It Takes Two to Tangle

 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

  1. There had been entries every year since 2000 in Rangers Annual Accounts of sums of money being placed in employee benefit trusts
  2. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tom Byrne

About Trisidium

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

1,247 thoughts on “It Takes Two to Tangle


  1. parttimearab says: at 7:14 pm
    More from Phil on the subject of “onerous contracts”
    http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/questions-to-sevco-press-office-about-onerous-contracts/

    _
    On this, the various character’s `involved` have been oft prior noted by Phil, by PMC, others and on Bear Post Boards since 2012.

    On this topic – as example – what`s of interest is sensible bear posts on bear boards have been consistently followed by dismissive “timmy plot` types of posts with sensible voices drowned out. As mrstp has repeatedly said – how on earth can these types of activities within Ibrox conceivably be considered as `timmy plots` by any right thinking person.

    No doubt there are simpletons who would post such nonsense – but I believe Bears revisiting this stuff will see they`ve been `duped` by an orchestrated campaign designed to keep onerous contracts flowing nicely and in large amounts out of Bears pockets effectively.

    This has been and continues to be worth many millions of pounds to unscrupulous spivs

    – so take it as assured there`s been means, opportunity, and motive to deceive Bears.


  2. StevieBC says:
    June 17, 2014 at 4:23 pm
    ‘…the head of women’s football and the compliance officer choosing to leave the SFA.
    And interestingly, both have chosen to walk away from football altogether: to rugby and to the law respectively..’
    ———-Whatever about Ms Begbie, I think I can safely assert that Mr Lunny will have had to sign a legally binding ‘keep-your-trap-shut’ confidentiality clause!
    Or, perhaps, he’s jumping as an honest man, unable any more to square his conscience, being asked to prosecute ‘ footsoldiers’ for relatively piddling little football crimes, while the high command have as yet not been brought to book for the equivalent of ‘treason’!
    There is an inherent absurdity in the very idea that the ‘SFA’ Board has any Authority as a Rule-maker and Rule enforcer. And if they have no moral authority to enforce the rules, neither has their ‘Compliance’ officer any authority to ‘bring charges’.
    They really have buggered up Scottish Football!
    As others have earlier remarked ( neepheid in particular, I think) the SFA membership as a whole has let itself be blind-sided by its officers. ‘Complicity in wrongdoing’ is perhaps too harsh and strong a description of their actions/inactions. Rather does it seem that they are creatures of long habit of leaving matters to the ‘experts’, of assuming that the ‘experts’ will be right, of unwillingness to be seen to be too challenging, or of firing-off half-cock in matters about which they know not very much, or which they think might not be of immediate importance to their individual circumstances as members, and so on.
    We do need to make some effort to galvanise them into action, to make them realise that all is definitely not well in the football world, and , really, only they can collectively take the action that is required-for all their sakes, and for the sake of Scottish Football. Their businesses are at stake, and at serious risk if there are not profound changes.
    In my opinion.


  3. parttimearab says:
    June 17, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    More from Phil on the subject of “onerous contracts”

    http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/questions-to-sevco-press-office-about-onerous-contracts/

    Phil’s questions shall, as usual, go unanswered. However, they tell an old story and it is the one that was told by the ‘gers fan TheRealRange (George?) in his flyers that he was handing out round Ibrox some time ago.

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/164681674/Ibrox-Stadium

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/162271091/Rangers-and-the-Old-Firm-Long-Firm

    Interesting read


  4. scottc says:

    June 17, 2014 at 9:50 pm

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    Rate This

    parttimearab says:
    June 17, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    More from Phil on the subject of “onerous contracts”

    http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/questions-to-sevco-press-office-about-onerous-contracts/

    Phil’s questions shall, as usual, go unanswered. However, they tell an old story and it is the one that was told by the ‘gers fan TheRealRange (George?) in his flyers that he was handing out round Ibrox some time ago.
    ============================================================================
    Yep it was the redoubtable George who paid for the flyers gave up his holidays told the whole story. The Edmiston drive tale in particular I remember on Rangers Rumours. Was debunked roundly. Now I am not quite sure if he gave up or morphed into SOS?


  5. JAMES FORREST says:
    June 17, 2014 at 10:34 pm
    I see Mr Ogilivie is getting mentioned again. Deservedly.
    http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/enemies/

    can’t read/open this – yet and yet and yet again
    – mass media communication requires guess what – easy mass accessibility
    Or forget it


  6. Auldheid says:
    June 17, 2014 at 11:46 am

    Neepheid
    No one who had four years in an official SFA capacity wanted to stand. Poison chalice…
    ======================================================================
    Shirley, in the absence of a suitable candidate there was another option: the clubs could have canvassed for no SFA President at all – pending eligibility rule changes ?
    A vacant SFA President role could have sent out an encouraging signal to fans across Scotland: no President at all is better than Ogilvie.

    And I am assuming that the President role is/should be just a figurehead – and that the CEO is/should be the decision-maker.
    Again, if that is not the case then a break in the SFA President role could have helped resolve roles & responsibilities ?


  7. twopanda says:

    June 17, 2014 at 10:46 pm

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    Rate This

    JAMES FORREST says:
    June 17, 2014 at 10:34 pm
    I see Mr Ogilivie is getting mentioned again. Deservedly.
    http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/enemies/

    can’t read/open this – yet and yet and yet again
    – mass media communication requires guess what – easy mass accessibility
    Or forget it
    ================

    I’m the same TP. Never can acces this guys writings.


  8. Guys, those of you who can’t access the site … can you have a go now for me?

    I wasn’t aware I had issues with this, but I’m on it to try and find out what they are.


