Guest Blog by Auldheid
When helping write up the previous blog on the matter of the (mis) commissioning by Harper Macleod, lawyers to the then SPL and current SPFL, of the Lord Nimmo Smith’s investigation into side letters arising from EBTs issued by Rangers FC from July 1999 (https://sfmarchive.privateland.net/an-honest-game-convince-us/ ) .
I had it in mind that only the SFA had something to hide as a result of their President Campbell Ogilvie being fully aware of the history and distinction between the two illegal Rangers Employee Benefit Trust (REBT ) ebts of wee tax case fame not declared to Harper Macleod and the more widely known Murray Group Management Remuneration Trust (MGMRT) Big Tax Case ebts which were declared and on which LNS focussed after (wrongly)treating both types as regular.
The idea that I think most bought into in terms of the registration matters LNS investigated was that no one in football except players with side letters had participated in those schemes and that football authority, both SFA and SPL were unaware of them until their existence became public in Feb 2012. This is when the Sun first published a side letter and the possibility of mis-registration was raised, notably on Celtic Quick News then more widely particularly following an interview between Alex Thomson of Ch4 News and Hugh Adam an ex Rangers Director.
However when you think of the world of Scottish football where players socialise with each other and with journalists, then it does seem stretching it a bit to think that no one in football authority ever heard any gossip or had any enquiry and decided not to investigate the matter before 2012.
Well Rangers Administrators Duff and Phelps thought so and their lawyers Biggart Bailie asked Harper Mcleod in March 2012 why the SPL had not investigated a lot earlier on the basis that
- There had been entries every year since 2000 in Rangers Annual Accounts of sums of money being placed in employee benefit trusts
- HMRC had written to the SPL at some unknown point in the past to ask about the existence of side letters in players’ contracts.
The first argument on annual accounts was one made once public awareness of ebts widened but it was dismissed on the grounds that no one knew much about ebts in those early years and in any case properly administered ones, which they would have been presumed to have been, did not have side letters.
However it does seem likely that having written to MIH/Rangers in 2005 to enquire about the existence of side letters to De Boer and Flo (which MIH/Rangers denied holding even though they did) HMRC would have written to the SFA or SPL sometime after 2005 whenever they first became aware of side letters in players contracts with regards to the MGRT ebts of Big Tax Case fame..
That the SPL had been contacted two or three years previous to 2012 by HMRC was confirmed at a SPL Board meeting in March 2012 as a result of a question being asked by Celtic, who were unaware in 2012 that such an HMRC enquiry had been made in 2009 or 2010. It is possible of course that the connection to misregistration was not made then by the SPL executive asked, but had it been history could have been so different.
How that HMRC enquiry and what it contained was handled by the SPL executive perhaps explains not only why the SPL were so keen to take the lead on the investigation but why they were unaware of the different types of ebts at play, the enquiry in 2009/2010 presumably relating only to the MGMRT type.
The motivation of the SPL executive can be read into their advice to the SPL Board on 23rd February 2012 to instruct an immediate inspection and investigation of the financial records of Rangers with respect to the ebt payments under SPL Rule F1 and under Section G of the Rules on the basis that such an inspection and investigation might reveal prima facie evidence of a breach of SPL Rules independently of any Administrator decision or the outcome of the FTT.
The SPL Board were further advised that taking the lead on such grounds would also go some way to forestalling any attempt by the SFA to include any dependency on the outcome of either Rangers Administration (which they entered on 14th February) or the result of the FTT, (which came in November 2012.)
The desire and benefits of delinking what was at heart a registration enquiry from the much more serious use of tax evasion methods to pay players was obviously not lost on those giving the advice.
In fact in directing LNS in the way the SPL did (possibly unaware that tax evasion had already occurred with Flo and De Boer) it avoided focus on the real and still unresolved issue, were players paid by unfair means from 1999 from which sporting advantage would naturally accrue with no need for proof that it had. You cannot say this had not been thought through in the advice given.
It was also the SPL’ stance that matters concerning player payments had traditionally been considered to be for leagues.
The narrative emerging here is one of the two football authorities keeping from public gaze what individuals in both, if not the whole organisations corporately, knew about the history of ebts; the SFA knowing the history of both types from 1999/2000 onwards and the SPL possibly only knowing something of the MGMRT ebts and side letters from 2009/10 as a result of HMRC asking them questions.
Thus it suited the SFA that the SPL take the lead as much as it suited the SPL to do so but for different reasons. The SFA to keep the existence of the wee tax case ebts hidden from public view and LNS scrutiny and the SPL to avoid answering any “when did they know and why did they not act” questions.
Also if the SPL were indeed unaware of the two distinct types of ebts at play (and they may indeed have been), it explains why they never picked up that the earlier illegal ebts were missed/concealed from them by Rangers Administrators.
Perhaps the SPL and SFA were aware of the benefits to them of focusing only on the registration aspect. This could be presented as an administrative error (which LNS basically decided) rather than the possible illegal nature of the big tax case ebts after the FTT (and which might still arise from the UTT) which would present both with much more difficult and unwelcome consequences to manage and certainly would have changed the nature of the investigation from the outset had the full evidence been provided.
However unless the questions put to the SPFL in the previous blog are answered, we will never know who did what and why, but we at least will know that the LNS Investigation and its findings were a sham from the outset and should be set aside.
Perhaps BDO who are investigating the role and behaviour of Duff and Phelps according to the latest report on their work should be asking Duff and Phelps about the circumstances surrounding the concealment of vital evidence from the LNS Commission?
Och why not?
To the BDO partner investigating. Dated 9th June by web site e mail
“ I see that BDO are carrying out a probe into the conduct of administrators Duff & Phelps. Does that cover the failure to supply SPL with full documentation requested to investigate side letters in 2012?
