that has become more difficult. Will someone else provide the loans if he doesn’t.

    If that doesn’t happen then the money has to come from somewhere. So “wonga” type loans or sale of assets are pretty much the only options left.  Which assets would currently bring in a reasonable amount of money. Given recent performances I would think Tavernier, Morelos and Windass would be the players others might be interested in. Even then, which one (or two) raises the £4m required. 

    How would the support react if any of those players were sold. I doubt they would be overly happy about it. 

    Yes, some short term joy at a 0-0 draw, leaving you 11 points off the lead. However that might not last long into January if any of the heroes of that day are then sold … not to be replaced, to keep the lights on. 


  22. Re potential transfers out of TRFC: any club interested in a player will (or should) be aware that the club is cash-strapped. It may well be that half a dozen may have to go make a dent in that £4m (even including getting them off the payroll).

    That Warburton has been sacked when the MSM talk was that he intended to plunder TRFC for a couple of players in this window is an issue the Ibrox board  may have to concern themselves with.


  23. JINGSO.JIMSIE
    DECEMBER 31, 2017 at 14:34
    ========================================

    I don’t think there’s any secret of how “cash-strapped” they are. It’s laid out in the accounts.

    £16m in debt. Running at a loss of £4m this season and £3m next season. With no proper banking facilities and basically running as a cash business.

    I don’t think anyone running another football team in the UK would be unaware of that. 

    The SMSM must be getting the “undisclosed fee” stamp inked up just in case. 


  24. “Man City’s Jesus out for little more than a month”
    (BBC)

    I know it was His birthday last week but a month off!  Seriously?
    21


  25. HomunculusDecember 31, 2017 at 14:58 
    JINGSO.JIMSIEDECEMBER 31, 2017 at 14:34========================================I don’t think there’s any secret of how “cash-strapped” they are. It’s laid out in the accounts.£16m in debt. Running at a loss of £4m this season and £3m next season. With no proper banking facilities and basically running as a cash business.I don’t think anyone running another football team in the UK would be unaware of that. The SMSM must be getting the “undisclosed fee” stamp inked up just in case.
    _________________

    Not sure whether it was made clear, or not, if that £4m this season was from a budget that included getting good money in for some of the deadwood, plus trimming the wage bill, or if it was worked out assuming no net sale income would be sought during the financial year. I expect, though, that both sale income and a reduced wage bill was necessary to keep the shortfall to the £4m.

    From what little I’ve seen, or read, of the Pedro signings, only Morelos looks saleable, with Alves only a shadow of the player he once was (he’s now hobbling off after a few minutes of play, injured, without contact from another player) and no one else from Pedro’s purchases showing themselves above the ordinary, then it’s doubtful they could recoup enough to pay off the remaining instalments, so selling these players might be counter productive, leaving only the better, and much more popular, players like Tavernier, Fotheringham, Windass, and Morelos, to sell. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if selling some of those youngsters, that have done so well for them recently, would have a better chance of raising money than the Pedro guys, and that wouldn’t go down at all well in the stands.

    Basically, the expensive players they would want to get rid of haven’t performed, and the ones who might raise real money (even in a fire sale) are the ones the fans very much want to stay – and to also see better players coming in.

    So far, in the history of TRFC, not one of their much vaunted players has raised anything like the expected fee, and I can’t see that changing now!


  26. HOMUNCULUSDECEMBER 31, 2017 at 15:02
    8
    0 Rate This
    CAUSALUDENDIDECEMBER 31, 2017 at 11:24
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42528150
    Watburton sacked by Forest.=================================
    He will be free to take up the England job now. 
    —————-
    Just goes to show what was the point of him getting up at 6am every morning to help an ibrox club to reach the champions league.
    No champions league.(Resigned)and then sacked by Forest


  27. As Bill1903 said yesterday ‘It’s a funny old game’.

    I fully expect Celtic to win the league this season, but I would say that wouldn’t I?  Probably not by the same margin as last season but relatively comfortable.