  9. I found Internet Explorer was rubbish at opening the oFoG blog. I use Mozilla or Chrome.


  10. I dont believe Regan has the IQ or cultural pedigree to dream up the idea that stripping titles would be catastrophic for Scottish football,
    I mean …………think about it for a minute
    Someone born and bred in Glasgow with umpteen scars from countless Old firm games might be keenly aware that bragging rights can quickly lead to fisticuffs or worse
    But
    A Yorkshire cricket fan who comes out with the phrase like “causing a “rift” that would never heal” has to be taking advice from someone he demurs to on this sort of issue
    So
    The guy is a politician whose sole interest is looking after himself and his career
    So
    His “Armageddon”,Civil disorder” and “Rift that could never heal” quotes are simply cover for something else
    Like
    Everybody that matters at the SFA and SPL have known for years that Minty was cheating Hector and breaking the rules by providing side letters to RFC employees. They actively prevented this information leaking out of Hampden
    Nope
    The real reason Regan spouted this rubbish was to deflect attention from an investigation into a decade long cover up


  11. James Forrest says:
    June 17, 2014 at 11:19 pm

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    Rate This

    Guys, those of you who can’t access the site … can you have a go now for me?

    I wasn’t aware I had issues with this, but I’m on it to try and find out what they are.

    _______________________________________

    Fine with Firefox.


  12. StevieBC says:
    June 17, 2014 at 10:48 pm
    ‘..And I am assuming that the President role is/should be just a figurehead – and that the CEO is/should be the decision-maker…’
    ———-
    I don’t think that is normally the case,unless the CEO is the majority, or significant ,shareholder!
    No, the likes of Regan and Doncaster are no more than hired hands. They have no more authority to ‘decide policy’ than , say, Ms Dempster has at Hibs.
    That is, a CEO is in every respect answerable to her Board.Theoretically, the CEO gives effect to Board decisions.
    Like any employee, the CEO will have to work out how best to safeguard his/her job. And will accordingly have to do the wee ‘political’ bit of ensuring that anything he/she proposes will have the backing of the President, or at least the majority, of the Board.
    a sensible CEO will studiously weigh up how much support (or how little) his/her own proposals might get from the Board, before he advances them.
    I conclude therefore that anything uttered by Regan has been uttered by him in the knowledge that he will be 100% supported by his Board. And in particular, by the compromised President of that Board.
    Regan is, on one view, an honest servant. Of a perhaps less than honest master.
    On another view, he may have been the kind of servant who actually controls (Farry?) his masters.And protects his ‘figureheads.’


  13. mcfc says:
    June 17, 2014 at 3:58 pm
    ‘..Last time I saw this much woolly thinking I was in an outback shearing shed – ‘
    ————
    Oh, man! Your clever post both amused and unsettled me.
    In the wee drawer of the wee cabinet thing at the side of the couch on which I can be an occasional potato, there is a clipping of fleece from a sheep that was sheared by a real Australian sheep-shearer ( shearer, I said!) while I held my 3 year old , fascinated, granddaughter in my arms.
    It was a kind of exhibition thingy in Brisbane last year, demonstrating the way sheep were sheared before electric shearers were invented. The guy sheared the sheep with hand clippers in about 40 seconds, or so it seemed. And I picked up some of the stuff, brought it home, washed it, and put it into a wee plastic bag to keep. Happy days.And I will keep it for my granddaughter


  14. This tickled me. What a lovely idea.
    I know its an entirely different type of clean up needed in Scot’s football, but better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
    Got me thinking: Maybe TSFM followers could orchestrate some kind of ‘Ghandi’ inspired ‘civil obedience’ protests – where we organise conspicuous displays of ‘Womble’ like public decency in order to contrast the failing of our administrators and bring these to public attention?
    Staying behind to clean up the ground at the end of a game?

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/japanese-fans-clean-up-their-section-after-world-cup-match-against-ivory-coast-015533399.html

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/japanese-fans-clean-up-their-section-after-world-cup-match-against-ivory-coast-015533399.html


  15. Resin_lab_dog says:
    June 18, 2014 at 1:35 am
    3 0 Rate This

    This tickled me. What a lovely idea.
    I know its an entirely different type of clean up needed in Scot’s football, but better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
    Got me thinking: Maybe TSFM followers could orchestrate some kind of ‘Ghandi’ inspired ‘civil obedience’ protests – where we organise conspicuous displays of ‘Womble’ like public decency in order to contrast the failing of our administrators and bring these to public attention?
    Staying behind to clean up the ground at the end of a game?
    ————-

    Got to love the Japanese fans for that. Nice one.

    Displays of the Corinthian spirit to put the Hampden mafia to shame? Why not? Of course, some of the people running football wouldn’t know what the Corinthian spirit is.

    Mind you, the effect of cleaning up actual litter is not to be underestimated.

    Parts of Scotland, ahem, Glasgow, my part of Glasgow, must be among some of the most littered in Europe. Be nice if fitba fans raised national awareness by organizing days in the off season to clear up the litter blight around the local stadium area. The sheer volume of bottles, containers, and general litter I saw on my way along to the Scottish Cup final was horrible. It was under bushes, in bushes, on waste ground, everywhere. And it wasn’t just match-day stuff. Support Litter Heroes? ( http://www.litterheroes.co.uk ) Clean fitba from the bottom up.

    Just hoping the city cleans up the marathon route for the games. There was a televised run from in Glasgow several months ago where the runners were passing piles of rubbish by the road — cans, paper, plastic, all sorts. Perhaps symbolic of the rubbish we put up with from football bosses.