See http://www.tsfm.net/an-honest-game-convince-us/ for background. Missing evidence is available. ”
PS: I did try to ascertain if HMRC did indeed write to the SPL and when, but they were unable to confirm or deny that they had. The enquiry and response follow. The question on who is responsible for HMRC policy in respect of collection of tax from football clubs was not given but probably due more to an oversight than any attempt to stop the question being answered.
Test
JLeeHooker says:
July 5, 2014 at 12:51 pm
One of the saddest aspects of this case has been the deliberate conflating of the legality of EBTs with issues around player registration.
The boards of the SFA, SPL and rangers, aided and abetted by a willing press, have done Scottish Football a huge disservice and sown divisions which will take years to repair. Whether EBTs were a legal tax avoidance measure or not, matters not a jot in a footballing sense, (the FPP regs were a distant dream at the time). Whether players were improperly registered for years, with the knowledge of senior administrators, (possibly even the most senior administrator), is very much a footballing issue, one which we are unlikely ever to get to the bottom of, thanks to this convenient conflation.
scapaflow says:
July 5, 2014 at 1:57 pm
You have absolutely hit the nail on the head there. The only minor modification I’d suggest is changing “possibly even the most senior administrator” to “most likely even the most senior administrator”
ianagain says:
July 5, 2014 at 12:07 pm
6 2 Rate This
I thought the cycling commentators were meant to be the bees knees. I just heard the ones on ITV a moment ago refer to someone having “dropped out” = banned for obtaining “a biologically adverse passport” = caught doping. And that’s the second one mentioned for failing controls so far.
Is it really worth watching?
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It’s a tribute to the attempts to clean up the sport that even slight irregularities in the biological passport profile are registered and questioned. I’m not sure it is a positive doping test (you know it is?) but an indication of unusual readings, which may or may not be the result of doping. It could be entirely benign. A team may choose to remove a rider on the basis of even small anomalies. Fair to say there is doping paranoia in cyclng but I doubt there is a sport that now tests more having faced up to its shameful record.
Who is the rider? Is he banned or has he been withdrawn?
[edit] this guy? https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/kreuziger-tour-over-biological-passport-issues-004128623–spt.html
scapaflow says:
July 5, 2014 at 1:57 pm
‘….Whether EBTs were a legal tax avoidance measure or not, matters not a jot in a footballing sense, .’
————
And this cannot be stressed often enough, scapa! We must not let the liars and sporting cheats-whether of the dead club or of Scottish Football administration get away with their Lies. RRFC broke a fundamental rule of Football .Whether they broke tax laws at the same time is , as you say, neither here nor there.
For as long as any of us posters on this blog are alive, we will not let the Truth be buried. Sporting Integrity will be restored, rest assured, when the liars begin ( like all morally weak men, sooner or later) to crumble and fall apart. I hope it is sooner rather than later. But whenever it happens, the men involved will be execrated and their metaphorical graves will be spat upon and forever disgraced.
Nothing that Scottish Football has done ( and we know it has done plenty!) matches the sheer perversity of the evil inherent in their dealings with the dead club and their capitulation to the gangsters of the new club.
From James Forrest- http://t.co/MJ0R9G5J9Z
John Clark says:
July 5, 2014 at 2:46 pm
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Something RTC stressed time and again, good point Scapa.
Danish Pastry says:
July 5, 2014 at 2:25 pm
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ianagain says:
July 5, 2014 at 12:07 pm
6 2 Rate This
I thought the cycling commentators were meant to be the bees knees. I just heard the ones on ITV a moment ago refer to someone having “dropped out” = banned for obtaining “a biologically adverse passport” = caught doping. And that’s the second one mentioned for failing controls so far.
Is it really worth watching?
————
It’s a tribute to the attempts to clean up the sport that even slight irregularities in the biological passport profile are registered and questioned. I’m not sure it is a positive doping test (you know it is?) but an indication of unusual readings, which may or may not be the result of doping. It could be entirely benign. A team may choose to remove a rider on the basis of even small anomalies. Fair to say there is doping paranoia in cyclng but I doubt there is a sport that now tests more having faced up to its shameful record.
Who is the rider? Is he banned or has he been withdrawn?
[edit] this guy? https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/kreuziger-tour-over-biological-passport-issues-004128623–spt.html
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May have been him DP. However 2 different riders from 2 different teams were mentioned.
Now Im intrigued. Does everyone have a “good-normal” state then if tested and appear different than “good-normal” are left out? So they are genuinely catching up on blood dopers and so on?
Might be useful in football.
@ianagain
I believe any variations outside certain individual parametres (unique to the individual) can be a first indication of a form of doping. Teams don’t take chances these days so they’ll drop certain team members until the anomalies are resolved one way or the other. Of course, if you do extreme altitude training your red blood cell count will increase dramatically, I imagine, and that could show up as an anomaly, though a benign one. I believe Wiggins cycled up and down volcanoes in the Canary Islands prior to his win in the Tour.
We still hear more about doping and possible doping in cycling because of the extreme amount of testing. Tennis has remarkably little testing, I believe Murray and Federer have agitated for more testing even though it means less prize money. I guess they both have suspicions.
Doping in football has been covered up in Spain. Question is, where else?
Danish
Fair question. Unfortunately the Spanish judge binned our chance to get to the bottom of that by ordering the Spanish players samples destroyed.
In the today’s DR, a Glasgow athelet admits to using ‘dug enhanced training’. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/commonwealth-games/hurdler-eilidh-child-sets-sights-3813994
FairBairn says:
July 5, 2014 at 6:36 pm
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In the today’s DR, a Glasgow athelet admits to using ‘dug enhanced training’. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/commonwealth-games/hurdler-eilidh-child-sets-sights-3813994
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Haha, cracker 😆
Danish Pastry says:
July 5, 2014 at 5:52 pm
“I believe any variations outside certain individual parametres”
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I went for a spin out to Strathaven today, taking advantage of the fine weather. Cycling is a great pastime if you have something to mull over as the monotony of the activity and the high oxygenation levels encourage the brain to have a wander about. As I wend my way along the hedge skirted single track road my mind was found to extrapolate how athletes of the future will be selected and trained. Will it be a bit like the way wolfs have become the varied species of dog that humans have bred.