    It’s the rest of the teams where the interest is in many ways.  I mentioned recently on here that the line up of games that day was ‘juicy’ and that I hadn’t a clue how they would pan out.

    I still feel the same.  Look at yesterday’s results.  The top six teams – all draws!

    Anyone who thinks they can predict the order of the top 6 at the end of the season is a better pundit than I am.

    At the bottom of the table the bottom 3 are on 22 – 20 – 17 points with about 16 games to go.  Who will be relegated? It’s anybody’s guess. And I now watch avidly the results and tables of all leagues. Enjoying the battle between St. Mirren & Dundee Utd.

    So it’s not all doom and gloom (On the pitch!) in Scottish football, still excitement in there.

    Reminds of when Hearts, Hibs and TRFC were in the Championship together.  I had never, to my shame, taken so much interest in that level.  I feel it’s the same with the Premiership now.  From top to bottom, every day is a new day and results go could any which way.  (Just ask Hearts!)

    Happy New Year when it comes everyone.


  28. HOMUNCULUSDECEMBER 31, 2017 at 15:02
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

    Do you not think that he might hold out for a better offer…?!

    Aw the very best folks, may aw yer lums reek lang!


  29. CAUSALUDENDI
    DECEMBER 31, 2017 at 19:12
    ===================================

    I’m not sure he is qualified for the Scotland job.

    We regularly need a Plan B, C, D … etc. 


  30. jimboDecember 31, 2017 at 18:18
    As ever, Jimbo, you bring the blog back to the basics of what our beloved game is really about, and long may you continue to do so. That damn ‘Rangers Saga’ has certainly given us all, I am sure, a different view of our game, from the very top, all the way to the bottom of the Scottish League, and beyond. As an example, how often would any of us have spoken, written or read the name ‘Spartans’ if it wasn’t for the light that the cheating, and liquidation, of Rangers Football Club shone on the whole game in Scotland?


  31. All the best for everyone on SFM in 2018.

    Spare a thought, though, for those of us working tomorrow (7.45 start18) so a sober (more or less) Hogmanay for me. Speak to you all in the New Year 04


  32. Happy New Year when it comes 7am pick up to the airport for me tomorrow.


  33. All the best for 2018 Bampots!

    And just have to add this headline from the esteemed DR, so it must be true;

    “Bluenoses out of joint as Rangers pub to be turned into gay sauna’s bar”

    Couldn’t possibly comment on the article…but a couple of sentences did jump out as sounding familiar;

    “…Annie Millers was one of Glasgow’s most hardcore Rangers haunts and it was a real shock for a lot of fans when it closed last year.
    A lot of drinkers were hoping that someone might rescue the pub so it could reopen as it was before. This definitely won’t happen now…

    09


  34. Shug, There’s a sad individual or two who give TDs for no reason at all.  Look at Finloch’s post yesterday, a harmless, heartwarming post. 6 TDs ?  I ask you.  I see it often.  There is a few sad lurkers about.  I get an automatic one within minutes of a post.  I laugh at it and give myself a TU just to annoy them.  Sad people.

    Happy New Year to them, they need good wishes more than most.


  35. Jimbo, I fully agree that the league this season is far to close to call. It’s a great advert for Scottish football that anyone can beat anybody else on their day. For what it’s worth I can’t see anyone beating Celtic to the league. They will drop points but I’m sure they will strengthen in January and the games against Hearts and the old firm game will give your players a kick up the arse. 

    As for second place, it could be any of four teams. I hope it’s Rangers and we can start stringing together a decent number of results, but Aberdeen, Hibs or Hearts could all do it. The league is so unpredictable than any of 4 teams could finish 2nd and any of 4 teams could be relegated. To further add to the unpredictability I fear Rangers could lose some decent players as I can’t see us offloading the duds. If the accounts were based on shedding the wage bill, and no-one takes on Pena or Herrera then I fear Morales, Tavernier or even McCrorie may be sold to free up cash. 