  16. James Forrest says:
    June 17, 2014 at 10:34 pm

    A good read (no problem accessing with Google Chrome). As another who enjoyed “The West Wing” I also have pondered the difficulty of not being corrupted by power, however high minded your original intentions in entering politics. I concluded long ago that there was a far more attractive and easier course of action in lobbying for a single agenda rather than having to enter a grubby world of shabby compromise and smoke filled rooms that seems to be unavoidable so far as “politics” in it’s widest sense in the real world is concerned, whether in a board room or a government.

    I sometimes see us fans, the internet bampots, as lobbyists. Our cause, stripped down, is caught by a slogan that some who should know better have tried to denigrate but failed, sporting integrity. Our ultimate sanction is to threaten to withdraw our support and when that sanction has been threatened, a degree of respect for integrity has been shown in as much as it has ever been to date in this sorry saga.

    Which leads to a couple of areas where my perspective differs a bit from yours. Like you and most that post here I look forward to the day when Doncaster, Regan and above all Ogilvie move on. They are for sure tainted by their roles in the last couple of years and they have harmed the image of Scottish football and its ability to attract new sponsors. But as others have commented on here they could not have functioned as they did without a degree of encouragement or at least tacit support from many in the 41 clubs. To the extent that is the case do we categorise elements within the 41 as “enemies” too just like the Democrats looking to undermine President Bartlett’s initiative in the West Wing? Ultimately change is surely as much about changing attitudes in the Board Rooms of these clubs as in the corridors of power of the SPFL and SFA?

    Which leads to the other area where my perspective is a little different. In your previous article “The Cost Of Doing Business” you question the actions of the TRFC supporters who are not renewing season tickets and suggest that the separation of club and company “is the noose these people have wrapped around their necks” because it would be easy enough for the current owners to sell “the club” but milk the assets with a long term lease of Ibrox leaving the club permanently saddled with the additional cost of rent.

    But surely the TRFC supporters are right? What we’ve seen in the past two years is that the one action that clearly led to greater integrity was in the form of fans withholding their money. If you think your club has become riddled with people on the make, onerous contracts enabling a long term existence of parasites draining away vital resources, then not renewing season ticket money is the sensible course of action. Furthermore if the response is that the latest company goes into liquidation and the club is sold with the intention of renting Ibrox to it at an extortionate rent, then again don’t renew. Refuse to renew until the club has been rid of the spiv disease.

    The separation of club and company is not a noose but an opportunity for Ibrox club supporters. If you accept that separation then your action cannot kill your club. It can kill a company but the club can live on and you can hold out until the club is in the hands of those genuinely with the interests of the club at heart. If you don’t buy into the concept of the separation of club and company then your club has died already.

    To me it has something of a feel of reincarnation about it. If you are a believer then your hope is that if there is another liquidation that it will transform your club from a cockroach to ultimately who knows, maybe a butterfly!


  17. John Clark says:
    June 18, 2014 at 1:16 am
    Oh, man! Your clever post both amused and unsettled me.
    =====================================
    JC – Those guys are a special breed – amazing skill and incredibly tough to keep up the pace day in day out – even using modern gear. If only we could say something similar about most football administrators, club officials and sports journalists. 🙂


  18. Anybody else not surprised that TRFC have been handed the ‘ideal’ first fixture for the new Championship season? One that will revive memories of past top tier battles (not our memories, theirs, as we know it’s the first time Hearts will play The Rangers). One that the supporters will undoubtedly view as more fitting for a club of their standing (in their eyes). One that will bring them potentially the largest away support of the season. It might also work out that they have a full compliment of their best players before they get offloaded (if they ever do).

    At a time when that new club needs the fickle hand of fate to continue to intervene on their behalf, they get Hearts at home.

    Now Hearts might not prove to be their biggest rivals for the title, but I’m sure the bears will see them as their main challengers at this time, or at least the team, along with Hibs, they’d most like to beat. If there was a way the SPFL administrators could help to break the ST boycott at Ibrox it’s by giving them this fixture – as a PR gem at the very least. I know I’m being more than a little paranoid here (though not in the least annoyed that Hearts have this first fixture – it has the potential to be a great game and will undoubtedly be televised, and could set Hearts off on a great revival with the right result), but the ‘fickle hand of fate’ seems more like ‘Lady Luck’ for TRFC, time, after time, after bleeding time. Oh, and they’ve got Hibs six games later… again at Ibrox. So, they have their two biggest gates at the time they most need them, especially should their ST sales not take off, and so ‘walk up’ sales become ever more vital.

    I’m not posting this viewing the fixture as an aid to TRFC winning the league, but as a very fortunate first quarter’s fixtures for their finance and survival prospects.


  19. Allyjambo says: June 18, 2014 at 10:55 am
    =============================
    It’s obviously a very flexible computer they use to generate the fixtures. While there are a few fixtures that have fixed dates, e.g. New Year Derbies, you would expect the games against each opposition team to run in sequence. However, with TRFC at home to Hearts in the opening fixture, you’d never guess that the last game would be the reverse fixture Hearts v TRFC, or would you. TV companies, please GTF and stop interfering by dictating who plays who where and when.


  20. Ally Jambo

    Welcome to paranoia land.

    I am sure there is a perfectly sound reason why the fixtures came out the way that they did, but such is the paranoid lens that Scottish Football has created for itself it becomes nigh impossible to see events as designed to help TRFC out regardless of the impact on other clubs.

    If it helps I have a set of paranoid lensed binoculars that I have not needed for two years, well used over 50 odd years but in good working order. Take care of them though as it looks like I might need them back at some time in the future.


  21. Allyjambo says:
    June 18, 2014 at 10:55 am

    Hear what you say but of course an Edinburgh Derby will be Hearts first home game the following week so my guess is Anne Budge will be happy with the cash that brings in.
    Week two also sees T’Rangers away to last seasons play-off contenders Falkirk so the whole thing has been set up to ‘big up’ the Championship from the off.
    Week three sees Hibs v Falkirk and low and behold week four sees Hearts v Falkirk.