I was reading some articles about the effect cannabis has on the brain. It appears that brain development can be affected by external factors. So perhaps you could start by screening youngsters at school for their physical and mental attributes the way that some sports development programmes already do I believe. Then you feed them on specific diets and train them with a view to their future participation. It is the logical thing to do and the sports science might provide many of the tools to garner success.
After a while the definition of what a normal metabolism actually is might become a bit variable. It wouldn’t be an approach that had all of the negative connotations that drug enhanced performance provides but when you’re cycling along leafy lanes it still seems a bit sinister. Skill sports like football would be less prone to such pedigree based development but raw athleticism can add a lot to a players performance.
Castofthousands says:
July 5, 2014 at 7:42 pm
“So perhaps you could start by screening youngsters at school for their physical and mental attributes the way that some sports development programmes already do I believe. Then you feed them on specific diets and train them with a view to their future participation. It is the logical thing to do and the sports science might provide many of the tools to garner success.”
Why wait so long COT? after all, its a Brave New World.
My computer froze, did I hear Di Stefano died?
Not quite ianagain. He is in a coma as a result of a heartattack
sorry but did I imagine some time back comments around the necessity of trfc requiring big gate games at the start of the season for any number of financial and attraction reasons? I did right? what did the posts say? wasn’t it something like expect to see Hearts and Hibs at Ibrox first two games, right?
Well trfc got hearts first match at ibrox, and oh look now it seems the first match is that lower league challenge cup is trfc at home to hibs!!!! no, really!!! ah come on now!
indy14 says:
July 5, 2014 at 11:44 pm
‘…no, really!!! ah come on now!.’
———-
And you encapsulate the problem we all have.
Which is that we simply cannot trust that anything that the Football Authorities now do in relation to the new club is being done honestly and truthfully!
The SFA/ SPFL have made themselves the equivalents of the Robbens, the Maradonas, the SDMs of the football world: they have so cheated and lied that even if they were suddenly and surprisingly to act honestly in relation to that new club, we have to distrust anything they say or do.
Since early Home games are a must for a new club so badly down on season book income that early pay-at-the-turnstile receipts are vital, we instinctively conclude that early home fixtures for that new club will of course have been deliberately arranged.
After all, helpfully arranging match fixtures would be a mere trifle to men who have already prostituted their personal integrity by selling out the very idea of Sporting Integrity, supported and encouraged in that prostitution by their pimps in the Scottish MSM, including BBC Radio Scotland.
Morning all, everybody a bit bleary-eyed after the late-night penalty shoot-put?
Off the Ball still managing to find topics of conversation throughout the silly season. Yesterday evening’s show had a few oldies but goldies. Apart from who had the biggest nose in Scottish football ( 😆 ) there was the well-worn discussion about being able to buy a beer at games that are not deemed incendiary (not that Glasgow derby nor the Edinburgh one).
I suppose if everyone was offered a beer coupon per game you could at least control the quantity people drink? Naebody wull get oot thir heid oan wan bevvy. Not much for wholesale boozing at fitba myself, though, as even at the lower-league games I go to (where the lager flows free, oh yes) you do get pockets of drunks.
An Ibrox fan called in with the inevitable, “A pal of mine who is a Hearts fan says Rangers are going into administration again, but they are not worried because they think they can claw back a 15-point deficit.” It was an interesting take on the current spending spree. But it still sounds a bit silly season with Michael Grant chiming in with “It could a 25-point penalty and players would have to be released.” Stuart C. made a valid point abput the humiliation of yet another financial collapse at Ibrox being potentially more dangerous than the points penalty in that it could fragment the club and support irreparably.
Overall impression still is, though, that no one has the slightest clue as to what’s going on at Ibrox, even among pundits and broadcasters. Although there have been a surprising number of big conks in Scottish fitba 😆
indy14 says:
July 5, 2014 at 11:44 pm
John Clark says:
July 6, 2014 at 1:42 am
And let’s not forget that Hibs, who’s own finances must be in a bit of disarray after that unexpected relegation, don’t have a bumper home gate against either Hearts or TRFC until well into the second round of league fixtures.
Again, that short telephone conversation can be heard;
‘Graham, Neil (Doncaster) here, would you like your top matches front loaded or perhaps in the run up to Christmas?’
‘Oh, front loaded would be best. Kind of cock-up on the season ticket front, Neil. Nothing for you to worry about, old chap, sort it out with a share issue by the Autumn. By the way, we’ve sorted out that King fit and proper problem for you.’
‘That’s jolly decent of you, Graham, we owe you one.’
Danish Pastry says:
July 6, 2014 at 8:04 am
I bet Tommy Gemmell got a mention. Probably the old joke about how he could smoke a cigar in the shower was brought up too. I’m certain he used his conk as a gun-sight, especially for that goal in ’67 😀
Brilliant post from JC from p14 of the blog. Thought it deserved to be seen in full on p15.
John Clark says:
July 5, 2014 at 2:46 pm
48 1 Rate This
scapaflow says:
July 5, 2014 at 1:57 pm
‘….Whether EBTs were a legal tax avoidance measure or not, matters not a jot in a footballing sense, .’
————
And this cannot be stressed often enough, scapa! We must not let the liars and sporting cheats-whether of the dead club or of Scottish Football administration get away with their Lies. RRFC broke a fundamental rule of Football .Whether they broke tax laws at the same time is , as you say, neither here nor there.
For as long as any of us posters on this blog are alive, we will not let the Truth be buried. Sporting Integrity will be restored, rest assured, when the liars begin ( like all morally weak men, sooner or later) to crumble and fall apart. I hope it is sooner rather than later. But whenever it happens, the men involved will be execrated and their metaphorical graves will be spat upon and forever disgraced.