    Happy New Year everyone and here’s for a great season


  36. Slightly off topic.  I watched a bit of the documentary about the Royal Ballet rehearsing for The Nutcracker.  Honestly you want to see the state of those beautiful ballerinas feet.  They would give you the boak.  All that dancing on their toes makes for bunions and blisters you could only dream of.  I swear Kyle Lafferty probably has lovely feet in comparison. No he doesn’t have hooves you Tims!.

    (I know, Royal Ballet, Strictly, Gogglebox, Harry Potter, Glasgow Derbies.  I’m a complex person.)


  37. Phil McG alleging a surveyor has recently visited Rangers training ground to attain a valuation, and that King has also approached a non-Uk Finance House. As Phil says this may well be King raising funds to make a share offer, but IMO it could be to raise working capital too. 


  38. UPTHEHOOPSJANUARY 1, 2018 at 11:51
    Phil McG alleging a surveyor has recently visited Rangers training ground to attain a valuation, and that King has also approached a non-Uk Finance House. As Phil says this may well be King raising funds to make a share offer, but IMO it could be to raise working capital too. 
    ___________

    Of course, we have to remember that, just as dogs aren’t just for Xmas, valuations aren’t just for security! I know PMGB is suggesting King is trying to raise money abroad, but if he can’t get a loan to keep the lights on/finance his TOP enforced share offer, players might not be the only assets up for sale!

    I see, too, that PMGB is issuing challenges, in two posts, to the Ibrox based boards to issue denials of what he is telling us.


  39. Is it lawful for one “director” to use the assets of a company as security, to finance a private venture, without the agreement of his fellow directors?. 


  40. ODDJOBJANUARY 1, 2018 at 12:25

    It probably isn’t, and though I doubt ‘lawful’ is a consideration the chairman of RIFC bothers much about, I suspect before he could grant security over any club assets he’d request board approval first, having left them in no doubt it’s ‘lights out’ if they don’t agree.

    It could be grandstanding on his part, as Phil suggests, perhaps to encourage the rest of the consortium to chip in with the required quantum, or to face the wrath of the bears – on their own patch, unlike him in his own safe haven.


  41. oddjobJanuary 1, 2018 at 12:25
    _________________________________________
    Hi Oddjob, you made me laugh out loud there!!!! Lawful, lawful…we don’t need no stinking lawful01


  42. I hope 2018 is good to you all.
    ——–
    The appointment of jimmy Nicholl as assistant manager to Mr Murty is a strange one.
    We have been told that Mr Murty is in charge until the end of the season.What happens if a new manager is brought in? will he not want his own assistant manager?
    Has JN maybe been told the job is his? why else would he take a job that he may only be in for a couple of months.


  43. Allyjambo,
    Thanks.
    I also suspect that the assignation of ” ra deeds” would provoke an angry response in some quarters !
    Jean7brodie, as Tiberius said to Quintus Arius, ” allow us to be generous” (Ben Hur) ???? !


  44. ODDJOBJANUARY 1, 2018 at 13:42
    Allyjambo,Thanks.I also suspect that the assignation of ” ra deeds” would provoke an angry response in some quarters
    ___________

    And I suspect that the assignation of ‘ra deeds’, should it ever come to pass, might well be the last throw of the dice! What’s more, once any assets are used as security, it reduces the amount the current lenders are likely to get in the event of liquidation. It may well be that the directors, who are now refusing to give more loans, have, rather than reached the end of their free funds, decided that the lending has reached a level greater than, or close to, the total value of the group’s assets.

    It’s one thing lending without security when in a position to ensure there is enough in the pot to, more or less, cover the amount of the loans, it’s an altogether different thing once someone else gets that security!