    As discussed the other week I have nothing against talking up what will be an exciting division.
    However the fixtures appear to take away the thought that the whole thing was a random process.

    I am sure the spreading out of potential large gates at Ibrox is merely a lucky coincidence. 🙂


  22. Compare and contrast. While TRFC get two early potential sell out games, Hibs have to wait until 25 October for their first. That fickle hand of fate doesn’t work so well for everyone, it seems.


  23. Auldheid says:
    June 18, 2014 at 11:20 am

    Thanks for the offer Auldheid, but I’m not really paranoid, it’s just that everyone’s out to get me 😥


  24. On the matter of what clubs should have done in 2013 to remove CO there is the CF factor to consider.

    Checking back it was about a year ago that CF was full stream ahead in terms of material uploaded.

    Like cars moving after an unforeseen stop it has taken time for that material to be absorbed and analysed to produce the current narrative that yes our suspicions this time last year were correct and we are dealing with folk for whom sport is nothing but a route to deprive us of our hard earned cash and tax.

    Our gut reaction back then was right but there was no proof.
    We are still constrained by msm’s inexplicable reluctance to look at evidence based accusations of skullduggery on an extensive scale.

    If there was an explanation given for what the CF evidence shows that proved suspicions unfounded, why has it not been forthcoming? Surely everyone with a love for the game ( which you would imagine included the SFA) would deal with that evidence and all us all to move on?

    The anger now felt at being ignored and treated as mugs is to some extent projected backwards.

    The trick is to keep going until the evidence becomes full flow and the truth about the way some folk hijacked Scottish football to line the pockets of a few is set out for the world to see.


  25. Allyjambo says:
    June 18, 2014 at 11:29 am
    2 0 Rate This

    Compare and contrast. While TRFC get two early potential sell out games, Hibs have to wait until 25 October for their first. That fickle hand of fate doesn’t work so well for everyone, it seems.

    Which of course proves that it is indeed fickle…………………..there couldn’t possibly be any other explanation surely? 🙄


  26. Auldheid says:
    June 18, 2014 at 11:46 am

    The trick is to keep going until the evidence becomes full flow and the truth about the way some folk hijacked Scottish football to line the pockets of a few is set out for the world to see.
    ==================
    You know my view by now. On his own evidence, produced in 2012, over a year before the 2013 AGM, Ogilvie was known to be conflicted, and by his own account in receipt of what he said himself was a loan of £95k at the direction of a member club. What more evidence was needed? By the time all the evidence is gathered of any wrongdoing by Ogilvie, he will be sitting comfortably in Zurich as FIFA vice president, nominated for the post by the clubs we support, emotionally and financially. That is the plan, that is how Scottish football deals with embarrassing little conflicts of interest.

    And if anyone doesn’t believe it could happen, consider this- 12 months ago I was absolutely confident that there was no way on God’s earth that Ogilvie could get a second term, given what was already known then about his conflicted status. How wrong was I then?

    So just watch and wait, as Ogilvie gets another few levels up the greasy pole, with grateful Scottish football providing a shooderie for the world’s greatest football administrator. Sickening, isn’t it? Will the clubs ever be held to account for any of this? Well, no one seems willing to hold them to account for handing Ogilvie a second term at the SFA, so I guess that’s a great big no. They will just do as they please unchallenged, and for their own secret reasons, what pleases them is the preferment of Ogilvie.


  27. Awesome that the rangers first few games will have high exposure. Will make the disgruntled fans demos and protestations more visible also and will show what a mess this club is actually in.

    Pity they couldn’t have the SB support in one stand and the pay-on-the-dayers in the opposite stand screaming abuse at each other.. Would be more entertaining than the football.

    As the football on show deteriorates even from what has been dished up past 2 seasons the pay-on-the-dayers will do their talking with their feet..Results on the park will kill the rangers..


  28. Allyjambo I can’t say I think anything smells funny there, I think that is just your paranoia (as you alluded to!). Each team plays each other four times. The odds on rangers getting either hearts or hibs in the first game was 2/9, so not insubstantial. With an Edinburgh derby in the second game you could argue that the fixture list has been beneficial financially to hearts also. I understand how we got to this point but let’s not have every single event that could possibly benefit rangers being viewed through Auldheids paranoia binoculars. This blog does good work in calling out actual corruption, but I feel this work is diminished when such excessive paranoia is employed.


  29. Ryan Gosling

    50 years before those binoculars told me they were right all along.

    I long for the day when they can be set aside for on some occasions there is a rationale explanation for something and believe you me I look for that first.

    Fixture lists even themselves out over time. I remember Walter Smith complaining one season and the reason was the system simply switched around the previous seasons fixtures that Walter had nothing to complain about.

    Supporters of other clubs might now be understanding why Celtic fans were paranoid. It should not be like this.


  30. Ryan, although you are correct, I don’t think there has ever been a fixtures release that has seen two teams play each other first up and last up even in a 4 games a season scenario. However, I am prepared to accept that it is possible that the computer can be set up to do this

    It would only be acceptable though if the initial four fixtures for the other 8 teams seen the same result and the reverse fixtures, like with Hearts/Rangers, were the same.

    These fixtures have been loaded in the same way that Sky ensure two weekends that they can have the big 4 playing each other on a Super duper Sunday.

    And it’s not right.


  31. Martin says:
    June 17, 2014 at 7:08 pm
    57 0 i
    Rate This

    Auldheid,

    If I may borrow a part of your quote:

    “That is why we have asked Campbell, at the outset, to disclose the facts. That is why Campbell himself asked to be removed from any decision making and any meeting involving Rangers FC. Since February 14 [the day Rangers went into administration] he has had no involvement at all in any board meetings, any decisions or any meetings with the club.”
    _________________________________________________

    Hurray! Well done the SFA on taking such swift decisive action rendering the SFA President a “conflicted” impotent figurehead, restrcited to handing out cups and medals.