Nothing that Scottish Football has done ( and we know it has done plenty!) matches the sheer perversity of the evil inherent in their dealings with the dead club and their capitulation to the gangsters of the new club.
Indy14 says
July 5 2014 @ 11.44pm
Add to that, the cup tie with Hibs was rescheduled BEFORE the draw was even made!
The actions of the those who ran AND aided Rangers to gain financial and other ill-gained sporting advantages over Scottish football should not be allowed to evaporate over time and become forgotten.
John – thank you for your post (p14, 2:46 pm) – for me your words reminded me of the danger that if nothing is said, over time, people will forget. Spin and lies will corrode and seek to re-write history. One of the few things to stop this will be the continued drive for the truth and the desire to see sporting integrity returned to Scottish football.
A positive result for HMRC from the UTTT will also help establish a baseline: a marker that cannot be forgotten or ignored, should case law from the actions of those who set-up a tax avoidance scheme (if so found) become part of the taxation law landscape.
Allyjambo says:
July 6, 2014 at 8:12 am
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Danish Pastry says:
July 6, 2014 at 8:04 am
I bet Tommy Gemmell got a mention. Probably the old joke about how he could smoke a cigar in the shower was brought up too. I’m certain he used his conk as a gun-sight, especially for that goal in ’67
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Indeed he was! Dear old Tommy. Hadn’t heard the cigar in the shower joke, probably not PC today, funny though 🙂
I remember images of him on the old football cards. Just Goggled him with ‘football cards’ and the Typhoo Tea card appeared on the net. I’d forgotten those. Loads of photos of him actually. Quite a dapper lad was Tommy.
Never mind the financial benefit of the early home games for TRFC, in theory they could be 6 points clear of one if their main rivals after just 2 games given that Hearts and Hibs have been drawn against each other for the second fixture.
Probably thought that was a good idea when they drew up the fixture list but they forgot about the tactical genius that is Ally McCoist so it could all go pear shaped PDQ.
There is an article today in the Scotsman about Tom Watson being invited to play in the Open next year at ST Andrews. It’s not a long piece, but somehow the paper managed on three occasions to refer to the famous bridge over the burn on the eighteenth fairway as the SWILCAN bridge. I’m not a golfer, but even I know it’s the SWILKEN bridge.
That’s the MSM for you
Oddjob,
Maybe he was swillin’ fae a can when he wrote it!
@oddjob
Could be the trans-Atlantic version. But I’d have thought bridge and burn had the same spelling.
I blame US spell-checkers 😮
Sorry chaps, it is indeed ‘Swilcan’. Common misconception that it’s Swilken but the name is Swilcan Bridge, as referred to locally and all official literature.
Causaludendi, I bow to your local knowledge. Both spellings appear on the web and I took it for granted that, as it was the bridge over the Swilken burn, it would naturally be the Swilken bridge
Oddjob, one of those ‘anomalies’ as the burn is spelt Swilcan too. It can only add to the confusion when there are guest houses and ‘inter-loupin’ ‘locals’ using the ‘ken’ spelling! There’s something similar in a wee village down the coast; St. Monans can still be found to be referred to as St. Monance – I believe Google maps has only recently changed the spelling!
Miles off topic now…!
(edit to add:)
It only caught my attention as I was in the Links Clubhouse for dinner the other evening and we were discussing the spelling and the official take on it!
Causaludendi,
Back on topic—- a big own goal for me!
Thanks for putting (?) Me straight!
Dinnae worry @oddjob, this US newspaper is with you 😆
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/tom-watson-kisses-swilken-bridge-old-st-andrews-british-open-sendoff-article-1.468859
PS Interesting bit of etymology @causaludendi
Reading the latest thoughts from James Forrest on the current recruitment policy at Ibrox made me a little angry. Not angry at anything that was written, but the lack of regulation that allows this current Ibrox entity to behave pretty much like the previous one. Do they have enough money to see out the season, and if not how will they fund their operations? Craig Whyte threw money at players knowing fine well it could not be afforded, and the current regime needed emergency loans to see out last season. Who knows what will happen but are the SFA prepared to allow any number of insolvency events at Ibrox?
Danish Pastry says
July 6 2014 @ 3.35 pm
Thanks DP. As the saying goes, it was an “honest mistake”‘ !
UPTHEHOOPS
Who knows what will happen but are the SFA prepared to allow any number of insolvency events at Ibrox?
You’re way too cynical. Their policy is very clear and strict on this.
One per incarnation.
upthehoops says:
July 6, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Do they have enough money to see out the season, and if not how will they fund their operations? Craig Whyte threw money at players knowing fine well it could not be afforded, and the current regime needed emergency loans to see out last season. Who knows what will happen but are the SFA prepared to allow any number of insolvency events at Ibrox?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The answer to your question is a simple yes. “Rangers” will soon be back in their “rightful” place, and then kept there, whatever it takes. The game’s a bogey, of that there is no doubt.
neepheid says:
July 6, 2014 at 4:16 pm
The answer to your question is a simple yes. “Rangers” will soon be back in their “rightful” place, and then kept there, whatever it takes. The game’s a bogey, of that there is no doubt.
=====================================
Indeed, so much so they have a plan to win the top league the season after next.
I bet Charles ‘Rangersitis’ Green is happy to be away from it all. Seems he has indeed ensconced himself in all things equine. Although his £800,000 chateau is no longer for sale (obviously) the sales brochures and ads are still online. He didn’t do at all bad for himself.
This chateau cost him most of what he, on paper, took out of Ibrox. Makes you wonder if any extant onerous contracts are helping keep him in horse feed, hay and living expenses.