    Whatever the accounts give as a value for the fixed and current assets, the directors will all have a very good idea of the realisable value of those assets (particularly the heritable asset value), and should total creditors begin to outstrip that value, they may well begin to wonder if it’s time to call in the administrators. Granting security over some of the heritable assets would only hasten the moment for unpleasant decisions.

    If PMGB is correct in saying King is looking out for loans secured on the club’s heritable assets, then I am certain that the rest of the directors would carry out proper due diligence on the potential lenders before granting any security. Not that they have any dodgy characters in their midst, or anything, just that they are canny businessmen.


  45. I might be making this up, however did Dave King not promise the support that he would never use Ibrox or Murray Park as security for borrowing. That was not an option.

    In other considerations of Phil’s revelations. He says that the club had a large number of unpaid bills at the end of November. 

    That ties in with the accounts where it was stated that the club needed £4m this season and that the first loan would have to come in November. Presumably for cash flow issues.

    Though why that wouldn’t have happened after Dave King having promised that NOAL would provide the money is a mystery. I’m sure the cheque is in the post, there won’t be much cash coming in during the winter break. Unless of course there is some sort of asset sale during it. 


  46. CO, I think Phil’s scoop about the manner of Nicholl’s appointment deserves a: Wow Just Wow!
    It displays how dysfunctional the management structure at Ibrox has become, and you would think, it is a massive red flag.
    [Apart from having no cash.]

    I also have my fingers and toes crossed that in 2018 my £20 bet on TRFC finishes bottom 6 comes in – with the help of an Admin. event.

    [Thanks to fellow Bampots for the tip: interestingly Sky wouldn’t accept a £50 bet for a 150/1 long shot…]


  47. ALLYJAMBOJANUARY 1, 2018 at 12:18

    I see, too, that PMGB is issuing challenges, in two posts, to the Ibrox based boards to issue denials of what he is telling us.

    ============================

    I see it is alleged £800k is owed to suppliers. In my view unless any of it is due to a financial behemoth such as one of the big six energy suppliers, then we are unlikely to see any winding up requests heading towards court. It simply wouldn’t be worth the risk for any small supplier in Scotland to do that. Having said that I find it remarkable anyone is willing to extend them any sort of credit at all, or are they worried about the bully boys on that score as well?

    I’m sure the SFA will want to satisfy themselves all is well though. I am also sure a herd of pink elephants takes off from Glasgow Airport at 20:00hrs tonight with the moon as their destination.


  48. HOMUNCULUSJANUARY 1, 2018 at 15:42
    5
    0 Rate This
    I might be making this up, however did Dave King not promise the support that he would never use Ibrox or Murray Park as security for borrowing. That was not an option.
    —————
    Back in the day…
    As previously stated the Board has no intention of granting security over ibrox and therefore has regrettably decided that for the current season ticket renewal process it will proceed with direct payment only.
    https://www.investegate.co.uk/rangers-int-f-c–plc–rfc-/rns/business-review-and-strategic-plan-update/201404251100045425F/
    ——————
    But closer to home.
    In a statement issued via the group’s website, it read: “Our founders worked hard for 17 years until they eventually purchased our first owned home after years as a nomadic team. The final step in this journey was from Kinning Park to Ibrox and we are marching the same route to highlight how important owning our own ground is We believe the stadium to be of the utmost importance and to preserve it in the club’s name.
    “This march isn’t just for SoS supporters it’s for all who believe in safeguarding Ibrox for us and future generations of fans. We will have banners etc but would encourage fans groups and RSC to bring their own flags and bus crests etc to show this issue is important to the wider fan base. We want the board to issue legal assurances as this shouldn’t be hard to do to back up their claims.
    “Three directors have already agreed this can be done so why wont they? There are many reasons we wish this to be done and one main reason is due to the split in the boardroom, these directors may not last long or bring in another director who decides he wants to raise capital by using Ibrox.
    http://www.scotzine.com/2014/07/rangers-fan-group-disband-failed-dave-king-ticket-fund/