    But what about prior to 14 February 2012? What is special about that date? Was it perfectly OK for the Conflicted One to operate in post prior to that date? The EBT was in existence for the whole of his tenure at the SFA.

    I guess the Bryson interpretation applies.


  32. yanGosling says:
    June 18, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    Allyjambo I can’t say I think anything smells funny there, I think that is just your paranoia (as you alluded to!). Each team plays each other four times. The odds on rangers getting either hearts or hibs in the first game was 2/9, so not insubstantial. With an Edinburgh derby in the second game you could argue that the fixture list has been beneficial financially to hearts also. I understand how we got to this point but let’s not have every single event that could possibly benefit rangers being viewed through Auldheids paranoia binoculars. This blog does good work in calling out actual corruption, but I feel this work is diminished when such excessive paranoia is employed.
    ———————————————————————————————————————

    My own take is that the Championship fixtures list was massaged to give some television friendly fixtures in the opening weeks. The SPFL have still to negotiate broadcasting rights and I am sure the traditional Saturday 15:00 KO time will be changed in the coming weeks.

    However it was achieved the fixtures look good to me.

    Flywheel


  33. scottc says:
    June 17, 2014 at 9:50 pm
    19 0 i
    Rate This

    parttimearab says:
    June 17, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/162271091/Rangers-and-the-Old-Firm-Long-Firm

    Interesting read
    ____________________________________________________________

    A good attempt at outlining the scam. One big hole in it is the failure to mention the succulent lamb churnalists who provide a fanfare for each new saviour as he takes his turn at the trough thereby distracting/dividing and deflecting fans from positive action and opinion forming thereby smoothing the way for the spivs to carve the club up – although I suppose they are not in the inside of the scam it’s just what they are indoctrinated and conditioned to do.

    Still, 1000+ views and he gets one comment telling him he’s mental. Their problems summarised in a nutshell. Blinkers FC.


  34. Fixtures are arranged – EPL somehow programs a `random` computer that generates `Super Sundays` and such at regular intervals throughout a season. So a helping hand for Ibrox at Ibrox should not be a shock – but these things even out in the end.

    Personally a wiser tactic IMO would be to allow a new Bears formation to settle in before taking on their potential rivals for the Championship – and give them a chance to gauge opposition in a new league before taking them on. Unthinking in a football sense.

    But Money talks

    But as always expect the unexpected
    & Hearts could win


  35. Ryan,

    Again though, you also have to ensure that “it’s just simple paranoia, simples” argument doesn’t cloud what is effectively common sense either.

    To be clear, by common sense what I am referring to is that old chestnut, sporting integrity, which common sense (there’s that term again) tells me is required to run a fair sporting competition over a period of time.

    My commercial common sense is still there btw – absolutely. Someone asked why Sky should get two big 4 super duper sundays in their deal, as they clearly do. Well, they do so because they pay for the privilage. But having the big four play on one particular sunday doesn’t necessarily affect one relative to the other per se, and not relative to the other competitors either. It opens the door for problems if, say, 3 teams are in Europe on the Tuesday but that would appear to be a manageable risk (or as I suspect is the case an affordable one).

    But I remain absolutely convinced that integrity has to top everything else. If two teams meet on the first day common sense tells you they shouldn’t meet on the last! Similarly, supporters of Integrity (not with, of!) quickly realise that if the teams in question are playing at the start and end, they aren’t playing in the middle. They aren’t taking points off each other as one might expect. As their opponents might realistically expect.

    Commercial common sense is just that. A commodity that can be bought and sold. Integrity is something that is hard earned and very easily lost. Or ignored.


  36. RyanGosling says:
    June 18, 2014 at 12:27 pm
    []The sterling work of many on TSFM has demonstrated that the paranoia levels in Scottish football were rather inadequate for decades….


  37. Paranoia lens warning –

    2003 Celtic scheduled to play at Ibrox less than 72 hours after a UEFA Cup semi final due to the imperative that an Old Firm game should never be a title decider.

    Fair enough.

    2009 Last Rangers-Celtic fixture not scheduled for the first weekend after the split creating a scenario where the league could be decided on that date (the odds were long but no longer than in 2003). This had the fortunate (for Rangers) benefit of allowing Madjid Bougherra to serve a suspension for an incident with the Aberdeen goalkeeper and therefore be available for this vital Old Firm game.

    I guess the SPL revised their policy on Old Firm title deciders and thought ‘nah, it’s not really that big a deal’ but just waited until it was time to decide post split fixtures before telling anyone.

    Just to show that paranoid lenses are available in all hues, Walter Smith had a bit of a rant against the SPL by accusing them of rescheduling a postponed fixture to make sure Kenny Miller would be suspended for a game against Celtic.

    Contrary to media portrayal Walter Smith was no stranger to a paranoid rant.


  38. MoreCelticParanoia says:
    June 18, 2014 at 12:49 pm

    But what about prior to 14 February 2012? What is special about that date? Was it perfectly OK for the Conflicted One to operate in post prior to that date? The EBT was in existence for the whole of his tenure at the SFA.

    And there we have it. In 2011, when this fine upstanding blazer stood for his initial election as President of the SFA, what did he tell the clubs about his “loan” from one of their very own members? You would think that such a fine upstanding person of unimpeachable integrity might have cleared the way to his election, doubtless unopposed (shortage of qualified candidates, restricted field, no one qualified willing to stand, blah, blah, blah) by coming clean on his £95k indebtedness to one of their members. Did he come clean? And the clubs elected him regardless? Or did he not come clean then, but the clubs still thought he was “good to go” for a second term two years later?