Bears have been ignored, deceived, smoke screened, led up the garden path
– Anything and everything being thrown at this to keep cash flowing
Some are enriching big
It will carry on as long as enough people let it
upthehoops says:
July 6, 2014 at 3:43 pm
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The league fixtures and the cup draw make it pretty clear that the SFA and the SPFL are actively doing what they can to keep TRFC in business until RIFC have their share issue, at which point, assuming they are currently as devoid of income as is assumed, it is up to them.
This is no more than the continuation of the plan which has its genesis in the 5-way agreement.
It does raise the question again of who is driving it and who is acquiescent.
Presumably Hearts and Hibs are OK with the fixtures and do not feel that they are being deliberately disadvantaged in the arrangement of their league and cup opponents.
Were it not for the cultural history, then it would be almost possible to live with the idea that, “good bears”, were done by nasty people and it wasn’t their fault and that they deserve their team back and that as long as those that were disadvantaged by cheating were given reparation then everything is OK, but only if the man responsible for the cheating was publicly brought to justice. It is not enough for the establishment to quietly disappear him, for the SPFL to leave the “history” on the record of TRFC on their website and to pretend that nothing had happened.
It is not enough to tacitly accept wrongdoing by one of your own and not to accept the consequences. Leaving the FTTT/UTTT aside, because it is irrelevant to anyone who really wants to know what happened, because of the Little Tax Case at least, every Scottish football supporter, and in particular every Rangers supporter, should be left in no doubt, by those who have adopted responsibility for managing this, who caused RFC to be in liquidation, and who ended the history. Every football supporter should be left in no doubt that there is equity and that Hearts and Dunfermline have saved their history and Rangers have not.
In this there is the inference of what might be called, “an unholy alliance”, between football clubs and the establishment, for a common purpose. It’s a bit sickening, but a prima facie case exists.
It is not OK either to manage fixtures either by arranging dates or by, “honest mistakes”, to give one new club the best chance of being promoted. Even if it’s accepted that Scottish football is organised in the manner associated with the dodgiest of regimes elsewhere,bookies take a lot of money on these games and punters are entitled to a fair deal.
Temporary end of rant.
P.S. In the interests of fairness, it seems to me that whatever else he was, the guilty one was not culturally prejudiced.
No sign of the Sevco accounts being signed off yet. Graham Wallace has been insistent for months they have no chance of going into Administration. Why, when they are in such rude financial health according to their C.E , can’t the accounts be made public immediately?
The accounts will be up to 30 June. It’s a tad early to be expecting them to be signed off. They will still be being prepared.
upthehoops says:
July 7, 2014 at 7:11 am
7 3 Rate This
No sign of the Sevco accounts being signed off yet. Graham Wallace has been insistent for months they have no chance of going into Administration. Why, when they are in such rude financial health according to their C.E , can’t the accounts be made public immediately?
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The real issue is what the never published accounts to June 2011 would have revealed about jiggery pokery between RFC and the Murray Group
Indeed
I woudn`t be a bit surprised if burying the 2011 accounts was an integral part of the sale for £1 and that the Big Spiv remained on the RFC Board after the sale for the sole purpose of making sure this happened
Listened to the radio commentary of the Aberdeen Euro game and was suitably bemused by the live account of the match. Seems there was maybe basis for the after-match rumours:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-watchdogs-claim-aberdeens-europa-3819048
PS @Goosy, can accounts be simply ‘disappeared’? Surely the paperwork must exist somewhere? Isn’t there an x-year rule regarding the archiving of financial records?
Although it might seem very contradictory, this is where I currently am.
w.r.t. my own club I was very active on the supporters website debate regarding the non ‘shoeing-in’ of the new club to the top (or 2nd) tier – resulting in a vote being conducted, by the club, amongst sections of the support.
I’ve continued to buy my season ticket.
I continue to contribute to our fan ownership scheme and player shirt sponsorship in a couple of ways.
However, if some for of TRFC manage to make it to the top tier after this continual preferential treatment – I think it will be the day I walk away from the sport altogether.
No big drama – I think it will be just time to find something more ethical to spend my money on.
GoosyGoosy says: July 7, 2014 at 8:49 am
Danish Pastry says: July 7, 2014 at 8:59 am
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Both RTC and CF published versions of the 2011 accounts. The RTC version looked like an early draft without the “notes to the accounts”, while CF produced a document that looks very close to a final version, complete with notes. I have uploaded the CF version to Scribd to allow you to browse or download a copy.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/232855468/Rangers-2011-CF-Not-Published
easyJambo says:
July 7, 2014 at 10:10 am
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Both RTC and CF published versions of the 2011 accounts. The RTC version looked like an early draft without the “notes to the accounts”, while CF produced a document that looks very close to a final version, complete with notes. I have uploaded the CF version to Scribd to allow you to browse or download a copy.
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That’s quite a wee document archive. Bravo EJ.
Ali Russell’s optimistic, one-sentence ‘Outlook’ on 23 November 2011 was very Graham Wallacey: operating in challenging times, clear strategy for growth, committed to success on and off the pitch.
I wonder what the strategy for growth was?
Beat THEM. Win in Europe (preferably in that order). Buy players to achieve 1 (compulsory) and 2 (optional). There’s some mention in a footnote about “keeping the wolf from the door” but it has an action point for CO/SDM notated next to it so we needn’t concern ourselves. What could possibly go wrong?
Smugas says:
July 7, 2014 at 11:05 am
… There’s some mention in a footnote about “keeping the wolf from the door” but it has an action point for CO/SDM notated next to it so we needn’t concern ourselves. What could possibly go wrong?
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And that particular wolf turned up with a huge appetite a matter of months later.
When looking at the 2011 accounts, you need to keep in mind that the statements made by Craig Whyte, Ali Russell, Gordon Smith and Ally McCoist were all dated 23 Nov 2011.
This was some three months after the Malmo and Maribor defeats, yet there is no mention of the consequences of these defeats for their future income when looking forward .
The club’s cash reserves had already run dry and it was indulging in deliberate tax evasion by non payment of PAYE/NIC/VAT by that date, yet we still had a rosy picture of the future.