  49. My brother and I, auld men now that we are, meet occasionally for a pint or three.
    We tend to pay homage to our late dad by visiting one of the pubs he used as a young man afore the war ( he lived in digs near Partick Cross) , or one of the pubs he used when we were kids during his working life at what  used to be Glasgow Corporation Tramways Parkhead depot,  or the pub he used in Tollcross in his retirement days.
    So I feel for the patrons of what had been Annie Miller’s pub in Ropework lane.
    If and when the new owners of the premises tart it up gaily as a feeder bar for their adjoining sauna, I expect that it will no longer be a ‘Rangers’ pub,a place of shared enjoyment of football memories and celebration of former days of glory.

    Like the historic Rangers Football Club, Annie Miller’s is dead. Ceased trading in 2016. No longer exists as a ‘Rangers’ pub, any more than the Rangers Football Club of 1872 exists as a professional football club entitled to a place in Scottish Football.
    That’s the reality.
    There isn’t even a ‘Scottish Football Pubs Association’ prepared to create and propagate a lie  that ‘Annie Miller’s’ lives on, there have been no white or green knights/knaves rushing in to found ‘continuity Annie Miller’s’, no running-dog SMSM types betraying their avocation by propagating untruths……and.no convicted criminals begging, borrowing and making false promises about good times to come if only other folk will produce the readies…
    Annie Miller’s is dead and gone.
    Only a lie sustains TRFC Ltd.
    And those who drank in Annie Miller’s know that.
    And the evil men of the SMSM and the SFA know it, too.
    May 2018 see them confounded, and their untruths exposed.


  50. To add to the above.
    The Ibrox 1972 fund, which has ex-Rangers captain Richard Gough and former Ibrox board member Dave King as directors, was established for fans who are unhappy with the way the club has been run.
    The aim was to only hand over the season ticket renewal money to the club in return for gaining security over Ibrox and Murray Park.
    Wallace has consistently maintained that granting security was not possible. However, in the meeting, which was also attended by the non-executive director Norman Crighton and the shareholder Sandy Easdale, he offered a legally-binding undertaking with respect to Ibrox.
    UoF then also sought the same protection for Murray Park.
    “A proposal was made by Mr Wallace that whilst the board would not grant a security, they could consider giving a legally binding undertaking which would protect Ibrox from sale, sale and leaseback, or as any form of security for a loan or other finance,” said UoF in a statement.
    “We made it clear to Mr Wallace that we felt it was also appropriate that they provide the same undertaking for Murray Park.
    “We believe we accurately conveyed the fears of supporters that either or both of these club assets could be lost in a scenario where they were used for any sale and leaseback, or other loan security.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/27419244


  51. “At present, the SFA pays an annual rental of £800,000 for Hampden, but the amateur club’s president stresses that most of that goes to the governing body’s Hampden Ltd subsidiary, which also keeps the proceeds from major events hosted at the stadium.”

    Most, not all. One also wonders who pays for the upkeep of the stadium and other associated costs.

    Am I also not right in saying that Scotland’s last game was not played in Glasgow. 


  52. HOMUNCULUSJANUARY 1, 2018 at 19:39
    Most, not all. One also wonders who pays for the upkeep of the stadium and other associated costs.
    —————–
    The Spiders, who remain an amateur club and are celebrating their 150th anniversary, say comments made by SFA chief executive Stewart Regan to BBC Scotland had caused them “great concern”.
    They said in a website statement that they “would seek confirmation from the Scottish FA that they have fulfilled their responsibilities, under the present lease, to maintain the stadium and further detailed evidence to support Mr Regan’s statement”.
    http://www.queensparkfc.co.uk/?p=6195


  53. “Under the present lease agreement, a confidentiality clause prohibits us from making public the rental amount, however we can say it is much much less the £800K per annum paid directly to Queen’s Park. The vast proportion of the rental is retained by the Scottish FA to maintain the stadium.”