    Does no one ever wonder what a person from another country would make of all this? What conclusions could they draw regarding the fundamental honesty of Scotland, its people and its institutions? We are disgracing ourselves in the eyes of the rest of the world by this sort of carry on. Can the suits who run our clubs not see that? Is that a good business strategy? – they obviously think it is.


  39. In 2003 – 04 Dumbarton played Alloa in the first game and the last game.
    In 2010 – 11 Dumbarton played Forfar in the first game and the last game.

    It happens.

    (I can’t check if all other 4 fixtures were replicated)


  40. JimBhoy says:
    June 18, 2014 at 12:19 pm
    3 0 i
    Rate This

    Awesome that the rangers first few games will have high exposure. Will make the disgruntled fans demos and protestations more visible also and will show what a mess this club is actually in.

    Pity they couldn’t have the SB support in one stand and the pay-on-the-dayers in the opposite stand screaming abuse at each other.. Would be more entertaining than the football.

    As the football on show deteriorates even from what has been dished up past 2 seasons the pay-on-the-dayers will do their talking with their feet..Results on the park will kill the rangers..
    ___________________________________________________

    I am prepared to believe that the fixtures have been organised in such a way as to give the league as a whole maximum hype and exposure rather than a sporting advantage. However, you have to ask why the sudden need to promote the second tier division? Is there a factor that didn’t exist in previous seasons?

    In a sporting sense, as far as TRFC are concerned, it might even prove counter productive (assuming any shenanigans are involved) if results don’t go as well as hoped, putting the team under pressure early in the season.


  41. I can now confirm that in 03-04, all 4 of the final week’s division 2 fixtures were the reverse of the first week’s.


  42. Thanks Gee69 which makes this particular fixture HEAvRAN a one off, possible decider, game of the century, etc etc, fix.


  43. neepheid says:
    June 18, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    “…Does no one ever wonder what a person from another country would make of all this? What conclusions could they draw regarding the fundamental honesty of Scotland, its people and its institutions? We are disgracing ourselves in the eyes of the rest of the world by this sort of carry on. Can the suits who run our clubs not see that? Is that a good business strategy? – they obviously think it is.”

    Neepheid, I don’t think that we can trust to being shamed into to doing the right thing by people from other countries. Just by way of illustration – on ITV’s coverage of Germany/Portugal Adrian Chiles and Lee Dixon were going apoplectic (albeit a tad contrived) about Thomas Muller’s role in Pepe’s sending off. Cannavaro and Viera were bemused – cheating is part of the game so deal with it was the message from them. The first time I heard the term ‘netto’ was in relation to Ruud Gullit signing for Chelsea, he meant that local taxes were someone else’s problem. This was in the late 90’s – was anyone in the area of Charlotte Square paying attention? The processes for deciding which countries would host the next two world cups are hardly examplars of the kind of transparency and virtue that we hanker after.
    The answer is much closer to home and has had some success – withholding £££, as fans of many clubs in 2012 threatened to do had a clear effect on significant decisions made in Scottish football that flew in the face of the established view of our football administration professionals and office bearers.
    I know that you’ve withdrawn your green pound, it needs either more of the same or more control by the fans. What chance the UoF following the FoH model? No guarantee of success for either, and Rangers are currently in a much worse financial position than Hearts, but who knows?
    The UoF season ticket campaign may flush out those gorging on the £££ and blind faith of the all-too gullible fans desperate to support their team. It may well also flush out the daddy of all tax dodgers from his beach house in Plettenberg Bay.


  44. Boom or Bust

    However the fixtures were decided, it strikes me that at the end of the day The Rangers could be bottom of the Championship – all things being equal – if you know what I mean.

    Mr Whyte relied upon Mr McCoist to win a couple of crucial games against modest opposition – and look where that got him.

    I think a couple of easy, early games would suite The Rangers better in the long run.


  45. RyanGosling says:
    June 18, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    My paranoia, Ryan! Is that the same paranoia that every supporter in Scotland gets charged with should they question some advantage a club at Ibrox receives?

    Now we know that the computer used can be manipulated, above board, to ensure Derbies are played on certain dates, games don’t clash etc., so it follows it can be done for underhand reasons too. TRFC NEED a big opening day fixture. They need it for the PR; they need it for the away support that will follow Hearts; they need it to re-open old rivalries; they need it! And we all know that whatever RFC/TRFC need, our fawning football governors will bend over backwards to provide it. LNS proved that. The 5 way agreement proved that. The pressure placed on all 41 other clubs to place TRFC in the SPL, then again into SFL1, then again the fait accompli of entry into SFL3 proved that. The ludicrous way the one year registration embargo was turned into a one month embargo proved that. Fiddling the fixtures is small fry by comparison, but still priceless to the future of TRFC.

    As you say yourself, you can understand how we got to this point, a succession of beneficial outcomes, actions and decisions on behalf of TRFC. But are you suggesting that a body that would conspire in the way the SFA/SPL/SPFL has to secure the future of a Rangers would baulk at the relatively easy, and deniable, fixing of the fixtures? I may well be totally wrong, but have you evidence to prove me so? Or is it just that you think that eventually the loaded dice will come up double six for RFC/TRFC purely by chance?

    Let me repeat. I’m not suggesting that this might have come to pass to gain TRFC a ‘football advantage’ but merely to assist with their cash flow problems through to a possible share issue in the Autumn.

    On the odds, Ryan; do you think you could have got odds of 9/2 for TRFC to get either Hearts or Hibs at Ibrox as their opening fixture? Maybe you could, but only if you could find a bookie totally naïve in the workings of Scottish football 😆


  46. Gee69. Thank you for your research and clarification on the fixtures.

    Subject to any further input as to why that was in the case in those particular years I retract my statement about common sense if this first day last day malarky is already common practise in Division 2. Still strikes me as odd though! Needlessly odd!