Trading while insolvent? Misleading statements from executives? There should be criminal charges for such conduct.
easyJambo says:
July 7, 2014 at 12:54 pm
Trading while insolvent? Misleading statements from executives? There should be criminal charges for such conduct.
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It would be so much more simple if the SFA just introduced some proper regulation on financial fair play, and took action against the club from Ibrox for not sticking to it.
easyJambo says:
July 7, 2014 at 12:54 pm
When looking at the 2011 accounts, you need to keep in mind that the statements made by Craig Whyte, Ali Russell, Gordon Smith and Ally McCoist were all dated 23 Nov 2011.
This was some three months after the Malmo and Maribor defeats, yet there is no mention of the consequences of these defeats for their future income when looking forward .
The club’s cash reserves had already run dry and it was indulging in deliberate tax evasion by non payment of PAYE/NIC/VAT by that date, yet we still had a rosy picture of the future.
Trading while insolvent? Misleading statements from executives? There should be criminal charges for such conduct.
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We need to keep in mind the fact that those accounts were never published or submitted to Companies House. What we have access to are unpublished drafts, so no one can be held to them. Which may well be why they were never submitted.
Apologies in advance. This is long, but it sets out to show in detail how the SFA did not act on numerous red flags when dealing with Sevco Scotland.
I think its worth reminding the blog about matters i first wrote about on RTC and also in the early days on here. Others have commented also on a number of related issues, however I hear that the relevance is still significant, and the influence has not gone away.
Lets start with Chan Fook Meng (CFM) He was in charge of Orlit, who issued a winding up order served on Rangers. This was over disputed invoices totaling £400,000 . These invoices appeared to be a fee for services provided in raising funds. The winding up order never crystalised and the matter appeared to have been settled without recourse to the courts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21370477
CFM had a connection to Charles Green, through Nova Enterprises. Green was Chairman in the company reported to be “owned” by CFM. Brian Stockbridge was also reported to have a connection to CFM when Orlit was known as Tembusu Investments.
The London Evening Standard reported in May 2011 , before any of this would be of interest to Scottish Football, that Rafat Rizvi was previously Chairman and CEO of Tembusu when it was listed on AIM.
http://www.standard.co.uk/business/markets/city-spy-law-may-be-closing-in-on-runaway-rizvi-6400392.html
This should have been red flag #1 for the Scottish Football authorities. A clear link between Green and a man on Interpol’s most wanted list
Another interesting fact about Tembusu is that the Chairman prior to Rizvi was Jonathan Rowland, who’s father David “Spotty” Rowland was the finance provider behind David Duff and James Gray’s disastrous ownership of Hibs. Rowland owned 30% of Hibs when Duff & Gray had control. The very real fear for Hibs fans was that Rowland was reputed to be happy to sell the assets and allow a merger with Wallace Mercers Hearts. Tom Farmer stepped in and that piece of madness was avoided.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/chairman-reveals-how-he-won-control-of-hibs-1.600865
http://www.investegate.co.uk/article.aspx?id=20100122101109W2129
That was Red Flag #2 for the Scottish Football authorities.
The Nomad at Tembusu resigned when Rizvi was found guilty of defrauding an Indonesian bank of $600 million. They resigned because although Rizvi quit his roles he was replaced by his wife and the Nomad believed Rizvi was still controlling the business. The new Nomad was Allenby Capital, which was founded by Imran Ahmad, with Brian Stockbridge on board at Allenby as well.
This is red flag #3 for the Scottish Football Authorities. There are now clear links between Rizvi and Green, Stockbridge and Ahmad, and between Rizvi and the guy who had been a significant shareholder and provider of finance to those responsible for Hibs darkest hour.
Next we have the intervention of Charlotte Fakes
The emails leaked by Charlotte Fakes seemed to show that initial funding for Sevco came from Rizvi.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rangers-court-battle-charlotte-fakes-3159443
http://i.imgur.com/1Ls2NsJ.jpg
http://m.imgur.com/r0gi5X4
Red flag #4 for the Scottish Football authorities
Next we have proof of the closest link possible between Chan Fook Meng and Rizvi. This link is through a trust called the Bunny Foundation Trust. This trust has been set up to benefit Rizvi’s family. Rizvi is the Settlor ( he puts the money in) and Chan Fook Meng is the Protector ( he ensures the trustees act as directed) .
When setting up this type of arrangement you really need a Protector in whom you have 100% trust . The Protector can make or break any or all plans if he goes rogue. When you have this level of trust then you have someone who could front anything for you, especially if there was very good reason why you would want to remain out of sight.
http://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/172905
So now we have Red Flag #5 for the Scottish Football authorities.
Rangers supporters have been failed by Regan & Co with regards to ensuring Rangers , after a period of extreme trauma, would be in the hands of credible , untainted and honest owners who would play by the rules. After the behavior of David Murray and Craig Whyte the very least they were owed was an ownership group who wouldn’t deceive , rule break, cheat and tax evade. They were also entitled to expect owners who would’t risk further trauma by helping themselves to what should have been important working capital.
The Scottish Football authorities may have extended a helping hand with regards to the LNS scope of enquiry and the issuing of a Euro Licence, but they showed they were weak and ineffectual or disinterested in the matter of who was “fit and proper” as owners of a very important Scottish Club.
A recent interview with Mazan Houssami had Houssami claiming that he was the sole shareholder in Blue Pitch Holdings. He claimed never to have met Green, which must make anyone of an enquiring mind , ie not Regan, wonder how on earth he became aware of the investment opportunity. Remember Blue Pitch were in prior to the Aim IPO, so this was a private placing at that stage. Houssami has no connection to UK business’ of which we or companies house are aware.
It may or may not be true that Houssami never met Green, however if a Lebanese lawyer is the only shareholder in a company who own part of a company in Glasgow, it does not necessarily follow that he is the ultimate beneficiary.