    So they get their stadium maintained and get a rental figure on top of that, if I’m interpreting that right. Seems like a decent arrangement to me.

    I tend to think we would be better off moving the games about. Hampden at £800k a year (even if a lot of that goes on stadium maintenance) is a lot to pay and isn’t really justified. 

    There is absolutely no reason why games can’t be played in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or anywhere else with a stadium suitable for a specific match. 


  54. HOMUNCULUSJANUARY 1, 2018 at 20:38
    There is absolutely no reason why games can’t be played in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or anywhere else with a stadium suitable for a specific match.
    Agreed… but just where would the SFA call home?


  55. CLUSTER ONEJANUARY 1, 2018 at 20:50
    Agreed… but just where would the SFA call home?
    ————-
    15) With recent coverage surrounding the SFA and the Hampden lease expiring in 2020, there’s asuspicion that the SFA will take internationals, finals etc to Parkhead. Can we expect the board tovigorously push Ibrox for these fixtures and thus create another important revenue stream?The Executive is in close dialogue with the SFA with regards to the situation at Hampden.
    http://club1872.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2017/12/AGM-2017-QA.pdf
    ————–
    Hope all the other clubs executives are in close dialogue with the SFA with regards to the situation at Hampden.


  56. CLUSTER ONE
    JANUARY 1, 2018 at 20:50
    ===========================

    Reasonably priced office space in Perth.

    I though that was obvious. 


  57. Mibbees after 20 years of failure, the national team and the SFA don’t deserve a dedicated, national stadium?

    And Hampden is simply not worth keeping as a football venue for mainly sentimental reasons, IMO.


  58. CLUSTER ONEJANUARY 1, 2018 at 19:27

    “If they move out of Hampden, the SFA are in danger of leaving themselves hostages to Rangers and Celtic,” said Queen’s Park president Alan Hutchison.

    ======================

    I am a Celtic shareholder and if it was up to me (which it is not), I would tell the SFA here and now that Celtic Park is unavailable for any future fixture.  However I know that will not happen, but I doubt there is anything they could do to force Celtic to allow them use of the stadium.  


  59. UPTHEHOOPSJANUARY 1, 2018 at 21:21
    I am a Celtic shareholder and if it was up to me (which it is not), I would tell the SFA here and now that Celtic Park is unavailable for any future fixture.  However I know that will not happen, but I doubt there is anything they could do to force Celtic to allow them use of the stadium.  
    ————
    FROM LINK ABOVE.
    The SFA board is due to meet in late January to consider its findings and, although no final decision is expected at that stage, it will shape Hampden’s future.


  60. I watched the BBC Hogmany offering of “Only An Excuse” and among the usual sketches on both Celtic and rifc it was suggested that a suitable gift for the fans of the dead club would be a dictionary highlighting the meaning of the word liquidation ? I don’t think it will go down too well and they might receive the usual threats.
    PS it’s a pity they didn’t have a copy available for their colleagues in the Sportsound studio


  61. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/15715129.New_poll_shows_fans_are_overwhelmingly_in_favour_of_moving_away_from_Hampden/

    THE case for retaining Hampden as the home of Scottish football has been dealt a blow after a survey found just 15 per cent of fans were happy to stay put.

    …..

    The Scottish Football Supporters Association (SFSA) carried out a survey of just under 3,000 of its members and found only a sixth wanted to see major internationals and cup finals staged at Hampden.


  62. What PMGB is suggesting seems a bit dirty to me to use the assets of the company to get a loan to make a share offer to buy shares that he should have made an offer for when he wasn’t in control of the assets.


  63. Do the scottish sports council not have an outstanding charge on murray park?


  64. Has DK been given leave to appeal yet ? Or has the mad rush to mortgage the properties been caused by the need to have all the ducks lined up by January 22nd ? ( eg how long would it take to prepare and print the prospectus ?).

Comments are closed.