  47. On the fixtures, some people are assuming that the draw is meant to be ‘random’. I don’t think that has ever been the case. You just have to look at pretty much any season and you will see, particularly in the final fixtures, the deliberate putting together of teams the authorites expected to be challenging for the title. I really don’t think there is anything particularly ‘sinister’ about it; yes, it could be seen to be favouring TRFC with a marvellous opening home fixture, but what’s to say Robbie Neilson won’t take a team there that really turns them over? That would not even be a long shot to be honest. How long do the fans keep doing PAYG if that happens. This fixture will put a lot of pressure on AMcC and TRFC to perform and get a result.


  48. I have no issue with the opening fixture. It was to be expected to be honest. Being born in simple times when 12 clubs played each other 4 times in succession I expressed surprise that HMFC would be playing Sevco on the first AND last days since that would seem to be potentially unfair to the other competitors. Gee69 tells me that it is not the first time in that division that this has occurred so fair do’s.

    Not being up on this commonwealth games stuff how come Ibrox is available for the season opener and CP isn’t? Is it because of the events they are holding?


  49. On the land bears story, The leader of the saucer people, PZJ has been telling us for months that the
    there was a meeting between the council, Celtic and Joaquín Almunia iVice President of the European Commission in charge of competition on the 24 October 2013

    Some clever clogs though found this: http://goo.gl/SMKaTa

    #oops


  50. I see that there a few comments that the initial fixtures for the Govan club have been manipulated. I consider that the first game of the season puts A McC and the Govan Club under a huge amount of pressure. They were pants in league one and only really survived due to professionals playing against part-timers who tired around the 70 minute mark.
    Hearts have been making some great signings over the past few days which is strengthening an already young and capable team from last year, as the results of the final few weeks showed. I consider that the Govan club will be very nervous indeed about the prospect, and the possibility of getting hammered by Hearts on the opening day. That would not be good for ticket sales going forward.
    BTW, the opening fixture of Aberdeen vs Dundee Utd is a cracker!!


  51. Regarding the fixtures (strict odds would be 7/2 btw on Rangers hosting an Edinburgh Club; that’s before making allowance for the bookies’ profit margin and then adjustments to reflect any belief amongst the punting public that aspects of the game are fixed) it seems to me that massaging the fixtures to maximise the revenue achievable to the industry be it through broadcast rights or through higher attendances is not an unreasonable action for the governing body to take, subject to it not conferring an unfair advantage.

    It is traditional for divisional champions to get a home tie with which to open their season. Derby fixtures are often arranged at holiday times to facilitate high attendances. Are either of these traditions wrong?

    Personally, I don’t think the ordering of fixtures is that significant. If anything, you want to get off to a good start so having a losable home match straight off the bat, then a difficult fixture at the Bairnabeu next is high risk.

    Perhaps the question that we should be asking is, do we want Rangers to survive? I suspect if we were honest a lot us don’t.

    However, were another club to be in difficulties, what would our answer be to the same question? In those circumstances would we be concerned if some assistance were offered?


  52. The SFA have just released a statement about a number of resolutions being voted on at an SFA general meeting at Heriot Watt University earlier today.

    http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsID=13442&newsCategoryID=1

    There is reference to a couple of licensing issues that may be of particular interest to Auldheid, but the one that caught my eye was this one.

    “A resolution designed to reduce the length of service required in official Scottish FA positions for potential candidates as office bearers was not approved.”

    It suggests that the next in line for CO’s position has just firmed up his or her position.


  53. Taysider:

    First up mate, thank you for your comments.

    I agree with you, in a sense, that the club and company separation looks as if it creates an opening for the fans to do their thing without it damaging them too badly, except that it won’t spin out like that because it is still, fundamentally, based on a lie.

    We all know there is no separation between the two. But it does allow the board to create a separate company with the name Rangers in it, and act as if they are still two parts of the same thing.

    I think, in the fullness of time, many of that club’s fans will come to deeply regret they didn’t simply accept the First Death for what it was. In maintaining the illusion of continuity they ported over every horrible thing that afflicted the OldCo, and it cursed Sevco Rangers right out of the gate.

    It has also given life to a dangerous and potentially traumatic lie – that football clubs can’t die.

    Ask Allyjambo if he agrees. He knows how close to the abyss his own club came. Ask fans of Gretna, or Airdrie, of Clydebank. I could go on.

    Sevco fans have been presented with a fairy story and everything that is happening to them is based on it. The version of their club which holds world records never really died at all. They were the victims of a dodgy owner and the hatred of the rest of the game. It is fantasy, but they are spoonfed it over and over and over again and many of them now have it interwoven into their world view.

    “The club they could not kill … no matter how hard they tried.”

    And when it dies – again – and there is no hope of resurrection this time, who do you reckon they will blame? There will be no soul searching in the mirror, that’s for sure.

    In any circumstances where disaster strikes – avoidable disaster – people can only learn from their mistakes when they admit to them, and change. No change has happened here. No admission of guilt or responsibility has been forthcoming. The fresh start was impossible because it was based on the First Lie, that the club didn’t actually die at all. How can you have a fresh start when you’ve not even admitted that anything’s really different?

    In the meantime, as today’s piece says, the media keeps on feeding them lies and notions of their own rightness and the inevitability of success. This is madness without end and it all stems from The First Lie … that the First Death never happened at all.

    Think Norman Bates, talking to his mother’s corpse for years, locked up in that big house.

    http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/the-writing-on-the-wall/


  54. PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
    June 18, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    Cheers Phil, just been
    too many ‘helping hands’ for it to suddenly stop at a time they need every penny they can get.