Lawyers and clients are able to count on client privilege which keeps their dealings secret. It is entirely feasible, and not uncommon, for a Lawyer in some jurisdictions to have a contract to act for a client , under client instructions with all benefits and entitlements passing to the client, even though the lawyer is the sole shareholder.
Quite frankly i have a huge problem believing a Beirut Lawyer who never met Green is the ultimate beneficiary of Blue Pitch Holdings shareholding. Everything points to Rizvi, who has provable connections to Green , Ahmad and Stockbridge, as still pulling the strings. More than probably using his close friend and trust Protector Chan Fook Meng
Red Flag #6
This brings us to the Easdale’s. Now if I was a respectable Beirut Lawyer , with a genuine investment using my own money, who wanted someone to act as proxy , then i would use a respectable Scottish Lawyer or Accountant. What i wouldn’t do is hand that proxy to a local West of Scotland businessman, especially one who had spent time in jail for financial fraud.
Someone of an enquiring mind , again not Regan and certainly not Ogilvie, might question under what circumstances a Beirut Lawyer would even know a Greenock bus operator . Or in fact if they actually had never met.
Here is where logic takes me with this.
Blue Pitch and Margarita are ultimately beneficial to and controlled by Rizvi & associates through Chan Fook Meng having appointed Houssami as the investment vehicle. He wants someone on the ground who won’t be phased by threats from supporters or enquiries from the media. Green was fine, but he is getting off the scene having let his mouth run away once too often.
Rizvi / Chan Fook Meng gets Green to recommend someone for the role of Proxy who won’t ask too many questions and can see the “good side” of someone convicted of financial fraud.
Green has the very people. He had previously met the Easdale’s when he was looking for committed funding to support the IPO. He knew their background and their personalty and character , and deemed them perfectly fit for purpose . There is every possibility the Easdale’s have never met or spoken to Rizvi or Chan Fook Meng, in fact I think it extremely unlikely they have . All that was required was an agreement with Houssami.
We now have Red Flag #7 Any more and we would have the audience for a military parade day in Beijing.
Laxey have appeared on the scene as opportunist value investors. Nothing wrong with that. It is precisely what they are charged to do by those who’s money they manage, including their own. They get their way by installing a credible and honest CEO in Wallace, however the damage has already been done contractually by previous executives.
Nothing can happen moving forward without the agreement of BPH and Margarita . It appears to me to be checkmate. Either pay Rizvi , if indeed my logic is correct, and you can then unwind the contracts draining the lifeblood out of the club or accept the fact that they will, even with new equity raised, continue to get an incredible yield on the initial investment.
A forced insolvency event would be incredibly risky all round. And then there is the possibly tenuous , and possibly not , connection to the guy who saw Hibs as a property play.
Which of these red flags have the SFA investigated, any of them ? What answers have they received, and now that all these connections have been pointed out, as we know they monitor TSFM, and i suspect occasionally respond under nom de plume , will they ask the questions they haven’t already asked .
Statement re: Annual results
Mon 07 Jul 2014 16:55
RNS Number : 6537L
Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
07 July 2014
Rangers International Football Club plc
(“Rangers” the “Club” or the “Company”)
Statement re: Annual results for the 13 month period ended 30 June 2013
The Directors confirm that following the issue of shares announced on 1 July 2014 pursuant to the exercise of options by a former Director, there are now no outstanding share options or convertible shares held within the Group. The Directors note that Note 30 to the accounts for the 13 month period ended 30 June 2013 was incorrect to the extent that the options to which the share announcement on 1 July 2014 relate were not included.
For further information please contact:
Rangers International Football Club plc
Graham Wallace
Tel: 0141 580 8647
Daniel Stewart & Company plc
Tel: 020 7776 6550
Paul Shackleton / David Coffman
Barcabhoy says:
July 7, 2014 at 5:42 pm
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Which of these red flags have the SFA investigated, any of them ? …will they ask the questions they haven’t already asked.
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Good, clear summary Bb.
IIRC, re: ‘the fit & proper test’, the SFA indicated that it didn’t have the expertise internally to vet owners/directors – and placed the onus on the clubs’ themselves to do any checking.
Whilst the logic of that line of thinking from a governing body is highly debatable – maybe they would use the same ‘defence’ when overlooking 7 very large, bright red flags.
And combined with the SFA, the Scottish MSM has – IMO – deliberately chosen to ignore these links. And that is totally indefensible.
And as a wee aside, did you see that your ‘nemesis’ Mone got her latest PR release printed in full at the Herald over the weekend – without any balance/comment, as per.
Nothing changes – except they must have forgotten to mention that the successful entrepreneur is worth GBP35M / GBP50M [as both fantasy figures had been quoted in the last couple of years in the print MSM.] 🙄
http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/ultimo-gets-a-new-house-for-its-lingerie.24676806
StevieBC says:
July 7, 2014 at 6:14 pm
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I saw it. A nothing announcement from a business irrelevance .
Announcement at 16.55
I hope they didnt miss their bus
Barcabhoy says:
July 7, 2014 at 5:42 pm
A fine resume, Barca, of how shameless people have inveigled their way into Scottish football while the football authorities turned a blind eye. There can be no doubt that people, and institutions, have been ripped off, and that the football authorities are, however unwittingly, complicit.
While, and I’m giving them a great deal of slack here, they might not have had the wherewithal to block these despicable people from buying the assets of Rangers(IL), they certainly had it within their power to make it difficult for them to take advantage of their bargain buy; instead choosing to make it as easy as possible for them to use (what they might consider) the good name of ‘Rangers’ to carry out this monstrous scam. Just one moment of honesty – announcing that Rangers were dead, club and company (though both are the same) – would very likely have stopped the scam before it could take off.
It is not just Scottish football that the custodians of our game have let down.
Not only will they never admit publicly to what they have done, I doubt any of them have the self-awareness to realise the consequences of their actions either. They are all Charles Green. Craig Whyte. David Murray. Rafat Rizvi. Men without conscience.