    On another topic, I see your writing out next week’s news for the MSM again 😀
    Do you think Deloittes will insist that everything is done and dusted, ie MP sold and paid for, before they sign off, or will they accept an agreement in place to buy it as good enough? Clearly it would be unusual for such a large property, with great uncertainty over planning permission for development, to be sold, done and dusted, quickly. As for finding the money to pay off the highest earners…

    So, after a fire sale of their second most valuable asset, the existing, maximum profit seeking investors are going to invest more money, just to largely finance the offloading of high paid earners, some of whom, at least, will have to be replaced by pretty well paid people. Seems to me holding onto MP, but going into administration to offload those high earners, might well be the cheapest/most profitable/lowest loss incurring option.

    http://www.philmacgiollabhain.com/


  55. Allyjambo says:
    June 18, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    I think Deloittes are playing hardball, but I can’t much more than that on a public forum.
    However, Deloittes are now THE story IMO.


  56. PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
    June 18, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    I wonder how many bears realise that this is so much more serious than losing/changing NOMAD? They’ll probably be thinking ‘if they’re not Rangers men they can **** off’. This is a top firm of Accountants who’ve bent over backwards for this club and shown themselves prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt previously. They might very well, probably undoubtedly, need to search well down the food chain, with the subsequent lowering of credibility, for a new auditor before they find one prepared to sign off on accounts such a high profile firm refused to sign off. And every potential future investor will know this. It makes me wonder if Green’s re-entry to the story is as a result of this latest growing disaster, with the money he claims to have raised intended for use in, what he might consider, the likely second liquidation at Ibrox. Just putting two and two together, like a horse and carriage, Ibrox and tax evaders, Green and companies in liquidation…


  57. CG comes in relieves Waldo of his duties, he has some more faceless investors lined up to take on a few more onerous contracts as initial payback, raise some capital to keep the wheels on. CG will be more versed in the rangers culture and can pander more to the history of ra peepul, Gullible fans will pay hand over fist for the return of the saviour who can talk the talk and give them hope once more to regain their rightful place in Scottish football.. CG’s two main Allies (SFA/SPFL and the meeja) will help him spin his wheels til he get traction to unite the 500m fans worlwide, orange tap, Bocanegra’s football academy in the US, EPL want rangers, more money in the bank than Celtic by season end, yadda yadda… It’s like flies around a big dog turd..!!! Taking turns with their ain to carry off the processed remains..

    So looking forward to it.. :mrgreen:


  58. Allyjambo says:
    June 18, 2014 at 5:49 pm
    The change of NOMADs was very significant from Cenkos to Strand Hanson then to Daniel Stewart.
    There is so much to this story


  59. Cannot see anything good in the fixture scenario for TRFC
    They are gubbed and they are gonna stay gubbed for a very long time IMO
    There just ain’t enough cash coming in to keep them alive
    If I am proved wrong it’s either
    A.N.Other Fairy Godmother
    A dyed in the wool TRFC fan / Euro Millions Winner
    Or a laundry working flat out ……… Simples

    On a football matter … I did fancy the jambos for the championship (before they bagged Locke)
    and Falkirk in second

    In a more humurous vain the Championship table with TRFC at the bottom on NIL points looks rather pretty

    Ryan … sorry if I offend you …. Xx


  60. PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
    June 18, 2014 at 5:20 pm
    2 0 Rate This

    Danish Pastry says:
    June 18, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    It doesn’t…
    ———–

    In that case, has he been a very naughty boy or just ‘not aware of all the facts’ when making his upbeat prognosis? He only had 120 days, poor soul — so it must be the latter.

    It’s going to be some about-face when he comes clean. Although if he’s picked up his nice wee bonus might he want to seek pastures new? Perhaps he’ll want to spend more time with his family, or in his garden, or looking for a wee winter flat in Antibes?


  61. Ticket sales, potential shares, even MP can be handled with caveated assumptions.
    IMO the above aren`t critical – sums may not work even with above optimally maxed.
    There must be deeper concerns


  62. PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
    June 18, 2014 at 6:35 pm

    Didn’t mean to understate the importance of the change of NOMAD, but they got away with that, in terms of fallout, in a way I don’t think possible if their accountants refuse to sign off the accounts. I’m sure the TRFC board could talk away the changes of NOMAD as a ‘decision’ they, themselves, made, or something else that avoids having to admit to a ‘falling out’ over how the club was conducting it’s affairs. They probably wouldn’t need to make reference in any future prospectus, but would that be the same with Deloittes? The NOMAD scenario was a serious indication that things were very wrong at Ibrox. The Deloittes scenario is much more than an indication, it is categorical proof, even if they do eventually agree to sign off after their demands are met. From Cenkos to Daniel Stewart might have been bad, from Deloittes to essexbeancounter… 😉 (no offence meant, ebc, I know you wouldn’t take the gig)


  63. Will any of this have an effect on SFA ‘discretion’?

    You sometimes think that even if new club and company demised the SFA would still insist on their continued existence as undeniable fact.

    Perhaps there will be a new rule inserted into the SFA articles of faith about a club not actually having to exist for it to gain a licence 🙂


  64. From Phil’s latest article there is the following requirement from Deloittes :

    “(2) The ten highest earning staff (excluding Chief Executive Officer Graham Wallace and Chief Financial Officer Phillip Nash) will have to be let go without further delay.”

    Will this net catch Mr McCoist?

    Who will be funding the substantial redundancy packages?

    Scottish Football needs a strong Deloittes.

    BTW what is the final straw that will tip the SFA/SPFL into taking some action to prevent further damage to Scottish Football? Does it have to be another insolvency event?

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