Barcabhoy says:
July 7, 2014 at 5:42 pm
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OMG I actually understood all of that, brilliant post. Just a pity that the SMSM won’t ‘publish and be damned’
RIP Alfredo di Stefano, a truly wonderful footballer.
I seem to have lost the ” ratings facility” . Is it a general problem or is it just me?
Barcabhoy
If I were a concerned RIFC supporter who read that I’d form Third Rangers, refurbish Cathkin Park or ground share Firhill and do walking away from something toxic to something more healthy.
The only benefit to staying at Ibrox is that it has become so toxic it glows in the dark, saving the cost of using the floodlights.
On the SFA- small men with small minds trying to fix a problem of their own making with the same thinking that created it.
Had they been able to contemplate Scottish football without Rangers they would have been able to say “our way or no licence”
As unfit for purpose as a manatee entering the Tour de France.
Auldheid says:
July 7, 2014 at 8:01 pm
Had they been able to contemplate Scottish football without Rangers they would have been able to say “our way or no licence”
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A very telling comment. Reading this article from 2012 Regan is falling over himself to accommodate them. Shocking stuff then, but on reflection it is surely now shocking beyond belief that he took such a stance.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/9376852/Rangers-in-crisis-Stewart-Regan-warns-of-social-unrest-if-Ibrox-fans-have-no-club-to-support-next-season.html
Barcabhoy says:
July 7, 2014 at 5:42 pm
nickmcguinness says:
July 7, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Excellent posts which show the type of ‘characters’ involved in the Sevco soap opera and maybe gives us an idea of why the football authorities and media are steering clear of any digging.
This won’t be over until they decide it is and how much they want out of it.
oddjob says:
July 7, 2014 at 7:49 pm
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No it’s not just you. Have asked TSFM about it.
Jean7 Brodie says
7July 2014 @ 8.45pm
Thank you Jean .
Re Barcaboys post. I firmly believe that the SFA know exactly who is behind Sevco/TRFC. They rolled out the red carpet for them opening Pandoras Box to the delight of the spivs. Thde SFA were so busy wondering how it could save what was seen as the establishment team it never seemed to wonder if it should. The genie will never go back in the bottle now and TRFC will be in the grip of these people until they decide there is no more meat on the bones and discard the remnants into the gutter. That puts the SFA back where it started. 2nd Rangers consigned to the bin and needing all the helping hands that the SFA can muster to keep their beloved establishment team alive. If it was not for ‘The Same Club’ lie then TRFC might have had a fighting chance of survival but the disgraceful missleading of the football fans of the Club/Company by the SFA and the SMSM are the reasons and the cause of the establishment teams death and will be the reason for the short life and untimely death of the bastard offspring.
Anyone heard from eddiegoldtop
I have not got any thumbs up or down either
Carfins Finest says:
July 7, 2014 at 8:55 pm
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Well said CF. I would have given you a TU if it was possible!
The rangers tell the Stock Exchange their annual accounts were “incorrect” in relation to the Stockbridge share option.
Was there not a complaint made by a fan (a banker) i think. who said GW lied at the AGM or to the stock exchange?
The police dropped the investigation last week. so much goes on at that club/company it’s hard to keep track 😕
And what ever happened to the investigation into king about trying to influence the share price
Carfins Finest says:
July 7, 2014 at 8:55 pm
This discussion always goes full circle.
While the SFA pushed and pushed for ‘The Rangers’ to be in the top league and then the first league down it was the clubs themselves that took the vote and granted the new club access to the league.
As far as I know only Stranraer voted against all proposals so a lot of clubs voted to grant a completely new entity access to, what was essentially, THEIR league. The SFA can advise and cajole the clubs as much as they want but the clubs themselves knew what the truth was but voted to deny it. Ultimately I’m sure places on various SFA committees were offered to influential Chairmen. However it was done ultimately it was those Chairmen who cast the votes.
Regarding the ‘same club’ nonsense; cast your mind back to the day after the CVA was rejected. Every paper in the country led with RIP headlines and the death of the club. Everyone of them initially told the truth. It is as simple as that.
I’m still convinced, that at some point not long after that, the full impact of what they had reported became clear to them. Perhaps a collapse in sales in those early days, due to RFC fans not wanting to read any more horror headlines, showed them the future. Whatever it was I’m sure that a meeting took place, perhaps with Jack Irvine hosting, where the ‘same club’ scenario was presented, debated, and agreed and the media went into over drive with it. Perhaps favours were called it. Perhaps individuals were told they would be exposed in other stories. Perhaps their sales figures were presented to them and they were told that was where they would stay if they did not resurrect the corpse. Whatever it was they also jumped on board.
It is this that really bothers, indeed worries, me. That the sport can be manipulated is one thing but when the media, in a modern democracy, performs a complete U-turn and, more importantly denies the truth, is troublesome.
What is so important about a grubby, tainted, tax avoiding, embarrassment of a club that heaven and earth must be moved, clubs bullied and truth denied to enable an equally strange new club, that behaves exactly the same, to exist.
If our game really is that dependent such an entity then perhaps it is time just to shut up shop and move on to something else.
Has anyone in the football hierarchy given a logical reason why it was necessary to rearrange TRFC’s first two fixtures of the season before the draws were made for the cup ties? Ok we are all aware of the complications due to the Commonwealth games, but it seems no consideration was given to the other teams in either draw.
I am sure the guys who run these teams would have welcomed a visit from TRFC on the opening day of the season. The draw for the petrofac cup has happened and saved a few blushes (maybe) but the league cup draw is still to be made. If it throws up, for example Stranraer v TRFC tie why the need to rearrange?
Some needy club will be denied a wee income booster to start the season. Perhaps a certain tour of the USA is more of a complication than the Games.
I echo the views of the earlier posts. More power to the elbows of the authors, one and all.